The Thrifty Witch: A Simple Guide to Witching on a Budget
Are you looking for thrifty ideas on practicing your craft for minimal cost? Maybe youre on a budget and trying to get as much magical bang as you can for your bucks? Whatever the case might be, lets go over some suggestions on how to practice the craft without breaking your bank account.
If you have other ideas you'd like to add to this post, please feel free to share them!
Jars: Reuse, Recycle.
Do you have old jam and jelly jars just sitting around? Soak them in hot, soapy water. Carefully peel off the label and use a scrubbing pad or an old toothbrush to remove any sticky residue left on the jar. Let the jar dry and then you can reuse them for storing herbs, tools, or even for spell jars.
Candles:
Birthday candles might seem like an odd addition to your witchy cabinet, but if you prepare and charge them they work in a pinch if youre running low on candles. They are also inexpensive and can be found in most cake and dessert isles in your local grocery stores.
The Dollar Tree stores also carry packages of emergency candles. You can get 5 candles in a pack, so if you spend $5 you can have a collection of 25 candles for all of your spellcasting and witchy needs.
Bits & Pieces:
If you have old shirts or pants that you arent using, you can cut them up and use them for material to make poppets or small charm bags. You can also use old thread and yarn for knot magic to either store energy or release it during spells and rituals.
Thrifty Magical Gardening:
If you want to start a garden but dont have the money to buy fancy planters, you can use eggshells and fruit rinds to start your magical herb garden. Take eggshells, after youve carefully washed them and removed all egg residue, and carefully fill them with soil. You can then place your seeds in these and use them as seed starters. Once your seeds sprout, carefully crack the shell just enough to allow the roots to wiggle through the shell once the plant starts to grow, and place the plant (eggshell and all) into your garden soil to grow.
You can also use lemon and orange halves as easy garden starters. Hollow them out and fill them with soil, place your seeds in, and wait for them to grow. Once the plants sprout, remove the bottom of the orange to allow the roots to grow out more easily, and then plant the sprout (orange or lemon half included) into your garden soil.
Both of these methods provide biodegradable plant food for your new herb sprouts, and it offers an inexpensive way for you to start your new magical garden.
Spices & Herbs:
The spice aisle of your local grocery store tends to have inexpensive bottles of herbs, but if youre looking for herbs like lavender or chamomile, you can find these in teas in your tea and coffee section. These teabags can be opened and used as loose-leaf incense, additions to spells, added into charm bags, etc.
You can also use the easy planters we talked about above and try growing your own!
Natures Cupboard:
Antlers:
Antlers can be used in place of wands. Their rhythmic clanking and drumming can be used to help generate energy for spell and ritual work, as well as attract spirits to our sacred space. Deer are drawn to the sound of antlers clanking, especially during the rutting season. Likewise, their spirits are also drawn to the sound.
Feathers:
Feathers can be used to clear away energy or to connect to the avian from which they were taken. If you want to work with air elementals, you can also use feathers and whistles to attract them to your workspace.
Shells :
Shells can be used to connect to the water element and oceanic energies. Placing water in a seashell on a full moon and gazing into it can also be used as a means of divination.
Claws/Teeth/Feet :
Claws and teeth can tear and rend, but they can also protect. Bless and wear them as amulets of protection or use them in rituals and spells to tear at the image of your enemy or to pierce a poppet made in their image. You can also tie pictures and personal belongings to the feet and bury them to 'trip up' anyone working against you.
Wasps and Spiders:
Wasps and Spiders can be added to curse jars to bite and sting your enemies.
Spider Webs:
Spider webs can be added to binding spells to tie up and hold enemies working against you.
Plants & Trees:
If youre looking for cheap and inexpensive spell materials, look no further than your own backyard! I think this goes without saying, but please never work with or handle any plant that you are unfamiliar with.
I will cover some of the more common trees and plants that you can find and some of their magical uses. These particular ones covered here are the ones that are more commonly found in the mountain and woodland areas and ones that those new to working with nature and plants might find more easy to identify.
Apple
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Uses: Love, Friendship, Fertility.
The fruit and blossoms of the apple tree have a plethora of uses when it comes to love, friendship, and fertility spells and rites. The blossoms can be blessed and charged to be placed in sachets for love drawing. They can also be added to honey jars to help sweeten an intended lover or new friend to you.
The whole apples can be chopped up and used as offerings to spirits or used as tools in spells, much like the blossoms can be used, as mentioned above. Below I have added some spells and charms that you can use.
Clover:
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Uses: Luck, Success, Employment, Finances.
Clover is well known for its associations with luck and success. It is one of the most common plants seen when it comes to such matters. You can find it in numerous spells and charms for luck, success, and employment.
Pinning a four leaf clover to your hat or shirt can help bring you good luck. Carrying it with you, in your pocket, for job interviews can help increase your chances of employment. They can also be dried and burned as incense during spells for luck.
Garlic:
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Uses: Protection, Healing, Banishing, Warding off negative spirits and energies.
Garlic isnt something that is often found growing in the wild, but it is very common in most grocery stores and easily accessible. It is a wonderful addition to spells, sachets, and charms for protection and safeguarding yourself or your home.
Garlic can be braided together and hung up in your home to absorb negative energies and to ward off negativity and unwanted spirits or energies. I would suggest never using garlic braids, used in this way, for culinary purposes. And they should be replaced once a month.
Garlic powder can be sprinkled around your home or placed in sachets and protection bottles to keep negative energies from entering your home or ritual space.
Full cloves can be slowly and gently rub on injured body parts or up and down the length of the body to heal an injury or illness and speed recovery. However, serious cases of illness or injury should always be treated by a licensed, medical professional.
Honeysuckle:
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Uses: Love, Friendship, To Dream of a future spouse, and can help attract fairies and other nature spirits.
Honeysuckle is a common sight in the woodlands when spring finally comes around. Its pale yellow and white blossoms have a very sweet scent and they often attract honey bees and hummingbirds.
Its sweetness also makes it a lovely plant to use when trying to attract fairies to your garden or workspace. Add the honeysuckle to your altar with violets and silver to entice the Fae to come visit!
It can be placed under your pillow to bring dreams of future lovers and spouses, and added to flower bouquets to promote friendship and encourage loving vibrations between two people.
Oak:
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Uses: Protection, Stability, Strength
Oak is a very strong and sturdy wood. Its prized for these qualities and used in furniture crafting to make tables, chairs, desks, and various other household items.
It can be used for these qualities in works of magic as well. Oak wands are a wonderful addition to spells and rituals where you are seeking to perform works of magic for protection, stability, and strength.
Its leaves and bark can be added into charm sachets and spell bottles for protection and stability. Much like with the other trees and woods we have discussed, it can be cut into disks and then decorated with runes and other magical symbols. These charms can then be hung up around your home and ritual space to imbue the area with the energies and qualities that the wood and runes provide.
Oak altars can also be used and serve as a focal point for you in works of protection, stability, and strength. Such altars are also quite lovely when used as a workspace for connecting with Nature and Woodland spirits.
I have found that oak is also a wood that Gnomes are very fond of and using its leaves and bark as offerings to them and as sacred items on their altars is a wonderful way to connect with them.
Pine:
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Uses: Protection, Stability, Strength, Renewal
Pine is a wonderful wood for use in magic. It makes sturdy wands and can be cut into disk and soldered with runes and other symbols for use in magic and ritual work. The branches, with fresh needles attached, can be used to sweep away negative energies from your ritual space or to help promote positive vibrations in an area where a circle will be cast. Because of its ability to withstand harsh climates and its evergreen qualities, it can also be used in spells for rebirth and renewal.
The sap, with its viscous texture and quality, can be used in protection jars to slow down and halt any magic or negative acts being worked against you. The sap traps the magic and energies and prevents them from reaching you.
Strawberry, Wild:
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Uses: Love, Friendship
Strawberries grow wild along some of the Eastern states here in the U.S. Their small, red berries are a welcome sight in the spring. They offer a wonderful addition to pies and jams, and are useful in magic too!
Its berries and leaves can be dried and added into charm sachets for love and friendship. It can also be cooked into foods or added into potions for the same purpose. If you feel things are growing a little stale in your love life, brew up some strawberry wine and work a little magic on it to bring back that tenderness and love youve been missing!
Sycamore:
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Uses: harmony, raising energy, prosperity, and success.
Sycamore is easily identified with its spotted bark of white and light brown. It is a common sight in the more mountainous sections of the U.S East Coast. Sycamore wands and bark can be used when calling to the spirits for prosperity rituals. The bark can be used in spells and rituals for harmony, prosperity and success. If you want to bring these vibrations and energies into your home and ritual space, you can carve prosperity runes into disks made from Sycamore wood and hang them up around your residence and magical work space.
Willow:
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Uses: Divination, Dowsing
Willow trees have long been associated with finding water, as their roots will seek out water sources and have even been known to grow into plumbing systems in their search for it. For this reason, willow branches have been used to make natural, wood dowsing rods to help find water and other lost items.
Its flexible branches can also be twisted and braided into wands that can be used for divination rituals and psychic workings. The branches can also be woven together to make brooms with which you can sweep away negative energies to help during cleansing rituals of the home and your workspace.
