It is a well-established fact that exercise helps develop stronger muscles and a more fit body. Proper nutrition fuels this healthy biological machine so it can perform at its best potential. This is equally true of the mind. The inherent psychic abilities of the human animal needs to be trained and exercised as well in order to allow you to do your best possible magical work.

While the potential for such strong psychic abilities as telepathy and clairvoyance are within the genetic makeup of the species, it has been under attack for several millennia. Through both physically removing those with strong tendencies for psychic ability from life where their genetic recessives may become dominant to a publicly encouraged ridicule of the entire psychic phenomena. There are ways to personally develop your own psychic abilities that are surprisingly easy to do. Some of the tools for psychic development are simple cards. You can obtain a set of the 'official' twenty-five card set that is used in psychical research or you can improvise with regular playing cards.

A candle can be one of the simplest yet most powerful props available to the working practitioner of the magical arts. In itself, the candle requires little in the way of ritual or ceremony. This popular craft tool can be obtained easily as many aspects of life embrace their uses. Few department stores are without a varied selection of sizes or colors of candles to choose from. Candle magic can be very basic and does not require huge amounts of space.

In Western culture especially, nearly everyone has worked a ritual of candle magic whether conscious of the fact or not. The childhood custom of blowing the candles out on their birthday cake contains all three of the ingredients of magical work. Concentration is invoked to blow them out. Making a wish is Visualization as they work to see the end result of their wish and Will Power comes into play as they hope to see their desire come true. Basic and untrained, but magic nonetheless.

There is, as represented by the Chinese ying-yang, a duality of nature that manifests itself throughout all reality. To be light, there must be dark; to be good, one must know evil. Magic, being a natural force, also includes this duality of nature. The power used to manipulate the reality around us with mind and will is a tool that can be put to either use. Through the acceptance of ethical standards most magic workers will usually attempt to take the brighter path to help balance the negativity created by the masses of unenlightened and untrained humans who add their daily dose of psychic fog to existence. There are also those who do not.

Even if you have decided your path takes you to the light, you must not be unaware of the magical weapons that can be utilized. If you never use them, that is good. However, one should never refuse to learn the knowledge of a subject they do not wish to use. It is through this knowledge that you may be able to recognize the signature of one in use and, if possible, deflect its intent. As a Witch, Wizard or whatever you call yourself, that has devoted themselves to the bright path you must be ready to take action against the destructive forces. More so than even the merely religious, the axiom that 'All it takes for Evil to succeed is for good [men] to do - nothing,' applies to those of us who are aware of the subtle intricacies of the etheric realm.

Of the various forms of divination, tarot cards, I Ching, rune stones, etc., one of the simplest to make and use is the pendulum. A pendulum can be used for location spells, to answer yes or no questions, and many other things.

A pendulum is simply an object that is hung from a piece of string or thin chain. It can be as simple as a ring tied to the end of some sturdy thread or as elaborate a beautiful crystal hung from a gold or silver chain. Some witches have better luck with using the crystal pendulums while others are quite content to use even an old lead fishing sinker. So long as the object used to make the pendulum is heavy enough to weigh down one end of the string, twine or chain.

Most of the difficulties that face the people of our world are caused by their insistence on looking for the differences in people and culture rather than seeking to find the similarities in them. Remove the cultural influences and the spiritual moralities and most people become just people, each seeking to have as good a life as possible while raising their children the same. During World War II, Winston Churchill made the statement that England and America were two countries divided by a common language. This dilemma also has it's parallels in the Magical community.

This common human trait effects us as well. One group feels that ritual is the only 'proper' way to do magic, others seek the aid of 'gods' and 'goddesses' for their power. The list of differences in the beliefs of even those of us who have enlightened themselves to a greater reality can still cause hard feelings and misunderstanding. This even between a group that has more in common with each other than the rest of the species that goes its way oblivious to the spiritual nature of reality.

A lot of witches like to use witch-stones for divination and spell casting and the Witch's Runes are some of the easiest and simplest to make and use as there are only 13 basic runes. Some witches will add stones as they develop along in the Craft in order to work very simple and effective spells whether at home on their altar or while they are on the go.

The material that is used to make these runes purely depends on the witch's personal preferences. They can be made using stones, wood, bone, potter's clay, or even Fimo. Whatever you decide to make your runes from then you may want to also obtain either some acrylic or enamel paint in either basic black or whatever color, or colors, that suits your fancy. If you really want to take the time and effort you can carve or burn the runes into wood or bone. The easiest material for making your runes with would be potter's clay, play-dough or Fimo. You can press the symbols into the any of these materials and once they are dry bake them in a regular oven on low heat. You can use paint to color in the symbols after the rune stones are baked, or leave them au-natural.

Spell Craft is the art of creating and casting spells. As many witches, wizards, or magicians progress along the path of Witchcraft, Wicca, or any other Pagan spiritual path, they will design their own spells to suit their needs.

When a budding witch or wizard begins to follow the pagan path of their choice most usespells that have been passed down for many ages that have been tired and proven quite effective; and there is nothing wrong with this. In fact, it is generally best to start with such spells. This makes it easier for the witch or wizard to gain confidence in his or her spell crafting abilities.

As one undertakes the living of a magical lifestyle there are many new lessons to be learned. Finding the right information to incorporate not only the right look but the correct mindset as well can be exhaustive. But it doesn't always have to be so. Life is also a lot about enjoyment. There are many ways to divine knowledge from just about any experience that you have. Having the ability to comprehend what you are seeing is a very important talent to develop.

One of the nice things about living life with this knowledge to observe and learn from everything is that wisdom can be found in unusual places. Many entertainers in both books and the movies have littered fanciful and sometimes quite dangerous ideas about Witchcraft, magic and the Spiritual realm. But to balance that somewhat is the discovery of a fiction that relates the truth of a thing better than mere mundane fact.

Work your way through the complex layers of outcome that can manifest through the specific actions of a spell, so that no harm can be inadvertently done to anyone down the line of its effect, can be frustrating at times. Cause and affect can play like the final snowflake at the top of an avalanche slope if you are not careful. In order to prevent inadvertent backlash from the spells we do is of great concern.

The best offense in magic and Witchcraft is an impenetrable defense. To avoid negative feedback you need to rid yourself of the emotions that would cause you to think ill of anyone. Casting a spell intentionally directing it to throw back on an attacker can leave a vulnerability as it does create a chance of a rebound through the bit of anger/negative emotion you felt when casting.