Magickal Substitutions: Herbs, Candles and Spell Ingredients

Have you ever been ready to cast a spell but realized that you were missing an ingredient? What if you didn’t have time to go shopping or couldn’t find the ingredient anywhere? 🌿 Sometimes Green Witches must substitute an herb with another one, a candle with a different color, and craft our way out!

How to Substitute Spell Ingredients?

Substitute by purpose: If, for example, a love spell calls for Honeysuckle but you don’t have it, use a Carnation instead. If a prosperity spell requires Blessed Thystle, you may use Basil instead. Find a printable page below with magickal purpose correspondences. ↓

Substitute by fragrance: When making anointing oils and other potions, the fragrance of the ingredient can be substituted by a similar one. Find a printable page below with common magickal fragrance substitutions. ↓

Follow your intuition. Ask yourself “If instead of casting a spell I was cooking, what ingredient would I use to substitute this?”

Herbal Substitutions

Each ingredient in a spell recipe has a specific function. However, there will come a time when you will simply have to find a substitute and trust that you are making the right choice. After all, your Witchcraft is entirely yours to modify.

List of ingredient substitutions

This printable grimoire guide will give you ideas on what to use as replacement for herbs typically used in Witchcraft, achieving a similar end to the original one.

Powerful plants that can substitute any other ingredient:

Rosemary and Lemongrass can replace any other herb in the spell.
Rose can be used instead of any other flower in the spell.
Sandalwood can substitute any other type of wood.
Frankincense can be used instead of any gum resin.

Here is an additional list of Substituions:

Herb - Substitute

ACACIA - Gum Arabic

ACACIA GUM - Gum Arabic

ACONITE - Tobacco

ARABIC, GUM - Frankincense; Gum Mastic; Gum Tragacanth (for binding wet ingredients, not for incense use)

AMBERGRIS - Artificial Ambergris, Cypress Oil with a few drops of Pachouli Oil

AMMONIAC, GUM - Asafoetida

ASAFOETIDA -Tobacco; Valerian

BALM OF GILEAD - Rose buds; Gum Mastic

BDELLIUM GUM - Copal, Pine Resin, Dragon's Blood

BELLADONNA - Tobacco

BENZOIN - Gum Arabic; Gum Mastic

CACHANA - Angelica root

CAMPHOR OIL - Eucalyptus oil; Lavender oil

CARNATION - Rose petals anointed with a few drops Clove oil

CASSIA - Cinnamon (Cinnamon sold in the U.S. is actually less expensive cassua)

CASTOR BEAN - A few drops Castor oil

CEDAR - Sandalwood

CINQUEFOIL - Clover; Trefoil

CINTRON - Equal parts Orange peel and Lemon peel

CLOVE - Mace; Nutmeg

CLOVER - Cinquefoil

COPAL - Frankincense; Cedar

COWBANE - Tobacco

CYPRESS - Juniper; Pine needles

DITTANY OF CRETE - Gum Mastic

DRAGON'S BLOOD - Equal parts Frankincense and Red Sandalwood

EUCALYPTUS OIL - Camphor oil; Lavender oil

EUPHORBIUM - Tobacco

FRANKINCENSE - Copal, Pine Resin

GALANGAL - Ginger Root

GRAINS OF PARADISE - Black Pepper

GUM ACACIA - Gum Arabic

GUM AMMONIAC - Asafoetida

GUM ARABIC - Frankincense, Gum Mastic

GUM BDELLUM - Copal, Pine Resin, Dragon's Blood

HELLBORE - Tobacco, Nettle

HEMLOCK - Tobacco

HEMP - Nutmeg, Damiana, Star Anise, Bay

HENBANE - Tobacco

HYSSOP - Lavender

IVY - Cinquefoil

JASMINE - Rose

JUNIPER - Pine

LAVENDER - Rose

LEMONGRASS - Lemon Peel

LEMON PEEL - Lemongrass

LEMON VERBENA - Lemongrass, Lemon Peel

LODESTONE - A magnet or hematite

MACE - Nutmeg

MANDRAKE - Tobacco

MASTIC GUM - Gum Arabic, Frankincense

MISTLETOE - Mint, Sage

MUGWORT - Wormwood, Tobacco

NEROLI OIL - Orange Oil

NIGHTSHADE - Tobacco

NUTMEG - Mace, Cinnamon

OAKMOSS - Patchouli

ORANGE - Tangerine Peel

ORANGE FLOWERS - Orange Peel

PATCHOULI - Oakmoss

PEPPERWORT - Rue, Grains Of Paradise, Black Pepper

PINE - Juniper

PINE RESIN - Frankincense, Copal

RED SANDALWOOD - Sandalwood with a pinch of Dragon's Blood

ROSE - Yarrow

ROSE GERANIUM - Rose

RUE - Rosemary with a pinch of Black Pepper

SAFFRON - Orange Peel

SANDALWOOD - Cedar

SARSAPARILLA - Sassafras

SASSAFRASS - Sarsaparilla

SPEARMINT - Peppermint

SULFUR - Tobacco, Club Moss, Asafoetida

THYME - Rosemary

TOBACCO - Bay

TONKA BEAN - Deerstongue, Woodruff, Vanila Bean

VALERIAN - Asafoetida

VANILLA - Woodruff, Deerstongue, Tonka Bean

VETIVERT - Calamus

WOLFSBANE - Tobacco

WOOD ALOE - Sandalwood sprinkled with Ambergris Oil

WOODRUFF - Deerstongue, Vanilla

WORMWOOD - Mugwort, Tobacco

YARROW - Rose

YEW - Tobacco

Substituting Essential Oils & Fragrances

Can I substitute an essential oil with an essence or synthetic fragrance? Yes. Try to find one that legitimately resembles the odor of the real plant or its essential oil.

Aromatic herbs and oils, including essential oils are an integral part of spiritual practices.

Keep this guide in your grimoire (2 pages) for reference. Use these fragrance substitutions when making spiritual anointing oils and other potions.

Note: Everything is made out of chemicals. Plants are made out of chemicals. You are made out of chemicals. Synthetic fragrances are symply made by manually combining the same chemicals that occur naturally to make up a fragrance. However, not all synthetics are created equal. If you use them, take the time to find a good one.

Spell Ingredient Substitutes by Purpose

This type of substitution occurs when there are two ingredients that can be used for the same purpose. If you don’t have one ingredient for the spell, you can use another one that fulfills the same intention or purpose.

Prosperity Herbs

Live plants, especially herbs, can bring prosperity into the home. You can also use dried herbs in the form of incense by burning them in specific areas to attract luck.

The most common way to use prosperity herbs for your home is in pots. You can also use herbal essential oils in a diffuser or in the form of incense.

Love & Joy Herbs

Make oils and teas with these herbs or add them to warm water in a spiritual bath. They can be included in spell jars or in mojo bags to make us feel more attractive and predisposed to self-love and romance.

Protection Herbs

When doing a spiritual cleanse, certain herbs are burned like incense. The smoke is used in order to purify oneself, feel protected and blessed. It can also be used to offer and give thanks, to protect places or people.

Live plants can also be hanged or placed in the home to attract good fortune.

Substitutions of Dried Herbs for Fresh Ones

Do you use fresh or dry ingredients in your spells? The answer will depend on what kind of spell you are casting. If you don’t grow your own herbs or go foraging, dry ingredients can be a lot easier to find. And even if you have a garden with your own Witch plants, you may end up drying your herbs to keep them year-round as you celebrate the Wheel of the Year.

As it’s done in the kitchen, when substituting herbs for spells, the general rule of thumb for replacing a dried herb with a fresh herb is to use 3 times the amount required in the recipe.

Candle Substitiutions

In traditions that deal with Candle Magic, it’s generally accepted that a white candle can replace any other color in the candle spell or ritual. White light is a combination of all colors in the color spectrum. This can be used to symbolically justify the use of a white candle when other colors are not available.