Supermarket Magic: Creating Spells, Brews, Potions and Powders From Everyday Ingredients (2 page)

kets out there and the energy in many of them is so much

softer. They are usually much easier to shop in and what

they may lack in variety, they more than make up for in

relaxed atmospheres. Of course, if you’re like me and you

have to do weekly grocery shopping at the big stores for

your family, it is a good idea to have a magical game plan to help insulate you from some of the potential frenzy.

Witches by nature, are psychically sensitive peo-

ple and though this has many spiritual advantages, our

sensitivity can make it difficult to handle being in large crowds. Most of the witches I know avoid large groups of

people for this reason which can make grocery shopping

in mega mart type stores exceedingly stressful. For me at

least, establishing a bit of a routine is helpful as is shopping in off hours. I always write my shopping lists the

night before I intend to go to the store and I try to write down the items in the order I find them in the store. I’ve been in there so many times I just picture the layout in my head as I make the list. The first time I went to the store and almost no one was there was an amazing experience.

The huge supermarkets here are open twenty-four hours

a day and I ended up having to buy a few things at eleven

o’clock at night. I walked in the store and it was like a

ghost town. It was so quiet and empty. The only people

in the whole store were the employees that were stocking

the shelves. It’s a fun experience to shop in a giant supermarket when it’s practically empty. For safety’s sake, it

10 Chapter 1

makes more sense to shop in early morning off hours like

with the small breakfast crowd from 6am to about 9am

than it does to shop around midnight or later but either

way, the stores are usually much less crowded.

When the stores aren’t full of people it is so much

easier to shop slowly and browse. That’s when you can

find all sorts of new things to try. I had never tried the grain quinoa until just last year, but I love it. I happened to find it in the store one day when it wasn’t too crowded and I got to look around for awhile. Grocery shopping

can actually be a lot of fun if you have the time and there aren’t a ton of people in the store. I don’t mean to imply that people are bad or that when shopping in a large

crowd the people will be mean or anything. I am just

saying that a significant portion of the stress that many

people feel when grocery shopping stems from the glut of

psychic energy we are subjected to by being around large

groups of people and that witches and psychics tend to

feel this discordant energy more than the average person.

Being a realistic person (with a hectic schedule),

most of the time I end up having to shop during the busy

hours and I figure that most of us are in the same crowded supermarket stress situation. That being the case, a good

defense against the psychic pandemonium is shielding.

In my book,
Spellcasting for Beginners,
there is a spell in the “Verbal Magic” chapter for creating a psychic shield

of protection. I include it here as it is a good idea to surround yourself with a magical safeguard to help block all

For Better or Worse: Navigating the Supermarket 11

that chaos (if there is any). This spell should be cast before you head to the supermarket.

Protection

If you feel in need of protection, visualize yourself sur-

rounded by a bubble of white light that condenses and

“solidifies” into a shining, mirrored orb that repels any

and all negativity and danger. As you visualize, chant the following:

Shield of power, protect me from harm,

From threat of danger, negativity, and storm;

Glowing power, mirrored might,

Keep me safe with your magic light.

This spell really does help, though it may have to be

repeated more than once if the crowds are too great. The

last time I went shopping, the store was packed and I had

to repeat the spell silently to myself four times as I went through the store.

Another similar spell to help the overall shopping ex-

perience is something I like to call an Anti-Anxiety Orb.

This spell is for those times when you forget to work a

protection shield before you go in the store and the anxi-

ety has already crept in. Like the standard shield above, it can be repeated and strengthened as needed.

12 Chapter 1

Anti-Anxiety Orb

Find a place to stop for a moment and imagine a thin

thread of cool electric-blue light coming down from

above and entering your body through the top of your

head. Imagine this thread continues on, straight through

the middle of your body down to your feet. Now, imagine

that the thread is expanding within you and pushing out

all the stress and anxiety. See this light expanding until it has become an orb around you and you are fully cleansed

of the anxiety and protected from any further psychic dis-

ruption by the power of the orb. To seal the spell, say this chant to yourself.

Anxiety banished, stress cast away

Calm returns, here to stay.

The key to this is starting with the thinnest thread

so that as it expands, it pushes out all the anxiety, leaving you calm and refreshed. I love this spell and use it often.

For help in casting these two spells, please see the

next section. It covers all the steps to casting spells such as meditation, visualization, projection, timing, colors,

ethical considerations, etc. and should give you a solid

grounding in magical philosophy. If however, you are al-

ready magically experienced, you may want to skip ahead

to section 3 or just skim the next two chapters. Personally, I usually like to review the basics in books both with a

critical eye and also to see other people’s take on the sub-

For Better or Worse: Navigating the Supermarket 13

ject of spell casting. It always gives me food for thought and it never hurts to brush up on the fundamentals.

Section 2

Magical

FundaMEntalS

there are a number of skills and techniques that

every spell caster should know and hopefully, mas-

ter in order to perform successful magic. Meditation and

the proper channeling of emotional energy are the most

important skills to learn and this section will guide you

through all of the exercises needed to become a profi-

cient magical practitioner of this or any system of practical magic. In addition to the proper training of the mind, it is important to understand that as you send forth the

energy of your spell, it radiates out into both the physical plane and into the astral plane as a means of manifesting

your goal. The physical plane is of course, made up of the physical world and in this world everything emits an energy pattern of its own.

17

Mundane Considerations

First of all, make sure that the phone is off and that you are not expecting company. Make sure that you are not

overly hungry, thirsty or that you have to go to the bath-

room. Additionally, it is a very good idea to keep a magi-

cal journal or notebook in which you record each spell

you cast, the date of casting, the type of spell it is, the moon phase and (later) the date on which the goal manifested itself. You, of course, can also include any personal thoughts you have about the magic. It is not a good idea

to let others read your magical journal; keep it personal.

Also, never speak of your magic to anyone before your

goal manifests as this can cause problems. Other people’s

energy can sometimes hinder you.

19

20 Chapter 2

If there is an abundance of energy that is contrary

to your individual magical goal, then the current of your

spell can be hindered and your results will be (at best) less effective than they could be. If however, you work with

the energy currents of the physical world and match the

rhythms of your intent to the rhythms of the earth and

the moon, then your magic shall be enhanced instead of

hindered. This is the basis for magical timing; to under-

stand the natural currents of the world and to time your

spells to coincide with the proper flow of worldly energy

in order to manifest your magical goal.

Timing

The simplest form of magical timing is to cast your spell

during the proper phase of the moon for your magical

intention. During the waxing moon (from new to full)

is the time for positive, growth-related magic. The three

days of the full moon are best for blessings, calling upon Goddess energy, and high energy (large-scale change)

spells. During the waning moon (after the full moon all

the way to the new moon) is the time to cast spells in-

volving release, banishing, and dissolution. More on this

in chapter 3.

It is also best (but not totally necessary) to cast

your spell during the correct season to enhance its ef-

fects. Spring would correspond to the new moon, sum-

mer would correspond to the full moon, autumn would

correspond to the waning moon and winter would cor-

Magical Basics 21

respond to the dark moon (the three days right before

the new moon). So, for example, the best time to cast a

spell to banish a bad habit would be during the waning

moon during the season of autumn. This would maximize

your ability to connect your intention to the proper flow

of energy. It is not always possible (or advisable) to wait until the ideal season to cast a spell. Timing your rites

according to the movements of the moon is sufficient.

I’m merely pointing out that if ‘you’ve been meaning to

quit smoking (or whatever) and you want to use magic

as an aid in this and it happens to be October; you have

the best conditions in which to work your spell. During

a dark moon in winter, on the other hand, would be the

ideal time to banish unwelcome entities or harmful peo-

ple; to send them permanently away from you. The dark-

est time (of both the moon and season) would maximize

your banishing abilities. Don’t worry though, that type

of magic is almost never needed. I’m not trying to scare

anybody, I swear.

Another effective means of magical timing is to work

according to the days of the week. Each day of the week

has specific planetary and magical associations attached

to it.

Monday:
The day of the Moon. An excellent day for

psychic and dream work and connecting to Goddess

energy.

22 Chapter 2

Tuesday:
The day of Mars. A great day for any work

involving conflict, force, male energy, and action.

Wednesday:
The day of Mercury. A day for

communication, divination, learning and mental

improvement.

Thursday:
The day of Jupiter. The best day to work

for expansion, influencing people in positions of

authority and good luck.

Friday:
the day of Venus. The ideal day for love, beauty and friendship magic.

Saturday:
The day of Saturn: The day for binding and grounding magic.

Sunday:
The day of the Sun. The best time for

connecting to God energy, success and wealth

magic, strength and healing.

Magical timing is only the first step in the spell cast-

ing process. Determining the spell you want to use and

gathering all the necessary ingredients and supplies for it are the next steps.

Supplies

To create some of the recipes in this book, such as the oils, you will need basic cooking items such as a pot, a spoon

and a sieve (preferably a metal one) and also, jars with

tight-fitting lids. Some of the spells in this book call for a

Magical Basics 23

cloth charm bag. These are not usually available in super-

markets, but a lot of the larger food/pharmacy/automo-

tive/housewares/everything-type stores also have a fabric

section and all you need is a 3 to 6 inch square of fabric in the chosen color and some thread, yarn or cord to tie it up. Barring that, any of the charm bags called for in the

spells can be substituted with plain cheesecloth which is

widely available in most regular supermarkets.

You will probably notice that I have not included any

incense recipes in this book. The reason for this is that I really wanted the scope of this work to be limited to magical items that could be made and used with only ingredi-

ents obtained from the supermarket and incense has to be

burned on specialty charcoal blocks. Also, a lot of markets sell prepackaged stick and cone incense now that could be

purchased in a compatible scent and used in conjunction

with a given spell as desired. Lastly, if you would prefer to make your own incense, you can craft your own recipe out

of the ingredient listings given at the end of each chap-

ter or you can modify an oil recipe (omitting the oil and

other wet ingredients) from this book to suit your needs.

The spells included weren’t designed for use with incense, but it can always be included if desired.

When gathering such ingredients as candles and fab-

ric, the color chosen can be an important decision. Color