you are already healing

Zira, li/lir and ae/aer pronouns, been practicing for several years. Previously rainsrainmagick, now a blog dedicated to a new age(?) god of healing and disability, Alil. Feel free to ask questions or send requests, especially related to my deity. 

[creature-wizard]

I can't overstate how important it is to educate yourself on religious and occult history from academic sources. This is extremely useful in deprogramming yourself from former belief systems and preventing yourself from getting yoinked into toxic belief systems in the future.

[natalieironside]

Not to be all "they should teach occultism in schools," but they should. I don't believe I've ever attended a history-of-science class that was more substantial than "Yeah like back in ancient Greece we thought there were only four elements and for a hot minute we thought that electrons orbited their nucleii like little planets, pretty wild huh" without ever touching on why these ideas were accepted as truth or the development of the methodology uses to discredit them. And I think this ignorance is a major contributing factor to the dismal reputation of STEM people. We have no inkling as to why we think what we think, which turns science into just another blind dogma instead of the pursuit of truth.

Before you get your engineering degree I think you should be able to explain why Medieval doctors thought the bubonic plague was caused by the negative influence of the planet Saturn as well as explain why they were wrong.

[cryptotheism]

A great example of this in my mind is Homeopathy.

It's so easy to look at the medical science of the past and say "wow people believe in homeopathy they must be stupid" but ideas don't stick around because they're true, they stick around because they're useful.

Homeopathic theory was invented during a time where "medical scientist" meant "guy who gave you spiced wine and leeches to balance your humors." Early Renaissance medicine did more harm than good. Homeopathy, does nothing. Therefore, it was actively more effective at treating sickness than the medicine of the day, and became massively popular.

Eventually, homeopathy would become superceded by more effective medical practices, but for a time, "a systematized theory of bullshit" was actually the cutting edge of effective medical science.

[the-pursuit-of-happ-y-ness]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmUteS4tEQ6/?igshid=Yzg5MTU1MDY=

[cryptotheism]

I love how every list of "Witchcraft Books To Avoid" involves at least one text by Buckland. He's so prolific he's managed to fall into every single bad occult history trope possible EXCEPT for straight up being a Nazi. Like he's not a fascist he's just a really bad wizard.

[logfuckdash8]

What’s so bad about him?

[cryptotheism]

You know how when you were like, 13 and in the school library, and you read a "book on subject for TWEENS" type thing? You know, super cheaply printed and widely published. And you remember it being super cool and informative and it started you on some lifelong journey into that subject? But when you pick it up expecting to be full of nostalgia is actually like, super factually incorrect and way more racist than you remember?

[upthewitchypunx]

The rest of tumblr: Comments jokingly on a post with ‘WITCHCRAFT!’

Witchcraft side of tumblr: Comments with a four-page analysis of how this can be utilized for witchcraft

[skaldish]

I feel like more pagans and heathens need to know what "confirmation bias" is.

[skaldish]

Confirmation bias is the tendency to look for information that supports our preexisting beliefs.

People display this bias when...

They favor information that supports their views, and dismiss information that doesn't.

Or

When they interpret ambiguous information as something that supports their views (or fears, desires, suspicions, conspiracy theories, etc).

While we can't completely get rid of confirmation bias, it's important to mitigate it, especially when doing any kind of independent research. Unchecked confirmation bias can lead us to false conclusions, cloud our ability to understand something, and even risk unneccessary and/or unwanted misunderstandings with other people.

I see it happen all the time.

[ellohcee]

Days 16-18: clouded leopard

[windvexer]

I find the anti-cleansing backlash trend to be fascinating. What do we all predict will be anti'd in the next cultural cycle?

[friend-crow]

Hmm... what's a witchcraft trend that hasn't had a backlash yet?

I've only seen one person posting anti-divination stuff so far. We could hop on that.

[windvexer]

I was JUST going to say, signs and omens!

I already pretty regularly see posts about how omens and signs need to be really thoroughly vetted with checks-and-balances and layers of verification required before they're taken at face value.

Given that they're so popular on toktok, I imagine it's not too far of a jump to a "okay, so I personally don't believe signs/omens are real (except under very specific circumstances)" post getting really popular on tumblr, and then 15 people comment like, "yeah, I actually have never had a real sign, I don't believe in them either" and then the second wave of posts will be "you DON'T need to believe in signs/omens to be a valid witch" and a couple months later we'll have 101/baby witch posts explicitly stating, "most people choose not to believe in signs and omens because of how dangerous it is, but it can sometimes be okay if you're in a closed tradition."

[asksecularwitch]

My least favorite way to see blessed be: 1. On posts

2. In tags on reblogs of my posts

If I was in a Wiccan ritual, because you know, I've been in those before, I would not be angry about blessed be being present as it is part of the ritual.

But pulling out ritual language and using it in places like ... on posts. In tags. Seems... like yall are trying to mundanify the ritualism of Wicca. And I don't know why you're trying to mundanify it. But it's not working. So maybe don't?

[crazycatsiren]

Here's another annual reminder to Witchblr: "blessed be" is a Wiccan thing, not a witch thing.

[chickenwithcheese]

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts like this and it kinda irks me. Why does it bother people so much I don’t get it. I’m an eclectic witch so yeah I’m gonna say it because it feels right to me. Witchcraft is about what feels right to the person, there is no right or wrong. Do and say what calls to you and let all these people that tell you what’s wrong and right continue to be crusty and just ignore them.

[crazycatsiren]

What feels right to you, may not feel right to others.

And being an eclectic witch doesn't mean disrespecting people's boundaries and saying whatever you want to everybody, despite people specifically not wanting certain things said to them, invasiveness be damned.

It costs you nothing to be mindful of the fact that not everybody wants to be blessed by random witches, no more than they want to be prayed for by random Christians. Do what calls to you means do what you feel is right for you, and you alone. It doesn't mean going around making others uncomfortable because "I do what I want" like a spoiled brat who's never been told "no".

Insisting on saying "blessed be" to people who don't want it said to them is no less disrespectful than insisting on calling people by pronouns they don't want used on them. People's boundaries are not about you. Learn some respect.

[skaldish]

Baby witch season is upon us, so here's advice for beginner witches: Always question authority figures. If a teacher gets mad at you for doing that, they're not worth listening to.

[breelandwalker]

SECONDED.

If the person you're learning from insists on a rigid command structure ("It's my way or no way") or doesn't allow you to ask questions or question their teachings, that is not a good teacher / mentor.

If they repeatedly try to badger or coerce you into doing things that make you uncomfortable, or constantly ask for money or favors before they'll continue sharing basic information with you, stop working with them and walk away.

The majority of witches who step into volunteer educator roles within the community have good intentions, but it's still important to be aware that there are people who are more interested in money or power trips than teaching.

Beware of those who see witchcraft as an MLM scheme

("Pay me $5000 and I'll teach you to optimize your psychic potential!")

or a place to find personal devotees

("My group is for special people just like you, I am the only one who will ever understand you, I have all the information you will ever need, so do what I tell you or else.")

or a recruiting ground for hate groups

("This group is all about being proud of [Insert Thing That Doesn't Need A Pride Day Here], and this totally isn't a fascist dogwhistle. Unless....").

[blind-seeing-deactivated2024042]

There is no veil between this world and another. It is, instead, a rich tapestry woven together with the finest of thread. You don't train yourself to see through a barrier, but instead you learn to feel the strings all around you.

[will-o-the-witch]

Okay you may have ONE open sigil!

Since some people were asking, I decided to create ONE (1) sigil with Hebrew on it from my craft that's open for people who aren't Jewish and don't know any Hebrew. You have my permission to use this particular one, as my little gift to you. :)

Obviously it's autumn-themed lol. 🍁 The word itself (pronounced T'-khor-eem) is one of those ones that doesn't have an exact English translation, but it's basically a feeling of peace and calm. Autumn makes me feel very calm so I thought it would be nice and seasonal to share. Feel free to use it and let me know what you think!

[will-o-the-witch]

Anyway, now seems like a good time to tell y'all that טחורים means "hemorrhoids"

Shoutout to the people who did NOT speak Hebrew but still did their own vetting and avoided giving their blogs 🍂hemorrhoids 🍂

For everyone else, don't feel too ashamed because I DID just flat-out lie to you, but also take this as a teachable moment. Bullshit is everywhere and we should all strive to make due diligence an expectation, not an exception. 🍁

[veiligplekje]

[friend-crow]

So this looks like a good read. Text: after half a year of work, my academic zine on the history of antisemitism & appropriation in western occult movements is done 🖤 a 22-page PDF full of citations, illustrated with historic & public domain images, pay-what-you-want (or FREE!): https://ezrarose.itch.io/fyma-a-lesser-key

twitter thread

[hagoftheholler]

Interested in seeing some discussion, so answer me this: What is a popular concept among witchtok/witchblr/etc that you don't like, agree with or understand? Explain.

[elminx]

definitely universal substitution.

I can't even with that. Sure, rosemary is pretty good at cleansing and is okay (IMO) at protection - but how does it do anything else that you would normally use another herb for? Who decided that you could just throw rosemary in everything and call it good?

You can't even do that with cooking.

For me it comes down to the why of things - I'm not willing to accept a magical association unless it makes some level of sense to me. And I've personally noticed some pretty intense differences in using plants that even have the same basic properties.

[hagoftheholler]

Interested in seeing some discussion, so answer me this: What is a popular concept among witchtok/witchblr/etc that you don't like, agree with or understand? Explain.

[crazycatsiren]

"Intent is everything."

Intent is not everything. Intent without any action is just wishful thinking. Intent by itself is a thought. Intent alone doesn't do much.

[rue-cimon-deactivated20231029]

"Make sure it's a deity, not an imposter spirit"

It's VERY likely that the deity you're speaking to is the actual deity. I don't believe a deity would let a random imposter spirit pose as them. Maybe that's just me, but I never really understood all the hubbub regarding this. To me, it seems more like paranoia than anything else.

[alilium]

There is a strong sense that the older a practice the better it is, which often results in misinformation andappropriation. All that matters is that you connect with your craft, not how ancient or oppressed it is.