Spiritual Living 101 - Selecting and Using Magickal Tools

Magickal tools are items that you use in your spiritual practices. They can be anything from wands to stones, athames to incense burners. What you use and how you use them is entirely up to you.

Choosing magickal tools is a very personal decision, and will have an impact on your spiritual workings. Many people, when they first begin practicing Paganism or Wicca have the misguided belief that they need to have certain tools for their magickal workings, and that no others will do. They believe that they need to have an athame (ritual knife), censer, chalice, salt vessel, wand and other items, and they must be just so or they won't work. This is simply not true.

The entire purpose of magickal tools is to focus your spiritual energy into your prayer, spells or rituals. If the items don't feel good in a spiritual sense, they won't work well for you. Every item on your altar, and every tool you work with should seem like an extension of yourself. It should please you to look at and touch all your magickal tools. If you're not happy with them, that negative energy is going to find its way into your magickal work.

When you select altar items and magickal tools, you can go to a metaphysical shop and buy fancy items if you want to. If you think they look the way you want, and they feel good when you touch them, then by all means, buy them. However, you can just as easily use items you already own, things you find outside, or items you buy from other stores and even yard sales. Where you get the item and what it's called is totally irrelevant. What matters is that the items looks and feels right to you.

I'm an extreme minimalist when it comes to ritual, so I don't have a lot of tools on my altar. I have a set of silver "chalices" (wine glasses) that I got at an antique shop, cast iron candle holders I got at a dollar store, an incense holder I built myself, a salt vessel that's actually a tiny crystal candle holder and a deck of Dragon Tarot cards. That's it. I have a selection of inexpensive candles and incense that I pull out for rituals and that's about the sum of it.

If you want to use other tools, feel free! It's all about what makes you happy. I know some people who cleanse their ritual space with a bessom (ritual broom, sometimes made of natural materials, and sometimes just a plain kitchen broom), some have an offering plate of some kind, some have a ritual sword, some even have special ritual clothes. Do and have what works best for you. If using your DustBuster as a ritual cleansing tool makes you happy, use it. If you want a crock pot or an antique crystal punch bowl as a cauldron, go for it. Use whatever makes you happy and full of positive energy.

You should also never feel obligated to use any particular tools, if it doesn't feel right. For instance, a lot of Pagans use a wand in their magickal workings. I hand-made one for myself at one time, but I never really liked using a wand in my rituals, so I stopped using one. My ritual knife is also more decorative than anything, I don't actually use it in ritual. Runes never really worked for me either, though some people swear by them. Choose what tools you will and won't used based on what feels right for you, not what someone says you should or shouldn't use. All magickal tools should be personal and special to you. Find and use whatever works best for you.