Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash
As witchcraft slowly sneaks its way into being mainstream, more and more companies are popping up to try and make a profit. Like any hot new trend, as soon as someone realizes it’s marketable, it explodes into overpriced hype.
But witchcraft has never been about spending a great deal of money for the perfect tool. Don’t get me wrong, if you find a crystal wand that calls to your soul, it’s perfectly acceptable to purchase it and bring it into your workings. There is nothing inherently wrong with having material items in your practice. But for newly budding witches who feel overwhelmed by all the crystals, herbs, athames, cauldrons, and more recommended left and right, let me be your guide. Here are four witchcraft DIYs anyone can afford and everyone can use to get their practice started.
Backyard Wands
A wand is just a tool we use to direct our energy, so in that sense, it can truly be anything. I’ve used handmade bracelets as wands before to great success. But if you’re set on the classic wooden wand, let mother nature provide. Remember that the witches of old didn’t have Etsy and witchy artisans on demand. When they needed a wand, they went out into the woods and searched for a stick that called to them.
Finding your own wand can be a wonderful grounding experience and a way to reconnect with nature. As you step outside or into the woods, put your phone on silent and set it in a back pocket. Walk through nature without music or podcasts to distract you. Listen to the wind in the leaves, rattling branches and invigorating birds. Hear their songs, and the accompanying melodies of crickets and frogs. Feel the temperature in the air – is it a warm season or a cold season? Is there a scent of rain or snow? Or sunbaked earth and sprouting flowers?
Immerse yourself in nature and refamiliarize your body with it, until you feel the thrum of belonging in your chest.
Now you’re ready to seek out your wand. Pay attention to the twigs on the ground, lain out for your choice. See if any catch your attention with their shape or color. Maybe a perfectly smooth one that tapers to a point calls your name, or perhaps you fall in love with the crooked knot in another. Trust your instincts and your gut here, because those are the mouthpiece for your subconscious, where much of your power is stored.
When you’ve found a stick you like, test its feel in your palm and imagine yourself directing magick through it. If it doesn’t feel right to cast a circle with, find a different one. And be sure to thank nature for providing before you take anything out of the woods.
Now comes the fun crafty side: decorating and personalizing your wand! This is entirely up to taste and your practice. Some like to strip the bark from their wands, while others prefer the textured look. If you wish to carve runes into your wand, stripping the bark will make this easier.
For the grip, wrap a bit of twine, rope, or thin leather cord around the bottom third of the wand, wide enough to comfortably wrap your hand around. You can secure this by tying it off, lacing it in, or gluing it down. You can thread beads or crystals on the tailing end of your wrapping for more decoration, and even to create a pendulum – another helpful witchy tool. Or you can leave it plain if that better suits your tastes.
Some folks like to polish or stain their wands, while others mount a crystal pillar to the tip of the wand, anchoring it with jewelry wire. You can also paint your wand, or give it texture and shape with hot glue! Once dried, the glue can be painted over to better blend in with the wood.
Grimoires and Books of Shadows*
Spend twenty minutes in the witchcraft community and you’ll inevitably hear someone mention their Grimoire or Book of Shadows, but for a beginner, it can be hard to pin down what exactly the term means. Part of the trouble is that it varies dramatically from witch to witch. But even if you haven’t quite worked out what a Book of Shadows is, you can already sense you need one. So, where do you get it?
There are Books of Shadows and Grimoires for sale online, certainly, but much like our other tools, these books are best if you make them yourself. This is especially true for a Book of Shadows; they’re meant to be sacred diaries of your practice. The spells you’ve tried, the lessons you’ve learned, the mistakes and successes are all recorded in your Book of Shadows so you can refer back to these enlightening memories and improve your craft.
Many witches like to keep these sacred records in a beautiful leather bound, embossed journal, but I find, especially as a beginner, having a book that is too sacred can actually discourage you from using it. A Book of Shadows is a tool. They can (and should) be close to our hearts and very personal, but above all else they must be useful. Starting with an imperfect book and making it sacred is much more effective than buying a sacred book and never feeling like your work is good enough to stain its pages.
So here’s how to start a messy, imperfect, and functional Book of Shadows or a Grimoire on a budget.
First, the book itself. Anything you can write in will work, from a three-ring binder full of notebook paper to a word doc in google drive – yes, some witches have digital Books of Shadows! Check out Notion if this appeals to you.
As for physical books, I recommend going to your local craft or art store. They’ll have plenty of journals, lined and dot grid, as well as sketchbooks and scrapbooking albums in all shapes and colors.
Personally, I prefer unlined paper in my Book of Shadows, so I can draw runes or make sketches without feeling like the lines interrupt my notes. Many witches like to use dot grid journals, aka bullet journals, for this reason. For me, I wanted a big book with a sturdy hardcover, so I went for an Artist’s Loft hardcover sketchbook. This 8.5 x 11 book only cost me $6.99, and it came in pink! The big pages let me make wide, detailed entries without having to spread them across several pages as I would in an A5 journal. This also gives me room to make in-depth journal entries about my spells and rituals all on one page.
If you can, I recommend you browse the store in person so you can see and feel all the options available to you. It’ll help you get a sense of what’s going to work for your needs and aesthetic tastes. Just remember, you can always decorate a plain cover later on. Oftentimes, plain cover journals and sketchbooks are more affordable than themed ‘fashion’ journals.
Other affordable things you may want to pick up for your Book of Shadows:
Pens. I have specific ones I only use in my Book of Shadows, so I associate their colors with magick and have an easier time getting in the headspace.
Washi tape. $5 can get you a nice pack of four moon/astrology themed washi, for example, which I like to use as borders on my pages and to decorate the cover.
Stickers and stamps. These are purely a decorative thing, but they can help you personalize your book and bond with it.
Colored pencils. I just have a cheap pack of Crayolas from my school days, but I find them very helpful when I take notes on color correspondences and candle magick.
A ruler. If you aren’t using lined paper, this tool is helpful for making note boxes on the side of your spell entries, or sectioning off ingredients/materials in a working for easier recreation.
As far as what to put in your Book of Shadows, start with a consecration. Cleanse your book and instill it with your intentions – to learn, to improve yourself and your craft, to improve the world with your workings, etc.. Think about what your practice is and why you do it, and tell that to the Book. How you do this ritual will depend on your practice, too, but searching Book of Shadows consecration spells online can be a helpful springboard. End the ritual by making an entry on the first page. Mine claims ownership of the Book and includes the date and time I completed my consecration ritual. I like doing this because it bonds the book with me, bringing us onto the same page (hah) so we can better work together.
Next, you’ll want an index or table of contents, to help you find your entries later. Make sure you number your pages somehow! The Book is only as useful as you make it, so make it easy on your future self.
After my index I include a page of my intentions and guiding principles. These are the rules that govern my craft, such as ‘harm no one.’ Spend some time with this page really thinking about what rules you want to live by, then include them here. Don’t feel pressured to research this bit; they’re your rules, so you should be the one to make them.
Beyond that, my Book of Shadows is a hodgepodge of correspondence charts, notes on how to cast a circle or cleanse a space, records of rituals I’ve done and spells I’ve casted. I include a wheel of the year detailing sabbath and holidays, but if you don’t observe them, this won’t serve you. Make entries based on what you need, and remember to always write down your workings in your Book of Shadows. You never know what you’ll want to turn back to years down the line.
*Side note: while I use the terms somewhat interchangeably, there is technically a difference between Grimoires and Books of Shadows. A Grimoire is more like a textbook or a study guide – it’s full of all your notes on correspondences, plant lore, color magic, and so on. Everything you learn and research and study is recorded in your Grimoire, to be used as a guide when you sit down to do a working.
A Book of Shadows includes the workings themselves. This is where you create spells or record spells others made, and journal about their success or failure after you use them. It’s also a place to record holiday rituals you try out. The Book of Shadows is much more a magickal diary than the Grimoire, but because they’re so closely related, many witches combine them.
My Book of Shadows has several handy informative pages to help me plan my workings, as well as the spells I cast themselves. I used to keep my tarot readings in it too, until I decided to dedicate a separate journal to that for the sake of organization. If you can’t afford, or don’t want, to buy and set up multiple books, put it all in your Book of Shadows. Just keep a good index so you can find everything you need!
Cheap and Easy Altars
Next up on our list of witchcraft DIYs is the all important altar. Don’t be fooled by the name – just because these are sacred spaces for our workings doesn’t mean they have to be fancy or expensive. Many closeted witches use bookshelves, kitchen counters, and even shoeboxes for altars, and a crafty globetrotting witch can fit her altar in the front pocket of her suitcase!
As with all things in magick, the power comes from you, not the materials you use to build the space. But, many witches like to have a dedicated space to focus in on their workings. Just as color correspondences can help us tap into our subconscious minds, using the same sacred space for every working will help train your brain to open up to magick every time it sees you settle in front of your altar.
There are custom made furniture pieces you can invest in, but some of the biggest pros of a DIY witch altar are how flexible, customizable, and discrete you can make it. Your practice influences your needs, and those needs determine what your altar should look like and how it should function. Here I’ll go through the traditional basics, but once you’ve found your niche, feel free to take things out, substitute tools, and make any additions you want.
First things first, the space itself. If you prefer a permanent altar that will stay out and visible every day, find a piece of furniture or a countertop you can dedicate to your practice. I have a small end table with multiple shelves and a drawer, but you can use a short bookcase, a nightstand, a kitchen or bathroom counter, a dresser, or even a window sill. If the situation allows, I encourage you to decorate this space according to your practice. You might, for example, paint the moon cycle on the doors of the old hutch you’re using, or carve a world tree into the smooth surface of the table. I’ve hung inspiring and/or helpful pictures up near my altar to help with creativity workings or to use as quick reference. A green witch might surround her altar with houseplants instead.
Not everyone has the space, or the accepting housemates, to keep their altar out in the open 24/7, though. This is where ‘travel altars’ come in handy. These are smaller altars contained within a box, be it a shoe box or even a recycled mint tin! The box holds all the tools they need, and when it’s time to do a working, they simply pull everything out and flip the box to use as a miniature table. Travel altars can be decorated as well, inside or out depending on your safety and needs.
The traditional witch’s altar has a representation of each element on it, along with a wand and an athame for directing energy. For fire, most use candles. Electric candles work just as well as burning ones, and are dorm friendly. Meanwhile, Tea lights and chime candles are quite small – perfect for travel altars – and easy to find. Plus, they’re often sold in large packs at affordable prices. I like to search thrift stores for unused pillar and taper candles, too, as well as holders for them. If you do the same, make sure you cleanse the candles very thoroughly before use. Thrifted items always carry a history with them.
For the element of water, you can take a fancy bowl or goblet you already own and fill it with purified water. Some like to use moon water they’ve blessed on a recent full moon instead. Or, you can lay out seashells. Tiny shells are great for travel altars, while more permanent altars can be decorated with large conches or even sea fossils if you’re lucky enough to own one. A shark tooth necklace is another great option here.
Air can be a tricker element to pin down, but ethically and legally collected feathers are a great option. Little mourning dove or sparrow feathers fit in almost any travel altar. I have a few bird sculptures myself, and a nifty bird mobile/candle holder that spins when a tea light is ignited underneath it. I use this for both fire and air, so don’t be afraid to combine elements to save space!
Finally, the element of earth. This can be represented by a wide variety of things, from small tumbled crystals to sleek river stones, dried herbs in little corked bottles or incense sticks. A vase of flowers, a small bag of dirt collected on a nature walk, a twig sculpture or a brigid doll. Look at the world around you and see what nature has to provide!
As for wands and athames, an athame can be used for much the same things as a wand, so if space or budget is a concern, you can opt for an athame only. Normally, an athame is a double edged ritual blade, used to direct energy and symbolically cut things such as negative ties. Despite being a blade, it is not to be used for literal cutting. Carving candles and cutting herbs is done with a different tool as needed.
Purists will say it’s best to make your own athame, but not all of us have the skills, tools, or time available to do so. In that case, any blade you have at home can be transformed. Just find a blade you’d like to devote to your magick and consecrate it for its new purpose. You can use a consecrated pocket knife in your travel altar, or a pretty letter opener on a larger altar. Kitchen knives work fine as well – just remember, once it’s an athame, it must not be returned to its past food prep duties!
Personally, knives make me anxious, so I use an old beloved pen instead. This suits me well as I am a writer, and much of my magick is dedicated to my creative crafts. Feel free to personalize your tools like this, too!
DIY Altar Cloth
Altar cloths are quite popular for decorating altars according to the current season, holiday, or intention of your workings, but they’re by no means necessary. If you like the look and finish of your altar surface as is, skip the cloth. I do.
For those who do want to change the look and feel of their altar, either to suit their goals or to make a travel altar feel less like recycling and more like a sacred space, I say make it yourself! Why spend $20+ on a premade, predesigned swatch of fabric when you can pick up a bit of linen and fabric paint at the craft store for under $10? Plus, any witchy tool you make yourself will be far more bonded to you and your magick than something you buy online.
Begin by deciding how low you want the altar cloth to hang from your altar’s surface, if you want any overhang at all. Then measure it out. In fabric stores, fabric is stored on a bolt and priced by the yard. It’s important to know there are two standard widths of bolts (in America, at least) – 45 inches, and 60 inches. So, If I want my altar cloth to have one inch of hangover in every direction, and I measure the surface out to be 7 inches wide and 36 inches long, I know now that even with hemming, a smaller 45 inch bolt of fabric is plenty wide enough. I can use that 45 inch bolt width as my altar cloth’s length, meaning I only need them to cut about a foot of fabric from the bolt to get the altar cloth width I want.
Here’s a visual diagram to help. The top rectangles show you the simple math I’d do to find out the dimension I need for my altar cloth; in this case, 10 inches x 39 inches. The green rectangle at the bottom is the final size rectangle I need to cut from the 45 inch bolt of fabric, and how I’d arrange it.
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