It's Always Something

I have mentioned my friend L in several posts, as being my main witchy friend. Today she asked if I wanted to hang out, and so we went to check in on our circle. Whenever we do that, we always end up doing this grand project without meaning to, and today was no exception.

A few weeks ago, L left some candles in our circle and when we came back, they were gone. We assumed someone had practiced in our circle, since a pentacle had been left there, and then taken them. I left a note saying I didn't mind if they practiced there, but I wanted the candles back, Today, we got a note back! This was really cool to me, because it showed that there are more witches on campus; people I could possibly invite to the Beltane ritual I am planning with L. Anyways, it said they did not take the candle, and it thanked us for letting them use our circle.

L found one of the candles around the circle, so we kept looking around for the other, Well, we never found the other candle, but we did find a complete animal skeleton that had been cleaned over winter. L collected the bones, and she is now gently cleaning them. Since the bones were already very clean (there was no flesh on them at all) she is cleaning them with warm soapy water and baby toothbrushes.

So like I said, we can never just check up on the circle without some project popping up.

Today was also cool because we were talking to one of our friends about what we do, and she joined us at the circle. So that's another person who may join our kinda-sorta-not really coven.

I did a courage spell this week, but because it is very personal to me, I have decided not to share that here. However, my negativity repelling doll is nearly complete, and I will post that here once it is finished.

Another thing, I do not feel that I am able to keep up posting here with the Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule I am currently at, so I will now be updating it on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

So I will post again on Tuesday! Thanks for reading!

Just Another Monday

Just thought I'd give a quick update. I don't have too much to write about, it's been a pretty relaxed weekend for me.

I may come up with a spell for courage, in which case I'll share that here on Wednesday.

I am also working on creating a doll to repel negativity, so once that is done, I'll share that too.

In mundane stuff, I get to see my boyfriend this weekend, so I am very excited for that. I am still in college, and he got a job and moved 12 hours away, so I don't get to see him that frequently.

That's about it for me today. I'll try to have a more interesting post up on Wednesday!

Altar Terrarium

So a while ago, there was a post floating around on Pinterest with an idea for creating an altar out of four glasses, with each one representing the elements. You can find that pin here:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/325736985520228599/

As you have seen from past altar posts, I have adopted a similar idea by using four jars  and having each one contain something that reminds me of that element. I use ash/chili powder for fire, feathers for air, water for water, and a small terrarium my little sister made me for earth.

Well after almost a year, I have officially pronounced the terrarium dead. Here's what the old one looked like:

 Pretty Dead

So I figured it was time to remake my altar terrarium. When my sister made the old one, she put this little nut she found in it, and I decided to keep it to help tie the old one to the new one. I also kept it because it looks really cool, kind of like a heart or a skull.

After pulling that out of the old terrarium, I went down to the arboretum at school (which is lately where I've been spending all of my time). I thanked the earth for what it had given me, and then I emptied out the jar. This is how the jar looks when its empty:

After emptying the jar, I put down a layer of gravel so that there is a drainage space in the jar:

 I tried to mix up the size of the rocks used so the rocks on top are a bit larger than the ones on the bottom of the layer. After that had been done, I went to a spot I was sitting at the other day, because I knew there was moss there that I could use.

I thanked the earth again, and took a small bit of moss, and carefully arranged it in the jar. Its easier to do it in small bits, instead of trying to fit a whole piece down in the jar.

 Then I came home and carefully wiped the dirt from the inside of the jar so I could see inside of it easier. After that, I positioned the nut from the previous terrarium, as well as a piece of clear quartz.

That's it! I hope it will be happy on my altar. In addition to this terrarium, my friend made me a cactus terrarium as a gift the other day, and I love it! Here's a picture of the one she made, but it doesn't do justice to how it looks in real life:

 She recently opened up a shop on Etsy to sell her handmade witch-y items, such as wire-wrapped crystal pendants. If you'd like to check out her shop, it can be found here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CostumeWitcheries?ref=shop_sugg

Have a great day!

Witch Kit for a Friend

As I have mentioned before, a few of my friends have expressed their interest in how I practice witchcraft. One of my friends has decided that they want to practice themselves. I am extremely excited to have another person to work with, because while acting as a solitary can be good, I really enjoy practicing with others. I'm not sure how to explain it, but working with others makes my craft feel more complete in a way. So it's kind of annoying that I'm graduating soon, and will be leaving this group.

Anyways, since they are pretty new to it, I wanted to give them a little 'witch kit' to help them get started.

I picked them up two crystals: a clear quartz and an Apache's tear. I chose clear quartz because its a good all-purpose stone, and you can use it for pretty much whatever he would be starting out with. I got the Apache's tear because it will help him stay grounded and also repel negativity, which I think is important.

A few days later, I went to Goodwill and found a set of three bells, which I think are made of brass. I picked the one that sounded the clearest, and got that for him. His living situation means he can't burn any kind of incense, and I use sound to cleanse things myself. I am hoping the bell will be a good alternative to smoke cleansing for him.

I am giving him five white tealight candles because 1) I have a lot of them, and 2) they are like clear quartz in that they can be used for just about whatever he would need candles for.

He has mentioned a type of witchcraft that involves fabric (possibly stitching) so I am giving him some scrap fabric I have so he can explore that option.

Finally, I wrote him a note explaining all of the items, and put them in a jar, which would also be use-able for his craft. I am giving it to him tonight, and I hope this helps him on his path.

This is what the final product looks like:

I am pretty pleased with it, and I hope this helps others plan a little kit for themselves or others!

My "Box of Shadows"

Over my Spring Break, I visited my grandparents. I love visiting their house because I spent much of my childhood playing in the woods they have, and making crafts with my grandmother. Now though, visiting is bittersweet.

My great-grandmother passed away a little over a year ago, and the house serves as a reminder of her passing, and all of the great things she did when she was alive. While I was there, my grandmother gave me the jewelry box that my great-grandfather gave to my great-grandmother.

The box is gorgeous, and I feel very blessed to have received such a special gift.

Here's a better picture of the top

I was originally going to use it as a jewelry box, but I don't have a lot of jewelry, just a few pieces with special significance to me. I do however, have a lot of little bits and pieces I use in my witchcraft. 

I was storing all of it in a small cardboard box, and it was difficult to get things out of it, and it was nearly impossible to organize. It made my dresser top look messy and disheveled, between the cardboard box and all of the little things that wouldn't quite fit in the box.

So I realized it would probably be better if I stored this stuff in the jewelry box. I am calling it my 'box of shadows' because I have a book of shadows, and now I have a box to go with it.

It has three 'sections.' On the top level, there is a long skinny section, in which I am keeping a stone necklace, and some little things my grandmother has made.

Then there are the three little compartments. The one on the left is where I am storing my crystals, center has my incense burner and some pennies, because I have been using them in my craft lately. The right has a small hand mirror, which again was a gift from my great- grandfather. I don't know what I will do with it yet, but mirrors seem to come up a lot, and it was too special for me to get rid of.

The bottom section is where I put everything else. It has some candles, altar cloths, offering bowls, ceramic snowflake, and incense.

I really love it, and I plan on doing a ritual later to thank my great-grandmother and honor her.

How do you store your witchy stuff? Do you have a specific place for all of your things, or are they scattered around the house?

Happy Ostara!

I had a very snowy Ostara here on the East Coast, in fact, the ritual I was going to attend was cancelled because of the snow, unfortunately. I didn't let that deter me though, and I still had a good day!

Made with Shasta Daisy Seeds

My plantable paper turned out a bit more crumbly than I had intended, so I will probably put it in a bag and give to my friends, and try again with another batch to put around campus.

I also made "Honey Fry Bread," from a recipe found on Tumblr and for some reason it won't let me post the link to the recipe. I am sure you can find it online though.

I listened to The Chieftains while I cooked, which made it even better.

When I get back to my apartment I will celebrate some more with some Tarot readings and other fun stuff with friends.

I hope you had a great Ostara!

Plantable Seed Paper/ Ostara Plans

Ostara is Friday, but since I will be out of town for most of that day, I decided to start early by making plantable seed paper. I made mine by following the directions given here:

http://gardentherapy.ca/seed-paper-v-day-cards/

Right now it is setting out to dry, and once it is done, I plan on cutting little hearts out of it and writing "Happy Spring!" and some positive affirmations, and placing around campus to hopefully brighten up some people's day.

The reason I won't be around much on Ostara is because I am going to visit my grandparents. The Unitarian Universalist church in my area is doing an Ostara ritual at 7, so hopefully I will be back for that, and talk about that a little here on Friday's post.

In addition to that, I also want to make Honey Fry Bread, which is a recipe I found on Tumblr,and I will share that with you once I make it/ if it turns out okay.

I am also thinking about setting up a get- together to celebrate the Equinox once I get back to college, but I have no idea what to do, and I am a little nervous about preparing an actual ritual.

If you have any ideas on what I should do, please let me know! Thanks for reading!