All you need to make a Witches' Ladder is 3 yards of yarn in the colours that represent magick, and the 3 aspects of the Goddess (for you Wiccans), those being red, white, and black. You might think the getting 3 entire balls of yarn for this is a waste, but it isn't. The remaining yarn can be used for countless other magickal purposes, and the colours make them even more useful. Red can be used for love spells, white for...well pretty much anything, and black for breaking hexes, or warding off evil, just to name a few uses. You could even use regular white cotton cord that you dye with food colouring, or just colour with the appropriate colour felt pen, like I did the first time. Thinking in the way I did when coming up with the idea of how to use regular cotton cord, something many people have in their home, is a good thing to get in the habit of doing. In other words, if you can't get the tools you need to do a spell, or spell related craft, think of what you can use as substitutes before you throw in the towel.

One of the most powerful charms is the Witches' Ladder. This is a cord made of three lengths of coloured yarn braided together, with different coloured feathers knotted into the cord at regular intervals. I don't know about you, but unless you live in the tropics, your not likely to be able to get your hands on different coloured ones. I collect every feather I see, and they're almost all seagull feathers that are grayish black or grayish white. So I just put a line of the colour I wanted on the end with felt markers. But you could substitute with other things that are coloured or able to hold colour, like paper shaped like feathers, or just in the shape of your choice, with no colour, just the intent written on it. That one worked just as well as the one with feathers. It's all a matter of your mind, if you're convinced a spell won't work unless you have every ingredient the spell you made calls for...it will definitely fail. Where as if you are convinced it will work with none of them probably will. Witches' Ladders can be a general charm of protection and good fortune, or for a specific purpose limited only by your creativity.

To make a Witches' Ladder gather the necessary materials on the night of the Full Moon. Arrange your altar and cast a Circle. Use one yard of each colour of yarn. Tie the three ends together in a knot. Braid them together chanting the following as you braid:

Repeat this chant until the entire length of yarn is braided. Braiding itself is a magickal art because it makes the three strands into one, representing the three aspects of the Goddess. When the braid is finished, tie a knot in the end. Starting from a foot from the start of the braid, tie in the first feather with a knot around its base, saying (for a green feather):

When all nine feathers have been tied into the cord, as evenly spaced as possible, tie the ends of the cord together to form a circle. Pass it through the candle flame and incense smoke, sprinkle it with salt and water, and say the following: