Thinking about working with some deities or gods but haven’t the faintest idea where to start as I don’t know many at all

Tools of Witchcraft

This is going to be a little more of an extensive list for a Witch's tools vs the 4 tools found in say Wicca, and these are only suggestions. Each Witch is different so each Witch may use certain tools over others. Again this is just a list of stuff to consider using in your practice. None of this is holy writ. Now as always, remember that the Witch is the magic and tools are not needed, but they do aid in focusing our Wills which is the source of all magical spells. Also the way to use some of these items is very extensive so I will not include them here too much. 1) Altar Some people put their altars on the floor. I prefer to sit on the floor with a low table in front of me. Some Witches just put down a cloth and set up their altars before each working. Again this list is only a suggestion of ideas for tools. You do not need them all. Ideas for altars- End tables Dresser tops Coffee table Shoe boxes Cinder blocks Large Stone tile Hope Chest Shelving 2) Altar cloths Let's face it, you're gonna spill wax or ash on your altar. To help protect the finish or your floors from wax, put down an altar cloth. I don't use anything fancy or expensive as I tend to ruin my cloths pretty fast. I'm clumsy.  Ideas for altar cloths- Old sheets Blankets Bandanas Cloth by the yard Old clothes 3) Herbs Most Witches and Magicians use plant material in their spell work. Various herbs, spices, barks and roots have different harmonics or energy wavelengths that when combined with other items of similar energy and harmony, result in more powerful spells. Examples are loose incense, powders, teas, floor washes, ect. Common herbs found in a Witch's cabinet- Rosemary Cloves Lavender flowers Chamomile flowers Rose petals Cinnamon Frankincense Myrrh Salt Pepper Dragons blood Red pepper Sandalwood Juniper & Juniper berries Pine resin Cedar Ginger Copal Angelica root High John the Conqueror White sage Lemongrass 4) Minerals Along with herbs, stones, crystals and other things, minerals have energy which when combined with the Witch's Will and other harmonic items, add power to spell work. Common minerals found in a Witch's cabinet- Clear Quartz Citrine Amethyst Rose quartz Smoky quartz Moonstone Bloodstone Pyrite Selenite Golden Tiger's eye Blue Tiger's eye Red Tiger's eye Malachite Lapis Lazuli Lodestones Black Tourmaline 5) Candles Candles come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors. All of which can benefit your magic. For example a red figure candle can bring you love, and a green one can help you persuade your boss to give you a promotion. Try to avoid scented candles as scent is also a correspondence and should only be added by the Witch to keep the energy in harmony. Some scented candles do work well within spellwork. Just know the scent and what it means before using that scented candle :) There is also the idea of sy thetic products vs natural products but that's another article. Types of candles found in a Witch's cabinet (various colors)- Tea Lights Chime Pillar 7 day jar candles Votives Skulls Figures 7 knob Reverse Double action 6) Witch's blade I like to have a special knife I use when I harvest plant material from the wild or I need to cut something in ritual. In some traditions, Witches state the handle must be a certain color. If you follow those religions then adhere to those rules. The knife can be used, as I said, to harvest plants, plant material, cut thread/string, carve candles, stir brews, making wands, and marking other tools by scratching in a runic monogram. Some Witches don't use their blade for anything but energy work. Others use their blades for practical things like preparing a magical meal. However the knife should never just be used because all your other knives are dirty. It should be witchcraft related. Mine has a bone handle and two blades that fold down. Knife ideas- Folding knives Daggers Short swords Steak knives Butter knives 7) Censor Most Witches make their own incense in loose or shaped form. Having a safe place to burn things is a must. This can also be used to burn spell paper. Censor ideas- Ceramic bowl Ash tray Large seashell Caldron Tower or shaped pre made incense holders are available everywhere. Metal gets hot so be careful if yours is a metal bowl like mine. Just make sure it's heatproof. Censors should be filled with ash, sand, or salt to absorb heat. 8) Mortar and pestle I don't just use mine for grinding herbs into incense and other small particles for whatever reason. I also use it to grind taglocks (personal concerns) into powders and other spell work. I have also ground up paper and sprinkled it into the wind. There are many uses. When looking for a mortar and pestle try to find one that is made of solid stone like granite or marble. It should have a rough inside cut to the mortar and an equally rough pestle. Also look for a heavy base so it won't slide around and a deep bowl to keep materials from popping out while pounding them. Avoid soapstone as its usually smooth cut and is really soft. It's very poor material for a pestle. They are also tearing up India to manufacture soapstone products. Don't buy soapstone period. 9) Noise maker The use of music in ritual is as old as civilization itself. I love to incorporate some sort of sound in my rituals. Ideas- Rattles Drums Bells Gongs String of beads rubbed together Tambourines Whistles Flutes Recorders CD or MP3 players 10) Jars and containers I don't know what it is with Witches and empty jars/containers but most if not all of us go ape shit for them. I use glass jars to hold my herbs, oils, and washes like 4 thieves vinegar. I prefer glass as its non porous and doesn't absorb smells. But boxes drive witches batty too. Jar ideas- Canning jars Corked jars Wine bottles Hot sauces Spice/herb jars Starbucks bottles Baby food containers Bouillon jars Vinegar bottles Salad Dressing jars Shoe boxes Carved wooden boxes Eye glass cases (think coffin) Chests Trunks Plastic storage containers Zip lock bags 11) Divination tools The arts of Divination are multiple and it's impossible to include them all here, but there are some common items you may wish to work with on your path. Divination tool ideas- Tarot decks Black Mirror/Mirrors Black Bowls Crystal Balls Pendulums Rune sets 12) Miscellaneous Other items that may be found in a Witch's cabinet- Animal parts (hair, feet, teeth, ect) Felt (various colors) Drawstring bags Needles Thread (various colors) Glue Tape Scissors Construction paper Parchment paper Offering bowls and plates Markers Colored pencils Lighters Matches Flash paper Chalice/cup Hourglass Pentacle plate (I know, why is a pentacle on the witchcrafting tool list? The truth is the pentacle while being associated with Wicca today actually originates back to the Greeks and the planet Venus. It's also come to represent the 5 elements which most Witches work heavily with. So it's OK to have a pentacle if you want to use it) Focal point of some sort (can be a statue of a personal animal guide such as a wolf or candles or even an offertory plate for spirits or Fae or whatever, even the pentacle). As always I am open to any questions, comments or constructive criticism you may have about the content covered in this post. Big shout out to those that helped me, Ben, Dusty Coyote, and Ebenezer. You guys rock. 

Today, folks, we’re going to enter a dimension of sound, of sight, and of mind, a dimension of imagination* …  Two stories to entertain you as we approach the day honoring spookiness and oddities, Halloween.

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To this day, she doesn’t know if she was dreaming or actually in this world of impossibilities.  All she knows is that she was entering her apartment, or at least thought she was.  Of course, her apartment never was that big as it was that – day?  And it had had four walls and flooring.  But not that time.  She walked into her place to find prints in frames (from DCKM) hovering at impossible angles all around her.  She was dressed in an outfit from {KT}, a sexy dress with shoes, makeups and nail polish.  Yes, she seemed to remember, she had been out somewhere, she just couldn’t remember where.  “I must have really hit the bar hard,” she murmured to herself as she approached a Celtic vanity from JTDD. She looked in the mirror and gasped – she was wearing a different dress from Applique Chic, a lovely skull corset dress!  She sat down heavily onto the stool.  What was going on?  She tried to make herself wake up but couldn’t.  “Oh, this has got to be from too much to drink!” she thought as she stood up and looked around.  Surely there would be an exit … wouldn’t there?

A coffin from Khargo with candles and a skeleton caught her eye and she wandered over to it.  She felt something shift near her shoulder blades and turned her head to see the tips of bony wings; her dress again warped to Changed Season’s Twisted Alice outfit, with wings, hat, necklace, earrings and gown.  She looked down at her feet and almost screamed as she saw pillows near her feet, leaning against the coffin – one had written in blood on it “RIP.”  She squeezed her eyes tightly.  “No, no, no, this is not real!” she moaned out and turned from the coffin to nearly collide with a cauldron, also from Khargo.  This cauldron steamed as a raven and a rather tall woman with a skull in her hands just watched it.  She stumbled away from the eerie sight and sank down on a flamingo, her hair also inexplicably changing to no_match’s NO_WONDERLAND hair in blonde.  She shook her head, bemused for just a second.  “I guess only Alice would be in such a strange world as this!” she thought.  But this was getting very old!  And then to see a chair and lamp from The Dark Fae hanging in the air, the chair almost upside down …. ! She shook her head rapidly.  “Make it stop!” she cried out and she suddenly couldn’t see – a sleep mask from Lush was covering her eyes.  (I think it was good she couldn’t see what was stitched on it!)  She reached to yank it off – right now not being able to see was even scarier than the sights she was seeing – but it vanished on its own to reveal a purple chair, also from The Dark Fae, hovering at another impossible angle.  “What else could go wrong?” she cried out as a room from Something New – and no, she never did figure out how a room got into another room – pulled her in, and she found herself in a bizarre pose and dressed in another dress, this one more reminiscent of the Disney Alice, the Mad Alice Mini from Little 2 Large.

From there, she just materialized into another room from Something New … it made it look as if she were reaching into one picture on the wall while a teapot poured tea out of another picture on top.  “This is ridiculous!” she thought to herself.  “I certainly hope this is a dream; I don’t fancy living like this forever!”  Just as she was thinking that, her dress changed to the Mad Bad Alice dress, complete with red splatters, and she was doing trick riding on an upside-down horse from Something New with The Dark Fae’s spooky backdrop to provide just the right scare.  At this point, she was wondering just when it all WOULD end!

She did pause to wonder at what seemed to be a circus caravan, pulled by two elephants and illuminated by a floating hot air lamp, both from ~ASW~, going up into thin air.  She shook her head and saw a circus car from ~ASW~ that hadn’t been taken away with the others, Curious, she strolled up to it – and suddenly found herself inside the cage!  She slumped down, sighing in defeat.  “I’m tired of this – let me out!” she called, meaning the whole dream (if it was one), but the cage released her abruptly, revealing she had changed clothing yet again, into [AF]’s Ivy Dress DarkWeb.  By now, she was just numb to all of it.  She trudged over to ~ASW~’s Carnival Ride and flopped onto the seat, her head in her hands and elbows on her knees.  “I hope this all goes away soon,” she sighed in defeat as everything faded to black ….

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What a wonderfully spooky tale! Hope she does find her way out of the maze … poor girl!  But here’s a more heart-warming story about a little witch, trying to find her forever home …

It was a dark and gloomy night; the sky looked washed in a dreary green and black clouds scudded across the sky.  The little witch approached this next house carefully; it looked a lot like the Mildread’s Mansion from Dragon Magick she’d been sent to find, but so did the twenty others she’d seen so far!  She did notice that the outside was decorated with a candy dish from Khargo – a pumpkin on two hands coming out of the ground – and she smiled.  The rest of the yard was festooned with jack-o-lanterns and a pumpkin garland from LIVID and an altar, spider tree and wheelbarrow from Khargo.  She nodded approvingly – spooky, but not so much that children would be chased away.  She so hoped this house was the one!

She walked into the house, her adorable braids, courtesy of Sn@tch’s Wednesday Hair, bouncing on her shoulders and her Presley dress and Esme witch’s hat, from {Momoko}, flapping with every bounce as well.  Her nails were painted in a Halloween-colored webbed chevron pattern from Dark Passions and her hand held a cleaver, properly bloodied, from :Z.S:.  After all, a girl can’t be too prepared!  She shone her flashlight around and caught a couple of halloween wall tattoos (from Khargo) decorating the wall.  She smirked, “Boo and Happy Halloween!  What a nice way to be welcomed!”  Her eye caught a pentacle rug and two chairs (from Squishy Fluff) and then a wall with framed pictures of familiars from Oubilette and a wall sconce from Dragon Magick.  “Oh, very nice!” she said, falling in love more and more with this house.

As she twirled around, she saw the :Z.S: Pendulum Crystal holder by the door and then the ::OOPS:: Cross Wall opposite, near a hallway.  The cross glowed and she somehow knew – the house had accepted her!  This WAS her home, to live in, to play in, to tempt children in … and children made such delicious snacks!  She put on her ::OOPS:: Arachnid Strap and set out her -Extra- Into the Nether Conjuring set.  As four of the black candles floated about her, she lit the fifth one and began the chanting that would meld her powers into the house and decor, making it such a popular stop for the children this Halloween … !

Wasn’t that sweet?  It’s always good to see little witches finding their happy place!  And if you are looking for items (such as the ones featured in our stories) for creating YOUR happy place, here’s where you can find them!

Looking Glass story:

All items featured are from one of the Evil Bunny Production’s events/hunts this month or from Khargo Halloween Store:

Boo! Bunny Hunt:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Brewery/126/192/21

The Mad Circus 4:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Brewery/85/130/21

Gacha Life – Haunted: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Brewery/121/131/21

Twe12ve:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Brewery/79/200/21

Khargo Halloween Store:   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Yellowstone%20Falls/133/230/41

and of course, more awesomeness at the following stores’ LMs:

~ASW~:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Anala/200/40/235

Anny’s Fashion:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Zinaida/201/226/21

Applique Chic:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Woodland%20Park%20North/97/225/21

Changed Seasons:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Serena%20Pontypridd/145/67/50

Little 2 Large:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Jokung/160/224/21

The Dark Fae:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Jupiter/33/142/27

Something New:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rainbow%20Illuzion/62/61/23

Lush:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Brewery/121/131/21

DCKM:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Enoshima/160/4/21

JTDD:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Michigan%20Bay/163/164/24

{KT}:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Brewery/112/143/21

The witch trying to find a home’s featured items are from the event, Dark Passions’ Trick or Treat:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Spectacle/181/233/58

and you can find more coolness visiting the individual stores’ LMs:

-Extra-: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Capodorso/218/173/2805

::OOPS::  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Vespeira/92/219/21

:Z.S:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lanisha/83/142/23

Oubilette: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife//128/50/25

Dark Passions: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Spectacle/46/43/81

Dragon Magick Wares: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/New%20Kadath/47/235/21

LIVID: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife//192/71/52

Sn@tch: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Snatch%20City/122/133/29

Squishy Fluff:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Serena%20Rainbows%20End/94/180/2001

Momoko – will be in-world soon; here is their Facebook link: https://tinyurl.com/y836fvvl

but hurry – the EBP events/hunts go only to Oct. 31 and the Trick or Treat until Nov. 2 … and that is a scary thought indeed!

  Through the looking glass … and a witch finds her true home Today, folks, we're going to enter a dimension of sound, of sight, and of mind, a dimension of imagination* ...