Practical Witchery: Check your ingredients list.

Dear Reader,

Witchcraft has become a popular topic. There are countless blogs, books, and other sources of media covering it. Sifting through it all to find what you need is a bit of a challenge. Especially if you're not familiar with the way things work and you're just looking for a good 'recipe' to solve your problem. The trick is, there are a lot of pretty and attractively assembled 'recipes' out there that won't work or are actually dangerous. Regardless of how pretty and attractive the presented site may be, be cautious about using what you find there. (I include myself here on the list of be cautious because even I make mistakes in my published 'recipes.')

If you go out looking for a spell to solve your problem, you will find so many different options it boggles the mind. Choice overload is a thing. As tempted as you may be to take the first option that pops up or the one that has the best aesthetically pleasing photography, don't jump in with both feet first. Make a point to check these spells out. Are they safe? Do they use components you can easily and safely access? Are they legal to perform? For example, a necromancy ritual that requires you to enter a graveyard after dark and take some dirt from a random grave is not legal in most places because most graveyards close at sunset. And the removing of dirt from a grave is legally considered disturbing the dead and can net you some criminal charges on top of trespassing. I do not recommend you go forward with that ritual. I also highly recommend against taking grave dirt from a random grave. This can anger the deceased and that's how you get haunted, folks.

Additionally, any spell that requires action against an unwilling participant (i.e. putting something in their drink) can get you into trouble legally. It won't matter to the court that you believe the person whose beverage you put a drop of your blood into is your soul-mate. It's still a criminal charge to tamper with food that is being served to people and can be considered attempted poisoning. Oh, and that spell that requires you to bury something under the target's door step is encouraging trespassing. If you're that committed to the act, recognize that you're facing a lot of possible consequences that are unpleasant. Trespassing charges, harassment charges, and more can result from this stuff. There's a reason why the spells that encourage these things tell you to do it under cover of darkness, to make it harder for you to get caught. But it's harder to do that these days because more and more places are well lit and fewer places have loose doorsteps you can bury things under.

Don't think that going for potions is the best route to avoid danger. A common mistake made is that potions are all edible. They're not. The vast majority of them include questionable contents that can potentially be poisonous. There is no quality control over spell supplies. This is not like pharmacology where there is strident quality control and procedures to ensure uniform product results. No one is running a double blind study to make sure that Mable's Love Potion is safe to drink, sprinkle on anything, or even be in the same room. (I'd like to remind y'all of the dangers of mixing random household cleaners. It kills people on a regular basis, hence the warning labels. Urine has ammonia in it, so don't mix it with bleach. The list goes on. Check your chemicals as to if they're safely compatible.)

Check your materials vigorously. If you're using herbs, consult with a pharmacologist or a nurse practitioner (who get trained in herbal medicine to some extent because of how common it is). Make sure that what you're using and its dosage is safe. If you are making something that is not to be consumed, make sure that there isn't any dangerous chemical reactions that are going to result from the different components being combined. Some chemical reactions will cause noxious fumes that can kill you. Some chemical reactions will cause burns. Others will literally start fires if not handled properly. Just because its sold in the store doesn't mean that you can use it for anything you want. (For example, always make sure your paint thinner rags are completely dried out and separated from anything flammable when you dispose of them. They will spontaneously combust.)

The internet is a gold mine of material and information. You have to sift the bad information out from the good and then you have to carefully go over the good information to make sure it suits your needs and is safe to use. Critical thinking skills and research skills are vital to the safe practice of witchcraft. Like when you're looking up a new recipe to cook for dinner, check your ingredients list and consider your guest list. You wouldn't want to serve something that would kill your guests or yourself, would you? Don't play games with magic, it can hurt you or someone else very badly.