A Glamour Spell for You.

Here’s a spell to help you get through holidays parties where, for example, the event is called a fundraiser, and there’s no good reason that word should start with “fun.”

Or a family dinner with your creepy uncle, or an annual review, or when the legislative session starts and you’re part of the team who is going to finally get the capital gains tax passed in Washington state and you are ready for your testimony to shine.

These are moments that call for glamour spells.

A glamour spell is designed to alter your appearance. Usually for the better, but it’s shaped by intention. (If, as in one well-known example, you’ve sent your stepdaughter into the woods and she just won’t die, you might glamour yourself up as an old witch to sell her a poisoned apple.)

Glamours can be used to make yourself more invisible, (a kind of protection magic), more magnetic, or even more gorgeously weird.

In my case, the fundraiser was going to put me in a room with people who I haven’t seen for years. In this time, I have grown witchier, curvier, weirder and more brilliantly myself. And done some things I’m really proud of.

But this night, sitting in my car, with cartoon angels and devils on my shoulders (“You’re not too early, just get in there!” and “Who are you going to talk to? Wait till the panel starts.”) I needed some help to remember all that.

And there is a glamour spell that is perfect when you need it without notice.

It's called “Overlighting,” learned from my friend Coyote Vargas when we were teaching together at California Witchcamp. (Here’s the web site for his amazing books or find him on Insta @prestoncoyote.)

For this spell, you don’t need a bag of candles and herbs and potions. All you need is you, your magical focusing/ energy skills and an archetype who you want on your side.

I chose the archetype of the Empress, the tarot card that is also my soul card, because she was the perfect person for the job (gorgeous, convinced of plenty and pleasure, loving and generous) and also because she reminds me that’s who I am too.

I grounded, roots reaching down, breathing, that cortisol cocktail slowly dissipating as I connected to the land, my power, my guides. When I was grounded, I used my breath to fill up my energy field and called her, whispering her qualities, little love notes to her, who is also me at my best, who is also more than me and connected to the work of loving the world and listening to the sacred. I called her in, a glamour, yes, but one that is more than skin deep. And then I got out of my car and went to the party.

(Actually, first. I wandered around, trying to find the operative entrance to the closed museum. Being the Empress doesn’t make me any better at directions, apparently.) 

But it did make me feel terrific as I walked in the door, doffed (I’ll use that word. any chance I get) my coat and entered the crowd.

I didn’t know 90% of the people there, but over there is one old client, telling my new co-conspirator Reiny Cohen that I helped her find her “inner hero.” And there’s another, who’s looking at my new Lead like a Witch business card and grinning from ear to ear – “Tell me everything.”

That helped. The dress also helped – curvy like me but not tight, an ivory backless top and full black skirt and boots that boost me to at least five foot ten. These things helped, not because they necessarily mattered in the room – though I did look fantastic – but because I felt like myself. My strongest, most grounded, most true and most loving self.  

Later a friend who was there told me I was “floating.” (This explains not finding the entrance.) Another said glowing. And by the end of the night, I remembered why I love these people who think deeply and long-term about strategy. I love this work, even more now that I am rooted more deeply in myself and less burned out. I remembered that yes, in the right frame of mind, there is some fun in fundraiser.

Basic steps for an Overlighting Glamor Spell.

1.    Ground.

2.    Notice where the edges of your energy field are. Use your breath to fill that space with your energy. (If you know how to cast a mobile circle around yourself, do that.)

3.    Call in an archetype or quality that you want into your aura. Whisper the qualities until you feel them begin to surround you. Feel it brushing your skin, holding you, shining with you.

4.    Go lead like a witch!

If you’d like to learn this spell and other spells for progressive witches with live teachers, check out our brand new Progressive Witch Workshop series! We are so excited to share these witchy skills with you through ritual, spells and connection. The series includes in person and online sessions on sigil magic, protection magic, candle magic and yes, glamor magic.