What should I do with my unwanted witchcraft tools?

Ask Savannah Question:

“Hello Savannah!

I am in the process of packing to move to my first cottage. I am no longer an apartment dweller.

What do you do with witchcraft tools and supplies you no longer use?

I collected many items over the years. I learn about them, practice with them, but there are a few things that just sat

for a few years now because it didn’t suit me. I thought about donating cleansed books and tools to my local

shoppes. I’m also fond of the romance of living in my library over the last 20 years. Space is limited so do I really

need a collection of almost 100 vintage jars and lids?

-Jennifer”

Video Response:

As somebody who has travelled extensively around the globe, I know how challenging it can be to keep a core selection of witchcraft tools. It’s very easy to become a hoarder of fabulous occult & witchcraft items. But we all know there comes a time when you need to cleanse your space for one reason or another.

Jennifer asked me what she should do with some of her tools and supplies she no longer uses as she is moving and needs to downsize. So I took the opportunity to post her question on our Facebook page and ask others in the community what they would do in a similar situation. The broader witchcraft community is a melting pot of fabulous ideas and I believe it should be taken as a reminder there is no correct way to do anything when it comes to alternative spiritual paths.

In this video, I talk about what I’m doing with my most beloved tools. I also share what I do when I’m downsizing other witchcraft items such as herbs, when the collection of such items can take up walls of space. Hopefully, I will inspire some of you to do my trick, where you can store hundreds of various herbs in a very tight space with great ease!

As always I like to go off on another tangent and I talk about another important idea which I also discuss with my Coven members on a regular basis, and that is the concept of what you do with your tools when you die. Do you bury them? Do you burn them? Do you bequeath just them?

Response from our FB Community

– see the original Facebook message here

Gypsy

Some will be buried with me. Some I will destroy/return to the earth depending on power and what of myself is in there, and some tools (mostly crystals and a few wands) will be de-activated, cleansed, then gifted or sold on.

I have been a witch for 58 years, since age 10. In this time I have amassed many magickal items. Those items and tools that have been consecrated with blood are sealed to me. They cannot be cleansed and given to a thrift store. The traditions of witchcraft that I was raised in taught that over the years these items have acquired a sort of life and consciousness of their own. Therefore they cannot just go to anyone. The entities attached to some of these things can and will wreak chaos in someone’s life if that person should not have those things. So since I have no apprentice or family, those items will be placed in a trunk and buried in some secret place. Many of my older tools that I retired have been placed in a fetish pot dedicated to the Dark Mother. I plan on donating that to the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft. All old herbs and incense will be returned to the Earth. My handwritten grimoires will be burned. And that’s that.

Practiced since my tweens, so almost 40 years. I give away tools that I don’t use or don’t work for me. Not everyone has a large budget for tools and stuff, I have given lots of items to beginning practicioners who don’t have a lot of resources . They are thrilled to get things. Waste not, want not.

I’ve been at practicing witch about 30 years and all my tools I keep whether I use them anymore or not …they all have a special value to me

I put some items on Facebook marketplace as witchcraft supplies but hardly anybody wanted them cos I was in a very small town. Probably if posted to a local buy n sell group someone might have been more likely to see them and take them tho

Simply Pass on to my students and my Children…

Most of my bought items are pre-loved so I believe donating is a wonderful idea depending on what the item has been used for, others could be buried or perhaps placed into a ritual fire

Mine will be passed down to my daughter then her children…but if I needed to get rid of them it would depend on the item. But more than likely I’d take them to my cemetery plot and bury them next to it. We have a very old private family cemetery and I already have my place picked.

I inherited my aunts wands at her passing, her books, her runes, her mirrors… a lot of treasures. Cleansed everything and dismantled the wands, back to the earth. I will pass my Aunt’s treasures and my own to my daughter. Some items will not be passed on, her path is her own.

Pass them on or hold them and put in a box

I would attempt to intuitively gift them. Prolly doesn’t suit this situation though.

Hmmm not sure but maybe bury them

Bury it like a time capsule at your new place

I think these items are highly personal. Not the jars so much, you could cleanse them and recycle. But wands, daggers, crystals, anything used in blood rituals, I would bury in the garden of my new home. Somebody here mentioned like a time capsule, I think that is a great idea.

I plan on being cremated and my ashes released on the wind where I grew up on a lake…perhaps some items buried nearby.

There are some items I will pass to my children (if they are so inclined), some will be destroyed and buried/returned to the earth and some will be burned.

Aside from books and crystals, too much of myself goes into my craft to regift or sell. I find it hard to part with even the silliest of witchcraft books…I smeagol them all away…lol. Like a dragon and her hoard.

I let my intuition guide things like that. If I feel the tool or item has done it’s job then I will either give it back to Gaia or release into the universe by burning it or burying it one or the other but if I feel that tool is still full of energy and wanting to be used then I will continue using it

I gift mine to fellow witches to whom they call to. And some go to my children and grandchildren.

I never have left overs. I constantly have to Desecrate new tools to work with, and they shatter when I use them in ritual…

Most of my old tools are either gifted or repurposed after cleansing. Although some I have burned or buried. It really depends on what it is and what it was used for. I let intuition be my guide

I would definitely donate my books or sell them. My tools are different. If I’m very attached or performed a lot of magic with them. I would consider passing it on to someone I trust otherwise, I would bury them. If I’m not so attached, I would sell them as well.

It depends on the tool, condition of said tool, situation… For me, if the tool is still in good condition, I might cleanse it and sell or donate it. If its condition is less than reparable, I might offer it up as a sacrificial gift to the gods or entities I work with. Especially if it’s environmentally sound/safe to do so, burying is an option for this.

If they’re not broken and battered or burnt lol I gift and sell them. Let someone else benefit. Otherwise you can bury or burn organics.

Hm. I give mine away to my dear friend, sometimes. I had a couple of statues that I didn’t connect with and had a random drawing in another Facebook group, along with a discussion prompt. After the end date, I mailed them out to the winner. I hadn’t used them though.

I tend to donate things to my friends shop in Essex so that she can get them to right people. )0(

When I pass I would like all my witchery to be passed on to anyone who is just starting out and may not have anything or even to a museum

With old deity statues/pics I give them away if I know anyone that is interested or burry them. Treasured items will be cremated with me when I die

Mine will be handed down to my daughter.

Always save it

Some day that soil shall blossom a tree and another crystal or wand its shall be ..the circle …

Response from our YouTube Community

Saturnarium

This is what I do with witchy stuff I no longer use: books get donated, tarot decks get cleansed and rehomed, jars and bottles that have been used only to store stuff can be repurposed or donated but if there was ever a spell inside said jars or bottles, I break them ritualistically and bury or burn the content, but truth is, in the system of magick I use, once the spell is done and I’ve seen the results, I have to give it closure so I never have spell leftovers sitting around for no reason. I have an apprentice and I have given her wands and ceremonial robes but I would not give those to any other person so I would just keep those in a special drawer.