Everyday Witch Practices to Build Your Intuition

There is no one thing that will help you learn to listen to and trust your intuition. But building up a series of rituals to help you connect with your intuition regularly is a good start. These everyday witch practices are perfect for just that.

Got a problem with the word witch? We’ll get to that.

Not sure how witch practices fit into your spiritual path? I’ve got you.

Is this post for everyone? Absolutely not.

With all that out of the way, let’s chat.

A Note on Spirituality

Everyone comes to spirituality in their own way. Those paths include past trauma or indoctrination. They can also include good experiences too.

We’re all seeking what we need to get by in this life that mostly makes no sense. If you need to look to a higher power because you just realized we’re electric bags of meat that are aware of their impending demise, well. Welcome to the club.

I believe that a lot of religious leaders spend too much energy screaming about the wrath of god, and not enough time inviting us into the wonder of what god could be.

I won’t say I know the meaning of life or the reason we exist. But chasing that wonder and trying to experience it in everyday life seems like a worthwhile venture to me.

Witch practices are something that help me feel that wonder. But so is writing sometimes. Or cooking dinner. Or going for walks. Those moments you spend with loved ones and are suddenly overcome with how great everything is? That’s also good.

Maybe you’re here on this planet to follow a specific religious doctrine. Personally, I’m here to experience a little magic.

A Note on Witchcraft

If you’ve never called yourself a witch, you don’t get to say what witchcraft is.

It seems like every other day, some middle class white preacher goes viral for telling his congregation that there are witches among them. Maybe there are. (I assume, because certain faith communities are hard to leave and because those sort of churches don’t allow women any autonomy to actually get out of that toxic place.) But I would contend that the witches aren’t doing any damage to that community. The church as an institution is.

Also, for what it’s worth, witchcraft is different for everyone. What is a witch in one culture is a healer in another. Or a good baker. Or an artist.

Witch practices don’t fit into one specific box. So, while you may believe that all witches worship the devil, it’s been my experience that witches mostly like to sit on porches and smoke pot while chatting.

Which brings it all back to my original point: If you’ve never called yourself a witch, you don’t get to say what witchcraft is.

Everyday Witch Practices

Magic, wonder, and moments that defy explanation are all over the place. You just have to make space for them. These everyday witch practices are great for finding a little magic in the mundane and strengthening your intuition.

001: Pull a tarot card.

It’s no secret that I love tarot. And while I don’t think the decks themselves are sacred or magical or even imbued with any occult mystery, I do believe using them can be magical.

The deck is just a pile of card stock. But the way you use it is what matters.

In this post called how does tarot work, I go into it more, but the deck exists to show us what’s in our subconscious. Pulling cards and thinking about their meaning can give us insights into what is under the surface of our conscious thoughts. Connecting with those thoughts helps us build our intuition because it connects us with the part of our brain that knows without thinking.

You can pull cards in the morning or at night. You can journal about them. You can simply think on them.

Creating a daily tarot practice that works for you is the best way to build your intuition using the tarot.

002: Log off.

I think there was a time when the internet was magical. It still can be, especially when you find something you’ve been looking for.

For the most part, though, sitting on a computer numbs your brain and ratchets up anxiety. So while stepping away form an electronic device isn’t inherently magical, it is a great way to connect with your intuition.

When you’re away from the constant feed of information, it gets a lot easier to know what’s on your mind or what you think about a particular topic. That sort of clarity can help you connect with your intuition because you aren’t swimming in outside information.

If you want to know how you feel about something or what your intuition is telling you, stepping away from a computer or your phone is the first step on that journey.

003: Get outside.

At this point it’s cliché, but you need to go outside and touch grass.

Yes, we’re electric bags of meat aware of our impending demise, but we’re also animals. And that impending demise seems a lot less stressful when you’re outside and can feel the sun on your skin.

There are a lot of things in our daily lives that disconnect us from the world around us. When you feel like everything has no meaning and you’re just a little cog in a shitty machine that exists to fan the flames of the economy, another made up thing, then you need to go outside.

Going outside won’t fix the world. But it will help you reset your brain. And there’s something about being in the fresh air that helps clear your mind and let you know what’s really going on under the surface of your thoughts.

004: Honor your heritage.

I’m a big fan of witch practices from all over the world. That doesn’t mean I participate in all of them.

Some practices are open, and some are closed. Open practices are for everyone to participate in. Closed practices belong to a specific group, and the people who have been initiated into that group, not just people from a particular culture.

Learning more about your ancestors and their spiritual beliefs can be a fun way to learn more about yourself. I do believe that there’s a lot in our subconscious minds that’s been locked up over generations. Learning about where you come from can unlock that information.

And if you find that there’s a closed spiritual practice that your ancestors used to participate in that resonates with you, you can always do the work to become initiated into that practice.

005: Light candles and incense.

When I write, I light a scented candle. That’s a trigger to my brain that it’s time to work. But because a lot of my work is creative and involves me kind of dropping in and tuning out, this habit makes sense.

Traditionally, incense and candles have been used in a lot of spiritual practices, and they can easily be incorporated into your witch practices. Whether you use the incense to clear the air, or light a candle as a focus point for a meditation, your practice always has space for some candles and incense.

I like to use evergreen-scented incense and candles that smell like cinnamon or citrus. There’s no particular reason why. These are just scents I enjoy when I’m writing or meditating.

006: Say your intentions out loud.

I talked about this a bit in the this Monday intentions post, but intentions are basically spells. If you set them, say them, and work towards them, you’re well on your way to achieving your goal.

If you like the idea of manifestation, this can also be a great step in that direction. I’m not a huge fan of the idea of manifestation, or rather, the way it’s portrayed by a lot of people. Manifestation and privilege are two separate things, and most folks don’t know the difference between the two.

Even so, when you’re trying to make something happen, saying what your intention is and working for it do a lot in the grand scheme of things to help you achieve what you want. And saying something out loud can help you refine that statement in your mind. Your intuition kicks in and helps you shape what it is you really want so you can go after it.

What Are Your Favorite Witch Practices?

Do you light a lot of candles? Does logging off help you feel a bit more magical? Have you used tarot to help you connect to your intuition?

Originally published at https://marisamohi.com on December 9, 2022.