As I was growing up, I have always seen plants, rocks, and animals as having their own energy or their own spirit. When I was a child, I would talk to them. To me, they have always been real. Metal has its own energy too but I didn’t talk to metal things although I wanted to taste it and wear it. OK, I was a weird kid and still a very weird adult. I liked the taste of certain metals although I am not sure why. I didn’t like to eat meat because of the taste and texture of it. I preferred to talk to the animals instead of eating them. I still do.
I may have been an imaginative child when it came to spirits of all kind but it stayed with me as an adult. I prefer to call on the elements and sometimes the elementals when doing magick. I have always felt it was natural for me. I had an imaginary friend when I was a child who never left. I have always called her “She”. I didn’t know at the time that although the word sounds like “She” it was actually spelled Sidhe and I thought that was “WHO” she was and not “WHAT” she is. She taught me a lot as I grew up.
So, what about these sticks and stones? In magick, we use sticks and stones to work our Sympathetic magick spells. Of course, it is not limited to sticks and stones. We also use fire, water, herbs, and metals. As a beginner or a Newbie to magick, do you or did you wonder why witches use such things in their magick?
I have always been sensitive to these energy properties in things around me but I didn’t know how to consciously tap into them and use their energy to strengthen the outcome of my prayers or spell. I used prayer a lot being from a Baptist family. Sidhe taught me how to use prayer to get what I needed.
Have you sat in meditation with your new crystal or semi-precious gem in your hand and felt the vibrations of that stone? To me, that is how the sticks and stones feel to me all the time. If we sit long enough and relax, we can open our senses enough to perceive the stone in our hand in a way that I describe as a tingling sensation. I resonate with a certain object or I don’t. I have held a Hematite in my hand and felt horribly nauseous and ill. However, Aventurine and Rose Quartz resonate well with me. I like the feel of a smooth and polished sodalite and for a long time, I wore an amethyst pendant.
When my children were small, I explained to them that taking the leaves off the shrubs were hurting the plants. That plants need the leaves. If they wanted to play with the leaves that the ones to pull off are the ones that are brown and crispy. I still talk to my plants. Yes, I actually do. I feel when they need water and I know when they are happy.
I believe in animism. I believe everything has a spirit. They exist differently than a human being but they have a spirit none-the-less. When I use a herb, or a stick or even a stone, I call upon the spirit of that object to aid me in my spell or acquiring my desire.
When I make a kitchen spell, I call upon the spirit of the herb or spice that I am using. I call upon the plant I am using. I don’t really know how other witches do this but I found it helpful to begin to focus on feeling energy. There is an exercise that I started out with that helped me get started. I find this exercise very grounding.You can try or modify this Energy exercise to see if it works for you.
Once able to sense energy, you can move on to adding objects into your exercise. I would start with living things like your pet or plants. Please be careful not to hurt them. Starting with a respect for living things helps one to connect to these living things. Things we can see are alive. It is helpful to use things that we know are living for a beginner to start with. Then move to things like crystals.
In almost every spell we will see ingredients and objects called for to perform the spell. Most Witches are familiar with the energy of the items they use. I am aware of its energy or its spirit energy. I respect it and honor it as I use it. That is how it works for me.
Everything has some meaning and it is up to us as Witches to get to know the tools that we use. Meditate with it. Get to know it. Find out how it will work for you and if it will work for you. You are a Witch, you were born with a gift. The gift of working with what we can find in our environment. Sticks and Stones, herbs, water, and flame. From all that surrounds us, we became the witch we are.
May you walk in Peace and Light,
