Have you ever tried to meditate and you just can’t seem to get the hang of it? Maybe you took a yoga class or two and at the end you just can’t seem to listen to the teacher and turn your brain off. Maybe you were recommended it by your friend Stacy who went gluten-free by choice last year and only eats vegan bacon even though she’s not vegan.

Or maybe, you’re like me, who just jumped head first into witchcraft and now, you’re stuck trying to figure out how to meditate since it seems like EVERYTHING runs off meditation (and intention, but whatever.).

But you’re sitting in your dark room, struggling to grasp this concept and you just can’t.

So how do you meditate?

Extended meditation, which is what a lot of these mediation gurus and yoga teachers are talking about, takes practice. Like a lot of practice.

So don’t expect to just slip into this trance as soon as you start saying gibberish words you think someone says while meditating.

My favorite way I’ve seen to help facilitate mediation is to sit and begin to image a color growing in your center (where ever your center is, whether bellybutton, heart, head, or ass). The color can be whatever color you like. Some advise white light or a warm color, but I say just pick your favorite or whatever you feel like today.

With each breath, let the color grow, like a flickering flame. Let the color extended through your body slowly. When it finally reaches the tips of your fingers and toes, imagine gathering up the color.

With an exhale, release the color into the world. Imagine it floating through your space, over you, covering everything. Then just breath for a bit in your space. When you feel like the color has faded, leave the space.

Now, I know that meditation is supposed to be clearing your mind and thinking of nothing in that moment, but sometimes you need something to get your brain started on the right track. And especially when you’re so stressed and overwhelmed, you can’t always just quit thinking or acting to just sit for a minute and breath.

Why is meditation so important for witchcraft?

Well, if we power the spell by setting intentions, think of meditation as a way to process the intention before hand. You don’t dump straight crude oil into your car. You have to refine it first to get the best product for the spell. Just like you don’t just eat a tea bag when you want some tea. You have to make sure the water is boiled and safe to drink.

So we meditate to make sure that what we bring to the table for a spell is what we want to go into a spell. If we mix up our thoughts and feelings with spell, we may have something that can go awry or just fizzle out completely. So we clear out mind and heart of everything that isn’t pertinent in that moment, so that the spell knows exactly what’s what.

So meditation and intention go hand in hand. You need both to work big spells and to make sure that you’re not letting your own feelings get in the way of the spell.

Do you need an altar? Why would you need an altar? What is an altar? So-and-so said I need one? What do I even put on an altar? What do you mean I need to dedicate my altar? What does that even mean? How do I-

Take a deep breath. Good? Okay, here’s the dirty truth of altars…

They’re completely optional and really only necessary if you decide to pursue paganism and/or Wicca in addition to witchcraft.

So why are altars pushed for so hard in the community? Well, many witches are practicing pagans or Wiccans. So for them, an altar is completely practical. But what about those that aren’t pagan or follow more mainstream religions or have no gods?

Well, that’s the cool part about witchcraft. If you want to make an altar, go for it. Make it in your dining room, in a sunny corner of your office, or your bedroom closet. Hell, there’s a shit ton of ideas on Pinterest for shoe box and mint tin altars.

So what’s the purpose of an altar?

For those who practice in accordance to the old religions or in correlation to deities, an altar is a sacred space to honor those deities and spirits. For many of the old religions, there are no longer any physical sacred spaces, like churches, for people to worship at, so many create small scared spaces for their own private practice. Cultures across teh world have kept shrines and altars in their homes for their gods; Ancient Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Japanese families kept shrines to various gods in their houses and pertaining to their professions (i.e. gods devoted to harvest for farmers. and gods devoted to fair seas for fishermen).

So what about if you follow mainstream religions or have no religion?

For those following more monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc), there’s no rules against having a shrine to your god in your house is there? Many people have things already, like crucifixes, or holy texts. An altar in your house could just be a safe and honored space to store your holy texts or to meditate.

And for those of us who are not dedicated to a god or religion, well, an altar is just optional really.

Do I have an altar?

Not really. But I do have a space reserved just for my witchy needs in my office. I can push it back into the closet and out of sight if my in-laws decide to drop by unannounced (like they always do). I don’t consider it an altar or a sacred space, but I do consider it a reserved area.

Like, that area is only for witchy supplies and storing my cards and journals and incense (no crystals yet).

What tips do I have for little newbies to set up their own altar/sacred space/witchy corner?

Once again, as with all witchcraft, first make sure this space has the intention of being your corner, your altar, your sacred space. If you’re closeted and setting up in a shoe box or in the closet itself (lol cause you’re in the closet already, get it?), then reserve that space just for that. Meaning, your shoebox holds nothing but your witchcraft supplies, your deitiy dedication, your Book of Shadows/ Grimoire. Don’t use your space for anything but your craft and worship.

Now, I understand working and living in a small space so maybe some area has to be multipurpose. So maybe make your altar travel-sized or easily collapsible if it’s in the spare room so you can pull out the Murphy bed for guests staying the night, or make it easy to move if floor space is limited, like in a dorm room.

What are things I have on my sacred space?

For me personally, I have just a little space on the top of a steamer trunk/coffee table in my office. I use it to hold my incense, journal, and Tarot cards. I also use the space as a writing table to write here, do school work, and meditate. But the corner remains as only used for witchcraft. The rest of the tabletop I cleanse with smoke to create a space when I do large readings (or with a Lysol wipe if my cats have decided to walk all over it).

Now, I understand multipurpose, so when I do need to get into the trunk itself (I keep blankets in there for easy access), I store all my stuff in a basket and slide it into the closet.

All my herbs stay in a kitchen cabinet, because the last thing I want to explain to my mother-in-law is why I have black pepper and basil leaves just hanging out in my office. There’s just no way to explain that away, considering the kitchen is a good 4 doors down from the office.

What if I am practicing paganism/Wicca/religion?

Then start looking at Pinterest my friend! There are so many ideas and absolutely gorgeous pictures of other witch’s altars and how they dedicate their altars. There are so many ideas of how to fit an altar into a shoebox or how to dedicate to your deities or how to even just construct a space that fits with your preferred style, like minimalism or traditional (read: hoarder-style old timey) witchy.

There’s no wrong way to do an altar. Just so long as it works for you and you feel like it’s a space where you can meditate, grow and worship as needed.

Intention is everything. No matter what you start in witchcraft, you read ‘intention this’ and ‘intention that’ or even just ‘setting intention’.

What is intention?

It’s exactly like what it sounds like.

Intention, or intent, is what you want the spell to do for you. Each spell requires an intention to work. It’s like the battery for a toy. If you don’t put the right battery into the toy, it won’t work.

So how do you set intention? Well, that’s the hard part sometimes.

You have to know exactly what you want when you set an intention. If you’re working a spell for say, attracting money, then you have to be clear with what you want.

But this doesn’t answer the question, of what intention is. I know when I first starting diving in, every time intention came up in a spell, I would scratch my head and wonder what they were talking about.

From what I can gleam, intention is the energy you put into the spell itself. Of course, some spells need other energy to work, like celestial lighting or fire. But you have to put your own energy into the spell so that the universe knows who’s putting that energy out there.

So intention is just basically the energy you assign to a spell to make it work.

How do you actually set intention?

Depending on the spell, it’s easy enough to set intention. Most spells have incantations to set the intention (or the incantation is the spell itself).

Other times, when you cast the circle (which I’ll get to in a later post), you meditate and cast the energy from yourself for the spell. Which is the hard part. Because you really have to focus

Why is intention so important for witchcraft?

Intention is important because it’s the force behind an action. If you’ve taken a mindfulness course or have even just heard about mindfulness (the new craze), then you’ve heard about how just acting a certain way and putting certain thoughts into those actions can help you be more productive, more capable at handling stress, etc.

Witchcraft is the exact same thing as mindfulness but with a little more oomph behind it. Mindfulness itself has only been around for a couple years now, but witchcraft is eons old. Witchcraft intention is setting your thoughts and emotions on one track and using that energy to drive a reaction.

So how does the intention in a spell work?

Remember how I said intention is like the battery of a spell? The intention is the direction you move the spell. It’s the battery that moves the spell along.

And I can hear you, just like I myself said not long ago “that doesn’t make any sense! how does intention work! Like work-work!”

So hears the breakdown. Imagine that the spell is a train. The destination is the reason for the spell. For this example lets use a common money spell to attract wealth. The train is set towards Wealth. But the train can’t move down the track without fuel. Your intentions are the coal for the train to move (or steam or gas or whatever). You meditate on the feeling on wanting wealth, of attracting wealth, of being wealthy. You figuratively put that emotion on the train. The train now has fuel for the journey down the track. So how do you get the train moving? You do something like charge the spell with something else, like crystals or fire. Those are the engine to process the intention-fuel. Now the train can move down the track and take you to Wealth.

I know this is confusing and a strange topic. Believe me. As much as I love science, physics is not my forte and intention is reminiscent of physics. Just because you cannot see or measure the force, the force is still present. Like gravity. You may not have tools readily available to measure the force of gravity, but gravity is still a force acting on you, whether or not you can see or measure it. Same thing goes for intentions.

Just because you can’t see or actively feel the energy in intentions, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

God I love incense.

I feel like incense is one of those things that every witch loves passionately and lately, it’s been getting a bad wrap from those moms. You know, the ‘Gregory doesn’t need vaccinations, I have essential oils and gluten-free pasta’ moms.

But for witches, incense is like… my jam.

Incense is used to bring fire into a spell or ritual, safely (cause you can’t logistically have a bonfire in your living room). Then, the fact that each scent has it’s own alignments.

Like, every one secretly loves incense and lighting shit on fire. It’s something in our primal caveman brain.

So what do you need to get started with incense?

Nowadays, most stores are carrying incense (for those Karens out there).

So you can trek down to local grocery and pick up some sticks and light up.

Here are some of my go-to flavors I love to have around the house.

• Lavender – I mean, duh. Any witch worth their salt keeps some lavender around the house in one form or another. Incense is one of the easiest form to keep around and light up when you need it. Lavender is used for promoting peace and calming, whether through aromatherapy or through potions (i.e. some Celestial Seasonings Lemon Lavender Lane tea, which is also my jam).
• Sage – While not a traditional sage bundle, I keep a couple sticks around to help with quick, on-the-go cleanings. Like, when I need to sequester myself away and recharge, I can sit in my office space and light up some sage, and create a space just for me to recharge my energy.
• Lemon – I just really love citrus. Citrus, especially lemon and orange, always makes me feel like something is clean and fresh and bright. Lemon incense is good for luck and success.

Now a few things you have to know about incense.

You can’t just light it up like a blunt and start smoking.

Okay, you can, but you need a little something extra.

Just like with candles, you have to watch incense around small children and animals, and you should never leave it unattended for extended periods of time (if you have to leave for a moment to get your cup of coffee, then cool, but don’t light it then go out partying with your friends all night).

If you do have to leave (emergencies happen, no biggie) then make sure to put out your incense. You can put it out by dunking the tip in water, wetting your fingertips and squeezing the tip (like an old-timey candle), or mashing the tip, like a cigarette butt, into an ash tray or the incense holder ash groove.

Lavender and cats don’t mix. If you have cats and want to burn some lavender incense, just be aware they cannot breakdown certain aspects of lavender and it can cause moderate health issues, like nausea and vomiting. When I want to burn lavender incense, I seclude myself in my office away from my cats and my cats’ food with an open window and the fan on. I make sure the room is completely clear of smoke before allowing them back into the room.

There’s no right way to pick incense. Of course, there’s some traditional flavors everybody swears by, but honestly, if a certain scent gives you a headache or brings bad memories to mind (cinnamon is my bane, if you know what I mean), then don’t try to make it work. There are always alternatives you can use, and you can always tweak a spell to work for you. Maybe lemon doesn’t bring to mind wealth, but pine does (you know, pine trees are green, money is green), then focus on the intent instead of the community.

So here’s a quick breakdown of the most common incense flavors.

Flavor	Alignment	Uses (rituals, rites, and spells)
Amber	Fire and Air	wisdom, truth, love and desire
Cinnamon		personal power, protection, inflaming passion, countering love spells
Citrus		Lemon for confidence, good luck and goal accomplishment Orange for joy, good fortune, prosperity, and marriage happiness
Dragon’s Blood	Fire	The coffee of incense: because of the rarity and power, it adds a kick to any spell work, esp. useful in love magic, protection, and oath-making
Evergreen		wisdom, cleansing, protection, money magic
Frankincense		The stand -in: because of the commonality works for most spell work, including setting sacred space, offerings, and purification
Honey		Ideal for works for drawing prosperity wealth, and luxury
Jasmine	The Moon	For New moon and Full Moon rituals, encourages prophetic dreams and spiritual magic
Lavender		cleansing for the home, body and mind useful for healing and meditation
Patchouli		attraction magic, like money spells
Rain		cleansing, healing, relaxation, esp. good for ‘clean slates/fresh starts’ and calming anger (Fresh Linen scent can be used in a pinch)
Rose	Venus	love incense: attracting and keeping love, usher in romance and self-love, can also open the heart
Sandalwood		only for benevolent works; cannot be used to curse or compel, used to consecrate, heal, removing negativity, , bringing peace, wishes, bless altars and ritual spaces
Vanilla		calming an area, promoting mental and physical arousal, stimulate good luck happiness, prosperity, and knowledge-seeking

Incense is a great way to jump feet-first into witchcraft. It’s pretty affordable, and even if you spend too much at first, there’s no way you’ll burn through 50 sticks of incense super fast.