Ex Penna

For some odd reason, this topic has become almost passe with magical practitioners today.  I personally have been on the receiving end of many snarky comments or disapproving sniffs because I entertain the notion that one's bad luck might be more than just chance.  The way these conversations run, it's as though magic is an obvious reality but black magic?  Now you're just being silly!

But black magic can happen, has happened, and will happen again with increasing ease unless the people who can prevent it actually recognize that it's going on.  Witches are poised to protect all in their care from physical and spiritual dangers.  Why would we be so lax against magical ones?

Simple reasons, really.  I don't know just how it began, but I've noticed the trend of blaming the victim with statements like, "You could only have been cursed if you subconsciously wanted to be.  You invited it!"  and "No one can curse you without your permission."  So now the problem isn't that someone is attacking you and should be made to stop, but that you're a loser who wants to suffer.  Nice.  Or, there's the tack that magic only works in very specific ways:  "Magic only works if you believe in it" and "Curses don't work unless they know about it."  Sorry, but that's way off.  These sound like the words of someone who is hoping that that's the way it works, not someone who knows it.

Magic can be put on anyone, for any reason.  It can be done when they know about it or when they don't.  It can be someone you've known all your life or someone you've just met and don't even know the name of.  It can be for a real reason or a mistaken one.  It can be done on a person who believes in magic or one who doesn't.  Not to brag, but I've pretty much done all of that in my time and it all works.

It works because the only real rule about what makes a spell hit its mark is desire.  It's not about who's right or wrong--the only deciding factor is who wants it more.  If someone casts a spell on you to get you well when you're sick, it's a simple matter because your desire is to get well too.  There's no conflict.  But if a spell is cast on you to get sick and you are actively trying to stay well, now there's conflict.  The winner will be whomever has more desire for their chosen outcome.

That's the reason why it's so easy for curses to land on people who already have a poor outlook on life--they're working toward that same end already.  So there's another good reason to look on the sunny side.

What should I know about curses?

First, know that there are different levels of curses and they can affect a person in different ways.  I mentioned a few posts ago about teaching my daughter about the Evil Eye.  I'm a firm believer because I've seen it in action.  That's the main reason I don't usually tell people before I go away on a trip--any jealousy that is brought up by my bragging can ruin the whole thing.  The Evil Eye is just as easy as that.  Feelings of envy or anger are said to travel through the caster's eyes and into the other person, sometimes without the caster even realizing that he/she is doing it.  The eyes are able to give and to receive this evil, which is why the ancient Egyptians lined their eyes in kohl (the forerunner of our modern eyeliner) for protection. The Evil Eye presents itself as unexplained illnesses, depression, arguments, missing items, things that were in fine condition suddenly breaking or acting strangely (like your car or computer).  Think a "death by a thousand cuts" type of misfortune.

The more extensive curses are the kind that require items from your person, your photograph or image, or pieces of your clothing.  These spells are usually cast by people who really mean it.  It wasn't just a moment of jealousy that made him/her think about how they deserve your boyfriend more than you, but an overwhelming drive to take him away.  These are the mid-grade curses, and they come on rather obviously: specific areas of your life gone all wrong (usually in money or love) with the rest fairly untouched, losing the most important thing in your life.  When everything starts to go wrong, it's usually because you've been so busy trying to regain what you initially lost that you neglected the rest of your responsibilities.

The really big curses are, in fact, quite rare.  Usually any angry person will stop at the first two.  But this is for those particularly nasty people who have done something that the caster feels is unforgivable.  Here are the death curses, the long-term illness and diseases, loss of family, insanity, a ruined life.  These are the curses that are hard, if not impossible, to bounce back from.  They are very specific and wide-ranging.  Usually these spells require a lot more complex arrangement and ceremony and possibly include evocation of spirits or the use of semi-dangerous substances.  Not many people have the ability to do this, or the intense desire needed to pull it off.  That's good news for us all!

This last category, I would say, is the stuff that people worry about way more than they really need to.  Remember, you only need to defend with as much desire as that which is directed at you.  It's pretty darn unlikely that someone out there wishes this strongly to cause harm, but if they might (meaning: if you know you've done some big bad things and ticked off some big bad people), defend big!  Otherwise, keep it rational and moderate.  Stay aware of the possibility but don't run from every shadow.

How can I tell if I've been cursed?

If you've experienced something like what I've listed here, you can assume that someone has done work on you.  But that's not such a terrible thing.  Anyone who puts themselves out in the public eye--in a large or small way--runs that risk.  If you run a group, own a store, lead workshops, have a prominent job, are important in an organization or at work, or even write a blog or get vocal on Facebook, you can end up the target of someone's aggression.  That's the price of being known outside of your living room.  But, really, wouldn't you rather stand out and be honest with yourself than blend in for the sake of perfect safety?

Of course, you'll want to try the normal stuff first--change up your routine a little if you're feeling down or if things aren't going well.  Take care of your health and your relationships.  Don't let a set-back in one area of life override the positives in other areas.  Aim for balance and clarity.  If it's just a bad patch (or the caster wasn't very good!), things will fix themselves.  If not, then it's on to the next step:

What can I do if I think I've been cursed?

Many methods exist for removing curses and turning back evil, but I'll only give you the really simple ones so you can start right away if you think you might need their help.  A good place to start is with an egg.  Get a whole egg (the freshest you can) and take it someplace private.  Remove your clothes and lay the egg gently against your skin.  Rub it in long strokes over your arms, legs, torso, face, head--everywhere.  Make sure the egg touches every inch so the curse has no place to hide.  The egg will absorb all the harm and draw it from your body.  Once you are done, flush it down the toilet whole. 

To clear your house of a curse, use salt.  Sprinkle salt in the corners of each room or try shaking some salt all over the floors and then sweeping it up and out through each door until you get to the front door.  You can even sweep it out into the street so the curse can't be brought back indoors.  Salt in your bath or salt scrubs (as I talk about here) are another way to get this magical mineral to work for you.

Another handy method is to chop an onion into four quarters.  Keep chopping onions this way until you have one quarter for each room of your house.   Place each one in a bowl and pour some vinegar over them.  Then place these bowls in the rooms of your house.  In the bedrooms, they should go under the bed but in other rooms they can be anywhere on the floor that is unobtrusive.  The combination in them will absorb the curse.  This can also be done with whole garlic cloves and is said to turn the onion or garlic a pink color when they take on the evil.  Either way, dispose of them away from your home afterward.

Burn white candles and invoke the help of your deity/deities, patrons, and especially, beloved dead.  Asking for help works particularly well if the one you're asking cares about you deeply.  You might get a better response from that fiercely loyal grandmother your remember from your childhood than a deity you don't often call upon.

Of course, if you feel like you need more potent work done or would like pre-made and pre-charged items to assure your victory over evil, check out my shop for Black Cloud Hex Breaker candles and powder, plus the traditional cleansing and protection powder Cascarilla.  And if you'd like to go really big (or you've got really big enemies) request a personalized spell kit and we'll take 'em down together!

But however you decide to banish the harm against you, do it now.  There is no honor in ignoring a problem, hoping it will go away.

Sometimes it's fun just to bring out a blank slate and put down the chalk without having any idea of what will come next.  Being a Capricorn, I don't usually pull such capers as writing/painting/performing/attending events/public speaking, etc. without full knowledge of what I will do, how, when, where, and why, plus a complete agenda and outline.  But my shop is teaching me to let go of that, if only a little.

So I walk into a store or I wake from a dream or I see some long forgotten bottle or jar of something-or-other on a shelf in my workroom, and *flash!*--inspiration!  I've got an idea and I want to run with it.  I don't know what I'll do next exactly, but I've got the seed.  I start putting things together, arranging colors and supplies, researching ideas for more designs and more choices.  But I don't think about prices or consumer demand.  Those things are only secondary to the passion of creating something new.

Not to say that I don't think on a daily basis about pleasing my customers and bringing in the kind of items they express interest in, as soon as I can.  I do, and even now I'm hard at work on fulfilling some customer wishes.  But the chance to fulfill my own--especially when they weren't even conscious wishes until a moment before--is too exciting to ignore!

And yet the last thing I want to do is create for the sake of creation.  I love functionality!  I want it to have at least two uses, if not more.  I want customers to see a world of possibility in what I've made.  And not just a world I dictate, but one that is the child of their brain, one I couldn't have foreseen.  That, to me is the best outcome of my imagination.

Those flashes always come so fast and with such a brilliant light that I am compelled to get to work right away.  Which is a handy thing since the rest of the process is very, very long in comparison.  With an idea and a sketch that took 60 seconds, I can spend the following week in organizing the needed details (sources for materials, comparing prices and sizes, picking colors, correcting problems, drawing tons of design sketches...), and after that, I get to actually create the item (the sitting-still-hand-cramping part of the job).  As an Etsy seller (much as I do love it), the longest part is taking photos and creating listings.  Photos are fun to set up when you're trying for atmosphere, but a little tricky to pull off well.  To strike a compromise between clean, plain images and interesting ones is tough but always worth the effort.  I like the writing part best, naturally.  I try to craft short descriptions of my work that (hopefully) draw the reader into feeling a bit of that same excitement that spurred its creation. 

Being able to see each of these little projects to their end and then send them out to be a part of someone else's world is a real feeling of bliss for me.  And the more I do it, the more often come those great flashes of inspiration that shock me off my feet in surprise.  I see a little object or two colors side by side and *flash!*--there it is again!  Now I have a ever-growing folder full of these flashes, and I'm slowly working my way through them.  Some are ideas that customers have sent me, others are dreams or memories that I haven't thought of in years.  A few are pieces from my first manuscript that I'm working on getting published (cross your fingers for me!)  But most are just from some incredible moment when what I was doing and where I was standing seemed suddenly fortuitous, and a thrilling new idea was born.

Maybe this all sounds a little too grand for such a tiny corner of the world as my shop can market, and a tiny shop it is, but it is a joyful feeling to me to be able to open my mind to such experiences again and again, pluck from them something surprising, and then send them out to you.

So here is where it all begins--October 1st.  I, like so many other witches before (and beside) me, am getting my home, self, family, and magic prepared for the joyous season of Halloween.

Considering how incredibly busy the next 31 days will be, one would assume that I would dread its coming.  And yet, I can't wait.  I am smitten without shame for the entire Halloween season!

Because it all starts on October 1st here (and not a moment before!), I will give you the run-down of things I have planned for this month.

The Halloween Season at Quill's House:

1. Our decorations all come down from the loft first.  We get everything out and make sure it's still in good condition.  My husband and I talk about what we'd like to change this year, cool things we saw at the stores, where we'll trick-or-treat...basically spending this time getting really excited!
2. Clean everything!  All the regular cobwebs come down from the corners of the house and the fake ones go up.  We paper our entire living room with dungeon-wall hangings so a great deal of time here is spent in taking down and packing away everything "normal" on the walls.  Everything gets dusted before storage and where it was is scrubbed.  After all, I like to keep a tidy dungeon!
3. The dining room table is cleared of its usual stacks of books and half-finished projects and made pretty with candelabras, black candles, bottles of colored-water poisons and potions (that the local Johovah's Witnesses thought were real!), and a very dashing black and white curlicue tablecloth.
4. Outside, this is the time for final harvest from the fields and garden.  I preserve the tradition that anything which is left in the ground after All Hallows belongs to the dead (or the Pooka, depending upon your heritage).  So I start by harvesting everything from the garden that I can use, digging out the rest and turning the soil with some fertilizer.  As soon as I can, I also go to my favorite spots in the woods for late-year herbs.  I should be able to get a few more items for you all in the shop after this hunt!
5. Outside decorations are very specific.  One of our garden beds becomes a shallow grave surrounded by a barbed wire fence, the other a poison garden with my favorites marked by their folk names with black plant stakes, including Devil's Apple (Datura) and Deadly Nightshade (Belladonna).  Curtains of cobwebs, huge hairy spiders, vines of colored leaves, and a cauldron on a tripod in the middle of our yard...perfect!
6. Now's about the time to sit down to the big task--costumes.  This is where I take orders for the kiddos final vote (since their "what I wanna be this year" answer changes several times in the weeks leading up to October) and get a good idea of how I'll tackle the challenge of two fun, meaningful, well-constructed adult costumes you can dance in for my husband and I.  I take everyone's measurements and write them down on their own sheet.  Then I make a sketch of what they'll look like in the finished product, and one of it deconstructed into its formative pieces.  After that, I get out the newspaper and Sharpie and start measuring out the pieces and labeling them.  I cut everything and stack each costume's bits separately, awaiting the fabric that makes it real!
7. Shopping time!  I get to spend an hour or two cruising the fabric shop with my sketches, lists, and color combinations until I come up with just the right thing.  Or I just dig out the extra fabrics I have left from years past and see what I can salvage.  (Don't tell anybody, but the shirt to my lady Gnome costume from 2010 was a dyed bedsheet.  I think it might actually have once been my husband's Bacchus toga.  Shhh!)
8. Now comes the time to sew, sew, sew.  I have worked it out--I can do each costume, no matter how simple or complex, no matter the size or style, in 3 days.  That's my limit.  I can't seem to finish early, but I won't finish late.  How 'bout that?
9. Once the sewing is done, I fit everyone with their costume, adjust, and take lots of pictures to be sure I will still like it in a few days. (I'm neurotic like that)
10. Now it's time to plan the rest of our Big Trip.  Every two years, we go to Salem for the Witches Ball.  The drive alone is over 6 hours, so it takes a lot of work to be sure the timing, packing, and organization back home are all on cue.  Plus there's trick-or-treating to orchestrate (each town has it's night, so we could possibly go out 2 or 3 times) and school functions, too.  *Whew!*
11. Now for the organization of something a little more relaxing--food!  We like to have a feast on Halloween night with lots of theme foods that is still a functional dinner. With the kids eating candy until their teeth fall out, it's nice to get something good in them too.  What can I say--we're vegetarian.  So I like our veggie "walking tacos (a crushed snack-size bag of Doritos filled with Boca crumbles cooked with taco seasoning, plus lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese), a big bowl of guacamole piped with sour cream for a spider web and black olive spiders on top, and homemade "snake" stromboli stuffed with cheese and tons of vegetables, rolled, zig-zagged, and painted with food color stripes to look like a huge snake.  I like to try something new whenever I can and fill out the feast table enough to almost rival that of Yule!
12. After the feast comes the ritual.  Much to arrange and memorize.  Since our family began the tradition with our coven many, many years ago, we have not let the flame die on repeating this same rite.  We celebrate happily, recite poetry, sing, tell stories.  But then we reinforce the circle, fume with special incenses, and call up the dead.  I take the honor of being the go-between for any assembled spirits and use divination tools to speak for them.  We all give offerings to our beloved dead and retell stories of those we have lost.  It's always slightly painful, but it's the kind of bittersweet experience that I believe is helping our kids to grow up with sensitivity and respect for loss.  Like many others who follow Earth religions, I don't believe that this virtue is stressed enough today.

Needless to say, our kids don't go to school on the first of November.  That is part of our festivities and I couldn't imagine trying to rush all of the holiday into a neat time-frame that ends by 7:30 pm.  Our decorations come back down, with the solemnity of a funeral, about a week or so into November.  Then they are stored back in their solitary coffins in the loft until next year.

But, as always, it will be a season not to be forgotten and it's details will be retold for years to come.

Tonight I went into my workroom and sat down at my desk to prepare for some spells I needed to cast.  And, yet again, an essential piece was missing.  This time, it was the spell itself I couldn't find--the protection talisman I was talking about last time.  I set to finding it right away.  I knew it didn't come from any book I own, so it had to be in one of my big binders of filed information.  I pulled them down and looked; it wasn't under Spells, nor Amulets and Talismans, nor Sachets and Conjure.  None of the other categories fit, so I put the binders up and checked my BoS.  Being the pseudo-librarian I am, this, too, is heavily indexed.  But nothing!  I thought that maybe it was a newer addition to the book and had escaped my labeling, but no.  With a frown, I slapped my BoS back on the shelf.  *Humph!*  I was starting to get mad.  It wasn't in the "To Be Filed" folder I keep by my desk.  It wasn't in any of the notebooks I have stacked on shelves or slid in drawers.

Alright, hand it over, lady!

This is, sadly, nothing new.  I often discover that there are missing ingredients, missing jars and bottles, missing papers, tools, ink...you name it.  While making a batch of Vesta's Marriage Repair candles for the shop, I noticed my Reconciliation oil running a little low.  So I got into my books to assemble the ingredients for making a fresh bottle.  I went through all the books I own that contain formulas, all the binders, notebooks, and files I have that might contain the recipe.  I even went online to see if anything I found there looked familiar.  And I still came up empty-handed.  Anybody out there know how to make Reconciliation oil?

On the same day I wrote about cleansing the house I had done a ridiculous dash through the house searching for my censer, my head waggling left and right trying desperately to spot it in some out-of-the-way place.  When I finally gave up, I found it--sitting on a canister of wishbones on my workroom desk.  Was it there all the time?  Was this someone's joke?  How could this happen?  How could it continue to happen?   

With how crazy it makes me (and how hilarious it must look when I go crazy), I can easily imagine that this is the work of little peoples unseen.  But there's more to it than that to make me blame the fairies.  Firstly, I don't go in for the tinkly-music and bubbles version of fairies.  But neither do I see them as buxom coquettes with corsets and butterfly wings.  My views are a little more complex, yet also a little less defined.

I guess you could say that, from experience, I think the fairies are tricky, sneaky, and irritating--but all without malice.  Like a 3 year-old.  And like a 3 year-old, they can make anything disappear into nothingness by simply turning your back on them for 60 seconds.  If that thing is shiny, they will snatch it.  If it's movable, they might break it.  If it's something you want, they will indubitably want it more and prove it.  With a 3 year-old, you need to either safeguard all your precious things by putting them up before little fingers enter the room, or hope that you can shift their interest to a safer object once they've got something expensive in their grasp.  (Note: this isn't some disgruntled babysitter or friend-of-a-new-mommy talking--I've lived through 2 little ones and had numerous magical items get dumped, crushed, and drooled on in their time)  But with fairies it may not be so simple.  They can get into anything and move your stuff wherever they choose.  If you need it now, then it's all the more fun.

I first had this trouble about 10 years ago when I incautiously invited the fairies living in my yard/garden into our home for the winter.  "Poor things!"  I thought.  "They'll be so cold out there!"  Who I should have been pitying was me, since it was from that time on that all manner of items routinely came up missing.  They would--maybe--be found a few days later in some odd place for which no obvious reason could be found.  The tradition continues to this day with the kids' toys, school papers, my husband's projects, and my magical wares.  I had been tempted to blame it all on that one incident so many years ago, but I'm more inclined now to see it as another example of the attention that magic-making here brings from other places.

Part of the purpose of casting a circle is to keep back all the disruptive influences that are gathered by the act of casting a spell.  But most witches (myself included, of course) cast smaller spells all the time without benefit of a circle.  Some form of magic is to be found in this house at least 3-4 times a day.  That's a lot of circles!  And even if I did protect myself each time, I would have to cast it around the house to keep these pesky little critters away from my belongings.  Our house isn't very big and yet that's not very likely to happen. 

So here's my plan to regain my missing objects and set some limits for the future:

• Presents!  Everybody, from cranky relatives to immortal Gods, loves to get things. Offerings are a simple way to open up communication between two parties, no matter who they may be.  
• Tricks of my own.  I read about a little girl who came up with an ingenious way of dealing with her fairy troubles.  She and her father place a strawberry on the table and then put a glass over it, like a tiny force-field.  Then they announce to the fairies that they can have the strawberry when the missing item is returned.  I can just imagine them wringing their pointy hands and biting their little lips.  Grrr!
• Lure them back outside.  I think it must be the lateness of the year that draws them to our home's never-dull interior.  Outdoor activities and decorations soon-coming for Halloween may catch their eye better.
• If all else fails, it's back to the old standard of salt, iron, and St. John's Wort.  If they won't hand it back nice, I'll get nasty!  It's not as though I've got no weaponry!

So here's hoping that tomorrow morning I receive a pile of goodies heaped at the end of my bed as though Santa had been here, not the least of which are my missing talisman instructions and Reconciliation oil formula.

My family and I have many animals living in our home.  Our cat named Cinder, ball python named Hiss, and two parakeets, Helios and Phoebe (so named after the sun God Helios and His legendary chariot, Phoebus, meaning "shining."  Lil' Phoebe is all yellow, get it?), as well as our daughter's gerbil, Storm.  We have also, in our time, cared for a beloved dog, rabbit, a second gerbil, a third parakeet, two hamsters, a baby robin, a guinea pig, a massive cricket, and three cats (in this house, that is). 

But none of them are pets.  At least, I don't call them pets.  To me a "pet" is a critter you have around to entertain you, to name "Mrs. Snuggle-Wuggle-Kins," and put funny hats on at the holidays.  And they're not my babies (I have two of them already!).  All our animals came here after they no longer needed the care of a mother, so it's a rather moot point to insist on being "mommy" to them.  Plus, they all did have mommies.  Cinder's six-breasted mother was a lot better at feeding and cleaning him and his siblings than I could be.  Why compete?

Maybe that opinion is a little skewed, but my point remains that I don't acknowledge any owner in our relationship.  Our animals live here, play here, and get cared for, kept safe, and loved by all of us, but they are their own beings.  Almost all of the animals we've ever had here were rescues.  The rest showed an affinity to one or more of us before coming to live here.  I think it's only fair to give an animal the option to stay or go, like I would anyone else in my life.

This gets a little tricky when I think of all the traditional bits of magic that can be worked on animals/pets.  In addition to the standard spells with the aid of an animal, there's also spells to keep a cat from straying, to make a pet loyal, to turn an animal into a familiar (in the case of the spell I have, by placing a low-level spirit within the animal's body, like assisted possession), etc. make me question my standard attitude that all magic has merit within the context of the need which formed it.


So though Cinder missed us like mad when we went on vacation, and refused to cease meowing when we returned until he finally lost his voice, I've never felt that I had the right to force his loyalty or compel him stay home all the time.  Like a love spell, I can understand using magic to create artificial closeness in a more casual relationship, but not with someone who lives, eats, and sleeps with you. 

The exception to this rule of mine, of course, is protection from danger.  While I understand an animal's desire (and right) to come and go as it pleases them, I would never suggest it if it were dangerous to the animal.  We live near a road with infrequent but fast-moving cars and trucks.  That's part of the "charm" of country living--everyone knows there's no police nearby so they use the road as their personal Autobahn.  Poor Cinder has had to endure staying indoors for the past two weeks, while the absolutely lovely weather is calling him by name, because I needed to wait for the right timing to recharge his protection talisman.  When he has that, I don't fear him going out to play in the fields and chase grasshoppers.  Without it, even a solitary bask in a sunny grassy spot seems, to me, fraught with danger. 

Though keeping those I love safe and happy is always at the top of my list of important responsibilities, I am forced to reconcile this with the knowledge that our animals--like our children--may someday choose to go their own way without concern for those who gave them love and shelter for years. 

That's just the nature of life, though, and a witch never runs from life.

There are witches out there who do house cleansings on a regular schedule--like at the New Moon--but, as is standard practice for any busy mom, I do it when it needs it.  And today it really needed it.

For those of you who may not know just what that would feel like (and, honestly, most books don't explain), I'll give you the situation here at my house.  It all starts with irritation.  Everything irritates--not a lot, just little by little, like an itchy sweater.  I notice it in our kids; they fight over senseless things, they bicker and hit out of nowhere, doing routine things (like getting a shower) makes them super cranky, they cry and want nurtured while also pushing everyone away.  I notice it, too, in my husband; strange pains out of the blue that lessen outside our home, being both very tired and also sleepless, short-tempered, strange dreams.  And in me, naturally, it's easy for me to notice; I am anxious and tense over nothing, I anger quickly and tire quickly, I ache all over, I become overly critical of everything, and the house feels incredibly dirty to me.  It's this last one that really sets me off.  It's like the baneful influences are so thick on the walls that I can see them!  Then I know it's time to do something drastic!

Today was perfect timing since Gigi was doing all the standard chores (vacuuming upstairs and down, washing dishes, cleaning out the pets' homes, etc.) so once we were both done the house would be both physically and spiritually clean.  In the spirit of her new lessons on magic, I showed her how I make a wash (note: check the BONUS page for more on making washes!) and how to wash the walls.  I was using one to drive away evil.  She was very curious about where evil comes from so we talked about the Evil Eye and other ways that regular (non-witch) people can cast spells, plus spirits and other things that create bad luck.  I was quite proud to overhear her later that night as she perfectly answered her little brother's questions about the Evil Eye! 

While I washed the walls, I threw open all the windows in the house and burned a big batch of newly ground Clearing Incense.  I was sure I'd set off the smoke alarms, but somehow they remained quiet.  I usually pop out their batteries before burning a large amount of incense but since I often forget to put them back in until a few days have gone by (bad idea!), I would rather disable them only if necessary. 

With the incense burning away on our house altar, I also lit some white candles rubbed with Van Van Uncrossing oil.  On my personal altar, I also stood the Sun card from one of my tarot decks.  I was in full-out cleansing mode!

Hey!  I didn't get any cookies!

Stopping for dinner, I noticed how nice everything felt.  My husband always feels it first thing in the door, so I'll be watching him when he gets home from work in the morning!  After getting the kids to bed, I decided to finish the job right.  I scrubbed the floors with a bucket of washwater to which I added Van Van oil and Cascarilla powder.  All throughout the house I sprinkled the last of my saved Rose of Jericho Water and then put my dried rose in water to open again on a table in the living room.  The last step for me was to clear off my altars and wash everything before replacing it.  I rubbed the candles with special oils I got just for that purpose on my last trip to Salem and burned Offertory Incense for my Patron Gods.  I cleaned and spruced up the house altar and got out a new set of candles for my husbands' Gods. 

Now it's done.  Sometimes it's more elaborate than that, other times less.  But, to me, the job is done when it feels done, and not before.  If you're experiencing something big, by all means, go big when getting rid of it!  I once had a neighbor (who was a witch as well) and she gave me a whole laundry list of woes, from rampant illness to no income to mysteriously unfixable vehicles--and never thought of using magic before that point!  Please don't wait that long!  You're not over-reacting by cleansing when bad things happen--you're under-reacting when you wait for some critical point.

And P.S.--my neighbor's story has a happy ending.  I made up a kit for her out of the same things I use in our house.  Did the trick right quick!  And (prepare for the landing of a shameless plug for my shop) you can order that same kit (and many more) from Quill's Occult Supply. 

I'm so super proud of this beautiful new item in my shop, I've just gotta brag!  No one on Etsy offers brown cascarilla powder--until now!

Making brown cascarilla is more than just crushing shells of brown eggs.  Instead, white shells are flattened and then slow toasted for hours in the oven until they turn brown.  This is a long and very...fragrant...process (okay, honestly, hot eggshell smells awful!  It's like a roadkill casserole!  Bleck!  But, lucky for you, once cooled they are scentless).  After the shells cool, I grind them superfine by hand in my big marble mortar and pestle with chants and charms to drive away evil.  A lot of work goes into this little bag!

Cascarilla powder is such a potent cleansing and protecting agent that it can be used in any number of ways to guard from evil, malicious magic, and disease:

• If someone leaves a trick on your doorstep or you find some suspicious item in your home from an enemy, dust your hands well with this powder before picking it up.  This keeps the evil from transferring to you, and you can dispose of it safely.
• Add some to your bath water or sprinkle in the wash bucket for scrubbing the floor to disperse negativity. 
• Use cascarilla powder to make symbols on the floor or altar during ritual or spellwork. 
• Add a bit of water and use it to paint symbols on your skin or use it dry to dust your body for all-over protection.

All this magic talk has my mind percolating.  I'm in the mood for some spells--I'm off to my workroom for provisions!  Happy Equinox to you!

Related reading includes  The Magic of Iron,  Who is This "Joe Pye"?,  What's in a Spell Kit?