New Witch’s Shopping Guide
I see a lot of posts saying, “I want to be a witch, what do I need to buy?” While I am 100% against the false idea that you need to buy things to be a witch or practice witchcraft, admittedly there are some things that do make the whole process easier.
Instead of going around to tiny and expensive shops downtown looking for witchy items, hit up your local Wal-Mart and stock the heck up on these crafty supplies:
Candles - get a 100 pack of white unscented tea candles, plus a few other candles you’d like to have. I don’t care what candle magic books say, you don’t need candles in each color.
Skip the cheap incense on this isle. Burn real herbs instead. Buy charcoal disks or do as I do and improvise with tinfoil and a tea light.
Matches - get a big box. Matches are proven to be 150% more fun than lighters and 175% easier to find when you’re in the middle of a ritual.
Herbs/spices - dried rosemary (get double), chamomile, cinnamon sticks, mullein, allspice, and star anise should be enough to keep you entertained. Grab a bag of big dried peppers if you foresee hexing in your future. Also, get a box of sea salt (the bigger the better).
Screw those tiny, overpriced little plastic bottles. Get ethnic brands, especially Mexican. Rosemary is a really common spell/ritual ingredient so stock up.
Thread - get red and black, or get a box set of embroidery thread that girls use to make friendship bracelets out of. It’s about $10 but it has every color you could ever desire and it lasts ages.
Pins and needles - buy a box of thin pins and sewing needles large enough to fit your thread.
I already had sewing supplies at home, but if you need them get a pair of scissors good for cutting fabric and thread.
Scrap fabric - look for small squares of fabric sold at a discount. Try and get a plain, neutral color like beige and whatever else appeals to you.
Notebooks, sketch books, and binders - composition books or spiral bounds are your best friend. If you are an artist, get a drawing book. Choose a thin binder that is easy to handle. Consider spiral bound notebooks and sketch books with perforated edges if you intend to move a lot of stuff in to the binder. Get filler paper if you don’t have it at home.
Don’t bother with fancy pens or art supplies to decorate with. In my opinion, creating an artistic grimoire should be done after a witch has quite a bit of experience and has the time to slow down for it. Don’t confuse witchcraft for drawing fancy spell pages.
Clippers - you will need plant clippers to collect specimens from nature and tend to your own plants at home.
Containers - get ziplock bags (probably the cheapest option) or glass jars if you can afford it. You will need these to help organize your ingredients.
Think ahead for labeling - you may need tape or glue to affix labels to your containers
Live plants - depending on the time of year, the garden department is likely to have a variety of young herbs available. Choose herbs that thrive in your climate or can be kept indoors. Don’t worry about getting the “best” herbs, you can buy what you need for spells dried. Just focus on what you can keep alive and what you’d like to get to know better.
- Tho
What an excellent guide for new witches!
