How To Use Tarot, Crystals, & Astrology To Bring Magic To Your Wardrobe, According To A Witch

I've always felt that fall brings with it a certain undeniable feeling of magic in the air. Maybe it's the misty mornings, or the golden leaves cascading down from the trees, or just the spooky atmosphere of Halloween. Whatever it is, for me, the autumnal season has always felt rife with a special kind of possibility. For Gabriela Herstik, author of Inner Witch: A Modern Guide To The Ancient Craft, that feeling is an every day thing and she wants to help readers embrace it, too. Bustle has an excerpt from the book below!

Inner Witch, on shelves now, guides readers through modern practice of "magick" through tools tools like tarot, astrology, and crystals — all of which have seen a surge in mainstream popularity over the last few years. Herstik weaves these ancient practices into modern self-care and mindfulness routines.

In an excerpt from the book below, Herstick shares her tips for bringing some of that "magick" into your wardrobe. With the new season on its way, many of us will either be reorganizing our closets or heading out to the store to pick up a few new essentials, so it's never been a better time to embrace some intentional sartorial choices. If you want to look at your clothes in a whole new way, keep reading for Herstik's tips and tricks.

Inner Witch by Gabriela Herstik, $13.93, Amazon

Excerpt: Fashion Magick

When you want to feel powerful, magickal or like a witch who knows what she wants... what do you put on? Maybe you wear a vintage blouse that your mother gave to you. Maybe you slip on your coziest oversized black tee. Perhaps you’ll put on some leather, or something that makes you feel unstoppable.

To deny the power in clothing is to deny its own special magick. It’s not because of what it looks like or because it’s designer. It’s simply because we wear clothing every day, and many of our ancestors did, too. And if they didn’t usually wear much clothing, whatever clothing they did wear was sacred.

To deny the power in clothing is to deny its own special magick.

Much like magick, fashion has to evolve to stay relevant. Even if we’re not into fashion, even if we don’t care much about style or the happenings in the fashion industry, we’re still surrounded by it and exposed to it by our peers, social media, the internet and so on. Magick is similar. When it doesn’t evolve with the time and its people, it ceases to be relevant, necessary and as impactful as it can be. And if our magick is about more than the spells and rituals we cast, if it’s actually the way in which we live our life and how we relate to those around us, and if we live our life in clothing, wouldn’t it make sense to combine the two?

Magick is all about how you feel, and so is fashion. Everyone knows how it feels to slip into something that makes them feel amazing. It’s powerful. By combining this with a healthy dose of magick, we’re able to infuse our everyday life with more power. See your style as a form of spiritual armor that you can take with you anywhere, anytime.

Magick is all about how you feel, and so is fashion. Everyone knows how it feels to slip into something that makes them feel amazing. It’s powerful. By combining this with a healthy dose of magick, we’re able to infuse our everyday life with more power."

Your Fashion Chakra

I like to think of working with fashion magick as being like working with your fashion chakra, although in some respects the fashion chakra is more like your aura, lying closest to your skin, though the fashion chakra isn’t a recognized energy center like the other chakras. When you start to work with fashion as a conscious manifestation of your inner magick, you’ll notice subtle pushes about what to wear or whether to embody something. Suddenly, you’ll want to wear everything in the color orange — but only with red lipstick on. Maybe you’ll feel the urge to embody the assertiveness of the leather jacket. As you allow yourself to explore your style in a way that permits it to evolve and change cyclically like you do, you’ll notice that you’ll become surer of yourself, more confident, more assertive in who you are.

Your fashion chakra isn’t fed by money or designer labels. She’s fed when she’s dressed and loved intentionally; when the perfect piece finds her at the thrift store, or when a gift finds its way to her. Work with your fashion chakra by experimenting with your style. Try wearing a new color or new silhouette. Look into vintage styles, clear out your closet and go thrifting. Experiment and keep your findings in a journal for future reference.

Your fashion chakra isn’t fed by money or designer labels. She’s fed when she’s dressed and loved intentionally."

A Magick Morning Routine

Each day, we have the opportunity to set ourselves up to live from a place of effortless unfolding. Although it can be really hard sometimes to wake up and find the motivation or the time to get ready before going to school or work, if you turn your morning routine into a ritual, it becomes easier. Think of each morning as being like an offering to yourself and to the Universe. If you set your day up to be infused with magick, then the Universe has no choice but to answer that call.

Cosmic Inspiration for Your Day

Two of my favorite ways to infuse my day with magick are to see which astrological sign the Moon is in and to draw my daily tarot card as inspiration for my outfit and makeup. I also like to match my makeup or outfit to crystals and flowers for some extra Earth energy. To help you decide where to draw your inspiration from, you might also find it useful to be aware of which sign the Sun is in, as well as what you're feeling each morning:

1. The Moon

The Moon rules over our emotional body, our unconscious mind and the Divine Feminine in each of us. She pulls at the ocean of our souls and whispers secrets into our hearts. By finding out which astrological sign the Moon is in, you will have a cosmic blueprint of the energies of the day ahead, and can draw additional inspiration for whatever look you want to create based on what you feel. I use the app TimePassages to keep track of the Moon’s sign, but there are plenty of other apps and online sources to help you keep track of her too.

By finding out which astrological sign the Moon is in, you will have a cosmic blueprint of the energies of the day ahead, and can draw additional inspiration for whatever look you want to create based on what you feel."

For example, as I’m writing this, the Moon is in the sign of Cancer. Cancer is ruled by the Moon, and its symbol is the crab. Cancers are emotional, sensitive and feel things very deeply. I’m also PMSing, so I’ve been feeling extra emotional as well. To combat this, I’ve decided to wear silver eyeshadow to channel the Moon, and my favorite long-sleeve black dress with my pentacle necklace as a way to protect myself from any extra emotions that aren’t mine. I also wear a lot of pink when the Moon is in a water sign (read: tenderhearted and emo af ).

2. Tarot

One of my favorite ways to connect to the tarot is to use it for fashion and beauty inspiration. In the morning after waking up, I’ll take some time to breathe and connect with my guides as I shuffle and pull my daily tarot card or cards. I’ll use this as inspiration for my makeup or my outfit.

There’s no wrong way to connect with the cards, so be creative with your interpretation of whichever card you pull, focusing on the energy, or a detail in its artwork. By embodying the energies of your daily tarot cards through what you wear you’re sure to form a strong relationship with them.

3. Crystals

You can also find makeup and outfit inspiration through working with crystals. Whether you wear a sheer pink dress with a stellar highlight and blush lipstick to channel the love of rose quartz or an entirely black ensemble for protective tourmaline, Mother Earth can become your muse. You can also wear the stone whose properties you’re embodying or carry some around with you to really work with this energy.

4. Color Code It

Besides finding fashion inspiration in the tarot, Moon and the natural world, you can also find it in the colors of the clothing and makeup you choose to wear.

Wear This (Or Shades of This) To Feel This:

Red: Passionate, fierce, capable, connected to the Element of Fire and the first chakra, dangerous, sexy and sensual.

Pink: Loved, loving, compassionate, connected to your heart, happy, vivacious and confident.

Orange: Passionate, creative, connected to your second chakra and the Element of Fire.

Yellow: Rich, wealthy, loving, creative, visionary, bright, happy, connected to the third chakra and the Sun.

From INNER WITCH: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Craft by Gabriela Herstik, published by TarcherPerigee, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2018 by Gabriela Herstik.