A Writing Spell: Honoring Your Many Selves

BY LISA MARIE BASILE

Trauma, pain, or the tides of life can blur time. When we have a hard time reconciling our past and present, it can feel like we are perpetually moving between memories, like we are chasing the ghost of who we used to be — or like we are perpetually looking ahead and never finding presence.

At times it feels like we can spot a way, a path out, a sense of the future — but we are often tethered to the past, living as who we used to be, unable to move forward. I have struggled to let go of or integrate the younger me into who I am now. There are parts that I need to say goodbye to and parts that I should carry with me — but it takes time and self-compassion and energy to work through this.

And sometimes, when we are so focused on past pain or shame — or so focused on tomorrow, we forget to honor what today is all about. What right now feels like.

In this writing-based, accessible ritual you will work with your many selves, to take a moment to be in tune with the past and the present, and the future. To give each self some space, a pause, a breath, and a moment of prayer and hope. To see your many layers. And to find some perspective.

A ritual of selves is a candle magic writing practice that requires three candles, a few pieces of paper, (as small as your hand), and some string (cut into inch-long strings).

A note

What you release, honor, and call forth is up to you. You can release, for example, shame. You can honor resilience, and you can call forth creativity. What you meditate on can be material or emotional.

Be thoughtful. Work within a realm of possibility. Acknowledge that intention must be nurtured by action and intention. If you’re interested, I write a lot about working with realistic and intersectional manifestations in my book, The Magical Writing Grimoire.

Your candles may be any color that speaks to you. I often correspond color to energy or idea (like yellow for creativity, purple for spiritual power, pink for love and healing, and green for opportunity).

Settle your thoughts & think about your past, present, and future.

Before everything, sit quietly in your space and think on something from your past that you’d like to say goodbye to, something in your present you’d like to acknowledge and honor, and something you’d like to call forth for your future.

Working with the past

Light the first candle with intention as you think of what you release.

Speak: "with this light of the past,

I release ___"

Write onto your paper what you release in whatever words you'd like. Scroll the paper, and tie the scroll around the bottom of the candle. Let it burn.

Working with the present

Light the 2nd candle with intention as you think of what you honor about your current life.

Speak: "with this light of the present,

I honor ___"

Write onto your paper what you honor in whatever words you'd like. Scroll the paper, and tie the scroll around the bottom of the candle. Let it burn.

Working with the future

Light the 3rd candle with intention as you think of what you are calling forth

Speak: "with this light of the future,

I manifest ___"

Write onto your paper what you want. Write this in the present tense as if you have it already. Scroll the paper, and tie the scroll around the bottom of the candle. Let it burn.

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Lisa Marie Basile (she/her) is a poet, essayist, editor, and chronic illness awareness advocate living in New York City. She's the founder and creative director of Luna Luna Magazine and its online community, and the creator of Ritual Poetica, a curiosity project dedicated to exploring the intersection of writing, creativity, healing, & sacredness.

She is the author of THE MAGICAL WRITING GRIMOIRE, LIGHT MAGIC FOR DARK TIMES, and a few poetry collections, including the recent NYMPHOLEPSY, which is excerpted in Best American Experimental Writing 2020. Her essays and other work can be found in The New York Times, Narratively, Sabat Magazine, We Are Grimoire, Witch Craft Magazine, Refinery 29, Self, Healthline, Entropy, On Loan From The Cosmos, Chakrubs, Catapult, Bust, Bustle, and more. She is also a chronic illness advocate, keeping columns at several chronic illness patient websites. She earned a Masters's degree in Writing from The New School and studied literature and psychology as an undergraduate at Pace University. You can follow her at lisamariebasile.

An 11-Line Poetry Spell For Healing

BY LISA MARIE BASILE

This is a writing ritual that includes an 11-line spell-poem recipe (which you will write) and a meditation. The goal? Tending to the wound.

In this healing spell poem (which functions as both a method of shadow working and as a spell, as it is your will and emotion which powers it) you will acknowledge the wound — whatever that wound might be; it could be today’s anxiety or yesterday’s lingering fear. It could be physical or immaterial. Self-honesty is key

You will also write the medicine.

I believe we all hold some form of medicine, or the key, within ourselves. Perhaps the medicine is external — systemic change, a new world? It’s okay to write to that, too. It’s okay to want big, beautiful, powerful global change just as much as it’s okay to write toward the practical or the mundane, or the small ways we forge ahead in our own healing.

I invite you to tend to the wound with me. I’ve done this a few times and each time it carries the potential to be transformative. It is simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy.

As with all of my prompts (many of which are over at my Instagram account @Ritual_Poetica), I recommend that you make sure you’re in a safe, supportive environment while working through this. Maybe that means grounding in a space that feels safe and light and having someone to talk to if you need support.

If you’d like more ideas about that, my book, The Magical Writing Grimoire, goes into detail on how to create a sacred and safe writing environment.

The Pre-Writing Meditation

Become soft. Let your heart bloom. Sigh wholly, loose and beautiful. Shut the door to fear, or listen to what the fear has to say. Walk into the room of Self, that great gilded palace. Feel the waters of truth cleanse your feet, your hands, your softness. Stand before the mirror and stare into your wound. Meet it with grace and compassion. The scars soften. The tissue expands to be held and to hold you. This is the kingdom of the heart.

What does it feel like to acknowledge the wound?

This is the time to write.

The writing practice: A healing spell poem for tending to the wound — in 11 lines

• First, describe the wound in five lines. What are its colors, shapes, moods? Is it blue, & is it frightening? Is it bone-tired? Is it the beast of poverty, of loneliness, of blood?

• Next, describe the medicine in five lines. Is it sunlight on the lake? Is it a burial? A refusal? An acceptance? A new home? A medication? Your voice? This is up to you. You know intuitively what heals you.

• Finally, write your last line; this is when you cast your spell. It's what you tell the ocean about your pain. It's your greatest hope. It's your belief in self, in relief, in healing. give this everything you have.

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Lisa Marie Basile (she/her) is a poet, essayist, editor, and chronic illness awareness advocate living in New York City. She's the founder and creative director of Luna Luna Magazine and its online community, and the creator of Ritual Poetica, a curiosity project dedicated to exploring the intersection of writing, creativity, healing, & sacredness.

She is the author of THE MAGICAL WRITING GRIMOIRE, LIGHT MAGIC FOR DARK TIMES, and a few poetry collections, including the recent NYMPHOLEPSY, which is excerpted in Best American Experimental Writing 2020. Her essays and other work can be found in The New York Times, Narratively, Sabat Magazine, We Are Grimoire, Witch Craft Magazine, Refinery 29, Self, Healthline, Entropy, On Loan From The Cosmos, Chakrubs, Catapult, Bust, Bustle, and more. She is also a chronic illness advocate, keeping columns at several chronic illness patient websites. She earned a Masters's degree in Writing from The New School and studied literature and psychology as an undergraduate at Pace University. You can follow her at lisamariebasile.

How to Create an Altar for Self-Care & Intention Setting

BY LISA MARIE BASILE

If you keep an altar in your home, it may be a place where you naturally gravitate after work to ground yourself and get all that commute-work-capitalism off of you. It might be a place where you do spellwork. Or it might not be an altar for spellcraft at all; it may simply exist as a place where you keep symbols—reminders—of your strength, vision, and creativity, especially if feeling strong or wise or creative or happy isn't always easy (and when is it?).

Create an alter of Self; look into it, know it, craft it. This is a goofy picture of me at my 32nd birthday party. I am asking that my 32nd year be stronger and wiser than my 31st. We can't change the fact that life doles out miseries and pain and endings. But we can resolve to handle these darknesses in ways that bolster or enrich or teach us rather than destroy us. 🌓

91 Likes, 14 Comments - Lisa Marie Basile (@lisamariebasile) on Instagram: "Create an alter of Self; look into it, know it, craft it. This is a goofy picture of me at my 32nd..."

For me, it's a little bit of each column—a place for me to be surrounded by my personal power objects in order to meditate and cast my intentions, and also a place where I can build a sort of mood board of my self at any given moment. I like to gather pictures of myself, crystals (these are from Myths of Creation) that I use as symbols for love and healing (for example), objects that represent my power—shells, seawater, perfumes—and other elemental bits (stones, flowers) from places that have symbolic power to me (like I always include a stone I got from a fisherman's village in Italy, a trip that was life-defining for me). 

At my altar, I always write notes to myself in the present, mostly for things I need or desire or hope for currently. I admit I turn to the altar in moments of desperation (like, say, when I feel particularly troubled, anxious or sick), but I frequently try to do this with each new moon as a way to sort of get all those jumbled thoughts out of my head, down onto paper (a huge part of my craft), and into the universe where they can manifest. This new moon, I asked for strength and clarity in dealing with my chronic illness. 

It's also really liberating and fun to create something beautiful made up entirely of your own vision—a creative and cathartic practice that, in itself, is meditative and reflective of your unique selfhood. 

RELATED: How to Authentically & Honestly Create a Personal Altar

Would you like to build an altar? Here's what you'll need:

• Objects that represent you (a book, a piece of your jewelry a piece of fabric sprayed with your perfume)
• A candle to burn as you focus on your intention
• Oils (I use Moon Goddess Magick Apothecary oils). I tend to dab a bit on my wrists and on my power objects)
• Elemental objects to strengthen your intentions (a bowl of water, dirt, sand, shells)
• A note, handwritten, with your intention or goal
• A mirror for self-gazing and reflection
• A photograph of you, if you have one or would like to use one

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LISA MARIE BASILE is a poet, essayist and editor living in NYC. She studied English and psychology as an undergraduate at Pace University and received a Masters in writing from NYC’s The New School. She's the founding editor-in- chief of Luna Luna Magazine (an online magazine & community dedicated to literature, witchcraft, the arts, and women). She is the author of a few books of poetry: Apocryphal, war/lock, Triste, and Andalucia.  Her book NYMPHOLEPSY (co-authored with Alyssa Morhardt-Goldstein) will be published by Inside the Castle in November 2018 and was a finalist in the 2017 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.  She is working on her first novella, to be released by Clash Books in 2019. Her poetry can be heard narrating the Into The Veil event video by Atlas Obscura.  Her work has been nominated for the Best American Experimental Writing anthology and for several Pushcart Prizes. Her work has appeared in the Cambridge Writers Workshop anthology and in Best Small Fictions 2015, selected by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Robert Olen Butler. Lisa Marie has been published in or syndicated by Refinery 29, Greatist, Bust, Bustle, Marie Claire, The Establishment, Hello Giggles, The Gloss, Ravishly, The Huffington Post, Cosmopolitan, and more. Work is forthcoming in the New York Times, Narrartively and more. FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER & INSTAGRAM. 

7 Doable, Inexpensive & Meaningful Ways to Practice Witchcraft Everyday

BY ARCHITA MITTRA

I’ve always been surprised by the depiction of witches in pop culture—how they charm their hair and then go about their daily lives, without a drop in energy levels or a break. Magic seems so fluid, so immediate, working at the drop of a hat and requiring only a wand, a pentagram, and the chanting of a few words.

For a lot of us who identify as witches, magic and spellwork is an integral part of our lives. But performing a full-fledged banishing charm or even a purification ritual, complete with herbs and with all right colour-coded candles, takes up time and energy (and money!), and may even leave us exhausted.

Sometimes our hectic schedules and commitments prevent us from accessing our full potential every day. That’s when I realized I didn’t need to do an elaborate ritual or wait for the next full moon to manifest something. Our little everyday acts can be magic too—if done with the right intention.

Here are some ways in which you can make magic a part of your daily life, especially if you can’t seem to make time for it.

Keep A Multi-Purpose Grimoire

Your Grimoire or Book Of Shadows doesn’t need to be only a record of spells, sabbats and moon charts. I use the same notebook as a dream diary and a gratitude journal, and I make sure I write in it every morning when I wake up. If you’re feeling guilty about the many blank pages in your grimoire, you can use it to record your dreams and nightmares (for later analysis), as well as write down seven things you’re grateful for. It also provides a refreshing start to your day.

Charm Your Food And Drink

Whispering a few words of thankfulness before any meal can work wonders. Another trick I use is to stir my daily cup of coffee in a clockwise direction, while thinking of happy thoughts to charm my drink. (You can also stir anticlockwise to dispel negativity). I also make sure to stock up on my favourite comfort foods for the tough days. Rowling wasn’t kidding when she wrote about having chocolate to ward off the ill-effects of Dementors, after all.

RELATED: More Halloween content for Scorpio season. 

Practice Simple Meditation Exercises

As I have to spend almost 2-3 hours every day on public transport while commuting to work or college, I try to use that interim time to do some simple meditation exercises (discreetly, of course), simply close my eyes and visualize a positive scenario or outcome, or even a shield of white light. It’s sure to make you feel optimistic, and may even bring in a few surprises to your day.

Make Quick Sigils And Spells

Confession: I simply love making sigils (a magical symbol). Maybe it’s because I’ve always been a creative person, but turning a positive affirmation to a beautiful design is also pretty therapeutic. I often end up doodling sigils in my notebooks during a boring lecture or fiddling with the painting apps on my phone to come up with something magical. And if you’re a witch who loves to work with technology, you can create emoji spells and send some good vibes to your loved ones, as well.

Spend Time With Nature

This doesn’t mean you have to surround yourself with greenery. Whether it’s saying thank you to the spirit of a tree, noticing the little things on the side of road or finding a beautiful feather on your path, there are many low-key ways to connect with nature and unwind. If it’s a full moon night and I’m too tired to do anything, I simply look up to the dark sky and talk to the moon. Sometimes, simply gazing into the starlit sky or enjoying the colors of the sunset is more than enough. I try my best to make sure I spend at least some time with my pets every day. If you have an animal, why not try communicating with them telepathetically?

Take A Magical Bath

I love buying and crafting beauty and bath products. You can make any bathing experience magical by dimming all the lights, lighting a few scented candles, mixing lavender and rose water to your bath, scattering some flower petals and tuning in to some music that feels meaningful to you (I prefer Celtic music). It is beautiful, relaxing and even rejuvenative.

Have A Sleep Ritual

Before going off to sleep, I reach for my pet amethyst rock and speak to it about the events of the day before tucking it under my pillow. I also make it a point to shuffle my Tarot cards and handmade runes set, asking a simple question: what is the most important lesson that I learned today? (Regarding morning rituals and magical timing: I used to also draw a Tarot Card each morning, but I stopped the practice because, well, an upside down Nine of Swords can seriously fuck up your mood for the day. So I made it a point to use my Oracles as tools of self-growth and self-discovery each night before sleep so that my subconscious can absorb and act upon it). 

So if you’re feeling guilty about not being able to properly practice witchcraft, remember that it’s perfectly okay, and it’s perfectly normal. You can celebrate your craft in little every day acts by setting your mind to it and remaining positive. Perhaps everyday won’t be as lavish as Halloween, but hey, you can still make it magical. 

Like this work? Donate to Archita Mittra.

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Archita Mittra is a wordsmith and visual artist with a love for all things vintage and darkly fantastical. A student of English Literature at Jadavpur University, she also has a Diploma in Multimedia and Animation from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. Her work has appeared or been profiled in The Statesman, Thought Catalog, Maudlin House, Winter Tangerine Review and elsewhere. She also serves as the Poetry Editor at Quail Bell Magazine, occasionally practises as a tarot card reader and is still waiting for The Doctor and his TARDIS to show up. You can follow her on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook() and check out her blog here.