Basic Witches: How to Summon Success, Banish Drama, and Raise Hell with Your Coven - Jaya Saxena, Jess Zimmerman 2017

Glamours: The Power to Change How You Look

It’s no coincidence that glamour—the term for an appearance-changing charm in early English tales of witches and fairies—has become a modern word denoting charisma, beauty, and élan. Appearance can be magic, and powerful magic at that. But instead of casting shape-shifting spells, we can experiment with new makeup, bold outfits, and rebellious hairstyles.

Changing your appearance might sound simple or shallow. In fact, it’s anything but. Society tells women that devoting oneself to beauty and fashion is at once obligatory (otherwise we look unforgivably hideous), a silly waste of time (appearance is inherently superficial), and deceptive (see: men posting memes about makeup as “betrayal” and “the reason you have to take a woman swimming on the first date”). But within these crazily contradictory expectations lies the root of glamorous power: beauty is something that women alone are expected to perform, involving mysterious rituals, talismans, and bottled potions, which can influence an observer’s perception to the point of being almost menacing. It sounds like the beauty arts are scoffed at precisely because they make women powerful.

In reality, you’re not deceiving people when you indulge in cosmetic shape-shifting. You’re not being shallow, either. Rather, you’re letting your true self shine through. You’re slogging out from the mire of messages about acceptable appearances and discovering how you want to look—perhaps not by magically changing your hair color à la Nymphadora Tonks, but by learning how to manipulate and enhance your self-image using makeup, hair, and clothing. Whether you draw strength from unusual lipstick colors, an all-black outfit, or a lucky amulet, this chapter will help you discover how to look and feel more like yourself.

How to Clothe Yourself in Literal Darkness

YOU DON’T HAVE TO WEAR ALL BLACK TO WITCH HERE, BUT IT HELPS

The first step in casting off beauty ideals is to return to a blank slate. And by blank slate, we mean black slate. Because if witches know one thing, it’s the power of the color black. Black clothes, black hats, black cats, black chokers, black nails, black lips, black magic.

Why black clothes? Take your pick: black is good for standing out, but it’s also good for blending in. (Think of spies or cat burglars—basically, if your job involves doing secret things at night, this is your color.) All-black outfits can be chic, punk, businesslike, bohemian, dressy, or devil-may-care. You’ll almost never look out of place in black (unless you’re at a wedding, and even that taboo has started to fade, probably because so many people’s go-to dresses these days are black). In Western countries, black is associated with death and mourning, so by wearing the color of death, you project a kind of fearlessness. And, sure, people say black is “slimming,” but really, black is the color of vast things: the night sky, the deep earth, the inside of your head when you close your eyes. In a way, wrapping yourself in black brings you close to infinity. Plus, it doesn’t show dirt and it matches everything.

Unless you are working as a stagehand or attending a funeral, you don’t have to wear black. But if you’ve never walked out the door in head-to-toe midnight, you ought to give it a try. Put a little bit of power, vastness, mutability, and doom into your wardrobe, and see how you feel! Here are a few tips for easing yourself into the all-black sisterhood.

Take baby steps.

If black seems too intense but you still want to cast dark, witchy vibes out into the world, start by incorporating other dark colors into your wardrobe. Deep purples, blues, silvers, and grays all evoke the night sky, and nothing says “don’t mess with me or I’ll feed you a poison apple” like blood red. And if all-over black feels too flat for your aesthetic, find black clothing with a bit of shimmer or sparkle or pattern.

Play with proportion.

Massive black robes might make you look like a witch, or like a nun. Instead, try pairing a long black skirt with a black camisole, or black jeans with a black crop top, or a black sweater with black shorts. (Unless you like the nun look, in which case absolutely go for it.)

Mix textures.

Black-on-black patterns and textured fabrics—lace, embossed velvet, sheer, jacquard, tonal stripes—can fit any style from goth to chic, and a little goes a long way. Plus, having clothing in a variety of textures can save you from the witch’s primary sartorial challenge: spotting the one black garment you’re looking for in your pile of all-black clothing.

Keep black clothes beautiful.

To prevent fading, wash black duds in cold water using a detergent specially designed for darks. Extend time between washings of black jeans by placing them in a plastic bag in the freezer to kill odors. Remove deodorant stains from black tops by wetting the area, covering it with salt, and letting it stand for a couple of hours before washing. And if your clothes do fade, don’t drive yourself crazy digging for a slightly more faded pair of black leggings to wear with a slightly more faded top. Life’s too short to match blacks. For a witch, it all counts.

Curl up and dye.

There’s no shortage of black clothing on the market, but making your own can be fun. Most craft stores sell black fabric dye, and although you can dye just about any garment, this is a good excuse for a shopping spree. Cool gloves, a vintage lace slip, or a luxurious shawl are easy to dye yourself. Plus, a vat of black liquid steaming on a stovetop is pretty close to a bubbling cauldron.

Highlight with color.

Like the black velvet display case in a jeweler’s window, your all-black outfit can serve as a background to set off whatever colorful gem you want people to focus on—whether that’s a piece of jewelry, a tie, a bright hair color, a favorite hijab, a bold lipstick, or just the general gorgeousness of your face. Strategic use of black can command and direct attention as well as any spell does.

Now just grab your coordinating black cat, and take yourself out on the town.

Dress to Sorceress

HONING EMOTIONS WITH MAGICAL OUTFITS

Every time you get dressed, you’re putting on more than just a clean shirt: you’re clothing yourself in an emotion, a persona, a sense of yourself. You’re making a choice that affects how you’ll move through the world. You probably have outfits that make you feel beautiful, handsome, or sexy, and totally different outfits that make you feel comfortable. You may even have certain items that feel like armor, such as cowboy boots, the perfect pencil skirt, or a favorite necktie. (Jess’s is a motorcycle jacket; Jaya’s is a pair of wedge sneakers covered in red glitter.) All these garments—your hot clothes, your comfy clothes, your armor clothes—not only make you feel a certain way as you wear them, but remind you how you felt wearing them in the past. What you wear affects your mindset and, consequently, the way you carry yourself. Although your clothes may alter your behavior in unconscious ways (think of how you automatically walk differently if you switch from combat boots to heels), you can actively engage the emotional power of clothing to change your mood.

Not all witches dress alike—Nancy from The Craft wouldn’t be caught dead looking like Winifred from Hocus Pocus—so you can make clothing magic work within your personal style. Here are a few starting points for working simple spells every time you get dressed.

For stability, wear flat or heavy shoes.

When you need to feel grounded, leave the stilettos at home and opt for sturdy platforms, wedges, ballet flats, or sneakers.

For emotional protection, wear layers.

Having more than one thickness of fabric between you and the world makes for a safer, more armored feeling.

For confidence, wear loud jewelry.

If you make yourself small and quiet in the presence of others, let your jewelry do the talking. Wear bangles that jingle and clang, anklets with bells, or rings that clink together when you move your fingers.

For comfort in times of stress, wear soft, soothing textures.

By wearing fabrics you like to touch, like velvet, suede, or fleece, you can easily comfort yourself in stressful situations. Try a velvet dress on the first day of school, or a jersey skirt on a date, and rub the fabric between your fingers when you feel nervous.

For relief from worry or fear, wear tight-fitting accessories.

Ever put a nervous dog in a Thundershirt? Same idea: a little (gentle!) pressure can help you focus on being present in your body, which activates the parasympathetic nervous system and quells anxiety. Try a cloth headband or wristband for stylish relief.

The more you use clothes to focus your emotional energy, the better you’ll get at channeling a particular feeling whenever you need—the power has been in you all along. You may not be able to wear a motorcycle jacket everywhere—at certain weddings, for instance, or at most job interviews, or on the beach—but inwardly, you’ll be wearing a spiritual motorcycle jacket, one that nobody can remove.

Makeup for Witches

GETTING THE “UNNATURAL” LOOK

Women are taught that makeup is best used sparingly, as an enhancement to one’s natural features. And most makeup on the market reflects that attitude: lipsticks come in shades of pink, red, and various flesh tones; eyeshadows promise to “bring out the color” of your eyes; blush is tinted to play up the bloom in your cheeks, and mascara is designed to lengthen the lashes you already have. Study upon study shows that men do not like women who wear “too much” makeup, that they prefer women to look soft, unintimidating, and “natural.”

But everything about makeup is unnatural. And that’s why it can be so powerful.

Wearing cosmetics, whether tinted lip balm or full-on contouring, is just good, old-fashioned shape-shifting: you decide to change the way you look, and then you use tools at your disposal to do so. That’s amazing. That’s witchcraft. Rather than highlighting what others consider beautiful, you can emphasize what you think is beautiful, or weird, or scary, or whatever you want people to notice, and then use nontraditional color choices to achieve that effect. Red eyeshadow, blue mascara, and green lipstick are all just as good options as pinks and browns. Here’s how to make the best use of makeup.

Go back to black.

Unlike soft, pastel, or subtle cosmetics, all-black makeup is an extra-bold look and can banish your expectations about what a made-up face “should” look like. Paint on black lipstick (or apply liquid eyeliner to lips). Paint the entirety of your eyelids black and smudge it out as far as it’ll go. Hell, use black eyeshadow as contouring bronzer. Even if you wear it for just a few minutes by yourself, let black makeup be a positive shock to your system (and snap a selfie while you’re at it).

Give yourself a magical color boost.

Enliven your palette by looking to the colors that witches traditionally associate with emotions or qualities. Reds grant strength and power; blues are all about tranquility and peace. Yellow connotes joy, green deals with luck (especially in finances), and purple signifies healing. (The signs of the zodiac are sometimes associated with specific hues, too.) Pair colors with facial features to further strengthen this magic. Want to channel female energy to your soul? Cover your eyelids in silver powder. Want to encourage kind words to come out of your mouth? Paint your lips orange. Want everything you touch to bring you financial success? Get yourself a green manicure.

Make yourself look weird.

Abandon all pretense of “natural” in favor of scary, or silly, or dead serious. Instead of skin-tone bronzer, dust your cheeks with a wild color of eyeshadow, like dark blue, or bright purple, or neon green. Swap your usual blood-red lipstick with yellow, orange, or white. Sprinkle on glitter, or try affixing skin-safe sequins with cosmetic adhesive around your eyes. Take eyeliner way outside your lashline. Swipe colorful mascara on your lashes and your brows. Then observe your look and how you feel about it. What are the things you like about your face, not because you’ve been told they’re traditionally beautiful, but just because you like them? Pushing the boundaries of what makeup “should” look like pushes back on society’s expectations. But more than that, it helps you discover your own personal definition of sexy, pretty, or attractive.

Get naturally unnatural with DIY makeup.

If you want to truly feel like a witch mixing up potions, whip up your own makeup at home—it’s easier than you’d think, and you can control exactly what goes into it (and, therefore, onto you). Any homemade makeup consists of either a liquid base (for things like lip tints, cream blushes, or eyeliner) or a neutral powder base (for powder foundations, blush, and bronzer), plus coloring ingredients. Common liquid bases include coconut oil and petroleum jelly, and arrowroot powder is a popular powder base. For color tints, anything nontoxic and safe to eat is fair game, but avoid inflammatory substances—like ground cayenne powder!—in your mixture. If you’re not sure whether your makeup might irritate you, apply a small amound to the inside of your wrist as a patch test before getting close to eyes or lips.

MAKEUP RECIPES

Loose bronzer: Mix arrowroot powder with ground cinnamon and cocoa powder. (If you prefer bronzer set in a compact, add a few drops of coconut or jojoba oil to make it stick together.)

Lightly tinted lip balm: Mix beet root powder and coconut oil. For a thicker, more deeply pigmented lip color, add food coloring and beeswax.

Natural black mascara: Combine activated charcoal with coconut oil and aloe vera.

A SPELL TO

Find Your Colors

Draw a warm bath and light the candle at the edge of the tub. Stare into the flame as you recite this incantation three times:

Fire, earth, water, sea

Let the rainbow shine through me.

Repeat the incantation silently as you close your eyes, and picture yourself from above. Visualize your body, and then watch the water around you slowly change color. It could be all one color or a few. Then let the color or palette you see inspire your makeup looks—even if it’s a shade you’ve always been told not to wear. Be as bold or subtle as you like; if you see blue, for instance, you could go for retro blue eyeshadow, striking ice-blue lips, or even a classic blue-toned red.

If you (like Jess) hate baths, you can also find your spirit colors by meditating. Close your eyes and picture yourself in a room where you feel a profound sense of ease and safety. You are sitting in an armchair, and there is a flower in a vase. Concentrate on your feeling of security, then look at your surroundings. What color is the upholstery? The flower? The quality of the light in the room?

Now envision yourself outside, in a setting of transcendent beauty. You’re surrounded by flowers here, too, and the scenery is so spectacular it almost takes your breath away. Concentrate on that feeling of overpowering beauty and then look around. What color are the flowers? What color is the sky?

These visualizations help you tap into the colors you associate with different mental states and thoughtfully incorporate them into your makeup and wardrobe in order to feel gorgeous or invincible.

ACCORDING TO A POPULAR myth, married women in Britain were once legally banned from wearing lipstick, on pain of having their marriages annulled and being accused of witchcraft. In reality, no such law existed (or if it did, no historian has found proof of it), but its persistence as an urban legend reveals the extent of society’s deep distrust of makeup. Many people can believe that lipstick was once not just a tool of beauty, but a tool of the devil.

In fact, in addition to rumors, some real historical laws have linked lipstick and sorcery. According to lipstick historian Jessica Pallington, in medieval England “a woman who wore make-up was seen as an incarnation of Satan” because she was changing the face God gave her. However, wealthy women at the time were hiring alchemists to whip up lipsticks for them while chanting incantations, and evidently Satan’s rules didn’t apply to the rich. By the 1500s, Catholic women were told to mention lipstick use in confession. In the 1700s in America, a man could have his marriage annulled if his wife had worn cosmetics during courtship—although in France at that time, going bare-faced was considered acceptable only for prostitutes. Go figure.

Before the advent of commercially manufactured cosmetics, part of the suspicion regarding makeup was the effect some ingredients had on the wearer. Rouge for cheeks and white powder foundation were made with lead and mercury, which could eat at skin. Women dripped belladonna (aka deadly nightshade) into their eyes to make them appear big and seductive. Given the occasional dangerous (and sometimes lethal) ingredient and makeup’s ability to camouflage one’s appearance, no wonder it was considered so witchy.

Even after the age of literal witch hunts, makeup remained a lightning rod for issues of politics, class, and morality. By the 1910s in America, bright red lipstick became a symbol of defiance and women’s emancipation, as retaliation against cosmetics often being sold under the counter. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Charlotte Perkins Gilman wore red lipstick at the 1912 New York City Suffragette March to show that they meant business. As the look gained popularity, lipstick was seen as so terrifying that it was almost banned by the male officials of the New York Board of Health in 1924 for fear that women would use it to poison them (you know, like a witch would).

No matter the historical era, at the heart of any makeup controversy has always been the fear of feminine dishonesty. Every argument against cosmetics, whether anger that they give women power to enhance their appearance or outrage that they allow women to call attention to themselves, boils down to men not wanting women to be in control of their own bodies. Which, unfortunately, many men still don’t want. Stanton and Gilman wore red lips to protest more than a hundred years ago, but lipstick still has the power to confuse, annoy, and terrify. We see no reason to stop now.

NAIL ART TO TERRIFY MEN

A SPELL TO

Wear Bold Lipstick

Growing up, Jaya was always timid about bright lipsticks. She thought they’d only draw unwanted attention to her lips, which felt awkward and too large for her face. But change came in the form of lavender lipstick she spotted at the makeup store. At first she thought this shouldn’t work. Surely it would wash her out, or clash with her undertones, or do something that makeup experts thought was wrong for her face. But she tried it on anyway.

Maybe the makeup experts were right. It didn’t emphasize her coloring or do her undertones any favors. It looked weird—but then it looked awesome. Looking at her reflection, she realized she actually liked her lips and could wear whatever she wanted on them. All she had to do was summon the confidence.

Wash your face so that it is free of all makeup. Apply the lipstick to your clean lips. Then, in the middle of your chest, draw a swirl using the lipstick. Make it as big as you can (maybe you strip down to your bra for this), then draw swirls on your arms, legs, neck, and all over your body until you’re covered, or until you run out of lipstick. Reserve the tube—you’ll need it later.

With the safety pin, carve your name into one side of the candle and a pair of lips into the other side. Kiss the lips you carved, place the candle in a fireproof dish, and light it with the match. Staring into the flame, recite the following:

My lips are mine

My lips are free

My lips will look how I want them to be

Close your eyes and picture your face, remembering those words. Sit that way for as long as you like. Let the candle burn down until the flame dies, and take a shower. After you’ve washed off all the lipstick, keep the image of yourself wearing it in your mind’s eye. Carry the empty tube in your purse or backpack for a week afterward.

The Dark Magic of Unfeminine Haircuts

In recent years, the notion of so-called ideal beauty has shifted. Although ideas of what makes a woman beautiful still skew white and Western, American society has started to accept (a little) variation in terms of whether women should be plump or thin, short or tall, dark or pale. But one thing is compulsory: long hair. Sure, the pixie cut enjoys an occasional fashion moment, but usually this style is lauded as part of an androgynous look rather than a feminine one. Perfect femininity—whatever that is—still requires long, smooth, flowing locks.

Thankfully, we witches cackle in the face of perfect femininity. We aren’t interested in conforming to standards so much as triumphantly watching people squirm when the standards are destroyed. Your witchy hairdo can be an engine for confidence and power—power that comes from you alone, not from your ability to mimic ideals. It can also be a signal to other unruly women that you’re part of their coven—that you’re daring, unconventional, and uninterested in traditional femininity.

If you have Disney princess tresses and love them, of course, by all means keep them—but, no matter what Little Women taught you, never believe that your hair is not “your one beauty.” This isn’t true, and even if it were, you don’t owe your beauty to anyone. If you’re looking to break out of the hair box (wow, does that ever sound like a gross euphemism), here are a few types of hairstyle magic to consider.

Shaved head

The shaved head is a banishing spell. It’s a total elimination of the concept of hair as accessory—with a shaved head, your face is what you get. Shaving your head is a drastic change, and you risk learning the hard way that your skull is a weird shape. But weigh that against the prospect of freeing yourself from one of the million things women are supposed to worry about.

How to do it: Talking a stylist into shaving your head can be hard—there’s no going back with this ’do! But it’s not too hard to DIY, if you have the courage. First cut your hair short with scissors, then have a friend use an electric clipper over your whole head. Start with a long guard on the clipper and see how it looks; you can always go shorter. And don’t forget: your head now needs sunscreen, even more than the rest of you!

Undercut/side shave

The partial shave is a hex on expectations. You have options with this cut: Shave the side! Shave both sides! Shave the underside all the way around your head! Shave everything but your bangs! (Technically this last one is called a Chelsea cut, not an undercut, but this distinction matters only when you go to the salon and ask for it. We include it here as a variation of “partly shaved, partly not.”) In some ways, a partial shave is even more subversive than a full buzz cut: instead of doing away with feminine tresses entirely, you’re cutting into them, mutilating them. “Here’s what I think of your beauty standards,” this style says. (Also, it’s well ventilated in the summer, and with it you kinda look like Tank Girl.)

How to do it: We recommend enlisting a stylist, especially for maintenance between cuts, which can be tricky. Shave whichever side you prefer.

If you’re bold enough to give yourself this look, start shaving from where your hairline meets your ear up to the parietal ridge, located about three finger-widths above the top of the ear (you should be able to feel a bony ridge on your head where your skull starts to curve), although shaving the entire side can look great, too. How far back you shave, or whether you continue all the way around from one side to the other, depends on your preferences and your courage. (A three-quarters-around undercut can look weird, but sometimes weird is good!) If you plan to shave more than an inch or two behind your ear, ask a friend to wield the clipper. Start small—a long guard on the clipper, not shaving too much—and remember: you can always shave more but can’t go back.

Pixie cut

The pixie is a binding spell, combining apparent opposites: a boy’s haircut and an iconic look in women’s fashion. It’s androgynous in a calculated way that says “I am stealing the power of Sexy Manhood and Sexy Womanhood at once.” Stylists and fashion magazines, which typically subscribe to and reinforce that ol’ thin white cisgender beauty ideal, might advise against attempting the pixie unless you have every other classical marker of feminine beauty (a thin body, high cheekbones, big eyes, full lips, whatever). But we encourage you to harness the powers of the pixie—versatility, liminality, really really easy maintenance—no matter your face, form, or gender presentation.

How to do it: Do not DIY this look—it’s much more complicated than running clippers over your head! Go to a salon (with a stylist who specializes in short hair if possible), and bring pictures of what you’d like. Ask for a look that’s a little shorter than you think you want, especially in the back of your head, because hair tends to grow in fast; if it’s too long near your neck, that’s your ticket to mullet city. (The mullet is, of course, a legit look—see below—but if you want a pixie, it probably isn’t what you’re going for!) If the stylist says that you “don’t have the face” for a pixie, pack up and take your business elsewhere.

Asymmetrical cut

The asymmetrical haircut is an illusion spell, changing your look from every angle. You’re not just one thing, so why should your hair be? Like the undercut, this style contains multitudes: shorter on one side, longer on the other à la Tegan and Sara; short in the back with long wisps in the front à la Ramona Flowers; or even the classic mullet. This ’do is a radical embracing of duality. Attempt it when you’ve learned, or want to learn, to love your contradictions.

How to do it: This is another look that’s best achieved with the help of a professional. Bring the stylist pictures of the haircut you’ve envisioned, but also ask what kind of look will work for your hair length and texture. Don’t forget practical considerations of your new ’do—for instance, will half your hair now be too short to put up in a ponytail? Can you live with that, or do you need to tweak your plan?

Natural hair

Natural hair is a shape-shifting spell, says writer and beauty expert Hannah Giorgis. “There’s this idea that to be marked feminine is to have your hair straight or as close to white women’s as possible,” she says—which means that by embracing your natural texture, if it’s anything other than smooth and straight, you’re giving the finger to stereotypes. Although Hannah does not personally feel like “I’m reclaiming my blackness” through her natural hair, some women do have this experience. She does feel, however, that her hairstyle keeps her in touch with herself in a purely practical way, through the practice of self-care. Having to slow down and spend time with her hair, she says, “can be really restorative and a space for reflection.”

How to do it: The process of growing out a perm depends on your hair’s texture, how long you’ve been chemically relaxing your hair, and the look you’re going for, says Hannah. Accordingly, she recommends watching YouTube tutorials from people whose texture matches your own: “There’s a huge community to immerse yourself in, so it’s not a solitary experience now as it might have been years ago.” Also consider taking baby steps. “I personally recommend growing your hair out for a little bit, chopping it off, and doing braids,” she says. “You can kind of ease your way into it.” And remember, it’s just a shape-shifting spell. “The body can always be altered.”

If anyone weeps about you ruining your one beauty, remind them that your beauty is too vast to be contained in a mere hundred thousand strands of collagen. Besides, beauty isn’t just something you have; it’s something you do. The power of glamour comes from manifesting the exact image you want. Any hairstyle that creates positive feelings is beautiful.

A SPELL FOR

Haircut Confidence

Use the scissors to snip a small lock of hair from a hidden spot on your head. Tape one end of the strand to a table or counter. Stroke the strand seven times, focusing your mind on your anxieties: What’s the worst-case scenario for this haircut? What are your worries about your appearance? What are you frightened people will think of you?

Carefully separate the piece of hair into three parts, and plait it into a simple braid. As you braid, picture your anxieties being tangled and trapped into the pattern. Each time you cross one strand over another, more of your worries are caged inside the braid and away from your conscious mind.

Tape the end of the braid. Remove the taped end from the table and fold it over to hold the other end of the braid. Hold the braid between your hands, close to your heart. Thank your hair for having been a part of you, and for carrying your anxieties away with it.

Bury the hair in a flowerpot or in the ground, or loop it around a branch of a tree or bush to release your anxieties into nature.

The Power of a Good Talisman

If you’ve ever believed in the power of a favorite necklace, a lucky ring, or even a pair of underwear you wear every time you have a date, you’ve channeled the magic of the talisman. And if you haven’t, maybe you want to.

A talisman is an object imbued with a beneficial magical property, usually luck or protection. The protective strength of a talisman can come from the symbolic power of its form, or from a charging ritual, or both. Wearing or carrying a talisman allows it to work its magic on you and reminds you of the magic you carry within.

Talismans aren’t just for witches, either. Endowing objects with meaning beyond their practical use is already part of modern life, but the magical symbolism has become invisible to most of us. A wedding ring, for example, is just a band of metal. But on someone’s hand it becomes a signal to society—it’s a marker, physical proof of the kind of relationship most of us believe is powerful and sacred. Wearing a wedding ring is not a requirement if you’re married, nor is it against the law for you to wear a ring on your fourth finger if you’re single: the power of the wedding ring comes from the meaning ascribed by the person wearing it and their culture. (Remember in the film Practical Magic when Sally attempts to explain magic to her romantic interest, the policeman? “Your badge,” she says, taking it in her hand, “it’s just a star, just another symbol. Your talisman. It can’t stop criminals in their tracks, can it? It has power because you believe it does.”)

An object need not have cultural significance to have personal significance, however—anything you wear or carry can be a talisman, and its symbolism doesn’t have to be overt. An heirloom, a long-held favorite item of clothing, or any piece of jewelry you find visually or emotionally appealing can work to boost your confidence, calm your nerves, or remind you to care for yourself. Pick a talisman because it’s in your favorite color, or its shape is comforting and familiar, or it symbolizes your interests and desires. You can use something you already own or shop for something new, as long as the piece speaks to you. Classic charms in witchy shapes like stars, crescent moons, cats, and cauldrons can remind you of your dark power, or else you can have a pendant or bracelet custom engraved with a specific word or phrase that keeps you centered.

TRADITIONAL POWERS OF STONES AND GEMS

Amethyst: Healing and protection against negative energy

Moonstone: Balance and enhancement of the feminine

Turquoise: Grounding emotions and opening the heart

Jade: Good luck, fortune, and longevity

Opal: Amplifying emotions and feelings, especially those of love and passion

Rose quartz: Promoting gentleness, peace, and calm

So whether it’s your vintage turquoise pendant that makes you feel grounded, your grandmother’s pearl ring reminding you that you come from a line of strong women, or that one T-shirt you were wearing when you got an A on a math test, pick a talisman that makes you feel lucky, protected, or powerful. Listen to your intuition; pick what gives you good vibes, and the rest will follow. The magic works only if you believe it, like Sandra Bullock taught us, and your talisman is a reminder of what you have.

Once you’ve selected a potential talisman, all you need to do is imbue it with a concentrated version of the feeling you want to invoke. The simplest way to charge a talisman is through visualization: hold the object and focus intensely on an image of yourself at your most happy, fortunate, productive, or loved. But a more effective—and almost certainly more fun—method is to do it for real. This just requires a little creativity.

Think of a way to induce a small, pure example of the feeling that you want to endow your talisman with. Take the object with you as you experience this feeling, and when the emotion is at its peak, imagine it as a light streaming out of you and flowing into the item, being held there permanently.

IDEAS FOR TALISMAN-CHARGING ADVENTURES

For happiness: Ride a roller coaster, eat a sundae, have an orgasm.

For strength: Lift a heavy weight, scale a climbing wall, crush something safe to crush (nutshells, tin cans).

For serenity: Float in water, watch a sunset, pet a dog.

For confidence: Have an orgasm. (Orgasms will work for almost any of these, let’s be real.)

Think creatively and personally: you can do anything that reliably makes you feel happy, peaceful, confident, or whatever experience you want to catch and bottle. When you wear or look at your talisman in the future, you’ll remember charging it with the essence of that energy, and you’ll be able to feel it again. Like Dumbo with his feather, the ability to fly was in you all along! Go forth with your talisman, and let power radiate from you.

The Secret Art of Smellomancy

Every year, ladies’ magazines from Glamour to Allure to Elle offer tips on how to find your “signature scent.” (Buzzfeed and the Victoria’s Secret website offer online quizzes for this, if magazines aren’t your thing.) Signature scents are cool, of course—if you always wear the same perfume, people in your life probably think of you whenever they smell it. But what if you could use your scent to make you think of you—the best version of you, the you that you need to be at this exact moment? What if you could use your scent to evoke your strengths and skills?

This form of magic—we call it smellomancy—draws on the powerful connection between smell and memory. The part of the brain that processes scents and smells (the olfactory bulb) is located near the parts of the brain associated with memories and emotions (the hippocampus and amygdala), and your sense of smell has the unique power to tap into this part of your mental makeup. You can learn to evoke a particular mental state by wearing a scent that you associate with that feeling. Throughout the day, the fragrance will subtly evoke the time you felt most powerful, most attractive, most secure, most unusual. And, like the tiny molecules of your perfume wafting up from your skin and getting stuck in people’s noses, you’ll project that feeling to everyone you meet.

Choose a scent.

You don’t need expensive perfumes for this—you can find smells that feel right to you without dropping a lot of dough. Many perfume-sellers on Etsy are happy to provide samples, and makeup stores or high-end drugstores often will let customers spritz a bunch of fragrances on strips of paper and sniff them. For a more natural option, try bottled essential oils sold at an herb store or an organic market, or even combine oils and mix your own custom blend. Wherever you find it, make sure the smell speaks to you.

Map smells onto feelings.

To charge your scent with a specific positive emotion, wear it in situations that are virtually guaranteed to evoke that particular feeling. Wear your “comfort” smell to watch your favorite show, your “confident” smell for a test you know you’re going to nail, or your “strong” smell to the gym. Don’t jump right into wearing your “attractive” smell on a date; instead, first apply it when going out in your favorite outfit with your most complimentary friend.

POWERFUL SCENTS TO TRY

For happiness: frankincense, lemon, and grapefruit

For mental acuity: rosemary, lemon, and jasmine

For strength and vigor: peppermint

For calm and comfort: orange, vanilla, and lavender

For creativity: vanilla and cinnamon

For attractiveness: black licorice, lavender, and pumpkin pie spice (really)

Use your newly charged potion.

With different flavors of positive energy bound up in each scent, you can apply your attitude like you apply moisturizer. Spritz on your fragrance whenever you need a boost, and the smell will provide little reminders of the way you want to feel all day.

Dapper Magic

“But guys,” you may be saying, “I don’t want to wear any makeup, unnatural or otherwise, and I prefer a masculine gender presentation—beauty tips aren’t for me!”

That’s cool! All are welcome in the coven, and deliberately calibrating your self-presentation is magic whether you’re wearing a skirt or slacks. If you’re masculine-presenting—which could mean you’re a man, a woman who favors a butch look, or somewhere else on the gender spectrum—you can use the magic of paints and potions to influence your self-confidence and the way others perceive you. Biology isn’t destiny—your assigned sex at birth isn’t your gender—but identity isn’t destiny either, and being masculine-of-center doesn’t prohibit you from dabbling in the magical arts of performed femininity. After all, femininity is always a performance—no one is born knowing how to use makeup. Through exposure to the rituals like mascara application and leg shaving and accessorizing artfully, we figure out what it means to be “feminine.” We can choose to emulate or subvert femininity; either way, these rituals can become part of our witchcraft toolkit.

If paints and powders aren’t your thing, you can harness the power of glamours in plenty of gender-nonconforming ways. Consider these options.

Use your power colors.

Remember when you discovered which colors make you feel relaxed, or strong, or attractive? Those are by no means just for makeup. Incorporate the colors that evoke your preferred mood through a shirt, a tie, a pocket square, cool socks, a watchband, or even a semipermanent hair color.

Embrace the darkness.

Yes, you can wear all-black menswear without looking like an undertaker or a hit man. The key is to mix textures. Wear a blazer with a bit of sheen over a soft black sweater, or pair your suit with a vest, shirt, and/or tie that features a subtle black-on-black pattern. Match shiny black with matte black, smooth with textured.

Put the man in talisman.

Talismans don’t have to be girly jewelry. Anything portable that you can keep on your person is a potential talisman, except something that might get a lot of incidental use, such as a handkerchief. Try turning a solid accessory like a pocket watch, tie clip, key ring, or simple leather cuff into your holder of power.

Mix up your smellomancy.

Try channeling positive emotions into traditionally masculine fragrances like sandalwood, vetiver, and leather. Don’t wear cologne? A nicely scented body wash, deodorant, or shaving cream can store emotional power.

A SPELL TO

Reject Pressure to Be Feminine

As we’ve shown in this chapter, you can engage with the magic of self-care and self-presentation in plenty of ways without even dipping a toe in femininity. But given the strength of societal pressures to conform, you might want this extra boost.

Spread the newspaper over the work surface and place a sheet of paper on top. With the lipstick, write on the paper all the ways you’ve been pressured to express femininity. Include any hurtful things people have said to you for not being a girl or not being more girly. Don’t be dainty—scrawl. Make a mess. Press hard. (Don’t worry if you go off the edges of the paper. That’s what the newspaper is for.) Use the entire tube, but save the container. Then fold the paper seven times and bury it under a bush or tree, in a flowerpot, or, if necessary, among organic waste (such as vegetable peels) in your trash can. As the paper breaks down, those burdens will feed beauty—just not yours. Yours comes from somewhere else.

On the second sheet of paper, use the pen to write all the ways in which you want to be seen. List what makes you feel valuable, successful, attractive, and loved. Fold the paper three times, roll it into a tube, and slide it into the empty lipstick container. Sleep with the container under your pillow for three nights.

Lotions and Potions

Even if you’ve never picked up an eyeliner pencil and never will, you can tap into the power of glamours by helping your skin look its best. Try these makeup-free beauty rituals to feel more grounded, happy, protected, and at home in your body.

Sunscreen for protection

Apply sunscreen, or a sun-protecting moisturizer or BB cream, daily. Picture the sunscreen creating a bubble of safety, shielding you from casual damage or danger.

Sheet masks for transfiguration

Ordinary versions of these facial masks make the wearer look like a freaky ghost or mummy, but now you can get ones that are printed with the image of a panda, tiger, dragon, or even Cleopatra. Use them to soothe and moisturize your face while also getting in touch with your inner animal (or queen of ancient Egypt).

Moisturizer for manifestation

Hydrating lotion that has a pleasant scent is a treat for the senses, and using it is an excellent way to feel strong and secure in your body. Apply it slowly, taking time to appreciate every part of your body as both a source and receiver of appealing touch, looks, and fragrance. (A smooth lotion or oil works best; occlusives like Vaseline are too thick.)

Cleanser for tabula rasa

It sounds like a marketing campaign, but washing your face before bed truly can feel like rinsing away the stresses of the day. Cleansing your face doesn’t have to be a multistep process, with toner and serum and whatnot, but let it be a conscious, meditative experience of renewal, rather than a perfunctory habit you do on autopilot simply so you don’t get zits.

Shaving (or not shaving) for conviction

The question of whether women should remove hair, and how much, and from where, is a vexing one. The two of us can’t (and don’t want to) tell you that you must shave your armpits or wax your mustache, but we can’t (and don’t want to) tell you that you must not do it, either. Letting your body hair grow free could feel like the epitome of unruliness, like giving a little up-yours to a society that wants us polished and pristine. But perhaps the unruliest option of all is to throw away notions of what you “should” do and instead do whatever makes you feel best. That might mean removing hair, letting it grow, or removing it only from the places where you don’t like it. If you remove some, use the time you spend doing so as an opportunity to consciously reflect on how you want your body to look and feel. And if you don’t remove hair, take a moment every so often to revel in its lushness and texture. Appreciating your hair or smooth skin, rather than reacting to other people’s expectations, will allow you to feel the strength of your own beliefs glowing inside you.

When picking products, don’t be afraid to splurge; using fancy moisturizers or face masks containing ingredients like gold or pearl will allow you to envision yourself as valuable. No need to break the bank, though. Affordable, natural skincare products can root you in the nurturing power of the earth. Try the appropriately named witch hazel as toner, sweet almond oil as a face cleanser, grape seed extract to fight wrinkles, tea tree oil or grapefruit seed extract to treat acne, and coconut oil for literally anything (makeup remover, body moisturizer, hair mask). Consider decanting skin care products into beautiful witchy jars and bottles to transform your bathroom into an arcane apothecary.

A SPELL FOR

Self-Care

Find a quiet, safe place with no distractions. Close your eyes and envision the version of yourself that feels most handsome, beautiful, or vibrant—however you like to feel. This could be realistic or not; if you feel best as a lizard person in Renaissance garb, we won’t judge.

Picture your ideal self placing your hands together and a glow emanating from between them. Then, in your vision, open your hands and see that the glow surrounds a symbol, a simple combination of circles and lines. This symbol represents your ideal self.

Open your eyes, and draw the symbol you envisioned on your sticker. Affix the sticker to your bottle of moisturizer, sunscreen, or other product, imagining the glow you previously envisioned coming from your hands now permeating its contents.

Your product is now charged with the essence of whatever makes you feel strong and attractive. Every time you use it, picture that glow, and know that you’re invoking the power and protection of your ideal self. The spell will last until you finish the product.