Hi, I grew up in a conservative christian homeschooling family (not Dugger, as in ‘19 kids and counting’ conservative but definitely Focus on the Family conservative and if you don’t know what that is it is fine, but they basically equated something as simple as playing Dungeons and Dragons to satanic and evil practices… So I'm sure you can guess what they would think about the craft… Although I must say their radio drama’s are high quality and sound amazing and despite not agreeing with much, I love listening to the stories!)
Anyways, I have always been pretty drawn to the occult or mystical and around a year ago I really started to try and learn more about witchcraft. Most of what I have gleaned is through youtube videos and so far only one book about wicca (it was the only one on witchcraft like stuff I could get on my library’s app…) and I am starting to try and incorporate what I have learned and felt connected to in my life.
However, I am currently living with my eldest sister, her husband, and their 6 month old child. My eldest sister and I are the most alike of our siblings and we both have a ton of allergies especially to pollen, plants and foods. She is even further sensitive to strong fragrances so items like incense, most scented candles, oils, and strong smelling herbs are not items I can use in house and her husband is from wildfire country and is very wary about my starting any kind of fire outside.
I guess my question is basically do you have any ideas for things I can use to replace some of these elements in witchcraft? I would especially appreciate ideas pertaining to cleansing as I have started to gather items and I want to remove outside and negative energies before I start using them.
(This is how I roll. To each their own) I don't see energy as bad or good its about the intention . When and if I cleanse I'm more or less getting rid of negative intentions or emotions that does not serve me in the highest of good. So I'll be saying negative energy in place of negative intentions/ emotions.
For cleansing : See in your minds eye that you are using your energy(i.e. your intention) to push out all the negative energy out of the item .That you are pushing the energy that you don't want back to the source of all energy. The source will then take the negative energy so it can be filtered back into neutral energy. That energy will then go back out into the Universe where its needed.
Hope this helped.
-Miss Frog
Hi, Vivi - I just wanted to leave a quick note on how admirable your courage is for following your chosen path despite the strong influences in other directions. As far as allergies go, I think you'd benefit from specifically researching replacements & substitutions in magic -- there are waaay too many to list here, but some examples I keep running across include substituting roses for any flower, clear quartz for any crystal, rosemary for any herb, tobacco for any poisonous plant, white candles for any color candle, etc. etc. etc. (Just to keep it interesting, not everyone agrees on all substitutions.) You might want to also try some books about non-Wiccan witchcraft; they will probably have a different emphasis on "tools of the trade" like incense, etc. I don't want to give any more specific advice because I'm very much still learning... and only you will know what will or won't trigger your (or your family's) allergies. Best of luck to you!
For cleansing: salt, moon water
For fire element representation: kiln baked clay, coal, charcoal, unlit fire starters eg matches, candles(not lit), even maybe something spicy could represent fire withouf actually needing the fire. Maybe you could replace your elements with drawn representations or sigils of them, which may also make it easier to hide if your mum comes to visit("just drawing doodles mum!")
You can buy resin encased flowers and plants if you are super keen to work with them but can't handle the smell, plus side is that after cleansing you can re use them.
If you want to make mixtures of herbs, oils etc for application you could use all your alternatives (eg the resin plants) to charge water, safe cooking oils or even crystals and then just wear those without having a skin reaction... not exactly the same as the original recipies since you miss out on smelling amazing, but that's kind of the point since you have a allergy so I think its a good substitute.
Thanks everyone for your wonderful ideas!! I was really struggling trying to figure how to start actually doing things. Does anyone have good suggestions on good non-Wiccan Witchcraft that may be in a public library?...
History section and mythology section . Greeks and Egyptians come to mind first . there's lots of good tid bits in there. Then philosophy. and then Geology . All subjects I go to all the time .
As a frugal, allergy prone, Christian witch mom, I like to use a lot of visualization. Less likely for my little mess makers to get their grubby mitts on! LOL
If you'd like something a little more visual, you could use a simple salt water spray for cleanings, maybe adding a little essential oil of something your family isn't allergic to if you want, and spraying in the corners to get those "stuck" energies moving again. Or enchant the cleaning supplies you already use and use a non-religious chant to banish negative energies so you can be cleaning both your physical and spiritual space at the same time.
For cleansing small items, use salt. Salt is cheap and can be reused.
If you want elemental items for an altar, maybe a feather for air instead on incense, an LED candle instead of a real one, a seashell for water, and a chunk of quartz (or other rock) for earth. Or even just some salt dough/sculpy/air dry clay coins with elemental symbols on them might work better for you. You can keep things in a small box if you wanted, or, if you have your own room, designate each wall to an element and spread them out.
I love Olivia's money bowl spell because it can be so innocuous. A discerning, knowing eye might be able to work out that it's a spell bowl, but to most it would just be a pretty green bowl that you put pocket change into.
Spell bags, sigils, and enchanted jewelry are also good for subtle, hidden magical as well. Bags can be kept on you or tucked away in small places in your room. Sigils can be used just about anywhere and with anything, permanent or temporary. And you can enchant jewelry you already have. Color magicks are also useful for all of these.
Make moon and sun water! Charge and cleanse items using light instead of smoke. Use that water for your cleansing spray, making tea, cooking, or just drink it by itself. Dollar Tree has some great bottles that are perfect for this.
A little late to this post but as a fellow allergy suffering witch I wanted to chime in. My favorite way to cleanse a space without smoke is using bells! Can use jingle bells of various sizes/tones found at any craft store and string them together. Or you if you want, a Tibetan singing bowl is a beautiful option.
I’m new too, still in the research phase, but I’m also Christian. I was definitely raised the same, extreme conservative Catholic family...just me and God now lol. I would say unscented candles and crystals and even just items that you like that can represent the things you can’t use. Sea salt is a good very basic way to cleanse.