July 29, 2019 – The Northern Witch' s Blog

I call myself a grey witch, because life is not black and white. The shadows are everywhere. And to fully understand myself and my surroundings I believe that I need to be able to work with both the light and the darker side of things.

To me making a curse is not the intention for anything else but self protection. But I do try to push negative energy back to its sender, where it belongs. That´s typically when I´m doing jar spells with a pinch of hoodoo as well.

These sections of my Book of Shadows are yet to be organized, so that they also are incorporated in my work with witchcraft. I do it little by little, because I only work with this and shadow work in general, when I´m feeling really good.

143 Demons And Spirits
144 Hoodoo

Demons And Spirits : Although I try not to summon what I cannot dispel, I study demons and spirits. I like to know what I´m dealing with should a situation arise that I was not prepared for. It also makes me feel better with my own inner demons, because I dare to face them, especially when I´ve read about e.g. hellhounds. If the goddess Hecate can live with her dogs, so can I face my inner fears and stand up to them.

I have experienced a couple of times when there suddenly came a sort of cold in the house, and everything just felt wrong. Then I quickly light a candle and say a protection prayer, I toss salt around my house, and I make the atmosphere as positive as possible afterwards. Should I experience it during a ritual, I would immediately close the circle and make a full house cleansing.

Hoodoo : A pinch of a very old tradition is always neat. It spices up the work with witchcraft, and I only use it to strengthen a spell of protection or in shadow work.

I believe there are demons as well as there are angels. To me it is two sides of the same coin, as we as humans both have positive and negative traits. The key is to be able to live a balanced life and to avoid excess.

And I am used to work with spirits, since I do a lot of ancestor work in order to find my own path to walk.

I´m not foreign to the darker aspects of life, which means that I work with my inner demons instead of fighting them. I prefer to be able to handle things rather than living my life on other conditions than my own.

This concludes my series on my Book of Shadows.

Now it is time to something practical. One thing is to have tools, a huge amount of correspondences, texts, and knowledge. If not used to something, why keep it ?

So tomorrow will be a guided tour about how I work with a Book of Shadows on a daily basis.

Delays are to be expected in Mercury Retrograde. As with this post, yesterday was not a writing day for me, so I took the whole day out of the calendar and allowed myself some space and time to feel better.

Today, everything takes longer time, but I ascribe it to the period of heat wave that we have at the moment. Being creative, however, is a very good and strong cure for many things, also heat.

I love to make things myself with whatever materials I have at hand. There is something enriching about being creative. Things get a personal touch that cannot be bought.

136 Witchy Art On A Budget
137 Witchy Drawings
138 Decorative Witchy Stuff
139 Witchy Fun
140 The Brrrooommm
141 Magick Catch-All
142 When Everything Is Retrograde, Try This

Witchy Art On A Budget : Living on a budget means to be creative for as little as possible. I generally use what I have, but I also try to make my own glue, clay and other base materials. Recycling has a high value here.

Witchy Drawings : I like to draw myself, and I bought a colouring Book of Shadows. I also use free materials when available.

Decorative Witchy Stuff : Lists of ideas and inspiration. Everything with this special tingling feeling that this would do well in my next ritual. Preferably with a touch of patina, of something older than today´s trend.

Witchy Fun : There is unique kind of natural magick in a good laugh. It is healthy to laugh, and it relaxes the body, the mind and the soul. I try to write down the funny episodes in working with witchcraft. Suddenly, the elegance is dissolved by laughter, because I drop something on the floor or in the middle of a ritual or I stumble over my own words.

The Brrrooommm : Here I plan to make my own broom and place some pictures of the process of making a broom.

Magick Catch-All : What cannot be placed somewhere else. New things to research, ideas, my brainstorming area.

When Everything Is Retrograde, Try This : This is meant to be a inspirational resource when everything else does not seem to be effective. Here I collect good and strong quotes on how to get back on the feet again.

On the picture you can see my popsickle stick pentagram, my willow sprigs pentagram with beads and rhinestones, and my wooden element plate where I place candles that are lit when I´m casting a circle.

I have a broad collection of materials to combine to beautiful and practical things. I often use them more than the things I´ve bought. That tells me only to buy when it is necessary and to wait for the right material to turn up.

My current creative project is to make a dream catcher from a bicycle wheel. It is meant to protect my extended family.

I also try to learn new techniques such as working with wood and metal. Mostly, I work with drawings and paintings, because it gives me so much calm and inner peace. Occasionally, I try to craft items for my work with witchcraft. And my upcoming projects are to make my own wand and to create new altar cloths for my rituals.

To be creative is also to stop at the right moment. See you later for my last post about the content of My Book of Shadows.