THE SOBER WITCH BLOG

(From 2/17/2024 SWP Episode)

As I mention in the Sober Witch Podcast episode that I originally shared this ritual in, my dominant money personality is the Shopper. This isn’t that surprising for someone with a history of addiction as it calls on much the same dopamine responses as drug and alcohol use.

So things like Amazon and those witchy subscription boxes are fantastic at stimulating that dopamine response. I’m going to use the example of witchy subscriptions boxes, but please know I love them and if I had more money I would get them all the time. But I don’t so I can’t, which is reason for this ritual!

For those that don’t know about witchy subscription boxes they are usually associated with an online witchy shop that offer multiple types of monthly subscription mystery boxes, some more expensive then others. They usually contain beautiful items, things like incense, oils, ritual salts, crystals, books, statues, tarot/oracle decks.

But yes, I subscribed to them and I loved the items, however I didn’t really need them and (I’ll be honest) I didn’t use them often enough to warrant the price of the box.

Anyway, so every month I would receive an email from the witchy subscription box company, “Your package is on the way.” Bam. Anticipation. Bam. Dopamine release. Just like with a drug or drink there’s that anxious, but gleeful feeling of anticipation. It’s like an odd, mildly pleasant yearning or longing. And it’s even better because it’s a mystery box and I don’t know what’s going to be in it so I can imagine what might be in it, even more anticipation thus even more dopamine. And then it arrives, and there’s always that tinge of disappointment. The anticipation of the thing was better than the actual thing. Which is so often the case with our online purchases, not all the time, but I think it’s safe to say the majority of the time, especially with impulse buys.

After realizing what was happening with those witchy subscription boxes and even some of my Amazon impulse buys, I came up with this ritual for myself to trick myself into getting that same dopamine rush but at a much lower cost. And I call it the Dopamine-Boosting Re-Gifting Ritual.

The things needed for this ritual are

• An awareness of what your impulse buys are (for me my impulse buys are typically books, tarot/oracle decks, stones and minerals, teas and coffees, things like that)
• A selection of those items that you already own, and
• A gift bag and tissue paper, or a box, anything that you can pack your items into and make look pretty

Of course, your items will be very specific to you. Typically, we can look to our collections of things to determine what our impulse buys might be. It could be clothing, books, comic books, video games, teas, whatever. And again, these are all things we already own so we’re not spending any money that we haven’t already spent.

This month my Dopamine Re-gifting Gift Bag contains:

• The Woodland Wardens, which is an oracle deck that I really didn’t get to truly connect with when I first received it like 2 years ago,
• A silk scarf that was just hanging in my office closet doing nothing which is now wrapped around the oracle deck in the bag
• A beautiful, green beeswax candle
• Some rosemary incense
• A beautiful big green opal stone

Whatever your items are, place them in your gift bag or box, and really make an effort to make the packaging aesthetically appealing to yourself. This is a gift to yourself so make it beautiful and meaningful.

Set a future designated day where you can mindfully open your gift.  I do this ritual probably every 2 months or so, because after 2 months I have typically forgotten what it is I put in the bag in the first place. So it actually is kind of a surprise.

If you’re able to put your gift in a place where you will see it from time to time this will really help ignite that feeling of anticipation. Which means the dopamine response gets to kick in.

Once your designated day arrives to open your gift, if you’d like to cast circle and call in the elements and deity do so. I like to do this as it creates ritual space, but do what feels right for you.

Open your gift mindfully and carefully, spending time with each item, connecting with it in a way that perhaps you didn’t initially or haven’t in a while. You can even open your gift over a series of days, taking only one item out a day to ensure proper connection and appreciation for the item.

Ensure to bide farewell to deity and the elements and to close circle if one was cast to begin with.

I love this ritual though as it helps me to decrease my spending, but still get a little dopamine rush. Plus, it allows a renewed appreciation for things I already own.

Let me know what you put in your dopamine-boosting regifting gift bag in the comments!!