Applachian Magicks, Jar Spells, Charms, and Wards - Part 1

Illustration by Sophy Hollington

Creating and Placing a Charm, Ward, or Spell Jar for the Best Results

If you want a connection to begin or grow stronger, throw or bury it to the east.

If you want a connection to end or grow weaker, throw or buy it to the west.

Include water in your working if it involves cycles or continuous movement.

If you want to control something/someone’s influence, include patterns of five in your working.

If you want the help of spirits in the working, place or bury it in a graveyard or cemetery or include grave dirt from the one you are seeking help from.

To keep something/someone close to you, bury your item in your back yard.

To attract someone/something, bury your item under to beside your front doorstep.

If you want something/someone to disappear from memory and not enter your mind, weight your item and drop it in dark or deep water.

To destroy the influence of something/someone, burn your item and scatter it to the winds as far away from your home and daily haunts as possible.

 

Ingredients and Potential Representations

Feathers = Air, Lightness, Freedom, Swiftness.

Dirt = Earth, Stability, Steadiness.

Water = Water, Movement, Adaptability, Repetition, Cleanliness, Life.

Milk or Cream = Abundance, Growth, Nurturing, Motherhood, Femineity.

Vinegar = Hate, Resentment.

Sugar or Honey = Sweetness, Love, Positive influence, Persuasion.

Salt or Epsom Salt= Purification, Protection.

Cinnamon = Abundance, Wealth, Love, Passion.

Ground Pepper = Love, Passion, Anger, Irritation.

Fire used to Destroy = Purification or Anger.

Fire used to Light (typically via lit candle) = Revelation, Passion, Protection.

Wealth = Bay leaves, Fresh Basil, Seed pods form Money Plants, Corn silk.

Iron = Protection.

A Tarnishable Metal (copper or nickel for example) = Corruption.

A New and Unexpected Spiritual Experience

Cernunnos by Barbarafineartstudio

Steffie and I went to a live show of one of my favorite podcasts this weekend. I enjoy the podcast because it reminds me of everything I loved about growing up in the lower Appalachian region. Making a little go a long way, strong mothers and grandmothers who guide families through hard times, a reverence for the green spaces and the old stories. 

The cadence of the narrator reminds me of every evangelical preacher I heard as a kid. Rising and falling like water, soft as a whisper and then crashing like thunder. It's beautiful and hypnotizing and a bit frightening all at once. They really structured the evening like a tent revival too. A little bit of story here, an anecdotal lesson for the congregation, followed by some hymnals, and then another closing story or two. Some of the music was joyous and loud, and others were poignant and heart rending.  

One of the creators spent a small section of time talking about issues we are facing in our world today. I thought it was very clever that she approached it as a call and response sort of format just as I've seen in church so many times. The preacher calls out, and the congregation follows with a forceful "Amen." With each recitation the passion and conviction increase until it is a roll of thunder passing through the crowd. Instead of Amen, the audience followed each political horror and social injustice with a vicious shout of, "HEX!" The room roared their responses. I applaud her sentiment, and I completely agree that we need to fight the atrocities going on, but I did not call out a reply. The power in that room was thick and for the taking. But it was cold and red. Hexes and curses are not my path, and I don't know her well enough to trust her with my own spark of intent outside of my personal control.

Daily Meditation - Elevating your Energy

Close your eyes, steady your breathing, and feel the earth beneath you  and around you. Bring to mind one thing in your life that embodies  _______________ (gratitude, love, family, peace, courage, balance, etc.) and focus on it. Feel the energies it brings come into and flow through your body. Where does it settle? Does it have a color? A smell? A general feeling? Continue to breathe slowly and steadily. Let the energy expand to fill your whole body and then spill over into your aura and out creating a bubble of energy around you. Imagine it bringing joy, love, and peace to all it comes in contact with, both to yourself and to others.

1) Gratitude

My gratitude is golden yellow like the light of an early summer sun. Warm and intense light without the burn. It's the color of dandelion flowers and smells of fresh cut grass. 

2) Family

The aura of my Family is green like early Spring grass. It nourishes and feeds me, body and soul. It smells like the leaves of a healthy tomato plant, sounds like the snap of beans, and tastes like a sweet, sun-warmed melon.

3) Love

Love is pink and red and purple. Soft pinks of new love, a little innocent and a little wild. Red hot for love that has come into its own, blazing bright. You can't look away. Deep wine red purple for love that is strong and mature and has withstood storms and battles and come out better for it. It smells like cinnamon and oak and vanilla.

4) Peace

Peace is blue like a pool of cool water that is so deep you can't see the bottom on it. No smell, no sound, nothing to touch but the water. It's full of silence and a sense of calm isolation. It's beautiful and welcoming and a bit frightening too. It's frightening because I don't trust what is just beneath the surface that I can't see.

5) Courage

Courage is gray and shines with flecks of silver. It's the strong steel beam that runs through the middle of the biggest structures. It's the reflection of the light off of shiny plate armor. It's the sharp edge of a blade. It smells like machine oil and the metallic tang of blood.

6) Balance

Balance is a kaleidoscope of browns, the color of every bark of every tree that reaches toward the sky and the color of every type of soil that covers the ground. It is strong and flexible and vital for life. It smells like the forest after a rain, clean and loamy and a tiny bit of decomposing vegetation. Life sprouts from the ground, we grow and live, and then we return to it again to fuel life anew after death. A continuous cycle.

Shadow Work - Writing Prompts for Aquarians Pt. 1

What limiting beliefs do I feel ready to detach from?

I am ready to let go of the limiting belief that I only have value within my family if I can produce children. I am more and have always been more than a breeder of more family members. Carrying on the family name and biological footprint is not my responsibility, destiny, or obligation. I can't have children. I am the only living child of my deceased parents. I am the last of their line. I am sorry that they didn't get to have grandchildren before they passed. They would have loved them beyond measure. But, the ability to provide that experience for them was beyond my control. I feel like for many years my mother held resentment toward me for not giving her those grandchildren. That wasn't my fault. I need to let go of the mindset that lets me blame myself for her unhappiness. Her feelings about it were hers and shouldn't be allowed to reflect on me. Considering the genetic legacy I've been handed from both parents, not being able to pass those along may not be a bad thing.

Magic Word No. 4 and No. 5 - Incantations for Courage and Comfort

Mitch-Dobrowner_Arm-of-God

Air - An Incantation for Courage

The air stirs and whips.

The air cleans and cools.

The air lifts and carries.

It can so gently drift the tiniest snowflake to the ground,

and it can rend a chasm in the earth in seconds.

Like the air, let me embrace change because we are change.

Let me embrace love because I am love.

Let me embrace anger because I am anger.

Let me embrace fear and hate because I am sometimes those too.

Like the air let me use each of those to take action,

to be a force within the world to instigate evolution and revolution.

Air - An Incantation for the Silenced

Let my words be leaves rustling and speaking on an Autumn breeze,

surrounding whoever needs it with whispers of solace, protection, and love.

Let the wind carry and echo my voice to the ears it will do most good.

Word Magic No. 3 - An Incantation for Balance

Earth - An Incantation for Balance

Earth, please lend me your wisdom and knowledge

so that I may find and recognize the balance in the world

and reflect it within myself.

As a tree stands strong and firm against the elements,

please too anchor me in the storms.

Show me how to grow the limbs of my intentions high and unfettered.

And how to send my dreams out into the world like whirling maple seeds

to be planted and grow anew.

Word Magic No. 2 - An Incantation for Clarity and Truth

Fire - An Incantation for Clarity and Truth

Let the flames of this fire light my path.

Let me use the radiant glow to look outward and inward,

to see and know myself, to see and know others.

Let no corner be left darkened.

Illuminate my way, true and bright.

Do not let secrets shrink and hide in the shadows,

even if they are my own.

Open my eyes to what they need to see,

and my heart to what it needs to know.

As the fire reveals so too can it burn.

Let me bear the heat of both unflinchingly and graciously.

Word Magic No. 1 - An Incantation for Strength

Water - An Incantation for Strength

Let me be the water, cool and laughing.

Let me flow over and around obstacles in my path.

Let me rush through the hard days, the dark days like water through the rapids,

and let me slow and then still to enjoy moments of calm and happiness.

Let me warm in the sun and soak in the crisp chill of the moon.

Let my heart swell like the river after a long rain,

and let my mind be steady and clear like the living currents of the mountain streams I love.

Witchy Wednesday 5/25/2022 - Writing Prompt - What Happens in the Garden of your Dark?

What happens when you get naked and sit in the garden of your dark?

This sentence is so evocative for me that I had to start with it first. My dark is fluid and warm and forms a sphere around me, a womb in the middle of my garden where it's always dusk, purple and pale yellow, fire flies flashing among the night blooming flowers that are just waking up. There are mice in the roses. The darkness flows like water, but it has solid depth and the texture of slow pour molasses. My dark is like the amniotic breathing fluid in The Abyss. I breathe it in, and it fills me. The thick silence is deafening and amplifying. Sometimes it wraps me in its arms, and sometimes it crashes against and around me like a wave. It becomes what it needs so that I can be what I need.

My dark is surrounded by the corn from The Stand, both Mother Abigail's and Nadine's. A wonderful maze of green. Close your eyes and breathe deep. You can smell it. You can almost taste it in the air. Fresh, sweet kernels plump and sticky and full of milky fluid. Velvety fuzz, sleek silk, razor sharp edges. Sex and danger and life.

A riot of vines criss-cross the ground, bisecting the rows, growing up the towering corn, flowering and laden with fruit among the stalks. Dark purple fruit filled with red flesh, dripping juice that looks like blood. Sweet, tangy, salty all at once. Chaos in order. Comforting. Frightening. Exciting. Intoxicating.

We're all in our Dark. Everything happens in the Dark.

Roots of Your Craft 30-Day Challenge

Roots of Your Craft 30-Day Challenge

Divination. Does it work? Would you use it? What do you think of those who do? Why?

I believe that divination does work, but I do not believe it can ever be 100% accurate. The future is never set in stone, and one tiny change can send out ripples that change everything. So, for me, divination is a slippery slope to climb. Does knowing what could happen make it more likely to happen? Do we unconsciously work to fulfill our own prophecy without realizing it? I'm not sure. For this reason, I might use divination tools to gain insight on a situation that is troubling me, but I would never seek to know the ins and outs of the future.

What do you think Magick actually is? What is the power or force behind witchcraft?

I think any magick that exists comes both from within us and from nature and the cosmos around us. Every plant and animal is made up of living energy, and when it dies, the particles of energy carry on in another form. The energy itself never dies. I think people, when they open themselves to their innate ability, are able to sense and touch that flow of energy that is constantly around us. I think that's what magick is.

How powerful do you believe Magick to be, and why?  

Believing that magick is the energy of the cosmos, I also believe that magic is both finite and everlasting. There will never be more or less energy than exists right now. The kinetic potential of everything that can be is already here. Everything has has ever been is still here as well. The only thing that changes is our belief, openness, and ability to access that energy.

What are your beliefs about ethics and morality? Do you think practicing witchcraft will change your views? If so, how?

I believe the same things are right and wrong now as I did when I was growing up in the Christian church. That hasn't changed with the evolution of my personal spiritual beliefs. Basic human rights should trump everything else. No one should be judged lacking and discriminated against because of their race or ethnicity, their gender, their sexual orientation, their gender identity, their religious beliefs, etc. My personal ethics and beliefs on morality should never dictate laws that are applied to the population at large. Morality should not dictate the law because morality is subjective and changes with every perspective.

Do you plan to be open about witchcraft to people you know? Why or why not?  

While I am not part of an organized group of practitioners because I do not trust organized religion of any kind, I do not hide my own beliefs. I am always open to discussion with anyone as long as it is civil. I spent too much of my life hiding various parts of myself that I do not care to do that at all anymore. Take me as I am or not at all.

What kind of belief system were you raised with? Do you feel it suits you, or are you making a change?

I was raised in the Christian church. My mother was raised Southern Baptist. My father was raised Methodist. When they had me and started taking me to church, they chose to explore other denominations. We went to a Church of God of Prophecy for several years, a Primitive Baptist church, and various non-denominational Protestant churches. In the rural South, honestly they are all very similar. There are important and meaningful messages to be gained from Christianity. Being Christ-like is a beautiful ideal to strive toward. But, the organized religion part of Christianity mucks up the message so much with prejudice and hate that I find it hard to reconcile the good with the bad. People are fallible no matter how holy they attempt to be. I do not want nor will I abide someone else deciding what is right or wrong or holy on my behalf. I have two eyes and a brain of my own. I can read and study and seek knowledge for myself so that I can make my own decisions on what is right for me.

What was your earliest memorable exposure to the concept of witchcraft? How did it influence your interest in it?  

Appalachia is full of Grandmothers with home remedies, family traditions, and old wives' tales that have guided their households for generations. Very few would call it Witchcraft. Many go about doing these things on a daily basis in the name of their Lord. Seventh sons of seventh sons can cure certain ailments and treat wounds/burns. Planting by the signs is common, and many know which herbs and other woodland plants to use for all sorts of cures and preventatives. They learned these things in Scotland and Ireland and Wales and brought the traditions with them to a new continent. They keep the practices alive both out of tradition and out of the necessity of Poverty. Practical magicks and wisdoms are what influence me most.

Do you think you will work with or worship deities as part of your Craft? Why or why not?  

I'm not sure for me that it is about choosing a deity to work through or for. I have respect for the cultural deities and the people who worship them. I am happy to honor their presence and purpose. My beliefs fall more into honoring natural and forces that guide and shape the world around us than a specific deity or pantheon. There are one or two that I feel a certain kinship with, and I will find ways to acknowledge them.

What do you think your life will be like in five years, magically speaking?

I have for years pushed aside the part of me that wanted to explore more spiritual things. I pushed it away for my parents who wouldn't have understood for the most part. Now that they are both gone, there's no reason to push it away any longer. 

If you could list one thing that you hope to gain from practicing witchcraft, what would it be?

Peace. Quietness of mind.

Which of the four classical elements best describes you at the beginning of your journey? (Earth, Wind, Air, or Fire)

Water. I've always been water. Water can be soothing and and gentle, refreshing and replenishing, but it can also be destructive and frighteningly dark and deep and unforgivingly harsh. The duality of being something that is the essence of life and also something that is fathomless and unknowable has always drawn me.

If you’ve practiced spellcraft, what was the experience of casting your first spell like? If you’ve not yet cast one, what do you think your first spell will be and why?

I ask for blessings and offer thanks for those blessings. I ask for advice and guidance. I very rarely use what I would call an actual spell. For me it is more about doing things with intention than the ritual of spellcasting.

Are there any witches or magicians in fiction or history that you particularly admire? Why or why not?

I will have to think on this.

If you were to think of your beginnings in witchcraft as a certain color, what color would it be and why?  

A sea of green. It's the color of the crops in the garden that fed our family year after year. It's the color of the herbs that seasoned our meals. The grass beneath my our feet as we played. The trees that covered the mountains that I grew up in. Green is Life. Green is Health. Green is Wealth.

What are your general thoughts about newer magical traditions such as pop culture spells, and technowitchery?

With new technology and evolving culture comes new tools that are at our convenience. Nothing is inherently bad or good. It just depends on how it is being used.

What are your general thoughts about older magical traditions such as rune Magick, kabbalah and esoteric eastern traditions?

Runes are a tool of divination just like tarot, pendulums, spirit boards, and bones. If drawing and reading runes feels right for you, do it. If it doesn't, they aren't a tool that you have to use. You get to make the rules for you. It's the same with any other tool or resource you happen across. If you read a text and gain something meaningful from it, use that new knowledge to enrich your practice. If you read it, and it doesn't speak to you, maybe it wasn't meant for you. Either option is okay.

Do you think that tradition is important in witchcraft? Why or why not?

I think we can learn a lot from traditions that are passed on by more experienced practitioners. Knowledge is power, and some knowledge can't be gained just by reading a description on a page. Some knowledge is best shared verbally while brewing a a pot of fire cider for the cold season or tactilely while applying a poultice to a burned arm or visually when Grandma points out which berries are good for eating and brewing and which are poisonous. But I also believe traditions should not be allowed to hold us back. We can take in all of the things that traditions can teach us and then transform those lessons by pairing them with implements, rituals, and environments that closer match our day to day experiences. If we can't use what we learn to improve our lives and the lives of others, what good is it? Everything changes. The world changes, and we have to change with it to stay relevant.

What role do you think dreams play in magical life, if any? Why or why not?

I think dreams are our sleeping mind's way of working through problems that we do not want to deal with while awake. If we study them and their patterns, I think we could potentially learn more about how to deal with the issues that plague us. I have dabbled here and there with dream interpretation, but it's not my forte.

Are you more aligned with chaos or order in terms of the Magick you have or will practice? What do you think Magick itself is more aligned with?

Nature has an order to it, and I think magick does as well. But like everyday life, some things happen for a reason and make perfect sense and some things are unexpected and happen by chance. Chaos does not have to be at odds with order. There can be a place for chaos within the order of the world.

Curses. Do they work? Would you use them? What do you think of those who do? Why?

If the person you curse believes in the power of your curse, it will be more likely to work. That may be because of your innate power, or it may be a self-fulfilling curse in that the person believes something bad is going to happen to them and so subconsciously sabotages themselves. I would never place a curse on anyone. I do not believe in purposefully seeking to do harm to anyone. Nothing good or fulfilling can come of it. Only bad for them and bad for you.

Blessings and protective Magick. Do they work? Would you use them? What do you think of those who do? Why?

I believe they can work. If you believe that a spell/ritual, crystal, charm, etc. will protect you, then it is likely to work. Do I think wearing a certain crystal and burning a particular color candle will keep you from getting shot in an unsafe part of town? Uh, no.  Do I think it replaces my home security alarm or my door locks? No. You have to use common sense too. But can it hurt to bless my house and ask a higher power than me to look over my home and family? No, I can't see how that can be a bad thing.

Do you have an affinity with an animal or type of animal? What does it mean to you? If you don’t, but had to have one, what do you think it would be?

I do not have an animal spirit guide if that's what you mean, and I do not have a familiar. I do enjoy being around farm animals, and I rarely meet a dog I can't be friends with. I wouldn't call it an affinity though.

Do you think that there is any potential in utilizing certain ritual places or “ley-lines” between ritual places? Why or why not?

I do think some places have inherent power not because of what is built there or what grows there or what people once called that land home. It has power because power was always there. The place is the power. I think a lot of people are very naturally either drawn to or repelled by those places. There are places that I have been that I have immediately felt were different than what I consider normal. Some felt good and welcoming to me, and others didn't. I would imagine over the years many others have felt the same, and it would only be natural for sacred places of all cultures to arise around these charged areas, intentional or not.

What role does the archetype of death play in magic to you, if any? Why or why not?

Everything, plant ... animal ... people, die. It's a commonality that we all share and will all one day experience. Death is part of the natural cycle of things and therefore is a part of magic as well.

What do you think of practicing magic in a group setting? What about practicing alone? Why?

I've been burned by organized religion one too many times to ever be comfortable in a group setting regardless of the religion being practiced. More than two people and someone then has to be the leader. And having a leader equals rules lawyering, and I am not about that when it comes to my personal beliefs and practices. I can study and education myself so that I can make the best choices for myself. I do not need nor do I want someone else to try and foist their beliefs and rules upon me. If I wanted that, I'd still be going to church.

Mountain Magic - Exploring my Roots

I grew up in the lower Appalachians, and my grandfather's people were what locals called Mountain People. Until I moved away for college and met others not from that area, I hadn't realized there were so many little differences. We use words that are not in the common dialects even within the South. Our lives were full of little practices and superstitions unique to our area.

Magic lived in the mountains. Everyone went to church on Sundays and thanked God for their blessings, but they thought nothing of going to wise women and seventh sons when someone was sick and the doctors hadn't been able to treat it. There were home remedies for all your ailments, and each family passed down their favorites from generation to generation. Grandmothers knew under which moon you should pick each plant. Herb and flower gardens were for more than just pretty bouquets and cooking. Little bowls of milk and honey were left on doorsteps for the wee folk. Coffee grounds in the bottom of cups were mysteries our grandmothers could solve. Mirrors were covered and the deathbed window was opened if someone passed in the house. Porch and nursery ceilings were haint blue. Dowsers looked for water when a new well needed to be drilled. We never plant cedar trees on our property or rock empty cradles. If I gift a blade of any sort, the recipient has to pay me a penny per blade to ward off bad luck. We didn't wash on New Years, and we always ate our greens, hog jowl, and black-eyed peas. Omens were everywhere.

I didn't realize that wasn't the norm because it was my life. I never thought of the wise women and men as witches or what they did as witchcraft until much later in my life. I doubt any of them thought of it that way. They were all God-fearing people, and they would have been horrified to be viewed that way. I see the connections now. I can see how the Druidic and Celt traditions brought to the Carolina mountains by our Scots ancestors mixed with those of the First People who were already there.

Mountain magic is practical and purposeful and humble. The people were poor people for the most part, and they made the most of everything they had. Practical magic was a resource too for healing the sick, blessing new marriages and homes, birthing babies, nurturing crops and livestock. The superstitions and customs blended so seamlessly that over generations most people became blind to what they really were. It was just the way things were in Appalachian life.

I wish I could go back and ask my great grandmothers and great-great grandmother who all lived to over 100 to share what they knew. It would have been a fascinating conversation.