Spirituality for Beginners

Shadow work is the practice of looking at the parts of yourself you’d rather not: the envy, the old habits, the things you say you never do. Here’s what it means, where the idea comes from, how witches fold it into dark-moon and winter practice, and 40 prompts to write to.

To burn incense, hold a flame to the tip until it catches, let it burn for about ten seconds, and then blow or fan the flame out. The tip should glow orange and send up a thin line of smoke. Set the incense in a holder made for its shape, on a surface that can take...

The Eye of Horus, called the wedjat in ancient Egyptian, is a symbol of protection and of being made whole. It comes from the myth of the god Horus, whose eye was torn out in a fight with his uncle Set and then restored by the god Thoth. Egyptians wore the Eye of...

The ankh (☥) is the ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for "life," drawn as a cross with a loop at the top. In Egyptian art, Deities hold the ankh to a king's nose to give him the breath of life, and the symbol stood for life in this world and in the afterlife. Today people...

A witch's knot, also called a witches knot or witch knot, is four pointed loops woven from one unbroken line, often with a circle running through the middle. Witches use it today as a protection charm, especially at doors and windows, and as a symbol of a spell bound...

A triskelion, or triskele, is a symbol of three spirals or three bent legs turning out from one center. It's one of the oldest symbols in Europe, carved into Irish stone more than 5,000 years ago, and today it's used for motion, cycles, and the three realms of land,...

The triquetra is a three-cornered knot made of three interlaced arcs, and it's also called the trinity knot or Celtic trinity knot. People use it today for any three-in-one: the Triple Goddess, the realms of land, sea, and sky, or the Christian Trinity. It's one of...

The Seal of Solomon is the legendary signet ring of King Solomon, said to give him the power to command demons and spirits. Over the centuries it came to be drawn as a six-pointed star or a five-pointed star, usually inside a circle, and the six-pointed version later...

Frost reading is an overnight divination: you set your question by a window or a piece of glass at night and read the shapes in the frost at first light. Here’s where the idea comes from, how to set it up, and how to read what you see.

A wild candle flame usually means the wick is too long. Here is how to rule out the physical causes first, then what high, low, flickering, crackling, and smoking flames, soot, and wax are traditionally read to mean.

A hedge witch is a solitary witch who works at the boundary between the everyday world and the spirit world, through herbs, dreams, trance, and the old ways of the village wise woman. Here is where the name comes from, what hedge riding is, and how to begin.

Planetary squares are seven magic squares, one for each classical planet, where every row, column and diagonal adds up to the same number. Practitioners trace words or numbers across them to make sigils.