Sympathetic Magick.

You may want find a way to represent your goals through using symbols. The main rule of thumb for using this form of magick is to choose tools that have personal meaning for you. If I tell you to use a green candle to draw money to you, and you feel “plants” from green and money from the color gold, for Goddess’ sake use gold!

I use herbs because plants talk to me. If you feel more at home with crystals and other minerals, use them. Photographs, runes, Tarot cards, and laundry lint are all useful if they help you visualize and concentrate your will toward your desired conclusion. The stronger your association, the stronger the spell will be.

I’ll describe some personal things that I do, but again, these are mine because they mean something to me. You need to substitute your own symbols.

Snake Oil.

To assist through times of physical transition, I like to use “snake oil”. For this, I begin with extra virgin olive oil because its energy is “virginal” or as yet unshared. I then add things that contain the energy of a successful change: a snake’s shed (in one piece), the empty shell of a wild bird, a spider’s carapace, an empty cocoon, and some galangal. Galangal works like a facilitator, meshing the ingredients and strengthening them. I put all this stuff in the oil bottle, cork it, and let it sit for one full moon to full moon cycle. Afterward, it can be decanted and used to dress candles.

Dress (smear) the snake oil on a candle of an appropriate color for your task. Use your atheme, or any other tool that you use for magick, and inscribe a symbol of where you are at the top of the candle. Then draw an arrow to the bottom of the candle and inscribe a symbol of where you would like to be. For instance, if you are pregnant, you might draw a circle with a central dot to symbolize the pregnant belly at the top of the candle. Draw a stick figure of a mother cradling a baby at the bottom of the candle.

Place the candle on a round plate and allow it to burn down into a disk. Reinscribe the disk, and carry it with you as a talisman until the task is accomplished.