Crafts for Witches: Black Salt

 

 

Merry meet.

Witches use black salt to absorb unfavorable energies, boost protection spells and guard against negativity. It is also used in cleansing, healing and banishing, making and breaking hexes, and casting powerful circles. I consider its energy somewhat stronger and different than that of white or pink salt.

While you can buy it, it is better if you make your own. Most recipes for black salt are very much the same, and all will draw off negative energy and provide protection.

 

 

You’ll want a mortar and pestle in which you will grind together your ingredients. I used a small cast iron cauldron and the burnt end of a Palo Santo stick.

• • Activated Charcoal

The food-grade activated charcoal is what gives the salt its black color. Magickally, it is associated with fire, air, and earth; and charcoal has powerful medicinal and spiritual cleansing abilities.

• • Black Pepper

This spice is used to drive away unwanted persons, banish negative energy, and protect against evil. Its energy is masculine, and it is associated with the element of air and the fiery planet Mars.

• • Ash

This can come from burnt smudging bundles, a fire pit, incense, or even a grill. I used the ash from a burnt charcoal disc on which I’d burnt dark moon herbal incense with ingredients offering protection, healing, cleansing, and purification.

• • Pure Untreated Sea Salt

This mineral is widely used in purification spells. Use about the same amount of salt as you do pepper. If you have time, consider making your own simply by putting salt water in a clean container and letting the sun and the wind evaporate the liquid.

 

Directions:

 

 

Grind the charcoal and pepper into a fine powder. Add ashes and salt in small amounts, continuing to grind. As you work, infuse the ingredients with your intention. Store your black salt in an airtight glass, wood, or stone container.

 

It is common find recipes that call for using shavings from a cast iron cauldron or skillet instead of or in addition to pepper.

Be careful not to spill the salt; if you spill any, it is said chaos and anger will occupy your life until a spell is done to close the hole created in your protective energy when the salt spilled.

Salt has been used in ritual as far back as about 6000 BCE. Then people learned to preserve fresh meat by using salt to draw out all the water. Witches use it in a similar way, to draw out bad energy and to protect against spiritual attack – reasons for putting a circle of it around your property. I have put it on the ground outside the steps onto my skoolie.

Salt can also be used in healing, cleansing, and purifying spells and baths.

It is recommended disposing of excess salt, or salt that has completed its duty, by burying it in your yard or throwing it into water flowing away from you. If it was used as part of a hex or a curse, it’s best to bury it in woods far from your home where it won’t accidentally be stumbled upon.

Warning: Violent energies are tricky and often clingy.

Merry part. And merry meet again.

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About the Author:

Lynn Woike

thewitchonwheels.com

All my life I have known magic was real. As a child, I played with the fae, established relationships with trees and “just knew things.” In my maiden years I discovered witchcraft and dabbled in the black-candles-and-cemeteries-at-midnight-on-a-fullmoon magick just enough to realize I did not understand its power. I went on to explore many practices including Zen, astrology, color therapy, native traditions, tarot, herbs, candle magic, gems, and, as I moved into my mother years, Buddhism, the Kabbalah and Reiki. The first man I dated after my divorce was a witch who reintroduced me to the Craft, this time by way of the Goddess. For 11 years I was in a coven, but with retirement, I have returned to an eclectic solitary practice. When accepting the mantle of crone, I pledged to serve and teach. This is what I do from my skoolie – a 30-year-old school bus converted into a tiny house on wheels that I am driving around the country, following 72-degree weather, emerging myself into nature, and sharing magic with those I meet. Find me at thewitchonwheels.com, Facebook and Instagram.