There are a lot of people following diverse paths here. It got me thinking today about what I would consider to be the most important 'tools' to have or that I *do* have and use on a regular basis. I don't just mean 'tools' as in altar equipment or one's cauldron ( if they have it), I also mean important places, books, practices or anything you feel helps you to better understand and more fully follow your path, deistic or not.

The failure of the 'Unified Pagan Field theory' has been brought up. One of the elements mentioned was people discovering the wealth of information and different kinds of 'paths' as they progressed and more information became available. It makes sense than that one should not expect everyone to feel the same need for the same things. An Asatru , Wiccan or Practitioner of magic only will certainly have very different needs than a Gywddon , Recon. or Hedgewitch, though there might be cross-overs.

So what do you consider some of the essential tools of your 'path'?

Marto

This is were I tend to butt heads with a lot of Ceremonial Magicians.
I have no Wand, Censer, Scourge, Lamen ect, I dont use much of the Parephenalia that the Ritual Magicians can sometimes get hung up on. I dont have robes or evan a Altar.
I use my books for refernece (and I have far too many books). But even with this stripped down attitude to magic I still find I would be lost without:
My Tarot cards.
Abramelin Oil.
Small knife.
I do have a few things which are personal to me but Magical? Hmmm I have a small pebble with a hole in it that has brought me good luck. I have a bracelt I allways wear when I do a Tarot Reading. I would hesitiate to say they are part of my Magical Equipment though.
I own a Sword brought for Ceremonial purpouses but have never used or even consecrated it. If a ritual calls for a Wand I use my finger.
As far as locations go, hmmm, well I do have a couple of special places, A certain Rock on a local beach, a certian place in the local woods, the living room. But i'm not in the mindset of only doing the rituals in these places.
I make whatever I need, OM has a huge supply of Essensial Oils so I can knock up a custom oil whenever I need to. If I need a talismanic object then I find a pebble on the beach of piece of driftwood.
This is a deliberate decsion on the part of our magical group, To strip Ritual Magic back to the basics. And it works for us.

Thanks! That's really interesting ! . Can I ask what the main bone(s) of contention are between your 'school' of magic and that of Ceremonial Magicians? ( obviously, I'm ignorant of the ins and outs of this ). Is it because many Ceremonial magicians feel that certain kinds of magic cannot be accomplished without certain tools or procedures?

(oh, I'm not asking for anything personal, just trying to get a general understanding. I do understand that you would have to kill me if you reveal too much )

Marto

Its simple. The Tools are Parephanalia are props to the Psychodrama, Yes they work. Spending weeks slaving over a Lotus Wand will imbue the wand with a lot of your own energy and make it a powerfull magical tool. (But what happens if you Loose/break the wand-do you suddenly become less of a Magician?)
But we belive that you don't need those Items (The most powerfull magical tool is your mind/imagiantion) so we try and just make do without.

(Thats part of the Chaos Magic explosion in the late 70's & 80's. Just as Punk was a reaction aginst Overblown Prog Rock, CM was a reaction against all the Victorian Pomp and Ceromomy of stuff like the OTO and GD)

I'm not sure I have any "tools" as a pagan....I have places that I love, that I consider to be very conducive to spiritual thought, purely on a personal level. One is a local beach the other a room in my house. Neither is necessary though...if you put me in a room with nothing but a bench and a window I'd still be the same pagan. I don't know that anyone needs tools for spirituality. hte only tool I need I suppose is my brain

My knowledge & my will.

My knife, my 'First Steps in Winemaking' book (seriously, I learned more about herbs and healing plants from winemaking than from any so called pagan herbal), and my runes. Everything else I can do without now. I would like to think that my years as a witch have taught me that the brain is all I need, but I still collect shells and stones like a madwoman. And it is nice to have nice things.

My Right index finger ...


But they are a bugger to pick up in the second hand shops.




seriously, tools are tools,, how you charge them, care for them and use them is down to the person, none are essential unless you make them essential.

As a Wiccan, you would say I wouldn't be seen in a circle without my Athame, but there has been many nights where good results were produced when I had forgotton my athame. (and didn't have a note)

Was even one night, when most of the coven had their athame's disappear in their homes, we still had a productive circle, and all concluded that there was a message to take back with us, on why our athame's couldn't be found that night.

The only tools I use are my runes and my mind. I have no need for anything else and see all the other things as props and aids - nothing wrong with that but I just don't see it as necessary for myself.

I posted above about pagan "tools" - but is it about witch tools too? in that case although my witch side has nothing to do with my pagan side I would say witch tools would be....apart from my brain and my ability to see as a witch....um - probably a few bits and pieces I've collected over the years, found items. But again, they're only of use as a witch not as a pagan. but they are tools.

I do have a Dragon Staff, which took me over 3 years to create, and I have an athame, but having said that they only ever get used on very special occasions, as sometimes I do like to work with ritual, however the last time I used either was about 3 years ago now. For the most part I do use magick of the mind which is a very powerful form of magick. I also have a large collection of books for reference should I need them, and I also have a number of card sets, but they only get used rarely. Then of course the most powerful tool I do have is my healing pyramid which gets used every day and does form part of my healing rituals, and perhaps the most important part.

I have no fixed tools. The path I follow is very much one that I self discovered and while it has remarcable similarities (at times) with others it is ultimatly uniquily mine.
One of the requirements is that I am indipendant of tools, time, place etc. If I feel the need for 'something' to work my ritual or magic then I will find or create, adapt or just image in my mind the thing that is needed. So far this has always worked.

That being said if I am going out and have a mind that I might need... then certian things get stowed in my pack... flint and steel with its tinder box, a good stout and very sharp knife with its stone, a length of cord and a fly sheet, a small billy can and probably most obviously 'magical' my 'bag-'o-bits' a small pouch with an apparently random selection of stones, bones, shells, seeds, etc which I use as a divination / meditation / casting tool.
After that there are 'nice to have' things like a candle, a bivvy bag, a good set of walking boots, my all weather cloak, stang, axe, flatpan and a few hooks and line etc.
Quite a few have duel use and that is the way I like it.

There are a couple of patches of woodland that I head for, knowing I will be undisterbed, having the right materials for anything else I might need and having the 'right' feel. Not to mention a great deal of wildlife!

Even when at home, out of preferance I like to have a knife (which is less an athame and more of a real live cutting tool, but can be just one I pull out of the kitchen draw or one of my camping ones, or a re-enactment one or...? you get the idea) and bag of bits handy. A flame can be very useful too... (I have been known to use the gas hob on the cooker!)

Be bright,bebold
Fillionous

Essential tools, as in things without which I couldn't continue along my path?

Me, and nothing else. Sometimes it's nice to have stuff, like the right environment, maybe a candle for atmosphere and focus stuff like that but they're just nice, not essential.

I love the props. I love the theatre, the performance, the words and poetry, the ribbons and bells, stones, bones, feathers, yarn, and twine. I collect it and store it and lose it and give it away.

When it comes right down to it I know that 'I' am the essential bit for most of what I do, but it's like food. Essential levels of nutrition to keep you alive are one thing - chocolate cheese cake with fresh strawberries and syrup is totally another.

The magic I learned growing up was extremely place and spirit dependent. When I went away to school and discovered all the other ways and theories and systems out there I was in glory, same as when I went from cooking plain food for a large and not-wealthy family to taking cooking and baking courses. It introduced me to new ingredients and new cooking methods, new combinations. The old still exist, and about 80 per cent of the time I use them, but doing it up fancy, using the things I've studied, is...

well...

FUN.

To choose symbols for each part of my design, to make them or combine them, to write stirring (or lame, as it usually looks afterwards) poetry and incantations, to plan movements and gestures for best impact, to build up then release that bubble of intent, is fun and exhausting.

Basics, though, that I try to have whether the working is simple and pragmatic or fancy and fun:

Pen and paper
Inherited items of bone, stone, and fur
Living or dried plants
Cord

Places:

My bed (sometimes out of necessity)
My clear spot in the centre of my yard, bounded by a creek, a pot garden, and a sentient raspberry bramble
A local beach, remote but provided with fire pits and fire boxes - public land that sees a lot of public and private rituals.
My kitchen table.
A cave I was introduced to as an adolescent but only go to if the need is extreme, which means twice in my life so far.


I also use my tarot cards to set images for long-term spells. I'm a professional reader so I have quite a few decks, but I also have three copies of the Morgan Greer - one for reading, one for teaching, and a hand-drawn (by me) one for magic. My other decks I only have one copy of each, but if an image is especially appropriate from one of them then I just take that deck out of the rotation for as long as necessary and use that card.

The magic I was raised with is slow and heavy (to me - my mom didn't see it that way) but the magic I learned from reading Crowley and Gardner and Fortune and some other authors and historians whose names I can neither remember nor spell is uplifting and fun, like a game or performance with a real-world result.

In a pinch, though, 'just me' works too.

unsung

Runes for me too. I have two sets but the thing I like most about them is that they just hang on the periphery waiting to be realised; scratched on the ground, scribbled onto paper, or just outlined with a bit of lick

I also love jewellery and have a big collection of Thorshammers, ravens, spirals, serpents, and rune scripts which I wear at different times. It helps me feel part of my path in the same way that my wedding ring helps me feel "married". I don't really need them but I like them there and I like it when someone else recognises them for what they are. I suppose some of my tatts perform the same function.

I have lots of books (and always crave more). Not many "How To..." more ancient texts and history books. I do like "The Troth" as a reference work though. Also the internet and membership of various fora. My favourites are here and Librarything at the moment.

I don't have any special place here in Essex, but used to go to Glastonbury Tor when I lived in the West Country - cliched but true. I do have several internalised landscapes and environments in my head akin to memory houses that help with meditation.

I've quite a few crystals, particularly labradorite which I find useful for destressing and reaffirming. I also collect stones with natural holes in and have most them on a big string, with others made into charms that hang on our rucksacks.

I love my altar as a focus of faith. I have an altar plate with a representation of Yggrdasill and the rune circle on, and figures of Thor, Odin and Freyr. I dress my altar for festivals and maintain it as the heart of our home.

These are all the everyday bits and pieces that help me along the way. Most of my "magic" - although I don't call it that - is of the household variety; small cleansings, blessings and requests for protection and prosperity as I do my housework so that doesn't really require any tools other than mindfulness.

I always find it amusing how little witches actually want to work with. It almost becomes a contest of how little we need. In my case it is because I can use things from my locale: stones, twigs, leaves etc. But I have stacks of little statuettes and stones and shells because they are pretty.

Doreen Valiente and the Farrars used tons of stuff. Nearly every photo of every witches altar I have seen shows them positively groaning under bits of bone, antler, pentacles, wands, wreaths, etc etc. I often wonder just how much some people have been influenced by Pratchett Witchcraft, where less is most definitely more.

Maybe some, but not me. I was this way for years before I heard the word Pratchett, or for that matter 'pagan'. Sometimes, just sometimes, people answer honestly, not to show off.

What Esk says.

Whilst I do think there is something in the pratchett effect, and I am not saying thats a bad thing. He does have a way of summing up ideas that touch to the core. So even if you don't see yourself as rincewind sometimes his logic touches something very deep in you.

I do think we are missing a very important point when we compaire ourselves to Doreen Valiente and the Farrars and all the rest. When they were writting rituals for their BOOKS or taking photos for their BOOKS it was about selling things or making the "craft" harder to get to cos you had to get all this stuff. They were also professional pagans making a living out of appearing to be witchier than thou.

Most of us don't have the space / time / money / lack of morals / self publising drive (delete as required) to do all that so you get down to the basics. Plus we are not trying to make a living out of being a pagan or witch.

Personally I do have a sword (used once for a hand fasting) a few statues, tarot cards runes, oh and a stags skull (all of which has been packed up for nearly two years whilst I have been between homes) I don't NEED any of it, but I like having them. I do NEED peace and a relaxing place to focus.

when you get down to it magic is about directing energy, shaping and flowing will, touching something vaster than the physical world. there is nothing you need but YOU.

but thats just my 2p worth

Though I have tarot cards and runes and alot of books on natural healing I would say my only real tools are myself and my will .
Anything else I can do without.

HC

I have a few bits and bobs which I like having around, though they are not really needed.

Items used regularly are a Staff, Knife, and a couple of Celtic knot carved stone skulls.

on my bookshelf alters I do have plenty of bits and pieces stones, Feathers, leaves etc just things I've picked up when out for walks, I nearly always come back from a walk with some item or other tucked into my pockets they aren't really essential to my workings but they are on the alters non the less, might as well look the part when folks visit

Most important tools would be: Myself, candles and my little notebook which is filled full of random notes (memory not that great).

But I know that people enjoy the grand swords and what not, if it helps why the hell not?

I do enjoy candles, they help to relax my mind! A relaxed mind is a powerful mind.

um...it depends on what you mean by tools...

okay, I count my gardening tools, my knowledge about my bit of land, climate etc as being tools, cos they help me be healthy (ya know...a bit of excercise, organic food and all that), and also by doing this I am more closely linked to the land, I can 'hear' its livingness (a sort of spiritual experience that I feel - a bit like sensing the livingness of trees and stuff).

I count my kitchen tools and my bit of cooking and knowledge about herbs and stuff as being pagan 'cos it centres me as a person (I don't get caught up too much in the trappings of the modern world - I can remember and experience a more modest life, even if I can't actually experience it totally as they did back then). It helps me stay in touch with my own existence without getting over inflated . It reminds me that ultimately I am a creature, subject to the whim of nature (despite our influence on global warming etc) and just like a plant or animal, the land in some way, is what helps me and every other living thing survive.

I consider my tarot cards as being pagan because I use them to reflect on myself and to help others (when asked), to me this is a sort of magic, and I think that the things I do above is a sort of magic or it has a thread of magic weaved through the whole experience of gardening and cooking. but its not the sort of ceremonial stuff, I don't cast spells as such.

probably wasn't what you were looking for but its how I currently see things...

fizz

Like a lot of people here have said I use my mind, my will, and my heart (in healing) and could do what I do with these alone. However, it is nice to have tools to work with, to direct energies or bring particular energies into a healing or manifestation work. I love my archangel oracle cards and get a lot of use out of them...I work well with crystals and have a fair collection, and I also have incense, candles and some New Age music which I find helps me get into the right 'space' for spiritual work. I also like working with wands.

I use storm energy and moon energy for charging my crystals and I have a little Mayan bell I like to use for cleansing my tools.

I think it's just important for people to work with what resonates with them.

Shakalah, I would love to see your dragon staff.

What about more modern devices, For the 70's and 80's Chaos TOPY type magicians the casette recorder and Polaroid Camera were important tools.
The Computer and the Internet with its wealth of information at your fingertips, a kind of Ashatik records, Or Amazon and Ebay enbling the practicioner to gat hold of Books/Oils/Crystals with the minimum effort.
Although the abilty to Cut and Paste seems to be the essensial skill reqired of some Pagans.

Well none of it is 'needed' per se (except for the drinking horn, obviously ), however I have lots of amber, runes, photos of family that have passed away, things I have found out and about, an offering plate with runes around the sides that was a wedding present and various things that I have hand stitched/knitted.

The necessaries? Mind, will and knowledge.

I am surprised that no one has said the Internet yet

I have runes, some tarot cards, wands, necklaces and a bowl, incense holder, cloth and a throw to sit on.

Don't need any of them and I work well without them.
But if I have time to settle down and take my time I sometimes work a bit better with them as sometimes my guides want e to use them. They are required only rarely though.

As a Heathen witch I probably use pretty much the same as any other witch. I don't do specifically Heathen magic, such as seidh or galdr, though I do draw on some leechcraft. Like everyone else, I can work without anything, and I tend to use what I deem necessary to a particular working, which can differ radically from working to working. However, there are some things I use frequently and others I like to have in my toolkit.

The more frequent things are a coffee grinder (to make incense), a singing bowl, tarot cards (for the symbols, not for readings), tinfoil, mirrors, magnets and fire. Oh, and I use a couple of dedicated knives and a few odds and ends of magical artifacts which have come my way, often as gifts.

Less frequently could be anything. Literally. Feathers, crayons, needle and thread, silk ribbon, odd bits of material, computer, glue, mop and bucket...

The only essential item on my list would be me. I've got all sorts of do-dahs I might bring into a group ritual to provide a collective focus. But if it is only me doing the focusing then I don't generally use anything physical.

BB

Mike

I am the same as most of you, just me and a few bits and pieces that i have picked up on my travels.

i have often wondered what our ancestors would think if they could have used colorful candles and incenses and oils,crystals from all over the world. when really all they had what was around then at the time.

Corkscrew!!!! VERY important ritual tool as far as I'm concerned

My other tools: pictures, malas (for meditating with), altar (to give a focus), candle holder and candle (I like fire!), divination (tarot, oracles, runes, etc), blessing bowl for offerings, and a cute little parmasan knife that I use as an athame when required.

Yes, I don't NEED all this but it works for me, and makes it easier. I'm not into minimalism for the sake of it, but then again, neither am I into unnecessary clutter.

I've a few other things that are simply gorgeous, and I truely don't need but still love, including my beautiful bronze sword, and some crystal orbs.

I feel that it depends on what works for an individual as to what they need and feel comfortable with. A bit like kitchen equipment. I cannot see the need for a garlic crusher or pestle and mortar in my everyday life but I bet that some people here would consider them essential!

Making offerings to the river and the land is the biggest part of my religious practice, so I'd say my real essentials are mead, bread, a clay statuette, a piece of hair, anything like that.

With regard to my witch's toolkit it's strictly practical. I have various witchy bits and pieces, a home-made wand and so on, but I don;t use any of them any more. However I'd be totally lost without my sewing kit and my pen and paper!

Hi val
where do you get dyed fr% pilds
i think i need them too.

I believe there's a recipe for them in Nanny Ogg's Cookbook! (Caution may not actually contain frog)

Thats one I havnt got, amazon hre i come!.lol