Sympathetic magic
The idea that like affects like, and that things once connected stay connected, was described by James Frazer in The Golden Bough (1890) as a way of categorising practices he collected. Frazer's wider theory of cultural evolution is long discredited, but the descriptive terms stuck, and most of the methods below are sympathetic in shape.
Candle magic
A candle is lit for a purpose, sometimes dressed with oil or inscribed, and burned down over one or several sittings. Colour correspondences are modern conventions and vary between books. Fire safety is not optional: heatproof holder, clear surface, never unattended, never asleep, and an LED candle is a legitimate substitute in rented rooms, around pets, or anywhere flame isn't allowed.
Knot and cord magic
Tying intention into knots, releasing it by untying, is recorded very widely in European folk practice, including the sale of knotted winds to sailors. In Wicca it turns up in cord work and in some initiatory contexts. It needs no equipment beyond string.
Sigils
Condensing a written statement into a single symbol. The popular letter-elimination method comes from Austin Osman Spare in the early twentieth century and reached general use through chaos magic, not from Wicca. Older grimoire sigils are a different thing again: they are named symbols of specific spirits, not personal designs.
Poppets
A cloth or wax figure representing a person, used in workings for them. English folk magic used poppets for healing and protection as well as for harm, and surviving examples turn up in museum collections. They are not 'voodoo dolls': that phrase is a Hollywood invention that misrepresents Haitian Vodou, a living religion which does not centre on such objects. Poppets made for someone else raise consent questions, which is where the ethics lesson applies.
Petitions and written intentions
Writing the purpose down, then burning, burying, folding, carrying or keeping the paper. Cheap, private, and unusually effective at forcing you to say precisely what you want, which is most of the work.
Charms, amulets and talismans
Usage differs between writers, but the common distinction is: a charm is a spoken or written formula, or a small object carrying one; an amulet protects or averts; a talisman is made to attract or achieve something specific. Historical usage was far less tidy than modern books suggest.
Banishing, binding, hexing and cursing
These exist, they are old, and pretending otherwise is dishonest teaching. Banishing sends something away. Binding restrains someone's capacity to act. Hexing and cursing intend harm. Some Wiccans consider all of them incompatible with the Rede and the Threefold Law. Others distinguish sharply between defending yourself and attacking someone. Others practise them without apology. 'Real Wiccans never curse' is a claim about one person's tradition, not a fact about the religion.
The questions to ask first
Who is affected, including people you haven't thought about? Have they consented, and if not, why not? What outcome do you actually want, stated plainly? Is there a less coercive framing that gets you there, such as protecting yourself rather than restraining them? And what real-world action does this need alongside it, or instead of it: a conversation, a report, a lock, a lawyer, a doctor, the police? If the honest answer is that the working is a substitute for one of those, do the real thing.