Your Path to Self-Discovery!
Staying on Budget!
I hear from so many people that times are so difficult right now, and so I came up with some ideas to help you save a little bit of money on your practice!
1) Candles - I have a couple of ideas here -
* Walmart has a lot of sales on that - but your best bet is to look in the sunday paper for craft store coupons. Normally Michael's, Hobby Lobby or other stores have coupons for 50% off in the sunday paper. Also - a good time to pick up candles are right after a holiday. Go to craft stores after Easter for pink, lavender and yellow candles, and after Samhain for Black and Orange candles.
* Birthday candles make great small spell candles and they are fairly inexpensive. You don't need a candleholder, you can light the candle, put a couple of wax drops on a plate or larger candle holder and affix the birthday candle to it. Birthday candles generally run for about 5 minutes - so use them for short spells.
* White candles - white candles can substitute any color candle. If you are short on cash, don't worry about having a candle a certain color, you can use a white candle instead.
2) Herbal Products such as incenses - be careful when buying cheap incense at your local Walmart or hobby store. Most of these places have the really cheap incense packs for $0.99 or for $1.99. These incenses are generally made with fragrances and synthetics instead of real herbs and oils. Other than for creating mood, these insenses will really do nothing for your spellcasting, so its a waste of money. You can burn them for the scent but there is really nothing magickal in them that you can use. I like to equate it to using flameless candles for spells - sure they look nice, but there is no magick there.
* Use 1 herb incenses - if you cannot afford to buy herbs from a pagan shop - go to the supermarket and buy herbs there. You can use single herb incenses for almost any type of spell. These may not be the highest quality herbs around, but they are better than synthetics since you will be working with real plant energies. Here are some ideas:
- Rosemary - spells for money, healing and success
- Bay Leaves - spells for Protector, healing, purification
- Basil - Love, health, protection, money
- Mustard - Fertility, Protection
- Poppy seeds - Fertility, Money, Luck, Luck
- Potato - can be used for any type of image magick
- Curry - Protection
- Cinnamon - spirituality, success, healing, Lust, Love
- Parsely - Protection and Purification
- Pepper - Protection and Banishment
- Allspice - Money, Luck
- Coriander - Love and Healing
- Garlic - Protection, Healing, Banishment
- Ginger - Power, Love, money, success
You can use these herbs by either burning them on charcoal - or you can also use a diffiuser and pour the herbs in the water and let it boil. The energy of the herbs can be released by steam or by fire. You can also use these herbs in herbal baths - be careful with Ginger and Cinnamon as they can cause irritation to the skin. These also work great for herbal sachets etc. Be creative - if you are on a budget - your creativity is your best tool!
* Oils - you can create your own herbal infused oils with the following recipe:
1 Clean jar (you can re-use an old jar just make sure it is very clean)
2 Oz of Olive Oil
Dried herb (I recommend doing one herb at a time)
Add the oil to the jar, and add enough herbs in to completely saturate the oil. Seal the Jar tightly. Place the Jar in a sunny window and let it sit for about 7 days. Everyday open the jar for about 10-15 minutes to let the mixture breathe and then close it again.
At the end of the 7 days, strain the oil mix with cheescloth, make sure you remove all plant material. Let the oil sit for a day. Decant the oil to another container (You will see a bunch of gunk at the bottom of your jar - make sure this does NOT get into the new jar). Let the mixture sit another day. Decant the mixture a second time - at this time your oil is ready to use. Some people will decant it only once, which is fine. but it will cut down in the life of your oil. The more herbal material is left in your oil, the shorter the shelf-life of your oil.
If you choose to do this with Olive oil, the mixture will last you about 8-10 months. If you choose a different oil such as Jojoba, it can last for up to 3 years. I do not recommend using vegetable oil as it is can contain synthetic components. You can use this oil to anoint candles, tools and yourself, and even add them to your baths to create an herbal bath.
3) Altar tables - I get this question so many times! People get stuck on this, feeling that they are not able to start practicing until they have an altar table. Here are some ideas to get you by - as a custom altar table can run hundreds of dollars:
* Some places still have those "decoration tables". These are nice, wooden 3 X 3 round tables that work perfectly for altars and you can generally get them for under $10. Anna's Linnens I know still has them - some other bath and linnen stores around you may have them as well.
* Some people do not want any type of metal on their table because of books they have read. I am not sure I agree with that - but if you feel strongly about it buy a resin table! You can get one for generally under $10 as well, at your local lawn and Garden store.
* Wood Plank - this is a great idea my friend had - and at first I thought it may not look good - but it looks great! He bought a plain wooden plant at the local Lowe's store - one that was the size he wants and just laid the plant on the floor. He then painted it to look exactly how he wanted, but this works really well if you don't mind a low standing altar.
4) Altar cloths - You can get beautiful and festive altar cloths after each holiday - generally for less than $0.50 a piece. I like to use holiday napkins and place settings as an altar cloth. Places like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Kohls etc have huge holiday sales where you can pick up beautiful pieces for very low cost.
Another idea for altar cloths, if you need something really long to cover all the way to the ground is to to buy discounted or sale Curtain panels. A lot of stores will have these on sales, when they have mismatched panels. Some of them are sheer and really pretty and you can get them generally for under $5. Just cut the top part out and re-hem it - or if you don't feel that crafty just fold it down until the table and no one has to see it.
5) Chalices and bowls - dollar store galore! I went to a dollar store about 2 weeks ago and saw some thick wine glasses with all kinds of designs for about a dollar each. You can also pick up altar bowls there. Remember that your altar tools need to be used for ritual purposes only, so if you don't have $40 to shell out for a new chalice, go to the dollar store!
6) Cauldrons - Old brass planters work really well for this - just make sure you get some kind of trivet to go under it so it will not damage the funiture or your altar. You can generally pick these up in garage sales, but I like going to Lowe's or Home depot and getting the smallest size brass planters they offer - they generally run around $6. You can burn anything in these.
7) Seasonal Altar Decorations - Go to your local park and pick up leaves, branches, and even flowers that have dropped off from the trees during each season. Place all of these in a bowl and use them as decorations in your seasonal altar!
8) Athame - An Athame is used to direct energy. Another tool that can be used for that (unless you are following an extremely strict branch of Wicca) is a wand. You can make beautiful wands from natural branches that have fallen off trees. Go to your local park - or in my case, I just walk around to the front of the yard and look for branches that have fallen.
Fallen branches work best because they do not need to be dried first - if you plan on cutting a part of the tree for this (which I DO NOT recommend) , make sure you ask for permission from the tree spirit first and also leave an offering in return. If you are picking up dried branches, just say a prayer of thanks once you got it and you should be ok.
You can sand down the branch if you want, you can also buy a gemstone and glue it to the end of your branch. You can decorate it with ribbons or leather or just leave it plain. I like mine natural, so I basically just use a knife to even out the surfaces of it, and use it as is.
These are just some ideas about how you can still practice on a budget. One thing to remember is that meditation is free and you can do an awful lot with just meditation and no tools needed. Actually most magicks can be done without any tools whatsoever. But if you feel you need the tools - I hope this helps you to stay on budget!
1) Candles - I have a couple of ideas here -
* Walmart has a lot of sales on that - but your best bet is to look in the sunday paper for craft store coupons. Normally Michael's, Hobby Lobby or other stores have coupons for 50% off in the sunday paper. Also - a good time to pick up candles are right after a holiday. Go to craft stores after Easter for pink, lavender and yellow candles, and after Samhain for Black and Orange candles.
* Birthday candles make great small spell candles and they are fairly inexpensive. You don't need a candleholder, you can light the candle, put a couple of wax drops on a plate or larger candle holder and affix the birthday candle to it. Birthday candles generally run for about 5 minutes - so use them for short spells.
* White candles - white candles can substitute any color candle. If you are short on cash, don't worry about having a candle a certain color, you can use a white candle instead.
2) Herbal Products such as incenses - be careful when buying cheap incense at your local Walmart or hobby store. Most of these places have the really cheap incense packs for $0.99 or for $1.99. These incenses are generally made with fragrances and synthetics instead of real herbs and oils. Other than for creating mood, these insenses will really do nothing for your spellcasting, so its a waste of money. You can burn them for the scent but there is really nothing magickal in them that you can use. I like to equate it to using flameless candles for spells - sure they look nice, but there is no magick there.
* Use 1 herb incenses - if you cannot afford to buy herbs from a pagan shop - go to the supermarket and buy herbs there. You can use single herb incenses for almost any type of spell. These may not be the highest quality herbs around, but they are better than synthetics since you will be working with real plant energies. Here are some ideas:
- Rosemary - spells for money, healing and success
- Bay Leaves - spells for Protector, healing, purification
- Basil - Love, health, protection, money
- Mustard - Fertility, Protection
- Poppy seeds - Fertility, Money, Luck, Luck
- Potato - can be used for any type of image magick
- Curry - Protection
- Cinnamon - spirituality, success, healing, Lust, Love
- Parsely - Protection and Purification
- Pepper - Protection and Banishment
- Allspice - Money, Luck
- Coriander - Love and Healing
- Garlic - Protection, Healing, Banishment
- Ginger - Power, Love, money, success
You can use these herbs by either burning them on charcoal - or you can also use a diffiuser and pour the herbs in the water and let it boil. The energy of the herbs can be released by steam or by fire. You can also use these herbs in herbal baths - be careful with Ginger and Cinnamon as they can cause irritation to the skin. These also work great for herbal sachets etc. Be creative - if you are on a budget - your creativity is your best tool!
* Oils - you can create your own herbal infused oils with the following recipe:
1 Clean jar (you can re-use an old jar just make sure it is very clean)
2 Oz of Olive Oil
Dried herb (I recommend doing one herb at a time)
Add the oil to the jar, and add enough herbs in to completely saturate the oil. Seal the Jar tightly. Place the Jar in a sunny window and let it sit for about 7 days. Everyday open the jar for about 10-15 minutes to let the mixture breathe and then close it again.
At the end of the 7 days, strain the oil mix with cheescloth, make sure you remove all plant material. Let the oil sit for a day. Decant the oil to another container (You will see a bunch of gunk at the bottom of your jar - make sure this does NOT get into the new jar). Let the mixture sit another day. Decant the mixture a second time - at this time your oil is ready to use. Some people will decant it only once, which is fine. but it will cut down in the life of your oil. The more herbal material is left in your oil, the shorter the shelf-life of your oil.
If you choose to do this with Olive oil, the mixture will last you about 8-10 months. If you choose a different oil such as Jojoba, it can last for up to 3 years. I do not recommend using vegetable oil as it is can contain synthetic components. You can use this oil to anoint candles, tools and yourself, and even add them to your baths to create an herbal bath.
3) Altar tables - I get this question so many times! People get stuck on this, feeling that they are not able to start practicing until they have an altar table. Here are some ideas to get you by - as a custom altar table can run hundreds of dollars:
* Some places still have those "decoration tables". These are nice, wooden 3 X 3 round tables that work perfectly for altars and you can generally get them for under $10. Anna's Linnens I know still has them - some other bath and linnen stores around you may have them as well.
* Some people do not want any type of metal on their table because of books they have read. I am not sure I agree with that - but if you feel strongly about it buy a resin table! You can get one for generally under $10 as well, at your local lawn and Garden store.
* Wood Plank - this is a great idea my friend had - and at first I thought it may not look good - but it looks great! He bought a plain wooden plant at the local Lowe's store - one that was the size he wants and just laid the plant on the floor. He then painted it to look exactly how he wanted, but this works really well if you don't mind a low standing altar.
4) Altar cloths - You can get beautiful and festive altar cloths after each holiday - generally for less than $0.50 a piece. I like to use holiday napkins and place settings as an altar cloth. Places like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Kohls etc have huge holiday sales where you can pick up beautiful pieces for very low cost.
Another idea for altar cloths, if you need something really long to cover all the way to the ground is to to buy discounted or sale Curtain panels. A lot of stores will have these on sales, when they have mismatched panels. Some of them are sheer and really pretty and you can get them generally for under $5. Just cut the top part out and re-hem it - or if you don't feel that crafty just fold it down until the table and no one has to see it.
5) Chalices and bowls - dollar store galore! I went to a dollar store about 2 weeks ago and saw some thick wine glasses with all kinds of designs for about a dollar each. You can also pick up altar bowls there. Remember that your altar tools need to be used for ritual purposes only, so if you don't have $40 to shell out for a new chalice, go to the dollar store!
6) Cauldrons - Old brass planters work really well for this - just make sure you get some kind of trivet to go under it so it will not damage the funiture or your altar. You can generally pick these up in garage sales, but I like going to Lowe's or Home depot and getting the smallest size brass planters they offer - they generally run around $6. You can burn anything in these.
7) Seasonal Altar Decorations - Go to your local park and pick up leaves, branches, and even flowers that have dropped off from the trees during each season. Place all of these in a bowl and use them as decorations in your seasonal altar!
8) Athame - An Athame is used to direct energy. Another tool that can be used for that (unless you are following an extremely strict branch of Wicca) is a wand. You can make beautiful wands from natural branches that have fallen off trees. Go to your local park - or in my case, I just walk around to the front of the yard and look for branches that have fallen.
Fallen branches work best because they do not need to be dried first - if you plan on cutting a part of the tree for this (which I DO NOT recommend) , make sure you ask for permission from the tree spirit first and also leave an offering in return. If you are picking up dried branches, just say a prayer of thanks once you got it and you should be ok.
You can sand down the branch if you want, you can also buy a gemstone and glue it to the end of your branch. You can decorate it with ribbons or leather or just leave it plain. I like mine natural, so I basically just use a knife to even out the surfaces of it, and use it as is.
These are just some ideas about how you can still practice on a budget. One thing to remember is that meditation is free and you can do an awful lot with just meditation and no tools needed. Actually most magicks can be done without any tools whatsoever. But if you feel you need the tools - I hope this helps you to stay on budget!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lady Dark Raven on -
One more thing I forgot to add - tip on using oils! If you want to stay on budget but do not want to make your own oils, purchase herbal oils instead of oils based on intent. Instead of purchasing for example. a money oil blend, purchase a patchouly or Vertiver oil. Instead of purchasing an oil for love, purchase a lavender or Jasmine oil, and so on.
You will be able to use herbal oils for multiple intents (based on the herbs themselves) as opposed to blended oils which are more limited to the only intent they were blended for. You may want to have blended oils for those special spells you want to cast - but if you are on a budget, herbal oils will take your dollar a little further =)
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Permalink Reply by Aethelbert on -
Where do you find a list which explains the meaning of each oil? Thanks
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Permalink Reply by Ms whitestang on -
Thank you for the wonderful ideas!
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Permalink Reply by Shawn Swaney on
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Awesome post!
It's good to see that there still are some people dedicated to the craft and NOT the occult novelties industry...
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Permalink Reply by Lady Dark Raven on
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Well I am in the industry - but times are tough for everyone =)
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I ment more along the lines of crap-ware stores that sell things to just to turn a profit and not caring about the people or the product.
AKA the stores that sell black arts stuff and sell spell casting for $x.xx /hour
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Permalink Reply by Lady Dark Raven on
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Just another note from feedback I have gotten - spell mixes are also a wonderful way to save money. You can use a spell mix for almost anything - with a little effort you can create sachets, incenses, herbal baths, powders and almost anything else. They are probably the second most versatile thing than using the herb itself.
If you don't want to purchase it - you can create one yourself -using supermarket herbs. Here is a recipe for an all purpose empowerment mix you can use with supermarket stuff:
Mix equal parts of: Rosemary, Marjoram, Sage, Parsely
Empower the blend and you can use this as an all purpose blend for almost anything - sachets, herbal baths, powders, incenses, potpourri and more! =)
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Permalink Reply by Vesper Soleste on -
I also think it is wonderful that, despite the fact that you do sell many of these items, you are not stingy with the money saving ideas.
I am planting all kinds of plants and herbs both in my garden and in pots in the house, to later cultivate for use in spells and rituals.
I also carved my own wand, and used a faceted blue tiger's eye bead and copper wire to affix the bead to the wand.
I like my alter rather large so I am using a card table, two tv dinner tables, and I'll be adding more as I need more space, covering each individually, and using each for a seperate purpose. I used a blanket sized piece of double-sided crushed velvet/microsuade cloth from the fabric store to cover the card table.
I also carved my own wooden wax-seal and use candle wax instead of sealing wax.
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Permalink Reply by Aethelbert on
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If you are looking for something to serve as an altar, I use the following. This choice was not really intended for cost savings but could be used for those guidelines. I have a sleigh bed in my second bedroom. I place the following on top of the mattress. I lay two of my dining room table leaves together (they have grooves so they come perfectly together) It provides me a fairly large sturdy surface upon which I lay my altar cloth. Just be sure you don’t burn the table top with an incense burner. When I have company I put my altar away. It allows me to have a permanent altar. Also, Bed Bath & Beyond has a rainbow of colored and solid color shower curtains which are a little more expensive, but make fabulous lifetime altar cloths. They provide plenty of fabric and are very durable.
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Permalink Reply by Lady Dark Raven on
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Just a quick note - I was at the Mall today and the store "Wet Seal" is having their spring sale and they have A TON of really pretty scarves - all on sale for $1 each! They make beautiful altar cloths - I picked up a few of them - but if you have a Wet Seal close to you - it may be worth it to check out.
They mostly have really bold prints - which works great for Sabbats if you can get one with the right colors =) Anyway - I hope your local one has the same promo!
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Permalink Reply by RubyDragonMoon on -
Another idea for an alter is an old dresser. I have one that has been passed down through the family for so many years no one remembers who had it first. It's made out of wood and has 4 drawers that hold all my tools and supplies. It's up on legs so I store books under it. It's perfect for a permanent inside alter.
I also use the top of a small nic nac shelf for a daily alter. It has a small drawer that I keep tools in-very small cauldron, birthday candles, chalice, offering bowl. Everyday I light a candle or incense and meditate or make a small offering or give my spells a little added push.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa on -
What I'm using as an altar is an old wicker chest I received as a gift years ago. I bought some fabric and made my own alter cloth - and I can put everything inside the chest. It's relatively small, but it's great for space-saving - and using something I already own and don't have to buy something for it.
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