Tools of the Magical Trade
This page lists articles I have written on witchcraft, paganism, and spirituality. Some articles are listed under multiple headings.
Here you will find all my articles relating to the physical objects and spaces we use when working magic or conducting ourselves spiritually.
Unconventional Magical Tools and Altar Supplies
The only essential for magical or p-word practice is yourself. Everything else is icing on the cake, tools which can be used to aid in achieving focus for your magical or devotional practice. Are they fun? Sure. Inspiring? Absolutely. Useful? Undoubtedly. Essential? No. Read More
Easy Alternatives to White Sage for Smoke Cleansing
There are innumerable easy alternatives to white sage and palo santo. It is not fair to the varied practice of smoke cleansing, or to the huge varieties of reasons for doing it, to place all that weight on one single plant and one single style of working. Read More
Dice Magic: Using Dice for Spellcraft and Divination (Astragalomancy)
It is possible to use magic to nudge the odds when rolling dice, but they are useful for so much more than that! From spellcrafting to divination (called astragalomancy), dice are a fun and useful tool to keep in your witch’s kit. After all, unconventional magical tools are just as valid as typical or traditional ones. Read More
The Trap of Waiting for Perfection Before Acting
It is easy to fall into the thought trap of needing everything to be perfect before acting, whether that action is magical or mundane. It is certainly true that some things must happen before other things can happen, or it may be best practice to wait for certain circumstances. However, you can never be absolutely certain that everything will go perfectly, so if you wait until perfection is assured, this can easily result in never acting at all. Read More
What Exactly Is the Point of Divination Anyway?
One very common practice in witchcraft, paganism, and most pagan-tangential traditions is divination. It is found worldwide, in every culture, in some form or another, throughout history, and is one of the few fundamentally human activities found anywhere and anywhen. Even when divination is vilified and outlawed, it is still present, practiced in the shadows. But why do we do it? What exactly do we get out of it? Read More
Exploring Animism as a Natural Human Impulse
Animism is a natural human impulse, as odd as that might seem in the context of greater Western culture. If you have ever cussed out an electronic device or a curb you tripped over, thanked your car for making it there in time, or mourned the loss of a beloved item, you engaged with those things in an animistic way. Animism means understanding that everything has a soul, from you and me to every animal, plant, object, and place. It is a cosmological perspective on the nature of reality that is compatible with most cultures, traditions, and paths, and an important feature of the philosophies and cosmologies of a great many religions, both historic and modern. Read More
Menstrual Magic for Uterus-Owners of All Genders
If your body includes a uterus that produces a period, you can perform menstrual magic. It is an incredibly powerful component in spellwork, which can be used for a wide variety of purposes, including baneful magic, banishing and warding, manifestation and prosperity magic, connecting with divine feminine, and affirmation of female, male, or nonbinary gender. Read More
Moon Water with No Moonlight
It is easiest to make moon water by bathing it in moonlight at night, but that’s not always possible. The energies of the moon are pervasive, if more subtle in the shadows. Moon shadow energy reminds us that even when we can’t see the light, can’t see a way forward, such things still exist and affect us. Read More
Revisiting 20-Year Gone Personal Practice
This past weekend a box was found in the back shed at my partner’s parent’s home. This box, thought long gone, had been missing since a move twenty years ago, and it contained almost all my magical tools and altar supplies at the time. I would have been homeless at the time if not for my chosen family. What belongings I kept went into the garage, apparently except for this one box, turning it into a personal time capsule of my magical practice at the age of 23. Read More