Friday, 22 May 2020

Witchcraft on a Shoestring: Useful Jars to Put Things In

Here's another in my series of posts called Witchcraft on a Shoestring, which I began after someone suggested I do more for witches who are strapped for cash. Today I am writing about reusing bottles and jars. I've blogged in the past about upcycling jam jars into decorative tealight holders, but you can, of course, just reuse old jars for storage.

Although reusing old containers might seem obvious, on witchcraft social media pages I often see people asking where they can get bottles and jars for storing herbs and other magical ingredients. You can definitely buy beautiful containers in pagan shops, homeware departments and through regular online retailers. I've bought lovely ones myself over the years. However, most of the ones I use came from my kitchen and once held jams and pickles or regular herbs and spices from the supermarket.

I make a point of keeping ones that look nice - like that old honey jar in the shape of a bear in the photo above - but any old but clean jar will do for storage, at least until you find something better. Make sure you label them properly, so you remember that what you put in them is different from the original contents. As you can see, my labels are a bit rough and ready, but you could make fancier ones.

There is some sense in buying dark coloured glass containers for oils and dried ingredients, which are best kept out of sunlight in order to retain their colour, scent and efficacy. However, if you keep them in the dark in a cupboard, that will do. Old Marmite jars are great to reuse if you don't have a dark cupboard.

You can also happily reuse old bottles and jars for spellwork. Below are details of some traditional spells that use them.

Witch Bottles
One type of traditional spell is the witch bottle. In bygone centuries these were mainly used as protection magic, but the main container used was an old stoneware wine bottle, often of a type that had a face on the front. You can see one in the picture to the right, together with its contents.

The idea was you put a few pins inside and maybe some hair, then filled it up with pee and corked it. Then you buried the bottle under your front doorstep to block any curses sent your way. Nowadays, bottle - or jar - spells are used for a whole range of purposes and they don’t have to involve bodily fluids.

Sweet Jar Spell
The idea for this spell is to sweeten up someone who is being unpleasant to you, and it is ideal to reuse a jar that once held something sweet. My little bear honey pot would be perfect, but you could use a jam jar, biscuit tin, syrup bottle or anything of that kind. One way of creating a sweet jar is to write the person's name on some paper, pop it in the container, then fill it with something sweet - sugar or honey for example. As you do that, visualise the person in question being as pleasant towards you as you would like. You can say some words to that effect, then perhaps light a candle and place it in front or on top of the container to energise it.

In the past, myWitchcraft on a Shoestring posts have included using banana skins to clean silver, and upcycled bowls for scrying.

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