Tools of the Craft

One area of my home is dedicated as a workshop for magical experiments. Once I bought an antique armoire, painted and gilded it, and then consecrated its use for magic. It serves not only as a permanent altar, but also a very useful storage space for my ever-growing collection of magical materials and artifacts. Since so many people who have seen it wonder what all I’ve got in there, let me give you a peak inside. Items marked with an * will have further details at the bottom…

1. The Red Book of S et L – My personal book of shadows. Essentially the true Book of Faustus.*
2. Mortar and pestle
3. Charcoal
4. Railroad spikes*
5. Bundle of sage
6. Cauldron of Ogun*
7. Shamanic rattle
8. Fetish of Eleggua*  (I messed up and made two 8’s) 8. Deck prism
9. Assorted candles, figurine candle
10. Tarot
11. Herb jars *
12. Brick dust
13. Chicken foot charm
14. Book of Sigils*
15. Hawaiian Baby Woodrose seeds
16. Resin incenses
17. Pipe
18. Palo Santo
19. Perfume vials
20. Witches’ Flying Ointment (by Sarah Anne Lawless)
21. Morning Glory seeds
22. Cone incense
23. Sacred jewelry, kept in a clay pot I made
24. Vision potion herbal blend
25. (Located underneath 26) Packets of baneful plant seeds. Henbane, atropa belladonna, cinquefoil and others.
26. Hot plate for burning vessels

The altar level, which I decided not to release full photos of, contains many other items including the orisha Osun, ceremonial tools of the Golden Dawn, active spells, mojo bags, offerings, bells, wands and everything else.

Any magic mirror of mine needs to be fancy as fuck.

A proper cauldron. Not just for cooking but also for large potion batches–ayahuasca comes to mind…

Gays and their disposable income, what can I say?

***

1: One of my most prized possessions, The Red Book contains a record of my most interesting magical experiments, frequently used spells and ceremonies, correspondences, and spiritual writings. It is of course for my eyes only. Our coven has a separate Book of Shadows for common use.

4, 6, & 8: These Santeria/Yoruba items came to me purely by chance. When I used to work at a homeless shelter, people would come by with donations of all kinds. Sometimes they were useful things, sometimes they just wanted a place to drop their junk. One day a donation came in that was an old box full of strange objects that no one wanted to touch. When I opened the box, here was this head figurine, an iron cauldron, railroad spikes, a metal rooster, and another mysterious box with small animal bones, dust and a written spell. All these items were covered in grease and looked well used. Since fate determined that they would show up on my desk, I decided to take them home and maintain their dignified presence, rather than see them be thrown away.

11: About a dozen herbs are nicely bottled up off-camera here. They include things like wild lettuce, mugwort, damiana, High John, salvia divinorum, foxglove, rose petals, and others.

14: Similar to The Red Book, the less formal Sigil Book is a worksheet for sigil making and destroying. Some sigil drafts remain although their meanings are mostly forgotten by me when I look back. It is mainly a nostalgia piece.