How to Substitute in a Spell 🌿

not all witches have the same budget or spell ingredients readily available to them, so when one witch writes a spell with ingredients they consider easy to procure, it may not be the same for the next witch that wants to try that spell.

🌿 homemade replacements:

sometimes you can make a substitute for the ingredients, the way land locked witches can make sea water from sea salt and tap water. it’s not entirely the same but it’ll do well enough. however, not everything can be almost-manufactured.

🌿 common “replaces anything” alternatives:

• rosemary - replaces any herb
• rose - replaces any flower
• quartz - replaces any crystal
• white or black candle - replaces any candle. 

however, these are just stand in- the hold the spot, boost the spell, but only in generic, neutral energy. these ingredients can even water down the intent of the spell because they don’t support the correspondences of the spell. without components that have the intent of the spell, what do you have to direct that energy?

🌿 so how to replace a spell component?

the core of any spell is the intent, the results it wants to achieve. however, that intent is the sum of the intents of the ingredients in the spell. you need to break down the spell into its ingredients and understand what is needed and why, and even if anything is expendable.

example:  a spell to speak clearly may have one herb for communication and another for clarity, and one for luck.
the one for luck may be less necessary than the other ingredients, just there for a little boost to the spell.
however, using only the component for communication, the spell might only bring opportunities to communicate, and they may go badly or well, there’s nothing in the spell to balance that. so the other component is needed, the one for clarity.
however the herb for clarity on its own may end up only providing insight and understanding on your part, and not communicating well with others.
figure out the correspondences of the herbs and their part in the spell, and look up herb/stone/etc correspondences for that intent, and replace with what you find that is available to you. 

🌿 however, there are other times you may need to replace something in a spell, like personal association. 

say you hate lavender, yet it’s in every calming or sleep spell. if lavender makes you gag when you need a sleep spell, it’s plain not going to help the spell for you, even if you have plenty of lavender on hand.
again you research what lavender or whatever herb generally stands for, and find an equivalent, like chamomile tea. if you like chamomile and have it on hand, it can be your new go-to replacement.

BONUS RESOURCE for herb/stone correspondences/associations:  🌿  pinecone.pub  🌿