Basic Witches: How to Summon Success, Banish Drama, and Raise Hell with Your Coven

by Jaya Saxena

A COLLABORATIVE RITUAL TO Deepen Friendship Good friends create happy memories but also understand your sadness and secrets without judgment. This ritual celebrates all the many aspects at the heart of friendship. WHAT YOU’LL NEED: A collection of objects A cigar box or other small container This ritual requires prep work by both you and your friend. Before you meet, meditate on difficult memories, personal traumas, anxieties, perceived flaws, and secrets you want her to understand. (We’re calling your friend “her,” but these friendship spells work with friends of all genders.) Then find or make a small token to represent each of these experiences or qualities: create small artworks, or find inexpensive objects to represent your secrets (for example, a plastic ring could symbolize your worry about finding a life partner, a playing card could represent fear that your success is due to luck instead of skill, or a dry leaf could indicate anxiety about aging). Collect six to eight of these and put them in the box. Have your friend do the same. Meet your friend in a quiet, comfortable, familiar place with your boxes. Explain to her what each item in the box represents, then have her do the same for her items. Then present your box to her, saying: I give you my sadness, not as a burden but as a gift. When your friend accepts the box, she should say: I accept your sadness, not to cure but to protect. Then repeat the exchange with your friend’s box of secrets. For the following ...