Nobody Panic - How to be a witch

Episode Date: October 30, 2018

To honour All Hallow's Eve, Stevie and Tessa look at ways to incorporate actual witchcraft into your life from simple spells to tarot card reading. Spookily, Tessa's mic is quite quiet which was fully intentional to create more atmosphere.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/nobodypanic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, I'm Carriad. I'm Sarah. And we are the Weirdo's Book Club podcast. We are doing a very special live show as part of the London Podcast Festival. The date is Thursday, 11th of September. The time is 7pm and our special guest is the brilliant Alan Davies. Tickets from kingsplace.com. Single ladies, it's coming to London.

True on Saturday, the 13th of September. At the London Podcast Festival. The rumours are true. Saturday the 13th of September. At King's Place. Oh, that sounds like a date to me, Harriet. Hello and welcome to Nobody Panic. It's me, Taylor.

And me, Stevie. As we all know, it's Halloween tomorrow. Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. So we thought, or should we say, Swin, which is what are you? Used to be called Sween. Yeah, but it's spelled Samhain, but... You used to pronounce Samhain Swin?

In the old Celtic way of pronouncing it, yes. Oh, that's going to be so much learning on this podcast. I think it's open to... Say it how you wish. Say how you wish. And we thought, well, basically, I'm obsessed with which and magic and stuff. And so is Tessa.

And we thought, well, this would be fun to do like a thing about how you can, obviously how to be a witch is quite a reductive title, but we couldn't think of another way to do it. Disclosure. I thought of the title and Stevie said, no. And she says that's the same as saying how to be a Catholic because a witch is a proper religious term

for an actual religion. Yes, a faith. So sorry, there's going to be a lot of learning. That's fine. And I'm going to try my very best. It's okay. as will I I'm not one

Faith What was the Suggestive title How to kind of Of witch up your life Or bring elements of witchcraft To improve your life That's very long and boring

How to be witches Way better We just want those clickbaity Sweet Sweet Sweet Listenes Also

If the witches Rise up in vitriol I'm ready for it Okay sure Are you Are you ready to be cursed We're trending Because everyone's so upset

With us I think they will be Because That's my hope Okay, great. Well, that's your hope and that's my fear. No, I think one thing about witchcraft, which I found really interesting, because I basically did loads of research into it last year because I was obsessed and I was writing loads of articles about it. Witchcraft isn't like a religion, like a Christianity or, I don't know, Islam or something,

where it's one big thing and you follow these things and then you are a witch. Like, it's not like that. There's so many different types of Wiccan is a type of witchcraft. Voodoo is a type of witchcraft. shamanism is a type of which you're and it's kind of all paganism basically like the occult. It's very like blurred as to what exactly all the categories are

from what I've found when I've been like interviewing people about it which means that you can just like dip your toe in. You can like read and tarot cards on a full moon. If you want to call yourself a witch then I guess maybe officially you probably do have to do a little bit more than that but what's so nice about witchcraft is it

it's like really chilled out vibe. I interviewed some witches in a Brixton craft beer pub and we drank three bottles of wine and I said till two in the morning and it was supposed to be a half an hour interview at 6pm. So it was great and then I'd also realise that I'd recorded like eight hours of composite and I'm not going to be able to transcribe any of this and it's just going to be me and them drunk. They were Wiccan and they were actually high priestesses of three covens in Yeah, like in South London. So Wicca is a more formalised thing. You get initiated into it.

You will be a member of a coven or you can practice alone but you um, you have to go through certain sedges to become Wiccan. But witchcraft in general, I just got the vibe that it was really like open and what was so nice is men and women as well

and there seems to be no infighting. There's no like, our faith is the right one and some which is like believe in gods and goddesses like the Greek gods and gods. Some just believe in kind of life force and then you just,

the whole core of witchcraft is that everything has like a life force and it's just about guiding it and with like through yourself sort of like feng shui or something. So much my jam. Making jam.

Questions? Oh my God, please. What do they do in the coven? Well, actually, it's fully secret. So when I asked them, they were like, we don't spread the secrets. Was it suggested how you might get in the coven? Yeah, you have to be a wicken.

I feel like that would be wrong. Get in. You can start a coven. It's not just a wicket thing. I'll just make up some stuff. I imagine it's like, it's spells and it's celebrating full moons. If one of them has like something that they really need to work through, then all of them will contribute to working a spell or a ritual.

but it's all very like hoods and out in the forest. They go in a forest. Yeah, yeah, yeah, all of that business. There are loads of books on it that you can read about what happens in a common meeting and like all the different hierarchical things of like how you become a high priestess and all that business. You can read it. There's loads of books. I would highly recommend Silver Ravenwolf.

That's why I did all my research. She's written loads of books on Wicca. And that's so good. Her name is Sylvia Ravenwolf. Silver Ravenwolf. If you're Wiccan, often you will have like a magical name as well as your normal name, which shows that you are now as part of the faith. That's how other witches will refer to you.

Got it. Yeah, fine. Well, I don't think you've done this week. Look, I'm just too busy thinking whether I feel cynical about the silver raven wolf. Oh, about the name. I'm just deciding how I feel. But again, what's great about it is you don't have to do that. That's the thing that I really loved about researching it was that.

So if I was like, I'd like to be Wiccan, they often say for like a year and a day, you kind of... A year and a day. Dedicate yourself to kind of learning all the stuff, connecting with other Wiccans and then maybe approaching a Covenol. whatever, I actually don't know how that bit works. But the idea that if I did it and then was like, oh, actually, that sort of is cringy for me. Like, Wiggins often believe in goddesses. I want to kill this. I want to do it.

Well, I don't think they don't kill badgers because they believe in looking after all animals. And that's the highest thing about looking after the planet and being very environmental and all of that. Because that helps the kind of good life force and all of that business. But if I wanted to just retract it immediately, I could, with no ill will, just be like, I think I'm going to be like an eclectic which,

which is a type where you just take little bits from where you want. You can just choose and then no one will go, well, you're going to hell because hell doesn't exist. It's all very positive. So if you were like, I'd like to be Wiccan, but I don't want to change my name to like a Storm Dragon. I do like that. Yeah, there we go. Then you could just be someone that doesn't have that name. Like, that's fine. You don't have to do it. It sounds very, very nice. It's very chilled out. Let's talk about adult things. I'll pause, thank you. Have a break. And I'll tell you about my pants. I'll throw them away. So your adult thing is you throw away all your pants.

No. I have been doing, and maybe in the future we all will do sort of like a capsule wardrobe episode. I've been thinking about this for a long time. I obviously buy pants a lot. It's obviously my clearly my jam. Are you O'Fay with my feelings about socks? Are we just constantly buying new socks? Oh, really cheap, prime-up socks. I understand that. I do that too. And then I lose them. Yeah. Where did they fucking go? I just love to put on a new sock. Yes. I understand. I also, when I'm going away or doing anything, buy a pack of pants from Marks and Spencers.

Okay. That's great. Yes, I know. I've combined really liking new pants with believing all my clothes are sentient and I don't want to throw them away because they'll be upset. Of course, yes. Let me tell you, I thought, I wonder if that is a phenomenon that other people find very hard to throw their clothes away. I think he's. I googled, can't throw my pants away.

I feel sorry for them. There was so much weird shit. Yes, I can not. Google that. Anyway, so I can't throw anything away. I have done this thing where I put all my pants together as one and was like, this is insanity. and everything that had like holes in and was, you know, some of them have been doing

their time since secondary school and that is too long. That is too long for pants. That is just let them go. Say thank you, let them go. Yeah. And now I only have good pants. That's really great. You've now got capsule pants. I've got capsule pants. And when you go away you will take those capsule pants away with you rather than be like just buy some more. Exactly.

I don't think I have enough pants. So I can't tell you. You have John's on mine? No, I think that would be weird. Mine is that actually it occurred to me today. I had a meeting today and we'd organized it before I went on a holiday it was like months ago and then I looked at where she worked or whatever and went there and got there and sometimes the reception thing will like send an email to the person who you're waiting to see and I got an email being like oh I've just got an email saying you're at my place but I'm at Fernandez and Wells and Tottenham Court Road which was about half an hour away I'd basically turned up to the wrong place I haven't

done that in a long time because I used to do it all the time so then I'd learned too late really to just double, triple, quadruple check everything before I go anywhere. Every day is an airport day. It really is. Every day has the same stringency as if you're going to the air. Yeah, because, and the reason I had to stop doing it is because it would make me so upset turning up at the wrong place. I'd be like, I'm unable to cope.

Like, I'm, yeah. I shouldn't be at this meeting. Also, the meeting's ruined. Also, like, they're going to think I'm incredibly unprofessional. And then I'd, like, run and then turn up looking really bedraggled and really upset and not really be able to focus and really angry at myself as well. You know, today it happened.

I just laughed. I was like, of course. And then went, turned up to the meeting, 20 minutes late, she knew that. She was absolutely fine. I was like, I'm really sorry. And I didn't like run. I just got there as quick as I could.

Had a really nice meeting. Suddenly afterwards was like, that would not have happened when I was in my early 20s. That is a huge step for you. Is that subtle realization that nothing is as important as you think it is in terms of those things?

Everyone's been late for stuff. No one's being like, Oh, that's the end of that. Just because you're 20 minutes late, or you've turned up the wrong place. Like, it's absolutely fine. Better to be like, arrive at it later, but it's like, here I am.

I'm giving my 100% rather than arriving in this like barrel of sweat, self-hatred. Too much emotion going on. No one needs that in a meeting. So everyone has to be like, take a breath. Yeah. We're all good. Everybody, like...

It's fine. We're all adults here and adults are late. And I think that was a real, it's a real turning point there. Well done you. Point is witchcraft. Obviously, I went on a bit there. I'd like to know if there's anything we can do to purify this room or begin this process or what do we be at the beginning?

We would be burning Palo Santo. What's Panosanto? Palosanto is, you can just buy on the internet on our Amazon for like two pounds. It's a herb that you burn and it cleanses. All of these things, whether or not you believe them to be like, oh, that's magic or it's a psychological trick to help you. I don't think it matters. So it's like feng shui. It's the art of rearranging your room and in your house so that energy flow is easier.

And whether or not you believe in the energy flow bit, the actual stuff that you're doing will automatically make you feel better just psychologically. So it kind of almost doesn't matter. Like you always say the magic is fast science. Yes, I do say that. And that's true. That is my saying. It's so bad it's caught on. It's caught on.

And that is like before we knew about like electricity and fire and all of that, it was all, we all knew about it. But it was magic. And I think all these things are, I think, probably psychological if you are more of a cynic. they're all good things to do. So it's cleansing or incense, any incense you have. Obviously, that is cleansing bad and negative energies, but it's also a really nice, just psychological resetting. So if you're really stressed, it's the exact same as when I'm upset, now, as we all know, now I love baths, now I'll go, I'm really stressed, I'm tense, I'm like unable to communicate correctly with anyone around me. I will go, tame myself off, light some candles, get in a bath.

I don't know if you have a morning routine, I don't, but I do know I feel better. when I've like not woken up the time I'm supposed to leave and run out the house. So the witchcraft thing is the exact same as that. Like people will not turn their nose up at being like every morning I have to have my coffee and I have to have my morning shower and I have to have that shower gel and I have to be on time for this boss.

And if I don't, I'm all over the place. And you're not, you could do those the other way around. You could get different coffee but you don't because it's like almost like a little superstition thing of like now I've set my day up. That's what witchcraft is. It's like that is just a ritual. A morning shower is exactly the same as a spell or a ritual.

It's just different words for it. it. I got so heavily into a feng shui. It's so great. I love it and you discovered that energy flows like between a door and a window so you don't want your bed, you don't want a bed in between a door and a window because then you're in the middle of the energy. So you're like sort of tucked behind the door. Great. Or like just, you know, and then I looked at my, uh, my feng shui number, your kua number, k ua, what do you think? No idea. Qua, quah. Uh, your feng shui kua number. It tells you lots of things about yourself, but which way your head should be facing,

like north-east, south or west. And you work it out by the last two digits of the year of your birth. Yep. Then make that into a single digit, so add them together. Well, what if when you add them, it's a double digit, then you add that?

So it's 88, and it was 8 plus 8, 16, then it'd be 6 plus 1 is 7. Say. Say, if it was you got 19. 9-1 is 10, 1 and 0 is 1. Oh no, it's impossible to get 19 because guys, do your own math. Do your own math. Do it yourself.

Sort out. Got that number. Yes. And then you add five. Oh, good. Yes. And that is your number. No, it's not 12.

12 is my favorite number. Yay! How is it 12? That's a creepy. And now, off you go and look up what 12 means. Not right now. Oh, I want to do it now. I won't.

You have time because you need to deep dive in. Okay, great. And is that like a personality character number? Is it like things that you should definitely have in your house. Should you have more wood? Should you have more water? Should you have more green? I always need more wood in my house. They're very into wood. Yes, logs. Lots of wood. Lots of logs. Don't have a mirror facing here. Never have a mirror face in the window.

Yes, because mirror like reflects the energy, doesn't it? And the ship sends it back out. The mirror should ideally be a cross from a wall that has like stuff on it. So if you have a vision board. We did this in Martin Aras. Because I was like, it must reflect something beautiful. Yes. Like the river. The river. The river. But all we could find was like the best bit of the car park. The nicest bit. That's enough because that will reflect back. Oh my gosh.

So if you have a negative... I'm the best bit of the car park. Yes, you are. And if you're reflecting back a negative thing, that all that's doing is doubling the negativity. Oh my God. See, all of this stuff as well, I think it's just like,

whether or not that is actually a thing, it just helps you, doesn't it? It helps you have some order to your life. Yeah. It also makes your room look nice. It makes your room look nice. And it makes you be like, I've put some thought into these things

and I have done it, and this has given me clarity and order. And a witch would say all of the thought that you put in, you've given that thing power. Like, there's this really nice thing that someone talking about like baking. So that's why I was like, making jam can be a witch thing too. But if you like, the act of making a cake or making a thing for someone is the simplest form of spell, because you put thought and love into a birthday cake, hopefully.

Or you put thought and time into making someone a present. And that is a type of magic, which I think is really lovely, the idea of like, and that's the same with like, yeah, your room, you put magic into your room because you've given it some thought. Say you're having a Halloween party. I mean, obviously you probably will have had it last weekend. But say you're having any party, quite a fun trick that I found is to, catch any negativity anyone may be bringing into your space. You just leave a glass of water near the entrance to your home or apartment and the

glass, the water is to catch and absorb negative entities brought by knowing guests. And you can also place a glass of water above your fridge or under your bed for protection and cleansing. Should you keep it there all the time? During the part-hate. Oh god. So when people walk in they will feel cleansed like water. Do you throw it away at the end? Pour it somewhere, pour it down the toilet. Who can, because it's negativity. Just flush it away. Flush it away. And I love it well like another thing is about cleansing. This is an example of something that like I just don't think I'd ever do. A glass of water, I might actually think to do that. I'd be like,

let's just see if that works. Why not? Let's try it out. Whereas you can also, if you feel like your energy is like pretty low, you can take an egg and you sweep it through your aura, moving all the way from the top of your head to your feet. Make sure you get the palms, arms, legs and soles of your feet and then you crack the egg into a glass of water leaving it under your bed for 24 hours to absorb all the negative energy and then you dispose of the egg the next day. Also I think one of the most witchy things you can possibly do, which is what I is the only thing that I started doing after reading all about it was tarot cards because also they're really like you bring tarot cards out a party which or not people are getting into it like that is a fun party.

We did it at our friend's birthday a few years ago and I got so drunk and set myself on fire and had to get an Uber home but before that point there was some real fun tarot card readings going on if you buy a self a pack of tarot cards they come with a book oh mine don't you haven't got a book no just a book just the card well get a book as well I guess get her book because it's so much nicer to be have a book than to Google so much nicer have a book then you flip to the different page you read the book and then it has all this stuff on it and my experience of doing people's tarot and I love it because people it's just a form of therapy it's people yeah all their emotion into a card and telling you what's there.

Yeah, finding their own links. Yes. And I think that thing again, regardless of being a magic or a psychological trick, it just again, like, so like every kind of few months, I'd be like, oh, I quite fancy doing a tariff or thing. I do it for my sister when I live with it, or I do it for me as well. Dim light, candle, have a go. And then the questions that I'm asking it remind me of where I am,

like what I actually want, what I'm really interested in. Because I can go through life being like, I actually am real career-based. And actually what I'm thinking really deep down is something else. And actually what I really want is this or whatever. And then whatever comes back, it doesn't kind of matter what the answer is, although it is always really interesting. It's how you respond to the answer, isn't how you kind of go, I'm going to change. It's like horoscopes.

The water above the door, I mean, safely. Next to the door. So the water next the door, the water above the fridge, the egg and a glass of water under your bed. Or all that's sort of an excuse to acknowledge a negative thing. Absolutely. Now we're at a party with a glass of water fridge and we can all be like, whoa, whoa, whoa. oh, get that negativity into that glass of water. Yeah, exactly.

You know, now we just sort of got an expression for this thing. Like, however silly you might feel like rolling an egg up and down yourself. Yeah. You're still like, this is the thing I've done to get something inside of me, out of me and I've acknowledged it. And the tarot cards, they're like asking of a question. It inherently feels silly. But so people, you know, ask quite personal things with the acknowledgement that it's like,

it is just some tarot cards. And yet it always gives back answers to that. You're like, oh, oh, gosh. That does sound like. My housemate asked, oh, like, where is my love life going this year? And he had just started going out with a girl. And so I initially was like, okay, let's do the reading. But I just, the cards want you to be aware that asking that question does not suggest that you haven't said, what's my relationship with so-and-so.

So, and so going to be like. Yeah. You ask what your love life is going to be like. So I just want to flag that to you, like, how you've worded that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And every single, literally every single one of the cards was like, perhaps moving on alone and working out who you are. Very interesting.

And it was all like, a man walks alone on a journey and night returns alone from a journey. There is no woman with him. Somebody needs to work something out before they get. And it was just, and I was like, and he came away being like, I obviously do need to work things out. You don't ask questions about areas that you feel safe and confident and good with. You ask the places that you are at the forefront of your mind. And so it makes you, it forces you to ask those questions.

When someone says, like, what do you want to ask the tarot cards? You're like, ooh. Yeah. And then you go to the one that you really want to know. Yeah, you don't want to waste it on something that you do know the answer to. Yeah. Those little things like tarot cards and cleansing and obviously the egg thing is over the top. But things like meditation is a form of cleansing, which is do that as well.

Like 10 minutes of meditation a day is really difficult to get in. But the people that I know who have actually successfully done it, it's changed their lives. Because we all need to feel like we have. control and there's something else operating that isn't just like, this is it. There has to be other ways that we... This is just spiraling chaos and the planet is just going, you know, spiraling and we're just on a rock in space and oh God, you've got to like... There needs to be order.

And yeah. And I think those things about like a seance or any of those sort of clairvoyance or anybody who are all sort of fraudsters, I'm like, if you get on the barge, have your tarot read with an open mind, you will come away, you know, sort of improved by it. because you don't have to do very much for me to say like, okay, so there's something here, there's something negative that's really holding you back. The cards are telling me that, what do you think that is?

And then you'll just tell me. Tell me, exactly. And then you're like, and the cards knew that that was there. I'm like, yes, they did. And you're like, here's somebody that's really positive. You're like, who's that, you know, that's my friend, Brian. Yeah.

The other thing that I think is useful to do if you are interested in, like, yeah, witching up your life is knowing where the moon is, like knowing what moon phases are. having a look at what those moon phases broadly mean, and then it gives you like a nice structure to your kind of weeks and months and year. So there's like, I mean, witches call them ESBats, but like every full moon is an ESBAT.

There are certain times when it's better to do certain things. And obviously for witches, that will be way more specific, like banished negativity during a new moon, etc. And you're maybe not going to be banishing any negativity because you're just kind of like interested in general. But there is, there's quite a few quite interesting studies. I was talking separate to WitchGraph. I did an article about hormones and mood.

And one of the women who's done this app about women's hormones, the idea is that it's helpful and will help women track that mood. And then we'll also, you can opt in and be part of a big pulling of data so we can see whether there are like spikes in certain days that loads of women are having things. There's some research that was done that then because it's men and because also you need money to research and because who's going to research this, women's moods and the moon.

They found very little correlation. but so little has been done on it that this woman was like, I'm quite interested to know if there is in any sort of like correlation, how cool would it be if there was? And certainly there are times of the month and not just because of periods

that all people will like, you know, the crime rate goes up a little bit. The tides are controlled by the moon and we're all fine with that. Yeah. That water will come in and then out again. We can accept that the sea will move based on the moon. Also, maybe that's having an effect or not.

How is it's minimal and we may not be able to feel it. It's like the whole aura thing, like the science behind it. the aura thing is that all living things do have an electromagnetic field. Unfortunately, I do think when I was looking into it that it is a little bit less than the man that read my aura would have me

belief and he did say that was very scientific and logical. What colour did he say your aura was? Well, the thing is, it was perfect for ages. He had this cool screen, and it was a picture of me, and then I put my hands on this device, and then it would read the kind of electromagnetic pulse off my hands, and then would transfer it into a visual

image of an aura and colours. And it was creative and scatty and like all of this stuff that was very me for ages and then I think I must have like got a bit hot or something and then it suddenly went scientific logic and that's when he took the photo and I was like oh you've it was so right the whole time we were talking you you've just done a snapshot that is so wrong but again there's not any scientific evidence to say that it's a huge amount but there certainly is some sort of electromagnetic field all of the atoms in your body are reacting with each other with heat

and everything it gives off something a tiny little thing so there is a kernel of truth than that. And depending on how the rate at which all of your molecules and everything are reacting, you may be more hormonal, you may be more of this sort of personality, you may be more anxious, so you are actually hotter because you're sweating, because you're anxious.

So actually, it all links a little bit. Obviously nobody's going to pay to be like, I wonder if women are like the moon over like, let's cure cancer. But there's one thing that's nice that you can maybe take home is that on a new moon and a full moon,

good time to cleanse your space. So that obviously you can burn sage or it just means like tidying. And it's a good time to like take stop of where you're at. And also it's quite nice. Whenever I see a full moon I'm always like, ah, I should think about clearing stuff and like get rid of any dead weight. Regardless of what that means, I just love the idea that I look at a moon and I'm like, oh, it's time to clear stuff out. Because look, it's full moon. Yeah.

Like so nice. And there's loads of apps as well that you can get, because we'll just show you what like the moon faces. It feels good and excited. It feels good to be like in tune with something and then it's like. like yes however you know however psychological or placebo that thing is you know that when you've all the travel things have gone wrong and you've booked something completely by accident you've booked the train in the wrong direction mercury's and then you go it happens every time oh my god is mercury and retrograde and you google it and it is and it is and you're like I knew it because it's all

about communication is communication and technology going wrong and like little bitty things that you just can't quite seem to nail and it happens every time it's so weird and just now I was thinking I wonder if it is and I was like, I know it's not and then I googled and it's not. Yeah, I know it's not because it's, I'm fine. You said to think in your show about

well you definitely did about how just women just want to go outside and look at the moon a lot and I think leaning into that and not feeling silly about that and being like, why is it that women are way more interested

in that sort of stuff than on the whole men are? I don't know but it's nice to think that there's some connection that men have always been frightened of women because of, you know, historically because, We bleed every month and also we create life.

And when they didn't realize that obviously there was a correlation between sex and creating life, we were goddesses. And the fact that, you know, 28 days of a mental cycle, 28 days of a moon cycle often, it's, there's all this stuff that you like, regardless of whether it's true or not, it just makes me feel happier that there may be a connection. And I like to think whenever I see a full moon, I'll get my affairs in order. I like that. Rather than it's a note in my diary. That's way more boring. Yeah. The moon thing is that women have been given the space to love the moon because we've been told we're very, you know, that's when the witching stuff is, period thing.

Like, that's the moon is all. So it's acceptable for us to love the moon. Whereas at the end of my show, my badges were just pictures of the moon. And I had a lot of girls saying, like, I love the moon. But I also had a lot of men very secretly being like, I love the men as well. As they took a badge. Lovely. So I think it's something that just like men aren't given that space to express it in that like quite such an intense fan girl.

Of course, of course. And that's why witchcraft is such a great space for it, because I think then it's like, which you think of a woman. And what other faith do we have? When we immediately just think of a woman. There's so few. And so that is the other thing, which is quite empowering as a thing. And regardless of whether you are one or you aren't or you want to be rich or you don't,

anything that you can do that empowers yourself, anything that you can do that makes yourself feel better and more able, more confident, whether that's meditation, whether that's like a visualization, whether that's deep breathing before you go into a meeting because you're like I've was late and should I just run in or shall I just actually compose myself and then enter that room with the energy that I wish to bring into that room. That is witchcraft. Also there's the thing about looking after the natural world is very important as well. Stupid things like switching your detergents to e-cover. Like that's a very like environmentally friendly thing. Just being aware of the natural world and being aware to take care of things

and being interested in it and being aware of yourself, your own fluctuations. All of that is very empowering and all of that is witchcraft. It's like that sort of dual thought that you can hold both those ideas very strongly in your mind at the same time. One is the total acknowledgement that this is logically nonsense. Perhaps. And also 100% believe. You can get it heavily into horoscopes while having met like, not a cynical edge, but you know, acknowledging be like, yeah, I get it. It's just a written down horoscope. I get it. Yeah. But I'm also totally in. I met a woman once on my first day

of work. She just turned to me and was like, watch your star sign. And I told, I'm a Virgo. And this is our opening conversation. And then she read my horoscope to me and I burst into tears. And you're like, well, well, here we are. And there are so many studies into the psychology of being told something or being given a space to be like, yes, actually I am quite in tune with my body. Yes, I do like the moon. Yes. Thank you very much. You know, there are these various studies where people, a hundred people walk into a room and they sit down on a chair and the person at the front says on your chair in an envelope. They've been totally chosen, sat at random that's filed in. on your chair is a word document with your personality type written on it. And people read it and you can see everyone be like, oh my God, how did they know? How did I know to sit on this chair? And they say, put them back in the envelopes, pass them around.

And they get them back. It's because every single one in the room was the same. Yeah. The feeling in somebody of being seen and like feeling in control and, you know, those are such powerful emotions. So important. They're like, you can know that they are not magic. Yeah.

And also that they are magic. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Like, so there's, I was going to say a couple of little spells, like, a simple candle magic spell, which basically is the complete, is everything that a spell is. And you can add as many bells and whistles to it as you like and witches will do that. But the only reason that they will is to help with focus. So the whole point of magic is to focus. So if a spell could literally be you repeating what you want over and over in your head until you get it. That's basically what a spell is. Because like you say, regardless of whether it's real magic or not, you repeating that, I have that, I am the CEO of my company, I am a journalist, I have a successful blog, I have love, I have friends, I have the confidence to go to parties when I'm frightened. That will subtly change your behaviour because it changes your brain chemistry because suddenly your brain subconsciously is focused on this thing, which it wasn't before. So regardless of how you think about what magic is, that is a psychological trick that they use with athletes and they use with everybody. It's a real thing that does happen. The power of positive thinking is a thing.

It's sound of really proven, but with a magic spell, getting into the kind of like witchy vibe just helps you concentrate rather than like doing it on a bus. And you're just like, because you're not going to focus more than you are in a dimly room with like a white candle and you're whispering over it. There's no difference between those like confidence podcasts of like a furious American man shouting, I am powerful, I am confident to you whispering, I am a powerful, I am strong. In a bedroom with a candle. Like they are the same thing.

The most simple and the oldest spell in the entire world is. the candles on a birthday cake, blowing it out and making a wish. That's the most, that's the oldest belt. When you're a kid, I remember once genuinely my wish was I want 10 dairy milk chocolate bars. And I remember being like, oh, I'm just, just 10. I just did that. So like, oh my God, that's all I want.

Like, of course, in my life I will have eaten 10 dairy milk chocolate balls. I got my wish. But the idea of holding that, like, the power of the birthday candle wish when you're like a little kid, you lose it. Like we've been saying all the way through, like that candle. wish is so important because it shows you a mirror of what you want. You were asked to put it into words. Yes.

You maybe did not know was your wish. And then because it's only a birthday is once a year thing, you will naturally forget it. But a spell would be something that you would repeat until it happens because it's a way of telling your brain to focus on it. So you won't forget it. So if you're doing it every week, then it's something that you're subconsciously behavior and everything. You're now going to start making it happen yourself.

And it's a reminder to yourself. it's going to happen. So the most simple spell is like literally get like a white candle, you know, have some nice atmosphere. Don't just do it again. Don't like a candle or boss guys. A white candle, you write out the thing that you want as if you already have it. So like I am a, I have a. People say look into the flame. I'd say sometimes it hurts your eyes. Just really focus on what you want. Repeat the thing that you want. Visualize it happening. Visualize like you actually doing that thing. You are doing that thing. It's happening. Keep thinking it. Keep thinking it. you can either burn the affirmation or you can put it under the candle.

If you burn it, then each time you repeat the spell, keep writing it out and burning it. If you don't, just keep it underneath, and then every time you light the candle, it will kind of work. And you just keep thinking it, and you do it like every day, every night. You can do it every week if you wanted until you get that thing. And then the other one, which I thought was really cool. So say if someone is like annoying you,

and you want to just chill out, you write their name, and you put their name in the freezer. And if you want someone to warm up, you put them in the oven. A non-lit oven. Absolutely wins off. And I forgot to say two main things. So if you have an idea in your head of something that you would write down on that piece of paper. Is it the two rules of which part?

Yes. I think there's such a diversity in the faith in such a different kind of ways of doing it. But this is something that I think is very common in the Western way of looking at it, is that whatever you put out into the universe, whether that be a spell, whether that be something nice that you say to somebody, something horrible you say to someone, that will come back to you three times. So that you're not in your interest to do a horrible spell, Why would you? You can, but you'd be an idiot.

Okay, okay, okay. Ever mind, the rule of three, what ye send out comes back to thee. There's like a big poem that's called the Wiccan, R-E-D-E, and I don't know how to pronounce that word, and it's got this really great verse in it, which has basically the building blocks of Wicca, but also a lot about what witchcraft actually do. It's all in rhyme, because every spell should be spoken in rhyme,

because it's easier to focus on when it's rhymed. Our brains are more attuned to that lovely melodic kind of rhythm. So you can always do that. make your affirmation rhyme. And then the other thing, which is, and harm none, do what you will, which is like, literally do whatever you want, as long as it doesn't harm people.

But obviously, both of those rules interact with each other, because why would you do something? Because it would come back to you. Eight words that we can read for Phil. And it harm none, do what you will. I apologize if it's like red, not read. I think it's read. So there the kind of two things that you have to remember.

Of course, people are like, oh, you can send a curse. You could, but have a right shit time. So don't. And love spells. things like that, you should never do a spell on somebody that's going to be controlling their thoughts. You should always do the magic on you. So that's the whole point. Like we've literally just been saying the psychological tricks and psychological things to help yourself. So if you want

something, you bring it to yourself. If you want it to go, you push it away from yourself. You can't make someone else fall in love with you. And if you did and it was successful, they would be having a horrible time because that's not what they wanted. But you can attract love to yourself. So if you wanted to do that simple candle spell that I said and be like, I found love, great but not I found love with Gary that man round the corner because Gary the man around the corner doesn't need a spell he will come to

he will come to you if you attract love he'll be there if he was right for you if he's not right for you don't force him to because no one wants that don't force Gary's hand I'm annoyed that I said the two rules at the end but maybe I'll maybe I'll I think they were good because they we understood them we understood them in the context of everything else we wouldn't have understood

them at the beginning um I'm gonna go crack an egg put it under my bed tonight put it under your, not after you've rubbed it over your palms and your feet. All around my aura. Right, it's rubbing everywhere. Rub it everywhere. And not actually rubbing it, you're doing it just like rolling? Is it touching me?

No, because it's in your aura which is around you. Oh God, there's so much to learn. It's so tricky. I hope you enjoyed that. It was a bit of a change, but oh my God, we both love witchcraft. I hope you do it as well. It's fascinating. I want to do a Halloweeny one and also I think it's something I've cared very

passionately about and I really want to get into. If I said something wrong, which I absolutely will have done because I'm not a witch and I'm sort of doing this on the fly. Please message me and I'm very, very sorry, and maybe do it like privately. Maybe like email us. Call her out publicly. No, please so because I tried. Hang her out to dry.

I tried hard and I love everybody, but I will have probably mispronounce something. Please be nice to us because everything that you put into the world will come back. Come back to you three times, so do it with love and trust. Perfect love and perfect trust. Email us, nobodyup panic podcast at gmail.com to shout at me. Tweak us at NobodyopanekPod or at Steviem, the S is of 5. At Tessa Cote. Very mystical from Tesla.

Very mystical. Quite mystical. Some of my first letters can go into my last letters. Yeah, oh, very good. That is quite mystical. I'm sure. Bit mystical. I've got an S spare.

And that's for you because you've got a five instead of an S. Oh my God. Thank you so much for giving me your ass. You're welcome. Psychologically and magically. Thank you so much. And have a really great week. Happy Halloween.

Happy Halloween. Have fun. Sam huat. Samoa. Somew. Good luck. Pop a glass of water. Pop someone's name in the fridge.

Do that candle. spell, read some tarot cards. Have a great time. Bye!