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We’re getting into the deeper part of the darkness in the northern hemisphere. It’s October, the start of spooky season for some and the darkest parts of the year for others. This is a great time to begin working with the Shadow Self. The Shadow part of you that is hidden away and runs (or at least tries to run) the conscious mind. Since we’re coming into that darkness, I created a simple tarot spread to help connect to your Shadow. This spread uses four cards laid out in the shape of stairs, symbolic of the descent into your own darkness. The post What’s in the Darkness? || Shadow Work Tarot Spread + Free Printable! appeared first on Round the Cauldron.

As a neurodivergent person, I feel like there are things that I’m acutely aware of. I don’t know if these things also hold true for neurotypical people. I’m acutely aware of parasocial relationships and friendships in general. The post Ramblings on Neurodivergency and Online Relationships appeared first on Round the Cauldron.

For such a short book, Lugh is jam-packed with information any new seeker of Lugh would need. Morgan Daimler does a wonderful job sharing important information about the history of Lugh, His stories across different Celtic regions, and ways we as modern polytheists may connect with Him. I wanted to point out something I find very important. In the Author’s Note, Morgan Daimler makes it clear that she uses the Irish spelling whenever possible but that there was no standardized Irish spelling before the 20th century. This can make some names and words hard for an English speaker to grasp, but there is a pronunciation guide at the end of the book. The post Pagan Portals: Lugh || Book Review appeared first on Round the Cauldron.

Fire Lyte’s new book, The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft published by Simon and Schuster, is one of the better books on witchcraft that I have read in a very long time. In his book, Fire Lyte promises to deliver practical knowledge to help you build a better foundation in witchcraft whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been doing it for a while. In a book targeted at the average person with an interest in witchcraft, Fire Lyte manages to dispel many myths and misconceptions about witchcraft while offering different perspectives and food for thought. The post The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft || Book Review appeared first on Round the Cauldron.

Smoke is one of the easiest methods of cleansing a space. It’s also the method that is recommended most often. There’s something otherworldly about the curl of smoke from burning herbs in a cauldron or incense burner. But sometimes using smoke to cleanse a space isn’t the best method to use. That’s where these tips for smokeless cleansing will come in handy! When you can’t use smoke… In my house, there are people that have allergies, reactive airway issues, and other concerns that make smoke cleansing hazardous or impossible. Certain smokes, herbs, and fragrances can trigger respiratory issues but we also have several animals. I have a dog, a cat, two ferrets, and a snake. Sometimes smoke isn’t a good cleansing technique to use depending on the room that I’m in. I definitely don’t want to use smoke or any heavy fragrance in a space with animals or allergies. I don’t want to make anyone sick and I also don’t want to trigger the flight or fight response of the animals I have. If you don’t live at home (or even if you do), there may also be rules against using smoke and burning different objects, herbs, or even candles. It’s a good idea to have smokeless cleansing techniques and methods as a backup for those times when you just can’t use smoke or an open flame. Sound Cleansing Cleansing a space with sound is one of the easiest smokeless cleansing methods you can use. It requires nothing except for yourself, though you can add other elements into the ritual if you choose. You can use any method of creating sound, though the easiest is clapping. In my practice, if I’m going to cleanse a space with sound, I like to clap loudly in every corner of the room, moving from the entrance to the exit. Usually, this is from the door to the window, but feel free to change that up to suit your specific situation. Clapping helps to loosen up any stuck energy in those spaces, even ones that would be more difficult to get to. For example, clapping in a closet space or around a bookshelf can get those vibrations into spaces that smoke or other methods might have trouble with. The vibration from clapping, the movement through the air, and the sound itself help to loosen up that energy so that it makes it easier to get rid of it. So with cleansing a space with sound, you can add different elements of sound to this in order to make it more effective. If you did the clapping in the corners then you can turn around and start from the door or the corner of the room. You can also use different musical instruments like bells, triangles, or drums. I have even used my flute to play different songs or notes that I felt vibrated well to cleanse a space. If you don’t have a musical instrument and you don’t have a bell, bang on some pots and pans. Room Sprays Another smokeless cleansing method is using a room spray. A room spray is essentially a charged spray usually made with alcohol, water, and some type of herb or essential oil and it works in the same way that smoke cleansing would. You spray it around your room starting from top to bottom and as it goes down, it really captures and dissipates or transforms the energy that has been left in that room into a neutral energy. It really helps to dissipate and clear the area. Now you can make a room spray on your own if you choose to do so. The method is very simple but it’s going to depend on the ingredients that you are using. If you’re going to use essential oils, you want to have an emulsifier. This is usually going to be some type of alcohol, though many people have said using witch hazel is effective. In this instance, it is not. Please do your research and make sure that you’re creating your room spray safely. Some essential oils can’t be emulsified and mixed together like that and they should be used sparingly, especially if you have pets. If you’re going to use herbs, I definitely recommend using a dry herb instead of a fresh one unless you have some sort of preservative that you can add to your spray to keep it from molding and going rancid. If you want to make your own room spray, I definitely recommend giving it a go. You can find a lot of different room spray recipes online if you just Google “cleansing room spray”. For ethical reasons I cannot recommend that you use white sage. I’ve talked about white sage before and how its use can be problematic in the witchcraft and occult community. Use an herb that youcorrespond with cleansing if that’s your purpose. Juniper and rosemary are two of my go-to cleansing herbs. Room sprays are great for cleansing a space and they’re a good alternative if you still want that fragrance without having the smoke. Again just be mindful of other people or creatures in your home. Some essential oils and fragrancesare harmful to different animals and we don’t want to harm our furry or scaly friends just for the sake of cleansing a space when there are other options available to us. Just clean your house! Now the last one I want to mention here is by far the easiest and the most mundane. Just clean your house! Or your room or whatever the space is. Too often I see people jumping to the conclusion of “I need to cleanse the space! Let’s get out my herb bundles and my room sprays and my incense,” when they neglect the fact that maybe their desk is super cluttered or they have dishes and junk mail scattered all over their kitchen and they haven’t swept or mopped in months. You can combine witchcraft and magic with the mundane action of actually cleaning your space. I find this to be especially true for me. I do most of the cooking in my home and the kitchen really holds a lot of energy. If I go downstairs into my kitchen and the kitchen is a mess, I cannot cook anything without cleaning the kitchen first. When I wake up in the morning and I’m getting up and I’m getting ready and I get ready to tidy up my house, the kitchen is the first thing that I clean. It’s one of the places that I spend the most time. It’s one of the places that other people spend a lot of time in my house and it’s one of the places that, when people come home from work, they pass right through that space or they hang out there first. I can combine the act of wiping down the cabinets and the countertops with cleaning away anything that has been left there unbeknownst to other people. There are floor washes and window washes and door washes that are created for the specific purpose of cleansing spaces. It’s definitely okay to do these in the same vein as mopping your floor. I think it’s really important that we can effectively combine these two different processes. Clean your house but cleanse it too. Never forget that witchcraft is an intuitive practice and there is almost always more than one way of doing something. Cleansing a space is no different. Just because you can’t use smoke doesn’t mean you can’t cleanse a space. Smokeless cleansing is a simple and effective alternative when you can’t burn anything. What are your favorite smokeless cleansing methods? Let me know below! The post Smokeless Cleansing for your Home appeared first on Round the Cauldron.