Learn about ten different types of popular magic you can practice including conjure, hedge magic, Appalachian folk magic, and some ways to practice them.
If you have read many articles by us, you have heard of magic by now. Magic is just moving energy to create a change, and it can be something as simple as using a certain color to evoke mood, or as involved as a very long ritual that takes weeks of planning. You may have read plenty of spells we have shared, and dabbled with doing magic yourself, but you are not quite sure what type of magical tradition you identify with. Listing every kind of magic humans have practiced won’t be possible in one place, but there are several kinds that are very popular and there is a lot of literature available about them today. This article will discuss ten types of magic including kitchen witchery, Wicca, and natural magic.
Kitchen Witchery
Kitchen witches use food to do their magic, and they create the food themselves. This is all centered around their personal kitchen, their magical working space. Some kitchen witches create heirloom foods for the purpose of holding their families together, and others focus on things like aphrodisiacs. Food is magical, and kitchen witches know exactly how to use food to make magical things happen. Healing with healthy food is one very powerful way to do kitchen witchery, and some kitchen witches take their craft a step further and learn herbal healing. Aromatherapy with herbs they grew in their own gardens, and blessing their own seeds they will use to grow food they use for protective magic are just a couple of ways kitchen witches make their magic.
Kitchen magic might be one of the most ancient forms of magic known to us. The bread and wine used in the Holy Eucharist of the Catholic Faith is a form of magic with food, and somebody brewed that wine and made that knowing just what it would be used for, too. Special bread was baked in Anglo Saxon England around Lammas, on August 1, to celebrate the first harvest. This sacred bread could be broken into four pieces and placed in the four corners of the barn where grain was stored in the belief this would magically protect it. The King Cake, a New Orleans Mardi Gras magical tradition, comes from France. A coin, or plastic baby doll is hidden in the cake, and it is believed it will bestow a year of prosperity on whoever finds the coin or doll in their personal slice of cake.
To make your own kitchen magic, set up your kitchen with all the wonderful foods, spices, and drinks you are passionate about. Start a personal recipe collection and allow it to grow for the rest of your life. Certain foods and food traditions will become things you are known for. For example, if you want to use your kitchen magic to help people to feel more welcome in your home, provide food, and/or drink as soon as people enter your home. Certain things like a hot drink on a cold day or a cold drink on a hot day will make your guests feel especially comforted, and it will make them want to stay longer. You can also put the energy of your love into food while you are making it and feed this to loved ones who are going through difficult times to help magically provide some comfort to them. Read about the spiritual meaning of love here: What is the Spiritual Meaning of Love?
Hedge Magic
Hedge magic can include some kitchen magic, but it doesn’t always have to. This magic is done in harmony with nature. Hedge witches have a strong bond with nature, and the untamed wilderness. Not everybody is comfortable in modern cities, and a hedge witch will often be their most powerful when they are away from crowds, cities, and alone with the natural world. They are said to “cross over the hedge” into the natural world, away from modern society, and where they can still their minds and listen to the voices of the plants, animals, and the growing earth itself. Many hedge witches are solitary witches who grow so powerful in their craft, others seek them out to learn from them. They often provide healing, counseling, help communicate with spirits, and they teach how to live in harmony with nature.
Not all hedge witches live completely away from society, but they are almost all more at home with nature than in cities. The fast-paced life of modern society is designed to drive people to succeed at more modern productivity, but hedge witches are content to tend their garden or fields, listen to the birds sing, and commune with the spirits of the waters. A hedge witch believes there is a spirit in everything including rocks, rivers, trees, and the very air we breathe, and they discover their magic from the things they learn by listening to nature. Hedge witches often act as shamans or psychic mediums, helping to communicate with the spirits for people who can’t do that for themselves.
Some hedge witches hear the voices of creatures in nature. If you have never experimented to see whether you can do this or not, you can get started right in your own back yard today. Set up a feeding station for some type of wild animal. Birdfeeders, birdbaths, salt licks for deer, dried corn on the cob for squirrels and chipmunks, and even fresh whole apples for raccoons are things that help draw animals to your yard. Supply food and water for them for a matter of weeks and observe what times of day or night they typically come to eat. Open a window so you don’t risk scaring them off and see if you can tell what they are thinking when they are near. You may be able to understand the words and thoughts of the animals like a lot of hedge witches can.
Conjure
Conjure is a practice also called Hoodoo. Some people confuse Hoodoo with Voodoo but Hoodoo is different from Voodoo. Voodoo is a religion that developed in North America combining African and American Christian beliefs with some of the beliefs and practices indigenous American Indians had. Hoodoo, or Conjure does not require you worship any particular gods, and instead teaches magical practices. Not everybody likes to know that hoodoo is something that was created by African Americans, calling ancestral spirits. Any magical tradition working with African ancestors should only be practiced by people who have African ancestry.
Conjure uses the power of herbs, roots, amulets, prayer bags, and other magical materials to create protective objects and to heal. Rituals call upon the ancestors for guidance and to help with magic, and ward off evil. Conjure is also called rootwork, and while these practices were used to protect and heal, they could also be used to work curses. Enslaved African Americans could use Conjure to curse the family who owned them during a time when they had no physical power to free themselves. Although slavery was abolished in America, Conjure is still practiced today. One example of this is to carry the Bible wherever you go for protection from all evil. Read about protective magic here: Magic for Self-Defense
Wicca
This is perhaps the most famous form of pagan magic today although it is not the only one. Wicca was started near 1942 or a little earlier by a British man named Gerald Brousseau Gardner. He wanted to recreate what he believed was the pre-Christian pagan faith that was practiced in the British Isles. He called this witchcraft, and said Wiccans were witches. He believed the people accused of being devil worshiping witches in Medieval Europe were misunderstood pagan worshippers and that they had gone into hiding to continue practicing their religion. He claimed this religion he called Wicca emerged from hiding in the 20th century, and he published, organized groups, and spent years promoting his religion.
It became obvious, when his Book of Shadows was published, that Gardner’s rituals were heavily based on the writings of occultist Aleister Crowley, and Wicca could not possibly have been exactly what pre Christian pagans practiced. Wiccans originally worshiped one horned god, Cernunnos, and a goddess named Aradia. Wiccans gathered for Full moons, New Moons, and for eight high days, or Sabbats to celebrate what he called The Wheel of the Year, or the sacred seasonal holidays. That was when Gardner’s Wiccans were the only ones, but today, there are multiple different Wiccan traditions, all of whom have their own gods and goddesses, beliefs, and practices. Spells and rituals as well as self-improvement are all part of the kinds of magic Wiccans do.
Wiccan magic is best done in a magical Circle with other Wiccans. An example of the magic Wiccans do that you can experiment with, however, is a Full Moon ritual. Get a bowl of fresh, clean water, and a bowl of salt. Light an incense stick and a candle. Place the Incense at the East, which represents the element of air, the candle at the South, which represents fire, the water at the West, which represents water, and the salt at the North, which represents the element of Earth. Say, “I cast this circle around with air, fire, water, and earth, and I ask my gods and guides to attend this circle and watch over me so no evil may enter.” Then visualize the light of the Full Moon, which represents the powerful magic of the goddess filling your entire body and ask for the power to manifest whatever magic you wish. Clap your hands and thank your gods and guides for their protection to end the ritual.
Traditional Witchcraft
Traditional witchcraft refers to traditions of magic that have been practiced in the British Isles for a long time. However, Wiccans are not included in that. Unlike Wiccans, there is no one known founder, but like Wicca today, there are multiple Traditional Witchcraft traditions. There is a belief the pre-Christian pagans practiced magic focused on worship of pagan gods and goddesses, and to venerate nature. There were ancient beliefs that human beings had to do things to make their harvests fruitful and magic could be done to ward off blight, bad weather, or any form of disease that could harm the crops. Animals, and people too were blessed.
Today, few people believe that spirits or gods influence the seasons, but people still connect to the forces of nature and venerate ancient gods. Practices like releasing a bag of flour to the wind to give thanks for a harvest, or burning a bonfire to celebrate a solar holiday are examples of what was practiced in the past, and some of today’s Traditional Witches still include in their magic. Traditional Witchcraft can refer to people who follow the Feri path of witchcraft, honoring spirits, and spiritual ecstasy also. While multiple Traditional Witchcraft groups exist, members are more welcome than in some other magical traditions to personal interpretation of what magic is best for them to do. Read about gods of the sea here: The Folklore, Myths, and Gods of the Sea
Natural Magic
Natural Magic is magic you develop based on your personal instincts of what you should be doing. You focus on your personal gifts and do what feels right. Some people who practice natural magic have no teachers, and read the occasional book, or work magic with other people sometimes, but they develop their very own set of magical practices. There is no established group to contact or read about as an example, but there is a simple way to get started doing this type of magic. Simply experiment. If a crystal feels right to carry for protection, carry that crystal for protection. If a snowy day feels like the best day to walk in nature to communicate with a goddess, go and do that. Nobody can tell you how to do your own magic, and the more you do it, the stronger your natural magic will become.
Appalachian Folk Magic
The Appalachian Mountain region goes from Canada to Alabama and encompasses 420 counties and 13 States in North America. The Cherokee and Algonquian people were native to the region, and mostly Scottish and Irish immigrants settled there. The area is still quite rural in some parts, and traditionally, coal mining was a major source of income for families. However, with the decline of the coal mining industry, poverty hit hard, and although other jobs and industries thrive there, a lot of poverty remains. Due to the isolation in a lot of areas, lack of education and doctors found in bigger cities pushed people to learn their own medicines, and superstitions and magic distinctive to this region is famous. It combined Native American lore and medicine with Christianity, European pagan lore, and African lore and practices.
Women were often the folk healers, and they were midwives and herbalists, and that’s why today, this magical tradition is often called Granny Magic. They knew what to mix together to make a salve for wounds and burns, and they knew what to use to treat infections. Once prohibition became law, the men brewed their own alcohol in hidden places, and entire families contributed to this. While the “granny healers” healed in their own way, alcohol was used to ease worries and emotional troubles and became a medicine of its own that could also be used to earn money and resources for the family. Besides herbs and alcohol, certain magical things were done like keeping a chihuahua to help ease symptoms of asthma, and turning shoes upside down before bed to make foot cramps better. Bible verses were also used in the magic.
To use Appalachian Folk Magic, even if you did grow up in this region that used to be called “The Backwoods”, all you need is some information and the belief you can do it. A simple way to do this is to become knowledgeable about what herbs cure what, but if you are a Christian, Bible verses can help. To help ease arthritis, recite Psalm 6:2, which says, “ Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.” You can keep a Bible by the door to keep evil spirits out and sleep with a Bible under your pillow to keep nightmares away. Place photos of the people you love in your Bible to keep them safe, and when you need guidance, open the Bible to a random page, and read the page for answers. Read about crystals here: The Best Stones for Anxiety
Religious Magic
People who are religious might say magic is a sin the devil controls and they say they won’t do it under any circumstances. Then they fast during Lent for ritual purification, pray to their god or angels to help them with things, and bury a statue of a saint upside down in their yard to help them sell a house faster. Religious people have always used magic and they always will. They just don’t always realize that. Dancing in charismatic Christian Churches to feel the spirit of their god is another form of magic that Christians use. Some sects of Pentecostals also handle venomous snakes during worship in belief their faith in their god will protect them. They believe if the snake bites them, it is a sign of displeasure from their god.
In Judaism, certain practices are abstained from to keep the body pure and holy such as not eating pork, and in ancient times, on the Sabbath, counting the number of steps taken on the Sabbath to ensure they walked a minimal amount was done to please their god. In Judaism, some devotees wear something called a tefillin, or a small box containing holy scriptures from the Torah they strap to their forehead or arm and hand when they pray. This is done to remind them of when their god intervened during their flight from Egypt, and it is believed to help keep their minds pure and focused on holiness. This is considered by some to be a form of protection from all evil, and some people call them religious amulets.
One simple way anybody can use religious magic is to wear the symbol of their faith in the form of a pendant, or to have it tattooed somewhere on their body. Observing all the holy days of your faith is believed to help bring you closer to your god, and abstaining from things your religion teaches will make you impure is another way to use religious magic. Making a sacrifice to your gods or goddesses is another way to use religious magic. This can be done to give thanks or to ask for their help with something. A sacrifice should be giving up something meaningful, and this can be in the form of a donation. A perfect sacrifice is to volunteer your time for a cause that would please your deity or set aside money you would have used to buy something you enjoyed, instead giving it to those less fortunate.
Affirmations
The things you tell yourself create your attitude and that decides what actions you take. It all starts with what you believe, and that is the magic of affirmations. Instead of telling yourself bad things like “I could never accomplish that!”, tell yourself something like, “I have never done this before, and I’m nervous, but I won’t know what I can achieve until I try, so I will give it my all.” The first statement will shut down your motivation to try, but the second statement sets your mind to try, and you deserve the opportunity to see how much you can accomplish. Some people do positive affirmations every day before they go places, and other people use them just when they feel like they need them. Of course, positive affirmations won’t make things automatically happen in exactly the way you wish they would, but they are magical because they give you the ability to be open to possibilities.
A very simple way to use positive affirmations for magic is to counter any negative messages you get from people. If your significant other cheats on you and dumps you, instead of telling yourself that had you been better looking they would not have cheated, tell yourself “I am so much better off without a cheater and I am open to finding healthy, devoted love.” This will make sure that instead of beating yourself up and having low self-esteem, your focus is on having a better life and opening yourself up for a better relationship. If a corporate officer named Jan, who is very vocal when she feels she knows a better way of doing things is coming to see your presentation, instead of telling yourself you are doomed to fail, tell yourself “ I am confident about my work and any constructive criticism that Jan provides will help me to improve in my career.”
Hereditary Witchcraft
Hereditary witchcraft is not something you can learn from anybody but your own family members. People anywhere in the world can learn this, and it is not distinctive to any particular region. Not everybody who learns magic from their family does so consciously. Hereditary magic in your family might be eating black eyed peas on New Year’s Day for luck or placing coins on the eyes of the dead so they cross to the afterlife peacefully. Some family members pass on magical practices like this and don’t realize they are doing magic, but some families pass on magic deliberately. Passing on your mother’s tarot deck you have used for years to your daughter is keeping a family practice of divination alive, and any magic passed from one generation to another is Hereditary Witchcraft.
If you don’t feel that anybody in your family has passed any magical education on to you, then you can always start a family magical tradition yourself. Teach all you know about magic to the people in your family who want to learn and set aside time to do magic together. One way to do magic together when you cannot be in the same location as one another is to do a candle lighting ceremony at the same time. Select a day and time, and each of you light your candles at the exact same time. You can do this to connect spiritually. Say some words like, “With the light of this candle, our bond grows strong, blood to blood, mind to mind, heart to heart, our magic unites.”
Magic is natural for human beings, and practicing magic is something most people do on a daily basis without even thinking about it. There are unlimited paths you can follow to do magic, unless you go by your own instinct, and call yourself somebody who practices natural magic, that is. There is Appalachian Folk Magic, Conjure, Hereditary Witchcraft, Kitchen Witchery, and many other magical disciplines you can learn. The great thing about all this is there is a magical tradition for everybody, and the sky is the limit to what you can learn. Enjoy walking your magical path and all the wonderful magical traditions you learn along the way.
Get a reading started to find out how to make magic today: Online Psychic Readings
About the Author: Lady Saoirse has studied magic and lore for most of her life but started walking her own Magical Path after being spiritually reborn in the desert. Today she is a High Priestess for The Temple of the Goddess, she is a psychic advisor and spiritual counselor, she shares her gifts as a Psychic and Content Writer for SpiritualBlossom, has written for Mysticsense, and she writes for PaganPages.Org emag and Green Egg Magazine.
