Witchery: Embrace the Witch Within - Juliet Diaz 2019
Unleash Your Power
Root Work
It’s never too late to unleash your Magickal power. It lives within the Witch that’s inside each and every one of us, whatever our color, race, gender, religion, career, opinions, or aesthetic — regardless of any one thing at all. A Witch is an embodiment of self that breathes fire through your spine. Embracing your inner Witch will unleash your Magickal power.
Unleashing your power starts the moment you believe you’re powerful. Key to discovering your truth is understanding who you are and who you are not. You must be willing to dive into the depths, to shed all the layers of falsities, and to meet your unveiled self. You’ll experience pain and discover brutal truths as you face the being behind the shadows, but also healing, self-love, and forgiveness. It’s a beautifully painful, blessed unraveling, and once you discover that truth, your power can no longer be hidden or contained.
It hurts my soul knowing that Witches were once forced into a suppressed mindset in order to keep their power hidden. Our innate power was turned into something to fear, something to be ashamed of, and a mockery. We were beaten, tortured, and burnt. It’s with grave importance that we take back our power and stop the friction between body and soul by lubricating ourselves with our Magick.
So don’t keep your power hidden or imprisoned any longer. You’re needed. You’re important to the evolution of consciousness. And know that you’re never alone — you’ll always have ancestors who walk alongside you and guide you.
There are three vital steps to unleashing your Magickal power: let go of your ghosts, connect with our Mother, and live your most authentic life.
Let go of your ghosts
We have each been scarred by emotions, events, and other situations. These scars haunt us like ghosts, each one sapping our light, dimming our Magickal power. They’re all a burden to your potential. Hanging on to pain, resentment, anger, and fear will keep you from embodying your authentic self, your truth, in all its brilliance. So let go of those pieces of your past that don’t serve you. Free yourself from your own haunting. Learn to accept who you are, as you are, and love yourself unapologetically.
Bath spell for banishing the ghosts within
I have found this spell to be beneficial for major transitions, including the expulsion of ghosts from the past. It not only releases you from unwanted energies, but also blesses your new journey ahead. You can use this spell whenever you feel like you need alignment and clarity too. Perform it only when the lunar cycle has reached a Full Moon. The time of day is up to you.
Step 1: Create a potion for banishing negative energy
What you need
1 cup (250ml) cold water
1 tablespoon honey
1 lemon slice
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 pinch salt
1 pinch dried basil or star anise powder, or 1 whole star anise
1 sprig rosemary
1 bay leaf
What to do
✵ Add all the ingredients to the water and stir for 1—2 minutes.
Step 2: Perform the spell
What you need
For cleansing: dried herbs (choose from cedar, mugwort, rosemary, sweetgrass, or bay leaf), either loose or in a bundle; or incense (choose from palo santo, copal, frankincense, or myrrh)
For the bath: the potion you made in Step 1
An essential oil you find relaxing, such as lemon balm, hyssop, frankincense, bergamot, or lavender
2—3 handfuls fresh petals from any sort of flower
1 cup (300g) Himalayan or sea salt
½ cup (50g) one or two dried herbs — choose from rosemary, basil, fennel, or rue
A white candle
Crystals (optional) that help with release, such as smoky quartz, or that encourage love and healing, such as rose quartz
What to do
✵ Use the smoke of your dried herbs or incense to cleanse the bathroom, your tools, and yourself.
✵ Fill the bath at your preferred temperature, then add the potion you made in Step 1, plus 4—6 drops of your chosen essential oil, the petals, the salt, and your chosen bath herbs. (I like to really pull out the herbs’ properties by boiling them in water for about 10 minutes, then adding this infusion once cooled.)
✵ Place your candle and crystals around the bathtub, then dim or turn off the bathroom lights.
✵ Hold the candle, unlit, close to your chest, close your eyes, and take three deep breaths. Connect your energy to the candle. Feel the warmth from your hands enter the candle and envision an amber light in and around it. Then say the following: ’Amber light from within my soul, enter this candle and take hold. Release me from the things that have bound me to a self that isn’t true. Leave me be as I am meant to be — light so bright, the self that’s right.’ Adapt these words if you like.
✵ Now place the candle somewhere in the bathroom, light it, and keep it burning until you’ve finished the spell.
✵ Kneel by the bathtub and thank the water for the healing it will bless you with, then say a gentle goodbye to your old self.
✵ Step into the bath and dwell in its healing waters for as long as you like. (If you have your period, don’t worry — this will actually amplify the Magick, and you’ll be showering at the end of the spell in any case.) Close your eyes, be still, and think of the things you want to let go until you feel them lift out of you. Face the emotions attached to each one and allow yourself to feel them, then release them. Don’t hold back: if you feel the need to scream, go ahead — let it all go!
✵ Once you feel you’ve finished, drain the bath, retaining as many as possible of the herbs and flowers.
✵ Once the water has drained, take a cold shower for just a couple of minutes. Try not to stress about the cold — Witch up! You got this! As you wash your body, picture the water filling you with light.
✵ You need to hydrate and relax after a release like this so drink some water and take time out. Also, avoid using any technology.
✵ As soon as is convenient, discard the leftover herbs and flowers at a crossroads or anywhere facing east, preferably on dirt for Mother Earth to take away.
Connect with our Mother
Earth is our Mother: she gives life and she nurtures. She is a womb from which we’re all her children. Connecting with Mother Earth doesn’t mean you have to love hiking or lounging among mosquitoes. It simply means connecting your energies with the Earth’s. Knowing how each season affects you is vital to your Magickal power; you can even amplify your Magickal power by using the energies of the current season, other annual cycles and astrological events (see The Seasons of the Witch). This is why the fragility of our Mother isn’t to be taken lightly: Witches have a harmonious exchange with the Earth that feeds our Magick and gives it back to her, so we need to care for our Mother, be close to her, and never abuse her.
Live your most authentic life
Living your most authentic life means living a life in which you show up as all that you are, with full control of your entire self. Think about it: who are you really? What do you like, love, and dislike? What makes you happy? What upsets you? What are your passions and dreams? Who is the true soul within the flesh? Have you met yourself unveiled? Only when you live and breathe your truth will you embody your true potential and greatest Magickal power. Living your truth doesn’t mean you have to come out of the broom closet, however. You don’t need to tell others what you do or practice, if you don’t want to. Being a practicing Witch isn’t about the show, it’s about embracing the Witch within.
I believe we can live purposefully and fully by allowing our Magick to work for us. Take control of your life and weave it into whatever dreams you hold. Embrace your self and emotions without shame and make yourself a priority. Know that you’re capable of changing the course of your own life, that you’re infinitely Magickal and that nothing and no one can take that away from you.
Ritual for reclaiming your Magickal power
This ritual aims to release you from anything that has taken your power, such as a painful experience, or anyone who has, such as a bully. In order to amplify your power you need to release what doesn’t serve you and let it go.
Take your time with this ritual. Take a break if you want to, or stop the ritual completely — especially if you feel anything other than empowered by it or you find the ritual overwhelming.
It can be performed at any time and as many times as you like to bring you back to your power.
What you need
Dried herbs — choose from rue, yerba santa, or cedar — either loose or in a bundle; or incense — choose from frankincense, myrrh, or palo santo
3 candles, preferably white
A small bowl of salt
A bowl of water
What to do
✵ Find a quiet place to perform the ritual then cleanse the space and yourself with the dried herbs or incense. You can also burn these, or resin, to create a soothing environment. Sit on the floor or at a table and set one candle to your left, one to your right, and one directly in front of you. Light the candles then place the bowl of salt on the left, and the bowl of water on the right. Close your eyes for a moment, clear your mind, and take three deep breaths. Allow your body to relax and release all fears, worries, and noise from within. This is now your sacred space, full of light and comforting healing energies from Mother Earth. Allow her Elements — earth, air, fire, and water — to surround you and to envelop you with love.
✵ When you’re ready, take a pinch of salt and sprinkle it into the water as you say aloud, or in your head, the name of the event, person, or situation from which you’re reclaiming your Magickal power. For example, ’I reclaim my power from my friend [name], who constantly belittles me: “I take my power back from you.”’ Repeat these words as often as you need to until you feel release and a sense of calm comes over you.
✵ Now sit in stillness for a moment. Feel your energy vibrating with Magick and free of unnecessary weight. Blow out the candles from left to right then take the bowl of salty water and empty it into the Earth at the base of a tree, or in a river or stream that flows away from where you live, or at a crossroads.
Another method that works wonderfully in taking back your power, whether from those who have hurt you or from negative experiences you’ve inflicted upon yourself, is to write letters — though they’re not for sending. Healing letters, as I call them, are for your own spiritual cleansing and will allow you to move forward in life. Not only has writing such letters helped me and hundreds of my clients, it’s been proven to work in the healing process. The letter will allow you to forgive the ghosts living within and to let them go; you’ll then be free of them.
Ritual for writing a healing letter
The point is to get all your raw emotions onto that paper to release everything that haunts you so you can take back your power. Proper grammar and spelling don’t matter, and you don’t need to reread or edit what you’ve written. This letter is for you and for your eyes only. Take a break if you need to, but stop if writing down your emotions and thoughts makes you feel worse, not better — this ritual may not be for you.
What you need
A good supply of writing paper
A pen
What to do
✵ Find a quiet space where you’re free from distractions and interruptions. Write the name of the person or a short description of the situation that has hurt you; this can include yourself, for causing pain with self-neglect or addiction for instance. If you don’t remember any names, make them up. Now start writing to this person or event — and don’t hold back! Write whatever comes into your mind, even if it doesn’t make sense. You might tell this person or event how they made you feel, or you might tell them something you’ve always wanted to say but haven’t. For example, ’To Steven, what you did to me is unforgivable. You were supposed to care for me and instead you hurt me and created monsters in my life. I forgive you, so that I may free myself from you.’
✵ What you write is up to you. Allow yourself to cry and scream through your writing (but keep breathing deeply to help yourself stay focused). Releasing a ghost isn’t easy; it can be agonizing. This is a time to be brutally honest about self.
✵ When you’ve finished writing, place your hand on the page you’ve finished. Now close your eyes, take a deep breath, and slowly count aloud to 20. With each count, feel the energy of the ghost rising from within then leaving you. Envision this energy as black smoke and watch it leave your body and disappear into the wind.
✵ Once you reach 20, take another deep breath and be still for a moment. Allow yourself to go through the emotions that rose up as you wrote the letter and be still until they calm. Repeat three times: ’I take back my power from you,’ then open your eyes.
✵ Now put the pages together and fold them in half (do the same if you’ve used a single page). Lick your thumb and press it onto the top, or sole, page while saying, ’I vow to release you, ghost, and to never allow you back in. I will never give you my power.’ Using a part of yourself — such as your saliva from licking your thumb — amplifies any Magickal workings. Instead of moistening my thumb by licking it, I choose to wet it with a drop of my menstrual blood; or you can spit into a cup of water, add a pinch of salt, and use that. Do whatever feels most comfortable for you.
✵ Stow the pages of your letter in this book or in a journal. Keeping them represents your choice to take back your power and adds to the positives manifesting in your life. Alternatively, you can choose to burn the letters as an act of banishing, then scatter the ashes onto the earth or into a stream or river.