The Dormant Witch Awakening...
… when their life is falling apart. If you are in such a position, here is some advice.
Reading time: ca. 7 minutes
This blog was inspired by a video/Instagram reel by Kelly-Ann Maddox (see footnote 1) in which she talks about the „dormant witch“ – people who turn to their witchhood for the first time when their back is against the wall, as Kelly-Ann describes it. When their life is falling apart, they are in a dangerous living situation (for instance because of domestic abuse), or are facing another serious problem or conflict.
Kelly-Ann gives the following advice: If you come across somebody in a dire situation who has no experience yet in witchcraft and asks for help (with regards to a binding, a banishing spell or a hex, or something similar), don’t tell this person, „You cannot do that, you are not a witch“. Rather give them information about safety measures while doing such a spell (for instance a protection spell before the banishing) or if you know witches who do spells on commission and you can recommend them, that would be another possibility, according to Kelly-Ann.
That got me thinking what tips I would give a witch in this situation. And here is my blog post about that.
Safety First
Mundane Safety is key.
If you are in a life-threatening situation, run. No magic will get you out of there, especially if you are inexperienced. Call the cops, if necessary. Stay with a friend or a sibling, if that is possible and recommendable. Depending on the situation and also your mental health, do everything you can to stay safe and sound. Ask for mundane help and support, if necessary.
It’s hard to do magic in the middle of an intense fight or another high-tension situation. Even an experienced witch would have trouble with that. If you want to do a spell, make sure you are undisturbed for at least 15 minutes if it’s possible. Maybe you have to get up at night for that when the kids and your partner are asleep. Maybe you have to wait until your flat mate leaves the flat. Maybe your lunch break at work is the only option or another situation where you can be alone. You might want to create a mobile altar for this (2). Do never attempt to do a spell while you are driving in your car – energy which gets moved by magic often acts unpredictably, so it might affect your driving.
Some basics
Body Scan Exercise
Before doing a spell, it’s good to do a body scan. There are several resources online for this, for instance this 9 minute video by Therapy in A Nutshell:
Grounding
After you have done a spell, best do a grounding exercise. This doesn’t have to take long. See what best fits your situation and possibilities.
There are plenty of different ways to do a grounding exercise. The renowned witch Rachel Patterson has written a blog with some advice about this:
https://www.rachelpatterson.co.uk/single-post/getting-grounded
Hiding your magical workings in plain sight
For most folks in the mainstream culture, a few things are well established, for instance because of the wellness industry. Maybe you can light candles or incense sticks (please don’t use White Sage or Palo Santo, I have written about this here (3)) And I guess you have plenty of ingredients in your pantry already which can be easily used for witchcraft, for instance dried herbs, pepper, chili peppers and of course, plain salt. For magic, there are all sorts of fancy salts available, but plain salt will do the trick as well. Salt is very powerful, no matter of it’s specific structure or colour. You can also consecrate a piece of jewelry or several of them in secret (4), so that they will empower you any time you wear them.
You can even use your shower or bath tub for magic. Here is an easy example: Let your self soak in the warm water with some dried rosemary and salt, both are great for protection.
However, if you cannot gather ingredients for spells or if it would look suspicious for your abusive family, partner or another person who is threatening you, if you would set aside time for you alone in a room - here is a different method for which you do not need any ingredients, crystals etc.
All you need is some time when you do not get disturbed. You could even do it at night, pretending you are sleeping.
I call this „Magic in your Mind“ and I haven’t invented that, several witches use it from time to time or often - in footnote (5) I have linked the blog post where I explain this method.
If reading non-fiction books is accessible for you:
If you are thinking about baneful magic – bindings, hexings, banishings, there is a book I can highly recommend: „Hex Twisting: Counter-magick Spells for the Irritated Witch” by Diana Rajchel.
However, maybe your situation is so urgent that you don’t have time to read a whole book, so here are some easy-to-do spells. I hope they might fit your situation. Feel free to adapt them as you see fit. Use your intuition.
Let’s get to the Spellwork
A Protection Spell – Spell Bottle for Protection
I found this easy protection spell by Daniel of Santuário Lunar (Moon Shrine) from Brazil online a few years ago, tried it and it worked well. It is specifically a spell meaning to protect you against an enemy (even if that enemy is your neighbour, in a relationship with you or is related to you):
https://www.santuariolunar.com.br/en/protection-spells-against-enemies/
The spell in a YouTube video:
Start with a body scan, then do the protection spell. After the spellwork, do a grounding exercise.
Store the glass in a hidden place in your home for as long as you need it.
Please note that Daniel’s spells are for free, as he states on his website, do never use them commercially.
Banishing
Easy banishing spell, suitable for beginners and leaving no trace behind:
Start with a body scan exercise. Then, when you are ready, write a person’s name, a situation or another thing which you want to banish from your life on a simple piece of paper. Say something with conviction and intent about whom or what you want to banish from your life. If you like rhymes and they come easily to you in your mind, feel free to rhyme, but this isn’t necessary. Then rip the paper into smaller pieces and burn all of these in a fireproof container.
The energy of the fire element takes care of the negative energy, banishing the respective person/thing/situation from your life.
If you do not own a fireproof container, use this method:
Write the person, situation or another thing on a piece of toilet paper. Say something about whom or what you want to banish (with rhymes or not). Then flush the paper down the toilet.
The energy of the water element will take care of the problem, washing it away.
Afterwards, do a grounding exercise to get fully back into your everyday life.
Please note: It may take a while for this spell to work, so be patient, if you can. And of course, also do anything on a mundane level, to improve your situation or get rid of the problem.
Bindings
Binding spells can help to disable people from doing harmful things, thus making them incapable of action.
Easy Binding Spell, suitable for beginners.
Start with a body scan exercise. Then, when you are ready to do the working, take a photo of the harmful person and print it out, so that you have it on paper (You can also prepare this beforehand.)
If this is not possible for you, you can either write down the person’s name on a piece of paper, or carve the name into a candle. The candle could be shaped like a person, but you can also use a conventional candle.
Take yarn and wrap it either around the photo, the piece of paper or the candle.
Say out loud with conviction and intent, what you want to bind, for instance that the abusive person shall be unable to continue with the abuse. You can say this in rhymes or without rhymes.
If you use a candle, let it burn for a while, but make sure that the yarn doesn’t catch fire (you can move it down the candle for this.) Then extinguish the candle.
Afterwards, do a grounding exercise to get back into the „here and now“.
Repeat this spell as often as it is needed, and let the candle burn down further in the process. And again, take caution about the yarn and the flame of the candle.
Please note: It may take a while for this spell to work, so be patient, if you can. And also do anything on a mundane level, to improve your situation or get rid of the problem.
Hexing
Hexing is basically a form of destructive magic with which you cast harmful things on somebody. There is a lot of debate about if witches should at all use destructive magic. In Wicca, the Threefold Law or „Rule of Three“ is advocating against this (6). But not all witches are Wiccans.
In the „love and light only“ spiritual crowd, destructive magic is also seen as something bad or even „evil“.
However, we have to differentiate: If I do a hexing against a deeply abusive, violent or even murderous person or against somebody who treats basic human rights like shit, I do this for the greater good (or to get out of a lifethreatening situatuon because of the abuse). In other words: If you cast harmful things on a harmful person, you might help yourself or others who are affected by the harmful behaviour of that person.
However, a hexing is less severe than a curse and rather temporary, whereas curses can affect whole families and last for years or even decades. As you can guess, I cannot recommend casting curses for beginner witches, so let’s instead think about hexes.
You are unsure if you feel confident or able enough to perform a hexing on your own? But you also don’t have the financial means to comission an experienced witch who offers to do hexes on their client’s behalf? In this case, here is another suggestion. Sidney Eileen has written a good blog about calling the Fates to hex. Thus, you can ask the Fates to do the heavy lifting for you, so to speak, which may be good as you are not yet experienced in witchcraft. (7)
If your hexing is meant against Nazis, white supremacists, right wing extremists and fascists, here is a spell suggestion for you, which I have been inspired to write some years ago after reading Sidney’s blog post. It’s called: Calling the Fates to Hex Nazis. (8)
If you feel that you can a hex on your own, here is an easy-to-do one which is beginner friendly.
All Purpose Hexing
You need: a black candle. (If this would cause suspicion by harmful people, use a plain white one instead).
Start with a body scan exercise. Then, when you are ready, light the black or white candle.
Look steadily into the flame and say with conviction and intention all the harmful things which you wish for the harmful person. Please choose your words carefully.
Please note: Better not wish for the death of the person, this would go too far in most circumstances.
Here are some suggestions what you could say (X is the harmful person).
I wish X to lose their current job and not harm me anymore at my workplace!
I hex X to get relocated to another branch of our company, in a city far away.
I hex X to become ill, so that they can no longer harm my loved ones!
I wish that X has an accident which doesn’t cause them to die, but to spend quite some time at the hospital.
I hereby hex X, may they lose the vote!
I hex X to lose their home.
I hex X to have all sorts of trouble which distracts them from me.
I hex X to forget about me and never contact me again (in addition, block the person everywhere where possible)
Say all sentences that you want to say three times. End the hexing with these words: This is my hexing, so it must be!
Feel into the moment, into the magic starting its work, and visualise your goal. If you cannot visualise, for instance because of aphantasia, tell your goal to yourself as if you wanted to tell yourself a story, for instance like this:
I can see how X gets fired from their current job – they have a heated argument with our boss, so loud that the whole office hears it, including me. But still, they get fired and have to clean out their desk. I feel very relieved because from now on, I am not going to see X ever again!
When you have done this, extinguish the candle and do a grounding exercise to close this working.
I hope this blog post helps you and can empower you. Feel free to share it with others if you feel like they might need it. I wish you well.
Follow recommendation Kelly-Ann Maddox
Kelly-Ann’s website: https://www.kelly-annmaddox.com/
Kelly-Ann’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@kelly-annmaddox/
Kelly-Ann on Substack:
Kelly-Ann on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kellyann_maddox/
Footnotes
(1) Kelly-Ann’s Instagram reel:
The short video on YouTube
(2) see: Tipps for Witches in the broom closet
https://cavorta.substack.com/p/tipps-for-witches-in-the-broom-closet
(3) About Palo Santo and White Sage https://cavorta.substack.com/p/white-sage-palo-santo-and-the-problem
(4) see also: Jewelry for Witches in the broom closet
https://cavorta.substack.com/p/jewelry-for-pagan-witches-in-the
(5) Magic in your mind:
https://cavorta.substack.com/p/magic-in-your-mind
(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_Three_(Wicca)
(7) Calling the Fates to Hex by Sidney Eileen: https://sidneyeileen.com/2019/11/12/calling-the-fates-to-hex/
(7) Calling the Fates to Hex Nazis
https://cavorta.substack.com/p/calling-the-fate-to-hex-nazis