Recently, I’ve been taking a home study course all about Intuitive Plant Medicine, and it has been truly soul opening. I’m learning new perspectives and techniques on plant communication. It’s a wonderful supplement to the witchy herbal work I already do.

A surprising benefit of the course, however, has been the push towards carving out moments to dedicate to self care and sitting with the magick. We all hear the “make time in your life for this class!” when we’re learning about a new topic, and I’m sure you all do what I usually do: nod, roll my eyes, and mutter “Yeah but its not that easy, because xyz”.

But this year, I’m focusing a lot more on balance and self care, especially work-life balance and finding time for myself, by myself (which is hard with multiple jobs and parenting!). So in an effort to dedicate myself to the program, I went through all the motions and scheduled time to sit, meditate, work through the material, and just sit in my magickal abundance each week. Its only been a few weeks so far, but I can already see a difference in my mental health and magickal practice.

What is “magickal self care”?

Self care is simply the act of taking care of yourself. It’s the process of establishing habits and routines to do things that contribute to your overall wellness. The idea of self care conjures images of imbibing a glass of wine while soaking in a deep bathtub, indulging in chocolate and other decadent foods, or maybe elaborate shopping trips to expensive stores. And it can be these things, if those activities feed your soul – but self care can also be eating healthy food, maintaining a proper sleep schedule, and taking meds and vitamins on time.

Alternatively,

Magickal self care might look like a regular meditation, divination, or journaling practice. It could be having a special area of your home where you maintain sacred space and can retreat to when you need a break. It could be a special spell, affirmation, or prayer you recite when you need a boost. It could even be sitting in stillness and reflecting on all the ways your magick and energy connect you to the world around you. (This last one is my favorite method.)

Why is this important?

Our bodies are complex. You are a physical being, living a spiritual existence, with emotional engagement, constantly creating thoughts, desires, goals, and so much more.

Living a holistic life means having these four realms – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual – in balance. Magickal self care gives you a way to treat the spiritual in an active way that’s personal to you.

Sometimes it can be difficult to address non-linear, non-tangible ideas like “caring for your energy and spiritual soul”. That’s such a heavy statement, and it can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. The purpose of self care for your magickal, energetic, spiritual self is to figure out what your own soul needs to thrive, and provide it.

Dedicating time specifically to your innate magick helps create a deeper bond with the energy. It helps develop trust in your power and creates an ease of calling upon it when you need to.

It’s so easy to fall into the trap of getting wrapped up in mundane “real life” matters. You start to put precedence on tangible things that need your attention – jobs, bills, kids’ schedules, etc. The stuff that’s not urgent gets shoved to the back burner – and this is often stuff that feeds your soul but isn’t integral to physical survival.

Spending too much time in this headspace, disconnected from your magick, is not good for the soul. Your magick will always be there, but without actively engaging with it, it can’t act as a source of empowerment and support for you. It’s harder to pull up and lean on when you really need it.

It keeps the parts of your self apart – the opposite of living holistically.

Tips to Implement Moments of Self Care

I’m not going to lie. It takes a certain amount of dedication on your part to want to create a self care routine, whether it’s magickal, physical, or otherwise. It’s not something that will just magically appear in your life. You need to make time for it.

It doesn’t have to be hard, though, and it doesn’t need to replace other things of importance to you. When I decided to make the Intuitive Plant Medicine course assignments a priority, it didn’t push anything important to the back burner, but it did require a little creative restructuring of my day.

As a neurodivergent person, I live and die by my calendar or else I won’t get anything done. I used the tips I’m about to share, so I know they work for me. If they work for you – that’s wonderful! If they don’t – don’t worry. The last tip will help you figure out how to work with your own idiosyncrasies.

Pick one thing at a time.

Don’t overwhelm yourself with trying to fit all the things into your already busy life. Choose one magickal activity that brings light and joy to your soul and start there. (Some examples were listed above, or you can brainstorm little actions on your own.)

Choose something you’re already good at.

Creating a self care routine isn’t the time to start learning a new skill (unless learning is your form of self care!). This should be easy to work into your day, not stressful and laden with responsibility and brain power. Choose a magickal activity that you are already familiar with – guided meditation or a daily tarot pull, for example – and start there. It’s a lot easier to find time for something you already know how to do then worrying about having enough time for something that you might do wrong.

Make time – but be flexible.

This is the hardest one for me to do, because as much as I need the structure of a schedule, I also hate sticking to one. As a Pisces Sun, flexibility in my day is a must for me whenever possible, but as a cardinal Libra Rising AND a neurodivergent person, I need that structure as a framework to be flexible within. So when I sat down to carve out time for the weekly plant meditations and video lessons, I picked a day and time when I knew I had the most opportunity for flexible free time, and chose a couple back up times if something came up that conflicted.

The initial scheduling gives me something to look forward to and plan around, but the backup times take the pressure and guilt off if I can’t get it done (or, let’s be honest – if I just don’t want to).

Make it easy.

I don’t mean pick an easy activity. Make it easy to actually do the activity. Set an area of your home where you’ll do the activity, and keep all your necessary tools in that spot so you don’t have to go hunting. Tell people in your household, too, so they can help hold you accountable, and also so they’ll know you’ll be unavailable during this time. Set an alarm on your phone. My Android phone has a feature called Routines, where I set certain things to happen at certain days and times – like automatically putting my phone on silent and dimming the screen when it’s time to sleep. Use a feature like this so you don’t have to remember to do it during your self care time – or even use it as a reminder to do that self care!

Create a self care ritual.

Ritualizing an activity helps cement it in the memory. It gives the Id in your brain something to look forward to. It also helps the activity become easier as you form a habit around it. Your self care ritual can be as simple as lighting a special candle or turning on specific music, or as elaborate as a full circle casting before doing the activity. Whatever you do, do it every time you settle in to your self care routine, and it becomes a trigger for the brain to help get you into the mindset for making magick.

What to do if these tips don’t help.

These are tips I developed for helping me stick to the routine of self care, magickal practice, and actually studying through the course content when it’s self paced without any accountability. But maybe some, or all, of these don’t work for you – that’s okay!

I’ve got a worksheet that’s perfect for people who have a hard time carving out time for self care and sticking to it. Grab the worksheet below and start figuring out how to create time for your magickal, badass self!

Email me the worksheet!

The Takeaway

I have no idea if I’ll stick to this routine, especially after the course is finished. But I’ve learned through this process that I definitely get something meaningful from setting aside a regular time to be by myself, focus inward, and allow my spirit to communicate my magickal needs to my consciousness.

On a physical level, I’ve been a bit calmer and more in control of my emotions, which is wonderful. And I’m finding it’s easier to fall into meditation with my plant spirits when I’m doing it weekly (or a couple times a week), compared to when I would do it “when I had the time” before.

There are many benefits to a regular magickal practice. The ease with which the magick flows is definitely one of them!

Whether you implement something daily, weekly (like me), once a moon cycle, or something else, consider starting some regular magickal self care. Your energy will thank you.