To begin you need a wand, which can be anything, anything to conduct your energy into the physical world from within your body. you can, of course, use your finger in desperate or dire circumstances, and i have, but a stick or metal piece are best. traditionally women's wands are made from wood, mostly holly, which has almost perfect grain and so the energy flows cleanly and easily through the straight fibers. willow is good for fluid adaption, yew is for powerful death magic. stripping a wand down to the wood and letting it sit in full moonlight is good. but none of this is necessary, because magic is entirely customizable!
Men's wands are sometimes metal; car antennae, rods, whatever. copper really helps conduct magical energy, and its easy to find! just rip open telephone wire, its all twisted and everything. but the one thing all wands should have is a crystal tip. a crystal at the end of a wand is crucial to good witch work. crystals are basically magical earth that grows (!) and are "alive" with their own life force and destiny and history. If you can, make sure you have a "happy" crystal that wasn't cut by a slave or stolen or has any bad energy attached. But a crystal can multiply, enhance, and refract light to make it more potent. and light is sort of the basis of witchcraft. "imagining" or visualizing light is the starting point to making things happen on the spiritual plane. you'll see....
- Take your wand in your left (feminine) hand and begin at north, go clockwise, and on the first lap you don't say anything, you just imagine a laser of white light coming from the tip of your wand. as you go imagine that you are walking a perfect circle and that your energy/magic is running down your arm, through your wand and out into the ground, creating a sheet of white light in a circle around you.
- Second lap say "I cast this circle to protect me/us from any positive or negative forces or energies that may come to do me/us harm. I draw into this circle only the most potent and correct energies for my/our work today." keep imagining that white laser coming from your wand.
- Third lap say "In doing so, I create sacred space. So mote it be."
First thing to do in your circle is invite the god and goddess to your circle by lighting a white/god candle and a black/goddess candle. then you need to call on the powers of the directions. face each direction and draw a pentacle with your wand or finger in the air as you call on it. begin with north, face north and say, "Forces of the North, Pentacles, Prosperity, Earth, and Wolves, I call on you!" draw your pentacle, then turn east. say "Forces of the East, Air and Wind, Intellect, Swords, and Birds, I call on you!" do your pentacle, then south. "Forces of the South, Fire, Wands, Passion, and Lions, I call on you!" pentacle then west. "Forces of the West, Water, Cups, Emotion and Intuition, and Sea Creatures, I call on you!" pentacle and then you're done! sometimes it's good to call on the 5th element, spirit, and light a candle for it. you can also call on the Void as it is there that you truly create. You can light candles for the directions too, or any of the planets/gods/angels for favor. a coven, traditionally four women, is the best, most stable way to "call the corners" or ask the directions for their power and favor.
Making spells in the circle requires that you "charge" every ingredient in your spell with your energy/magic/aura. Charging something means you put your energy in it and pull its energy into you. Things like herbs only hold charges for like 3 months, liquids like 6 months, and resins for a year or so. you must recharge things for spells to continue to work! the way to do it is to go into Alpha, or witch meditation. it's really just a mindset that allows for magic and manifestation. regular shmoes walk around with their brains thinking in Beta waves. Witches, when they are in the circle, go into "Alpha" and start using/manifesting/thinking via Alpha waves, which are more spiritual and affect the world more intensely. getting into Alpha is easy. it's done by the Crystal Countdown and which sort of activates and aligns your chakras so that you can act on the spiritual plane.
a red 7...
an orange 6...
a yellow 5...
a green 4...
a blue 3...
an indigo 2...
and a violet 1...
and then say to yourself, "I am now in Alpha." you should be in a heightened state where you can look inside yourself and see a pool of glowing, colored light. this is your aura, your magic, your energy. mine is bright pink. you can take this light and cast it. you can make shields with it, send it out in different forms, and do any number of things with it, but most importantly, you charge objects with it. pick up your spell ingredient, while in Alpha, and allow your inner eye to see the aura of the thing. cast your aura into it, watch the auras mix and make a new color, then draw the mixture into yourself. this is charging and you must do it with every ingredient you use in a spell. your wand must be charged before you use it. a wand-carrying witch must do this for you. if you know of none, make three circles of salt when you cast your first circle to charge your wand. salt is purity and protection and should keep you safe while you charge your own wand for the first time.
YOU MUST HAVE A PENTACLE FOR A CIRCLE TO FUNCTION. Pentacles are a simplified abstraction of the path Venus traces in the night sky every eight years. They represent the Earth, magic, prosperity, and protection. They sort of alert the spiritual plane that you are doing magic. It is a symbol for that connection and "means" "All is Magic", recognizing the magic spiritual energy of heaven present on earth. you can draw it in the dirt, with a sharpie, or buy a beautiful ceremonial pentacle, but either way, it's your calling card for the divine.
**A word of warning about the nature of magic: it is not a joke and can ruin lives: a sick man and his wife, neither witches, engaged in a desperate act. on his deathbed he asked her to give her life for his. she assented and was struck with a fatal illness while her husband recovered miraculously. there is magic in every act, every object, and every word so beware: love spells can end in rape and prosperity spells death, trust me. blood pacts are the most serious things imaginable and link you for life: do not enter into them lightly but don't be afraid to do so. linking your DNA/life force with another is as powerful a bond as dang near being related. messing with another's karma is also ill-advised. one woman did magic to make her son go to college, so he did, then he dropped out, dyed his hair green and moved to the west coast, leaving her with tons of debt. one woman wanted to "pay all her bills" and suddenly bills from years past were coming in. you must be fastidiously correct and specific about what you want from the universe. and, of course, all magic truly comes back to you threefold. It's best to include fail-safe clauses like "for the benefit of all" in your spells. if you screw someone with magic, it just comes back around, trust me, i've seen it. the best way to practice is to observe the witch holidays (wheel of the year) for the earth's natural holidays, and to make broad, generic spells asking for love or prosperity or protection. Because all spells run their course and there is no stopping a spell; once you do it, you cannot undo it. so embrace your birthright as a magic-user, but don't let it go to your head, because it can lead you to many a dark place, but other than that it can basically take you over the rainbow if your heart is pure and you look to serve the spirit. blessed be and happy casting!
