In my bid to be more eco friendly I have turned to items that have less plastic or recyclable packing, but we still throw away quite a bit of stuff.
It occurred to me that some of it would make very good magical uses.
I have talked before about using food jars for food spells and a similar use can be made of cans once you eat the contents. Cleaned tin cans and jars can also be used to hold candles and tea lights.
Any food packets or boxes can be used as spell ‘holders’ and you can work with the energy from the product that was inside. Cardboard or paper packaging also composts and burns well. Look at what was in the box and see what magical association you get from it, that can form the base of the spell.
Match boxes work well as spell holders too.
Detergent bottles can be used as witch bottles too, although most of these are not biodegradable, you can fill them with spell ingredients and throw them in the trash. I try to avoid buying this type of product, but sometimes it is unavoidable.
I have also written about using the shells from nuts, in fact I use these quite often for spell work. They carry the same magical properties as the nuts, which you can eat and then use the shells. Add them to incense blends, spell pouches, witch bottles etc. The shells of nuts also make really good vehicles for painting symbols and sigils on.
Stones and pits from fruits such as peaches, cherries and plums can be washed and dried and used for magical purpose.
With citrus fruits the peel can be dried in a low slow oven and ground for incense blends or added to magical workings.
If you want the magic of apples or pears, the pips can be washed and dried and then used.
Peelings from vegetables like carrots and parsnips can be used as they are in magical workings but they obviously don’t keep for very long before turning yucky. If you want to store them the peelings can be dried as you do with citrus peel.
Toilet and kitchen roll inner tubes also make good spell vehicles. As a side note if you pop a dog treat inside and stuff each end with paper they also make good dog chews. The cardboard tubes can be stapled or taped at each end once you fill them with your petition and any other herbs etc you want to add. You can also draw sigils or symbols on the outside. If you use biodegradeable ingredients they can be buried and also burnt.
Old socks – can be used as spell pouches (and stuff with a treat for dog toys). Fashion them into poppets too. As they are associated with your feet they carry a good grounding energy.
Egg boxes work well for using as seed planters but you can also use them for spell work, filling them with petitions and ingredients.
Now here is a slightly icky one – dog poop. We dispose of a considerable amount from our garden or when out on walks. We do use compostable poop bags but if you were looking for a way to hex someone, popping their name on a slip of paper and putting it in the used poop bag would work well.
Used envelopes made good pouches for spell work. Particularly if you have an envelope that a bill or invoice arrived in, you can work a spell to clear your debts and burn the envelope. Envelopes that contained greetings cards will have a happy energy to them and can be used in positive spell workings.
Wool and string bits – useful for knot magic, to drop into witch bottles and to tie up petitions.
Cobwebs – use them in witch bottles to bring the energy of your home in and they represent the web of life.
Broken mirror – I keep pieces of broken mirror to use in protection spells and for reversing and reflecting.
What do you throw in your trash that could be utilised for magic?
To watch a replay of my talk, which includes dead flies and mouse poop, click the link below:
