cursed

i ain't gonna take none of your foolin around | I follow back from my main

[saccstry]

I finally finished my ouija board! You can use it to contact dead aliens

[bpd-hex]

first project of the summer! i welcome any tips for this spoonie here on gathering enough energy to do pendulum readings, as well as the safest ways to use the ouija board. 

[bpd-hex]

had a session on this board with a couple friends the other night, and it was amazing~

[theouijagirl]

31 Days of Ouija Blogs: Day 30- All The Posts In One Place!

My Ouija Blog project is almost complete. It’s the 30th, time for a great big roundup!

Day 1: We talked about the history of Ouija boards and why they were invented

Day 2: All about stigmas about Ouija boards and where they came from

Day 3: Is the Ouija board really dangerous? No, it’s not dangerous if you play in the right state of mind

Day 4: Ouija boards do not summon demons. Period.

Day 5: All About Zozo, and how it’s a name for Catfishing spirits

Day 6: Do Ouija boards create portals? Absolutely not.

Day 7: We talked about the basic rules of Ouija boards, and explained just how basic they are

Day 8: Ouija boards are a two player game, but how do you play by yourself?

Day 9: Just who and what are these spirits you are talking to?

Day 10: Learn all about the spirit realm, in all its complexities

Day 11: Learn how shadow people and poltergeists are not really something to worry about

Day 12: What are ghosts? Not spirits

Day 13: Learn how to make a homemade Ouija board

Day 14: If you’ve had a bad experience playing the Ouija board, or are afraid you will have one if you play, read this post

Day 15: Ouija boards aren’t real because of the Ideomotor Movement? Right? Is it? *shrugging emoji*

Day 16: Ouija boards are recommended for children ages 8 and up, and here’s why

Day 17: Spirits lie. Why do they do it? Because it’s funny for them.

Day 18: Learn about what happens when the planchette does spooky things like count down the numbers or move in figure 8’s

Day 19: Is the Ouija board a good way to contact a deceased loved one? Absolutely not

Day 20: Where is the best place to play a Ouija board? Anywhere you want

Day 21: All about Ouija boards on the silver screen!

Day 22: Let’s talk about that Ghost Adventures episode. You know the one.

Day 23: What is divination?

Day 24: Read my thoughts about whether or not your dead dog can come back as a ghost

Day 25: What to expect when you’re haunted

Day 26: What does it mean when a spirit attaches themselves to you? And what is a spirit guide?

Day 27: A lot of people try the Ouija board and nothing happens, and there’s a lot of reasons why

Day 28: If you’re too afraid to play the Ouija board, but you still want to, what should you do?

Day 29: My list of fun games to play with a Ouija board

Tomorrow, on the last post, we’ll talk all about Halloween!

[bpd-hex]

first project of the summer! i welcome any tips for this spoonie here on gathering enough energy to do pendulum readings, as well as the safest ways to use the ouija board. 

[spacewitchstyles]

looking for bpd specific chat groups that are safe and validating. please send me your suggestions!

[bpd-hex]

on tonight’s episode of “being a mentally ill witch:”

am i psychic... or am i psychotic 

[unmaskingthedivine]

Here’s a short and sweet shadow work spread for those times when you feel something heavy hanging on your shoulders but aren’t sure what it is.

1) The Poison - The source of your affliction, i.e. the experience(s) and resulting perspective(s) responsible for your distress. 

2) The Illness - How you’re being afflicted by the poison, i.e. how you absorbed the experience(s) and how it has affected your perspective(s).

3) The Antidote - How to release the poison and remedy the wounds, i.e. how you can absolve the experience(s) and reconcile your perspective(s). 

[bpd-hex]

psychics, empaths, witches, sensitive folks...help!

so, i’m not normally inclined to write a post like this, but i’m feeling really...off. i’ve always had this “natural intuition,” but as each year passes it seems to fade. it’s hard to distinguish between my “intuition” and my paranoia that accompanies the illnesses i have. i’ve gotten better at keeping the two apart—at least, most of the time. the two do feel different enough that, although dealing with paranoia is never fun, i can usually work through it and tell myself, “these things aren’t really happening. this fear is irrational.” 

last night, though was...honestly terrifying. on saturday, february 25, i began having a severe amount of pain. this isn’t strange in and of itself—i’ve been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, so i figured it was just an extraordinarily intense flareup. by the end of the night, i was literally writhing in pain, and somewhere in this fog, i thought, “this isn’t right.” i had visited a metaphysical convention earlier that day and i literally wondered if maybe one of the psychics i didn’t get a reading from was pissed at me or something. (she was really pushy, i got a weird vibe from her, and i couldn’t afford the 80 dollar reading.) immediately, i started telling myself i was just being paranoid.

fast forward to the evening of sunday, february 26. i was doing some homework, but it was getting late and i decided to go to bed. out of nowhere, i was hit with this overpowering feeling of badness. wrongness. something was fucking wrong. i pushed it out of my mind and went into my bedroom. the feeling persisted. i didn’t feel safe...i felt something enter my apartment. it was just this giant, black shape. i felt it hanging over me in the bedroom, and i just lost it. i ran into the bathroom and it followed me, hovering over my right shoulder. i kept telling myself that this was just some sort of symptom, but i hadn’t felt this much terror in years. i wanted to believe it was irrational, i was too stressed from school, this feeling of being watched is, no, not a good thing, not “normal,” but something i’ve dealt with throughout my life because of ptsd. but i couldn’t ignore it. this was different. 

i finally told my partner that something was up—we needed to cleanse the space now. he grabbed the sage and i hurriedly threw together a satchel of lavender, a bay leaf, and an amethyst, and just closed my eyes and held it for a bit until i felt more calm. however, i immediately had another barrage of negativity, feeling guilty that i wasn’t “good enough,” i wasn’t a real witch, i was pathetic and could never be “whole” because of chronic illness: just every goddamn bad feeling and thought was being thrown at me. it’s something i’m used to, but not to this degree. this was amplified, like someone or something was preying on all my weaknesses and using them against me. it honestly felt like a straight up attack.

i went to bed not knowing if i was having some sort of “episode,” or if something more sinister was actually happening. in the morning i read on facebook that several of my friends had also had uncharacteristically harrowing experiences sunday night. i got to school and only two other students showed up for class—my prof said that someone had gotten into a car accident last night, several students had fallen ill, basically every single person in the class had emailed him sunday evening and said something really bad had suddenly happened. 

he cancelled class, and i drove home wondering if all of these things were just “coincidences,” my brain simply trying to draw correlations between my experience and what had apparently been some horrible experiences of a ton of other people over the weekend. maybe all these other students just needed an excuse to skip class. i don’t know.

other mentally ill witches, empaths, psychics, anyone who might have an idea what is going on, or otherwise not feel as completely drained as i do right now and have an open window into reading the situation—what do you think? this little seed of what i think is intuition is telling me that there was just a monstrously huge decision made that’s going to impact all of our lives. did anyone else have a scary experience over the weekend, or feel overwhelmed by impending, negative energy? is this all in my head? if anyone believes they may have some insight into this, feel free to reply to this post, send me a message on tumblr, or even email me at [email protected] (for some reason i don’t always get notifications for the messages i receive on here).       

sorry for the long post, i felt i needed to share and i’m seriously worried (for anyone thinking this is strictly a mental health problem, i do have an appointment with my therapist today. she knows i’m a witch and i plan on telling her about this weekend). but does anyone know what’s going on?       

[bpd-hex]

Using this sigil during my contribution to the mass ritual tonight (applicable during any other binding rituals, of course). “I bind you, D*nald J. Tr*mp, to do no harm.” 

[bpd-hex]

Interview Update!

hello everyone, just real quick before I head to bed— firstly, you are all amazing! i’m absolutely blown away by the all the positive responses i've gotten to my project!

secondly, my entire being is slowly imploding from all my anthropology schoolwork, aaaaaa

i've had a ton of assignments due just the past few days, and i do apologise for asking you to contact me and then falling silent. SO, if you've sent me an email about the interviews and haven't heard back yet, don't worry!! it was my mistake to not anticipate such a great response! 💌

my plan is to email everyone back by tomorrow evening. if you haven't heard back from me by thursday night (pacific standard time), don't be afraid to keep bugging me! thank you again for volunteering to help me with this project. i'm truly honored!! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

[bpd-hex]

Looking for witches, wiccans, or pagans to interview!

Hi everyone! I’ve been swamped with schoolwork, and I apologise for not being active, but thanks to all of you for almost 600 followers! I’m so amazed and grateful.💕 It feels like yesterday that I made this blog, and I’ve been so immensely blessed by each and every one of you. 

School is actually what’s made me log onto Tumblr again. (And no, unfortunately not because I’m procrastinating...😂 ) One of my Anthropology courses requires me to complete some interviews on a topic of my choosing. I’ve met some truly wonderful people on here, and I would love to give you the chance to tell me a little about yourselves! 

Here are a few things to know:

the interviews won’t be long, only about 20 minutes

we’ll need to be able to skype

consent forms will be sent via email

you get to tell me a little bit about yourself, your practices, and your beliefs! 

must be 18+ (for legal informed consent reasons)

🔮 Don’t be afraid to contact me if you’re unsure of the requirements—chances are, you meet them!🔮

You can identify as a witch, wiccan, or any other type of pagan! If you’re interested and want to set up an interview or just ask for more details, please email me at [email protected]

I’m super excited for this project, and I look forward to getting to know you!  

[eclecticwitcheryafoot]

Rotting/Decaying Herbs Correspondence

After seeing numerous masterposts about herbs, I noticed there wasn’t any mention of the correspondences when it comes to rotted or decaying herbs.  Here’s my take on this.

Anise- Use to cause a person to have nightmares, misfortune and/or relationship issues.

Apples- Use to cause turmoil between romantic partners.

Barley- Use to direct negativity and misfortune towards a person.

Basil- Use to cause fights, arguments, etc. between two lovers, two friends, two family members. Used to deter love from developing between 2 people. Use to deter customers from shopping at a business.  Use to attract negativity (place in rooms of a house for protection from negativity).

Bay- Use to cause a person to experience nightmares. Use to direct negativity and misfortune towards a person.

Birch- Use weaken protection of a person.

Blackberry- Use leaves in spells to cause for wealth to be drained or mismanaged.

Blueberry- Use to cause for a person to experience negativity and unwanted guests at their home.

Cabbage- Use to cause for fighting and arguing between a married couple.

Cactus- Use to weaken the protection of the home or other properties.

Camellia- Use to cause a person financial difficulties.

Carnation- Use to weaken a person’s leadership skills, commemoration and self-esteem.

Carrot- Use to cause for a person to lose sexual desire.

Catnip- Use to direct misfortune and unwanted spirits towards a person.  Use to cause for a person to feel confused or unwanted.

Celery- Use to cause a person to have difficulty concentrating during tasks.  Use to cause a person to have difficulty falling asleep.  Use to cause for sexual desire of a person to decrease.

Chamomile- Use to cause for financial difficulties. Use to heighten curse effects.

Cherry- Use to cause a person to feel undesired or loved.

Chicory- Use to heighten and strengthen obstacles in a person’s life.

Cinnamon- Use to cause for setbacks in business or a person’s goals in career.  Use to decrease a person’s protection.

Clove- Use cause for financial hardships.

Cucumber- Use to hinder fertility.

Cumin- Use to cause a person to argue with their significant other and to cause for a person who’s been unfaithful to feel overwhelming guilt.

Cypress- Use to slow down emotional healing process.

Daffodil- Use to cause a person misfortune and to have difficulties in love.  Use to cause a person to feel isolated.

Daisy- Use to deflect unwanted attention from potential romantic partners.

Dandelion- Burn to block unwanted thoughts about a person.

Dill- Use to weaken protection of a person.  Use to cause a person to be unnoticeable and avoidable.

Elder-Use to direct negativity and misfortune.  Use to cause a person to experience a restless night’s sleep.

Fern- Use to weaken a person or location’s protective energy.

Fig- Use to cause a person to experience decreasing sexual desire and decrease protective energy of a home.

Flax- Use to cause a person to experience financial difficulties.

Foxglove- Use to cause for a person’s garden to rot.

Frankincense- Use to weaken protection and stunt spiritual growth of a person.

Gardenia- Use to cause a person’s illness to be slow and difficult.  Use to cause for a person to to feel unwanted.

Garlic- Use to weaken a person’s protective energy and to cause for a restless night’s sleep. Use to cause a person to experience a stroke of bad luck.

Geranium- Use to cause a person to experience weakened protection, romantic desire, and confusion.

Ginger- Use to cause a person financial and love life difficulties.  Use to undermine another person’s magickal workings.

Ginseng- Use to repel love and cause for a person to feel unwanted. Use to cause financial difficulties.  Use to weaken a person’s glamour magick and promote back luck.

Grape- Use to decrease fertility and to weaken mental powers. Use to cause a person to experience financial hardships.

Hazel- Use to cause a person confusion and forgetfulness.

Holly- Use to cause for a person to experience bad luck.

Honeysuckle- Bury near a home to cause for the residents to experience financial difficulties and a stroke of bad luck.

Iris- Use to weaken protection around a person or location. Use to cause a person confusion.

Ivy- Bury near home to cause for it to experience chaos and disarray.

Jasmine- Use to cause a person to experience financial difficulties. Use to cause a person nightmares and a restless night’s sleep.attract money.

Juniper- Use to weaken protective energy around a person or location.

Lavender- Use to cause a person to experience difficulties with love. Use to cause a person to experience nightmares and a restless night’s sleep.  Bury near a person’s home to cause the home to become restless and chaotic. 

Lemon- Use to cause a person to question their romantic partner’s faithfulness. Use to cause a strain between friends.

Lemon Grass- Use to cause a person’s psychic powers to weaken.

Lettuce- Use to cause a person to experience a restless night’s sleep.

Lilac- Use to cause a person to experience bad luck.

Lily- Use to cause for a person to have unwanted visitors to the home.

Liverwort- Use to drive an emotional wedge between romantic partners.  use to cause a romantic partner to doubt their lover’s dedication.

Magnolia- Use to expose a unfaithful romantic partner.

Maple- Use to repel unwanted romantic partners.  Use to cause a person financial difficulty.

Marigold- Use to weaken a person’s protective energy and to cause for a restless night’s sleep and/or nightmares.  use to cause a person to become less influential and respected and respected by peers, colleagues,etc.  Use to cause a person to experience difficulty in handling legal matters.

Mint- Use to repel unwanted sexual urges.  Use to cause a person to experience financial difficulty.

Mistletoe-Use to cause a person to experience misfortune, nightmares while sleeping and weakened protection. Use to cause for couples to fight.

Mulberry- Use to cause for a person’s magickal work to backfire or be negated.

Oak- Use an acorn from an oak tree to cause for a person to experience a deduction in sexual desire.  Use to cause for a person to physically and mentally “feel their age”.

Orange- Use to cause for a person to come across as being bland and dull.

Orchid- Use to cause a person financial and social/interpersonal difficulties.

Pansy- Use to repel unwanted feelings associated with love.

Parsley- Use to repel unwanted sexual desire.  Use to cause a person to experience a decrease in lustful thinking.

Peach- Use to cause a person confusion and forgetfulness.  Use to prevent emotional attachment.

Peppermint- (See Mint).

Pine- Use to weaken defenses against negativity.

Raspberry- Use to decrease protective energies around a home or person.

Rice- Use to cause for a married couple to argue.

Rose- Use to repel an unwanted lover or romantic partner.  Use to cause a couple to argue and fight.

Rosemary- Use to cause a person to experience a restless night’s sleep and nightmares. Use to cause a person to experience difficulty in learning new information and become confused.

Rowan- Use to cause a person’s divination skills to become weak and confusing.  Use to cause for a person to become weak, unlucky, and experience misfortune. Use to increase spirit communication.

Rue- Use to cause a person to become love-struck and confused. Aids in curses.

Saffron- Use to repel lustful feelings.

Sage- Use to cause a person confusion and misfortune.

St. John’s Wort- Use to cause a person to feel unwanted.  Use to repel unwanted romantic partners.

Sassafras- Use to cause a person to experience financial difficulties.

Spearmint- Use to deter lust.

Strawberries- Use to cause a person to feel unwanted or unloved.

Sugar Cane- Use to deter unwanted love and attention.

Sunflower- Use to hide the truth from a person or within a situation.  Use to cause a person misfortune.

Thyme- Use to cause a person to experience nightmares. Use to cause a person to be avoidable and unnoticeable or to cause a person to receive overwhelming amounts of unwanted attention.  Use to decrease energy level and cause for a person to become fearful and afraid.

Vanilla- Use to decrease lust. Carry a vanilla bean to cause a person difficulty in maintaining energy and memory.

Vervain- Use to cause a person to experience chaos and instability.  Use to cause for wishes made to be unheard.  Use to cause friends to become enemies.  Use to repel unwanted lovers.

Violet- Mix with lavender to repel unwanted lovers and sexual partners. Use to cause a person to have difficulty sleeping and have an increase in their anger.

Willow- Use to repel love. Use to cause healing of a person to be slow.

Wintergreen- Use to cause healing of a person to be slow.

Wormwood- Use to cause a person to experience mechanical difficulties. Use to repel an unwanted romantic partner.

Source: My personal grimoire

[therootwitch]

Protective/ Cleansing Salt

1 cup ground pink Himalayan salt

1 tbsp ground rosemary

1 tbsp ground sage

1 tbsp ground lavender

3 drops lavender oil

Mix all ingredients. Use for banishing, security, protection, cleansing, things in that vein. A little goes a long way!

[stormwaterwitch]

Casting Curses Does Not Make You A Shitty Person 2k17

How you follow your path is YOUR business and no one elses

[iscriptikus]

As long as they remember it will come back on them 3 times 3.

[xx-thespiderqueen-xx]

Only if you believe it will

[breelandwalker]

-chews the “I feel the need to remind people of a Wiccan concept which is entirely arbitrary as if it were a universal rule” post out of this thread and spits it out the window-

Nah, I’m not even gonna be polite. I’ve had way too many people throw that at me like it’s some sort of be-all-end-all of magical mechanics and morality when it ISN’T, and the oh-so-innocent, downlow-holier-than-thou addition of “Ever Mind The Rule Of Three” to any thread that mentions baneful magic is both unhelpful and unnecessary.

Not all witches are Wiccan. Not all witches follow the Threefold Rule.

Not all witches need or want to be reminded of the Threefold Rule every freakin’ time they post about curses.

Keep your moral commentary to yourself.

[libraford]

I got 99 problems and my curses coming back to haunt me ain’t one. 

[eternalnight8806-2]

Alrighty then all you little tumblr children…

Yeah, not all witches are wiccan and vice versa. I happen to be both.

HOWEVER, just because you don’t happen to be wiccan (pagan, neo-pagan, etc.) doesn’t mean you shouldn’t maybe, oh I don’t know, NOT BE AN ASSHOLE.

Just because you don’t follow the wiccan rede doesn’t mean you should just arbitrarily cast curses on people whenever you fucking feel like it.

That’s literally the definition of being a fucking asshole and you deserve everything the universe spits back at you.

[breelandwalker]

Maybe some folks use baneful magic casually, maybe some folks only use it in extreme circumstances. Maybe some witches curse anyone who pisses them off, maybe some witches only sling curses in the interest of furthering cosmic or divine justice.

Or MAYBE people have reasons to use baneful magic that are completely personal and not arbitrary at all, and maybe those reasons aren’t anyone else’s goddamn business.

Point is, it’s not for you or anyone else to give them “permission.” If a witch casts a curse, they know the risks involved and if they’re worth their salt, they’ve both accepted and prepared for that eventuality.

The definition of being an asshole is judging people for their choices without knowing the first thing about them, while simultaneously assuming that your morality, religious or otherwise, applies to anyone but yourself.

[eternalnight8806-2]

@breelandwalker Like I already said, those people deserve everything the universe spits back at them. I don’t remember judging anybody or telling them they needed my permission. I simply stated that people who cast curses deserve everything the universe spits at them. Because they do. Hence the word “curse”. It’s malicious intent, regardless of the reason. If you can’t be a goddamn grown up and not use that kind of magic to get what you want then yeah, you deserve whatever’s coming to you. So maybe before you try to school people, you should learn to read.

[breelandwalker]

Re: Grown-up - Thirty-three year old woman with over a decade of witching experience, including serious studies in comparative religion, magical methodology, the mechanics of baneful magic.

Re: Schooling People - Published author of two books with a third due this month, numerous articles on witchcraft and practical magic, and a website for beginner witches.

-clears throat- You were saying.

Maybe this is one of those situations where you simply don’t have the life experience to understand why some witches choose to do these things. In which case, nothing I say is going to have the slightest impact because you lack the necessary frame of reference. And that’s perfectly viable, especially if you’re younger or you’ve been blessed to be very fortunate and just haven’t had a lot of hardship that’s caused you to feel helpless or vengeful, in which case I’m happy for you.

Or perhaps you’re just not interested in seeing things from another perspective. Either way, it’s your problem, not mine.

(Also, I really feel the need to point out that you seem to be okay with cursing that idiot who’s headed for the White House, so some part of you must understand that there are situations when baneful magic can be appropriate and useful.)

[deactivated-blog]

Do you have any spells to stop people from being mean to one of my close friends? Not necessarily anything that will harm them, just something to stop their hatred towards her.

Honestly casting a curse on them (if you do that) would be totally acceptable. Although if you aren’t looking at doing that, you could always ask your friend if it is ok to cast a protection spell on them! Here are a few ideas:

Restraining Order Bottle

Stay The Fuck Away From Me

Stay the Fuck Away

Ritual To Protect Loved Ones

Sachet For School

Anti-Bully Spell

Keep Away Stone

Good luck! Hopefully they stop being assholes to your friend! <3

[lovelyladylaudanum]

My medication will work and have no bad side effects

New sigil! This ones to help if your taking new medications like I am Sorry for the poor quality photo by the way

[effio-deactivated20180208]

Continuing to Explore: Wicca vs. Witchcraft

Reading various posts has helped me understand that Wicca is not synonymous with witchcraft. @wiccaweekly​ answered several asks about this, and I read more about the topic on @maddiviner​.

Point #1: Wiccans practice witchcraft, but witchcraft in and of itself is not exclusive to Wicca.

Wicca is a religion, but witchcraft is not. Witchcraft is a form of magical practice, which is often used in Wicca as well as many other religions and cultures, but it is not exclusive to Wicca. I didn’t fully understand this distinction until recently, with the help of this post.

Point #2: Wiccan witchcraft is not the same as non-Wiccan witchcraft.

Non-Wiccan witchcraft seems to be simpler, with fewer elements and less complexity, and it does not involve religious aspects (see this post). This appeals to me very much, because it does not ask me to explicitly declare or affirm belief in deities that I do not believe in.

Point #3: Witchcraft is not a religion, it is a practice. It does not have to be pagan. It can be secular.

From this post:

A secular witch is one who doesn’t incorporate religion or religious practices into their witchcraft.

“Secular” refers to the practice of witchcraft lacking religious aspects, not to the witch’s individual beliefs (this is the key part).

A secular witch does not have to be atheist or agnostic. They can be a Christian, a Buddhist, a Hindu, or follower of any other religion. The only requirement is that their witchcraft itself is not an extension of, nor related to, their religious beliefs.

You can approach “gods” and “goddesses” as spirits that are “potentially helpful, but neither necessarily omnipotent, nor creator-figures.” (This idea is really interesting! I’d like to research it further.)

This passage that was quoted in the post really inspired me. (Emphasis added.)

Spirits worshipped in religion as “gods” and “goddesses” are incorporated into magic spells. There is a crucial distinction between magic and religion though: religion may involve devotion to and worship of these spiritual entities. Magic invariably requests a reciprocal, cooperative relationship, although it may be a relationship characterized by love, respect, and awe. Both spirit and human are perceived as having needs, which, ideally, are mutually fulfilled by a successful magic spell.

Ultimately the most potent, powerful magic derives from spiritual partnership, working with guardian and allied spirits. This is also for many the most challenging, hard to access and believe magic, because it doesn’t feel real to many people. It may be hard to believe or comprehend that a rock has a memory, but at least you can hold the rock in your hand. When you’re working with spirits, are you actually working with anything or is this all just the stuff of myth, fairy tale, and make-believe?

Discussions about finding the goddess within, although perhaps extremely valuable from a spiritual or therapeutic perspective, present a further magical obstacle. If the goddess (and, by projection, any other magic power) is truly an aspect of oneself, why bother with any of the physical materials at all? Magic spells are, in general, a partnership between inner and outer powers— powers that are part of you, and those that are distinctly independent from you.

Our limited word pool also compounds the problem. Because we approach spirituality literally, we also approach religion. Seemingly neutral simple terms like god and goddess are actually highly charged with personal meaning and resonance. We think that when we use these terms we are all on common ground, but that’s not necessarily so. Some use these terms to indicate supreme creators of the world; others use the terms for any type of spiritual entity. So to level the playing field, let’s just use the term spirits to name those powerful entities that resist human efforts to define them.

Illes, Judika. The Element Encyclopedia of 1000 Spells.

I was initially intimidated by the idea of practicing witchcraft because I believed it to be exclusively pagan, but now I can see that this is not the case. So, to answer my own question in my previous post, no, I do not need deities or gods or goddesses. I do appreciate Judika Illes’ perspective on addressing deities as spirits, but given that all of my efforts thus far have been geared towards research and not actual practice, I don’t really have any beliefs about spirits.  Perhaps in the future, my thoughts on this will change, but for now, it is immensely comforting to find ideas that I can appreciate and think about.

I suppose my question now would be about the distinction between spirituality and religion. What’s the difference, and how does this connect to non-religious witchcraft practices? Can altars be non-religious? Can holidays be celebrated in a non-religious way?