La porte des maleheurs by tangi bertin (CC BY 2.0)
Think about your position. What is the danger that is keeping your practice closeted in the first place? If those around you discovered supplies, records, or even caught you in the midst of ritual, how would they react? What would be the consequences? How nosy are those that you’re hiding from? Are they suspicious towards you by default, or do they generally leave you to your own devices? If you’re a dependent, is there a risk of being kicked out of your house? Or would it just cause a bit of uncomfortable tension? Somewhere in the middle? The answers to these questions should determine how cautiously you proceed.
After having had my practice closeted for years, I eventually learned how to cover the “footprints” of my work. When I refer to footprints, I’m talking about the visible relics of ritual or spellwork that can be seen while you’re not practicing. An altar in the open would be a massive footprint – while the disposed herbs of a completed spell would be small. Having a successful closet practice is mainly a matter of minimizing or even completely eliminating your footprints depending upon your individual situation. The only other two matters are finding your supplies, and having a safe way and place to practice – both of which are not nearly as difficult as one may think.
Some examples of footprints include:
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Remains from a ritual that you need to get rid of
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Any spell products you don’t intend to get rid of, like spell jars or satchels
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Supplies you’ve obtained and are keeping in storage
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Books or reading materials
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(Obvious) divination tools such as tarot or runes
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(In some cases) candles, crystals, wands or anything you normally wouldn’t own
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A book of shadows/grimoire or any magical record keeping
The obvious nature of some of these “footprints” is where the usefulness of using everyday items (what I said in the introductory article about ingenuity) in your craft comes in. If your only footprints are, say, an instrument that you played an auditory sigil from, a cup from drinking tea, or some everyday spices, they really don’t count as footprints anymore. They’re just things that most people own. Many From the Broom Closet articles will be all about these sorts of footprint-less methods. These are both excellent in magical usefulness, and remove the burden of stress that comes with hoping you don’t get “found out”.
However, don’t allow yourself to be limited by the ideas that I give you. I cannot see the situation that you, the reader, are in – many of my methods might not work for you, and you can probably come up with some ideas that I could never even dream of. So, start with yourself: what is your danger, what are your tools, and most importantly, what do you want your practice to be?
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