baby sea witch

hello there!! call me chae :) 25, they, queer, aquarius sun/cancer moon, beginning my journey into witchcraft! this is a side blog

[sabertoothwalrus]

I made yeto’s pumpkin/goat cheese/salmon soup and it’s changing my life a little bit, like holy SHIT this yeti knows what he’s doing

[sabertoothwalrus]

heyyyyy it’s october again which means it’s time for

✨Yeto’s Superb Soup✨

I had posted a recipe in the comments last year, but I decided to make a better version

Ingredients:

one 2lb kabocha (you can use an equal-sized pie pumpkin, but in my opinion kabocha has a much butterier texture and nuttier flavor. Also the yeti uses kabocha in the game so it gets points for accuracy)

1-3 carrots (last year the store had the fattest carrot I had ever seen. This year I needed 3 carrots to match that volume. Listen to your heart)

2-3 celery stalks (equal to the amount of carrot)

1/2 white onion

6 garlic cloves

(optional) 2 habanero peppers

mirin/cooking wine

1 box of fish stock (if you want it vegetarian, use kelp dashi stock)

1 box of vegetable stock

4oz goat cheese. I’ve tried making this with cream cheese and feta, but the flavor really doesn’t land right without the goat cheese.

1 cup? (<- it was eyeballed) heavy cream

.7lb filet of salmon

??tbsp olive oil

6 tbsp butter

a few pinches of flour

thyme, paprika, nutmeg, red pepper flakes salt & pepper

(optional) gronions to garnish

Step 1) Preheat oven to 400°F/204°C. Slice and deseed kabocha

Step 2) coat the pumpkin in a thin layer of olive oil. Season with thyme (I like dried thyme but fresh is better!), ground nutmeg, paprika, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper.

Bake for 30-50 minutes until it’s soft enough to scoop off the rind with a spoon. Thinner kabocha might only take 30 minutes, and thicker kabocha (like below) or a cake pumpkin may take 40+ minutes.

note: if your kabocha/pumpkin is especially thick, your soup may end up tasting sweeter. If you want it more umami, use less of your chosen gourd or maybe add a splash of soy sauce to the broth? Haven’t tried that but it’d probably work

Step 3) Prep all your other veggies while you’re waiting for the pumpkin to bake. Dice the onion and set it aside. Chop the celery & carrots into Chunks and mince the garlique

Step 4) Wait until the timer for the pumpkin has 20 minutes or less left. Heat up your pot/dutch oven on high/med-high heat, melt 2 tbsp of butter, and add the onions. After about 6 minutes, add the garlic. After another few minutes, sprinkle flour and stir, and keep frying until it browns.

Step 5) Add the rest of the butter, the rest of the veggies, and stir. Deglaze the pan with a splash of mirin/cooking wine.

If you timed it right, the pumpkin should be about done. Using a spoon, scoop the rind off the pumpkin. While you do that, periodically check on the veggies, adding another sprinkle of flour and a some of the fish stock as it gets dry. It’ll create a sort of paste and the onions will be pretty browned at this point.

Step 6) Chop the pumpkin & add it to the pot. Add the rest of the stock. If you’re using habanero, slice it and add it now. Add any other seasonings (it may need more salt) to taste. Once the soup boils, turn the heat to low and cover.

Personally, I prefer soups with Chunks in them + I think it’s more authentic to what the yeti made, but if you REALLY feel compelled to blend your soup, do it now.

Step 7) While the soup is heating up, get out a frying pan and add a tablespoon or two of some olive oil/butter on med-high heat. Add the salmon filet to the pan (scale side down) and just let it sit there. Don’t touch it. When it turns opaque halfway up, flip it until it’s fully cooked.

Once it’s cooked, remove it from the pan, remove the skin, and shred it into bite size pieces. If your salmon was really thick like mine was, and some parts of it are still pink, then toss the pink parts back in the pan to let them cook a little longer.

Add the salmon to the soup.

Step 8) Once the soup has been simmering for a few minutes and you’re too impatient to keep waiting, remove it from heat, add the goat cheese & heavy cream, garnish with gronions or whatever herb of choice, and enjoy!

In the game, this soup restores eight hearts, and it truly does feel that replenishing. This soup could cure any disease.

[kastiakbc]

Made a vegetarian friendly version of this for Thanksgiving! IT TASTES INCREDIBLE! Thank you so much!

[thewitchintherivervalley]

hey hi hello can you reblog this if you’re a trans-inclusive witchcraft or paganism blog i am fighting for my LIFE out here

[teawitch]

There are trans witches out there. Some of them in their 60s. You are not an anomaly in the community.

[space-queen]

how to enchant items 🔮

to enchant an item is to infuse or fill it with energy. in witchcraft, this is commonly done with intent or to serve a specific purpose. this energy can come from a variety of sources, including celestial bodies, elements, crystals, herbs, or even yourself. 

some individuals use the words “enchant” and “charm” synonymously as a way to describe the process of infusing something with energy, but for the sake of this post and due to my own beliefs, you enchant something and it then becomes a charm. alternately, a charm can be something with its own innate energy, like a crystal or herbal amulet. 

enchanting items to turn them into magical objects involves more than just intent - you must learn to channel and manipulate energy, and direct it into that item for enchanting to be successful. 

all that aside, the process of enchanting is extremely versatile and there are many ways to do it.

here are a few ideas on how to enchant items, in no particular order:

surround the item with corresponding herbs or crystals

place the item in a jar filled with corresponding herbs or crystals, seal, and set aside to "charge"

place the item in front of a colored or scented candle that corresponds to your intent and meditate

anoint the item with an oil, charged water, or crystal elixir of corresponding intent 

hold the item in your hand(s) and visualize it filling with energy; you can also speak or sing your intent aloud and play music if you want

craft a sigil to keep near the item in an envelope or sachet

sew, stitch, or carve a symbol into the item

write your intention on paper and keep in an envelope with the item; bonus points if you add a tarot or oracle card to the envelope

bury the item in a mixture of soil and corresponding herbs

pass the item through incense smoke

pro tip: time your enchantments with the appropriate planetary hour, day of the week, time of day, or lunar phase to increase your chances of creating a successful charm.

© 2025 bunny-claws

[will-o-the-witch]

Fighting Consumerism in Magic

aka, little things to distance your craft from capitalism

Let’s all just admit that buying stuff is fun. That said, there’s a big issue of consumerism within the witchy/pagan scene. As magic work and the pagan “aesthetic” becomes more of a commodity in the mainstream, there’s a mounting attitude of needing All The Items in the highest quality (even if we’re not certain we’ll use them,) and big corporations mass-producing cheap stuff to make a buck off of a growing trend. Here’s some things you can do to help detach your practice from that and support other people in the craft:

Go outside. Check your backyard or local park for local plant life, waters, roots, etc. If your work involves things from nature at all, you can probably find a lot of your supplies… in nature. It takes a little more time, but it’s free and then you’ve gathered stuff yourself! 

Make stuff. This one is pretty straightforward. There may be key items to your practice that you can make yourself instead of buying it! That said, I know sometimes spending money is inevitable so I won’t dwell too much on this… let’s talk more about shopping:

Shop mindfully. The price of a lot of items will skyrocket once it has a pentacle or other symbol engraved on it. For example, little mortars and pestles can be very pricey in witchy shops, but you could probably get a bigger one that’s actually food safe for less at a nice grocery store. Antique stores and international markets are now your new best friends.

Support small businesses! Things are cheaper on Amazon, but the extra money goes to support real people, likely other practitioners. If you can, supporting small, local, independent shopkeepers and crafters does a ton of good. It also helps build and sustain a local community. 

Shop based on need. Don’t get something “just in case” (unless it’s banishing or hex breaking stuff; those are decent to have on hand.) It’s tempting to impulse-buy a ton of niche items and ingredients, but unless you have a reasonable idea what you’re going to use them for in the near future, it’ll probably just create clutter for you to deal with later.

Prioritize effectiveness over aesthetic. Ultimately your practice has to work for you, not just look good. I think making your work aesthetically pleasing to yourself can be an important part of really connecting with what you’re doing, but don’t make that desire burn a hole in your wallet and distract you from what brought you to this path in the first place. Altar envy is a real thing. 

Recycle/Upcycle. Use old clothing fabric for an altar cloth. That old trinket dish makes a great offering dish. Enchant jewelry you already own. That jar of strawberry jelly you just finished off will work just fine for that spell. Things can be re-purposed and made into new things.

Analyze your offerings. Special occasion wine isn’t a special occasion if you do it every time. Not every offering needs to be a grand gesture, regular maintenance is more important generally.

Organize trades. Have any pals that also practice? See if you can help each other! You could trade different goods (that old mini cauldron you bought and never used for that abandoned tarot deck, maybe?) but also services. A protection spell for a luck charm. A reading for a reading. You help them with the laundry and they cook you a meal one day. 

As always, the goal is to foster a local community of individuals doing honest work, and shedding the consumerist mindset society taught us to make us spend more money. Take up the idea that you can do magic completely on your own with what you already around you, and if you do want to spend money, see if you can do it in a way that helps the world a tiny bit.  :) 

[eclectic-nb]

I need an alternative for sage and palo santo cause I don’t want to use either. Any suggestions?

[breelandwalker]

-cracks knuckles- I got you, friend.

Green Sage - (Garden Sage, Common Sage) Dried Green Sage performs admirably for smoke cleansing. It is easy to include in burning bowls or in herb bundles. It dries well and burns easily, producing a fair amount of pungent herbaceous-smelling smoke. The scent is very similar to White Sage smoke, and Green Sage bundles burn the same way. In addition, fresh stalks of Green Sage may be available in supermarket produce sections (varies by region). These can be purchased for a few dollars and hung up to dry at home. The dried herb is suitable for loose incense, smokesticks, and jarring for other uses.

Basil - (Sweet Basil, Citrus Basil, Thai Basil) Dried Basil is every bit as good as Green Sage for smoke cleaning. It produces copious amounts of highly-scented, slightly sweet smoke. Basil dried easily and is best suited for use in bundles. It can work in loose incense, but I would suggest including other herbs in the mix, as the thin leaves burn out quickly by themselves. Sweet Basil in particular, with its' broad leaves, is great for making a smooth outside layer for smokesticks. This is another herb that may be purchased fresh from the produce section in some areas, often in plastic sleeves containing a medium-sized plant with a root ball. If you're lucky, you may even be able to pot the Basil plant and keep it growing for future use. Basil also grows very well from seed in a home garden environment.

Rosemary - (Common Rosemary) Rosemary works well in a magical sense for smoke cleansing, but the practical performance is a little less than ideal. Rosemary smokesticks tend to smolder for a few seconds and then extinguish themselves unless you burn a good amount of the stick at the same time. Also, as the needles burn, small bits can drop off, which may constitute a fire hazard. If you're going to use Rosemary in a smokestick, you may need to re-light it periodically, and you should hold it over or place it in a fire-safe dish for the duration of the burn. I would also suggest including better-burning herbs such as Green Sage. Rosemary is best suited for loose incense mixes in conjunction with other herbs, and I suggest the use of warmers or charcoal disks. Rosemary smoke smells similar to Green Sage smoke, with a slight piney tang. Fresh Rosemary may also be available in market produce sections. It takes a longer time to dry than other herbs, due to the high sap content, so give it a few extra days.

Bay - (Bay Leaf, Bay Laurel) Bay leaves perform best in loose incense blends, as the large stiffened whole leaves are difficult to work into smokesticks, and twigs and bundles of Bay can be difficult to come by. It is difficult to keep them smoldering, and I highly recommend blending them with incense powder or more flammable herbs for an even burn.

Lavender - (True Lavender, French Lavender, English Lavender) Lavender smells terrific on it's own, and it makes an excellent additive to smokesticks and loose incense blends. The flowers work best for loose incense (particularly when set over a warmer), and the leafy stems and denuded flower stalks may be used as filler for smokestick bundles with other herbs. The smoke is highly scented and does carry a hint of the Lavender smell with it.

Cedar - (Cedar Twigs, Cedar Chips) Cedar is an excellent additive for any loose incense mix. Cedar chips readily available from pet supply stores, and it provides good kindling for a burning bowl. Cedar twigs are a common ingredient in commercially-available smokesticks, often paired with Sage, Sweetgrass, or Lavender, and they perform admirably. The twigs smolder very well and produce a thick pungent smoke that lingers in the air. Like Rosemary, Cedar smokesticks may "shed" during burning, so holding the bundle over a dish during use is recommended. (Note: Twigs and chips of other woods such as Willow and Oak also work well as burning bowl kindling for protection incense blends, but perform poorly in smokesticks.)

Peppermint - (Common Peppermint) Peppermint burns very well and releases and highly-scented, very pungent smoke. It smells very similar to marijuana and can be irritating. (Personally, I don't much like the smell, and if you have issues with menthol, you should not use it for smoke cleansing.) Peppermint works better as an additive to smokesticks and loose incense blends than a standalone herb. Fresh Peppermint MAY be available at some markets, but it is easier to find in garden shops during the spring and summer. You can either purchase the plant and trim it down for drying, or you can plant it and harvest periodically for more material, depending on your needs. (Note: Spearmint smells similar, but in my experience, it does not work as well for magical cleansing.)

Marjoram - (Sweet Marjoram) Marjoram is slightly minty and tends to be made up of thin stems and small leaves. It can be used for interior filler in smokesticks if desired, but it functions better in loose incense, particularly if the whole dried plant bundle is used as a kindling nest for the base of a burning bowl. The scent is hard to catch, as the scarcity of the burning material tends to produce very little smoke. This is another plant which is easily obtained from garden shops. It also grows very well from seed in windowsill pots. (Note: Oregano and Thyme share many of these characteristics, though Oregano leaves are slightly larger. Both grows well from seed and dry easily. Oregano smoke is pungent and herbaceous; Thyme smoke may carry a hint of citrus.)

Dill - (Sweet Dill, Common Dill, Mammoth Dill) Dill carries a pleasant lemony-buttery scent when fresh, and it dries easily when laid out or hung up. The stalks and feathery leaves tend to perform poorly on their own in smokesticks, but make excellent filler when used with other herbs, and are also good kindling for burning bowls. (Note: Fennel also shares many of these characteristics for smoke cleansing, but the scent is closer to anise or licorice. Both of these plants may be available in some produce sections, and are easily obtained as seeds or sprouts from garden stores.)

Pine - (Various, Long-Needled) Pine, similar to Rosemary, burns all right and produces pleasant-smelling smoke, but it tends to burn out fairly quickly and "sheds" when used in smokesticks. It makes good filler for the interior of layered smokesticks with other large-leaf herbs on top, and it performs very well in loose incense mixes. In warmers, it produces a strong evergreen scent that lingers for a long time. Freshly-fallen Pine twigs may be found in parks or anywhere that Pine trees grow naturally or for decorative purposes. Exercise caution and hold a catch dish under Pine smokesticks during use, or restrict the use of Pine needles to loose incense. Pine bundles takes weeks to dry out completely and should be tightly bound and hung needles-down to avoid dripping sap all over anything below. Dried Pine chips or twigs make excellent kindling for burning bowls.

PLEASE NOTE - The smoke of some herbs can smell similar to marijuana. Be sure to ventilate the area properly (open windows, turn on fans, or just be outdoors) and be mindful of any allergies you or others present may have before lighting the plant material. Practice fire safety AT ALL TIMES.

[rjhasstuff]

Okay so I wanna get into witchcraft. Why? Because it's seems super interesting and I've been putting off learning. So I'd like some recommendations for stuff I should get as a newbie to this. I'd appreciate any help and feedback and I'm down for questions regarding what I liked to delve into. Also what are the differences in witchcraft, pagan and wiccan? I tried googling it and it just left me more confused.

[teawitch]

Wicca  is a form of witchcraft as much as it is a religion. When Gerald  Gardner created Wicca his claim was that he was working with an ancient  witchcraft tradition. How much of what he had was truly from an old  witchcraft tradition is much debated (he borrowed liberally from various  sources).

Witch is used as a very generic term, often to indicate any magic user. Which is not always correct. My grandmother practiced folk magic but would never have considered herself to be a witch. She was good Southern Baptist. Ceremonial magicians practice magic but don't identify as witches. So the best way to consider witch is as a form of self-identification. Someone is a witch when they say they are a witch. Generally they would also be practicing some form of magic.

Now Pagan or Neo-Pagan gets a bit more complex.  Overall Pagan or Neo-Pagan is sometimes used to mean “A group of people that operates outside societies expectations”  with no indication of actual practice. I know the expectation is "pagans worship the old gods" but that isn't always true. Some do. Some, well, see "Party Pagan" below.

Within the Neo-Pagan movement, you'll find Reconstructionist groups who try to recreate, as much as possible, older religions such as Hellenic or Kemetic (ie Greek or Egypt) or Norse or Druidic. But you'll also find people who just consider themselves to be outside of Christianity with no specific structure.

Generally speaking,  Wicca and witchcraft traditions may be considered part of the larger  Neo-Pagan environment. Perhaps an easy way to see this is that if an  area holds a Pagan Pride Day, it may be the best way to meet people from  the local initiatory Wiccan covens as well as the local Druids,  Heathens and other groups. If an event was labeled “Pagan” it generally  just meant everyone was invited.

But the actual practices  can be very different. Hellenic and Heathen groups may or may not  welcome Wiccans or witches as members. They may practice ritual honoring  their gods but want nothing to do with spellwork. Though they may not  be as opposed to it as say, the Southern Baptists. Some Neo-Pagans  are  happy to attend a Wiccan ritual though they wouldn’t hold one  themselves.

There is also a term - Party Pagans - which is the crowd  that shows up to every ritual or event though no one knows what they  actually do on their own.

Now a word of caution the term Pagan (Neo-Pagan) -  this is considered a reclaimed term, meaning we don’t call anyone a  Pagan unless thet claim that term for themselves. So if you call your  Buddhist or Hindu friend a Pagan, they may become upset with you. This  is because regardless of any dictionary definition the term Pagan is  still used as an insult. The same with Heathen and Witch.

A simple set of beginner steps that can be adapted to many different forms of witchcraft studies.  Step 1 - start with feeling energy and so

When recommending resources for witchcraft, I usually recommend books because authors often put together the best organized methods to start

I see this question a lot on tumblr so I’m creating a post for some good starting resources. Sorita d’Este’s Towards the Wiccan Circle is av

(which is a rather broad category but the requests often seem to lean toward trad craft.) I’m making a post for this because it’s something

[amnesiaguy]

“the sea doesn’t care about you!!” ok well just because the ocean is unspeakably powerful and can’t stop the rhythm she’s held for uncountable eons just for one person doesn’t mean she can’t love you. loving and changing are two different things. we wouldn’t have life without the ocean…. and yeah, if you don’t respect her and treat her cavalierly, you’ll perish. but how can anyone say the sea doesn’t mourn when she holds so much life and beautiful secrets in her belly? why are we putting atheism on the ocean that loves us?

[amnesiaguy]

you want the ocean to change for YOU? you think that being tamed is the only way for her to prove her love??? go sit on a rock by the seaside and listen to the tide. find some gratitude for one of the only things in existence that always keeps it’s promise to come back

[vvitchella]

Hi, if you are a witchcraft, occult, or pagan blog (that is NOT run by a terf, nazi, or tradwife) please like or reblog and I will follow you! My dash is a little too quiet these days.

[babyoceanwitch]

It's my 6 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

[coinandcandle]

Y'all I'm gunna lose my marbles. I'm trying to find how they came to the conclusion that certain deities or certain planets held domain over certain herbs and rocks.

Cuz for those who don't know, that's not a new-age-only practice, this is something folks believed in for a long time; see Agrippa or Culpeper for that. But I don't know that I have adequate resources--or access to resources to find out why or how they came to those conclusions.

If anyone has a resource or reference they can chuck at me, please do so at full force.

[teawitch]

I don’t know if you can find a single, simple process for this. And often it varied over time and culture. Sometimes it goes back so far that something might be assigned a certain planet because - the Egyptians used in it as an offering to Ra. He’s a Sun God. So it’s a sun herb. (Sorry, my degree goes back to the 80s and hell if I can remember all the books. But it was more often just a secondary reference in a discussion about something else. The herbs Ophelia mentions in Hamlet have lots of literary side discussions.)

Sometimes you can recreate the process for a specific herb or stone and see the variations different items went through over the years.

It sort of went  - the Greeks considered the rose sacred to Aphrodite, so plants like roses belong to Venus. Now, if we figure out the attributes associated with Venus energy, we can then place anything that shows that energy under Venus.

Mercury - Hermes the messenger is fast! So if it grows fast, it’s probably a mercury herb. Quicksilver - that weird metal that moves, is named for Mercury because it was so obvious to them that this was his metal.

Sometimes it was as simple as - this is big and yellow, it belongs under the Sun. See gold and silver for Sun and Moon. 

We owe the Romans for the whole planetary hours / planetary days focus, which has deities being dropped under ruling planets which means plants associated with those deities might go with them,

Might. The medical use of herbs meant that over the centuries some herbs were moved to be under the planet where people felt they medically made sense. A simple example is look at a chart with Moon plants and notice how many hallucinogenic plants ended up under the moon. I think this is more a middle ages aspect - putting things where they worked for them.

And sometimes it was just a mess.:Take myrrh, which is used often as a incense, I’ve found it under the Sun, Mars, Saturn, and the Moon. Each with a different “why.”

Oh, check out the Doctrine of Signatures. Yet another theory. God left signs in the plants to tell us what to use them for. (Still plays a part in magic but not so much in medicine. It probably successfully killed lots of patients over time.)

Also with crystals these days, you’ll see a lot of chakra colors being pulled in as the determining factor. That is more of a New Age thing. We do far more with crystals now and everything seems to need to have a healing power. I had a teacher from India and he used to chuckle at all the chakra jewelry.

We know what they did. Why is sometimes obvious when you know the rules for the planets. Sometimes still a mystery.

[coinandcandle]

Thanks for the well-thought-out response!!

I should've reworded my og post tbh. I'm not expecting to find one single method since as you mentioned there are a lot of different factors. But even finding one cohesive method from one person as to why they attributed certain plants or rocks to certain deities and such would be great. I'd be stoked to find more than one!!

The doctrine of signatures has been brought up a few times and I've certainly added it to my list of things to dive into with this topic.

Like you said, we know what they did but not why. My brain is now hyper-focused on the why lmao.

Also yeah, the whole crystals = certain chakras due to color and all that junk is god awful but at least it helps to weed out useless "resources" ;D The moment they mention it I exit the tab lol.

So far everything I've found that seems to be more cohesive and looks like there may have been a more solid method to the madness is from the middle ages. Which doesn't surprise me but so far I haven't found a single "why" 😭

I'll update the original post if I find anything useful :')

[teawitch]

Hang on. I have Kindle Unlimited. Let me see if this helps. Sorita’s work tends to be academic oriented.

https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Planetary-Magick-Classical-Tradition-ebook/dp/B00NVPYVM4

[teawitch]

More of a practical how to with rituals than an analysis of the why. But the bibliography reminds me that you might want to look to the occultists - ceremonial magic, neo-platonism, the grimoire traditions - to track this down. 

[crazycatsiren]

White witches stop "smudging" challenge year almost 2023.

[stormwaterwitch]

Babes: call it Censing. Call it Saging. Stop calling it Smudging.

I know y’all can do better we can all stand to do better.

[fluidstatick]

UNLESS YOU ARE INDIGENOUS YOU ARE NOT SMUDGING. Censing (Latin), Rēcaning (Saxon), Saining (Scottish), Thymiaein (Greek), Kyphi (Kemetic/Egyptian), Takpirtu (Mesopotamian), Hallowing (Old English) -- there are so many options. A detailed breakdown of these smoke related cleansing rituals can be found here.

[coinandcandle]

Reblogging for these wonderful alternatives!!!

[will-o-the-witch]

A Deep Room Cleanse

The state of my room is extremely important to me. It’s a direct reflection of my mental health, so when it’s messy, my energy levels are low and I just feel yucky. There’s no way I’m getting any kind of work done, magical or mundane. When it feels good and clean to be in, it’s a lot easier to deal with my symptoms and be productive. You don’t have to do every step every time of course, but each step has helped me so I figured a list like this might help someone. 

Change the lighting. Use natural sources of light (like pulling back the curtains and letting the sun in) over artificial ones. If you have salt lamps to turn on, those are still very nice. If you need artificial light to keep it from being too dark, try to prioritize light bulbs you like the color of, and ones that don’t whistle quietly when they’re on.

Change the airflow. Open a window, if you can. Often our rooms feel yucky because the air is stale. Get some fresh air moving. If it’s too cold, it’s okay to only keep it open for a few minutes or put on a coat while you work because you’re stubborn like me.

Change the sound. Put on your favorite cleansing music. Let it soak into the room. I tend to go or ambient spa stuff, or playlists that sound built for a rainy day. (Note: the music that helps you cleanse the best may not be the same as what you like the most. The playlist should keep you focused/uplifted while you work and reflect the vibes you want your room to have.)

Change the smell. Take out the trash, maybe refresh the sheets on your bed. Light a scented candle, some incense, heat up some oil, something to make your room smell distinctly different from the mucky-feeling room from before. (If your method of choice is something short like a room spray, I actually like doing it at the very end.)

Actually clean and organize. Nothing junks up the energy of a room more quicker than actual junk. Organize everything as much as you can (this might mean finally gutting your closet, even if you can close the door and hide it.) Wipe down any surfaces that need it, get everything fresh and functional again. Do some laundry while you work. If you have clothes or trinkets that are just collecting dust, extra points for purging them! 

 Cleanse any sacred spaces by themselves. A lot of us have altars or shrines in our rooms. A sacred space can also be just an extra important area of your room, like a reading nook.  Make sure to give them extra attention! You don’t need to wipe the board energetically (and probably shouldn’t), but taking a little extra time to clean surfaces, straighten up, and make sure everything feels okay on them goes a long way.

Cleanse in your regular way. Bust out the herb bundles, the bells, the ribbons, the broom, whatever you usually do to cleanse a space! The room is SUPER primed for it now, most of the negative energy probably already feels removed if not broken down. A good once-over with your favorite cleansing method should finish it off nicely. 

Refresh any wards or protections. Self explanatory. If you maintain energy borders in your room, now is a good time to check in on them and zhoosh them if needed. Keep the space clean for longer! 

Practice self-care. Take a shower, a nap, eat some food, whatever you need. You’ve put in a lot of work and you deserve it. 

[jebiwonkenobi]

Once upon a time I worked in this little burger/coffee/ice cream shop and a lady came in one winter and asked if we had a caramel apple drink and we were like ‘well we have cider’ and she was like ‘no I don’t remember what it’s called but this place made a drink that was chai tea, apple cider, and caramel’ and Breezy offered to try and make something for her but she changed her mind and left so Breezy and I were like ‘alright let’s try this’ because we had chai tea, instant cider mix, a shit ton of caramel, instant hot water from the espresso and too much free time. 

And let me tell you it was delightful. It tastes like watching the leaves changing color and dancing in the wind. It tastes like picking out pumpkins and gourds and fresh apples at the farm up north. It tastes like witches and freedom.

I make it every year now and this year I walked in the house on the morning of October first with all the ingredients and shouted ‘FALL DRINK’ and my roommates were like ‘????’ so I made them Fall Drink and now every time they get home from work they’re like ‘Fall Drink pls?????’

Anyway I remember literally nothing else about that woman but I’m very grateful to her. 

[lightrises]

for anyone wondering about proportions/etc here’s op’s answer from the repiles:

[not-rude-ginger]

@gaslightgallows I feel this would be relevant to your interests. 

[gaslightgallows]

I don’t like caramel but I can vouch for hot chaider being amazing.

[scifrey]

Deareat @simonalkenmayer I feel like this is relevant to your interests.

Also, I do something like this in the crock pot with the overly sweet Growers Pumpkin Apple Cider, chai spices, cloves, a bit of orange juice, and some super dry Pinot Grigio.

Mix, heat, and serve on a nippy night best spent cuddled under blankets with a book.

[simonalkenmayer]

My friend, you have essentially backward engineered a wonderful winter drink from the Stuart period.

White sack wine, cider, spices (clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, ginger) tea, sugar, and if you want it authentic, a bit of cream or whipped egg. All this is brought together in a low temperature and then stewed for a time. It can also be “pulled”, a process in which one “stirs” the concoction by using a ladle and pouring it repeatedly from high in the air. Makes it foamy and frothy. 

Serve warm.

On a cold night, this is a delightful thing. Believe it or not, we also used to make it with a stout beer instead of wine. For a darker richer flavor.

[ms-demeanor]

One Black Tea Bag, One Cup Apple Juice, 2tsp butter, 2tsp brown sugar, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to taste will also accomplish something similar (just melt the butter and brown sugar together and whisk them around a pan a bit - don’t bother making proper caramel) Make your faux-caramel then you add the apple juice and then the rest; heat it up to a boil then turn off the heat, drop the tea bag in and let it steep for 3 minutes, serve with gingersnaps.

[oblivious-chaos]

Nothing better than tumblr recipe posts

[lady-sanctum]

Started making something similar last year, old cider (Irish, alcoholic), chai tea bags and a mulled cider flavour sachet (sugar, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg mainly). You don’t need caramel because it’s already pretty sweet and lightly boozy! Great with popcorn, banshee bones or Halloween picnmix

[locusimperium]

[swan-archive]

locusimperium:

A few years ago, when I was living in the housing co-op and looking for a quick cookie recipe, I came across a blog post for something called “Norwegian Christmas butter squares.” I’d never found anything like it before: it created rich, buttery and chewy cookies, like a vastly superior version of the holiday sugar cookies I’d eaten growing up. About a year ago I went looking for the recipe again, and failed to find it. The blog had been taken down, and it sent me into momentary panic. 

Luckily, I remembered enough to find it on the Wayback Machine, and quickly copied it into a file that I’ve saved ever since. I probably make these cookies about once a month, and they last about five days around my voracious husband - they’re fantastic with a cup of bitter coffee or tea. I’m skeptical that there is something distinctively Norwegian about these cookies, but they do seem like the perfect thing to eat on a cold day. 

Norwegian Christmas Butter Squares

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 egg 1 cup sugar 2 cups flour 1 tsp vanilla ½ tsp salt Turbinado/ Raw Sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Chill a 9x13″ baking pan in the freezer. Do not grease the pan.

Using a mixer, blend the butter, egg, sugar, and salt together until it is creamy.  Add the flour and vanilla and mix using your hands until the mixture holds together in large clumps. If it seems overly soft, add a little extra flour. 

Using your hands, press the dough out onto the chilled and ungreased baking sheet until it is even and ¼ inch thick.  Dust the top of the cookies evenly with raw sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees until the edges turn a golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven. Let cool for about five minutes before cutting the cooked dough into squares. Remove the squares from the warm pan using a spatula.

[brawltogethernow]

So I tried this recipe.

And it is GREAT.

It basically makes the platonic ideal of commercial sugar cookies, only in bar form. When I give them to people (which I do a lot, because this is one of those simple recipes where the results seem very impressive), I just tell them they’re sugar cookie bars.

[davetheshady]

Life hack: add white chocolate chips and sea salt

[mxxnlit-witch]

I made these today for the equinox with sea salt caramel chips and they are simply amazing. Let’s see how long they last with six people in the house!

[dduane]

Noting for later (as we need more butter for this, and probably won’t do a grocery shopping till the weekend).

[amyamychan]

The OP version of this has become my go-to cookie for basically all things and I have a whole cohort of friends and colleagues who would murder each other to get them. Haven’t tried any add ons yet, since the base recipe is SO GOOD.

[g1sunstreaker]

I’ve reblogged this before and I’m reblogging it again because I’m about to make it again tomorrow and I wanted to add my own tale of just how amazingly delicious it. it was SO incredibly simple to bake and with an extra dusting of brown sugar on top and served warm and soft they gift you with the taste of the nectar of the gods when paired with a small glass of milk. this image is from when I first made them a couple years ago:

GO. MAKE THESE !!!!

[astraeaboann]

How to revive someone's dashboard:

Like or reblog if your blog is about at least one of the following:

Witchcraft (tips, spells, ingredients, divination, astrology...)

Paganism, Wicca

Dark academia

Dark art, photography or aesthetic

Nature, especially forests/plants

We are slowly coming back but it's still difficult to find each other, let's revive the community 🔮✨🍄🧿🌙

[normal-horoscopes]

how would an occultist define magic? as someone who fell out of spirituality pretty hard at one point in my life i’m still trying to wrap my head around the concept of magic as real people practice it. from reading your blog i’ve gotten the idea that some portion of it involves playing around with social constructs in order to get some desired effect (like that one post where someone says people probably just chose to ignore crowley doing some invisibility spell, and that he wouldn’t “actually” be invisible, but you pointed out that if people were ignoring him then his spell actually worked because the outcome of being invisible is the same)

sorry if my question is worded poorly, basically i’m just trying to get into magic and would like as concise an explanation as possible for what it is/how it works, since the idea of it that i’ve gotten from fantasy media is misleading. it’s probably a tall order lol.

A tall order indeed!

The more I learn about magic, the more I come to the opinion that a definitional approach to magic is inadequate. Asking "what is magic?" is like asking "what is sexy?" Its a concept that pretty much every culture on earth has an understanding of, but at the same time, there is incredible diversity in what it means to a culture.

Words mean different things to different cultures, that's kinda how words work, but the term "magic" takes this to a nigh-infinite extreme. Though, when asked to describe it simply, I tell people this:

"Magic is the difference between a house and a home." Magic is how a house becomes a home. It is what turns a house into a home.

We know how wheat becomes bread. We understand the process perfectly from a scientific perspective, and yet there is a distinct magic to that transformation of grass into fresh bread.

We know how the heavens move. We understand the movements of the stars and the planets perfectly from a scientific perspective, yet the night sky is beautiful and captivating, there is a magic to it.

Humans tell stories about the world around them. It is natural, and one of the best things about being human. Those stories are as much a part of our world as physics or mathematics. Stories are stretched across the breadth of our lives like strings over the belly of a violin. Magic is one of many ways to play.

[appalachianoraclewitch]

Learned how to extract pigments from leaves and flowers and various other things. As well as learning how to make essential oils in biology lab today. Science and magick go hand in hand.

[crystalsandpentacles-deactivate]

TELL US HOW

[appalachianoraclewitch]

Using isopropyl alcohol or ethanol put it in a heat safe container about 50-100 mL depending on how much pigment you want and how concentrated you want it to be. Once it starts to boil add your leaves or plants of any kind. I was told even pumpkin would work!

Then boil for about 10 minutes or longer til you get the color you want or til the color in the plant is gone/heavily faded. Make sure to not let the ethanol/alcohol burn dry.

That’s for pigments.

For essential oil he said fill a container with that much olive oil (more like 50ml for that one since it won’t burn dry) and boil your plants in it for about 5 minutes and then let the plant sit in the oil for 48 hours and then strain using like a cheesecloth or something so you don’t get any plant particles.

[herbwicc]

This is neat! I definitely want to try the pigments! The essential oil process your talking about is actually for making herbal infused oils, which is different than essential oils. Herbal Infused Oils are fatty oils like olive oil, coconut oil, vegetable oil, etc. which, once infused with herbs, are generally safe for your skin. You can use them to make salves and creams and candles, using wax and a double boiler. There’s a couple ways to make herbal infused oils, all of which can be done at home and are really fun! Though some of them require more precautions than others.

Essential oils, on the other hand, are made using steam distillation, where the plant is boiled and the steam is what’s collected/separated to use. You’ll usually need a special apparatus for steam distillation, it’s a little more difficult. Essential oils are highly concentrated and not safe for skin, but they evaporate easily and are very fragrant so they’re usually used for aromatherapy.

[princessbambi47-blog]

Fuck yes