#witch book

I love it when the seasons change. Each shift of warmer to cooler months feels like a fresh start, and the seasonal magic is really where it’s at. In the summer I like to focus on cleansing, doing things outside and lots of gatherings. But in the winter things change to a more personal perspective and I want to work on inner growth and spending time with myself. 

I’ve put together a list to give witches some ideas on what they can do this winter. Feel free to add to it in the comments and write your own take on things. Happy winter witches!

1 Winter spell jar - Sometimes I like to create a fresh spell jar for the season. I view this jar as me, my psychic energy, and I place it in things I want to cultivate during the season. Maybe it’s an image of the High Prestress from tarot, because I want to learn to connect more to my higher self. Or maybe it’s a rose quartz because I need to work on self-love. Place it in whatever feels right for you and leave it out to remind yourself of where you’re going this season. 

2 Melt away the stress snow spell - Collect snow from outside and bring it in. Pace it in the center of a circle of white candles. Say your intention over the snow and let it melt away whatever you were stressing over. Modify this spell in any way you want as a release spell. 

3 Collect snow for other spells - Snow melts. But you can use it otherwise in place of water during the winter. You can use it to cleanse crystals or wash ritual items. If you’re feeling very witchy you can collect snow from graveyards. Just be mindful of ‘who’ you’re collecting the snow from if it’s from the tops of graves. 

4 Cinnamon ornaments - Make cinnamon ornaments with cookie cutters, glue and powdered cinnamon. Mix together and make a dough, cut out with cookie cutters and tie up with string. Not only does cinnamon smell good, it brings in prosperity energy.

5 Winter wish fire spell - If you have a fire going, use it to write a wish on a bay leaf and toss it in the fire. 

6 Winter graveyard walk - Nothing is prettier than an old graveyard covered in snow. Walk around and take it in. Leave pennies as offerings to anything guarding the cemetery.

7 Winter offering - Don’t forget your ancestors this winter. Leave them out their favorite holiday treats, drinks, or light candles in memory of them. 

8 Yule ornaments - Collect pine cones, sticks, or berries from outside and make yule ornaments to hang on your Christmas tree. 

9 Pine cone candle holders - Pine cones also make great candle holders. Cut them in half and hollow out a space for a candle on the inside. Perfect if you want to add a little winter decor to your magical working space. 

10 Charm your soup for a winter healing spell - The winter blues is real, and this spell helps with feeling blah during the cold months. Make a soup (any soup, really) and say your intention over it. Mix your spoon clockwise and imagine a white light mixing into your soup, while you eat it imagine it going into your body and warming you up from the inside. 

11 Herb jar candles - Evergreen is a nice winter herb to burn and looks great in candles. Make your own jar candles with melted wax and jars you might already have. Add evergreen herbs and even white quartz crystals to the tops of your candles.

12 Lavender sachets - If you’re having trouble sleeping, make a lavender sachet. Use purple felt and sew up three sides. Flip inside out and fill with lavender herb. Sew up the remaining side. 

13 Bird feeders - Love making these during the winter. Only because I feel like birds need a break too and there’s less food for them during the winter months. Take a toilet paper roll and smear peanut butter on them, then roll them in bird seed. (Kind of preschool project, I know.) Hang them outside on your trees. 

14 Read read read! - Since most people are spending more time inside during the winter, it’s the perfect time to catch up on any witchy reading. Try your local library and see what they have on witch books, cook books and more. 

15 Orange slices - Make orange slices for citrus cleansing baths by slicing fresh oranges very thin and baking them on low 175 degrees for 3-4 hours or until they are dry. String them along for a garland for another variety. 

16 Winter blessing - Do a winter blessing spell for you and your loved ones. 

17 Baked breads and cakes - Lavender bread is my favorite but make sure you purchase edible lavender herb first. Try cinnamon cakes or anise for a winter theme. Look up the meanings of the herbal properties before adding them into your dough. 

18 Tea leaf reading - The colder months are a great time to brush up on your tea-leaf reading. You’ll need loose tea leaves and a keen eye to pick out the shapes in the cup. 

19 Tarot meditation - Brush up on your tarot by doing tarot meditations. Choose a tarot card that you would like to connect with more closely. Light a candle and place the card in front of you. Close your eyes and meditate with the card taking in any messages, feelings or visuals you receive. 

20 Write your grimoire - Get creative and start your own grimoire with your favorite spells and rituals. 

How to make a kick-ass honey jar

Honey Jars are nothing new. The concept is derived from adding something ‘sweet’ to ‘sweeten’ a person up to you. I guess I’m not the most likeable person because I’ve made quite a few honey jars over the years. But it’s always good to have people in your favor, especially in circumstances such as work, school, you know the important people who control your life (kidding!). 

Let’s take a minute here to say that a honey jar has absolutely no effect on things WHAT SO EVER. Think of it as a nice to have. Sure, it would be great if your boss was a little nicer to you, and you felt like they were on your side. But if shit hits the fan, your boss will still fire your ass even if they sort of like you as a person, so I’m just saying. A honey jar is not a controlling mechanism. It’s just a little energy thrown someone’s way to nudge them in the direction of liking you a little more than maybe they naturally would have. 

What you need to perform this spell:

A Jar (cleaned out sauce jars work well for this too.)

A spell candle in the color of your intention. 

Something of the targets or a paper with their name written on it 9 times. 

Honey. 

Anything else you would like to add. Some ideas include sweet herbs like lavender or rose petals, rose quartz, sweet orange essential oils or anything else you think the person might like. 

What you’ll do:

Clean out your jar well and smoke cleanse it with any incense. 

Meditate and clear your mind focusing on your target. 

Add your target’s personal item and cover with honey. 

Next add in any additional items. 

Cover your jar. 

Place a candle on top of your jar. Securing it by lighting the wick and dropping a few wax drips onto the lid of the jar. 

Let the candle burn all the way down. 

Leave your jar somewhere safe. 

Occasionally add items to it that you see fit.

*Note: Never leave your candle unattended. If you have to walk away, blow out your candle and light it when you come back.

HOW TO MAKE A CLEANSING ROOM SPRAY

I was looking for a cleansing incense a few months ago and ran across a shop that sold room sprays. The idea is you can use these sprays to cleanse the ‘vibe’ in your room before ritual work. I picked up one for the Full Moon and one for the New Moon and I freaking LOVE them. Especially if I’m in a hurry and don’t want to light a whole charcoal block to cleanse with loose incense or any incense in general I just use these witchy sprays.

Both sprays are come in dark glass bottles and filled with incense, distilled water, crystals and blessed by the full moon. I use them so often now that I wanted to try my hand at making my own room spray.

This recipe is for a cleansing room spray that can be used pre any spell or ritual. It’s great for times you’re on the go and can’t light incense or are sensitive to the smoke from incense in general. Room sprays are my for sure go-to now,

What you need

One small glass spray bottle

Lavender and Sage essential oil

Moon water (bonus if it’s distilled)

One small Amethyst

What you’ll do

It’s pretty simple. You just need to place the ingredients in the spray bottle. Try decorating a sticker or label and place it on your glass bottle so you know which spray it is. If you’re curious about how to make Moon Water I’ve written about it before here. You basically leave water outside during the full moon to collect the energy and you can use the water for different things like ritual baths and to make this room spray.

Change it up by adding different crystals, essential oils and herbs to make sprays for energy, self love, or anything else you can think of. I would love to make a protection spray too.

Some people think that you find witchcraft when you’re looking for something that you don’t have in your life. That thing you can’t describe but fits you perfectly once you seek it out. But I think witchcraft finds you. It puts things in place, runs books or titles across your phone, haunts you in your sleep and finally when you’ve had all you can take, you open the door. And it’s not scary, or strange, it just feels like it was right there the whole time. 

If you’ve been called to practice magic, then chances are there were signs and signals long before you realized what the heck was even going on. Maybe you’ve dreamed about things before they happened, or maybe your empathic abilities were shining bright as a kid, bringing your moods up and down. We’ve probably all had one or more of these experiences. So read on to see, were you born a witch? 

[This post is mostly just for fun… because we are really all natural witches]

You heard people talk in your head before they spoke aloud

Ever hear someone say something before they say it, just to announce the answer out loud and have them look at you like you shocked the Hell out of them? Then they swear they didn’t say it out loud. It’s because you heard it in your head first. 

You knew something was going to happen just before it happened

Maybe it was just a gut feeling, or a heightened intuition, either way you called it, and it happened. 

You got a sick or gross feeling around someone and later learned that person was trash

Everyone LOVES person X, but you always got a horrible vibe around them. Later on you hear that they did this really nasty thing, and you’re all like, I told you so. Boom. 

You had dreams about things that didn’t happen yet

Dreamed of the house before you moved in, of a visit that didn’t happen yet, or a trip in the making. You are basically a walking psychic. 

You had imaginary friends (ghosts) and talked to them as a child

You had all the friends. Only all the friends were dead. But that either didn’t bother you, OR you didn’t realize you were the only one playing dress up and tea with your dolls. 

You could step into a room, and it could really bring you down if it was depressing or lift you up if the mood was right

Hop into a room or space, and you immediately pick up the vibe, good or bad, and it can really affect your mood. Sometimes for a while too. 

When a song plays you really feel the lyrics

Maybe it’s not a pop song, but when the lyrics play the notes speak directly to your soul. 

You are well liked by animals

Go to a friend’s house and her cats are all over you. Even your neighbor iguana sits on your lap. Animals know a witch when they see one. 

You were drawn to natural things as a child like being outside, playing with rocks or bugs

You liked to play outside but it was overkill. Not only that, but you walked around barefoot, collected rocks or just felt the Earth over being inside anyway.

You never really felt like you belonged

There was always this eerie feeling that you didn’t belong. Now I know we all kinda feel that way but you’re particular, like something was missing…

You lived in your imagination and made up stories and could visualize them as a kid

Imagination was your jam. You always made up wild stories with vivid imagination and could see every single detail in all its glory.

You liked to read and could see the images play in your mind like a TV show

Reading is still your favorite hobby. And you can still play out every scene from all your favorite books in your head. 

You said things about dead relatives to your family members that you have never met 

You knew Great-Grandma had dark brown eyes and wore a pink cardigan to church even though you never met her, and she died 8 years before you were born.

You talked to trees and plants

Trees seem alive to you. You can feel their spirits and sometimes like to walk up to them and give them a high five. 

You feel called to the ocean, rain or a specific element

The ocean is a special place for you. Its mystic energy pulls you in, and you can’t ever get enough. 

You have a natural aversion to helping people

You always volunteered to babysit the class pet, help your friend move, or just be an ear when someone needed a cry. 

People seem to tell you their darkest secrets for no reason

The grocery store checkout lady spills the tea on her divorce, or the lady you babysit for vents to you about a long stressful day at work. People seem to open up to you, and you don’t really know why. 

Graveyards never bothered you

Maybe it just seemed more like a natural ending to things than a big scary end all. Either way even when you were a kid, visiting the cemetery was never even a thrill. 

The moon has always been a big deal

Were you fascinated with the moon as a child? Spend nights staring at the stars? Or was astronomy your favorite subject?  

Have you had an unusual experience that happened to you before you discovered witchcraft? Drop a line below and share your experience…! 

Art by  Pauline Voß