0:01

Welcome to Back on the

0:03

Broomestick, a modern witch's spoken

0:05

word grimoire, where two witchy

0:07

friends from way back are reconnecting

0:10

to their pagan roots after a

0:12

long period of mandanity. We're re-walking

0:14

the path of the wise and

0:16

trying out all the latest spells,

0:19

rituals, and magical theory in

0:21

today's witchcraft and pagan practices.

0:23

So grab your wand and your

0:25

incense, your cauldron and your crystals,

0:27

and join us as we get back

0:29

on the Broomstick. Back on the broomstick.

0:32

I'm Layla and on this episode we'll

0:34

be talking about a witch's tools. What

0:36

are they? Where did they come from

0:38

and how do you use them? I'm

0:41

Shell and tonight we're going to talk

0:43

about something like the coolest thing is

0:45

to have that you don't necessarily need.

0:47

Is that a good way to put

0:49

it? Oh, I guess so, but I

0:51

do think that there are times when

0:54

you might definitely need them. Yeah, but

0:56

there are times where it's not necessarily

0:58

necessary and we'll get into that. That's

1:00

right, we're going to cover all of

1:02

the bases. What are witches? Where did

1:05

they come from? And why or why not

1:07

would you use them? Before we go too far,

1:09

the first thing I want to say

1:11

is that we're mostly going to be

1:13

covering Western European, pretty much wicked base.

1:16

I was going to say probably this

1:18

is going to be more relevant to

1:20

a wicked listener. Well, that's where the

1:22

use of them in modern witchcraft became

1:25

popular, but they're not just for wickets.

1:27

Tools are definitely universal through a lot

1:29

of different paths, don't get us wrong.

1:32

That's right, but we're going to come

1:34

at it from the angle where we

1:36

learned it, how we came up with

1:38

Buckland's big book with our very

1:41

heavily wicked influenced background in rituals

1:43

and magical spaces. So that's what

1:45

we're going to come at this

1:47

particular episode, but we will have

1:50

episodes in the future where we

1:52

go over lots of different tools

1:54

from different places. but you'll be very

1:56

familiar with these because they're in the

1:58

magical lexicon. This is what you see

2:00

when you... on Tiktok or when you

2:02

go on YouTube. Or even when you

2:04

walk into a occult metaphysical or magical

2:06

oriented shop, these are going to be

2:08

the things that are going to be

2:10

front and center. Exactly. So what

2:13

we're talking about are things like a

2:15

wand or an atheme or an atheme,

2:17

depending on how you want to pronounce

2:19

that. You know, I was actually thinking

2:21

that we should discuss this for a

2:23

minute. What is with the different ways

2:26

to say that? I always call it

2:28

an atheme, but now I'm hearing a

2:30

lot more people calling it an atheme

2:32

and I'm like, why are we changing

2:35

the pronunciation or have I been wrong for

2:37

30 years? You know, that's a darn good

2:39

question. And I think it comes down to

2:41

a lot of like sown or Sam Hain.

2:43

And I try not to shame

2:45

anybody that says Sam Hayne because

2:47

odds are they've never heard it

2:49

pronounced and they've just read it.

2:52

Right. And I think that that's

2:54

the same thing with an atheme. I

2:56

mean, ultimately, however you say it,

2:58

that nothing is wrong. So we

3:00

were taught atheme from what I

3:02

understand from my gardenarian connections

3:05

is that supposedly Gardner invented

3:07

it. I don't know if

3:09

that's true or not the

3:11

word itself. And he said, a thema.

3:13

Athema? So all of us are wrong, is

3:16

what you're saying. Maybe we're all

3:18

wrong. Doesn't really matter how you say

3:20

it. Not really. It's a ritual blade.

3:22

It's a double-sided. I was going to

3:25

say, if you're not familiar, it

3:27

is a double-sided blade. Definitely,

3:29

not necessarily the sharpest out

3:32

there, but a double-sided blade.

3:34

That's right. So we talked

3:36

about Gardner and Gardnerian Wicca,

3:38

creating a lot of these

3:40

tools. And where a lot of

3:42

them come from is older magical

3:44

traditions. Gerald Gardner, Alistair Crowley, Doreen

3:47

Valiente, all of those guys, they

3:49

incorporated the use of magical tools from

3:51

these other systems like the Golden

3:53

Dawn. They got them from the

3:55

manuscript of the Key of Solomon,

3:58

from the Jewish mystic traditions. of

4:00

the Kabbalah from Muslim mystics, ceremonial

4:02

magic, and from so many different

4:04

places. I mean, these guys were

4:06

all spiritualists. They were searching for

4:08

magic and magicians and witches everywhere.

4:10

So they incorporated these tools into

4:12

the witchy belief system that they

4:14

were creating, and they took the

4:16

traditional meanings and uses and kept

4:18

what worked, and they also added

4:20

their own associations to make everything

4:22

work in the system that they're

4:24

creating. That's kind of how I

4:26

think of it as they're kind

4:28

of assigned like a quarter, an

4:30

element, however you want to define

4:33

that. So I look at is,

4:35

I look at an FMA as

4:37

like a fire south kind of

4:39

tool. So if I have it

4:41

placed on my altar, that's something

4:43

I'm going to have kind of

4:45

in the southern portion of my

4:47

altar to represent south. These tools

4:49

come from these different magical traditions.

4:51

and Gardner put them on to

4:53

his earth-based religion, his form of

4:55

witchcraft. And then that kind of

4:57

got disseminated throughout the United States,

4:59

mixed with a lot of folk

5:01

magic, mixed with West African traditions,

5:03

where we get the gembe, the

5:05

drum, and lots of different other

5:07

cultures to form these tools. So

5:09

let's give a quick little list.

5:11

Let's list off a couple of

5:14

the main tools that in our

5:16

experience are in regular use by

5:18

a lot of witches and magical

5:20

practitioners today. which we can briefly

5:22

touch on that whole thing that

5:24

we talked about with the tarot

5:26

cards with with swords and wands.

5:28

Chalice, cauldron. A staff or a

5:30

stang? Yep. A bowling, although I

5:32

almost never see that. A bowling

5:34

is a sickle-shaped knife. It looks

5:36

like a moon, a crescent moon

5:38

with a white handle. and it's

5:40

traditionally used for work, basically harvesting

5:42

herbs and things like that. And

5:44

I've heard of one. Never seen

5:46

one. I mean, I have seen

5:48

them before. They're beautiful, usually kind

5:50

of expensive, but I've almost never

5:53

seen one in actual use. I

5:55

think they're hard to cut by.

5:57

Yeah, they're pretty and they're cool.

5:59

They're not a very practical knife.

6:01

They're kind of cool looking. Candles,

6:03

obviously. Yes, definitely. Candles are a

6:05

very common item that witches use

6:07

in spellwork. They're not technically one

6:09

of the traditional tools of witchcraft,

6:11

but they're used for pretty much

6:13

everything in spellcraft and ritual for

6:15

witches today. Yeah. I have drums,

6:17

herbs, crystals, jars, candles, things like

6:19

that. Broom and an altar cloth,

6:21

incense. Sheets. Okay, now we're kind

6:23

of repeating things. Basically what a

6:25

tool does is it helps you

6:27

to direct your energy. It helps

6:29

you to have a physical representation

6:32

of different types of energy on

6:34

your altar in order to help

6:36

you in your spellwork or your

6:38

ritual. They're kind of, you know,

6:40

I kind of look at it

6:42

as each quarter. Pentacle, that's what

6:44

I was forgetting, because each quarter

6:46

and then deity kind of has

6:48

its quote-unquote tool. So, you know,

6:50

we talked about atheme in the

6:52

south for fire, the cauldron would

6:54

be west for water, the wand

6:56

or the staff would be east

6:58

for air. I personally generally use

7:00

like a stone or something of

7:02

that nature as my north tool.

7:04

And the traditional tool for north

7:06

would be the pentacle. Right. Or

7:08

I was going to say, or

7:10

the pentacle. And then for deity,

7:13

honestly, that's where I kind of

7:15

use a candle as a tool.

7:17

I also like to have representations

7:19

of deity on my altar as

7:21

well. And you can have a

7:23

representation like a statue for deity.

7:25

True. True. But Shell, you'd like

7:27

to use a candle for deity.

7:29

You can use traditional god and

7:31

goddess colors if you want to,

7:33

or colors associated with that particular

7:35

deity. Let me tell you why.

7:37

Not at every point in my

7:39

life have I been able to

7:41

afford a beautiful gorgeous fancy statue.

7:43

And I know that those aren't

7:45

always easily obtainable for people. So

7:47

back in the day, I just,

7:49

it was a candle. That's what

7:52

I had. That's what I had

7:54

to use. You know what I'm

7:56

saying? I mean, obviously now I

7:58

have some statuary. it's gorgeous but

8:00

that's not always something that people

8:02

have on the ready or as

8:04

a candle is something you have

8:06

on the ready generally. And that gets

8:08

into a topic I definitely wanted to

8:10

touch on with tools is that they

8:13

are a physical representation of an idea

8:15

and that's a big part of magic

8:17

is you really want to get your

8:19

subconscious your magical brain you know that

8:21

part of your brain when you're in

8:24

a magical state or when you're meditating

8:26

when you can really affect change.

8:28

having a physical representation

8:30

can help that energy get more

8:33

easily into your subconscious. Any

8:35

representation that you can associate works. Therefore,

8:37

a gold candle will represent the God

8:39

and a silver candle will represent the

8:42

God as very easily. So it's like

8:44

cooking, there's substitutions. Yes, oh I love

8:46

that. Yeah, like for me, my, my,

8:49

the things I like to use to

8:51

represent the God. are usually antlers. I

8:53

love to use antlers because I do

8:56

love to work with kernunus. And on

8:58

the flip side of that I have

9:00

used a butter knife as an athenae

9:03

before I just signed. Exactly, exactly, yeah.

9:05

Yeah, do what you got? So things

9:07

for a god would be anything that

9:09

you would associate with the god. Any

9:11

phallic symbols, you could use a wand

9:13

or an athenae to represent the god.

9:15

And in some traditions they do, there

9:17

are specific rituals where that's done. for the

9:19

goddess you would do things that

9:22

would represent the womb or the

9:24

vulva, chalice, shells, the triple moon.

9:26

That's because Wicca and a lot

9:29

of earth-based practices really have a

9:31

lot of themes revolving around procreation,

9:33

the act of creating life, and

9:36

that more often than not requires

9:38

male and female forces and energies

9:40

to create and to reproduce life.

9:42

But that's just one perspective. There

9:45

are a multitude of ways to

9:47

view deity that don't involve genders

9:49

or reproduction at all. Like everything,

9:51

your mileage may vary, and you

9:53

need to do what works for you. There

9:55

has been times where I have actually

9:58

printed out pictures of deity. and

10:00

used that on my altar

10:02

to represent deity kind of

10:04

have that that visual picture

10:06

of whoever say it was Kali you

10:08

know take a picture of Kali and

10:10

have that on the altar to represent

10:13

deity so there's a lot of different

10:15

things you can do with that. The

10:17

idea is to you to have

10:19

these items to honor the elements

10:21

to honor what they're representing and

10:23

also to assist you in your

10:25

spell work they are again are

10:28

a tangible real -world representation of that energy that

10:30

you're trying to call up so that makes

10:32

it a lot easier for you to do

10:34

it like if you're trying to call up

10:36

fire to call up that energy you can

10:38

think about it you can hold an atheme you

10:40

can think about it being forged and fire

10:42

and that's a great way to call that energy

10:44

but how much easier is it if you're

10:47

looking at the flame of a candle or at

10:49

a bonfire while you're trying to do that.

10:51

Right and you know and I think kind of

10:53

of a chalice is like you

10:55

know when you are when you

10:57

are drinking from the chalice you're kind

10:59

of taking things in you know

11:01

you're you're you're being receptive I

11:03

guess is probably a good

11:05

word I guess the best way

11:08

I look at it is it

11:10

represents you you not necessarily consuming

11:12

the thing is literally but kind

11:14

of more figuratively consuming. Yeah exactly

11:16

by doing the literal act you

11:18

can also use the the figurative

11:20

energy the the magical energy also

11:23

comes with it so say you're

11:25

doing a spell where you want

11:27

to fill yourself with more confidence you

11:29

could whip up some tea you

11:31

know a tea spell and put it

11:33

in your chalice and then literally

11:35

fill yourself with confidence

11:37

exactly you're performing an act in

11:40

the physical world with the physical

11:42

representations of energy to affect that

11:44

same type of change in the

11:46

magical realm it's like a mind

11:48

body magical connection it's a loop

11:50

and and that's what you're trying

11:52

to trigger with using these tools

11:54

and there's also the honoring of the element

11:56

part that comes into the chain. And you

11:58

know I've also been

12:00

in situations where the wand has

12:02

been used to represent deity

12:04

and therefore incense an incense

12:07

burner was used on the altar

12:09

as a tool to represent air.

12:11

So if you do, you know,

12:13

if you are using something like

12:16

the wand for deity, you can

12:18

kind of interchange different things to

12:20

represent the element that it's also

12:22

associated with. So back when we

12:24

were involved in the large

12:26

pagan community and with our

12:29

own coven, Whenever we would

12:31

set up a ritual, most of

12:33

the time, I mean we did

12:35

stray from this formula, but there

12:37

was kind of a formula that

12:39

we followed. Yeah, yeah. Alter setup,

12:41

so to say. Yeah, exactly. In

12:43

the East, we would have objects

12:45

that represented air, incense, feathers, flowers,

12:47

wands, anything that represented air. Yellow

12:49

things, and if we did, if

12:51

we did quarter candles, we'd have

12:53

a yellow candle there. You know,

12:56

in the South, it would be...

12:58

Athamase, it would be fire, it

13:00

would be candles burning, red

13:02

candles burning. Yep, and in

13:04

the West we would have

13:06

your cauldrons, chalices, any type

13:08

of liquid, we would have

13:10

blue things. Seashells. Representations of

13:12

water. And then in the

13:14

North, we've had everything from

13:16

rocks to dirt, to pine

13:18

cones, kind of those earthy

13:20

things. the first fruits from

13:22

people's gardens. Baked goods like

13:24

breads, things of that nature,

13:26

earthy things. Earthy things. And

13:28

then in the center we would

13:31

have a small bonfire, but we would

13:33

also have a deity altar where we

13:35

would have representations of the God

13:37

and the goddess, the Lord and

13:39

lady. For us, those represent ideas.

13:41

There's a full spectrum between all

13:44

of that and they represent the

13:46

whole thing. You might say the

13:48

goddess, but she represents the

13:50

inner energy taking things in.

13:52

She's receptive. She's hearth in

13:54

home. She's creation. She's destruction.

13:57

So it doesn't necessarily have...

13:59

to be a goddess. And the

14:01

same thing with the God. It

14:03

can just be deity. That's right,

14:05

could just be deity. But then

14:07

you put your representations there, whatever

14:10

deity means to you, whatever spirit

14:12

means to you. And again, we've

14:14

done, you know, candles, purple candles,

14:16

we've done statuary, we've done lots

14:18

of things. All sorts of stuff,

14:20

yeah. And then there's always, we've

14:22

talked about this in a previous

14:24

episode, but with the whole wickin

14:26

roots, there have been times, particularly

14:28

for beltingity. which is a wicked

14:30

tradition. It's basically... The coming together

14:32

of the God and the goddess.

14:34

That's right. And it's, you take

14:36

your atheme and chalice and your high

14:39

priest and high priestess would be, one

14:41

would hold the atheme, one would hold

14:43

the chalice, and there would be a

14:45

whole back and forth that they would

14:48

say, um, Let it be known that

14:50

no man is greater than a

14:52

woman. For what one lacks, the

14:54

other shall provide. Yeah, something like

14:56

that. There's a few things in

14:58

the tree. That whole thing. But

15:00

then you put the athelmy into

15:02

the chalice to represent both sex

15:04

and, like you said, the union

15:06

of male and female. So there's

15:08

all sorts of stuff that you

15:10

can do with those. We've even

15:12

had a vase of flowers represent

15:14

deity. It's whatever it means to you

15:16

know. Whatever those those elements mean

15:18

to you and what you're going to

15:20

associate them with can be what your

15:22

tool is for that. Yeah, it really

15:25

comes down to a mindset. And

15:27

for me, having magical tools, especially

15:29

ones that have been used repeatedly

15:31

in ceremony and ritual, a lot

15:33

like the traditional tools that

15:36

we used all the time in the

15:38

pagan community that we came up in,

15:40

using them repeatedly. helps to create an

15:42

atmosphere of vibe and really helps

15:44

to get me into the flow

15:46

state of magic. There is a

15:48

time and place for everything.

15:51

If you are doing, you know,

15:53

ceremonial high magic, absolutely, all the

15:55

bells and whistles, everything in its

15:57

exact proper location, but I

15:59

the flip side if you do

16:01

to just throw something together that's good

16:04

enough too. Oh absolutely I mean I

16:06

have several altars throughout my house and

16:08

there I mean some are more formal

16:10

than others with where things are placed

16:13

sometimes things are just kind of placed

16:15

in an elvin chest sort of fashion.

16:17

I kind of have an interesting altar

16:19

set up it's like any surface that's

16:22

available. Pretty much, yeah. It becomes an

16:24

altar. Either that or I pile books

16:26

on it. It's one of the two.

16:28

Yeah, yeah, you know. That's the thing

16:31

is like, altars almost turn into a

16:33

collection of things. You know, I've got

16:35

stones, I've got pine cones, I've got

16:37

wheat, I've got candles, like I've got

16:40

lots of things. And the cool thing

16:42

about that is those are all things

16:44

that are important to you. They have

16:46

meaning, they have magic, they have weight

16:49

to them. So when you grab that

16:51

pine cone, you remember where you got

16:53

it. That says forest to you, that

16:56

says earth that you know, that says

16:58

God. And so that makes it so

17:00

easy for you to call that kind

17:02

of energy. And honestly, having kind of

17:05

like a quote-on-quote tool collection, different things,

17:07

you know. I might pull, if I'm

17:09

looking for assistance with, say, love and

17:11

happiness, I might pull a rose quartz,

17:14

whereas if I'm looking for something a

17:16

little more financially based, I might pull

17:18

a green adventuring. You know, so it

17:20

gives me the opportunity to pick and

17:23

choose what I need for what purpose

17:25

and intention. Yes. You pick a rose

17:27

quartz because we know what the qualities

17:29

of rose quartz are. we've been told.

17:32

Right. People have been using it for

17:34

this for a very long time. That

17:36

kind of gets into the idea that

17:38

it has these qualities because people have

17:41

been saying it has them and working

17:43

with it in that way for a

17:45

very long time. But even though history

17:47

can kind of give a certain confidence,

17:50

you don't have to take their word

17:52

for it, you can spend your own

17:54

time with tools and use that time

17:56

and then find out for yourself how

17:59

they work best for you, what categories

18:01

they belong in for you. I remember

18:03

with a witch from Connecticut that I

18:05

had the great luck to train with

18:08

and she did this thing where she

18:10

called it a stoning and it wasn't

18:12

the weed kind which I was kind

18:15

of expecting. but she handed me different

18:17

crystals that I wasn't, I was, I

18:19

was just a little witchling at the

18:21

time, I didn't know all these crystals,

18:24

she had this huge collection, so she

18:26

had me sit down, get into an

18:28

alpha state, no weed and ball sadly,

18:30

and she would hand me different stones,

18:33

different crystals, and ask me how I

18:35

felt about it. and she kind of

18:37

write them down each one and then

18:39

afterwards we went over what like the

18:42

actual meaning of the stone was compared

18:44

right where yeah they were all pretty

18:46

close some of them were you know

18:48

you kind of tangential connections there some

18:51

of them had different meanings for me

18:53

but that's because we have these ideas

18:55

of what colors mean you know you

18:57

grow up with the idea that green

19:00

means money and pink means love yeah

19:02

yeah right so we have these ideas

19:04

these archetypes in our head that's part

19:06

of what can make some of these

19:09

tools so powerful so powerful the weight

19:11

we give it. Okay, I got one

19:13

more story. This one is to show

19:15

you how easily we can fool our

19:18

brains into giving something importance and energy.

19:20

Okay. When I was training to be

19:22

a hypnotherapist, one of the things that

19:25

you learn as a hypnotist is presentation

19:27

is everything, right? You got it. Brain

19:29

hacking is a big part of what

19:31

we do. We were taught whenever you

19:34

go to give a presentation or if

19:36

you're giving some type of workshop, always

19:38

have someone else introduce you before you

19:40

go on to speak. Why? Because that

19:43

automatically makes you an expert in the

19:45

minds of the audience. Only important people

19:47

get introduced. Did introduced. Exactly. Nice. Before

19:49

you even walk out on stage, you

19:52

have gained authority and presence without even

19:54

trying. And that's because our brains are

19:56

trained to think in certain ways. Right.

19:58

You can have. into that by using

20:01

green stones for money, you know, and

20:03

that's why we like tools because tools

20:05

can help us get there. That's kind

20:07

of actually the point of tools is

20:10

is that physical and visual representation, you

20:12

know, if you are if you are

20:14

looking to project something out, you know,

20:16

you're going to want to use your

20:19

wand to your atheme, you know, just

20:21

like Harry Potter and kind of project

20:23

that shit out in a way,

20:25

you know. Even the shape of

20:27

a wand looks like it should

20:29

be projecting energy out. Right, right.

20:31

But then again, you know, if

20:34

you're if you're using a candle,

20:36

that might be kind of more

20:38

of a burning spirit, you know,

20:40

a representation of passion. a representation

20:42

of action of things being handled

20:44

and taken care of. So, you know,

20:47

that's why I also think that sometimes,

20:49

especially when we get into the, you

20:51

know, we talked with the, with the

20:53

tarot about the swords and the wand's

20:55

debate. You could say the same thing

20:58

with with the altered tools. Some people

21:00

think that the athelmy is air and

21:02

that the wand is fire. If that's

21:05

what it means to you, then great.

21:07

That's just as great as it meeting

21:09

the opposite to me. Personally, I very

21:12

much feel that objects have their own

21:14

power. I think that herbs, crystals, earth,

21:16

everything. I think everything... That's the whole

21:18

animism thing. Yeah, exactly. Everything has its

21:21

own energy and power. And when I

21:23

ask them to assist me, they lend

21:25

their power to that. And so I do

21:28

very strongly believe that that can help.

21:30

For that to happen, I do feel

21:32

that you need to create a bond

21:34

with your tools. You need to

21:36

spend time exchanging energy with your

21:38

tools and working with your tools. You

21:40

don't just buy it from the store

21:43

and then just have this bond with

21:45

it to do your bidding, so to

21:47

say. So there is an element of

21:49

connecting with your tools, whether it's the

21:51

herbs or the FMA's or the wands

21:54

or the chalice is like, you have

21:56

to create that bond to be able

21:58

to work together. Yeah. And that's

22:00

why personal items that mean something to

22:02

you are so cool, because you already

22:04

have that bond. You don't have to

22:07

do any work. It's already there. Or

22:09

something that you have created, that bond's

22:11

already there. Sometimes you can see that

22:13

really gorgeous piece of steel in the

22:15

magic shop and feel a connection, but

22:17

other times you have to create it.

22:19

Right, right. And you know, like going

22:22

back to this rose quartz, I bought

22:24

this particular one that I'm showing you.

22:26

So I have it here kind of

22:28

next to my working space. And there's

22:30

been times where I just sit here

22:32

and rub it. I don't know why

22:34

I rub it, because it's flat and

22:37

it's cool to do that with. That's

22:39

kind of... Now I can call on

22:41

the stone and ask it for assistance

22:43

with things because we've exchanged energy. We've

22:45

spent time together. You know what I'm

22:47

saying? I do. And honestly, okay, this

22:49

is going to sound a little weird,

22:52

but rubbing things is a good way

22:54

to put your energy on it. But

22:56

let me throw a little science at

22:58

you that helps me to kind of

23:00

feel that way and feel that that's

23:02

not entirely weird. Have you ever taken

23:04

a needle and rubbed with cloth to

23:07

give it like a static electric charge

23:09

and make a mild magnet? Oh. Okay,

23:11

how about rubbing a balloon on your

23:13

head to stick it on the wall?

23:15

Yep. When you rub a balloon on

23:17

your hair or you rub silk along

23:19

a needle, what's happening is electrons move

23:22

from the more negatively charged item to

23:24

the more positively charged one. And that

23:26

gives it a temporary static electric charge

23:28

and that's why you can stick the

23:30

balloon on the wall. Now, you can

23:32

also take a magnet and rub it

23:34

along a piece of metal in the

23:37

same direction repeatedly. and that will turn

23:39

that piece of metal into a magnet.

23:41

And it does that because running the

23:43

magnet along it makes the atoms all

23:45

line up kind of and go in

23:47

the same direction and it turns that

23:49

metal into a magnet. And that process

23:52

is called magnetization by stroking. You can

23:54

do that, right? Because that changes the

23:56

alignment of the atoms and it makes

23:58

them, it turns them magnetic. I'm going

24:00

to try that, you know, because I've never

24:02

heard of that before. You are

24:05

actually physically affecting something when

24:07

you do that. So in my mind,

24:09

when I am holding something in my

24:11

hands, or if I am, you know,

24:13

petting it or rubbing it, maybe rubbing

24:16

it down with nice oils or some

24:18

herbs or something, throw on some cool

24:20

music, get some incense going. Candleites. Different

24:22

podcast. Hey, you know, if you want

24:24

to romance your tools, go for it.

24:27

There's nothing wrong with that. But yeah,

24:29

create a connection with them that way.

24:31

You know, talk to them. I'd like

24:33

to talk to my herbs before I

24:35

work with them in a spell or

24:37

put them in a joint. Be honest,

24:39

you talk to your weed before you

24:41

smell get. I do. Oh my gosh,

24:43

I used to talk to my plants

24:45

so hard. I remember, but I used

24:47

to call you crazy. You still do.

24:49

Nothing's changed. No. So those are really

24:52

good ways. And you might want to cleanse

24:54

them first if they were someone else. Or

24:56

if you got it at a yard sale.

24:58

Yeah. Maybe you want to clean any energy

25:00

there from manufacturing or from other people who've

25:02

handled it and after that then put your

25:05

energy on to it. But you know, and

25:07

this used to drive my kids crazy, absolutely

25:09

bonkers. I am like a rock collector, okay?

25:11

Like I will just see something. I'm one of

25:13

those people that like, I'll just be walking down

25:15

the street and like some shiny rock on

25:17

the ground attracts my eye and I pick

25:19

it up. And they're like, well, that just

25:22

looks like a brown pebble. Why is it.

25:24

Why is it special. Why is it special.

25:26

Why is it special. Why is it special.

25:28

Why is it. Why is a special. Why

25:30

is a special. I don't know, it is,

25:33

don't question me. You know, maybe you have

25:35

a little pebble that is a gray pebble

25:37

that you found on the sidewalk. That... can

25:39

be just as good and have just

25:41

as much a connection as the

25:43

rose quartz that you buy at the

25:46

store. Yes, oh yeah. I'm actually a

25:48

big fan of using things that you

25:50

just kind of find on your own

25:52

like like rocks on the sidewalk or

25:54

pine cones or you know make your

25:56

wand out of a stick that you

25:58

found in the yard. You don't want

26:00

to be in? I am forever doing

26:03

this. I have snakeskins on my altar.

26:05

I have the last dandelion puff from

26:07

my yard in a jar on my

26:09

altar. I have sticks. Are we called

26:11

Nature Packrats? Is that what we are,

26:14

Nature Packrats? Silvio, the beautiful human that

26:16

gave us those two broom paintings. Called

26:18

me out on it at the Central

26:20

New York Pagan Pride this summer because

26:22

we were all talking after our workshops.

26:25

and I had been picking up, you'd

26:27

been doing it too, I've been doing

26:29

it too, I've been doing it. Acorns,

26:31

acorns, and those little oak leaf branches

26:33

that had fallen off the tree and

26:36

I was like, clustering them with a

26:38

weird little squirrel. And Silvio called me

26:40

out on it, it was very cute.

26:42

Hi, Silvio, we love you. We love

26:44

you. But it was adorable, they were

26:47

like, are you taking all those home?

26:49

I'm like, yes, yes, yes I am.

26:51

Okay, right here, a baby pink, a

26:53

baby little acorn that we got from

26:55

a CNY Paken Pride Day. I have

26:58

a bunch of them on my altar

27:00

as well. Now, speaking of, in the

27:02

same place where I have, I'm going

27:04

to have to put up a picture

27:06

because it's super cute. I have this

27:09

cute little shelf that I have a

27:11

whole bunch of my nature boarding stuff

27:13

on, but on it I have another

27:15

tool that you and I created together,

27:17

you and I created together, Arwegee boards.

27:20

Oh yes, awesome. We created reachy boards

27:22

out of cardboard. And a sharpie marker?

27:24

In a sharpie marker, we even made

27:26

planets. We each have one. They work

27:28

great, by the way. If you want

27:31

to see a picture, we did post

27:33

it back when we talked about it.

27:35

So scroll back on the old Instagram

27:37

and you will find the pictures. So

27:39

making your own, making a connection with

27:42

it is a really, really good idea

27:44

that will also help you kind of

27:46

tap into it. Maybe you have an

27:48

feel like fire to you. Maybe it

27:50

feels more like something you use to

27:53

carve ruins or sigil's into your candles.

27:55

Right. Maybe it feels differently. And so

27:57

you kind of have a pay attention

27:59

to that. A lot like with our

28:01

charm cast. you have to spend a

28:04

little time with each of your tools

28:06

and decide how it feels for you.

28:08

And that's why, you know, going back

28:10

to creating that bond, you have to

28:12

spend the time with it as you

28:15

would spend time with a friend or

28:17

with a loved one. You know, you

28:19

got to put in that energy and

28:21

work to create that relationship because there

28:23

will be a point where you're going

28:26

to ask it to assist you in

28:28

some sort of magical working and you

28:30

need to have that bond created. to

28:32

kind of ask that favor. You know

28:34

what I'm saying? Exactly. And that makes

28:37

it so much easier, especially if you

28:39

have any type of difficulty visualizing. Having

28:41

these tools in front of you can

28:43

really help you focus your magical energy

28:45

to affect the change that you're looking

28:48

for. So maybe you want to know

28:50

how do I cleanse my tools? What

28:52

do I do to cleanse these tools

28:54

that I just bought from some fabulous

28:56

shop online? Or local, by local, by

28:59

local. So I know that you have

29:01

probably used a few different ways as

29:03

have I smoke cleansing. I've done water

29:05

cleansing, I've done air cleansing, plunged it

29:07

into the earth. That's what I do

29:10

with my athelmy actually, because I did

29:12

get a new one not too terribly

29:14

long ago, and kind of plunged it

29:16

into the earth to create that bond.

29:18

So there's gonna be a lot of

29:21

ways that may work for you cleansing

29:23

wise, but I've used all of those

29:25

ways smoke, earth, water. fire. The type

29:27

of tool might dictate how you cleanse

29:29

it. Exactly, you're not going to always

29:32

want to put crystals in water depending

29:34

on the kind of crystal. You might

29:36

not also want to leave them out

29:38

overnight to bathe in the moonlight. Haven't

29:40

had a good idea to clean your

29:43

wand with fire either. That's right, your

29:45

wooden lawn should have been cleansed with

29:47

fire. The only other thing I would

29:49

add is sometimes people want to do

29:51

like a blessing on it too. So

29:54

maybe, you know, if you're doing a

29:56

smoke cleanse on it, then you can

29:58

do some sort of verbal blessing along

30:00

with that. But again, that's really just

30:02

personal preference. Yeah, you can go as

30:05

simple or as elaborate with this as

30:07

you want to. You can just take

30:09

this tool and be like, my. And

30:11

then you're good. But then there's also

30:13

full ceremonies for it. Right. You can

30:16

create a cleansing, cleansing smoke, and then

30:18

a blessing oil. You can create ritual

30:20

herbs. You could name it. You could

30:22

inscribe literally carve or etch or do

30:24

it in oil or chalk a name

30:27

onto the tool. You can consecrate it

30:29

to a deity or to yourself or

30:31

to a specific purpose. You could speak

30:33

words over it. you can get as

30:35

elaborate as you like or as simple.

30:38

You did name your broom. I did.

30:40

Hagitha. I love her. My lovely base

30:42

home. I did have the pleasure of

30:44

talking to the wonderful hags over at

30:46

Three Moon Brooms. While they were being

30:49

created, we were lucky enough to be

30:51

able to get custom matching brooms from

30:53

them. When she first started creating our

30:55

brooms, I got pictures and I immediately...

30:57

new hagatha and just like I said

31:00

sometimes you walk into a store and

31:02

something will call to you and it

31:04

will immediately know yeah you know that's

31:06

right a long time ago I got

31:08

a whole bunch of green egg magazines

31:11

which then sadly I lost entirely in

31:13

a flood but before I had met

31:15

pagans that was a big connection for

31:17

me of learning about paganism and about

31:19

other people who practiced but I had

31:22

gotten them at a secondhand shop And

31:24

from one of the people that I

31:26

had met at some point who knew

31:28

about witchcraft, I had gotten the idea

31:30

that you weren't ever supposed to haggle

31:33

for a magical tool. So when I

31:35

saw these magazines, they were priced at

31:37

like two bucks each, and there was

31:39

a good 20 or so of them,

31:41

and I didn't have the money. So

31:44

I'm like, hold on to these, I'll

31:46

come back with the money. I came

31:48

back and someone else was on shift,

31:50

and I said, hey, that's my pile

31:52

of magazines. That's too much. I'll give

31:55

you the whole stack for $2. I

31:57

said sold. Patience is a virtue. That's

31:59

right. the money down and got the

32:01

fuck out. But in that is where

32:03

I found the poem Never Again, the

32:05

burning. I learned so much from these

32:07

magazines. But the point here is that

32:09

sometimes a magical tool that is meant

32:12

to find you will just call to

32:14

you and find you. And you might

32:16

not necessarily need to clean it. And at

32:18

that point in your life, Green Egg was

32:20

your magical tool. Oh my gosh, yes,

32:23

I love those magazines. I scour eBay

32:25

for them. When they come up and

32:27

I can afford them, I snatch them.

32:29

But yeah, so it could be anything.

32:31

And do you have a favorite tool,

32:33

I guess, is my next question. You

32:35

know, oddly enough, I actually thought

32:38

about this because I figured

32:40

that we would probably somehow circle back

32:42

to do I have a favorite tool.

32:45

I do. And it's actually going to

32:47

have to be my pentacle necklace. And

32:49

that is because you know, you might

32:51

be in a situation where, I don't

32:54

have my athelmy with me, I don't

32:56

take that shit to work, you know,

32:58

but no matter where I go and

33:00

what I do, I've got that pentacle

33:03

with me. It can be, is a

33:05

tool to project, to manifest, to protect,

33:07

just as I would use it on

33:09

an altar, sometimes I use it wrapped

33:12

around my neck, because I do think

33:14

that sigil and such are also tools

33:16

as well. Honestly, it's probably

33:18

my pentacle necklace. I had

33:21

to think about it. I'm magpie, I guess.

33:23

I like pretty things. I like to have

33:25

things on my altar. I like earthy things.

33:27

And I do like to have representations

33:29

of the elements and deity on my

33:31

altar or when I'm doing a spell.

33:34

But when I thought about it, the

33:36

biggest thing I want to have when

33:38

I'm doing a spell is smoke. I

33:40

like incense or I like a smokeable spell.

33:43

If I have incense, it feels like a

33:45

spell to me, I guess. So maybe it's

33:47

because I'm an air sign. I don't know.

33:49

But incense of some type, which I guess

33:51

isn't really a traditional tool. You know, funny,

33:53

because my backup would have been an athelmy,

33:56

which doesn't seem like something I would pick, but

33:58

for some reason it was what I... kept

34:00

going back to. That's another that was

34:02

the other thing I thought of. I

34:04

went back and forth because I do

34:06

also like Athomase, but I like wands

34:08

and I could just keep going down

34:10

the list. You know, I have a

34:12

cauldron collection. I don't know. I have

34:14

chalices and cauldrons and I have pentacle

34:16

stuff. I like representations of the elements.

34:18

But I would have to say when

34:20

I really, really think about it, if

34:22

I have incense, it feels like a

34:24

spell to me. And then also for

34:26

ritual, if I'm doing a big ritual,

34:28

but it doesn't really feel like a

34:30

ritual to me unless there's drumming. See,

34:32

now funny, because if for ritual wise, I'm

34:36

going to have to go

34:38

with my cord. It feels like

34:40

a ritual if I have

34:42

my cord. Yeah, you know, honestly,

34:44

that is a tool we

34:46

did not list when we listed

34:48

our list. So we talked

34:50

about the Athome. Traditionally, it's double

34:52

bladed because was it words

34:54

and actions can both cut or

34:56

something like that? Right. And

34:58

it has a black handle, a

35:00

symbol of masculine energy. Traditionally,

35:02

bells, we didn't talk about bells,

35:04

but those can be traditional

35:06

to ward off negativity. Let's see,

35:08

cauldron and chalice, feminine, pentacle

35:11

symbol, bowling. But we did not

35:13

talk about the cord. That

35:15

is also traditional from Gardnerian magic.

35:17

And we also had cords

35:19

in our coven. Now, it can

35:21

be a lot of different

35:23

things. You know, some traditions, some

35:25

covens kind of use cords,

35:27

kind of like a name badge

35:29

of your status. It's a

35:31

long rope that's usually multiple long

35:33

ropes braided together that you

35:35

wear around your waist like a

35:37

belt that indicates status or

35:39

rank. Yes. But, you know, it

35:41

also can kind of be

35:43

the ties that bind us to.

35:45

Correct. Yes. You know, we've

35:48

used cords in hand fastings to

35:50

bond people together. I've cut

35:52

cords to cut cords. Yeah, that's

35:54

right. That's right. So whatever,

35:56

it's again another tool that can

35:58

be multi -purpose, but in a

36:00

ritual setting, you know. Once I tie

36:02

my cord around my waist, it's almost like, all right, game

36:04

on, we're ready. For me, cords, I

36:06

only associate with covens. I never use

36:09

a cord if I'm just doing a

36:11

ritual, like say at a festival or

36:13

at a workshop or at a workshop

36:16

or something like that. I associate

36:18

cord strictly with coven. I guess

36:20

I never thought of it that

36:23

way. You might not be terribly

36:25

wrong, but it's not necessary. It's

36:27

just how you look like. Three

36:29

braids, so nine cords total, nine

36:32

ropes, three braids. Usually the colors

36:34

mean something. When you're initiated, you

36:36

get a white cord and then

36:38

you get added different colors as

36:40

you go through the different levels

36:42

to indicate your training. But you

36:44

could use cords for different things. If

36:47

you wanted to do cord for yourself,

36:49

you could do it for your own

36:51

level of training. Chords are big use

36:53

in hand fastings as well. I do

36:56

have a hand fasting cord on a

36:58

shelf. but I don't really use it

37:00

for anything. But other people do. You

37:02

know, Shell wears one all the time when

37:05

she goes out with her coat.

37:07

Well, you know. And Robes, sometimes

37:09

different groups will have traditional dress.

37:11

But the ones that you mostly

37:13

see are going to be earth

37:15

representations like a pentacle, the chalice,

37:18

the blade, the candle, the incense.

37:20

And these are really elemental aspects,

37:22

typically. And they mostly come from

37:24

wicked history. Yeah, but you know,

37:26

I'm a fan of my tools.

37:28

I am a fan of my

37:30

tools. And even though I've kind

37:32

of, you know, spent some time

37:34

pulling away from Wicken specific,

37:36

I, you know, I'm eccentric.

37:38

I take my tools with

37:40

me. Take my tools with

37:42

me. And I like the

37:44

representations. I like representing the

37:47

natural world around me. I

37:49

like representing the energies that

37:51

I'm hoping to work with.

37:53

That feels good and right to me when I'm

37:55

when I'm doing a spell or a ritual. Well,

37:57

and you know, the only example that keeps popping

37:59

in to my head is remember that

38:01

time we did that dream walk and

38:04

what we did was we tied our

38:06

cords around our waist on one end

38:08

tied the other end of our cord

38:10

around our athelmy and plunged our athelmy

38:13

into the ground to kind of tie

38:15

us to the to the real world

38:17

so to say we were going to

38:19

into the fay realm we were traveling

38:22

to Avalon for that one. We were

38:24

we were and we kind of used

38:26

almost like leaving a trail of breadcrubs

38:28

making sure we had a way back.

38:31

There's another example of a cord. It

38:33

was within a coven setting, but that

38:35

was a magical use of a cord.

38:37

Exactly, exactly. The ties that, like I

38:40

said, the ties that bind us. But

38:42

that is an example I keep thinking

38:44

of with the cord in the athelmy,

38:46

you know, kind of grounding you into

38:49

the real world or grounding you into

38:51

a specific point. That's really the point

38:53

of all these is we use that

38:55

as a physical representation of what we

38:58

magically wanted to do. Right. And that's

39:00

really what all of these are. These

39:02

are objects for you to work with

39:04

their natural energy to direct your will.

39:07

And that's what magic is, really. So

39:09

there are lots of other tools that

39:11

we didn't cover. Again, we just kind

39:13

of went with our personal roots, which

39:16

is very Western European Wicken based, with

39:18

a little bit of animism and folk

39:20

magic thrown in, because we like the

39:22

natural things. We like them to represent

39:25

the natural world. And, you know, if

39:27

you have tools that are different or

39:29

used differently... That is absolutely fantastic. This

39:31

is just kind of what we have

39:34

kind of been trained and know and

39:36

of practice throughout the years. I know

39:38

we're going to get people that are

39:40

going to yell at us and Jonathan,

39:43

our beloved Jonathan, also gave us a

39:45

little bit of crap, not really, love

39:47

you Jonathan, but in ceremonial magic, if

39:49

you do go back into the golden

39:51

dawn and into high magic of the

39:54

Kabbala and things like that, blades are

39:56

air. So they always use swords and

39:58

at the maze for... air. And that's

40:00

again something very different than what

40:03

we do. We're more elemental, earthy,

40:05

you know, down in the earth.

40:07

We're going back to our swords

40:09

versus wands, tarrow episode previously because

40:11

that's why it's on it

40:13

here too. But my point with

40:15

this is just that your associations

40:18

may vary and that is perfectly

40:20

valid and okay. It really is

40:22

very important that your tools reflect

40:24

your feelings and your beliefs because

40:26

it's not going to work for

40:28

you if you try to counter,

40:31

yeah, to your own personal beliefs.

40:33

If you're holding a chalice and

40:35

you're trying to force yourself to

40:37

say this chalice filled with water

40:39

represents earth and it just doesn't

40:41

feel right to you. It's, it's,

40:43

your spell's not going to work.

40:46

It's not going to sound right.

40:48

Right. It has to work for

40:50

you or the magic will not

40:52

flow. So the more comfortable you

40:54

with with your associations, the better

40:56

you feel about your associations, the

40:59

better those tools will work magically

41:01

for you. I just think that,

41:03

you know, tools, it's just another

41:05

collection, obsession. We like shiny things.

41:07

I like shiny things. And Terrodex?

41:10

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you could

41:12

never have an outfit by opinion.

41:14

I agree, I agree. All right, well, I

41:16

am going to go dust off one of

41:18

my altars because every time we talked about

41:20

a tool, I was looking at it. I'm

41:22

like, you know, I've been neglecting that one

41:25

and it needs to be cleaned up. And

41:27

I'm actually going to take some photos

41:29

opposed to pictures because I know people

41:31

are going to ask. They're going to

41:33

say, I want to see your altars,

41:35

I want to see your tools. So

41:38

yeah, I'm going to get going to

41:40

get it going on some of some

41:42

of some of some of some of

41:44

that. You can also check us out

41:46

on YouTube or our website and we

41:48

are back on the broomstick everywhere except

41:50

I think on Blue Sky we are

41:53

B.O.T.B. podcast on Blue Sky but everywhere

41:55

else we're back on the broomstick. And

41:57

don't forget folks we do have a

41:59

P.O. If you want to send

42:01

us send us a mail, Peel Box Salem, Massachusetts, 01970. Shell

42:03

and I will actually be I will actually

42:05

be getting together here in the

42:07

next couple weeks, and we will

42:09

be recording a mail call, call. Solario.

42:12

talk about all the wonderful things

42:14

and the lovely birthday cards and

42:16

everything that you all have that I'm

42:18

actually super excited because we've gotten

42:20

some really, really cool shit in

42:22

the mail, and I cannot wait

42:24

to talk about it and I Our

42:26

listeners are so much fun. You

42:28

guys are amazing. are so much fun. You guys

42:30

are thank you all so much

42:32

for listening. We will talk to

42:34

you next week. We In the meantime,

42:36

you stay wise, the stay wicked, wise. Stay

42:38

it And folks. witchy folks.