Navigating chronic illness can be tough, especially for us witches. While I can't offer any cures or magickal solutions to make your illness disappear, there are some ways I've found to better the experience. Living with chronic illness can still be a magickal life. Here are five ways to incorporate magick for chronic illness.

1. Magickal Pill Box
If you take medication, I encourage you to make your pill box a form of self-expression and imbue it with magick. I used to have a pill box that was one of those generic-looking sterile types often used in medical settings. Every time I looked at it, it upset me, reminding me of being sick. I changed this mindset by switching to a more attractive-looking pill box that was green with gold lettering.

Once you have a pill box that you like, decorate it with sigils, signs, images, or anything that empowers this container for you. On my pill box, I used paint markers to draw sigils to promote health and well-being, a memory sigil to help me remember to take my meds, and a sigil to reduce side effects. I now have an aesthetically pleasing, magickal container to store my medications.

I hold the full container and bless the medications whenever I restock my pill box. You could use a blessing like this one or create your own.

"In the name of the Goddess, God, and Great Spirit,
under the watchful eyes of the ancestors,
I ask for these pills to be blessed
and consecrated in your good names.
May these pills aid in my overall health and well-being
without side effects so I am able to function at my fullest capacity.
Help me remember to take my medications at the right times.
I am grateful for your assistance.
May there always be peace between us. So mote it be."

2. Create a Comfort Object Talisman
Talismans are charms used to bring in energy or manifest something. By creating a comfort object talisman, you can add some magick to your mundane comfort items that you may already be using. This could be a mug, blanket, or stuffed animal. I've used a weighted stuffed animal, but chose something that works best for you.

Cleanse your comfort object with sacred smoke, such as cedar, palo santo, or local herbs. Hold the comfort object in your hands. Speak aloud your intentions for the object. You could use the following or create your own blessing.

"I ask in the name of the Goddess, God, and Great Spirit, under the watchful eyes of the ancestors, that this object be consecrated to manifest comfort, healing, and peace within and around me. I ask that this energy promote helpful, harmonious energy for my highest healing good. Thank you to all those who aid in this work. So mote it be!"

3. Create a Healing Altar for Yourself
Creating an altar to yourself can make a powerful space to perform magick for your chronic illness and your life in general. Like you would craft an altar to a spirit or deity, create an altar for yourself. Use a picture of yourself when you look happy and healthy. Alternatively, you can use a mirror, but having a picture of your best self works best. You want something you can gaze upon that honors you. You might choose to add representations or accomplishments or what makes you special on your altar. Good items to use are those that remind you of who you are. Also consider adding corresponding stones, herbs, or animal representations significant to you or your illness.

To honor yourself at your altar, make offerings. Choose consumable or token items you enjoy. Choose an altar cloth to place underneath your items. You might also pick a space in your home for your altar where you can store your pill box. I keep my self-altar in my bedroom near my bed so I can look at it if I'm not feeling well.

4. Commune with the Spirit of Your Disease
Spirits of Disease may be partnered with to better understand your illness, the lessons it can provide, and any messages you need to hear. Communicating with the spirits of my diseases has been one of the most profound experiences I have had as a person living with chronic illness. It can be revealing and informative and connect deeply to living a life alongside illness. Your illness may present in a humanoid-type form or something very amorphous. I've had both experiences with my different diagnoses. I also think it's possible to have an experience with the spirit of my illness versus the spirit of all that type of illness. For example, when I connected to the spirit of arthritis, I perceived the spirit as an elderly woman with twisted hands and joints. You might try connecting with the spirit of arthritis and pick up on something else entirely. Both can be true.

Using a spirit house is the best way to connect with the spirit of disease. Spirit houses are a way to allow the spirit to commune with you and give it an anchoring point for interaction that is outside of your body. You could make a spirit house using a generic clay doll not made in your likeness. When I did this, I loaded the doll with herbs and stones that help enhance spirit contact, such as wormwood, frankincense, and quartz crystals. You may choose more specific ingredients for your illness or keep it generalized.

Here are some questions or intentions that can be explored with your spirit. Choose a few that you would like to ask to your spirit. Record any messages you receive in a journal.

• Is there a purpose for you to be with me?
• Is there something I need to know from you?
• What can I do to make living with you easier?
• Do we have any ancestral ties?
• If so, are there specific ancestors with whom you are connected?
• If so, can I help remedy some of the issues?
• Can I help you not to interfere with my daily life?
• Do you have any messages for me at this time?
• Am I connecting with the correct health providers to work with you at this time?
• Am I on the correct medications to help ease or eliminate your symptoms?
• Is there anything more I can do to help myself with your afflictions?

5. Connect with the Spirit of Your Medication
If you are someone taking medication, you can connect to the spirits of your medications in a similar fashion to how we communicate with the spirit of disease. Much like plant allies, these medications have a constitution and a spirit. My experiences connecting to the spirits of medications remind me of a servitor, an artificially crafted spirit tasked with a specific job. They may feel a little more programmed than a natural spirit but they still can provide helpful information and partnership.

To connect with the spirit of your medication, hold the container for the medication and seek to commune with its spirit. Some good questions to ask are:

• How can you reduce any side effects from the medication?
• Are there things you could do or avoid to help the medication do its job well?

When I have made these connections, I have asked how we may best partner together and if there is anything I need to know or should do to make our partnership work better. Interestingly, I have received information telling me to avoid certain foods. When I reflected on this more, I realized a side effect is weight gain, and I think the spirit was trying to guide me not to have that happen. See what shows up for you.

There are lots of ways to practice magick when living with chronic illness. I hope these five ways encourage you to explore more magick for yourself and empower you to live your best life in the face of illness. Just because you are sick does not make you any less of a witch. Blessed be!