Magic using multiple methods at once

The books tend to assume that you can just do a spell & you have the self-discipline not to scratch it. Of course the reason we don't think or talk about spells we've done is because it brings the energy back to us, but I find if I cast a spell it's usually about something that's bugging me anyway so it's never that simple.

In the spirit of play described in my last post, I have developed a magical technique to deal with this, which is essentially that I'll just keep on at you throwing anything at you that comes to hand, usually practicing a few new things along the way.

This evening I started a candle spell, supplementing it by a sacrifice - of sesame seeds at a crossroads. Did I say this blog was about real old school witchcraft? My ritual is simplifying as I go on - although the altar's a bit loaded at the moment. I set aside the space by three circumambulations with incense. The four candles are to invoke the elements. I had a period of meditation to calm down my thoughts, before invoking, then simply dressing the candle & lighting it. I turned my intent over in my head while walking to the crossroads to sprinkle the sesame seeds.

Some of the other things on the altar - I find I don't use tarot decks put away in boxes, whereas heaped up on the altar I'll use them more. On the left the red-backed one is the Tarocco Indovino 1.96 given to me by my Goddess daughter. Underneath it is the Tarot de Paris, which I'm finding a little eccentric to read with. The box contains newspaper cuttings about rapists & other abusers. Also inside are two little rubber rings which are used to castrate sheep - I think the person who gave them to me never thought I'd find a use for them. On top is a stone from my Goddess daughter; she wasn't impressed I use it as my toxic waste dump, but I think has accepted this as one of her old dad's little ways. The African figure was from my Goddess mother & invokes her presence on my altar. As for the dog - you didn't really think I wouldn't have. A hound on my altar, did you? On the right we have my tarot deck made up of several different ones, a Morgan Greer tarot being seasoned as a gift, & a RWS from my Goddess mother - the tartan back is not standard in UK by the way. The cloth is a scarf: Hecate has this kind of dark yet party aesthetic & it's actually quite glitzy.

Some of the things on my altar will make some people very uncomfortable, but I find no contradiction in saying it is a place of peace - of real peace that comes from people not having to live with fear. Similarly my multiple magical methods are not what the books say, but it works. That's the point.

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