All dressed up and nowhere to go? Do you have the time, can you use what you already have, and has inspiration run away from you? Then it is time to sit down and think about basic setups for your daily witchcraft.

When I have an issue with inspiration in my daily work with witchcraft, I turn to the simplest of ideas, to the littlest of things that make me happy, to the easiest way out of the rut. Today, I´ll show you a couple of ideas to work further with depending on your personal preferences.

I prefer to keep things as simple as possible to be able to stay inspired on a daily basis. I prefer quality to quantity, so this is by no means an exhaustive cheat sheet. I prefer using what´s already available to me before buying something.

I often use my daily walks with the little wise, old dog to get inspired to go back home and work that magick. I don´t believe in the idea of re-inventing the wheel to bring forth a self-confident attitude about the “political correct” way to practice witchcraft.

This will be the first time that I write these things down in full length. I´m an eclectic cottage witch and a busy writer, so I don´t always get things down on paper. But in return, I make small daily routines that are easily adapted to whatever intention I may have on a particular day.

In my blog post “Waning Moon Quarter Ritual” from August 24, 2019, I wrote about my daily tea ritual :

“Daily Tea Meditation Ritual

Clear and clean your sacred space. Make a pot of your favorite tea. Pick your special cup and whatever comes in handy and significant to the intention of the meditation ritual.

To, it is to relax and to heal with a good book close by, some calming music, and an inspiring atmosphere from incense/oil burners.

I always bring a notebook and a pen, just in case inspiration strikes for some writing. I also include a small decorative altar cloth, scented candles, crystals, and my aromatherapy blend/fragrance for the intention behind, be it physical, mental, or spiritual.

Make sure to be undisturbed, turn off the cell phone (unless you are going to use it to listen to inspirational music) and the TV. Set an egg timer for 20 minutes, if you need to, more if it appeals to you and you have the time for it.

And sit/lie down as comfortable as you can. This is your time, dear readers, make good use of it. Calm your breath and meditate upon what comes into your mind or what you have planned for the day. Remember to write down good ideas and thoughts.

The goal of this is to relax the mind, the body, and the soul. We live in stressful times, so every attempt to regain energy is of great importance. And 20 minutes at a time is not much time, but it is enough to calm down and do some well-deserved grounding.”

Candles, candles, candles …

I admit it straight up, we are candle people here. Throughout the year, my husband and I use candles whenever there is a chance. We love to sit in the light from nothing but candles, to watch the flames twist and turn with a life of their own, and to use as little electricity as possible.

In my Book of Shadows, there are many correspondences, a big one being candles. I correspond my choice of candles to intentions, colors, days of the week, Moon phase, and nearest festival/Sabbat. But the color white goes with everything, and it is the intention behind that matters the most.

Sometimes just to use what´s available is the better solution, however, for when uninspired, your thoughts will circle around anything but to get in the mood for witchcraft. So grab a candle or two, put the kettle on, make your sacred space comfortable and light the candles.

Sometimes there is magick in the simplest of things to do.

Incence/aromatherapy

As a witch, incense and/or aromatherapy are indispensable in my daily life.

I use aromatherapy as a mild and safe alternative treatment for my troubles as a Crone and for anxiety relief. I use incense to cleanse my sacred spaces and my home and to create moods depending on what sort of witchcraft I´m working with.

I´m extremely careful only to buy safe products or else I try to DIY my way through it. I wear my favorite perfumes, add a few drops to a handkerchief, and make my own rose water with fresh rose petals from the garden and demineralized water.

My husband grows sage for me in the garden that I use for incense sticks. Or I buy coffee beans and add them to a small bowl onto which I place a tea light candle. You can also cut an orange in half and squeeze yourself a healthy glass of orange juice, and then place tea light candles in the orange peel.

If you are into crystals, it is both beautiful and calming work, I mostly use crystals for healing purposes, since I discovered that it made me feel better to be near them. I cannot and will not explain why I believe in the positive effects of crystal healing.

I just know that it works for me and my husband.

Regular pebbles always do well when nothing else is speaking about magick on an uninspired day.

Kitchen magick

Stir clockwise/anti-clockwise when you make dinner. Use well-known herbs and spices which usually have magickal correspondences for almost any intention. And say a meal blessing before you and your loved ones eat.

As simple as that is enough.

To cure a witch´s block

It´s only the imagination, dear readers, that sets the limit. There are so many possibilities today that we sometimes forget the fact that often it is the simplest of things that truly matter in the long run. To get inspired as a witch is about calming down and listen to your inner voice.

I have practiced witchcraft for three years, and I still find new ways to attune to the rhythms of Nature. Due to my bipolar disorder, I have better days and should-have-stayed-in-bed days. I use my ideas on days where just two lit candles behind my laptop are more than enough.

My daily tea ritual has evolved since I wrote about it. Today, every afternoon there is a quick and fairy light knock-knock on my kitchen window. That is my neighbors eldest daughter, seven years old. She has homework, and we want chai tea and preferably at least one lit candle.

Between diligent study, she and I go to my witch´s den to talk and to plan what to do next time we play together. She is to come here tomorrow to learn to paint on pebbles, to draw beautiful talented drawings, and to touch and talk about the content of my daily decorative altar cabinet.

But like everybody else, I have days where there is no inspiration at all. Then I turn to the lit candles and go from there. I make a virtue out of going to my witch´s den at least once a day to meditate for at least five minutes.

Some days, minutes become hours. Other times, five minutes is more than enough. It depends on my mood, my level of physical pain, and my priorities for the day. As a busy writer, there is a tight schedule to adapt to daily life, so my kind of magick is direct, simple, and easy to follow through.

Elaborate setups I reserve for the major festival/Sabbats and the celebrations of the Moon´s phases. But there are little pieces of magick everywhere in my home. I have strategically placed them in every room of the house as a source of inspiration and for protection purposes as well.

To cure a witch´s block is as with writing : keep on doing daily mini-rituals, keep on believing it is worth the effort, keep on being creative with small means. To me, it has become a habit that never fails me, especially on a rotten day.

It took me time to realize that to be a witch it is not necessary to have ll the right tools, all the right texts to read aloud, all the right this and that. The most important tool is the witch herself/himself. The best text is often written on the go. There are no strict guidelines in witchcraft.

And it is quite alright that there will be times when you are practicing less or more than usual. It all depends on your intentions behind the wish to work with witchcraft on a daily basis. To be creative is to be able to see possibilities in the small things of life and make magick with what is available now.

At the moment, I´m only celebrating the big festivals and doing my daily tea ritual together with a sweet and clever seven-year-old girl, whose perception of magisk is even broader than mine, for she knows more than many people already.

Tomorrow, she is coming here to play, to be creative, and to be herself as much as I have energy to allow. It is a great pleasure every time, we get to know each other on a deeper level than I have with most grown-up people.

After a couple of hours with her, I feel inspired for a long time. Her directness and subtle ways of expressing pure joy and true feelings at the moment is half the way to creating intentions for work with witchcraft. She doesn´t know that, yet, for she must come herself one day as a grown-up woman.

Then, and not before, will I teach her, if she asks. It has to come from deep within her heart and soul, for it is not an easy choice of path. There is a lot of work behind the scenes, and sadly, there are still ignorant and hateful perceptions of witchcraft in this world.

For the remains of the day, I´ll write more notes in my research for my novel, and on Monday I´ll let you come close to my preparations for nine months of drafting in 2020. It is getting more serious by the day, and I admit, with a big smile, that I´m a writing addict.

Next Friday, I´ll show you what I do about daily mini-rituals when time is an issue. In a modern stressed world, it is extremely important to slow down from time to time, but it is getting increasingly difficult to find the necessary time between work and mundane problems to solve.

Writing this blog post has already inspired me to celebrate the Full Moon on Tuesday next week. I need beauty, inner peace and mental clarity. Dear Universe, let it be so that these three needs will manifest during and after my Full Moon ritual. So Mote It Be.

I wish you a happy and relaxing weekend, dear readers. May it bring forth the best in you, may it be worth your time, may you find what you search for. Now, it is time to enjoy the company of happy, sweet children with their Friday candy.