Welcome to between three witches, where we talk about
witchcraft in plain sight everyday magic lived honestly
and it's hosted by three witches me, GAIL, the witch next door
the. Vicky the Wheelie Green witch.
And me and None, the anonymous witch.
We all walk different paths with different levels of experience,
but we share a deep respect for the craft as it is actually
practice and not the dramatized version that people expect.
Today's episode we dive into a topic that always gets people
talking and we are back for round two.
It's the basics of witchcraft and the terminology because we
couldn't squeeze it into one episode, so let's hope we can
squeeze it into two. But before we get into all of
that, how have we been since the last episode?
Pretty good. Really, really, really good.
I transported myself back into 1990, turned my phone off and
had the most fantastic and relaxing and very ground in time
so I am all good. That sounds amazing.
So lots of reading, relaxing, no scrolling.
No scrolling, had a complete media break which was really
really nice. I do need to get back to it
though, but it was well worth it.
I would say do that everybody take a week off from scrolling.
It was amazing. I've been quite tired to be
fair, like I was talking to both about it.
I think hormones are starting to knock at my door, which is
delicious. I think the moon has had a lot
of things to do with it as well. But no, I'm starting to feel a
bit more back to normal and I honestly think the clock change
has helped. Normally it takes me a good week
to get back to any kind of what time are we, where are we?
But I think the lighter evenings, the lighter mornings
has really helped. Oh yeah, such a relief in it
when the, when the clocks change and I still hear the birds
chirping actually. And it's like late evening here
now. So it does make a massive,
massive difference. But I feel you as well.
I've been feeling quite emotional and questioning
whether it's hormones because it probably is.
But it's also the full moon tonight that we're recording and
I have definitely felt it this week.
It feels quite like I need to do a lot of shedding and
reevaluating pretty much what a full moon does.
It highlights all the things that you've been ignoring,
probably too much scrolling like Vicky's just acknowledged.
But I'm going to a full moon ritual tomorrow, which I am so
excited about. It's in a year in a part of
where I live, and I've been there before to a yoga session,
but this is a full moon specific session with a group of women a
couple of hours. But it's also what I'm really
excited about is there's there's an outside sauna there, so they
do a sauna ritual straight afterwards and they've got a
cold dip. It is the most beautiful place.
I am, well, excited. So my whole evening tomorrow is
going to be no social media, although I probably will take
pictures because I can't help myself.
But I won't be. I'll be sitting in circle with
other women, sharing the energy, hopefully shedding some of the
things that I've been weighing me down.
And yeah, can't wait for that. I love a full moon ritual, that
is for sure. But do you?
Are you guys doing anything for the full moon?
Probably go under and under the moon.
I'll go under the moon. I have little moon patio.
Oh nice. With the little fire pit and
I'll probably go and sit there for a bit.
In my mind, in my mind, I've got when you said I'll go under the
moon, I feel like you're going to be naked under the moon.
I don't know why I won't do this.
To neighbors? No.
Maybe. Maybe I had a tent I would for
them with an open top. No.
I'll save the neighbors from that.
Well, you know, everybody thinks that's what our switchers do.
We get naked under the moon. So, you know, I just have to
check. I have to check.
I normally like speaking to the full moon.
I always have since I was a little child really.
So no big ritual, I guess it's just going to be me speaking by
an open window and just having a kind of general conversation, I
think, and just asking how the moon is for once, rather than
that beautiful bitch up there listening to all my problems.
Yeah, I love that. And do you know what the reason
I asked is? There's a lot of questions
around this time on social media.
I get lots of inboxes about what rituals should be doing.
How should I focus on this and actually just go in and sitting
under the moon is enough and having a conversation is enough,
or getting naked if you feel called to.
But the point is, it doesn't need to be the big rituals.
I'm fortunate enough to share that space tomorrow, but we
don't have to either. Like not everything needs
leaning into I think is the reason I brought that up.
OK, so basics of witchcraft and terminology, we will pick up
where we left off. We are still on some of the key
terms and the one that we didn't get around to is grounding.
And actually it sounds like we've all had a bit of a week
where we need to lean into grounding.
But but what does it mean to you and on in terms of grounding?
Do you do it enough? Is it a big part of your
practice? Oh, 100%.
I think both protection and grounding for me is fundamental
to my practice. It's a way of stabilization,
stabilizing myself, my emotions, taking back all the layers.
Essentially, what I feel about grounding is that it allows me
to just be still and to be quiet and to allow myself to listen to
the universe, to listen to my inner self, my highest self.
And like we've been talking earlier, you know, sometimes the
world social media can be loud, it can be heavy.
And grounding is a really important practice for me to
just stop, to press the pause button.
It's also about protection. But it's important.
It is just that important aspect of, yes, doing it from a
visualization point of view, you know, that kind of classic
imagining the roots, you know, growing from from your body and
embedding itself into the earth. Or it can be something physical,
like a physical touch, touching the actual ground with your bare
feet or even with your hands. It's just a beautiful process
for me. Yes, it's actually the thing I
do the most. Even though I was talking, I
feel a bit untethered this week, but grounding is something that
I do every single day without fail.
And I think, like you say, it's a protection for me as well.
It's not just about feeling rooted and making sure that I'm
coming back to myself, but it is also a way to protect my energy
as well without letting it go out.
But protection for me, up protection, even grounding for
me and the things I do to ground is simple activities.
Like you say, the visualization about seeing roots growing out
from underneath my feet. And I can do that sat at my
desk. I can do that walking around as
well. But I do like to hug and touch
trees and touch grass. Today I touched one of my
favorite trees and it's covered in Moss and I just spend a
couple of seconds even. It doesn't need to be like a
hugely long practice, but just taking in deep breaths,
anchoring myself into that moment, feeling into the earth
energy of the tree and of the Moss.
Oh, it's so soft. If I wasn't so self aware, I'd
probably be rubbing my face against that tree.
If I wasn't thinking somebody's going to walk by any second.
I don't mind them seeing me touching it.
But yeah, if I'm rubbing my face against a tree, I might try and
do that in private. But for me, for me, grounding is
something that is absolutely essential in in magic, maybe
even before protection. And because I think they are one
in the same. So when we're doing spell work,
grounding before that spell work is absolutely critical to make
sure that you understand exactly why you're coming into that
space as well. So if you can't visualize,
something I've got in my toolbox is an oak wand.
And it doesn't need to be a wand.
It could just be a piece of oak or it could be a stone.
And if I need a bit of extra visualization, I will hold on to
that. And it it brings me back to a
favorite tree of mine that I don't visit that often, but it's
a beautiful, very old oak tree. But anyway, that's my kind of
grounding practice. So if you do find it's a hard
thing to visualize. And actually I've had some of
these questions recently as well.
You can touch something to ground.
You can use something to smell as well.
If you like the smell of pine or essence or incense even, or
something that reminds you of something that's grounding and
anchoring, you can use touch, smell, sound.
You could put like earth noises on around if that helps you
ground them. So it doesn't have to just be
about visualization because I know that's not always for
everybody, but I can visualize and I always find a spot in my
mind where I go back and ground. But there are also other things
that I do, like holding my wand, like touching stones, like
having incense on that. It's got a certain aroma to it
as well. But grounding for me is not just
about recentering myself. It's something I do before my
magic. It's something I do before I go
to bed, actually even something I think about before I wake up
in the morning. It's not just, it's not just an
intention of feeling grounded, it's about making sure I'm
anchored into the energy of the day as well.
And that goes back, funny enough, we were talking before
about how hard our weeks been before we came onto the podcast.
But I do give myself a hard time sometimes because I forget.
I do do that every single day. Even though I feel untethered
sometimes. It's a great way to come back to
it. What I I use touch a lot can't
actually fill my feet because that is part of who I am and
part of my condition. Everything else.
So I use my hands a lot. I ground through my hands.
I can visualize if I do visualize, but I do also I like
to hold a heavy stone. I've actually got a few stones
that I've picked along my journey on different things and
go that's my ground in stone. Keep a Moss bowl indoors when I
can't get out and about because sometimes that happens.
I've actually got Moss indoors. I've got a Moss bowl indoors
that I can actually just touch. I ground all the time, again,
before any workings, before I make any big decisions.
It's, it's not something I know some people say grounding with
meditation, ground yourself first before you meditate and
imagine the roots coming down. And that works really, really
well. But also it's not something
floaty spiritual. It's about coming back into
yourself, which is basically what I did for a whole week last
week, so. A Moss.
I use Moss to make my abundance bowls sometime, but you're
right, having a Moss bowl would be incredible.
Like ignore the abundant stuff because it's such a gentle, slow
paced energy that's attached to Moss as well.
You know me, I go down a whole rabbit hole with my affinity
with plants. But the energy that that gives
off, if that's an option to anybody listening to be able to
create some sort of muscle or feel it when you're outside
because it's everywhere. It's even in the cracks of our
pavement, for goodness sake, because it's so slow and steady
and doesn't hold back. It's a it's a beautiful
grounding plant. I think I'm not, I'm not pushing
Moss bowls. But if you live in a flat or
you've got a chronic condition and you can't go out all of the
time, actually Moss bowls are really quite easy to keep and
you can have that near you. So if you can't go out for the
day because you're too tired, you've got chronic fatigue,
you're in too much in pain, actually, that can really help.
That ground in using the Moss bulk can actually really help.
It's just one of those things it.
But it's a really good air purifier as well, isn't it?
Yeah. So it's yeah, pretty good for
that as well. OK, so this one, the next one
then. Protection is quite a broad
subject. Think maybe we'll touch on the
basics today because actually I think protection could be a
whole bloody episode in itself and what it means in different
practices, what it means not only energetically from a
personal perspective, but also from a spirit LED perspective.
So maybe we'll just go around the energetic protections for
ourself and what that means. Protection then if we're going
to just briefly talk about it again, it's part of my
fundamental parts of my practice.
It's a way to set my boundaries, whether that be symbolically,
energetically like what you were mentioning.
Emotional boundaries are so important and I think a lot of
us can forget to mention that. But it's also physical.
So when I view my spiritual or energetic protection, I also
view it as like we hear a lot of people saying, are you going to
leave the front door open or unlocked?
You know, are you going to leave your bag unattended with your
purse in there or your wallet full of money or your phone on
show? And it's about really thinking
about the different layers. It's really thinking about
whether you're going to work more on an energetic level,
again, visualizing a shield or some form of barrier.
It's also cleansing, cleansing your space, so cleansing your
physical body as well. Like we've mentioned previously,
like what Vicky was saying, and I love this, it can also be
carrying an object, an object that can represent protection,
whether that be a stone, whether that be jewellery or something
that ancestors have have handed down, that you view that as some
form of protection. For me, this, this is so
important. It's verbal, verbal protection.
It's OK to say out loud to a person or energy or something
spiritual, no? Words are spells, and we hear
this as just a flippant comment all the time.
But what we say shapes our reality and it also has a
magical impact. So when we say no, that is such
a magically defensive act. And it's not always about going
no bluntly, but it's having that enforced boundary of a no.
It does get thrown around going words or spells.
And no, as a as a boundary like those levels of protection
should not be underestimated. Boundary work and personal
boundary space with others is a huge one.
Behalf of protection is actually being grounded enough to notice
when something's off, which is why I'd actually put ground in
before protection, which is. Me too.
May irritate people. No, me too.
I think groundings the first level of protection to be.
They're all, they're almost on a level basis, but I put ground in
first because you're more likely to notice when you might need to
put protections in. I have layered protections, some
of them are wards. So they are, they're a bit more
of an ongoing type protection that I will look after,
energetic protections. I will use candles as
protections if I'm doing a particular work in.
But the main thing is, is just drawing that boundary and being
grounded enough to know when to draw the boundary when something
falls off or or actually pop that in before something falls.
Off and that and that's the key, isn't it and that's what we want
to really reflect to beginners because protection does run very
deep and it is fear mongered across social media spaces when
we start working with spiritual energies and deities and make
sure you put your protections up, but then everybody goes
well, what the flipping neck is protection.
What does that mean? What am I protecting myself from
So first and foremost before we're going into that deep dive
spiritual work like most people are not doing that kind of work.
So you don't need to start worrying about doing the hella
loads of protection. You need to just start with
yourself. So when you are ready to start
moving into much deeper levels of work, that's when you start
investigating those deeper levels of protection, which
we're not going to go into in massive details that you say
warding is one of them. There's different levels and
actually drop in the comments because we are open to doing a
whole podcast on this because I think it's it's worthy of that.
But just as a beginner touch base, make sure that you've got
your boundaries, you're grounding yourself.
You understand when your energy feels off.
You understand when other people's energy may be impacting
you. And if you are going to start
doing spell work or working with different entities, understand
what it means to protect yourself energetically.
We couldn't go through all the whys and wherefores within this
one episode because otherwise we're going to have 17 episodes
of beginners. But some of the other things I
do in terms of protection is I wear my protection in terms of
sigils and symbols and crystals. So I'm bloody laced in it.
I've got evil eyes and pentagrams and all sorts of
things. Different, different crystals
for different things. Tourmalines, which is favorite.
But it's also a great transmuter of energy every day.
I kind of layer that up as I go on my day.
But you can also work with herbs in that way as well.
If you want to carry a sprig of Rosemary, for instance, in your
back pocket, remember to take it out before you do the washing.
But but you get the gist. So there are things that you can
work with in terms of that. And then just like like simply
energetically protecting your home.
So I love iron. Iron is a great folk magic
protector. I have iron in several areas of
my home that could be railroad spikes, it could be iron nails,
iron keys, all of those type of things.
That iron I absolutely love, and I know Anna may speak up about
this because iron does sometimes get linked to warding of or
protection from fairy. So I don't use it.
So it is, is that actually, we might go off on a tangent a bit
here, but does it, does it protect from the phase?
Well, that's probably why I've got no FAE then.
I've got a weird stance on it. So far I haven't heard anybody
else say this. I think I mentioned it on one of
your Patreon lives. Gay away.
Someone was asking me about this and I view Iyan although I don't
use it. I view Iyan as something that is
from the land and how I work with the fairies is that in my
experience to keep them away I would use man made products.
So things like litter, things like plastics are things that I
have found that they Gen. they seem to detest.
So I would say iron is yes, it's it's man made, but it comes from
the earth, so. Where I live, there's actually a
natural iron strip that runs through the earth, and so the
earth is really, really, really red.
And I naturally live on a whole big swathe of iron.
So I don't tend to use buying nails and stuff for protection
within my garden because I live on top of it basically.
So I use other protections. Oh.
It's amazing though, but look how different we all are with
our different views. And that's a really important
factor, right, that we all got different ways that we practice.
I absolutely love iron, so don't come near me as heavy too.
I will, but no way. I'm really interested about that
fairy one. And as you know, I've just been
gifted a book called The Fairy Courts by Morgan Gamer.
I hope I have got her name right.
But the Fairy Courts is about Scottish fairies and on.
It's the fairy, the Sealy and Unsealy.
And what I did read yesterday is that Unsealy is actually a
modern viewpoint like that terminology was never used.
It was that they were always Sealy.
But another thing I do around my home as well is like put bells
on my doors, vigils on things as well.
I've got evil eyes as well knocking about the place.
House plants. Yeah.
Oh my God, yes. I've got several house plants
and as you know, I did just kill one because it absorbed too much
negativity in my office from work.
From a, from a basic standpoint, like we say, it's touching upon
making sure that you're energetically protected and your
houses and cleansing and grounding and all of those
simplistic ways of protection. When we look at the heavy
protection as we work deeper into our practices, we are happy
to talk about that, but it's probably not for this episode
and. I think just to add my
perspective, when you're starting on this path and you're
not not necessarily doing the big heavy stuff, actually maybe
don't overprotect yourself. That's going to sound counter
intuitive, but what you don't want to do is block yourself off
from everything. You don't want to lock yourself
into a little box. That's not necessarily the best
way to to go with it. OK, so coming onto common tools
and what they mean they're an altar.
What does that look like in your practice?
Maybe I'll go first because I I never ever show my altar on
social media. That's a personal preference.
I don't judge people who do it to less.
My altar is an absolute shit show if I'm honest, and
everybody's expectations on social media is that it's
perfectly curated and I can see it from where I'm sitting.
It's blocked in my shed, so when I record you can never actually
see my old space. But I do have a seasonal candle,
which I do share online every, every fire festival, as you
know. And then I've got lots of
personal things. But alters an altar for me is a
place I come back to, is the place I do my spell work, my
specific spell craft. But it's a place where I hold
things that are meaningful and important to me at that time.
So it's ever changing, ever evolving.
And it's not aesthetic is my my biggest point to make here.
There are no rules for me. I think when I started back
years ago, I remember really focusing on where I thought
everything should be placed. And as I learnt and educated
myself, I understood that was very Wiccan belief, that you
have things in certain angles and curated in certain ways and
you have to have certain elements covered on your altar.
Well, you don't. I mean, you can if that feels
authentic and genuine to you, but it's also not necessary.
An altar for me is place where I commune, where I put my respects
for everything that I've got, like my gratitude place as well
as my respects for all of the all of my spirit team that I
work with because that's just an area I could go to.
But it's difficult for me to talk about everything that I
place on there because it is very personal to me.
And I think that's the message I would give to anybody.
It needs to be personal to you. There are no fixed rules, but
that's what an altar space is and actually traditionally like
through all of religions, there's lots of different types
of altars as well that do have different rules.
But from a witchcraft practitioner perspective, that's
my my view. What about you Victoria?
What's your altar? Is it a shit show?
Is it rated I've? Got a couple of shit shows.
Actually. I do.
The ones you see online from me are set up for online.
I do not show my real altar or altars.
I have an outdoor one. I know, I'm so jealous.
Why have I not got an outdoor alter man?
I, I just really like plants in the earth.
Oh yeah, I've got an, I've got an outdoor one, I have an
outdoor one, I have an indoor one.
Everyone just stays well away from.
And it is a shit show. It's personal to me.
It's, it's got the things that mean something to me or if I'm
working on something, particularly in a, for a
particular work in, I'll do my workings at that.
I'll move it around And I don't necessarily say, oh, this has to
be here and this has to be here. I literally say, I want to do a
particular work in. I'll actually look at my offer
and go, right, how does this need to be for that?
So I will change mine around quite a lot.
Lots of gratitude there. Also just breathing a bit of
ground in there. Tend to do my workings there,
which is why I like to do workings outside as well.
I have a couple of different areas where I do workings
outside. There's a little area in the
garden specifically for that. Yeah, I love that.
I don't think my garden is big enough to be honest, but maybe
that's a future future me thing. But you know what?
I feel like alter, like being at my old space is such a personal,
private moment. If it was in my garden.
I'm not saying I want to hide from my family, but it just
feels it needs to be. I've tucked mine away with a
few. Wages.
Yeah. Tucked.
Mine away. Well, I think I've said this
before. I would say my main altar is
nature. It's outside.
Whether that be the coast, whether that be a specific part
of the forest that I enter very regularly and it depends with
the kind of energies that I want to work with as well or the
spirits. I'll go to specific places.
The majority of the altars I have inside my house, no one
would know they're an altar, but that's my preferred practice.
So like I mentioned before, I have ancestral altars, which can
be as simplistic as a photo frame.
And I think that's important for me so that when you know my my
children's friends come over, they're not overwhelmed by
iconography or images and they're not going back to their
parents or guardians or loved ones to explain.
I've just seen a goat's head. Oh my God, how many kids have
you got over your house? It sounds like you're that works
down the road where all the kids.
Go all the time. I can't get rid of that man.
They eat me up to have small our.
House used to be like when my children were smaller they lived
with me or younger when they lived with me.
Our house was like that. I did exactly the same thing.
I had my bedroom, which obviously the door was shut, so
that's where my altar was with some slightly, if you feel like
freakier things that kids would think, you know, the stoles and
stuff. You've got freaky stuff in your
bedroom. You've got freaky stuff.
In. Your bedroom.
Whatever. Else do you have to?
Keep your PG downstairs, you know.
What though? But the kids, well, they
actually love it when I have kids around here.
Like they, they bow the crystals.
I mean, I've lost a lot to the kids because you have to give in
to them, don't you? But I'm a huge crystal person
back. But yeah, they love all the
weird and wonderful. Well, obviously whatever free
queues in Victory isn't for children.
But I think Ynon's right in the sense that you don't want to put
your, your children's friends off because, oh, we went to the
weird house, you know, so it does make sense.
Yeah. Now my my children are grown up
and they've left home and and so I have things a bit more out in
the open. Yeah, I have a specific cabinet.
I think I've shown you both that I bought from a charity shop and
I've got cabinets in there where certain jars are, let's just put
it that way, which I will not mix up those with any of my kind
of positivity or kind of protection or ancestral things
within my home. They are very separate, very
contained and locked so that little fingers will not go enter
in without me knowing. Yeah, that's where I feel
privileged to have my literal space.
Like, this whole shed really is my altar, to be honest.
But yeah, so I can keep all types of weird and wonderful.
I had a friend down here last weekend.
They came over and I was like, do you want to come down and see
who said she brought me loads of Charles, actually.
And then she got freaked out. She's like, because I showed her
my duckling, She's like, it's fucking baby duck.
And I'm like, yes, it's a big, oh, you know, somebody like
squirming away. And I didn't have the energy.
Well, I probably had too many wines.
And then I showed my drunk taxidermy mole as well.
So yeah, I love that I can keep all my weird and wonderful shit
down here. I've got a.
Question, do you lock your shed when you're not in it?
Yes, yeah, it's locked up. I'm going to get the random the
random local thief going in thinking they're going to get a
lawn mower and suddenly be confronted.
That random thief will have a shock because I'd be fuming, but
what I do worry about is leaving my candles on.
But let's not put that out in the universe, all right?
Other common tools Ather may Do you guys have one?
Now next question. I've got.
I've got like a. Well, no, I haven't got nothing.
I've got a selenite athermae which I use for cord cuttings
but Athermae is basically a a knife but it is more Wiccan
based. I would say it's part of that
practice and directing energy. I love a wand.
I've got a million ones but again, I think they're more
modern. These aren't like folk.
Traditional. Type practices.
So I guess it depends on you. Sorry, I I just use a standard
basic nail, I think that I found in my garden that I've had for
use that I carved my candles with.
I've had it for use and I I had a wand gifted to me, which I
it's more display. It's there again, my 2 little
Merlin's love it, but I've never ever used it for anything
connected to my practice. Like I said before, my my wand,
my wand is my finger, yeah. There's too many jokes in that,
but I mean, well, you can see at the corner I've got lots of
wands and I've just used some of my wands actually to make some
beaters for my drum. But I I use my wand more in
terms of the the correspondence of the wood.
So I'll use it to use as a grounding tool or within my
practice. But they are really good at
directing energy if you feel called to use it in that way.
Same as anathemae, A wand can be used in that way as well.
Yeah, it can sort of focus. It can focus a bit of energy.
And yeah, absolutely. I'm going to you on the podcast,
you won't see this, but that's my.
But that wand? It's a walnut, and it's the
family walnut tree. So.
And then obviously I've got carvings on that, that that
suits it. With regard to Athamain, no, but
I do have a patinaed working knife.
So it's patinaed, which means it's sort of back on and doesn't
reflect light on one side and the other side isn't.
And for me that represents balance and the balance in the
working that I'm doing. But it's a working knife.
So that will go out and with me that, but not generally in
public, I mean clearly, but that will go out in the garden with
me that will and cut my threads that I'm using.
It's a working knife. It'll carve the candles.
I don't. But it's got it's got magical
energy attached to it around the back, which has.
Been patinaed for me. Yeah.
But these, I mean these common tools and what we're talking
about, again, I've got chalice on the list.
It's not a necessity. We hear about them because of
Wiccan practices that made them evolve into what people thought
we had to have on our altars. Anathemae, A wand, A chalice,
but chalices all cup. I mean, you can use a mug for
goodness sake, but using a drinking goblet of some kind is
used very much in deity work right when we're leaving
offerings. But it doesn't need to be a
fancy chalice is my point. It could be just a little
crystal glass that we had from our Nan and we're giving a a
drop of Sherry on our altar space because it's got symbology
around it. But it doesn't need to be a
chalice, but a chalice specifically I but I think is
more based around what Wiccans have within their altar space.
It, it can represent femininity as well.
You know, that sense of the womb.
I mean, I, I, I do have one. It's, I'll have to show you a
picture. It was my grandfather's and it's
a very small crystal red jug. It's only small, but I will use
that for more ancestral working because of the connection.
But as you said, if I want to add water to anything that I'm
doing, I'll just use what I've got to hands, to be quite honest
with you. Folk practitioners before we all
have the name, which is like a common tool was thread.
And I mean, Ricky, I know you're a massive not magic fan and I
use it sometimes, but thread and iron nails or nails like you
said and on you've got a nail that you picked up at the garden
and that means more to like stones and natural objects.
Again, the wand you've got is made from a wood that is very
specific to a family tree. So all of those things hold much
greater magical reference than just having the wand because
it's a wand, or just having the chalice because it's a chalice.
Here's the thing, I think tools are where people think, right,
I'm going to be a witch and they go and panic buy stuff.
I must have a cauldron. I must have this, I must have
that. Actually, do you know, what if a
tree has left you a nice stick because it's been wind, you
know, windfall sticks and you look at you think actually,
yeah, that I can, I can. I don't know where I'm going to
put that. I've got, I've got one that I
actually not quite sure what I'm going to do with it at the
moment, but I know it's for me. So it's to the side and I'm
working it out. While I'm thinking about, I
chatted to Nevermore Aries about this, about doing a wand
workshop. She's been waylaid in the US for
some family matters, but we're hoping to catch up again.
Hopefully I've not given away too many secrets and she'll kill
me. She's like, oh, I really wanted
to, but you know, we could. And this is it.
You find a piece of wood and then you make that into
something that's specific for you.
Because I do love a wand, but I love the the correspondence of
the word and what it means way more than the actual wand
itself. And that's what you're saying.
You think what you know. Yeah, absolutely.
And I think when you craft it, that becomes witchcraft.
Yes, Yeah, that's a very simplistic way of putting it.
There is the hands on with it. I'm going to work with that wood
and I'm going to work out where it's the one that I've carved
now I'm I'm not very good at sculpting.
I'm not very good at sculpting. I'm not very good at carving.
But but I worked with the wood. I got to know the wood, I held
it, I imbued it with me. We worked together.
And that means so much more than purchasing one, to be fair.
And that's in the trees as well. You know, it's, it's important
to build up that relationship. Ask for a gift, go back the next
day, and if you don't find that specific words from the tree
that you really, really want, there's a message there.
You know, craft is about patience as well.
It's about understanding. You might want something, but
you're not going to get it straight away.
It took. I'm trying to think how old.
Oh I'd say about 8 years for the walnuts to allow me to have a
nice windfall and peace, and I gave a nice little off room for
that, but I obviously wasn't ready for it and when it turned
up, I know why it turned up for me.
OK, so Pentacles pentagrams, do you work with them in your
practice? What does it mean to you?
Yeah. So mostly work with pentagrams
that represents the elements and spirit etcetera.
For me that's that's how that works.
I don't wear of tentacles. I do happen to have one.
So when I say I'll work with them, I do happen to have one on
a pestle and mortar. And the reason I have that is
because it actually looked kind of cool and I really liked it
and it works well for me. So but I don't necessarily work.
Is it this? Pestle and mortar.
Is it? No, but I'll show you it I'm.
Sorry, I've just, for those who can't see, I've just gone down
on my desk and I've got a pestle and mortar and it's got a
pentacle on it. Oh, look at that.
But you've got a. Mine's mine's a black one.
With a marble one. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I can't. I can't show you.
I'll have to send a. Photo Well never want the foxy
lady. I love this it's so deep.
This pestle of mortal that is a. Nice one.
Mine tends to sort of splurge out.
So yeah, you can smoosh stuff. It kind of splurges out, but
yeah. So you'll find.
I wanted a little pestle of mortar.
Happened to find one in the witchy shop and so it happened
to have put that symbol on it. So that works for me.
That's fine. OK, Anna, what about you?
Do you work with Pentacles pentagrams?
Yeah, with, with both. So I, I do believe that they are
closely related, but they're not the same.
I do wear a pentacle because I do find it hard personally to
find a pentagram jewellery without that circle in it.
But the circle is part of the protection and it's protection
from energy entering towards me if that makes sense.
So I don't feel the circle as containing the pentagrams
energy. I view it as protecting me and
the and from certain energies that I have specifically
requested it to do and to protect me from.
And I wear that daily. I do not take it off at all.
I love the pentagram. I love the symbology of it, that
continuous line, how we draw it, whether it's up or whether we're
bringing the line down to us. I adore that.
But with regards to the pentacle, we we do see this a
lot in the kind of old church designs and a lot of the time
there was a circle there because it was easier to construct and
it allowed the stability of the star to be there to exist as
they thought for eternity. So as much as you know the
pentacle might be classed as a very modern sign, I still value
its shape and I still value the idea of the circle.
And I I, I value the star and the circle as harmony, as
balance, and come in together to work with myself with what I
need it to be. Does that make sense?
No, it really doesn't. And this is where our thoughts
and education changes, right? Because my understanding of the
Pentacle is that it was constructed more so modern day
by occultists in ceremonial magic as a way to protect the
energy. But that's my understanding.
But from what you said, Anon, you've got a different
understanding. So it resonates in a different
way. It's more like a protection for
you. So I will only ever wear apart
from this ring because it's the design, because you can't really
have a point on a ring. I will only ever wear a
pentagram because it's for me or what I currently know.
Like way more ancient. It dates back thousands of years
whereas the pentacle was much newer.
But now it makes me want to go away and understand it.
And please let us know in the comments if you guys have got
any more education on it. But I thought the pentacle was
more around ceremonial magic. Rather, an ancient symbol of
protection. Yeah.
And whereas I don't, I don't. I understand it as the language
usage changing with modern times on the flip side of things, but
within archaeology and history, actually both were used.
Yeah, interesting. Well, it looks like we have all
got different viewpoints, which is again, a nice, interesting
part of the practice, right? Because, and it's always useful
to keep your mind open to that just because you think you know,
something actually, is that something different that we
should learn about? Now?
I'm going to go away and read about that tonight.
OK, so types of witchcraft then. This is a very popular way to, I
guess, label ourselves on social media.
There's lots of witches that identify as a different type of
witch. I know from my practice online,
I call myself a Celtic earth witch, which is absolute
nonsense. It's not even a thing.
I've made it up for my own practice.
But I'll come on to that in a second.
Vicky, do you want to go first on Should we talk about folk
witchcraft? So that's more of an everyday
practical what actually works in real a real house with real
responsibilities in a real life. And, and but that's what, well,
that's what folk practitioner was, wasn't it?
Because it was like everyday practice.
It was based on like survival and practical work.
It wasn't like absolutely, you know, the spiritual aesthetic
stuff that we see today. I would love to say there is
magic within it, but I'd love to say it was far more sparkly ones
and etcetera than actual survival, making sure the
practical stuff was done. And interestingly, whilst I'm
called the Wheelie Green wit, I was called Greenwich by other
people, so it's easier for them to know that I tend to work with
plants and the land. People have got more of an idea,
I've got a label so people have got more of an idea of where I
work. I'm actually more of folk
practitioner. But you're just a witch too,
right? But I'm just a witch, yeah.
And that was, I think, the. Kitchen.
A bit of this, a bit of that, and it tends to come into folk
practice. Yeah.
But folk practice moves into the modern world as well because
there is a hierarchy of people saying, oh, this isn't
traditional. But The thing is, it always
evolved. It evolved at the time.
So yes, I'm the wheelie green. I'm a green witch.
That's more for other people to know roughly where my practice
lies. And that's something I think all
three of us are passionate about that none of it, like
witchcraft, doesn't have a label.
But if we're talking about what it looks like for people to
understand, there are labels that we earn.
A green witch is somebody who works with plants and in their
garden, which is what you do. But I know full well there are
other parts of your practice that are definitely not green
because you are just a witch and you practice with everything.
Like me. I'm I'm not a kitchen witch, who
am I kidding? But I do love a good simmer pot.
So what does that suddenly mean? I can't be a Celtic witch?
And what about you, Anon? Anon, actually, what type of
witch are you? If you are you, what are you?
Isn't witch enough if you don't mind?
It is. Yeah, exactly.
What is? Well, that's why I said we all
align on that point. Is there anything, is there
anything that you steer towards more so?
I was thinking about this. If I had to, I'd probably call
myself a spirit witch. Oh, oh, I'd love that.
I want to be a spirit witch. That was a.
Bit boring, I could have a better one and it.
Sounds so much better. Oh I love that but why?
But OK, without me being all jealous of your new your new
found witchcraft, Why? Why do you learn more towards
that? Spirits have have been part of
my life since I can remember. Spirits have always been there,
I've always seen, I've always felt, I've always heard them and
still do to this day. But it's also about my practice,
especially with that, you know, being Welsh, living in Wales and
the Welsh folklore, the spirit of the land, the spirit of the
place, it means so much value to me.
It holds so much value. And I think it's really
important that we value ourselves and our practice.
That when you were both mentioning, you know, perhaps
one day I am a kitchen, which when I'm making that family meal
for people, you know, maybe the next day I am that kind of death
witch because there's been a bereavement of, you know, a
friend and they're going through, you know, that horrific
emotional time. And I need to be there for them
and I need to console them not as a witch, but as a person, as
a friend, as a loved one. And then then there might be
another day where you are drawn to work with herbs, plants and
you might say, right, well, for this next hour or so, I'm, I'm a
Greenwich because I'm going to spend the time in the garden.
And it's important to recognize that it's important to meander.
It's important to recognize the flow of this craft.
I mean, I, I think this whole idea of labelling is, is quite a
modern idea. I think historically they they
probably were labels, but it was more accurate to say Canon
person or wise man or or woman or or someone who just knew a
set of skills or had a specific knowledge.
So I don't necessarily think that it's important, but it's a
way of identifying, I suppose, what your set skill is or
perhaps what you specialize in. I think it makes.
It easier for other people to sort of understand the practice
that you do or the majority of the practice you do.
But it's when people call themselves absolutely no
judgement. But when people call call
themselves an eclectic witch are we not all eclectic A. 100%,
yeah. So I think it, I think Green
Witch maybe just makes you sound a bit more friendly and I've got
some, you know, really quite poisonous plants out on the
back. I've got my belladonna seeds in
my window right now. They're not grown up yet, but
yeah, they're in their pots. Yeah, but yes, yeah.
And I think that's, like I said, we are all very much aligned on
that. And thanks, Annan.
It's really interesting to know what you would call yourself
because I've got many names for you.
Not for this podcast, but but the point is we don't need to
call ourselves anything. And if you're ever questioning
the different types of witchcraft, there are many, but
never ever limit yourself because this whole lifetime, if
you just put yourself into a box, you're really then just
closing the doors on so many other things.
And it's just so it's such a beautiful practice.
Like try it all. Yeah, absolutely.
Go learn everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
OK. So in our listener question and
our section comes sit with us. This week's question comes from
Kim on Patreon. She has said I'm a huge fan of
the podcast. I obviously have to leave that
bit in. I guess my question, forgive me
if this has been asked before, but could you go through the
basic foundation or structure to spells and wards?
No specific spell but more is there a structure, components,
general things to remember? I start to make my own and in
bracket she's put. I'm new to my practice and I've
been reading and trying to organize my thoughts, but I'd
like to know if there's some basic guidelines in mind.
What a bloody great question, Kim.
And this is where so many practitioners, and I will call
us all practitioners, all these people that keep calling them
baby, which is in my comments. Please don't.
We'll come on to that another time.
But you're not a baby, you're a beginner.
You're a practitioner. And if you never cast a spell,
you're still a practitioner. But if you're scared to cast a
spell, then don't be. So hopefully we will break some
of this down. I've taught this actually quite
in detail with many of my students on my 1 to ones.
So I've got a whole method that I go through which I will come
through come to in a second. But Anon, what's your views on
constructing spells? What should we think about first
as a beginner? And not to break down the fear
factor, I don't. Want to?
Just yeah. I just wanted to say thank you
for the question. I don't like the term beginner.
You both know that. I view it more as you're
remembering. That's all I'll say on that for
now. No.
Good point. Thank you.
There is no correct way. For me anyway, it's about the
meaning more than the aesthetics, but it's practice
makes perfect. This is what a spell is,
practice and practice. So to keep it simple, it doesn't
have to be fancy. Keep it meaningful to you.
So step one would be, what do I want?
Ensure that it's clear, concise, and I'm going to swear.
Let's make it fucking realistic, all right?
That's step one. So we're not asking to win the
lottery, is what we're saying. Well, you know, we can put it
out there, but let's be realistic #2 choose the action
that you want to place within it.
So that might be, what can I honestly do in my real life to
assist this spell? What action can I place?
Do you want to light a candle or use an object to place somewhere
that you see every day so it's your daily reminder, or do you
want to carry something with you like a charm?
All of that I would class as some form of action #3 it would
be your focus. Be present in the working, no
distractions. Imagine what you were asking for
to be literally unfolding as you were doing it.
It's already happening. Feel the emotion as if it has
happened. You can also incorporate words
out loud if it's safe to do so. Or internally, you can write
words down on a piece of paper or draw a symbol, sigil,
whatever you want to call it, right?
Lastly, do not obsess over this close down.
I know there's a lot of people that say this, but just like
Elsa, let it go, ma, let it go. You've done your work then,
right? You've done your work, then give
it to the universe, give it to source, give it to whoever
you're working with, and let it go and know that it is done.
Amazing. All I can think of is let it go.
Let it go. But what?
Well, and this is the thing about somebody trying to
understand because that will stick in their minds now.
Sorry. And I, I love this question
because we haven't spoken at all about how we all practice.
I've got no idea how GAIL practices, has her her work in.
I had no idea how Anon does that.
And this is going to be interesting because just see how
we all do this. Yeah, I've, I've been making
notes actually when Anon was going through.
I'm going through, I've got a little list that I kind of put
together for this and I've gone, ah, right.
That's how you do it. So yeah, go on then, Vicki.
Do you want my list? This is my list that I put
together for this go on. Be.
Clear about what you want and why you want that so that you
you know what you're actually doing and why not, what sounds
good, what you actually mean. Are you trying to feel calmer?
You know, what type of decision are you trying to make?
Are we trying to change a habit? Are we trying to Draw Something
in? Be clear about how you want it,
what you want it, and how you want it to come into you.
Really specifically #2 choose something physical to anchor it
for you. Doesn't need to be elaborate.
Could be a stone, could be a candle, could be a cup of tea
you stir in a certain way, could be a plant.
But find something to anchor that into you.
Not work. Yeah, I always, always go to the
plants and forget the artwork. So that's going to give your
brain something to hold on to. And you're not just going to be
thinking in circles, you're going to be focused on it.
Obviously there's correspondences with that as
well. Give it your full attention,
your full attention, and your full.
Just don't let it get interrupted, OK?
This is really, really important.
Just take a minute, take a breath, ground it out and just
go with it. So I would say if you can get
all your bits, bits and bobs together first, ground yourself
first. Get your bits and bobs together
first. Bring it all into one area.
Do what you want to do with ground in your space or whatever
how you ever you like to practice that.
I like to put music on. I have not random music, I don't
have the radio playing. I like to find particular music
for what I'm doing. Give it your full attention.
And when you're in your bedroom with your weird oddities, you
have porn music. Yeah, clearly, clearly.
Just for the love. Spells just for the love spells.
So give it your full attention. Do your thing OK?
Oh my God. OK.
That you are doing with your with your music going.
Is this how people remember it? This is great.
Close it, shake it off, and leave it alone.
Unless it's. Unless it's going to go on for a
couple of days. Oh my God, all I've got is like
sexual references in my head. Shake it off, leave it alone.
If it's a one and done, be done with it.
Is this going to help people to remember that it?
Is yeah, it is. So we've got let it go from
Allison. We've got to shake it off and
1:00 and. Off with some poor music.
So interesting. OK, so and do you know what the
reason that I guess we've all kind of constructed how we would
do it is because it's second age to us.
Like so when I teach my one to one students and I think about
the things they want to know, I then go back to the drawing
board and go right, OK, how does that work out?
So it is a really interesting thing to know that we all do
this instinctively, which is why we've gone hang on a minute, how
do we I actually have to? Sit down and think about it and
write a list. Yeah.
So my, so my, my view is clarity.
I agree with with you guys. You started on clarity.
It's like, what do you want to call in?
What is the reason you're doing it?
What do you want to release? Like what is the purpose?
Like have real clarity rather than just go in, I want to do
something. Just be really clear on what you
want to do. And then it's about the emotion
attached to it. Yeah.
So it's not just like, what do I want, but why do I want?
How's it going to make me feel once I've got it?
Because if you can really feel into that emotion, it becomes
much more real as well. Like, and it is it OK.
So I want to release that stress that's been holding me back
because I want to feel peace. And then I've got two things
then that are already anchored. I've got real clarity about what
I'm doing, but I really want to feel that way once it's done.
And then for me, and again, this isn't optional.
We've talked about this before. I am a big correspondence girl.
It's the colours, it's the herbs, it's the moon phase, it's
the symbols. But correspondences amplify it,
right? They are not essential.
You don't have to have them, they're not required.
But for me it does work. So they don't create the magic,
they just add to it. And for me, it's like layering
up that work as I'm I'm working through the reason I'm doing it,
what I want to feel after I've done it and then is the action.
So how am I going to do it? Is it going to be emotional?
So I want to use water. Is it going to be not magic,
Vicki, which I'm assuming you do probably quite a lot.
Is it writing something and burning it down?
Is it doing candle magic, which everybody is used to?
I'm really into my water magic at the moment.
I'm using a lot of emotional release with water and it's so
much more simple, but it doesn't resonate on social media, so we
don't really share it that much. But, but is it the spoken word?
Is it breath work? Is it the what is the action
we're going to use in order to get to the point we want to get
to? Once we've got clear on what we
want to do, how are we going to raise the energy?
Now, raising energy and magic is a very complex and layered thing
to explain, but actually it could be visualization.
I know some people can't visualise, but it could be your
voice, you could be speaking out what you want to bring in.
So you've got an incantation, it could be breath, it could be
movement, it could be dance. You can't see me, I'm dancing.
But when I'm working with my drum there's a lot of sound and
movement and physical movement in order to do some of my
release work as well. So how are you going to activate
it? And then finally, we've all
agreed on this is releasing it spell work, constructing it,
bringing in what we want, and making sure we focused all of
our energy on it doesn't go anywhere unless you release it
and let it go, walk away. If we're attached to an outcome,
it suffocates it. It's never going to happen.
So we have to let it go. Let it go.
And I'm going to start singing at the end of my spell work.
But joking aside, it could be like blowing out the candle.
It could be pouring the water down the drain because it was
releasing something. It could be throwing the stone
into the water. Whatever the action is burying
at crossroads, that has to be just as meaningful as when you
started it for me. Well, actually for all of us,
we've all we all really emphasized the release bit.
So I think we were we were pretty aligned in how we do our
magic. We may have and I slightly
differently, but it was all pretty similar.
We've all. Pretty much said the same thing
and I forgot on my list when you were talking.
I went actually, Oh no, I do that.
I don't just use the emotion that I will feel when this is
done. I'll actually use that raw
emotion to put into that working as well.
Get it moving, get that energy moving.
And I use my hands a lot. I draw the energy and use energy
orbs, all sorts of things. But it is, it's moving that
energy basically, isn't it? It's it's making sure you know
what you're doing. Ground yourself, bringing the
things together. Take the action, move the
energy. Let it go.
And if you haven't yet, as a beginner practitioner started to
understand energy work again, that could be a whole podcast
episode that we could talk about because creating and there's
something come doing in my course actually that I start
this week, which will be which will start before this course,
before this episode goes out. But I talk about that and it's
kind of like this spark going, Oh my goodness, I didn't even
think about because you see all of the herd throwing and candle
lighting and bowls of water. But nobody talks about the
energy that is attached to spam work.
And that does take time. You know, you can't just start
going into the swing of it. So again, we can talk about that
as a whole episode and imagine amazing energy is different for
everyone as well. Yeah, it's using your
imagination. It's it's and that sounds namby
pamby, isn't it? But it's that's part of
visualization. What do I want from this?
How is this going to going? To Oh, I love that.
No Alwyn, Alwyn the Crown has been talking about this quite a
lot on socials lately. Like he's been debunking the
fact that imagination is actually like it is imagination,
that is what magic is. But we've been taught to go
imagination as a childish thing rather than embrace it as a
really magical tool. And yet, who are the most
magical beings on this planet? Children.
Those little rat bags that are coming into our house causing
chaos. Absolutely amazing.
It's in the outer house and home, yes.
Thank you for listening to Between 3 Witches Witchcraft in
Plain Sight. If this episode resonated, you
are welcome to sit with it, share it, or let it unfold in
its own time. You can find me, Vicki, and Anon
on all the social media platforms.
We will tag them in the show notes, but until next time, may
your practice meet you exactly where you are.