Articles — tools

Pewter is a popular material for ritual items, including amulets, chalices, and wands. You’ve probably seen it cast in various designs, from pentacles to dragons. It is a silver-colored metal with a pleasing weight and old-fashioned look. But choosing magickal items encompasses more than just look and feel. As magick workers, we’re aware that every type of matter has its own energetic properties. Learning more about the properties of each material can help you choose the right tool for the job. Metals and gems especially have been connected through folklore with special powers and properties. Most magicians will be familiar...

Dragon’s Blood ink is one of those magickal ingredients whose name sounds straight out of a fantasy novel. Needless to say, it doesn’t contain the blood of real dragons. Rather, the name refers to a red-tinted ceremonial ink formulated with resins, herbs, and fragrances. Dragon’s Blood ink—along with its cousins, Dove’s Blood ink and Bat’s Blood ink—is traditionally used to empower written spells, pacts, and petitions. Dragon’s Blood ink owes its name to a bright red-colored resin that is obtained from various plant species. In ancient times, the crushed resin was used as a pigment in both the West and...

Got a shiny new piece of magickal jewelry? Before putting it on, you may wish to take the extra step of ritually activating the object to make it more effective at its purpose. Charging and wearing an amulet is one of the oldest and most widely practiced forms of spellwork. In this article, I’ll discuss some simple ways to initiate your magickal jewelry so it can start working for you. We’re often asked if we charge or activate the pendants sold in our shop. We don’t—they all come “blank” and ready to receive your intention. The most we’ll do is...

Gold may be the most prized of earthly materials, but the magickal gleam of silver puts it (traditionally) in second place. Silver was one of the first metals known to the ancients—the Bible mentions riches of gold and silver. Silver deposits are found in nature, but (unlike gold) rarely in a pure state. Over the centuries, miners and crafters learned to take this dark grey rock and turn it into tools and ornaments of luminous beauty. Its Latin name, argentum, comes from the Sanskrit, arj-una (“light”). Just as gold is linked to the vibrant hue of the Sun, the gentler...

If you shop for Pagan and spiritual jewelry online, your browser is most likely bursting with ads for cheap imported baubles. But there are plenty of good reasons why you shouldn’t bite. Supporting these merchants hurts Pagan artisans (and possibly yourself). Based overseas, companies like “Wicca Movement,” “Enchantory” and “Wicca Store USA” use aggressive marketing tactics to reach customers in the United States. They offer pendants, bracelets, and other trinkets at tempting prices—sometimes only a dollar or two including shipping. Even formerly craft-friendly sites like Etsy are now flooded with galaxies of cheaply-made pentacles and crescent moons. Some of this...