Witch Tip 109

Occultists, witches and spiritualists really need to stop peddling the lie that spirituality, witchcraft, paganism, etc. isn’t a psychological phenomenon as well as a mystical one. Your psychology will in fact, fundamentally inform your experiences with spirituality.

And we also need to stop pretending that spirituality and witchcraft are somehow contrary to mental illness. Or that having a mental illness means you can’t do witchcraft.

I’ll be completely honest with you guys and say that certain people with certain afflictions are more predisposed to different “mystical” experiences than others. I don’t think it’s a great coincidence that I am so great at visualization given that I was raised in a severely neglectful household. It doesn’t surprise me that many pagans are lonely people. This doesn’t mean to say that spirituality is “filling” a hole within anyone (although if it is, that’s great for you) but more so that, well, this path is unpopular for a reason. Alternative subcultures are alternative for a reason, and outcasts and rejects usually find a home there for a reason.

This also doesn’t mean to say that people who engage in witchcraft and spiritualism are inherently mentally ill. There is still a difference between hallucinations and spiritual encounters. And there was never any rule that said that both of these things cannot happen to a single person. For the safety of yourself and others we should be aware of the warning signs of dissociation and hallucination, but that doesn’t make anyone “wrong” for experiencing those things. And experiencing those things doesn’t mean you cannot explore spirituality or do witchcraft.

I hate it when “spiritualists” who are actually just anti-vax conservatives push the narrative that people with mental health issues cannot participate in spirituality. I also despise the notion that mental health issues are inherently a sign of an energetic imbalance. We’re all walking around with a special concoction of brain soup in our heads, it doesn’t surprise me that Ares devotees tend to have BPD, that many Aphrodite devotees struggle with self harm, that many people who work with angels have paranoia or generalized anxiety.

There was never any rule that said that you cannot use your deities or magic to help you cope with your mental health. I know some people will say “the Gods aren’t here to be your friend or hold your hand through life” but I’ve seen no evidence to suggest that’s true. I see no reason why a God like Ares couldn’t help his devotee with BPD come down after a bout of rage, I see no reason why Dionysus couldn’t help his devotee with their alcoholism or substance abuse, I see no reason why Aphrodite couldn’t help a devotee with relapse or negative self talk.

Witchcraft and paganism were historically used as a tool for survival, to bring people ease, to help people feel safe and secure, blessed and protected. That applied to all people, including those with mental health issues.

Mental illness is a permanent mana debuff. How is a witch to thrive if I only feel recharged for 5 seconds every whenever

Same thing happened when I was trying to figure out crystal properties and symbolisms. Why is protection listed under every single one?! So I ended up going with vibes. Opalite is now a change bringer because every time I wear it, shit happens and granate is empowering just cause

I remember coming to a point in my craft where I started leaving crystals because it felt like there was just so much shit about them that it was impossible to work through...

Anyway, now I'm a Uni student looking at rocks with a copy of Grimoire Sympathia knowing that the worst thing that happens is I just get a bunch of pretty rocks that I can put on my desk to keep me calm. Like not even spiritually, sometimes it feels good because cool shiny thing with cool surface, rub between hands, many colours, much wow...

In order to have you do a reading for me do I need to pay (sorry if it’s a dumb question)

No dumb questions here!

I do pay-what-you-want readings, using Kofi (linked in my bio as "Buy me a coffee") as a virtual tip jar. Basically, you tip any amount and get a full reading regardless of how much you paid. So you can get one for like 1€.

🔮 Absolutely random, assorted facts from my experience with Tarot:

You can set rules with your deck. Don’t like reversed cards? Don’t pull them. Don’t interpret them. Request not to get them. Don’t care about the position of the card and want only its meaning? Ask for it.

You can pull confirmation cards. If you are working with a companion, you can set up their personal confirmation card. If you’re working with the deck and the general universe, you can pick a feel-good card (or a rare card if you want) and request it whenever you want to get a vibecheck.

You can repull. If it feels weird, it probably is weird. If you keep pulling the same card all over again, it’s probably correct. But if you pulled one weird one that just doesn’t seem like it belongs, repull. Your deck - your rules.

You don’t need to sweat too much over “official meanings”. So what if the Tower means “something bad”? If it means something positive for you, go with your feelings first. Each practitioner will have their own associations with the cards. I for one quite like the Tower, but I genuinely hate getting the High Priestess. It’s individual.

You don’t need to work with a specific Deity, spirit, or daemon. The cards are powerful tools without any additional presence.

You can assign a deck to a particular entity. I have four decks, out of which three belong to (a) companion(s) of mine. This is completely individual and fully relies on who you want to touch your cards.

You can confuse the cards. When the reading starts to feel like it just reiterates your feelings, it probably is. Or you worded your question badly and the cards don’t know what to tell you. Or you already know the answer. Or maybe something else.

You might be turning your spread into multiple spreads. If your session with tarot can be broken into a number of smaller sessions, you are probably overworking yourself. It helps to step back and think whether or not your multi-card spread turned into a multitude of smaller spreads. Is that why nothing is making sense?

You might be told to read cards some other time. Bias, moods, instability, or the cards just being not in the good state - all of these can affect whether they agree to work with you in the first place. I’ve had decks that stayed “silent” for months on and decks that were willing to work with me every day. It depends.

P. S. One more time: this is just my experience. It is not universal.

Everyday Witchcraft

1. Meditate - still the mind, the breath, the heartbeat, open a channel through which the spirits can communicate if they wish to, listen.

2. Walk - honour the genii loci, notice the changing seasons, observe signs and omens, traverse the kingdoms of humanity, flora and fauna, give aid where it is needed.

3. Divine - build relationships with divinatory tools, sharpen skills, train intuition, ask questions, receive answers.

4. Invoke - the presence of spirits to assist in tasks, to protect on journeys, to grant guidance, maintain connections and uphold contracts.

5. Craft - use the hands to create, to construct, imbue each creation with spirit and purpose, a meal, a potion, a carving, a weaving, enchant the mundane and material.

6. Sing - the old songs, the power songs, the prayers, the chants, to heal, to awaken, to enforce, to ward, sing the sun to sleep and the moon to rising, sing in the bath, at the hearth, in the heart.

7. Read - widely and deeply, old and new, academic and popular, across boundaries and taboos, slowly and with full attention, take notes, research, reflect.

8. Write - record experiences, practices, thoughts. keep journals and grimoires, spellbooks and scripts, remember, elucidate, illuminate.

9. Draw - sigils and runes, symbols and signs. Carve, paint, scratch, blacken, redden, scrawl, in the sand, with salt, in the air, with chalk, ink, blood, charcoal, the mind.

10. Collect - herbs, woods, stones, feathers, bones, teeth, soil, the raw materials of natural magic, fill jars, boxes, bags, gather, forage, wildcraft, thrift, take that which is discarded, value the found over the bought.

11. Observe - the cycles of moon, sun, planets, stars, take heed with the eyes as well as the almanac, feel the sap rise, the birds migrate, the bulbs awaken, the leaves wither.

12. Renew - old spells, old wards, protections, and boundaries. Clean what is obscured, recast what has weakened, maintain what is working, replace what is lost. Tie up loose ends.

13. Communicate - with everything, stones, trees, spirits, the dead, that which grows in the garden and that which visits it, other practitioners, mentors, students, seekers, the younger self, the higher self, the wyrd. 

I wasn’t really resonating with any of the full deck spreads I was finding so I’ve ended up making my own. It’s intended to be a big check in for yourself, your life, and the next 12 months. Ideally, you would only do it at most every few months. But without further ado, here are the card positions.

Full Deck Spread

1-5 Positive things in your life right now

6-10 Things you can currently improve

Self Check In

11-13 Spiritual

14-15 Emotional

17-19 Mental

20-22 Physical

Life Check In

23-24 Home

25-26 Family

27-28 Work/School

29-20 Relationships

Monthly Forecast

31-34 January

35-38 February

39-42 March

43-46 April

47-50 May

51-54 June

55-58 July

59-62 August

63-66 September

67-70 October

71-74 November

75-78 December

**If you want to add an oracle card in the middle, go wild. I feel like it could provide a nice little overall message for the reading.**

My favorite simple wards to guard the home

Hanging rosemary above the doorstep, and/or above doors of the house for protection.

Sprinkling a line of dried red pepper on a windowsill, to counter a curse.

Placing a mix of dried & ground eggshells and black pepper in every corner of a room to keep out unwanted spirits.

Placing a decoration representing a witch in the kitchen, to keep away illness and to favor health.

Crafting an effigie (no matter how crude!) and make it into the guardian of your home by charging it with your intent of protection by placing it near the front door.

Crafting small witch ladders to hang around the house.

You don't have to use certain ingredients in spells if they don't feel right, or if you simply don't vibe with them

When I tried to add rice to an abundance spell, it's like whatever energy the spell had started to accumulate dispersed. When I tried to add ground pepper to a spell, the vibes were just... rancid...

You don't have to include every single corresponding ingredient. Feel it out, see what works and what doesn't. Even better, create your own correspondences

Using Witches Cords to Store Energy

Let us assume that you have excess energy lying around from a ritual and you need a space to keep it. Or you're doing a lunar invocation ans you just want to keep some of that lunar energy around for a bit. This is where the Witches cord comes into play.

We know the presence of Witches Ladders, used as the stepping rungs up into the spiritual worlds or into Haides, or even for our manifestation to climb down from its abstract form into the mundane, so why not use it to store energy in the knots.

The thread itself should be consecrated, though the number of threads would vary. A simple one can be made of one single thread, suitable for temporary storage as the thread will fray over time. A more long-term knot can be made from three cords plaited together, even so far as using waxed thread or paracord. To that degree, the act is then channeling the energy that surrounds the magician into the cord.

This cord can then be worn during ritual to tap into it, or it can be unknotted whenever a small burst of energy is required.