Born To Unearth The Arcane Secrets Of Hell. Forced To Work A Desk Job.

In Greek mythology, Zeus got played by Prometheus so the gods got the bones of animals as offerings while humans got the meat. Sharing your meal with the gods is such a wholesome offering and one the gods appreciate very much

“Don’t give Gods leftovers this is disrespectful” since when is leftover food, the food you would eat yourself, bad?

It’s not rotten, it hasn’t gone bad, it’s not from a trashcan, it’s not food for animals. Like… this argument that all offerings have to be brand new and freshly bought has always bothered and worried me. How privileged and rich do you need to be to impose this on people?

Gods don’t care if your food is freshly bought/made/harvested or not. We have records of Romans and Greeks sharing their home meals with Deities as well as cooking for Deities. Rustic worship existed, which sort of implies that Gods were accessible to people regardless of their income. It has never, ever been stated anywhere, unless you somehow magically provide a reliable source against it, that leftovers are bad as an offering.

You are gifting something you could have eaten yourself. You are sharing food. I don’t know what world this is disrespectful in.

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.

I got a reading by @planetbabysitter

It was absolutely amazing! Her reading style is beautiful, intuitive and so detailed, she touched on personal things I have been instinctively holding close to my chest that played a huge part in my life and even my identity. I didn't know someone else could understand me like that but she absolutely did and her reading reflected that perfectly.

It helped me navigate these feelings I had been suppressing for so long and understand myself on a deeper level, encouraging me to see things from a fresh perspective.

She gave me the clarity and guidance I couldn't find on my own and I highly recommend getting a reading from her, it's so worth it

Putting ideas into words is hard and idek if this makes sense but here is something I have been thinking about lately:

Stop researching for your craft. There is no one truth to witchcraft and I think that researching has been hindering us from truly connecting with the spiritual world. Go outside and collect some grass or flowers or stones. Listen to them, they will tell you what they are and you can use them as you see fit. Rosemary doesn't have to stand for wisdom, pine doesn't have to attract money, plain sweet grass can cleanse and banish and ward if thats what it does for you.

The earth will tell you what it can do, its just up to you to listen.

(obviously though this does not apply in a medicinal sense. don't eat things that you don't know)

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 wanna be the village witch. Living in a cozy hut in the woods, talking to animals and forest spirits, brewing potions, helping the nearby villagers with their problems. They think I'm the oddest thing they've ever seen but their houses are always warm and their plates full so they are kind to me

Witch Tip: Check your Spells

This is the easiest but mostly overlooked element of Magic101: if something seems off with your magic that normally works very well, go and check on your spell.

Maybe something is...off. Maybe your cat knocked over your altar or something in your jar molded. Maybe that last wind storm knocked a tree branch down which scratched out a part of the sigil at the edge of your property.

This could have happened for mundane or magical reasons. Discovering that is up to you.

But check first.

It could be something as simple as your partner changing the sheets on the bed and forgetting to put your dream pouch back into the inner pillowcase (as happened to me last week).

I like the word “witchery” because of its linguistic similarity to “fuckery.” Witchcraft is fuckery; fuckery is witchcraft. They are inextricably connected in my mind and it makes me happy.

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

Love it when a reading is full of major arcana, it's like tarot's version of an all caps Facebook post about the end times coming