North London Witch: Beginners guide to Witchcraft #babywitch101

Well, Hello there my Darlings!

I hope that you are doing well and are coping with the eclipse season..ekkk! 2020 huh? What a rollercoaster!

I have a little treat for you as my good Friend, AJ AKA North London Witch over on Instagram and TikTok is doing a guest post today for ya’ll baby witches. Make sure to let us know your thoughts below in the comments or to continue the conversation over on our social channels. Take it away, AJ!

North London Witch :

So you found yourself on ‘witchtok’. It’s beautiful, it’s satisfying, it’s full of badass Queens and you want to join them…

Well, first of all, welcome! Second of all, slow down a smidge…

A lot of what you have seen may be heavily romanticised, under researched and just done for the aesthetic and the views. Sometimes you really have to scroll for hours before you find accurate info. Only today I had a DM from someone who had done a Hoodoo Honey Jar spell and needed help reversing it because, spoiler alert, everything comes with consequences.

I mean… that poor person. More on that another day.

Now, we’re not here to gatekeep so please don’t think that. If anything, we just want you to grow into the fabulous witches we know you can be. It just takes a bit of time.

I know, the spell jars look easy enough and what’s the harm in lighting a black candle during an eclipse… right?

*laughs in tired*

Closed and open practices

Hoodoo, Voodoo, Brujeria, smudging with white sage… I could go on.

They sound fucking cool, i know but unless you were born into that practice or have been invited into that practice by an Elder, it doens’t belong to you.

I am a white half English, half Scottish witch. I wouldn’t dare to start practicing Voodoo as it’s not my culture. Just as I wouldn’t use white sage in cleansing but I can use Garden sage as it grows locally and is open to me.

Basically, there is far too much to unpack here so take a look at yourself and speak to elders where you can and find out what is open to you. In short:

Crystals
Working with the moon
Celtic Craft
Paganism
Wicca

All open practices and many with lots of available resources for you to learn.

All that energy

Before you even think about doing any spell work it’s important you *know* yourself. Know your energies, your emotions, how to ground yourself when you feel like you’re losing control. Spell work is drawn from your power so you need to control that power. If you don’t, spells can backfire, bounce around or come with consequences you couldn’t possibly imagine.

Examples of ways I ground myself and balance my energies:

Watering my plants
Yoga practice
Salt /ritual baths
Morning meditation
‘Pottering’ around my house (doing the dishes, sweeping the floors)
Take grounding walks in nature
Breathe

Let’s notice how none of those things even need supplies… Sure you can introduce crystals and candles later down the line but, for now, there is no need. If you really want to be a witch, you will legit enjoy all of the above without all the pomp and circumstance.

Moon Work

This is one of my favourite things about my witchy ways and is also an excellent way to work out if this path is really for you. You can use the cycle of the moon to set intentions and goals each month and work with each different phase of the moon to achieve them. Many witches just use the Full moon or the eclips to make their moon water or to do spell work but they forget about the rest of the phases. The moon is always there and is there to guide us beyond when it’s full so the other phases really shouldn’t be forgotten.

As a little intro, here are the upcoming moon phases for the rest of November (and some December) so you know when is the peak time for certain activities:

14th December: New Moon In Saggitarius and Total Solar Eclipse

A new beginning

Think of the New Moon as the beginning of a new chapter. Start to think of what your intention can be for this cycle. It can be something as simple as ‘i will get to the bottom of the laundry basket’ or ‘I will learn the magical properties of at least 3 herbs’. OR you can go bigger like, ‘i will let go of stress’ or even ‘I will step up at work. These things don’t have to be life changing when you first start out so don’t put too much pressure on yourself.

I also use this time to cleanse my home for the new cycle (more on that below).

15th December: Waxing first Crescent Moon

The Planning Phase

This is the time to work out whether your intention is right for you right now. Spend this time to really think about it. Meditate. Write a list of every action you can take to achieve your intention, but also a list of everything you shouldn’t do.

21st December: Waxing first quarter moon AND the Winter Solstice

The Action Phase

And here we are at the ACTION moon. Start putting all your energies into working towards your intention / goal. Work through your lists, manifest. Basically, Do the Thing.

25th December: Waxing Gibbous Moon

The Review Phase

This is where you check in with yourself. How is it going, are there any obstacles between you and your intention / goal, is there anything you’re doing that needs refining a bit more? Is there something completely not working that you can just let go of so it doesn’t take your energy away when you could be putting it towards something else?

30th December: Full Moon in Cancer

The Party Phase

And then we celebrate… if you have achieved your intention for the cycle, it’s party time. If you haven’t, it’s OK! You can simply just thank the universe for giving you the time and energy to try. You may have succeeded but you can always try later, clearly *this* period was just not the right time for that intention.

Work on your gratitude list, everything that brought your joy during this cycle (even simple things like Festive Coffees are now available)

You can also use this time for ritual baths, simple spell work, charge your crystals in the moonlight, make your moon water, honour your ancestors, drink wine, make a banging dinner. It’s basically an opportunity to have your own little party every month and who wouldn’t want that?

2nd January: Waning Gibbous moon

What comes next

The waning gibbous reminds us all that although we may have made progress in some areas, there is always still more work to be done. Identify one area of your life that needs more of your attention and let go of anything that is getting in your way.

6th January: Last Quarter Moon

The let go and release phase

Ah, the ‘let go’ moon. Always a nice one. This is a good time to purge. Get rid of anything that isn’t giving you purpose. I always use this moon phase to start getting ready for my intention phase and use three days to do a deep clean of my house so i have no other energies affecting mine. But also so you have space in yourself to receive something new. Think about what your intention for the next cycle would be and use this time to make the physical and mental space for it.

If your goal would be to ‘keep on top of the laundry basket’, maybe use this time to purge your wardrobe and donate any clothes you don’t wear. It’ll be much more manageable with fewer things.

13th January: New Moon in Capricorn

And we start the cycle again.

Cleansing

All of the above requires a cleansed and safe space. No, I don’t just mean cracking open the Zoflora (although that totally counts) as there is a difference between clean and cleansed.

When you’re entering the path, it’s all about how you work with energy so surely the energies around you need to be balanced.

Cleansing your space (and your tools) essentially gives you a blank yet charged slate. You can remove negativity, heavy energies, discourage spirits and more by simply cleansing.

Simple ways to cleanse:

burn dried garden or blue sage (basically any variety that grows locally to you, not white sage)
Burn dried rosemary
Burn incense – sandalwood is my favourite
Create a cleansing spray (shall share a recipe another day)
Make your zoflora concoction with moon water

Aaand *breathes*

This post was meant to be short but it really wasn’t! It may seem like a lot, but a lot of it is very simple, it just requires dedication. And remember, we are all still learning, regardless of how long we have been practicing. Buy some books (or use google, witchipedia is excellent and free) and start researching.

If you’d like more tips on how to get started with witchcraft, you can follow me at @NorthLondonWitch on TikTok and Instagram.

Image creative comms:

“Smudging” by Cornelia Kopp is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

“Moon Phase Collage” by StephenGA is marked with CC0 1.0

“creativecommons | incense burner” by *AndrewYoungPhoto* (writing_with_glass) is licensed under CC BY 2.0