Yup Sedim, “that’s the ticket.”
LOL … yeah that’s why I was saying they hurt me on multiple levels. The second I looked at it, I knew they would be horrible commercialized knockoffs. Fine for a hobby project maybe, but nothing more. Omg…
You mean you bought one of the mini meditation “drums”!?
Oh gods… of course, plastic… why am I not surprised. ![]()
Hey at least you got some sandalwood! Partial win?
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I have only purchased the burning bundle items.
Ya, if it was brass it’d be something I could use. Now it’s just decoration for my altar.
But I will use that rubber striker, when I use the wood one for my bowl as a bell, it’s too harsh.
What’s your take on those? Or things like it bought from a store like this? Would your buy and if so, what would you do to cleanse or charge them when you got them home? I always feel wary about these kinds of things but…some witches are on a budget lol
I wonder if you’ll get “5-below” performance out of them lol Jk I’ve bought a lot of my stuff on eBay and at discount prices just to be able to practice. I started with tarot cards on Temu so I’m definitely not riding any kinda high horse lmao oh goddess you should’ve seen some of what I received
Sedim, I use moonstone for my moonwater, and I use amethyst for my sunwater.
Exploding,
I like to use what I find outside. I use feathers and incense to represent the air, my tea-light candle for fire, my water bottle for water, sometimes a shell or my cauldron, and sometimes an object such as a pretty rock, tree bark, leaf, whatever catches my eyes, or just the simple ground for my earth element during my supplications. I am on a budget. I bought my Tarot and Lenormand cards from Amazon and books too. The rest I just “find”. Example–for the altar cloth, a friend at bingo gave me some handstitched crocheted washcloths, and I use it for my altar cloth on my dresser. I saved 3 (diff. colors) to interchange with the season colors and sabbats.
Other than the books and cards, I have everything on the cheap. I have an old 3-ring binder with dividers, that I use for my BOS. This way is wonderful, I can add or change pages as I feel called to, and I use the dividers to section, goddesses, animals, spells, zodiac correspondences…
The craft can be as expensive or inexpensive as you wish. I always remember that our witchy ancestors did not have the doo-dad’s that we think are necessary. Keep that in mind. They are nice, but not necessary.
Lady Gene ![]()
I know I wasn’t quoted, but I found the smudge bundles, oils, and incense to be of good quality.
(The rest, like what I pictured, is junk)
The singing bowl and the “drum”? Absolutely not. lol, The fact they are both being sold mass-produced in a store like 5-Below is actually rather offensive to my tradition… I know that buying and selling from a mass-produced shop takes away from the traditional artisans that are struggling to support their families in countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka, so I personally can’t buy those items without being conscious of that.
If your question is also about the thrift shop stones, I have no problem with that - though it’s a little risky if you don’t know how to tell if they’re real or not. I have a lot of experience around stones, so for me it’s easy.
Some of the knicknacks and incense holders and such on the bottom of that 5-Below photo looked ok. It sounds like they had decent enough incense too - as Sedim said he’s happy about those.
I get it totally. I’m somewhere between a materialist and a penny-pincher lol. I pick and choose what I care about being high quality. I have a 3-Ring binder like Lady Gene. My incense burner is from Walmart. My central piece on my altar is above a piece of carved wood I found at a thrift shop. I’ve crafted many tools and carved a wand once from a fallen piece of pine.
But my essential oils, cards, statues, incense, stones, mala and offering bowl are all high-quality and come from a local metaphysical shop, artisan shops on Etsy, or imported direct from family-run shops in India and Nepal. (Which I found on Etsy and eBay after research.)
So it really depends. eBay isn’t necessarily a bad place to get things, you just have to vet the seller of course lol. Hope that answers your questions! ![]()
[Edit: As far as cleansing/charging goes, it depends on the item. I mostly use smoke, sound, or a selenite plate.]