The natural magick of the home-based Witch is uncomplicated and down-to-earth. There is wisdom and spirituality evoked by the very earth that we live on. Why not take that basic energy and direct it into your home? Applying the subject of natural magick to your home is a great opportunity to get in touch with your sense of enchantment and to link back into the tides of nature to celebrate the cycles of the earth, the moon, and the seasons.
You may call yourself a cunning man, wise woman, hedgewitch, kitchen-witch, garden witch, or maybe you think of yourself as a natural magician. Perhaps you don’t give yourself a title at all. A Witch’s inner power comes from connecting to the influence and secrecy of the natural world that surrounds their home, family, and life. Natural magick is elemental, quiet, and spontaneous.
Working with the influences of nature to boost the power and security of our homes is not a new idea. Author Scott Cunningham described a magickal home as being a “pool of protective energy” and “a shrine to the deity of life itself.” This is an elegant way of pointing out that your home is a sacred and influential magickal place. So now that you’ve wrapped your mind around this idea, what are you going to do about it? How can you apply this idea to your lifestyle in a natural and practical way?
If you are thinking Well, I just live in an apartment, I don’t have anything fancy, let me point out that it’s not about how much you spend or how fancy of a residence you live in—that matters not in the slightest. I am not expecting your home to look like a photoshoot for Better Pagan Homes and Gardens. Cottage witchery is about making magick with what you have or can acquire affordably.
Look at garage sales and flea markets for fun and charming decorative pieces. Watch for sales or make magickal and creative accessories yourself. Remember, natural and magickal décor and supplies do not have to be expensive. It is not about how much money you have or how big the place you call home is. That sense of welcome and practicality shows up in each of our homes, and that type of common sense is a magick unto itself.
The idea behind cottage witchery is to encourage folks to look at their homes in a new magickal way and to connect to a simpler time. No one is asking you to give up your computers or to start washing your laundry on a rock down at the creek. I am encouraging you to reconnect to the energies of the natural world—to cherish, celebrate, and then to direct these magickal forces into your homes and
everyday lives.
Go ahead and arrange a few sunflowers in an old glass canning jar and set it out on your table this summer. It will brighten up the whole room, just like magick.
This autumn arrange a few mini pumpkins and gourds on a shelf and scatter a handful of oak leaves around them to celebrate wisdom and the earth’s abundance during the harvest festivals.
How about setting a rustic basket of pine cones and pretty twigs that you gathered and arranged yourself on your hearth this winter? This would invoke an earthy type of enchantment, as the pine cones are symbols of fertility and the pine itself encourages prosperity. This is the essence of simple, affordable, and practical magick. Try looking at things from a natural magick perspective. Nature is beautiful. Imagine what fascinating energies you could incorporate into your life by bringing natural and rustic items into your home.
Cottage witchery is meant to inspire you to add a little old-time charm and down-to-earth magick into your everyday life. This book is filled with witchy ideas, all of them no-nonsense and easy to incorporate into your magickal lifestyle.