28 Witch Essentials [Tools for Witchcraft Explained]

The tools used by witches are visual symbols of strength and energy. They help us, precisely through their symbolism, to direct the energies as we wish. Let’s take a look at 28 Must-Have Witch Essentials.

But even without them, a ritual can succeed entirely. The instrument does not determine the action on the matter – only the will can do it – in fact, we are the first and most important tool.

As symbols, the tools are very personal objects and can be very different from witch to witch.

You can find these tools in small shops, flea markets, or large retailers… However, if you can create your own one, that’s even better.

Customize them to be yours, remember that the tools should not be left lying around and that you’re the only one handling them. They do not have to be decorative, they don’t have to look freakishly beautiful… They have to be practical and fit for purpose.

Here’s a List of Witch Essentials

The place of work of the witch is her home, her kitchen, the heart of the dwelling, or, a room used only to exercise, in silence and secrecy, like a small secret laboratory.

It is not really strictly necessary to have a dedicated room, as any corner of your home fits the purpose well.

Tools below are simple, easily available or, as tradition requires, built by the witch herself.

Once consecrated, these instruments must be used only and exclusively for magical purposes during rituals and spells and never for other reasons.

It is also essential to pay close attention to them. They are an extension of the witch’s powers, and it is not possible to borrow them to avoid a loss of energy.

Natural Tools

In addition to these objects described below (some essential others less so, at the witch’s discretion), natural instruments are also used to increase its strength.

Obviously, we are not talking about live animals, or even worse, sacrificing them!

To enter into symbiosis with nature and make us listen to fulfill our desires, we must first of all love and respect it, and therefore respect
ANY EXPRESSION OF LIFE UNDER ANY FORM IT HAS MANIFESTED.

Even gathering herbs or parts of trees must follow a specific request ritual. This is followed by our reasons for taking a part of that body from the Earth or plant and bringing offerings to the living being from which we have drawn.

This will avoid causing damage to the nature that surrounds us and, by resonance, also causing damage to ourselves.

In general, the offers that are given to nature consist of the following elements: honey, milk, flour, water or in any case all natural things of which the plant or nature in general (including animals) can be fed.

One Last Thing

Our mind is the most important tool.

The most crucial instrument, however, is always our mind, hidden Spirit, charge, and inner strength that we manifest during spells.

With the association of gestures, herbs, and words, both written and spoken, we make things work!

Now without any further ado, let’s explore together the most important tools every witch should have.

A Broom

Despite the legends of flying witches riding the broom, this is a magical instrument, but not as understood by medieval superstitions.

Its purpose is simple: to clean.

Except that it’s not a material cleaning but an energy one. It serves to purify the sacred environment before opening the circle. It is one of the symbols of the Goddess and God.

Being used to purify it is associated with the element of water and therefore used in love spells or those to increase psychic powers.
It is also used in the pagan marriage ritual, in which the spouses skip the broom to ensure fertility and the blessing of the Gods.

Traditionally, a broom is used, but it can also be made using ash for the stick and birch or broom branches tied together with willow.

It is said that a broom hanging behind the door protects a house against evil spells and negativity.

A Wand

An invocation instrument par excellence, it is used to direct energies.

It represents the element of air and is long between 15 in and 20 in (40 and 50 cm), made with some woods such as willow, oak, elder, cherry, peach, etc.

A wand can also be made of stone, crystal, or metal depending on the purpose for which it is to be used.

It should be forked at the tip to form two symbolic “horns”, however, even a single auction is fine.

The rod must be about 51 inches (130 cm) long, from the base to the top or from the base to the bifurcation.

Once chosen, the tree must be cut, making it suffer as little as possible, then with a clean-cut and making sure that the branch you have chosen does not fall to the ground.

The operation should preferably be performed in spring and a crescent absolutely, on Wednesdays at dawn or sunset or at noon or midnight.

The Caldron

Symbol of the Goddess and Water should traditionally be in iron with three feet at the base and a narrower opening than the rest of the body.

Used (if small) to cook herbal teas or for ritual cooking, it takes on a different role on the altar.

In the spring rites, it is filled with water and flowers, it is used as a container for consecrated objects or for burning offerings for the gods. In winter rituals a small fire is lit inside.

It’s significant symbols (first of all the Mother) are manifold and take shape from the Celtic legends about Cerridwen.

A Cup

The Witch’s Cup is a variant of the Ceridwen cauldron, the great womb of nature, from which all things are born and to which they return.

It is seen as a feminine nature and is related to the night, darkness, space and of course to the waters and everything that surrounds them.

The cup or chalice is used to contain the saltwater of the exorcism (lustral water) or, alternatively, the wine of the libation, a sacramental wine consumed in some ceremonies, also used to consecrate.

The Athame

It is used exclusively to direct the Energy and NEVER to cut, it is a double-bladed knife with a black handle, in its place a sword can be used.

Sacred to God, it represents the element of Fire.

You can engrave (on the blade or the handle) some runes or symbols, personifying it.

Learn more about athames.

The Canopius (or Bolline)

This is a work knife. Sharp and with a white handle (if possible).

It is always used for rituals or magical works. One of the recommended uses is to engrave or extinguish the candles, cut the herbs to be used or the magic strings.

The Pentacle

The five-pointed star enclosed in a circle (with a tip towards the top and two towards the bottom) represents the Earth is an evocative and protective tool.

It protects the places and removes negativity.

Hanging on doors or windows, it protects against the negative energies in the rituals and evoke the positive energies.

The pentacle (the 5-pointed star) is linked to the earth element, masculine/feminine gender although it represents, and for this reason, the union of the four natural elements (Earth, Water, Air, and Fire) plus the mind of the operator.

• It is used to repair and to protect.
• It is a symbol of abundance and addresses the microcosm, material things and therefore man.
• With a tip on top, two side panels, and two bottom ones, it indicates the mind that dominates matter.
• Reversed and placed with the two bottom points on the top, means that the matter is dominating the mind.
• Positioned like that, it’s also used by Satanists, to indicate the beast.

It can be made with different materials: silver, copper, clay, wood. It can be made by hand by those who use it or made to forge by a goldsmith or engraver if it is made of metal.

There are generally two pentacles. One is for work, and the other is the ritual pentacle placed on the altar as protection from negative vibrations and the inevitable return strokes that always occur during any work performed, be it positive or negative.

The force released during a ritual is always circular (every action generates an equal and opposite reaction) is directed to a target, it is released and then it returns to the sender, to whom has set it up.

This is why we always have to be protected while casting.

The pentacle must also be blessed and consecrated before being used.

A Witches Bell

The vibrations of a bell move the energies and in the rituals. It is used to start or to close a spell.

It can evoke the Goddess and is its symbol, so it is suggested that it’s made out of silver.

Hanging on the door, it guards the house because its sound removes the negativity of any kind.

A Rope

It is a symbol of Spirit because it is reminiscent of the umbilical cord. In general, it is precisely because of this reason in red color.

You can use the rope as a border of your sacred place. You can also use it in different colors.

Book of Shadows

It is here that all the spells, invocations, rituals that come to our knowledge or that we create will be written.

Also, all those events that have to do with the magical practice, signs, dreams, emotions, and sensations of the day, doubts that we have on our way, cooking recipes, meditation techniques, instructions for building talismans or making amulets.

It will be useful to observe the progress made and the repeated errors that need to be corrected.

Each witch has her/his own Grimoire also called the Book of Shadows from the Wicca.

Each witch writes her/his personal spells on the library after proving its effectiveness.

Your Grimoire must be a notebook with the cover preferably (but not necessarily) black and rigid, better if it is easy to hide or to carry around.

On those pages symbols, drawings are drawn, and magic information is enclosed.

It is a Compendium Esotericum that is drawn up by the witch herself/himself by copying parts considered to be excellent from other books (which will remain in our library), branches of other texts and her/his own spells.

It is important not to show your Grimoire to others unless it is another witch we trust.

Those who work alone (solitary witches) do not need to remove their secrets from the shadows.

Witches usually burn their Grimoire when they felt their death approaching to prevent it from falling into inappropriate hands.

Receiving one as an inheritance is truly a great and precious gift.

The Book of Shadows can be passed on to an apprentice, their children or destroyed before death.

An Altar

It doesn’t matter how it looks like. The only thing recommended is the material of the base of it, which should be made of woods or metals dear to the Gods.

Cover it with a cloth of the most suitable color for the ritual you want to perform.

The symbols of the Gods are placed on it. For example, a white candle for the Mother and a black one for the Father.

The censer, the wand, the athame, the bell, the cauldron, and the offerings or the material for the rite.

You can also have a potted plant on it if you are practicing at home.

The Garter

It is a strip of leather that the High Priestess (the “head” of a coven) carries on her thigh as a Grade symbol.

Each garter represents a coven is, therefore, a hiss that hardly a solitary witch carries.

Candles

The candles represent the meeting point between the material (the wax) and the spiritual (the flame).

The candle is a symbol of Fire and is used to support the other instruments.

To use a candle, however, it is not enough to just light the wick, you will also have to “dress it.”

To do this, you need to rub oil on the candle’s body, concentrating on the magic work you want to run.

Don’t forget on candle holders!

Salt

It is a symbol of the Earth. It is used to create Lustral Water and for Rituals.

Skull

Many Europeans had the skull of an ancestor they used for protection and to call the Spirit of the ancestor for their own benefit (to ask questions and the like).

It is a symbol of God, of the Earth and above all of the Spirit.

It is difficult to get one currently, so it can be replaced with a handful of soil from nature. This, however, will not have the value of a symbol of the Spirit.

Incense

Represents the Air element.

The incense is used to purify the environment where the rituals take place and is chosen according to the particular qualities each incense possesses.

Often the pure incense grains called olibanum are burned on charcoal, mixed with other dried herbs that are useful for a ritual to understand what is also used in the church.

Each herb has its properties and is placed under different planetary influences.

The herbs or the grains of resin are burned during a ritual because these (singles or mixtures) give off, during their consummation, vibrations that help and push the various purposes to be implemented.

The magic of perfumes, as it has been called for centuries, is powerful on its own and in association with other methods and practices, such as burning candles.

Incense could also burn during meditation.

Incense means resins and mixtures made to slide on lit charcoal tablets while sticks are useful for purifying the air of an environment but far less powerful when used for a ritual.

However, they are practical.

Incense Burner

This instrument is used to purify the area where magical procedures were performed.

It can also be used to cleanse the house during a complete annual magic cleaning.

There is a great variety of incense burners and incense.

Incense helps the witch reach an altered state of consciousness and is an element that many who do not belong to art, who come to her for divination, expect to find at her home.

It can be purchased in the form of cones, sticks or rough.

You can mix perfumes or herbs if you opt for powdered or raw incense. With practice, you will be able to control the duration and the quantity required.

A simple spell does not require a stick or cone of whole incense to be successful.

Talismans

The symbol in magic is a crucial thing.

The symbol traced on a talisman, is in effect, what we want to achieve, create and push towards us.

A thought and a desire are things that are “felt,” but that cannot be touched, just like the entities we want to recall are not tangible and visible things to the human eye.

The symbol comes to our rescue. The symbol and the seal is the very thing that that symbol represents.

Over the centuries many great magicians of the past have ventured into talismanic art, from Solomon to Paracelsus and their treatises have fortunately come to us in their entirety.

Find out more about talismans here:
Guide: How to Make a Talisman for Protection [7 Magickal Steps]

Black Mirror

A black mirror was used for divination, but today it’s not so popular anymore.

The reason for that are other tools that are much easier to handle. It generally consisted of a piece of black glass curved inward like a sphere.

For those who still want to use it, it is preferable to buy in stores that sell tools for esotericism.

Ritual Clothing

When working, you have to take off your clothes, wash them with water and coarse salt.

Never wear jewelry of any kind, keep your hair loose if it is long, and do not wear any type of shoes.

It is preferable to feel the contact of the stone, grass, or floor under your bare feet when working.

Tradition also suggests that you should not wear any clothes or, especially if performing ceremonial magic, you should have light cotton or linen tunic tied at the waist with a belt made from a piece of fabric taken from the same cloth as the tunic.

Even the tunic must be consecrated before use.

However, it is not necessary today if you do not perform any ceremonial magic.

You can, therefore, work dressed normally.

Magic works only in silence and discretion and does not like self-ostentation.

Practitioners are shy people who love isolation and anonymity, they don’t like the attention, and they prefer solitary tranquility. The true practitioner is not recognizable.

Books for Witches

There are so many things to learn, and it is good to start with the thought that we will never know everything, and therefore, you’re on a path of discovering something new every day.

So I decided to group titles of books I love and suggest to my friends.

Lastly, I believe that the good old paper books, the ones you can smell and touch are much better than digital books.

Here are my favorites:

Complete Book of Witchcraft – Raymond Buckland

Wicca, A guide for Solitary Practitioner – Scott Cunningham

Earth, Air, Fire & Water: More Techniques of Natural Magic – Scott Cunningham

Witch – Lisa Lister

The Green Witch – Arin Murphy-Hiscock

Moonology – Yasmin Boland

Wicca Book of Spells – Lisa Chamberlain

Tarots

There are many divinatory tools, but Tarots have a special place in my heart.

I found they are easy to use but yet extremely powerful.

The only thing is that you have the choose the right deck if you want to open up your intuition to this mysterious world.

I rely on the Wild Unknown Tarot Deck as, the first time I saw it, it looked like it was actually calling for me.

The style is dark and intriguing, but I felt a deep sense of harmony and peace when I started using them for my spells and rituals.

If you want something easier to interpret, you can rely on a traditional Rider Waite deck.

Follow your gut, and you will find what’s best for you and your craft!

Crystals

Crystals are amazing to boost your practice while working on some specific energies.

Here’s a list of my favorites:

• The most common is certainly white quartz. It differs from rock crystal (transparent) for a faster cooling process and is less valuable.Suitable for introspection and the search for emotions, it promotes the relationship with the Mother.
• The rock mentioned above crystal (or hyaline quartz), instead, derives its name from the Greek “kristallos”, ie “ice”, because the ancients thought it was ice so hard that it could no longer thaw. It embodies all the colors of the spectrum and is therefore considered a universal gem, useful for every purpose.It is a “guiding stone” that gives clarity. The spheres for divination are in rock crystal, and some beliefs consider this quartz capable of preserving from nightmares and madness. Shamans use it to invoke rain, but it is also known for its hemostatic properties.
• Rose quartz is a stone of love that stimulates sweetness and is worn on the heart to awaken what is best in us.Consequently, in the pharmacopoeia, it is estimated as cardio-protective, but it is also used in rose water elixirs to preserve youth.
• Citrine quartz derives its name from the lemon because it is yellow. It brings well-being, joy, joy, and optimism.It unlocks tensions and anxieties and removes negative thoughts like an inner sun. Considered an excellent amulet against the ills of the digestive system, for the mineral pharmacopoeia, it is a good agent also against depression and drug addiction.

Ametrine is a particular combination of amethyst and citrine quartz; eliminates blockages, mitigates physical and mental pain, depression and stress, promotes deep, and serene sleep.

• Smoky quartz goes from gray-smoke to brown and is a ‘crepuscular’ crystal that helps to perceive the presence of the supernatural.Besides, it brings brightness to lives that are somewhat eclipsed, and makes existence more bearable, dissolving negativity. It is also used for astral travel, meditations, and dream experiences.
• Rutilated quartz, thanks to its transparency, allows the glimpse of golden rutile filaments. Rutile stimulates the immune system and acts on skin and hair, stimulating regeneration and replacement.
• Blue quartz is never transparent, just translucent, and brings peace and tranquility. It performs an anti-inflammatory action on the oral cavity and balances the thyroid. Helps against the stress of everyday life.
• The tourmaline quartz has filaments of black, pink, or green tourmaline. It crystallizes negative forces and stimulates astral projection. It helps with life choices and helps to make good use of energy.

A Crystal Ball

The crystal ball is an ancient magical instrument. It’s incredibly expensive. Crystal has long been used in contemplative divination.

The fortune-teller fixes the sphere until its psychic faculties bloom and images, seen in the mind and projected by it into the depths of the crystal, reveal the asked information.

In Wiccan rituals the crystal is often placed on the altar, to represent the Goddess. Its spherical shape symbolizes the Goddess, as well as all circular and round forms in general, while its cold temperature represents the depths of the sea, the kingdom of the Goddess.

Periodic exposure to light from the Moon will increase its ability to release our psychic powers.

It could be the center of Full Moon rituals.

Ouija Board

If you want to try your hand at evoking spirits and more, there is nothing like the Ouija board.

The Ouija board was designed in 1891 and was used to speak mainly of spirits. Then over time, it was also used in other practices such as divination.

Moreover, an instrument made mainly of wood with a “planchette” pointer that is used to speak or evoke spirits.

Use it with caution and don’t mess with entities unless you have at least a little bit of experience. It would help if you also had a protection circle around you.

Pendulum

In my opinion, a pendulum remains the best tool for seriously engaging in divination.

It can be used alone as it is not, it is not a dangerous method and, if well used, it can give excellent results.

What you shouldn’t do when you aren’t deeply in tune with it (at the beginning), is to ask questions that have the “Yes,” “No” answer. So avoid asking trivial questions like: “Does he like me? Will I pass the exam?”

It would be best if you were more specific, start discovering. Ask questions like, “Do I have a chance to attract the person X?” or “Is my charm attractive to him/her?”

Remember that it is not “the universe” that gives the answers, but spirits and entities. Avoid making them angry with pointless questions.

Also read:
What do Witches Carry with Them? [+ A Picture of My Bag]

Tools of the Green Witch

As herbs play such an important role in many forms of spell craft, there’s a lot of overlap with green witchery and other forms of magic.

But if you place an especially heavy emphasis on working with magical herbs, natural living and earth-based practices, it’s time to discover the most common items used and referenced in green witch magic.

Tools of the Kitchen Witch

The kitchen witch builds most of her magic around food, recipes and family gatherings.

Kitchen witches consider food a sacred experience, and sometimes the line between a weeknight dinner and ritual magic become . . . well, a little blurry.

Learn her ways by becoming adept at using these basic tools.

Tools of the Sea Witch

If you live near a coastline, sea witchery just might be your jam.

Staying connected to nature for you means knowing the tides and immersing yourself in the Element of Water.

Bring the magic of the ocean home with these sea witch basics.

Tools of the Lunar Witch

Like green witchery, moon magic tends to overlap with many other forms of spell craft.

But some practitioner place the lunar cycles at the dead center of their work.

So, if you feel especially drawn to the moon and stay closely connected to its cycles, the following tools of the Craft make a lot of sense for you.

Tools of the Wiccan Witch

While all the above paths are not necessarily religious in nature, Wicca is most distinctly a religion.

Wiccans often use many tools in their practice, but the following tools are of particular importance for most.

Final Thoughts

These are some of the most popular tools used by witches to make some magic!

You can easily choose only some of them and rely on what seems right for you and resonant with your energy and your craft.

Remember always to follow your instinct and your guts. That’s the most critical support you need while practicing!