CHAPTER 1

Making the Mundane Magical Room by Room

One of the first steps on the path of domestic witchery is the simple act of looking at yourhome in a new way. Instead of seeing heaps of dirty clothes, pots to be scrubbed, andsocks to be sorted as chores, view them as opportunities instead. These tasks and othersare opportunities to follow a more positive path—openings to interact with deity, to teachyour children, and to create magic with almost everything you touch. In this chapter, we'regoing on a room-by-room tour of the home to explore the potential magic that can springup in every corner! Each section will include a bit on how to use everyday items to createor enhance magic, as well as a list of those areas of magic that are best for that room anda spell or two. There are also suggestions for creating a family book of shadows (or bookof magical information) specifically for some rooms.

Let's start right at your stoop.

DOORWAYS AND THRESHOLDS

A threshold is something sacred.

—PORPHYRY, ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHER

Doorways and thresholds are not just a way for people to enter and leave a house; theyare also an opening for energy and spirits, both positive and negative. By creating andmaintaining magical thresholds, the domestic witch can construct barriers against thosethings that you'd rather keep away from your family. The first thing to do to get yourthresholds ready is a good herbal cleansing. A magical wash like the Protection Wash inchapter 4 will do the trick. Wipe down the inside and outside of every passage from theoutside into your home, including windowsills, doors, and door frames, your dryer vent,attic and crawl space entrances, and garage doors. To clean the actual glass in windowsand doors, use a mix of four cups water, one cup vinegar, and one teaspoon of Castilesoap or liquid dish detergent in a clean spray bottle. If you have a porch, walkway, or a tileentry to your home, use a clean bucket of cleansing mix to scrub this down as well. Aneasy way to clean your porch is to pour a bit of the wash out, use your broom to scrub itin, and sweep the mix away from your door. If you live in an apartment that has carpetingoutside your door, consider using a floor sweep on the area right out in front, and thenvacuum well.

Once everything is cleansed, it's time to lay down some protective magic outside of yourdoorway. Find a sturdy broom that you can leave by your door. A broom not only offers itsown protective magic, but it can also be used to sweep off your entryway on a regularbasis. There are forms of magical practice that include leaving or pouring banefulingredients on the doorway of a perceived enemy's home, so being in the practice ofsweeping off your porch isn't a bad habit to get into!

If you don't have a mat at your front door, now is the time to put one out. Get in the habitof wiping your shoes off before you enter the house; this keeps you from dragging in dirtas well as any maleficent energies that might be clinging to you. On the underside of themat, use permanent markers or paint pens to draw protective runes, sigils, or even just theword "protection" itself.

There are many ways to add protection to the inside of your doorway as well. A simpleand traditional option is to hang a horseshoe over the door, with the opening pointedupward to catch luck and hold it. Iron wards off all manner of unfriendly entities; that's oneof the reasons horseshoes are considered lucky. If you don't have a horseshoe on hand,hammering a small iron nail into your door frame can do the trick just as well. Hanging apair of scissors over or by your door (positioned so that they remain open) is supposed tocut off negativity before it can come inside. In feng shui, adding a mirror to your doorway,facing outside, can help deflect strong negative energies.

You might want to bury a witch bottle right outside your doorway. Witch bottles becamepopular for repelling evil attacks and magic spells in the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies. Modern witches create them to divert negative energy away from their homes.

Recipes for witch bottles vary greatly, but the majority seem to include something sharp(pins, nails, shards of glass) to "impale" the evil that enters the bottle, a liquid (urine,vinegar, wine) to "drown" the evil, and rosemary for protection. Witch bottle recipes mightalso include such things as hair or nail clippings, feathers, coins, or salt. While someinstructions call for the bottle to be buried in the farthest reaches of your property, mostsay it should be placed right outside your doorway. If you don't have a convenient place tobury your bottle, keep it in the attic, the basement, or in an out-of-the-way spot in thecenter of your home.

Creating a spell bag to hang near the door can also protect your home and family andbring luck to your door. You can craft a spell bag with a scrap of cloth tied with a ribbon ora store-bought drawstring bag, filled with protective herbs and charms. Unlike a witchbottle, which should remain sealed and left alone, a spell bag can be taken down andadded to whenever you wish.

Domestic Witch Bottle

While there are literally dozens and dozens of instructions out there on making a witchbottle, I've planned this one specifically for those who not only want to protect their home,but also want to connect to it in a magical way. If at some point you find you need toreplace the broom from which you've taken the tines for this bottle, retire it to the attic orbasement, but don't throw it away. Doing so could damage the connection between thebottle and your home.

Items Needed:

• A small jar with a lid or a bottle with a tight-fitting cork

• 1/3 cup salt

• 3 sewing needles or straight pins

• 6 iron nails, the largest that will fit in your jar

• 9 tines from your household broom

• 3 tablespoons of a protection herb (or 1 tablespoon of 3 different herbs), preferably fromyour own garden (Possible options include star anise, basil, bay leaf, and black pepper.)

• A pinch of dirt from your yard

• Red wine, vinegar, or your own urine to fill the bottle

1. Pour the salt into the jar and say,

Salt for purification.

2. Add the sewing needles, saying,

As I myself sew the threads of my family life, may these needles sew safety around meand mine.

3. Place the nails into the jar and say,

As the nails in our home pierce the wood to hold our...