Dealing with Anxiety
These are just some things I do personally to deal with my anxiety that I wanted to share with you all. Hopefully some of these can help!
- My anti-anxiety witch bath
- I do this by placing any *water safe* crystals under the running water that have calming or relaxing properties. I prefer to use tumbled stones, since I’m less likely to hurt myself on them, haha. I use rose quartz, clear quartz, and amethyst most often. I’ll also add honey, about 2 cups of milk, some dried rose petals, and ground chamomile to the bath, and epsom salt if my bones are hurting. Be careful adding herbs to a bath because sometime my drain clogs, so just be careful of that.
- Organization
- My anxiety gets really bad when I’m not organized. Typically, I’ll rearrange my spices and herbs if I just need a quick boost. For more heavy duty organizing, I wipe down and dust my alters, and rearrange them. If it’s more of mental organization that I need, I’ll use my school planner and jot down certain days that I want to do magic and write down what I want to do (make a salve, enchant something, etc.). Then I’ll make a list of everything I need separated by “already have” and “need to get” and add it to my shopping list.
- Tea Reading
- Sometimes I’ll do a quick tea-leaf reading for myself. I’ll brew a cup of tea (preferably one like chamomile or something soothing) and let the tea leaves settle in the cup. I’ll sip gently, while watching something or blogging or working. Once I finish the tea I’ll do a quick tea reading (you can look up symbols online). If I do this while I’m at work, I’ll write the positives on a sticky note and stick it on my computer to remind me of positive things.
- Talk to Nature
- When things get really bad, I like to take a minute to sit outside. I’ll bring a towel and lay it on the grass and lay down, looking at the trees around my house and tell them about the issues I have. Their gentle swaying in the breeze helps calm me, and talking about my anxieties helps ease them, especially with the quiet affirmation of the trees. I’ll ask them yes/no questions I typically already know the answer to, but still want to feel validated. The fresh air is also good for my head. Sometimes I drink tea while I’m out here, or if the day is particularly hot, I’ll make some lemonade with a little bit of lavender.
Water Boost
Fruit or herb infused water (making sure you’re using safe and edible ones, of course) can be a great way to have a magical boost for the day
Like, imagine if you want a little help when job hunting
Toss some sliced strawberries (luck), sliced oranges (luck, employment, money), and mint (knowledge, employment) into a container (bottle, thermos, even a pitcher) and let it sit in the fridge overnight
Voila, you have infused water tailored to your need and intent. Plus, for other witches who need to keep things hidden, it’s healthy and popular so most people wouldn’t question it too much
Like, imagine if you want a little help when job hunting
Toss some sliced strawberries (luck), sliced oranges (luck, employment, money), and mint (knowledge, employment) into a container (bottle, thermos, even a pitcher) and let it sit in the fridge overnight
Voila, you have infused water tailored to your need and intent. Plus, for other witches who need to keep things hidden, it’s healthy and popular so most people wouldn’t question it too much
How to Feel witchy & stick to it!
1. Keep Words Near.
I can’t stress enough how many things I discovered about world and myself since I started daily journal 14 days ago. I discovered that I change not with every week or month. No, I change with every day. And so does my power. Each day a part of me dies to give birth to new me. It lets me learn, lets me grow. I keep it in form of letters to my guides or if I need help to one particular guide depending on how I feel. My journal is digital, because it’s easy to edit.
Writing is very important thing in witchcraft. Witches always have kept many hand written books and journals near themselves. Words especially in witchcraft have power. They change people. Though words you’ve written you see how much you have changed, which makes you empowered and helps you suit your practice to your needs.
You can write anything. Journal is good start, but you can also go all hardcore and try to trace your own feelings and magic within books you’ve read and fiction you’ve written.
2. Listen To Whispers.
In my culture, by people who respect us, we are called Whisperers (Szeptuchy). It’s because as witches we can hear things others can’t and stay between the two worlds without being dragged to either side. Whisper is like a half word. It appears directly in your mind. Unlike scream, it’s barely heard and only good ears can catch it.
Most important whispers are your thoughts. They carry very underrated power. Though thoughts ghosts, spirits and yourself are communicating. But you never notice. Because you prefer to hear screams of others. Quiet your mind and start replying out loud to whispers. Start listening. Start understanding. Know yourself and you’ll know when a whisper is not yours. You’ll know when a whisper is disguised scream, that wants to harm you or light that wants to help you. Talk to yourself. You’ll thank yourself for it, believe me.
3. Look Around.
Look at what is in front of you. Is there anything pretty around you? Stars perhaps? Music? People? Yourself? Your imagination? Tea? Seriously I can go on like that forever.
The thing is, if you can’t find magic in simple, everyday things your own magic will be weak and powerless when confronted with this harsh reality. The reality is built on fear and realism as opposed to love and imagination. Imagination that you use for witchcraft. Imagination that is your power.
Thank for little things that make you feel different. Things that make you, your reality and your own world inside your head unique. Because here is the thing: You are unique. This world is trying to tell you you are not, but you must to stand up with a brunch of your magical trinkets and say with total child-like innocence: hey look at that amazing stuff! They make me so important and pretty and magical! You wanna some? Be your child. Don’t let anyone kill your child. Your child is what keeps your magic alive. And world just wants to kill it. You can’t let that happen. You must be brave and find the magic in those things in spite of the world.
4.Do it!
Do a ritual to feel witchy! I am totally serious. If you have problem try solving it with spell. Even when you are totally doubting if it will work. Even if none of your spells manifested before and you feel like shit because of it. If you do just grounding correctly, believe me or not you will feel amazing. It will make you feel like you can do anything. just one spell. It can me anything. Even simple luck spell. Or reblogging jar of money with intention on earning more. If you want, if you have strong will, anything can happen. You can even have a freaking astral wings or read minds, if you want. All it takes is to stop doubting yourself. Because this is what witchcraft is about: it give you power to change reality. It gives you power to stop fearing about your own life. Power to improve. Power to heal and fix.
I can’t stress enough how many things I discovered about world and myself since I started daily journal 14 days ago. I discovered that I change not with every week or month. No, I change with every day. And so does my power. Each day a part of me dies to give birth to new me. It lets me learn, lets me grow. I keep it in form of letters to my guides or if I need help to one particular guide depending on how I feel. My journal is digital, because it’s easy to edit.
Writing is very important thing in witchcraft. Witches always have kept many hand written books and journals near themselves. Words especially in witchcraft have power. They change people. Though words you’ve written you see how much you have changed, which makes you empowered and helps you suit your practice to your needs.
You can write anything. Journal is good start, but you can also go all hardcore and try to trace your own feelings and magic within books you’ve read and fiction you’ve written.
2. Listen To Whispers.
In my culture, by people who respect us, we are called Whisperers (Szeptuchy). It’s because as witches we can hear things others can’t and stay between the two worlds without being dragged to either side. Whisper is like a half word. It appears directly in your mind. Unlike scream, it’s barely heard and only good ears can catch it.
Most important whispers are your thoughts. They carry very underrated power. Though thoughts ghosts, spirits and yourself are communicating. But you never notice. Because you prefer to hear screams of others. Quiet your mind and start replying out loud to whispers. Start listening. Start understanding. Know yourself and you’ll know when a whisper is not yours. You’ll know when a whisper is disguised scream, that wants to harm you or light that wants to help you. Talk to yourself. You’ll thank yourself for it, believe me.
3. Look Around.
Look at what is in front of you. Is there anything pretty around you? Stars perhaps? Music? People? Yourself? Your imagination? Tea? Seriously I can go on like that forever.
The thing is, if you can’t find magic in simple, everyday things your own magic will be weak and powerless when confronted with this harsh reality. The reality is built on fear and realism as opposed to love and imagination. Imagination that you use for witchcraft. Imagination that is your power.
Thank for little things that make you feel different. Things that make you, your reality and your own world inside your head unique. Because here is the thing: You are unique. This world is trying to tell you you are not, but you must to stand up with a brunch of your magical trinkets and say with total child-like innocence: hey look at that amazing stuff! They make me so important and pretty and magical! You wanna some? Be your child. Don’t let anyone kill your child. Your child is what keeps your magic alive. And world just wants to kill it. You can’t let that happen. You must be brave and find the magic in those things in spite of the world.
4.Do it!
Do a ritual to feel witchy! I am totally serious. If you have problem try solving it with spell. Even when you are totally doubting if it will work. Even if none of your spells manifested before and you feel like shit because of it. If you do just grounding correctly, believe me or not you will feel amazing. It will make you feel like you can do anything. just one spell. It can me anything. Even simple luck spell. Or reblogging jar of money with intention on earning more. If you want, if you have strong will, anything can happen. You can even have a freaking astral wings or read minds, if you want. All it takes is to stop doubting yourself. Because this is what witchcraft is about: it give you power to change reality. It gives you power to stop fearing about your own life. Power to improve. Power to heal and fix.
9 Practical Tips for New Witches
1. Write down a list of your current passions, interests, goals, and beliefs. Knowing this information can help you to develop your witchcraft and to make it more personal. It’s important to feel a deep connection to your own style of craft, so it is incredibly helpful to incorporate the things that you love in life. While it’s a good idea to think of and list serious things, it’s 100% okay if your list mostly contains entries like ‘shiny things, stuff that smells good, My Chemical Romance’; you should definitely add entries like that, because that right there still tells you that you’ll probably enjoy using reflective objects, aromatherapy, and music in your witchcraft. The entries on your list can help you to creatively think of ways to make your magick yours, while still helping you to identify any pre-existing styles and paths of witchcraft that incorporate elements of your list.
2. Keep a regular journal, along with any magick journals that you might have. Keep track of your health, your dreams, your moods, your habits, your life in general. When you are first starting out, it can be difficult to automatically see how magic affects you. By keeping a mundane, regular journal, you’re better able to reference past events against your magick journals, to see if any changes or unusual entries (negative or positive) occurred at the same time as something witchcraft-related.
3. Sign up for as many guided nature walks and talks as you can. It’s always a good idea to know the nature around you, especially if you’re a witch. Guided walks and talks can give you first-hand experience when it comes to identifying plants, animals, and other things that you can find in your area. If it is allowed, remember to bring along a camera and / or a notebook so that you can record and reference your new knowledge afterwards.
4. Take an interest in cooking. This is an especially good tip for any witches that are looking to hide their witchcraft. Learning to cook is a life skill, and doesn’t tend to draw unwanted attention. The food, herbs, and spices that you use all have their own magickal correspondences and associations, so it really comes down to figuring out some ingredients that match your magick’s intent, and then finding an actual recipe that calls for those ingredients.
5. Start your own garden, no matter how small. Seeds can be affordable purchased at most stores with gardening centers, and you can grow some herbs in a leftover tin can. Really, you don’t need a lot of space or cash to be able to start some sort of garden, whether indoors or outdoors. Just make sure that wherever you are planting, you have permission to plant there!
6. Develop your DIY skills. Crafting, sewing, upcycling – spend some time learning about the ‘Do It Yourself’ culture. Aside from being an excellent way to learn how to create your own tools and witchy stuff, a lot of the skills that you will learn can be incorporated into your spells. So can any supplies that you have on hand for regular arts and crafts, for that matter. And when you get right down to it, nobody has to know that your handmade lavender lip-balm is actually an enchanted item and a dual healing / beauty spell. Making anything by hand helps to give it power, and can be another great way to practice witchcraft under-the-radar; unless you literally announce that your felt-and-an-old-sock plushie is actually a poppet, how can anybody know?
7. Find places to source your witchy ingredients and supplies. Look up and scout out any local:
o Book stores
o Box stores (like Walmart, Target)
o Craft stores
o Dollar stores
o Farm stands
o Farmer’s markets
o Flea markets
o Garden stores / Nurseries
o Libraries
o Hiking trails
o Metaphysical / New Age stores
o Rockhounding locations
o Tea / herb stores
o Thrift stores
o Rock / crystal / mineral shops
8. Build a non-fiction library. Cookbooks, how-to books, field guides, books that teach you skills. History books, scientific magazines and journals, textbooks on any topic. Read about first-hand accounts, theories and practices, facts and trivia. Read educational books meant for kids, and encyclopedias meant for months of study. Don’t be afraid to check your material against a different source, either. Finding multiple sources citing a piece of knowledge is a good habit to develop, especially if your knowledge deals with the safety or danger of anything. Whether it was posted online or published in a book, make sure that the author’s information is accurate!
9. Collect and recycle bottles, jars, tins, and other storage. It’s a running joke here on Tumblr: ‘witches love jars’. But wow is it an accurate joke. There have been a couple of times that I’ve come home with new loose supplies like shells or acorns, only to stand there and realize that literally all of my other storage is taken and that unless I want to stick them in a plastic bag, I have to temporarily store them by taking the last few Pirouette cookies out of the tin and giving it a quick cleaning (and now you know the exact moment that I thought of posting about this tip! lol). Practicing witchcraft can be a really quick way to turn into a self-powered miniature recycling plant; it’s a lot cheaper to clean that jelly jar than it is to go buy an actual Mason jar, and it’s usually better for the environment as well.
2. Keep a regular journal, along with any magick journals that you might have. Keep track of your health, your dreams, your moods, your habits, your life in general. When you are first starting out, it can be difficult to automatically see how magic affects you. By keeping a mundane, regular journal, you’re better able to reference past events against your magick journals, to see if any changes or unusual entries (negative or positive) occurred at the same time as something witchcraft-related.
3. Sign up for as many guided nature walks and talks as you can. It’s always a good idea to know the nature around you, especially if you’re a witch. Guided walks and talks can give you first-hand experience when it comes to identifying plants, animals, and other things that you can find in your area. If it is allowed, remember to bring along a camera and / or a notebook so that you can record and reference your new knowledge afterwards.
4. Take an interest in cooking. This is an especially good tip for any witches that are looking to hide their witchcraft. Learning to cook is a life skill, and doesn’t tend to draw unwanted attention. The food, herbs, and spices that you use all have their own magickal correspondences and associations, so it really comes down to figuring out some ingredients that match your magick’s intent, and then finding an actual recipe that calls for those ingredients.
5. Start your own garden, no matter how small. Seeds can be affordable purchased at most stores with gardening centers, and you can grow some herbs in a leftover tin can. Really, you don’t need a lot of space or cash to be able to start some sort of garden, whether indoors or outdoors. Just make sure that wherever you are planting, you have permission to plant there!
6. Develop your DIY skills. Crafting, sewing, upcycling – spend some time learning about the ‘Do It Yourself’ culture. Aside from being an excellent way to learn how to create your own tools and witchy stuff, a lot of the skills that you will learn can be incorporated into your spells. So can any supplies that you have on hand for regular arts and crafts, for that matter. And when you get right down to it, nobody has to know that your handmade lavender lip-balm is actually an enchanted item and a dual healing / beauty spell. Making anything by hand helps to give it power, and can be another great way to practice witchcraft under-the-radar; unless you literally announce that your felt-and-an-old-sock plushie is actually a poppet, how can anybody know?
7. Find places to source your witchy ingredients and supplies. Look up and scout out any local:
o Book stores
o Box stores (like Walmart, Target)
o Craft stores
o Dollar stores
o Farm stands
o Farmer’s markets
o Flea markets
o Garden stores / Nurseries
o Libraries
o Hiking trails
o Metaphysical / New Age stores
o Rockhounding locations
o Tea / herb stores
o Thrift stores
o Rock / crystal / mineral shops
8. Build a non-fiction library. Cookbooks, how-to books, field guides, books that teach you skills. History books, scientific magazines and journals, textbooks on any topic. Read about first-hand accounts, theories and practices, facts and trivia. Read educational books meant for kids, and encyclopedias meant for months of study. Don’t be afraid to check your material against a different source, either. Finding multiple sources citing a piece of knowledge is a good habit to develop, especially if your knowledge deals with the safety or danger of anything. Whether it was posted online or published in a book, make sure that the author’s information is accurate!
9. Collect and recycle bottles, jars, tins, and other storage. It’s a running joke here on Tumblr: ‘witches love jars’. But wow is it an accurate joke. There have been a couple of times that I’ve come home with new loose supplies like shells or acorns, only to stand there and realize that literally all of my other storage is taken and that unless I want to stick them in a plastic bag, I have to temporarily store them by taking the last few Pirouette cookies out of the tin and giving it a quick cleaning (and now you know the exact moment that I thought of posting about this tip! lol). Practicing witchcraft can be a really quick way to turn into a self-powered miniature recycling plant; it’s a lot cheaper to clean that jelly jar than it is to go buy an actual Mason jar, and it’s usually better for the environment as well.