Ask a Bruja – Magical Waste Disposal

Several people have asked me how they should dispose of their magical leavings after the spell work is completed. Some even bring their leavings to me to dispose of for them, so in a way, I am their magical trash waste stream (and yes, I did work HazMat for McClellan AFB for a while). No one says it better than Cat Yronewode on her Lucky Mojo site, so I am going to reprint her words and leave them here for you:

http://www.luckymojo.com/layingtricks.html <== This is the link for more information. Why repeat it if it has already been said perfectly?

Cat says:

If you want to keep something close, bury it in your back yard.
If you want to attract something, bury it under the front door step
If you want to destroy its influence, burn it.
If you want it to move away and sink, throw it in running water
If you want to disperse it to a distance, throw it into a crossroads
If you want to fix its influence, inter it in a five-spot pattern
If you want it to work by means of spirits, bury it in a graveyard
If you want to hide its point of origin, conceal it in a tree
If you want it to work in secret, give it in food or drink
If you want it to work by stealth, hide it in clothing or on objects
If you want its influence to begin or strengthen, throw it East
If you want its influence to end or weaken, throw it West
If you want its influence to rise and fall cyclicly, float it in a tidal estuary

As an aside, I am stunned by the number of people who do binding spells or banishing spells in bottles or jars and then bury the damned things on their own property.  !!  If you are working protection magic and bury a Witches’ Bottle to protect the home, that is one thing, but if you are working to banish someone from your life, bury the thing as far from you as possible! Not in your own backyard!