There's a lot of sleek and sexy, high-end magic items out there, handcrafted for their purpose. While these sure are nice, your living situation and your budget may not always agree. But fear not, fellow cheapskate! With just a little ingenuity, you too can have a pimpin' altar with fairly decent supplies to do your spellwork with. As somebody who started out a broke urban teenager in the broom closet, here's just a few tips and tricks I learned for magic on a budget.
Candles
Candles are one of those staples for many people. Gotta have em, and of course you can almost never have just one. Luckily for people like us, this is the era of the basic bitch! That means candles galore, right in the grocery store. Or dollar store, craft store, even the thrift shop. I find Hobby Lobby in particular to be really good at keeping unscented candles in every single shape and color, including black, which is the one color that's harder to find than you'd think. Scented candles can in fact be used for spells, though, and you can even match the scent for your specific purpose. This can work particularly well if you find one of the brands saying they have natural components/essential oils in them. For just a short candle working, if you're not wanting a huge candle that will take forever to burn through, tealights are also a godsend. Extremely cheap and small, a big bag of them costs just a couple bucks and will last you ages. Though the most common color to find them in is white, I have seen some sold in other colors and even scented. Check back around Halloween, because that's when you might manage to find black tealight candles sometimes.
Herbs
There is no such thing as a plant with zero use, just a lack of knowledge about it. That being said, you'd be surprised how many do have known correspondences you can easily look up. Everything from oatmeal to black pepper can become the secret ingredient in your witchy concoction.....or a delicious breakfast! Cackling optional, but my point is that one should be resourceful. You may need go no further than the kitchen cupboard for a wide array of exotic and potent herbs to use. Or better yet, grow fresh ones of your own. Even if you can't keep a live plant happy to save your life, guess who can? That's right, public landscaping! Learn to identify the really useful stuff such as oak trees, willow, or other various things that are fairly easy to spot. Even weeds like dandelion are great to work with. In general, though, just collect small amounts at a time and respect the plants you pick from. If that's something you're willing to do, discreetly dropping a small offering is also recommended. I've gotten all sorts of things outta just what was around me in both the city and the wilderness, and you'd be REALLY surprised what herbs are hiding from you right in plain sight. Herbal teas at the store are also very useful to consider. After all, it's just dried herbs that they'll conveniently put into little bags. Chamomile, hibiscus and others are great for various spellwork, even if not used as an actual tea. And moreover, a box of tea is about as unsuspicious to nosy cohabitants as you're gonna get.
Crystals
I'm gonna tell you a dirty little secret....quartz is one of the most abundant minerals on the planet. And sometimes, depending on where you live and your situation, they're quite literally all over the ground for free. Both in the wild and from people putting them there on purpose. Look down at your feet sometimes, or even at some of the rocks used in good ol' public landscaping. If you see any rocks that look like , , or ? Chances are, that's quartz you're looking at! It may not look as nice as the shiny you'd find actually cut and polished, but I will testify from experience that they work just as well. For crystals other than quartz, unless you're blessed to live in an area rich in all kinds of minerals, I'd suggest you go to the jewelrymaking section of your local craft store. They'll often have beads or pendants of different semiprecious gemstones out the wazoo, either sold on strands or in containers. This is really really convenient, because they'll already be in a form you can use for things like jewelry, if you wanna go that route and enchant something to wear. Jewelrymaking is a great example of a normal hobby that ties in beautifully with witchcraft, and you may just find you really enjoy it. One warning on this, though: Fake crystals will often be hidden right in with the real ones, same packaging and everything. If you can't find any labeling anywhere on the package or elsewhere that specifically says what it's made of, don't buy it. Usually fake stones will use words like "Acrylic", "Glass", etc. Sometimes even going so far as to say, "Acrylic Turquoise", or other things to try and trip you up. It's fake, don't bother. Unless you're purely going for looks or just any physical anchor for a spell, but know it's not going to be have an actual crystal's properties.
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So I fully intend to write more here, but imma split it up into two parts. If anybody has questions, comments or even your own tips and tricks, post away!
Candles
Candles are one of those staples for many people. Gotta have em, and of course you can almost never have just one. Luckily for people like us, this is the era of the basic bitch! That means candles galore, right in the grocery store. Or dollar store, craft store, even the thrift shop. I find Hobby Lobby in particular to be really good at keeping unscented candles in every single shape and color, including black, which is the one color that's harder to find than you'd think. Scented candles can in fact be used for spells, though, and you can even match the scent for your specific purpose. This can work particularly well if you find one of the brands saying they have natural components/essential oils in them. For just a short candle working, if you're not wanting a huge candle that will take forever to burn through, tealights are also a godsend. Extremely cheap and small, a big bag of them costs just a couple bucks and will last you ages. Though the most common color to find them in is white, I have seen some sold in other colors and even scented. Check back around Halloween, because that's when you might manage to find black tealight candles sometimes.
Herbs
There is no such thing as a plant with zero use, just a lack of knowledge about it. That being said, you'd be surprised how many do have known correspondences you can easily look up. Everything from oatmeal to black pepper can become the secret ingredient in your witchy concoction.....or a delicious breakfast! Cackling optional, but my point is that one should be resourceful. You may need go no further than the kitchen cupboard for a wide array of exotic and potent herbs to use. Or better yet, grow fresh ones of your own. Even if you can't keep a live plant happy to save your life, guess who can? That's right, public landscaping! Learn to identify the really useful stuff such as oak trees, willow, or other various things that are fairly easy to spot. Even weeds like dandelion are great to work with. In general, though, just collect small amounts at a time and respect the plants you pick from. If that's something you're willing to do, discreetly dropping a small offering is also recommended. I've gotten all sorts of things outta just what was around me in both the city and the wilderness, and you'd be REALLY surprised what herbs are hiding from you right in plain sight. Herbal teas at the store are also very useful to consider. After all, it's just dried herbs that they'll conveniently put into little bags. Chamomile, hibiscus and others are great for various spellwork, even if not used as an actual tea. And moreover, a box of tea is about as unsuspicious to nosy cohabitants as you're gonna get.
Crystals
I'm gonna tell you a dirty little secret....quartz is one of the most abundant minerals on the planet. And sometimes, depending on where you live and your situation, they're quite literally all over the ground for free. Both in the wild and from people putting them there on purpose. Look down at your feet sometimes, or even at some of the rocks used in good ol' public landscaping. If you see any rocks that look like , , or ? Chances are, that's quartz you're looking at! It may not look as nice as the shiny you'd find actually cut and polished, but I will testify from experience that they work just as well. For crystals other than quartz, unless you're blessed to live in an area rich in all kinds of minerals, I'd suggest you go to the jewelrymaking section of your local craft store. They'll often have beads or pendants of different semiprecious gemstones out the wazoo, either sold on strands or in containers. This is really really convenient, because they'll already be in a form you can use for things like jewelry, if you wanna go that route and enchant something to wear. Jewelrymaking is a great example of a normal hobby that ties in beautifully with witchcraft, and you may just find you really enjoy it. One warning on this, though: Fake crystals will often be hidden right in with the real ones, same packaging and everything. If you can't find any labeling anywhere on the package or elsewhere that specifically says what it's made of, don't buy it. Usually fake stones will use words like "Acrylic", "Glass", etc. Sometimes even going so far as to say, "Acrylic Turquoise", or other things to try and trip you up. It's fake, don't bother. Unless you're purely going for looks or just any physical anchor for a spell, but know it's not going to be have an actual crystal's properties.
---------------------
So I fully intend to write more here, but imma split it up into two parts. If anybody has questions, comments or even your own tips and tricks, post away!