#2024 grimoire challenge

[2024-grimoire-challenge]

Bonus Prompt: Witchy Calendar

This prompt is fairly self explanatory. Though 2024 and the challenge are over, plan out your year with events, holidays and even moon phases or other astrological events for the year ahead! Having these in your phone or on a paper calendar can help you to plan spells and rituals accordingly, especially if you prescribe to doing certain spells during certain moon phases.

So what things are on a witchy calendar?

Moon phases

Astrological occurrences

Holidays (wheel of the year or otherwise)

Regular life events

Rituals and spell timing

Any important dates to your life or practice

Anything you see fit for your practice!

So plan it out! In your phone with reminders, on your computer or even on a paper calendar hanging on the wall! Work the magic into your year!

-Mod Hazel

[thatdruidgal]

New Year's 2024 Grimoire Challenge!

Let's start off 2024 with a month-long grimoire challenge!

I know that I love to always gather new information for my grimoire, and so I wanted to share this challenge with you.

For the entire month of January, complete one of these activities every day in your grimoire. If you have already completed the question, expand on the information you already have!

There is a beginner level and an advanced level for witches of all stages. If you'd like to, post your responses to the questions here and tag it with #branwens grimoire challenge! I'd love to read all of the wonderful information you find, so tag me too, if you'd like.

Farewell and good tides!

January 2024 Grimoire Challenge

by Branwen (@thatdruidgal)

Plants - Beginner: What are the correspondences of five plants that grow in your local area? Advanced: Come up with a new combination of plants to burn in your next ritual.

Heritage - Beginner: Where do you come from? What types of magick did your ancestors possibly practice in their homeland? Advanced: What were common for your ancestors (eg. food, clothing, daily life)?

Practices - Beginner: What is the difference between closed and open practice? Are you permitted to learn about any closed practices? Advanced: What are 2 open practices that you don't follow? What are some similarities with your practice?

Energy - Beginner: What is energy work? How would you begin this practice? Advanced: What are the four energy types, and how can you connect to each one?

Water - Beginner: What are the uses of moon water? How can you make it? Advanced: How would adding moon water affect your favorite potion recipe?

Altars - Beginner: How could you represent each of the elements on your altar? Advanced: What colors are you not currently using in your altar? Which elements do those colors correspond with?

Salts - Beginner: What benefits do you get from moon salt? How do you make it? Advanced: Research cleansing salts and add the recipes to your grimoire.

Omens - Beginner: What are five ways to bring yourself good luck? Advanced: What are recurring signs you've noticed recently? What sort of message do they bring?

Animals - Beginner: What is an animal(s) that you have always felt a strong emotional bond with? What are their traits? Advanced: How has your spirit animal helped you in the past? How have you communicated with them?

Astrology - Beginner: What are the correspondences of the planets? Advanced: In what ways have you been affected by the planets recently? How can you better their influence in your life?

Crystals - Beginner: What are the correspondences of your 5 favorite crystals? Advanced: What other crystals could have improved your last spell? What are some of the substitutes that could have been used instead?

Cleansing - Beginner: What cleansing methods can you use for your crystals and tools? What methods can you NOT use for certain crystals or tools? Advanced: What crystals require extra cleansing? What crystals cleanse other items?

Recipes - Beginner: Find a recipe that helps you with a problem you've been experiencing recently. Advanced: Find a recipe for you to use during the next moon phase.

Spirits - Beginner: What are the five types of spirit guides? Advanced: How can you better connect to the spirits around you?

Motivation - Beginner: What are some easy witchy tasks that you can do when you have low energy/motivation? Advanced: What are easy-to-perform spells or rituals that help boost your energy? Are there any common ingredients? Create a new spell with these.

Divination - Beginner: What are 5 types of divination that you find interesting? Advanced: What type of divination have you used most often? How can you improve your practices by adding crystals/items?

Healing - Beginner: What plants are used in your favorite medicinal tea? What are their correspondences? Advanced: What is a local plant that has medicinal properties? How would you use these in a spell or potion? What other correspondences does this plant have?

Candles - Beginner: What is your favorite scent of candle? What correspondences does that scent have? Advanced: What colors of candles do you burn most often? How would burning a different color of candle affect your atmosphere or your next ritual?

Sigils - Beginner: What are active ways to activate a sigil? What are passive ways? Advanced: What symbols (eg. celtic knots) work as sigils? What are their uses?

Offerings - Beginner: What are suggested offerings for spirits during the next Sabat holiday? Advanced: What things do you normally offer the spirits as offering? What is their favorite offering?

Sabats - Beginner: What are the eight Sabats? Advanced: What are some of the correspondences of the Sabats? What rituals are best done during these times?

Plants - Beginner: What are the bloom times for your plants? Advanced: What other plants can you grow in your climate? What are their correspondences?

Recipes - Beginner: Find a recipe for a tea/potion you'd like to make. Advanced: Find a recipe for a Sabat-specific item.

Warding - Beginner: What are 3 easy ways to ward an area? Why would you want to do that? Advanced: What are ways to refresh your wards? What are ways of warding that you haven't tried yet?

Enchanting - Beginner: What is enchanting? Advanced: What are the easiest materials to enchant? What are the hardest? (eg. iron doesn't stick to magick)

Fae - Beginner: What are things you need to be wary of when interacting with Fae? Advanced: What are signs that Fae are near? Describe 5 different kinds of Fae.

Zodiac - Beginner: What are your zodiac signs? (sun, moon, ascendant, etc) Advanced: How do each of your zodiac signs affect you? What is another type of zodiac (eg. Chinese, Celtic), and what is your sign there?

Personal Beliefs - Beginner: State 5 things that you believe to be true about the universe. Advanced: What are your beliefs on creation? On karma? On dieties? On planes of existence? Be detailed.

Practices - Beginner: What are 5 different spells or rituals that you've been looking forward to try? What are the ingredients? Advanced: How did your last 5 spells go? Did you get the results that you wanted? How can you improve your practices in the future?

Types of witchcraft - Beginner: What are 10 different types of witchcraft? Which of those appeal the most to you? Advanced: What types of witchcraft do you not follow? Are there any that you haven't researched?

Crafts - Beginner: What is knot magick? What is something you could make with this magick? Advanced: How can you incorporate knot magick into your everyday life? (eg. doing hair, bed routine, fiddling)

[starforged-witch]

I've been trying to get better at actually writing things down in my grimoire, I thought it was kinda cute and maybe it could be useful to someone :)

[jasper-pagan-witch]

Guess who didn't do any December prep for the 2024 grimoire challenge and is now rushing to do it after a full day of work halfway through January week one? Procrastinating practitioners, let's fucking goooo!

[ofthecrowsandcranes]

52 herbs/plants for the @2024-grimoire-challenge

including: some of my favourites, some local plants, and some i know are in my cabinet

bay

echinacea

crape myrtle

sorrel

nettle/deadnettle

sunflower

lemongrass

mullein

mugwort

star anise

olive leaf

hibiscus petals

hawthorn berry

st. john's wort

dandelion root

eucalyptus

calamus root

anise seed

angelica root

hyssop

orange peel

cedar

calendula

lemon peel

jasmine

chamomile

rosemary

thyme

sumac

basil

sesame

garlic

oak

dogwood

magnolia

juniper

sage

dandelion

willow

ginger

cinnamon

maple

clove

ragwort

salvia

hackberry

rose

violet

ironweed

cattails

sweetgum

lemon balm

what i'll be looking for while researching/how i'll be structuring my research entries under the cut

name of plant: scientific and most common names

location: current locale, origin, climate it prefers, invasive status

identifying characteristics: leaves, flowers, stem, smell, colour, all that

method of acquisition: how easy is it to get/where to get it

use: medical, agricultural, industrial, culinary, cultural, magical

personal notes: my experiences with this plant + any salient UPG

image: best artistic rendition i can manage

[thehazeldruid]

Bonus Prompt - Other Perspectives

For this week's bonus prompt we're going to take a look at our own perspective on things and the perspectives of others.

Think and look back on you pages, about how magic works in your perspective, about how different things work. Then look at other people's ideas, thoughts, and beliefs on the same subjects.

No two witches practice exactly the same, or have the same beliefs. And one way to grow in our own beliefs, is to challenge them. To discuss with others who don't believe the same things those differences. It helps to broaden our perspectives, our minds, and if done correctly, our hearts.

So take a look at different perspectives and beliefs on magic and witchcraft. Compare it to your own. And if you know someone who believes differently than you, perhaps take the time to discuss those differences. You could both learn something.

[fur-teeth-bones-earth]

how I write spells

Completed as part of the 2024 Grimoire Challenge!

Basic Process

- Decide on a goal

- Decide on the mechanism to achieve your goal. Is it energy work? Food? Poppets?

- Decide on necessary materials. 3 ingredients is a good benchmark

- Decide on timing. Plan to set aside as much time as necessary to both procure ingredients and execute the spell

- Check via divination if this is the correct path. If not, repeat earlier steps

- Document planned spell in advance

- Execute the spell

- Document the immediate mechanical workings of it. What did you do? What was involved? How would you replicate it?

- If necessary, divine on immediate results

- Wait for results. Continue to divine as necessary

- Document results when they come in (or, if they never do, document that too!)

[farmboyprince]

I've decided to participate in a grimoire challenge I found, since while I've had ideas for a while, actually doing my research and writing it all down is something I have been putting off. I probably won't be able to do it daily since my uni often stretches from 6am to 9pm, but I'll do my best to keep up with it!

My practice focuses a lot on things that are close to me, so I'm changing the prompts a little bit; instead of gems (not much you can find yourself here and no ethical supplier without enormous shipping costs), I'll research other spell components like salt and its variants, eggshells, sea shells, methods of preserving the plants I pick, making my own tools and so on.

For the plant prompts I'm also choosing ones I can easily find either freely growing outside or ones I can plant and grow myself:)

I'll be writing everything in my mother tongue to kick out the cringe feeling of it. There's some translation difficulties, which is why I really appreciated today's prompt of writing definitions!!

all in all, I'm really excited! With this, I'm hoping to expand my knowledge, forage for more than just 5 plants a year and do some introspection too<3

[kentnaturaltribrid]

@2024-grimoire-challenge

I was quite bored with the day so Did an systematic memory of the pieces. Most of it is far from finished, but it’s an systematic memory of a few pieces of the laziric and a few other things that are there for a pastirical reference to many of the other pieces and daeseric system. The only part of which is sertoric and saeteric and mostly full of old books and other means of reading among the various terinical pieces of the daeric and serpentine system and the whole of the saerin and saelic system in which the whole system is composed of a whole lot of symbols and ancient words among the few other elements of the entire structure. Most of them are very hard to make out in a simple words or a few pages. There’s a complete set of terorical structures which are very much a daerin and then there’s a paeric structure and Daevic and Faeric pieces that in which it provides a generic of a language that is very much of the origin of Dain and Erorlic and a few older ones of a very specific set of words and then a Elic and Divic and Sarlic among others that are similar to those of the Old Ways and Ferinical and among other Waeric languages among others is a Weseric and a smaller set of choice paenic words and waenic ways of which are more common in the context of the Waezeric and other ancient oric and other forms of languages in which are difficult to write and often a few webisaric and complex languages that which are Waenarizer and Vampire among others include the Zaneic languages which have a similar style and the following three types. The Witch, the Taeric, and a smaller group of people in which are known as a Faezic. Among them is the Saerlivinical and the Holy Ghost and a few other things of which is the Naerivical and the Holy Salonica and the other old gods of which are the Zaeri and the Holy Xaevic. The latter group of which is the Holy Daemon and the Holy merzeric, which are the Kaeric gods and the Holy Zenith. The other three groups of which are The jesterinical gods and the other three gods are the kerinic gods among which they have a smaller group of Dragons and the Holy Caerinic and the Holy Gaestin. The two are all of the other three and the rest are the Savic and the laenic, the triorical.

[crowehorte]

Daily Grimoire Challenge Day 1

From the @2024-grimoire-challenge Week 1 Prompt List

Spell: A set of written instructions that outline the material, verbal, and somatic components of a magic working with a specific intended outcome.

Ritual: The process of casting a spell.

Lavender A genus of 47 plants from the mint family. Native to the "Old World," lavender is found across Europe, north and eastern Africa, and southwest Asia all the way into India. It is also know as Spikenard or simply Nard, with the origins either stemming from the ancient Greek city of Naarda or the sanskrit word Nalada. The late Latin name used commonly in modern times comes from Lavandarius, which refers to lavanda (things to be washed) and the verb lavo (to wash).

Lavender grows best in sandy or gravelly soil and requires a full 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight. Too much humidity or water in the soil can cause fungi to grow and roots to rot, which is why well-draining soil is required for it to grow well. English lavender has a germination period of 14 to 28 days and reaches full maturity after 100 to 110 days.

It's frequently used in essential oils and potpourri mixes for its fresh, sweet scent with faint citrusy notes, and it's often paired with Chamomile in aroma therapy blends dedicated to relaxing and soothing the mind. As a spice, it's often added to desserts or paired with mild sheep or goat milk cheeses. Lavender buds can be steeped in sugar and boiled to create a syrup that can be added to coffee, tea, and baked goods, and it pairs well with chocolate flavoring.

Lavender has been used as an ingredient in incense and perfumes throughout the centuries, and has been referenced in the Christian bible. It's commonly associated with St Joseph of the Catholic faith; the patron saint of fathers, families, expecting mothers, unborn children, virgins, and workers. He is invoked in prayers regarding employment and vocation, happy marriages, grace in death, and daily protection.

In my experience, lavender is frequently used as a spell component used in purification, protection, and general blessing spells. Given the association with St Joseph, the frequency it appears in lotions and soaps, and how it's used to aid in sleep and relaxation, I think that its mundane uses heavily inform its magical use. We associate it with cleanliness and good vibes, and fathers are often our first protectors, so it makes sense to use it in this way.

[markedbyfireandash]

2024 Grimoire Challenge: January Week 1

Figured I could do the @2024-grimoire-challenge more consistently if I answer the prompts in batches instead of daily.

Preparatory Work

Notebooks I already have a planner-journal for messy notes, dream journaling, and personal insights, a pile of loose paper for research notes and organizing them, and a dedicated logbook for keeping track of arcane shenanigans. I'll be answering most of the prompts on my personal journal. Research-related ones will go to my research pile.

List of 52 herbs to study Skipping for now. I already have a good number of botanicals researched for both mundane and magical use. May instead post my research notes on whatever new plant I come across that interests me.

List of 52 crystals to study Definitely skipping. I don't use crystals enough to make a deep dive worth it. I already did my research on the ones I own, and currently have no plans to collect crystals for magical purposes. May or may not replace this with a random topic deep dive.

Grimoire

Naming the Book

I already do name my magical tools, even my journals! In my personal craft, names hold immense power, so the act of naming is itself some sort of consecration and empowering ritual. Considering their importance, I will be keeping these names private.

Outline/Index Pages

My arcane logbook has one, as it's the only one that will actually benefit a lot from it. The rest of my notebooks (including the pile) run mainly on tabs.

Definitions

Ritual Any action or set of actions with a symbolic, cultural, and/or emotional significance typically done on specified events.

Spell An act of magic done to achieve a specified purpose, usually to enact a change in the world according to the caster's will through symbolic gestures.

Personal Practice

Spell Writing

A spell is itself a tool that creates another tool specific to a predefined purpose. My approach to writing spells is very similar to problem-solving in general, and is very loose.

Identify a problem and its causes. If there's currently no direct problem, then I find a goal to achieve.

Identify the best or most feasible method to achieve the goal.

Survey available resources. Adjust goal and method if needed.

I don't adhere to a particular format, but in general, a spell for me consists of:

A source of energy or power

A way to color, filter, alter, move, or interact in any way with that power

An anchor or a physical vessel for the spell

Some examples of a power would be myself, a fire, physical movement (dance, wind, song), spirits, the materials themselves, celestial influence, cultural significance, and emotion. Interacting with that power may utilize divination, spirit communication, prayer, visualization techniques, meditation techniques, physical gestures, tools such as wands and knives, and so on. The anchor is not required, but it's useful for maintaining and dismantling spells, and I personally just like creating something physical for the spell to hold on to.

Common Tools

Paper, to hold names, words, sigils, and even material and immaterial influences. A blank canvas full of potential.

Any writing tool. A regular writing pen or pencil works, but brush and dip pens are great for working with specialized, magical inks. Toothpicks for writing on candles, cotton buds for harsher liquids such as alcohol and oil, chalk for most non-paper surfaces. Even a finger would do. A tool of creation and direction.

A tarot deck, sometimes a normal deck of playing cards, both a divination and a spell tool.

Candles - white tealights, mostly - to carry light or flame, act as a power, be a source of wax, or be a way to suffuse scent. Scented candles especially are reserved for offerings.

A tea cup, to hold water - and metaphorically 'hold' things that the hands can't. Cups are good for small things that don't need much heating. For anything that needs to be hotter than boiling water, I use the pot. Pair with a strainer to filter out unwanted things. Lidded containers for storage.

Washi tape, which makes hiding magic in plain sight easier.

Scissors for snipping plants, paper, thread, and connections.

Miniature, pen-sized broom used for quick cleansings and asperging.

Music, both to mask the sounds of spell casting and to define a space away from the mundane.

I should experiment with things like bookmarks and keys, and the tea plant stave I have currently just standing around the living room.

Calendar

The solstices mark very significant events in my life, so I like to honor those dates yearly.

Equinoxes mark a subtle but notable shift in the day cycles, so while they have no symbolic or cultural significance at the moment, I just like to track them.

Epagomenal days, ie the last 5 days of the year. Calculating when exactly they land is tricky so I just synchronized it with the usual calendar.

New years - lunar and Gregorian.

Fruiting and flowering seasons of mango, rambutan, kalachuchi (frangipani), and the cotton tree. Mostly because they're common in the area, but also because seeing them fruit and bloom gives me a lot of joy.

I'd like to add more specific dates, but they have more to do with local weather changes, which have lately been weird because of climate change.

Altar Design & Workspace

I do not have a set altar or workspace! If I need to perform a spell, I do it on the spot, using whatever flat surface is available if it is needed. Usually, that flat space is either a desk table or the dining table.a

What I do have is a spread in a notebook (one that opens flat) decorated and dedicated to specific deities, and I use that to better communicate with them every now and then.

Introspection: Personal Practices

(Keeping this one in my journal)

[2024-grimoire-challenge]

Bonus Prompt - Seasonal Magic

Okay everyone, with the changing of the seasons and an eclipse on the way, let’s take a look at the different seasons and how they influence our practices. If you feel so inclined, make a page for each individual season, or if you can fit all you’re going to put on the page on a single page, just do one.

What does each individual season mean to you on a personal level? What does each one represent?

Do the seasons influence the kind of magic you can/ do perform?

Do you have certain rituals that only happen in each season?

What associations does each season have? Animals, tools, plants, feelings, everything!

What months/ days encompass these seasons?

How do the transitional periods between the seasons influence you and your practice? When are the transitional periods? What marks the transitions between them?

What kinds of activities do you do, both magical and mundane, that pertain to each season and how do these influence your perception of each season?

Are there myths, legends or deities that you associate with each season?

Any information you can find about the seasons, anything you feel or know about the seasons, add it to your grimoire, your repository of knowledge!

Good luck and happy crafting!

-Mod Hazel

[aesethewitch]

I've figured out that trying to do a prompt a day for the grimoire challenge just isn't... it isn't working. I keep skipping days and not wanting to work on them at all in favor of other things.

Soooo in February, I've assigned Wednesdays as Grimoire Challenge Days. I'll spend the entire day just working on as many prompts as I can get through. Concentrated effort. Things needing more focus or extra research, I can come back to later.

[jasper-pagan-witch]

My hand hurts so much from working on this grimoire challenge. Am I going to change anything about my writing process? No.

I might just fuck around doing something other than writing and typing for a hot minute, though.

[ofthecrowsandcranes]

thoughts of the week

i went into this intending to write a reflection on the grimoire challenge for this week but ended up thinking more about general reflections of my practice instead, so, thoughts:

like i said in this reblog, i'm using this challenge (and a bunch of other stuff) as frameworks, because i haven't really written down much of my practice. most of it lives in my head. i have (2) partial grimoires, one that's evolved into just a notetaking notebook and another that was digital that i don't really use because even though digitization makes it easier to organise, there's something about paper that i really, really like.

so my goal/intention for this challenge is to practice consistency. attempting the prompts that make sense to me, even if for some of them i know they're going to be a rough draft of what my practice ends up being. for the spellwriting 101 one, i haven't even done enough spellwork to know what process works best for me (consequences of being more pagan than witch for the past few years), so i took notes from @breelandwalker's how to write spells post since her process is concise and feels like a good checklist of "did i consider this aspect? am i being specific enough or not?" obviously my methods may change as i do more practical work but having a good starting point is what matters the most

one of my general goals for 2024 was to just Do things, and worry less about the finished product and more about the process. so some of my pages are messy and i don't have a specific order for things. i'm filling in the index/table of contents last so i can use it as a "where did i put this" list instead of a "this will go here" list. in the future, i'll probably use a binder or something with easily insertable pages/entries as a formal grimoire, but for now, i'm recording and practicing and that's what matters most for me, since i haven't done that before. despite four years of doing stuff on and off.

i'm gonna put a cut here because otherwise this post will be Massive but i'm gonna go into more detail about some of the pages/things that i did for reference.

monday

name your book: done! i just called it my spiritual lab notebook, since that's what it is.

definitions (ritual and spell): done! very UPG, but to me a ritual and a spell differ because a ritual is to affect the Now and a spell is to affect the Later. also rituals have more broad intentions vs a spell which has very specific intentions

Study herb: bay laurel! i did a bay leaf wish ritual on new year's day with my family and my mom asked why bay leaves, and i was like "hm, i don't know the specifics of why they're associated with wishmaking" so i added them to my herbs list so i could find out, and then learned it's because they're fucking bay laurel. i feel extremely stupid for not making that connection but! now i know!

tuesday:

outline: done! it's blank, i won't fill it in until the notebook is full

study gem: not done, still trying to decide how to substitute this. i might do tarot spreads instead.

spellwriting 101: done! discussed above

wednesday:

common tools: done! i really only put three things for now, but i'll probably go back and add things as i remember/find new tools. so far i've got tarot cards, embroidery thread, and candles, but in writing this i've remembered bells and jars and beads also

year outline/calendar: done! added the Big 4 (solstices & equinoxes), samhain, lughnasadh, and christmas (since my family celebrates it). will definitely be adding more as i go, but that's what i want to celebrate (or do celebrate) for now

Practical (tool usage): done! did a 3 card pull with my elemental power tarot, since i want to use it more as a reflective tool.

thursday:

altar design/workspace: done! sketched a layout of my current altar + wrote some wishes/dreams for when i have a different space.

practical (cleansing): not done yet—around this part of the week my chronic illness stuff started to flare up, and since cleansing involves actual cleaning for me, i couldn't really do it while resting. it's on my backburner for later.

friday:

personal practices: done! did a quick journal entry in DayOne

and that's all! if i can get to cleansing today i'll do it, but i have many other things to do also, so i'll get to it eventually.

[thehazeldruid]

2024 Grimoire Challenge

One Month!

At the start of December I'll be posting the first prompts for the @2024-grimoire-challenge !!

Give the blog a follow! Feel free to send in prompt ideas either to this blog or to the Grimoire Challenge blog itself! There will be links to all of the prompts from the previous two challenges I've run, as well as a list of all the prompts for the current one, updated with each new prompt as they're posted!

I am excited to begin this challenge and to help inspire all of you!

/|\

M.G.

The Hazel Druid