In this installment of Practical Magic, Lisa Stardust guides you on how to relax with a witchs guide to calm. Always remember that magic is for believers, but this column can also simply serve as a guide to getting in touch with yourself magically or not. The below is not medical advice. If you have health concerns, please contact your primary care provider.
Healing is important. It helps us grow and become more calm as we release negative emotions. It can also improve how you practice magic a clear mind and healthy spirit are essential to cast your best spells. Right now theres a lot of anxiety in the air, and its impacting each of us differently. We know it can be tough to remember how to relax, especially during tough times. To help you cleanse your mind and keep your magic focused, we gathered some tips on how you can chill out during these wild times. Plus, reducing your stress can help your physical health, tooa top priority right now. So, whether you use this to boost your magic or just to relax, heres your witchs guide to calm.
Ever hear the phrase, thoughts become things? This expression rings true in the magical community, too. Visualization is the practice of meditating or thinking about a particular situation, person, goal, or object. Through visualization, we can begin to harness our desires in bringing the idea to life. We see a ton of images daily and our brain processes all that information, which can lead to overload and the inability to see clearly. By meditating on our objectives daily, we can understand what our heart truly wants and create our visions into reality. Often, we realize (through visualization) that our hearts crave something other than what we initially thought. Opening up the mind to new possibilities will bring forth our innermost dreams and help us obtain them. As a result, we will feel calm and ready to take on the world because we are living and moving towards our personal truth.
You might try visualizing yourself at peace with your surroundings, or visualize yourself post-isolation being happy with your friends. While visualization wont make the pandemic stop sooner, you might feel happy remembering that there is life on the other side.
Dont underestimate the power of scent.
Essences can help us access our own strength and align with our inner self. Aromatherapy allows us to feel grounded within our personal spaces and at peace within our bodies. Not only that, but certain aromatherapy might help improve sleep and ease anxiety. Burning a scented candle, adding a few drops of skin-safe oils in a bath, or wearing essential floral oils (such as rose oil for self-love or lavender oil for relaxation) can help us feel more attuned to nature and feel more calm. Also, smelling fresh citrus fruits such as lemons, limes, grapefruits, and oranges can flip our bad moods, by adding positivity and reducing stress.
Water can help us heal and relax. Throughout history, witches have used bath magic as a way to cleanse, destress, and chill out. Taking a bath at least two times a week can change our overall vibe. Meaning, we can emerge from the tub feeling reborn. Adding certain things like herbs or salts can help you relax and focus on your intention. When doing bath magic, its important to have an objective in mind. Meditating on the specific intention can bring it to life. Also, putting flower petals (fresh or dried), essential oils, fruit peels, herbs, and spices into the bath can help bring our goals to fruition.
Herbs and spices can boost our vibe. By ingesting certain spices and herbs, through food magic, we can change our mental energy. Making tea with chamomile (for serenity), cinnamon (for love), and cloves or nettle (for protection) can help to magically spruce up our emotions. Eating the following foods can help us decompress: onions can mend the past, poppy seeds are good for healing emotional trauma, eating artichokes can be an assist in self-love, and chives are a source of protection. Apples, strawberries, oranges, bananas, honey, and chocolate are some foods that can magically bring healing energy and self-acceptance to the forefront of our hearts.
Listening to music can help us change our mentality and refocus and negative vibes. Sound therapy is proven to lower stress and help you sleep sleep. Connect to the vibrations of music through tuning forks (this sound is good for releasing emotions), gongs (they make our body and mind feel connected as one), singing bowls or a sound bath (this radiates a vibration from a crystal bowl that promotes healing), and Solfeggio Frequencies (which is music set at different pitches to help with fear, change, and to awaken our intuition).
Placing a crystal on our chakras (power spots on our bodies) can alleviate stress, boost creativity, and bring clarity to our emotions. Crystals can act as a channel for healing by bringing the positive energy flow into our bodies, by releasing negativity. Amethyst is a great crystal to place on the crown chakra because it aids in spiritual healing and transformation. Use Black Obsidian on the third eye chakra to cleanse and find balance. Aquamarine is a great crystal for communication and speaking truths, which is why its perfect for our throat chakra. Placing Rose Quartz on the heart chakra can alleviate heartbreak by opening us up to new possibilities and self-love. Citrine clears away anxiety negative energy, if placed on the solar plexus chakra. Moonstone channels our inner inspiration if placed on the sacral chakra. Tigers Eye can empower and propel us to success, which is why its ideal for the root chakra.
