If You Give This Woman Money, It Will Go To Transphobic Causes. If You Give This Woman A Platform, She

Incorporating Aphrodite into our daily lives: A Transformational embodiment approach:

How as Priest, devotees, and other followers of Aphrodite can we most profoundly increase our connection to her while also venerating her?

It’s simpler then it sounds actually. But the most profound way I’ve found to understand and grow closer to a deity is to apply self discipline to imitate them and their values. In Aphrodite’s case we must examine her as a Goddess. What is she? At her core? She is love, unbridled and unrestricted love and beauty. She exist in all things that fall under this, in the delicate brush strokes of an oil painting, in the bashful smiles of new love, it is these things in which the Goddess resides. We can use this in our practice but choosing to project that energy.

When feeling emotionally triggered ask yourself, what would Aphrodite do? How can I apply love to this situation? Does it warrant the wrathful side of love? Or is there something that can be done to maintain or restore harmony with peace? Before acting ask yourself, is this loving? Does this express love to myself? Does the express love to others?

Show love. Tip 50% just because you can, send that text message, buy a gift, kiss your partner, compliment a stranger.

Show self love.

Go to therapy. Rest. Wear some perfume or cologne, take a shower for the feeling, exercise, compliment yourself anytime you find yourself insulting yourself. Set a boundary. Do shadow work. Meditate. Do positive affirmations as often as you can.

Create beauty.

Paint, sing, compose, draw, write, sculpt, even if you think you suck. Have a conversation with a friend. Tell a story. Clean your home. Light some incense.

ILVERMORNY HEADCANON [Course Professors & Descriptions]

ASTRONOMY

Professor Ortwin Aurelio

    This class teaches that stars are much more than twinkling lights in the sky.  Offered as an elective class to those in year 4 and above, Professor Aurelio takes his students on a rigorous adventure to the stars.  This course is not for those who need their full 8 hours of sleep as classes have the possibility of being held between midnight and 3AM (when study subjects are at their peak).  

     Those who do take this class will experience and learn the wonders of the night sky.  If you so choose to further your education in this area and go to level 2, you will have the opportunity to participate in an annual quest.  A friendly competition between classmates where they must use what they have learned on Star Navigation to find an item hidden by Professor Aurelio himself.  This course is nothing short of enlightening.

BOTANY

Professor Virginia Leon

    Come learn about the magnificent world around you!  As in the literal blade of grass that you are stepping on.  In this course you will learn about the most mundane plants as well as the most complex and mystical ones our world has to offer.  Professor Leon, a world renowned Wizarding Botanist before joining us at Ilvermorny, has been teaching this course for over 50 years.  

     Expect to brace yourself as you will be getting up close and personal with some of the most dangerous plants known to witch or wizard while also learning about healing properties as well as what herbs helps top off the school’s world famous roast!

CHARMS

Professor Filimena Godwine

    Learn to bring a whole new meaning to being charming as you come to throw charms without even mumbling a single sound.  Charms is an ever perfecting craft which must be constantly learned.  

     Students are required to take this course in their first four years of study, but if they so desire, they may take it for all their years at Ilvermorny.  No matter whether you decide to further your education in charms or not, all witches and wizards will leave this school knowing how to do basic charms without needing to speak their incantation.

CRYPTOZOOLOGY

Professor Newton Aureliana

    The stories that once made you quake in fear and wonder of the Loch Ness or maybe even the Chupacabra are not just folklore, they are the true tales of beasts that roam this earth still. In this course, you will travel from the past and back to learn about some of the most fascinating creatures that have ever been discovered while also coming to know how our community has kept them under wraps from No Mags since the beginning of time. 

     This year, we welcome first year Professor Newton Aureliana, as he has dedicated his life to follow in suit of Mr. Newt Scamander and help these magnificent creatures stay well.  All students are required to have a personal copy of Newt Scamander’s “Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them,” other texts will be assigned when deemed necessary as the course progresses.  

DEFENSE AGAINST DARK MAGIC

Professor Cicero Alister

    The Dark Forces of magic will have no hold over you once you complete this course.  Being under the instruction of the wondrous and very capable Professor Alister is both a gift and a great privilege, one which should never be taken for granted.  Our world has been under attack by dark magic more than one would like to admit and this class helps to assure that our students will know how to defend themselves and their loved one, should they ever need to rise to the occasion.  

     Professor Alister has a vast listing of past experiences which make him well over qualified for this position and you should rest well assured that you will be in good hands and learn more than you could ever possibly imagine.

ELIXIRS

Professor Angus Mordecai

    The art of witches and wizards standing over a bubbling cauldron goes far past any record books still intact today.  From concocting the simple remedy for the common cold to brewing the elixir of life, all will need true patience to succeed in this course.  Professor Mordecai comes from a long line of talent in this subject and Ilvermorny has had the honor of being his home for 23 years now.  He brings to the ingredients table a sense of wonder and intrigue that has captured the minds of students throughout his time here.  Know that in his class you will learn not only about this subject, but of yourself as well.

FLYING

Professor Fida Jacmomina

    The sky is the limit, as the saying goes. But here, within Mount Graylock’s silvery skies, you will learn that there are always exceptions. Students of every year are required to take a class on the skill of broom flying. First years will learn the very basics whilst the upper years can take electives on the topic; ranging from long term flying to competitive broom maneuvers.

KNOWING NO-MAJS

Professor Erika Weisz

    Odd creatures they are; those who live day in and out without the power of magic in their blood. Called No-Majs on this side of the waters, the relationship between they and the wizarding folk of America is full of sorrow and distrust. Students of every year are expected to learn about this messy history between the two, as well as a basic understanding of No-Maj lifestyles and culture in order to blend in between with their kind outside in the world.

MAGICAL HISTORY

Professor Berit Aphra

    As a result of the impressively rich and long history of the Magical World that is in the United States, students are expected to take six years of Magical History. Here, they will learn of their founder, Isolt Sayer and her journey from the clutches of Gormlaith Gaunt to the construction of what we now call Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They will learn of MACUSA’s rise to power, and those who sat as its head. They will learn of the Salem Witches who died within a blaze of fire. They will learn it all. That and so much more.

SKINWALKING

Professor Apisi Nero

    The ancient, Native way of transforming oneself into an animal is kept alive within Ilvermorny’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’s hall. Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh years are required to learn this ancient magical techniques; beginning by identifying their chosen creature, then going forth in the next years in perfecting their transformations. 

     Classes are held within the campus’s adjacent forest, underneath the light of the moon during the midsts of the night. It is thought, only then, one can connect truly with their animalistic side.

TRANSFIGURATION

Professor Eponine Avanti

    This class is often viewed on a scale of two very vast extremes, You’re either turning water into rum or turning yourself into a cat.  This course takes transfiguration to a whole new level of extreme and fun.  In your very first two years of education you will come to be able to turn simple objects into whichever your heart desires.  Once you round to your fourth year of instruction in this subject, you will come to participate in Professor Avanti’s game of Transfigure & Seek!  

     This is a final exam well loved by all elder years and many of them are known to offer their assistance to the Professor in helping set up, judge or even sit as spectators to cheer on the fourth years.  You will learn much in this class with no shortage of fun in doing so.

XYLOMANCY

Professor Vernon Gwydion

    Often overlooked within the magical community as a ‘flawed’ version of Divination in other countries around the world, the American Wizarding curriculum has, actually, accepted the branch of future viewing as the main way. The uses of twigs within the natural, ancient forests of the United States, such as the pines of Virginia and the Redwoods of California, combined with the art of Xylomancy crafted by the ancient tribes of the past allow for a clearer way into predicting the outcome of the future; a way completely and utterly unique especially to America.

Your deities love you.

Haven’t tidied their altars in forever? They understand.

Don’t have the motivation to give them offerings? They get it.

You haven’t left bed for a long time? They still care about you.

Aren’t devoting time to them lately? They don’t mind

Forgot an offering? That’s alright. They forgive you.

Fucked something up? They’re not going to ditch you for your mistakes.

Decide to take a break from deity work? Totally cool, they’ll still be here for you.

Your deities understand your struggles. Even your mental health related issues. They get it, and they love you regardless. Just do your best for them, and they’ll appreciate it. 

Jake: *morphs a goldfish to forget everything for a little while*

Jake: *advances science’s knowledge of animals again*

Jake: Crap.

Imagine; Kids

Well, not specifically just kids, but human beings of a younger age. Like below twenty-ish. 

I personally headcanon that children’s dæmons reflect the age of their human counterpart. Basically, I imagine their physical maturity to run parallel. Babies would have newborn animals, toddlers would have baby animals, etc. Adolescents, I feel, would have “teenage” dæmons as well, until they settle. The older you are, this would be reflected in your dæmon, despite their being a representation of your soul. They would still be tangible, after all. 

So imagine a baby just starting to learn how to walk and talk, their little dæmon toddling along behind them, mimicking their gurgling noises. Sometimes the dæmon is a delicate bird with only a few feathers, or a soft kitten, or floppy-eared puppy. When the lil’ one is feeling creative, their dæmon might be a baby soft-shelled turtle, or a wobbly foal.

Imagine a pregnant woman, about six months in. Her dæmon and her are both excited, and a tad nervous, of course. They try to brush it off, though; too many hormones, and dust being attracted to the growing life inside her, readying itself to take shape and become a dæmon in only a few weeks time.

Imagine someone who’s reached the age of twenty-three, and they still haven’t settled. Teachers, friends, family- everyone says it isn’t that unusual, don’t be self conscious, plenty of people settle late. Still, they can’t help feeling uncomfortable every time their dæmon changes their form. Because how can you manage in the real, adult world without knowing who you are? Their dæmon is embarrassed about it, but reassures their human in private fiercely that there is nothing wrong with them, nothing at all.

Imagine a high school where dæmons are settling- or not settling- left and right. It’s both exhilarating and exhausting, dealing with the drama that settling dæmons brings. There are always the kids who aren’t happy with their dæmon’s settled form, whatever the reason may be. The freshman spend a fair amount of their time speculating who’ll settle first, and as what, whereas the seniors are anxiously hoping to settle before graduation. The librarians are very helpful when it comes to having full databases on every species of life on the planet that is a viable dæmon, and are eager to drag in the awkward juniors to see what kind of lizard their dæmon is.

Imagine siblings and the way their dæmons would interact. Twins would maybe try to be the same, or never stay in the same shape as their twin. Imagine an older brother and his little sister, seventeen and eight, respectively. His oversized saint bernard dæmon is very protective of the younger dæmon and girl. Or imagine three sisters, one of whom ends up with chatty bird, another with a large, speedy hare, and the last with a gazelle. Whenever they get into arguments, their dæmons will throw themselves into the fray to defend their humans.

Imagine thirteen-year-olds looking jealously at the older kids dæmons. At that age, their dæmons can’t fly very well yet as birds or bats, and they can only run so fast on gangly, disproportionate feet. Changing shapes is no longer as easy as it was when they were ten, but they aren’t anywhere near to settling yet; Everyone’s a mess, including the dæmons.

Just a few more of my random imaginings! Hope you enjoyed!

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)

Just got an incredibly generous job offer, so naturally I’m passing these vibes to you!

“I will be blessed with a generous job that works for me”

📥💸💻⏰💡🎊💡⏰💻💸📥

Likes charge, reblogs cast

Possible Signs of Mental Illness/Neurodivergence in a World With Dæmons

a dæmon that’s always asleep

a human and their dæmon always needing to touch somehow, even if it’s not convenient

a human and their dæmon that never touch, unless they absolutely have to

a dæmon that never speaks, even to their partner

conversely, a dæmon that never stops speaking

a human and their dæmon constantly fighting

a dæmon that can’t ever sit still

a dæmon that just can’t muster the energy to move 

a dæmon that keeps hurting their human (and vice versa), even when they don’t mean to

a dæmon that’s always criticizing their partner

a dæmon that constantly switches spontaneously between hyperactive and lethargic

a dæmon that’s always hiding, even when they’re around people they trust

But imagine having a killer whale daemon like in the picture, you've always have to be dangerously near the ice, but your daemon would warn you if the ice was thin and always be there to prevent you from falling in.

Mod Frill: Yeah, there’d be some upsides to having a killer whale daemon, but honestly I’d imagine the downsides would outweigh them. It would kinda suck to always have to be near the ocean lol

✨ How To Wake Witchblr ✨

We’ve all seen the hashtag #wakingwitchblr or the term itself at one point. Still, I found that there’s a lack of info on what you can actually do to make witchblr more active. 

So I took it upon myself to create a list of things that anyone can do to revive our amazing community! Enjoy !

1) Don’t Like, Reblog instead 📣

There’s nothing inherently wrong with liking a post, it’s just that due to how Tumblr works, liking a post does virtually nothing. Reblogging, however, lets that post be seen by more and more people. The surefire way to revive witchblr is by reblogging as many witchy posts as you can. 

But what if some posts just doesn’t fit into your blog’s theme, even though you want to support it? Well, you have a couple options:

Reblog anyway. Diversifying your posts actually makes your blog more interesting. You can always tag it as ‘off-topic’ if the different theme bothers you that much.

Create a reblog/spam account! I have one and it is so simple. The post may not gain as much traction compared to if you RB-ed in your main blog, but trust me when I say a single reblog goes a long way.

Share it on other social media. See that arrow-like button down there? Click it and you can share the post anywhere. Send it to your witchy discord servers or your insta groupchat !

 2) Get off the ‘Top’ page. Go to ‘Recent’ 💌

AKA reblog from lesser-known bloggers.

Not only will you support fellow witches creating content, this also give you a chance to talk to them and find your place within Witchblr! Which brings me to my next point…

3) Interact with The Community 💬

If I’m a witch who wants to move away from Tumblr, there will be only one thing that can stop me, and that’s the friends and connections that I’ve made here.

Join online covens and discord servers, ask your witchstagram and witchtok friends for their tumblr url, and just have fun together. 

Interacting with other witches, making friends, even just giving compliments or advices. This is what makes us a community. It’s what makes us stay here. If we don’t interact with each other, than we’re just a bunch of people who likes the same thing without any connection. That’s not witchblr.

4) Diversify Your Tags 🎪

There is a kind of… exclusivity, when you look through the hashtags of witchy posts. Witches only ever tag with “witchblr”, “witchcraft”, and “magick”.

This creates an accurate, non-spammy post, but it is also a post that will only show up on other witches’ dashboard and no one else’s. The community will never grow in this way because there will be no new people finding the community. It’s just an echo chamber.

Instead, diversify your tags. I’m not telling you to tag your ritual oil with ‘cars for sale’, but if you made a travel altar yourself, there’s nothing wrong in tagging it #crafting, #diy, #handmade, etc. 

Non-witches will then find the post and potentially become interested in the community, thus making it grow.

5) Make Original Content 🔮

Original content is the backbone of any community, and witchblr is dying because we’re not producing any. So if you want to revive witchblr, make content of your own.

No, it doesn’t have to be well thought-out. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be good. Original content can be anything! It can be you posting about a witchy thing that happened. It can be your drawing, or a picture you took. It could even be memes???

Or it could be a ‘how to wake witchblr’ post that you wrote because you have a script due 3 weeks ago and somehow this is your idea of procrastination

The point is: just click that ‘Make a Post’ button, and make a freaking post !

6) Share This, and Add Your Own Tips! 🖤

Now that you know these, it’s time to let other people know too ! I put a lot of thoughts into this post, but I have to admit that these tips will only work if everyone in the community is doing it. 

If you have other tips or ways to make Witchblr more active, feel free to reblog with your own addition too.

I love this community, and if you’re reading this post I’m sure you do as well. It’s not gonna happen overnight, but I know that we can be as active as we used to be. We’ve got the heart, we just need the action.