A Scavengers Guide To Magical Tool Collection
By Blayze

It’s early on a Saturday morning and I’m driving through the streets on my way to the shops. Suddenly, O blessed event, I spy a cardboard sign stapled to a telegraph pole… Garage Sale! I pull in full of excitement at what treasures this suburban castle may hold.

And my expectation is rewarded, a whole box full of little blue jars, perfect for oils and infusions… and there in the corner, some tarnished chalices - set of six for $5.00. Oh what joy, what synchronicity! Under the table a jumble of old brass pots create a pyramid of possibilities. I thank the gods that no-one else in my suburb has worked out that some of these brass pots are perfect to use as shield bosses and that others are very useful for burning metho in. (Place the brass pot half full of metho within a cauldron of water, the water keeps the brass container cool enough that the metho will burn twice as long).

I am a witch and I approach the humble suburban garage sale with a witch’s eye. Over the years I have scored a plethora of tools and objects for my craft by scouring council clean-ups, junkyards, markets and even haberdasheries and hardware stores. I have found cow hides, scythes, bollines, miniature cauldrons, candelabra, bottles, bowls and cups that make me drool with lust. The previous owners may look at me strangely as I hold my gathered booty protectively to my chest, but I don’t care… these items are now mine… all mine!

The finding and gathering of magickal tools is part of the fun, you tend to be much more appreciative of something that you hunt for than that which you can just go into a New Age shop and buy. Although I do do that too, some items just never get thrown away.

It’s really all about thinking outside the square. Haberdasheries are fantastic places even if you can’t sew. Skeins of coloured thread hang on the walls, perfect for spinning cords, leather thonging on rolls, sheaves of dried wheat, large wooden disks for the painting or carving of pentacles, beautiful fabrics for altar cloths, mask forms and feathers, and even full hides of leather and suede. Hardware stores can be even more fun, sickles and sledgehammers, copper and brass sheets or tubes, wood, paints, herbs and pots, curtain rings to be turned into cloak clasps, copper solder for cloak pins and bollines. The lists are endless. Many hardware stores also sell statuary that would put most witchy shops to shame. Cheap terracotta bird baths make excellent additions to a water quarter, terracotta three footed bowls make wonderful censers or glazed scrying bowls. If you can’t access any of the sacred woods then square dowling pieces make wonderful oghams that can be stained with a bit of consecrated oil and beeswax. Terracotta plant saucers are probably the easiest and best bases for pentacles. Just turn them over and paint your design on the bottom, then seal it.

There is a fabulous old junk shop / antique store that I pass on my way to work. It is full of great furniture, old cupboards filled with silver and brass, stag horns hiding in the corner, candelabra hanging from the roof, and a glassware section that requires climbing over piles of strange object to get to. I love this place, sometimes I will come away with little silver mustard pots for holding incense or salt, a brass cauldron, enormous horns or a brass candlestick. Other times there is nothing of interest or in my price range but I keep going back and am eventually rewarded. These kinds of shops are invaluable to me, I have even found a cutlass in one. 

Another shop that fills me with excitement is a little calligraphy shop that has loads of items that intrigue and delight. This shop sells real vellum, perfect for talismans, they sell gums and resins and all that you need to make ink. They have carved seals and rainbows of sealing wax, ink pots and beautiful quills, not to mention a huge selection of acid free paper and leather bound books. They even have the cheapest air tight jars I have ever found, absolutely perfect for holding incenses or ointments.

Wholesale food importers are also loads of fun to explore from a witchy viewpoint. You can buy herbs from them in bulk or by weight, the Greek ones usually also sell good quality charcoal blocks and bulk frankincense.

So next time you go out shopping, think about what you see from a witch’s point of view, that innocuous household item may just be the tool that you have been looking for. Just remember to clean and cleanse everything thoroughly and don’t even get me started on the magickal world of $2 shops. Yum!