A post in a witchy ways social media group I belong to called my attention to an intriguing proposition. The Witch Kit Challenge was issued by Fire Lyte on her blog, Inciting a Riot.

The challenge to those who choose to accept it, is to pull together a witch kit containing everything necessary for a basic ritual, on a budget of $50 or less, all purchased from one store  accessible to most people. The choice of stores includes:

• • • WalMart
    • Target
    • Goodwill
    • Dollar Tree
    • Dollar General
    • Home Depot
    • Lowe’s
    • HomeGoods
    • Ross
    • Michael’s
    • TJ Maxx

The contents of the kit is open to personal interpretation and imagination, but must include a representation for each of the four elements, a representation of spirit or deity, a knife or carving implement, an offering dish, a blank book and a magical activity.

Fifty dollars? Here, hold my brew!

I was confident I could pull together a fabulous kit with less than half that amount. With list in hand I headed to Dollar General.

I knew I’d be buying candles, and there’d be plenty of choices for an offering dish. As I expected, the most difficult was finding representations for the elementals. Then in the craft isle I found thin, 3-inch wooden letter cut outs. I envisioned painting and decorating the initial of each direction, north, east, south, west, to reflect earth, air, fire, and water. And bonus—that could be the magical activity part of the requirement.

Unfortunately, there was not and E or W to be found. I moved on to wooden tags, and then found black cut-out letters that I thought were cardboard. When I got them home, it turned out they were paper, three of each letter of the alphabet, stuck together like a sticky-note pad. It worked, but I doubted it would last long. Still the wooden tags were a great blank canvas.

I ended up using my alphabet stamps to print each element on one side, and the cardinal directions on the reverse side. As I recall, I bought the stamps in the dollar bin at Target, an approved store. Personally, I’d also add a bead that corresponds to each element using ribbon looped through the tag hole. But hey, that could be another activity for ritual.

The dollar store offered several blank books to choose from. I nearly bought a three pack of tiny composition notebooks, the size to tuck in your pocket or purse, because—hello—I’m obsessed with them. Instead I chose a Jumbo Little Book, with a rigid plastic cover that could be painted or decorated with tape or stickers for a mini BOS. I couldn’t resist the cool green pen at the check out counter, it has a sort of cosmic vibe to it.

To represent spirit or deity, I choose a mandala magnet that can be left as is, or colored in with markers—yet again an activity. To me, the mandala represents the cosmic circle, the cauldron of of creation as the source of all life. As a meditative practice, creating or coloring a mandala accesses inner knowing and higher consciousness, so it covers secular witches too.

I was on such roll I wanted to include an activity that stood on it’s own, apart from being used as another item from the list. I went for a bag of paper clay, perfect to make a little poppet or a classic Goddess form.

The rules for the challenge prohibited using seasonal items, specifically mining the halloween isle. But with all the requirements met, I couldn’t resist a little Samhain booty. I chose a Day of the Dead tattoo sheet because—just too cool to pass up (please, don’t inundate me with your thoughts on cultural appropriation—if it’s not for you, just pass on by).

Finally, I purchased a sturdy wooden box to hold the kit.

Here’s my breakdown:

• Wooden Tags. There were 8 in the $1.50 package/used 4  = .75
• Stamp set (previously purchased) 1.00
• Tea Lights 1.00
• Notebook 1.00
• Pen 1.00
• Bowl 1.50
• Knife 1.00
• Paper clay 1.00
• Mandala. Two in $1 package/used 1   .50
• DOD tattoos 1.00
• Wooden Box 3.00

That gives me a sub total, before tax of 12.75

I’m stoked. I think this is a kick-ass witch’s kit if I do say so myself, and I’ve decided to give it away to one of my readers. FOR EASE OF SHIPPING, THE KIT BEING GIVEN AWAY WILL NOT INCLUDE THE OFFERING DISH. It doesn’t fit in the kit box and you can purchase an inexpensive dish or use something you already have.

The winner will receive these items:

• Wooden box, stained and waxed, with pentacle burned on the lid and colored with gold permanent ink.
• 6 tea light candles
• Mandala for coloring
• DOD Tattoos
• Blank Book and Pen
• Wooden tags with elements and cardinal directions.
  

This was all such fun I got carried away and added these awesome bonuses from my personal stash:

• Multi-purpose tool (instead of a a dollar store paring knife.). The multipurpose tool is small enough to fit in pocket or purse. It’s great for cutting stems, plants etc, when foraging. It also has a small screw driver, a knife blade, scissors and a bottle opener.
• Small mirror for scrying, and use in deflection spells
• Clear quartz crystal point to increase or hold energy
• Ritual Oil to dress candles or ritual tools
• Lavender balm (handcrafted by me) – because it smells nice and feels good 
• Sage wand (organically grown in my back yard) – for cleansing and purifying space
• Dragon’s Blood incense – also for cleansing and purifying, or simply as fragrance to enhance your rituals.

HOW TO WIN THIS FABULOUS WITCH KIT

To qualify for the drawing: You must have a Facebook account and a U.S. shipping address, and do the following three things:

1. Share this post on your Facebook account and leave a comment below.
2. Go the MAD Goddess Facebook Page and leave a comment in the pinned post (the one about the witch kit), telling me why you’d like to win the witch kit box. This is the important part, it’s how I’ll contact you if you win.
3. Visit my Patreon site, read the free post you’ll find there and comment “sharing link”. Then be sure to share my Patreon site on at least one of your social media accounts and include the hashtag #SimpleWitchery. (Again, the hashtag is important, it’s how I’ll know you shared the link. Best practice is to copy and paste for accuracy).

To repeat, share to your Facebook account and comment here, go the the MAD Goddess pinned post and comment there, visit Patreon sit and share the link site on at least one social media account using #SimpleWitchery hash tag.

When you do all three of these things, your name will be entered into a drawing to be held on October 30.  And as long as you’ll be at my Patreon site, take a moment to look around there—there are free posts!

DRAWING WILL BE HELD OCTOBER 30, 2018

May luck be yours!