Deborah Blake - Witchcraft on a Shoestring

John Mazarak

About the Author

Deborah Blake is the author of Circle, Coven and Grove: A Year of Magickal Practice (2007), Everyday Witch A to Z: An Amusing, Inspiring & Informative Guide to the Wonderful World of Witchcraft (2008), The Goddess is in the Details: Wisdom for the Everyday Witch (2009), and Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook (2010). She has published numerous articles in Pagan publications, including Llewellyn annuals.

Her award-winning short story Dead and (Mostly) Gone is included in the Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction: 13 Prize Winning Tales (2008). Deborah has been interviewed on television, radio, and podcast, and can be found online at Facebook, Twitter, and www.myspace.com/deborahblakehps.

When not writing, Deborah runs the Artisans Guild, a cooperative shop she founded with a friend in 1999, and also works as a jewelry maker. She lives in a 100-year-old farmhouse in rural upstate New York with five cats who supervise all her activities, both magickal and mundane.

Witchcraft on a Shoestring

Practicing the Craft
Without Breaking Your Budget

Deborah Blake

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Witchcraft on a Shoestring: Practicing the Craft Without Breaking Your Budget 2010 by Deborah Blake

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the authors copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

First e-book edition 2010

E-book ISBN: 9780738727196

Book design and editing by Rebecca Zins

Cover design by Lisa Novak

Cover and interior illustrations by Wen Hsu

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

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Llewellyn Publications

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Woodbury, MN 55125

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Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

Chapter One
The Only Tools You Need Are Free:
Belief, Will, and Focus

Knowledge Is Power:
Books, Research, and Sharing Knowledge

The Economical Home:
Creating and Maintaining Sacred Space

Use This, Not That:
Inexpensive Substitutes for Expensive Items

The Crafty Witch:
35 Simple and Thrifty Craft Projects
for Magickal Purposes

Feeding the Masses:
45 Feast Dishes for $10 or Less

50 Ways to Practice Witchcraft
for Little or No Money:
Simple Things You Can Do to Expand Your Pagan Practice Without Depleting Your Bank Account

The Everyday Witch:
When Being a Witch Doesnt Mean
Buying More Stuff

As always, this book is dedicated to the wonderful women of Blue Moon Circle and our extended circle of family, friends, and fellow travelers. I couldnt do it without you, and I wouldnt want to. And a big shout-out to my magickal CP, Lisa DiDio!

To all the writers who share this journey with meyou inspire and support me, and I continue to learn from you every day. Special thanks to the fabulous Z Budapest, Raven Digitalis, Ellen Dugan, Denise Dumars, Judika Illes, Edain McCoy, Dorothy Morrison, Ashleen OGaea, Christopher Penczak, and Gail Wood. You set the bar high!

With special thanks to Bryanna and my father, both of whom suggested the idea of doing this book to me at about the same time making me think it must be a good topic!

And to my readers, who also inspire and encourage me. Thanks for your continued emails, letters, and feedback. This ones for you!

Practicing Witchcraft can be expensive; Ive heard this complaint from fellow Pagans for years. A good cloak can cost well over a hundred dollars, for instance. Then there is the cost of the supplies: herbs, gemstones, candles, statuary, pentacles, and tools like athames and wands. It is easy to spend hundreds of dollars on the Craft without even tryingand thats before you start buying the books (my own particular weak point, as you might imagine).

Most Pagans are not wealthy folks, and these days, many of us have less extra money than weve had in years. Times are tough. But we still want to practice our Craft to the best of our ability. Whats a Witch to do?

Well, you can do what my friends in Blue Moon Circle and I have been doing since we started our coven in the spring of 2004working Witchcraft on a shoestring.

Witchcraft on a shoestring is as much an attitude as it is a way to save money. We approach our practice of the Craft much as we deal with the rest of our lives: making the most out of what we have, creating something useful out of not very much, and spending as little money as possible to achieve the end result we want. In shortwere cheap (but not necessarily easy)!

Sometimes practicing Witchcraft on a shoestring requires extra effort. For instance, instead of buying that fancy cloak, you can sew one yourself. And you have to learn to think outside the box. Just because the wands in your favorite catalog are made of silver and topped with gemstones doesnt mean that a lovely piece of wood you found in the forest wont work just as well.

Ill talk about all these things within the pages of this book. Well start with a discussion on the bare-bones basics of a Witchcraft practice, work our way through which items are really necessary and which are extras to indulge in when you can, and talk about inexpensive substitutes for more commonly used expensive items (like the aforementioned cloaks and wands).

Youll also find chapters on simple craft projects and recipes for feast food, all of which cost ten dollars or less. And finally, Ill list fifty suggestions for ways to practice your Craft for free or practically free. I dont know about you, but the Blue Mooners and I are big fans of free!

Some of these options may be new to you. Others may be things youve been doing for years (in which case, give yourself a pat on the backyoure already well on your way). Not every suggestion will be right for every Witch, of course, so pick and choose the ones that work the best for you and your practice.

Most of all, remember to have fun. After all, Witchcraft, at its core, is a combination of reverence and mirth. And as any child knows, it doesnt cost anything to laugh.