Items you can find in nature
Bring the properties of individual plants and creatures into your spells -for example pigeon feathers could be used to infuse a spell with cunning and resourcefulness...
Feathers
Represent air on an altar, use for spells involving travel or flight or to invoke the spirit of the bird.
Crystals
Different crystals have different properties which can be useful in either casting or healing. Crystals can be used to represent the earth, to aid in mediation or even to create a crystal tarot for divinatory purposes.
Rocks
Representations of the earth, of longevity and of strength.
Fossils
Use in workings to add age, experience and the ability to be unscathed by changes in the world.
Plants
Different plants and herbs have differing properties both magical and medicinal. Many herbs marketed on websites as specialist actually grow wild quite locally. Get a good book on identifying local flora before buying anything dried or pregrown.
Berries
Use for working involving nutrition. Good as a seasonal offering to those who honour deity.
Moss
Use for spells involving change and steady growth. The cushioning effect of moss can also be put to handy use in protection spells.
Tree bark
Useful to symbolise change and growth from within. The woods of different trees have properties that can be brought to a working through the bark of the tree. Tree bark and fallen twigs are also handy for makeshift wands for impromptu outdoor magic.
Snail shells
Symbolic of the home. Good for casting spells that involve protection of the home and the safety of the occupants inside.
Acorns
An association with wealth. Collect either as an offering for deity or keep on the person as a talisman for luck and prosperity.
Conkers
Resonant of the Autumn. A harvest festival offering. Use to invoke the property of toughness and strength. Conker shells (the green prickly casing) can be used to store items for magical protection or filled with a spell and left in the earth to rot for slow yielding spell work.
Caterpillar Chrysalis
The metamorphasis of change from one thing to another. A powerful spell constituent indeed...
Road kill/dead animals/dead birds
Dead animals can be used for invoking the spirits aligned with them to assist in your work.
Dead bees
Great for hexing, adding to spell bottles and shaking up with poppets of people you don’t like.
Rose thorns
Can be employed for hexing - most commonly pressing into wax poppets to cause pain.
Cat claws
Cats are associated with independence. Good for dissociation works and breaking away from the status quo.
Spider parts
Good for spells to engineer fear or to enhance stealth. Spiders are also the creators of their own homes so spider parts can be an useful
ingredient for spells involving the home. Spider webbing can be used to wrap items in for magical protection or for secrecy - wrap the representation of something you wish to keep from others in the webbing of a spider.
Snake skin
Used for spells involving change and leaving the old behind. Can also be used as a binding agent for binding spells or workings intended to protect a person. Plays a large part in Hoodoo.
Hagstones
Tie string or leather cording through a hagstone and use as a pendulum for divinatory purposes.
Dandelion root
Mandrake roots have a traditional use for customisable living poppets. As pretty much nobody can grow mandrake (well I can't!) then dandelions with their deep root system are an excellent substitution for this purpose.
Weather – rain/hail stones/ snow, sun scorched earth
Snow can be kept in the freezer and used for cooling spells in summer. Hail stones can be used to bring violence and passion to a working. Sun scorched earth would be a good ingredient if you wanted to reduce the chances of conception or reduce fertility and rain is commonly made use of to symbolicaly wash things away or cleanse them.
Mould
Use for spells needing decay or where you want to spoil something.
Graveyard dirt
Invoke protection from ancestors or use as a foundation in opening dialogue with the dead. Again, this has its roots in Hoodoo.
Fire ashes
Add flame to spells safely. Also good to invoke the symbolism of new beginnings, using the ashes to represent a beginning coming out of an end.
Feathers
Represent air on an altar, use for spells involving travel or flight or to invoke the spirit of the bird.
Crystals
Different crystals have different properties which can be useful in either casting or healing. Crystals can be used to represent the earth, to aid in mediation or even to create a crystal tarot for divinatory purposes.
Rocks
Representations of the earth, of longevity and of strength.
Fossils
Use in workings to add age, experience and the ability to be unscathed by changes in the world.
Plants
Different plants and herbs have differing properties both magical and medicinal. Many herbs marketed on websites as specialist actually grow wild quite locally. Get a good book on identifying local flora before buying anything dried or pregrown.
Berries
Use for working involving nutrition. Good as a seasonal offering to those who honour deity.
Moss
Use for spells involving change and steady growth. The cushioning effect of moss can also be put to handy use in protection spells.
Tree bark
Useful to symbolise change and growth from within. The woods of different trees have properties that can be brought to a working through the bark of the tree. Tree bark and fallen twigs are also handy for makeshift wands for impromptu outdoor magic.
Snail shells
Symbolic of the home. Good for casting spells that involve protection of the home and the safety of the occupants inside.
Acorns
An association with wealth. Collect either as an offering for deity or keep on the person as a talisman for luck and prosperity.
Conkers
Resonant of the Autumn. A harvest festival offering. Use to invoke the property of toughness and strength. Conker shells (the green prickly casing) can be used to store items for magical protection or filled with a spell and left in the earth to rot for slow yielding spell work.
Caterpillar Chrysalis
The metamorphasis of change from one thing to another. A powerful spell constituent indeed...
Road kill/dead animals/dead birds
Dead animals can be used for invoking the spirits aligned with them to assist in your work.
Dead bees
Great for hexing, adding to spell bottles and shaking up with poppets of people you don’t like.
Rose thorns
Can be employed for hexing - most commonly pressing into wax poppets to cause pain.
Cat claws
Cats are associated with independence. Good for dissociation works and breaking away from the status quo.
Spider parts
Good for spells to engineer fear or to enhance stealth. Spiders are also the creators of their own homes so spider parts can be an useful
ingredient for spells involving the home. Spider webbing can be used to wrap items in for magical protection or for secrecy - wrap the representation of something you wish to keep from others in the webbing of a spider.
Snake skin
Used for spells involving change and leaving the old behind. Can also be used as a binding agent for binding spells or workings intended to protect a person. Plays a large part in Hoodoo.
Hagstones
Tie string or leather cording through a hagstone and use as a pendulum for divinatory purposes.
Dandelion root
Mandrake roots have a traditional use for customisable living poppets. As pretty much nobody can grow mandrake (well I can't!) then dandelions with their deep root system are an excellent substitution for this purpose.
Weather – rain/hail stones/ snow, sun scorched earth
Snow can be kept in the freezer and used for cooling spells in summer. Hail stones can be used to bring violence and passion to a working. Sun scorched earth would be a good ingredient if you wanted to reduce the chances of conception or reduce fertility and rain is commonly made use of to symbolicaly wash things away or cleanse them.
Mould
Use for spells needing decay or where you want to spoil something.
Graveyard dirt
Invoke protection from ancestors or use as a foundation in opening dialogue with the dead. Again, this has its roots in Hoodoo.
Fire ashes
Add flame to spells safely. Also good to invoke the symbolism of new beginnings, using the ashes to represent a beginning coming out of an end.