East Texan Bruja

🇺🇸Mixed ethnicity 🇲🇽She/Her✨ancestor veneration✨35yo✨bayou bruja🧙‍♀️ She/Her 🦝 pantheism and animism🦝

[jasper-book-stash]

When you're reading a tarot book and get hit with the combo multiplier of "feminine power"-third eye-chakras-Qabalah appropriation-the g slur-the word shaman used incorrectly-saying you don't need tarot cards in a book about tarot cards because "the universe" is already sending you messages and you haven't even made it out of the introduction yet

[crazycatsiren]

If you truly want to decolonize your witchcraft practice, then you really ought to start believing witches of color when we speak out about our experiences of being harassed, bullied, and discriminated against by white witches.

[slewfootwitch]

Listen, I just want to do folk magic and be academically focused and build community. But, the more active I try to be in online community, the more I don't think I actually want to be in the academic and folk magic sides of existing communities, because they're not always super welcoming for POC and mixed people. And I know I'm the kind of mixed that can "get by", but I really don't want to fit in to spaces that require getting by. Every time I dip my toe into the outside communities, I am more and more grateful for the @pathandpractice and @hagstoneandtoadsbone communities I've built.

[vitterdotter]

I truly believe being able to name the world around you is integral to animism. learn the names of plants and flowers. learn how the rocks and soil you walk over daily form. sit with the streams and rivers, learn where they flow to and from. learn the names others have given, and give them your own as well. animism is interconnectedness, and one simple step is learning the names of your neighbors

[ellam4r1a]

What kind of relationship do the species in your local forest have with each other? What type of forest is it and what kind of plants like to grow there? Do the plants whose names you're learning like to grow in moist or dry spots? When do they bloom? Is your local forest in its natural state or has it been handled by humans? How can you tell?

My journey in forest mapping has brought up a lot of these questions. It's not just learning the names of plants, it's also learning about their growth environments and what makes them different. Some plants are indicators of a specific forest type. It's learning about the relationships between different species; some of them like to grow together. I have to look at the history of the forest and the structural features of it... etc.

It has been very cool to notice how my appreciation for different types of forests has changed. It's nice that I can tell the difference between a really really beautiful and "valuable" forest and less nicer ones. Species mapping has truly been amazing for my practice. It has opened up whole new layers of love for nature beyond just "oh wow what a pretty flower."

[randomslasher]

No matter what a post on tumblr tries to tell you, your moral and ethical stances will never be determined by what you reblog and what you scroll past. Don’t let manipulation tactics force you into doing anything you don’t want to do.

[randomslasher]

I find it very interesting to note the times in which this post has a sudden resurgence. It often follows very stressful, upsetting events, where a lot of “REBLOG THIS OR YOU SUCK” posts start appearing on this site. 

So I’ll say it again: it is okay if you come to tumblr to escape upsetting news. It is okay if you’re just here for fun and fandom. It is okay if you do not want to use your tumblr as a place to read about or spread the current events that are circulating. It is okay if you need a place to decompress and just relax. There are other ways to be involved in/support causes and you are allowed to set boundaries on social media platforms without it being indicative of your belief systems. 

Your beliefs, values, ethics, and moral stances are not determined by whether or not you reblog something. 

[aesethewitch]

Ko-Fi Phishing Scam - Warning, Details, & What to Do if You Clicked the Link

Date of posting: June 3, 2026.

Heads up to my fellow Ko-Fi users!! There's a known phishing scam going around. The scammers are sending messages via commission messages. They're claiming that the account has been suspended and won't be able to receive payments until information is verified. They then provide a link to follow to "fix" the issue.

Do not click that link!! It will steal your information and possibly your money. Block the sender and delete the message. If you're concerned that your account has actually been compromised because you clicked a link sent to you, send a ticket to the real Ko-Fi support team and change the passwords on Ko-Fi and all connected accounts.

(Also, it seems like Ko-Fi is getting a lot of traffic right now, probably because of this latest blast of phishing attempts. Stay calm. Your account is fine. Only send a ticket if you filled out a suspicious form; and if you did click or fill out something suspicious, make sure you change all of the passwords on your Ko-Fi and all attached accounts.)

Since I'm me, let's take a closer look at the message, how this phishing scam is meant to work, and how you can spot these yourself in the future:

The goal of a phishing scam is to convince you that something is wrong and needs your immediate attention. Scammers want you to click a link or call a phone number in order to further convince you to part with critical personal information, such as your banking details, account passwords, home address, and more. Sometimes, they'll even download malicious software onto your machine.

The thing about phishing scams is that they require you, the recipient, to take action in order to work. You've got to click that link or make that phone call for them to access your accounts. If you block, report, and delete their messages, they lose.

Most phishing scams consist of a few key elements:

An urgent, inflammatory first line or email title

An assertion of authority (support, staff, etc.)

A brief description of what allegedly needs fixing, usually having to do with account issues, payment processing, or similar

A reassurance that this can be fixed with simple steps

A link to follow or a phone number to call in order to fix the issue

A deadline

Here's a screenshot of the message I received this afternoon:

We're hitting most of the common traits of a phishing scam, minus the deadline declaration. Still, when I saw the email notification that I'd gotten this message, I felt a little panicked! I know enough about phishing scams to spot them, and I recognized this as bullshit pretty quick, but I still felt that initial jolt of fear. The scam hopes that I'll take action on that fear alone, because oh god that's my money. You know?

So, I took a breath. Told myself I'd done nothing wrong, and if it was real (which it certainly wasn't), then I could contact support and figure it out. I logged into my account to have a closer look, and... Nothing. Everything was fine. No suspension notice, no big red prompt. My payment methods are intact with no warnings attached.

Interesting, no? I took another, closer look at the message. I grabbed a screenshot of it to send to the support team since they're tracking the situation and to talk about it here.

This is a very clever phishing attempt. The message itself is well-crafted. It's a little awkward in places, but the grammar is good. My guess is it's an LLM at work, generating text to send out. The emojis are a deeply unprofessional touch that would absolutely never be included in a message about something as serious as a suspension notice. The intention is to lower your guard and make you feel as though the "support rep" messaging you is on your side. It's meant to instill trust and camaraderie.

The description of what's going on is short, sweet, and to the point. Note the urgent tone and lack of details about why this suspension has supposedly occurred. A real suspension message would typically require at least a brief explanation of the reason for suspension, often including citation of site policies or a mention of reports being filed against the account. Nothing like that here.

It goes on to threaten my money, stating that people can view my page but that any payments they make won't be processed. It raises more questions than it answers -- will people be able to make payments and their money will hang in limbo? Or will those payments not go through? Or will the site not even allow payments to be made? This is by design, meant to cause a further spiral of anxiety that will lead the recipient to following whatever instructions they've been given.

And, oh! How kind! The process to fix this is super short and easy, and they won't even need me to upload any documents. What an odd thing to say. I hadn't even considered that it would require uploading documents... such as ID, perhaps. If the process is simple and purportedly safe, there's no reason to not do it right now! This assurance is aimed to prevent the recipient from putting the task off for later. It's also meant to entice someone who's particularly panicked to not go looking for other information or solutions -- because the best one is right here, no documents upload necessary.

And finally, the link. Click here to fix everything right now, it says. But take a closer look at that link.

It starts with the "ko-fi" website name, apparently on a page called "edit profile"... at a .my address. And then, of course, a bunch of random letters. It's the .my address that should raise the biggest red flag here. Ko-Fi is a .com web address, and all of their associated pages are .com, too. While I haven't clicked this link (and will not be clicking it, thank you), it will certainly not be going to a reliable settings page.

Again, the goal of a phishing scam is to steal your information by convincing you to click suspicious links. This scam in particular seems intent on getting you to "update your information" -- that might include your banking information, PayPal login credentials, Ko-Fi account credentials, and more.

You should never have to leave the website in order to verify or update this information. This isn't just true for Ko-Fi; it's true for pretty much every single website out there.

The other big giveaway that this is a phishing scam is that message at the very bottom, stating that this DM was sent because I have commission messages turned on. Commission messages allow people to contact me by clicking a little message icon on my commission listings. This way, they can chat with me about my services before buying if they have questions or want to negotiate details.

Ko-Fi support would absolutely not need to use commission messages to reach me. Beyond that, clicking the "Support" name should take me to an account page -- but it doesn't. It redirects me to my settings page, which is what happens when someone without an account messages. The company Ko-Fi has an account.

Beyond that, Ko-Fi support operates via ZenDesk. They wouldn't send a direct message about anything, let alone a suspension notice. I would have received an email with official Ko-Fi branding.

Which... in a way, I did. When someone sends a message on Ko-Fi, it generates an email to let the account owner know they've got one waiting for response. That means that I received an email that looked like this:

By sending a direct message through the Ko-Fi system, this phishing scam was able to make it look like the message was official. This is the real reason this phishing scam is so clever. An appropriately frightened and unwary person would see this and maybe not even log into their Ko-Fi account. They might just click the link from the email and follow whatever instructions they're given.

Put all this together, and I knew with absolute certainty that this was a scam -- one that will absolutely fool a lot of people.

Steps You Can Take to be 100% Certain a Message is Phishing

Even with all this knowledge and reassurance, it can be hard to know for sure that a message is a phishing attempt. Because, like, what if? You know? What if it's actually real?

First: Take a breath. Anytime you receive a notice about any account of yours encountering issues, take a second to calm yourself. If it's real, you'll want to follow proper channels to fix it. If it's fake, you don't want to be so panicked that you fall for a scam. Either way, give yourself a moment to breathe and calm down.

Second: Check your account. Close the email or the message. Don't click any links provided. Go to the actual website or app. Log in to your account and check for any prompts, pop-ups, or warnings in your account settings. If you can't log in at all, contact the support team of the site using their preferred channel(s).

Third: Check your payment processor(s) and bank account. Make sure there aren't any prompts, pop-ups, or warnings there, too. Make sure you can still log in okay and that there aren't any suspicious transactions that have gone through or that are pending. If there are, contact support ASAP; they might be able to prevent or reverse the charge, and they might be able to block any more from that source.

Fourth: Do a quick search online. See if anyone else is already talking about it. I found several Reddit threads talking about this scam, and it seems like it's evolved slightly since it first started appearing months ago.

Fifth: Check the website's support/help resources. A lot of websites have FAQs and other resources to help users with issues they might encounter. When any scam becomes widespread, the platform will typically put out official messages talking about it. They might also have blog posts or articles dedicated to the situation. If a problem is active and ongoing, they might even put up an alert banner to both warn users who don't know about it and assure users who have gotten the message(s) to not worry. Here's the one that's splashed across the top of Ko-Fi's support page right now:

Sixth: Message support. If you can't find any information, or if you interacted with the scam and are worried about being compromised in some way, send a message to the website's support team. Use their official channels to submit a ticket, send an email, or chat with a rep. If you're pretty sure you've encountered a phishing scam and you can't find anything about it, include screenshots of the message(s) so that support can properly investigate.

Seventh: Take extra security measures. If you're still worried after all of these steps and especially if you clicked a suspicious link, change your passwords. It's important to do this for every account attached to the one that's been compromised. (In this case on Ko-Fi, if you didn't click the link from the scammer, you shouldn't need to update any passwords or anything else.)

Stay safe, folks!

Please reblog for visibility & spread!

[dvoeverie-stitches]

Our Lady of the Ozarks, The Virgin of the Smile

—a pilgrimage site in rural Crawford County, Arkansas, located south of Winslow. It is nationally notable as the first US shrine dedicated to the Virgin of the Smile, a devotion tied to St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

The “Virgin of the Smile” honors the statue that miraculously smiled at a 10-year-old St. Thérèse of Lisieux, curing her of a severe illness in 1883.

Built as a “mountain resort mission” to attract pilgrims, it is Arkansas’s only shrine dedicated to this specific title of Mary.

We started the traditional Marian pilgrimage month of May visiting Our Lady of Perpetual Help, St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Altus, Arkansas and ended the month here today.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help is the centerpiece on the rosary I inherited from my Grandma and the icon in the little shrine on my altar. Today was also tied to Grandma, as I passed this shrine on old highway 71 in the Ozarks hundreds of times over the years to visit Gran—who was named for Mary and whose sister was named for St. Thérèse.

[satellites-halo]

Mixtec Style "Rain God Vessel", Tlaloc, c. 1100–1400. Polychromed ceramic.

[existennialmemes]

Neurodivergent Magic To Make An Item Disappear:

Pick up the item

Hold the item securely in your hands

Get distracted by something

The item is no longer detectable on this plane of existence

There is no reversal spell. The item will never be seen again.

[skaianbruja]

On one hand I'm glad to see non-USAmericans on this site starting to talk about how people on here often use "yankee" and "gringo" to be openly racist or how "kill/bomb every person in the US" "jokes" are also incredibly racist

On the other hand, Black USAmericans, Native USAmericans, and Chicanos (i.e. the three groups that have been the most directly targeted by this shit) have been talking about this for about the past fucking decade, and the whole time we either just got ignored or told that we were being whiny imperial core brats

[skaianbruja]

And btw, this shit didn't start with white Europeans openly proclaiming that they get off to cops murdering "yanks"

It began under the guise of social justice language

[songsofbloodandwater]

While I appreciate white people being vocal about antiblackness, decolonization, appropriation etc, I think it's also important to remind you all that you should never take any white person, no matter how good and kindhearted and knowledgeable they might seem, you should never take them to be the leading voice in decolonization, antiblackness nor spokespersons for Black and Indigenous peoples.

If you have questions about Indigenous people's relationship to the Land, about our traditions, about appropriation, how to approach Indigenous peoples respectfully or how to avoid hurting closed practices, ask people from those closed practices and cultures. We're right here!!! You asking the white person like we don't exist, or worse, only taking your answers from other white people, is not as woke as you think it is. It's the opposite of the work you should be doing.

Oh, and no matter how "educated" someone seems, it's still nowhere near accurate from our perspective. White people don't speak for us and they cannot lead these movements, they shouldn't and cannot represent us because these movements exist to de-center and de-platform whiteness. Not to mention, they're still outsiders and they still get things wrong. They're learning and looking in through a window as much as any other white person is. And you're taking all your guidance from them without knowing that, without having any way to tell when they're wrong or misguided, because you're also an outsider. It's literally the blind leading the blind.

Do better. Ask the source directly. Center Black and Indigenous voices.

[weirdtranssexual]

i’m not going to lie i don’t trust people who hate kids

[weirdtranssexual]

i mean you certainly don’t have to want kids or particularly enjoy hanging out with them. but if you can’t interact with a child or respect their general existence then i will find you suspect. it reads as very antisocial.

[thatdisasterauthor]

The Texas State Aquarium has taught their crow to play connect four and I am DELIGHTED.

[slewfootwitch]

Just FYI, I just discovered that the "#non traditional homemaking" tag appears to be empty and unused. You know, just in case any of my queer and otherwise "non-traditional" homemaking friends were still looking for a place to camp out.

[sacredlittleember]

land spirits do not have to be dramatic.

sometimes reverence for land starts very simply:

learning the names of local plants. noticing where water gathers. thanking a tree before taking from it. picking up trash. leaving a place better than you found it. sitting quietly long enough to feel the mood of the land.

animism is not always spectacle.

sometimes it is relationship, attention, and care.

[yorubaby]

Reminder: People can get on the internet and say anything; but just because they say what they say with confidence and academic language, does not mean they're correct.

People love to be loud and wrong, so please make sure to also do your own unbiased research!

That is all.

[witchblr-kind-takes]

i want to appreciate yorubaby/rue for being such a sweet and wonderful presence in the witchblr community and i hope they know im very thankful to be in community with them <3

Aww, @yorubaby you've got a fan!