The Magic of Water

It’s rainy and wet here today, so let’s talk about water—I’ve got a couple jars out on the step doin’ some gathering. I keep different kinds of water on hand, for a variety of magical purposes, and I thought this would be a good time to share some of the types I have handy.

First, it’s important to keep in mind that water in general, as an element, has some pretty specific connotations – it’s associated with healing, cleansing, and purification, just for starters. In most traditions, it also corresponds to goddess magic, and to the direction of West when you start looking at the four classical elements and their related directions.

All of that said, you can use different types of water for different things. For me, I’m a bit obsessive about collecting water from different places, all of which can be used for some pretty specific spellwork.

Storm Water

Gather water during a storm to use in spells associated with increasing personal power, energy, big changes, and even causing a bit of chaos. You get bonus points if there’s a lot of thunder and lightning going on!

Ocean Water

Ocean water has a lot of energy and power – gather up a bottle or jar, and use it for cleansing and purification. You can even use it to protect against negative energies – after all, it’s full of salt, which is often used as a protective item.

Standing Water

Standing water is vile and stagnant… so if you want to do a bit of magical binding, use water that ain’t going anywhere any time soon. You can bind someone by immersing a photo or poppet in stagnant water.

War Water

War water is one of my favorite magical items to make, and I’m sometimes a little sad that I don’t have more call to use it. War water is water in which you’ve soaked rusty nails and added a bit of graveyard dirt or salt. There are about a zillion different methods for making this, so find the one that works best for you.

Spring or Well Water

If you’re fortunate enough to live near a natural spring, or a sacred well, gather up some water. In general, sacred well or spring water is associated with localized deities or land spirits, and can be used in healing magic. If you’re collecting water from a spring or well that doesn’t have a particular spiritual connection, don’t worry, you can still use it for blessing rituals and spells.

Eclipse Water

The last time we had a solar eclipse, I put several jars of water outside to gather up some of that chaotic solar energy, and I’ve found that this is some pretty powerful magic. Workings performed during an eclipse of the sun pack an extra magical punch, but since we don’t have eclipses that often, using water gathered during one is a pretty solid alternative.