I am a spoonie witch, which means I practice spoonie witchcraft.  It is very important for my wellbeing to maintain a magical practice, and while I have several obstacles, the single greatest obstacle I must overcome to do so is chronic fatigue syndrome.  While no one piece of advice is ever going to apply to all witches, let alone all spoonie and/or disabled witches, I want to share advice about how I approach having a magical practice.  These spoonie witch tips are things that I do in my own practice or have observed that can help to ease the spoon costs of doing witchcraft, and help with managing chronic illness.

The Cost of Doing Magic

Every little thing that I do costs me a noticeable amount of energy, or spoons.  This includes activities that are physical, social, emotional, intellectual, recreational, magical, and more.  If I am awake and engaged in some way with something, anything, I am expending a noticeable amount of energy.  Yes, even for tasks as simple as brushing my teeth or going to the bathroom (a typical situation for those with chronic fatigue syndrome).  Different things take a different spoon cost, but there is always a cost.

There are times when working magic is invigorating, even as a spoonie, but for me such experiences are inconsistent.  I cannot count of being invigorated, and even when I do become invigorated, I usually walk away from the magic still feeling the spoons that I spent to make the magic happen.  This invigoration is usually of a feeling of relaxation, clarity, and wellbeing following working magic, instead of a boost in energy levels.

While I am in the middle of working magic, the energies I pull up are usually sufficient to keep me feeling good and doing the work.  But, whenever I finish doing magic, I ground and center and release, bringing my personal energy levels back to whatever they are naturally.  Attempting to hold onto those higher energy levels would cause me greater burnout in the long run, because a personal energy expenditure is required to hold onto and process that external energy.

Put another way, the more energy I am magically holding and controlling, the more spoons I must spend to do so.  The longer I do it, the more spoons I must spend.  Working with the energy in a sympathetic way reduces this spoon cost, but there is still a cost.  The influx of external energy provides a buffer from noticing the expenditure of my spoons while I am in the middle of it, so it is extremely hard to know how I am actually doing until I let go.  If by the time I finish my magic I have spent all my spoons and gone into a deficit, I am going to be burned out for days.  If I were to deliberately hold onto that external energy just to hold onto it, I would guarantee myself a burnout, because holding onto it is unsustainable and harmful, even for healthy people.  Eventually you must let go and rest.

If I attempt to start magic with no spoons to spend, it is usually impossible for me to draw enough magic to even begin, let alone accomplish whatever I had hoped to accomplish.

Since the most frequent reason I do magic is to help bolster my wellbeing, that means when I most need to do magic is when it is hardest for me to do.

Efficient use of Spoons for Doing Witchcraft

There are as many ways of doing witchcraft as there are witches, because those different methods will be more or less natural or effective for different individuals.  On top of that normal variation, spoonie witches must factor in the spoon cost for different methods of witchcraft.

Ecstatic ritual, for example, can be incredibly powerful.  I could probably even manage to do it because of the external energy boost that carries me through a working, but ecstatic ritual costs a great deal physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, even for healthy people.  That cost results in very potent magic, making it worthwhile for those who can afford it, but the overall cost is extremely unlikely to be worthwhile for me.  I won’t need to rest and re-center for just a day or two.  I will most likely be knocked on my ass and barely capable of the most basic tasks for a week or more.

Like with anything else, the spoon costs of different ways of approaching witchcraft will also vary from individual to individual.  If ecstatic ritual is worth the spoon cost to you, go for it.  If doing all your daily tasks with magical intent is your jam, do it.  If you need to go super gentle on yourself, let yourself do that.  There is no one answer, but it is important for all spoonies to pay attention to what the costs are for them.

How much does each method take out of you, and how often is it worth it to do?  Is it worth doing at all?  I am still willing to do ecstatic ritual under very special circumstances, where I have weighed out the costs and benefits, and have made certain the downtime following is feasible and worthwhile.  I cannot do it as a regular part of my practice, or I would have no spoons left for anything else.  I would be setting myself up for failure if I tried.

Give yourself the grace of being honest about what different things cost you, and the grace to modify your practice so it is more attainable and sustainable.

The Importance of Altars and Tools for Spoonie Witches

I tend to do most of my magic at an altar, and I focus on methods that involves consumables like candles and incense, or provide a static focus like sigils and jar spells.  This allows me to create as much magical energy and focus as possible, for the minimum expenditure of spoons.

I have stated before that the only essential tool for witchcraft is yourself, and although tools are nice, they are not technically necessary.  In fact, I have seen it written that if you cannot do magic without tools, you cannot do magic at all, and I agree with that sentiment.  Tools are an aid, not the vehicle for magic. An unconsecrated knife can be used on the fly as an athame by a competent witch, and a fully consecrated and well used athame is unlikely to act as anything other than a knife in the hands of a mundane.

When I have the spoons to spend, I can do magic without tools or an altar.  However, when you are a spoonie witch, the boost provided by consecrated spaces and objects can mean the difference between successful and unsuccessful magic, and can help reduce the spoon cost for the magic you engage in.

As a spoonie, there are few things as frustrating to me as spending my precious spoons and having nothing come of it.  I have more things that I want to do than I am ever capable of doing, so when I get nothing in return for my spoons, I tend to resent that I did not spend those spoons on something else.

I do not want to resent my magic, because that makes my magic even less effective, so I give myself grace and use all the aids and tools I can to make my magic as accessible and successful as possible.  Denying yourself the accommodation of consecrated spaces and items is just as self-defeating as denying yourself anything else that makes a difference in your ability to manage an illness or disability.  If you need glasses to see clearly, use your glasses.  If using a cane helps you get around, use a cane.  If working at an altar helps your magic take fewer spoons, use an altar.

Doing Witchcraft at an Altar

An altar is typically any consecrated space where you work magic, engage in devotion, or honor ancestors or other spirits or archetypes.  When an altar is consecrated and familiar to you, it is a place of greater power, which can be easily tapped into when engaging in your practice or working magic.  For about the same amount of effort on your part, an altar space puts more magic at your disposal.  It is like using a mini flashlight vs a high-power flashlight.  It takes an identical amount of effort to turn it on, and slightly more effort to hold the larger flashlight, but the difference in visibility is tremendous.

I always have a candle on my main working altar that I call my “main altar candle”.  Its purpose is literally just to indicate when the altar is in an active state, so that the consumption of the wax by the flame provides energy and a conduit that empowers the altar with little need for conscious attention on my part.  I can set up my working, and then be elsewhere in the room leaving the candle lit, so that it continues to work while my focus and spoons are elsewhere.

If you cannot use a candle, or your altar is not safe to ignore with a lit candle on it (my main working altar is mounted on the wall, stable and out of reach of pets), LED fake candles are a good alternative.  The energy is different, but they are still consumables, consuming the electricity in a battery instead of burning wax.

Consumable Magical Foci

I do a lot of magic using consumable items, especially candles and incense.  The act of the item being consumed is transformative energy, which can be dedicated to the working, providing magical power that does not come from my personal spoons.

Trinkets, Images, Statuary, Photos, & Other Iconography

Having consecrated items to focus on, especially for devotion or prayer, can ease the spoon load of doing magic.  If you want to send healing energy to a friend or contact an ancestor, and you have a photo of that person on your altar, that saves you from the mental spoon load of visualizing their face.  If you want to ask aid from your patron deity, having a statue or trinket representing your deity allows your mind to jump more quickly and easily into a prayer or trance state of mind, connected to that deity.

Items that bring peace and focus to your mind, or otherwise help you to achieve a magical frame of mind more quickly, can also help ease the spoon load, even if those items do not directly relate to the specific purpose of your working.

Make your altar yours.  Unless you are a part of a tradition that is very strict about the setup of your altar, you can do whatever you want to that will make it feel good for you.  If you are part of tradition with strict guidelines and think a different setup would help you, I suggest speaking to a mentor or someone of authority in your tradition about how to make personal alterations in a way that is helpful to you and respectful of the tradition.

Sigils, Spell Jars, & Other Set Spells

There are some kinds of magical work that you can set and forget.  My personal favorites are sigils, as they mesh well with my brain.  I have also used a couple jar spells, but any magic where you create a thing, and then that thing becomes the embodiment of the spell, will work in this regard.

Basically, set spells are ones that require expenditure of magical energy to create them, but then they take on a life of their own.  They can then be left to continue working as is, or can be included as a component in additional workings.  They do take energy to create, but once they exist, the spoon load required to tap into that magic is greatly reduced.  That can make it very worthwhile in the long run, even if it eats up your spoons during creation.

Prepare Your Spells Ahead of Time

Some spell components require prep that can be done in advance, whether for a specific spell, or just in general.  Doing that prep in advance when you have the spoons to spare means it takes fewer spoons to do your actual magic when you need to.

I use 7-hour glass candles for a lot of spellwork.  These come with labels that must be removed, and the glass cleaned before it is ready for use in any spellwork (at least for me – if the presence of the label does not distract you from your magic, save yourself the spoons and leave it).  Look at the components you use regularly, and see what you can do in advance to prepare them for use in any of your magic.

As I said above, I do a lot of my magic for wellbeing, and when I most need it is when it is the hardest for me to do, because I am the lowest on spoons.  That means I prepare those long-burning glass candles with sigils ahead of time.  That means if I have a migraine, I can just grab the candle, light my altar, and light the candle with the Sigil for Migraine Management.  If I find myself overwhelmingly depressed due to perimenopausal hormonal fluctuations, I can do the same with the candle I have prepared with the Sigil to Calm Hormonal Mood Swings.  Same for the Chronic Pain Management Sigil when my pain levels are spiking.

This is also helpful for sigils that are not directly related to my health, so that I spend fewer spoons when I use them as an aid in accomplishing other things, like the Sigil to Ward Against Brain Fog, or the Clear Vision Sigil.

Whatever it means in your practice to prepare your magic ahead of time, it makes a difference when you need your magic and cannot count on having the spoons to do everything involved right then.

Purchased is Fine

One of the most helpful things I do for myself as a spoonie is give myself the grace to purchase things pre-done as much as possible.  If I can buy a rotisserie chicken at the store, I get a couple good meals out of it without having to spend the spoons preparing and cooking that chicken myself.  I buy frozen veggies just as often, if not more often than fresh, because they won’t rot and require less prep to cook.  I buy prepped salad greens and veggie trays because I can just pull it out of the fridge and eat it immediately.  If I do not give myself the grace to purchase prepared foods that are good for me, I run the risk of not having enough spoons to be capable of cooking something good for myself.  Then I am likely to either eat junk or nothing at all, both of which are very bad for my overall wellbeing.

The same is true for magic.  If you do not have the energy to prepare all your spell ingredients, and there is someone you can purchase them from instead, go for it!  It would be grossly ableist to deny yourself that accommodation, especially if it makes a difference in being able to do the magic you want or need to do.

It is great if you can create all of your own supplies, and hand-make all your own tools, but realistically that is not in every witch’s wheelhouse to begin with.  When you have limited spoons, giving yourself the grace to purchase from ethical sources is an exercise in self-love and empowerment.

Keep it as Simple as Possible

While it is great to use components and tools and altars to help reduce spoon costs, it is possible to go too far in that direction and end up costing yourself spoons you did not need to spend.  Gathering and preparing components costs me noticeable spoons.  If I can do the same spell without worrying about herbs and oils and crystals and just the right music and specific astrological correspondences and whatever else… Well, then I am going to do the spell without all those things, because figuring them out, obtaining them out, prepping them, and using them are all actions that take spoons.

Additional components can usually add to the power of a magical working, but as a spoonie witch you need to pay attention to when enough is enough.  Are those extra components adding enough power to be worthwhile?  Or are you just costing yourself more spoons that you cannot afford?  Only you can know, but you do need to be thoughtful and deliberate about it.

Play to Your Strengths

I mention astrological correspondences above because I am not inclined to keep up with astrology, so it costs me significant spoons in the form of research to sort it out beyond the moon phase.  If astrology is your jam, using that correspondence can be a very easy way to increase the potency of your magic while reducing your spoon cost.

Whatever your strengths are, those things that make you happy and flow naturally for you, focus on them when doing your magic.  If you have a huge collection of crystals and know them all intimately, using them is probably easy and natural, with little spoon cost.  If you have a passion for herbs or oils, those will be your best friend.  It may be music.  It may be something else entirely.

If you are passionate about learning a particular skillset, enjoy spending your spoons learning about it until it becomes a personals strength.

Whatever your strengths are, as a spoonie witch it is especially important to give yourself the grace to cater to those things that most easily feed your soul and uplift your practice, because that is where you will probably find your least costly and most fulfilling magic.  That is where you will get to keep the most spoons in return for your most potent magic.

Give Yourself Grace All Around

Do not try to hold yourself to abled standards.  If you are a spoonie witch, give yourself the grace to accept that your practice will need accommodation, and that you may need to do things differently from everyone else in order to make your practice sustainable and fulfilling.  While there is no shortage of spoonie witches out there, “best practices” and most teachings are aimed at those who are abled, meaning that they are not necessarily practical, or even possible in a spoonie witchcraft practice.

Give yourself grace.  You are not “doing it wrong” if you take steps to accommodate your limitations.  Acknowledge where your limitations are, and work with them instead of fighting them.  You will get further in the long run and be happier doing your magic if you manage your spoons effectively by treating yourself with honesty, compassion, and grace.