Pan: If You Could Go Back In Time What Would You Do?

Okay, but the Taboo wouldn’t count for parents and young children, right?  I mean, toddlers are naturally grabby and it’s just their way of looking for comfort, and babies are babies, there’s no stopping them.  How could they not hold onto their parent’s dæmons, especially if they’re larger animals?  That’d probably be a safe place for them, something comforting.  And besides don’t parents have to hold baby dæmons in order to carry their baby from room to room?

Witches, I need to say something.

Why is there such an emphasis in the modern witchcraft community on "finding your path/type of witchcraft"??

Everywhere you look online, there's always people telling baby witches that they have to decide whether they are a green witch or a kitchen witch or a grey witch or an elemental/sea/celestial/etc witch. I literally see so many young baby witches asking "can I be both [random label] and [other random label]?"

Like yes, of course you can, this isn't fucking Avatar! You can master all the elements! And it's even worse when people who naturally practice more than one narrow path are all lumped together as their own label, eclectic, even if we're trying not to use labels. It feels invasive sometimes.

I get that for some people, labels make them happy. And that's fine. Call yourself a kitchen witch or a fire witch or whatever if you want to. That's not a problem at all.

The problem, in my opinion, comes when we start telling everyone who's interested in witchcraft that "this is how it is, you have to choose a label of your 'path'."

This can be so limiting for baby witches, not to mention the fact that these labels didn't even use to be a thing. They're a modern invention I only ever see on things like Tumblr and tiktok. It's NORMAL to study different "paths". That's what spirituality is about-- learning-- not boxing yourself in so you can fit a specific aesthetic.

We need to stop burdening baby witches with this idea that they have to choose.

Buzzfeed has a listicle of 90s scholastic book fair books, and they actually included Animorphs, which is awesome. However, this was their description: “Despite the silly covers, the Animorphs series did teach readers a lot about adolescence: friendship and first crushes; and tougher issues, like losing your parents (and in one case, finding them again).” Mmmm…yeah.

Gonna go ahead and assume that that was written by someone who ONLY read the back cover summaries and not a single book. Because honestly (among all the other reasons that description is bizarrely inaccurate), the books don't actually have much to say about crushes or romance. There are two fairly healthy and well-communicated romances among the main cast, neither of which involves any kind of traditional couples' drama. Even Jake and Cassie's breakup is a long time coming, and their relationship remains mutually respectful afterwards.

Daemonism things...

Not knowing what to say when someone asks about your form related jewellery.

Being careful not to answer "too fast" if asked what animal you would be.

That split second where you and your daemon are disagreeing over what to do next.

Knowing the whole journey of trying to work out if you are settled enough as a person yet to find a settled form.

go to the forest together and collect cool things for spells. kiss him under the tallest trees and tell him he’s the most magical thing in there

The Little Merman

“I don’t know when/ I don’t know how/ But I know something’s starting right now/ Watch and you’ll see/ Someday I’ll be/ Part of Your World.”

to rewild your witchcraft

walk barefoot on stones in shallow streams.

talk to the wind and let it carry away your regrets.

forage for wildflowers to place on your altar, press in thrifted books, or give to loved ones —be careful when identifying

watch sunrises and sunsets. wake up before the sun. bare witness to the painted sky.

spend hours in the woods among the wild. take long long walks or sit still and watch the world.

talk to plants and listen to them. make friends.

get field guides to trees, plants, birds, etc. that are native to your area. learn which are which. bookmark pages that you recognize or want to find.

sing back to the robins. caw back to the crows.

journal by firelight and feel the flame burn your worries away.

gather snow and bring a bowl inside. talk to it and tell it your worries. your fears. let it melt, transmuting your stress and worries into healing nourishment. bring it outside and water the soil. see how things can be changed.

dance. run. move your body to sweat, if this is something you can do

collect stones from the river and try to find the best ones. keep them in your pocket. hold onto them to remember that you’re an animal.

go to a lake and float. feel the water carry you. lifting you from your stress. bring a vial and collect some for spellwork.

make a necklace out of an acorn and thread.

stand in the rain. dance in it. lay down in the grass and let it pour. let it wash fears away, transform doubt to hope. start anew.

𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘

(wild winter witchcraft here)

In honor of His Dark Materials coming out today/tomorrow, and finding out that the writers were playing DnD during production, here are my home brew rules for adding Daemons to a campaign for 5th Edition DnD.

(Feedback is welcome but this is my first home brew so please be gentle)

Today, during the break, Kleytos was so tired.

Love you, little cutie baby (maybe he will kill me after seeing this).