Mundane and Magic - Ritualizing the Everyday

I often feel like one of the markers that I often hear about when folks struggle with bringing and weaving the magic into their everyday life is accessibility.

Yet, most folk magic is rooted in accessibility. The dirt from a place, countless spices and ingredients you have in your kitchen are the root of folk magic. Not just because of the importance of food as ancestor and nourishment, but because it is what is had on hand.

How do we weave the mundane into the magic? How do we find space for our Crafts in busy, everyday life? This particular blog post dives deep into the magic in the mundane, talks about different ways to make your practice practical, and how to find magic throughout your day-to-day routine.

When we talk about witchcraft & folk magic, oftentimes I feel like there's a push for flashy routines - big candle spells, lots of time set aside for rituals during certain planetary hours or days. I love these particular rituals, but I also feel like we can look to our everyday practices and weave magic within it.

Each particular section will talk a bit about how I personally weave magic into those mundane aspects of my practice, as well as some examples of how you can do the same.

Graphic includes thread post by the Indigenous Anarchist

Cleansing + Cleaning

One of the biggest ways my magical craft interweaves into the mundane is through my particular cleansing routine. For other Italians or Italian Americans, you know the particular emphasis that has been placed on clean houses and spaces, and perhaps the guilt and trauma that comes with that aspect.

As someone with a chronic illness, I am not always able to physically clean my home, so I included both physical ways to cleanse, but also metaphysical cleansing methods I utilize as well.

Incorporating cleansing/cleaning:

• throwing blessed salt into the four corners of my home & sweeping it out to cleanse the space spiritually
• incorporating smoke cleansing into my cleaning routine - as I clean, I will keep a pot of cleansing herbs/materia (hyssop, camphor, juniper) burning. Towards the end of my cleaning, I will switch the herbs to abundance drawing (basil) or blessing herbs (st john's wort, rosemary).
• include a cleansing prayer or intention over your coffee while stirring it counterclockwise to remove negative influences.
• cleaning sheets with a bit of protective spray
• lighting protective candles while I am cleaning, working, or just doing nothing in particular
• creating a sigil with the intention of cleansing the home, then burning it or drawing the sigil on the doorways with a cleansing spray

If I am unable to or don't have enough spoons to clean, I tend to still incorporate a little smoke cleansing and light my protective candles when I feel the house is a bit energetically dirty.

For bathing, I incorporate herbal allies into the soaps + shampoos I use - my particular shampoo contains rose, and my conditioner contains olive oil. The soap I choose to utilize tends to be soaps that are created with certain intentions by spiritual practitioners. 

Depending on the skin-safety of the oils you have on hand, you can also place certain oils into your body wash. I do this, particularly, with Our Lady, Untier of Knots oil to remove any bindings or obstacles placed upon me and Curse Breaker/Spezza Maledizioni oil. If you're uncomfortable using these in a body wash or have particularly sensitive skin, I would recommend lighting a candle dressed in the oils mentioned to burn down during your cleansing/shower - a tiny little chime candle will do!

Both of these oils are my favorite when it comes to my cleansing routine. They are incredibly versatile and contains allies that both remove blockages and create a layer of protection around the user. Our Lady, Untier of Knots - Unbinding Oil is an especially potent remover of anything nasty that has been put upon you - utilizing rose thorns, nettle, and one of my favorite unbinding allies - camphor.

Our Curse Breaker oil is charged with prayers of exorcism and utilizes two of my favorite protective materials - blessed salt and rue. Both of these oils are potent for removing any sort of mal'occhio, but also for creating an energetic shield and protective layer that I have found is incredibly difficult to penetrate.

Protective Magic

I tend to do two areas of near daily forms of protection - general protective magic + protective magic against the evil eye or mal'occhio.

General Protective Magic

Some ways that I work to incorporate general protective magic into my daily routine include the following:

• wearing certain protective oils or sprays on certain parts of the body.
• routinely covering my head or veiling
• carrying or wearing certain protective charms - such as a cornicello, mano figa, or more {these charms are cleaned regularly! let me know if you want a separate blog post detailing this}
• creating sigils or symbols to continuously use for protective workings and drawing them on my body with a protective oil.

My general protective magic is heavily reliant on ancestral talismans and charms, like a cornicello, but also workings with ancestral or local plant allies. There are many times that instead of doing a full protective spell, I will carry a plant with me throughout the day {or the leaf of a plant} or ask a particular plant for assistance in protection.

This extends further when I ingest the plant - I often pray to garlic before cooking with it + ask it for it's protection, or even place certain plants at certain points in the home or outside the home with the intention of protection the space. {If you're a gardener/love outdoor potted plants, this is a fantastic way of warding your home!}

This also intertwines with my work with certain shampoos or conditioners - if I am washing my hair routinely with a shampoo or my body with a soap containing protective herbal allies, I will pray to or ask that herb for assistance.

Against Mal'occhio

In many ways, my general protective measures against the evil eye tend to be more ritualized than other aspects of my practice. Part of including these rituals in my day-to-day became more about remembering them and creating a routine with them. Some ways I protect myself against mal'occhio include:

• utilizing hand gestures when I fear mal'occhio
• incorporating oils, sprays and perfumes with herbal allies/plants or scents that protect against mal'occhio
• the usage of charm bundles + pinning them under veils or clothes
• carrying a protective charm bag, or breve, with me
• not telling people plans until they are fully set in stone or announced

The belief in mal'occhio/the evil eye and protection against it, is incredibly cultural, you may find different ways of protecting yourself from this that are more relevant to you. The idea of the evil eye exists in not only Italian & Italian-American culture, but within Mexican & Mexican diasporic, Jewish, Greek, and even Jewish cultures.

Graphic includes text post from Div's Bookcrumbs

Grounding/Integrating Plant Spirits & Land Spirits

Another huge way I bring the mundane into the magical is by having a garden. Please note, this particular part of my life and practice may not be accessible to everyone, and that's okay! I'm very privileged to not only have the space to grow certain plants, but to many days have the energy to care for them.

Some ways I integrate these plant spirits + land spirits into my practice include:

• being cognizant of the land I live on, it's stolen origins, as well as caring for it by planting native plants + removing invasive ones
• planting & caring for ancestral herbal allies, such as rue, rosemary, yarrow, and vervain {some ancestral allies can be invasive depending on where you are, and some may be illegal to get in your state. make sure you research your ancestral allies and your bioregion and know what's okay to plant and prioritize putting native plants in the ground versus ancestral allies}
• caring for the creatures of my yard and working to build them a sustainable habitat
• being cognizant of the plants that are in my yard, their needs or if they are invasive or harmful to the ecosystem I am tending to
• learning and volunteering for organizations run by the Indigenous stewards of the land I am on that are spearheading Land Back movements

Being able to work with a garden or local spirits also allows me to get time outside, ground, and get my hands in dirt. I tend to spend quite a lot of time outside during the summer, even doing my work outside, while in the winter I work with specific land spirits/allies that are still growing & green in my yard. My work with land spirits & plant spirits tends to be very seasonal, as does the way I interact with them. I work more with stinging nettle during the spring and summer, when my allergies are severe, and more with juniper, pine, and rosemary during the winter - when I am making soups and tending to the home.

Ancestor Veneration and Food

Food is a huge part of Italian & Italian American culture. Since I deal with a chronic illness centered on ingestion of certain foods, I tend to cook most of my meals at home throughout the week.

When I cook, especially when I cook ancestral dishes, I typically call in my ancestors for assistance. These include traditional holiday foods and cookies, pastas, bread, and more. When I do this, I often just light a candle for my ancestors and ask them for their help. From there, I focus on cooking. You would be surprised how much information pertaining to recipes comes through when you do this.

One recipe I've been utilizing quite a lot recently is everything soup. While there will be a separate Soup Magic blog post, I did want to include this recipe for those seeking ways of incorporating more homemade foods into their routine or just seeking new, magical recipes. This originally came from a Youtube video of mine.

Everything Soup

Two ribs of celery

chopped celery leaves

two carrots, chopped.

chopped mushrooms, diced. 

Potatoes (of any variety)

Bone broth or chicken broth

Spices of your choice

1. Chop celery & carrots, then add to a pot with olive oil and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes.
2. Add your mushrooms and let cook, while stirring, for around 2-4 minutes or until they grow soft.
3. Add your spices. I used: rosemary, bay leaves, salt, pepper, basil, and paprika
4. Add in your potatoes with some extra olive oil, stir frequently.
5. Add in a full container of chicken broth/bone broth, then another full container of water. Turn to med-low heat and simmer for 1-2 hours. 

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