How to collect and clean feathers for witchcraft

Natural bird feathers are beautiful and useful for arts, crafts, and spell components or tools in witchcraft… but birds can carry microscopic diseases, parasites, and mites.

One option is to purchase store-packaged feathers. Alternatively, if you prefer to find, identify, and collect feathers from nature yourself, knowing how to safely gather and disinfect them comes in handy. Here’s my guide for doing so, plus a brief list of magical correspondences for feathers.

DIY all-purpose household cleaner and spiritual cleanser

It’s the unglamorous secret of witchcraft: plain old chores and household cleaning are major aspects of spiritual or energetic cleansing. A lot of spiritual goop is best wiped up while cleaning those sticky floors, dirty dishes, cluttered possessions, and dusty shelves.

Any mundane cleaning can improve spiritual energies in a living space. It doesn’t hurt, however, to add a boost with intent and correspondences.

Here’s my recipe for a basic multisurface herbal cleaner that doubles as household witchcraft.

A green witch’s guide for insecure, failed, beginner, “brown thumb” would-be gardeners

Is your touch the kiss of death for plants? Want to grow your own plants but feel like no matter how you try, it never works? Or maybe you’ve never tried before and you’re overwhelmed by your own inexperience?

I used to mournfully call myself a plant killer, but after some research and a few changes in perspective I have a lovely little edible apartment garden (part of it pictured above) that’s been flourishing for over a year now.

While I’m not an expert in gardening (literally the opposite: someone who used to be “terrible” at it and who fumbled around and asked a lot of questions until I gained some skills), here are a few ideas that worked for me!

Recipe: Easy cold and flu soothing soup (keto, dairy-free, gluten-free)

This wasn’t the article I had planned for this week, but guess who woke up with a sore throat and fever yesterday morning? You guessed it, me!

Even mild acute illnesses hit me pretty hard thanks to my chronic illnesses. When “healthy,” I already walk a tightrope with energy, movement, and focus, so colds slam me into the ground. When I’m cooking for myself, I need food that’s quick and low effort (or “low spoons”) to prepare. But I also need food that makes me feel nourished and less sick.

(A photo of my soup. It’s probably apparent I ate it fresh out of the cooking pot. Washing a bowl was beyond my capabilities at the time.)

Here’s a guide to making my easy, homemade, soothing soup. Nothing here is written in stone, and I don’t follow a recipe myself. If you need to, grab what you have on hand and see what you can do.