Cérynie

Goblin trying to enjoy this life 🪐

[warandpeas]

[papayajuan2019]

cruelty is so easy. youre not special for choosing it

[derelicthousefootage]

[chilewithcarnage]

"The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist; a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain."

-Ursula K. LeGuin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

[wizardnuke]

"Evil is boring. Right? I kinda believe in the banality and mundaneness of evil. Evil is just selfish impulses, which at the end of the day are really easy to understand. It’s easy to understand why people do bad things. It’s like “yeah, ok, you’re selfish and scared and cruel, I get it”. Being good is complex and beautiful and hard." - Brennan Lee Mulligan

[oldshrewsburyian]

"How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints." --C.S. Lewis

[snakeflower-cottage-deactivated]

Witches and the Genius Loci: Folkloric Methods of Contact and Communion

The witches of old knew how to speak with the land. They didn’t just live in the wild, they wove themselves into its fabric, calling on the hidden ones in the earth, water, and wind. How did they do it? The answers would be as varied as the forests and fields they walked. But there are patterns we can see in all of them. Here are some of the ways I have discovered witches (in European folklore) reached out to the spirits of the land.

𖤐 Offerings at Spirit Dwellings

A witch rarely arrived empty-handed. Milk poured at the base of an ancient tree, ale left at the mouth of a cave, a bit of bread crumbled into a stream, these were ways to invite the unseen to draw near. Scottish folklore describes the gruagach, a guardian spirit, receiving libations of milk at stones and riverbanks (Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, 1900). In Belgium and the Netherlands, witches were accused of offering beer and bread to the duivel, a local spirit often conflated with the Devil in later Christianized accounts (De Blécourt, Het Duivelspact, 1993).

𖤐 By Bone and Blood

In Scandinavian folklore, the practice of bjarmic magic involved burying bones to anchor spirits to the land, while Livonian witches were said to whisper their desires into a skull before placing it in the earth (Rääbis, Eesti Rahvapärimus ja Nõiakunst, 1926). In the 17th-century Scottish witch trials, accused witches described sealing pacts with land spirits by pricking their fingers and pressing the blood into soil or stone (Pitcairn, Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland, 1833).

𖤐 Spirit-Flight and Dreamwalking

Witches didn’t always wait for spirits to come to them. Many traveled in spectral form, slipping into trance states with the help of charms or salves to reach spirits. The Trollenfrauen of German folklore and the Heks of Scandinavian folklore were said to enter deep sleep while holding a stone, allowing them to fly in spirit to the places where land spirits dwelled (Müller, Sagen aus Westfalen, 1857). In 17th-century witch trials from Flanders, accused witches claimed to lie still in darkness, feeling themselves lifted away to converse with spirits at crossroads and hollow hills (Proces tegen Tanneken Sconincx, 1606).

𖤐 Bone Charms & Rattles

A witch’s tools were often made from the dead. Flemish folklore mentions witches carrying duivelsfluitjes—small bone whistles said to call spirits when blown at twilight (De Meyer, Volksverhalen uit Vlaanderen, 1970). The bohnenzauber of Germanic folklore involved threading small bones together to create a rattling charm that stirred spirits of the wild (Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 1835).

𖤐 Turning Up the Soil

Some witches were accused of whispering into the ground, digging their fingers into the soil as they spoke. In Swedish folk belief, jordfastan involved burying a charm/offering (usually a piece of cloth or a coin) under a tree to call on spirits of the land (Hylten-Cavallius, Wärend och Wirdarne, 1863). Scottish trial records mention witches placing coal or burned bones in the earth as a form of spirit-binding magic (Pitcairn, Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland, 1833).

𖤐 Skin-Turning and Familiars

In Breton folklore, witches who wished to meet the hidden spirits of the woods were said to transform into black dogs or other beasts before travelling into the deep forest (Sébillot, Le Folklore de la Bretagne, 1904). In Scotland, it was believed that witches who took the form of hares or crows could cross into the spirit world more easily (Popular Tales of the West Highlands, Campbell, 1860).

𖤐 Betwixt Earth and Water

The land’s voice is loudest in the places where two worlds meet. Marshes, riverbanks, and tidal flats; these places belonged to neither land nor water, making them perfect for spirit-calling (my favourite method). In English and Welsh folklore, witches were said to stand barefoot in water at night, calling on spirits with secret words (Henderson, Folklore of the Northern Counties of England, 1866). In Estonia, it was believed that standing in a bog at sunset allowed one to hear the voices of spirits whispering in the wind (Loorits, Eesti Rahvausund, 1949).

Seeking out the spirits of the land is integral to building a foundational practice in witchcraft and connecting to your landscape. It is these spirits that grant you access to the powers of the land that you require to make your works work.

[nitewrighter]

You might be frustrated by the library never having a complete manga collection on its shelves at any given time, but the 12 year old checking out 14 volumes of One Piece at once is vital to the library ecosystem. He's like the sea otter keeping the kelp forest from being devastated by an excess of sea urchins.

[chess-blackmyre]

To those curious some other keystone library species include:

—the retirees who’ve read more murder mysteries than I’ve had hot meals

—the paperback romance girlies (gender neutral) who check out every single bodice ripper the second it hits the shelves

—the dads very slowly making their way through a ‘1001 movies to see before you die’ list

—the one-man criterion collection who checks out like, three movies per day and brings them back the next. (TV series are only a minor roadblock.)

—kids who like Minecraft

[nitewrighter]

---The new parents checking out 47 picture books for their 7 month old baby who clearly has nothing going on in their head except the Wii Sports Resort theme song

[intothestacks]

The mini bookworms who just inhale books like nobody's business and would read their parents out of house and home if the library wasn't around (I have a few at the school library I work at and used to be one myself -- the librarians at my childhood branch knew me by name, lol)

The retirees who come in just to read the daily newspaper

In defense of the parents with a 7-month-old, research shows that the more you talk to babies the better; the more you talk to babies (even during the larval stage where they're basically little vegetables that scream) the more neural connections they make and the better they do with language and school later on. Doesn't matter what you say to them, so long as they hear lots of words.

P.S. Dude, when we say the retirees read like crazy it's not hyperbole.

When I worked at a small town library there was this one retiree who took out like, 30 thick books and 10 movies every week and somehow managed to get through it all in a week or less every time.

Half the holds shelf was usually taken up by his stuff.

[allsortsoffuckedup]

Hey hey, as a librarian, can I just say don’t pace yourself at the library. I get a lot of customers saying “oh I shouldn’t get too many books out at once” but like you should!!!! Max out your card, take everything we have on a subject you’re interested in, make a book fort in your home. We love that shit! It doesn’t matter if you read them or not; just take them for an adventure and bring them back whenever they’re due!

For public libraries, one of the ways we secure funding year to year is lending. Governments don’t want to fund more books if they’re not being used and the way we measure use is by issues. Regardless of whether you read it or not, whether you have it for a day or a month, if you issue it to your library card, we get the stats! It makes the library look good!

Help your local library; get books out even if you know you can’t read them all!

[seras-elessar]

Literally, this helps us! Even if you loan it and return it the same day or day after. (Especially titles important for us to keep ie queer titles, books from minority authors and more).

My library doesn't have a max loans per card for physical books either. So what the heck grab a couple, walk around for a bit and try them out and return the ones that didn't hook you.

[genderkoolaid]

National Library Week is this month, April 6th - 12th! Go show your appreciation!!!

[themathomhouse]

okay but if you ever see a male creative who had a string of great work and then everything else he did was dogshit, go to the "personal life" part of his wikipedia and look at his relationships. you'll either find a major tragedy he didn't recover from (completely understandable) or, more likely, there was a woman in his life doing uncredited shit editing his stuff or contributing generally and she's not there anymore.

I told a friend about this phenomenon in literature and he called me weeks later like, I remembered what you said about women doing uncredited work when tim burton came up. he made a string of bangers then everything else just was nowhere near as good. the timeline matches perfectly to when he was with this german visual artist (lena gieseke). he's done some good work in collaboration, but if things were dug into I suspect we would find she did a lot more than people realise.

so yeah whenever you look around like wow women didn't work in history, or, women aren't auteurs, or, there just aren't as many great female writers - societal reasons for that aside, half the time they absolutely did.

[big8cola]

Like a half hour after taking pain relief meds: oh actually it doesnt hurt anymore i probably didnt even need to take those

[cerynie]

Everytime.

I’m there, crying from pain but when the meds kick in I’m like « maybe I’m not really chronically ill and I am just faking it ???? »

[therestlesswitch]

✨Crochet Stitch Correspondence List ✨

So as most of you probably know, I’m a crochet artist. Everything that I create (weather it’s a crocheted item or not) has a bit of my magic imbued in it, but sometimes I want to enchant an item I’m making with a specific intent. Here’s my personal list of stitch correspondences.. these are just what energy I get from the stitch personally, so feel free to make your own correspondences up for them! Crocheting or knitting is so great because the stitches can have intentions, and you can use colour magic or the correspondences of the fiber content to amplify or add to the energy of your creation!

 I use US terms, and I’ve tried to order them by how complicated the stitch is.

Chain stitch - If i’m doing a foundation chain of a multiple of 9 chains, I’ll use the 9 knot chant/spell to sort of kickstart the spell’s energy and to have it act as a battery to charge the spell:

By knot of ONE, the spell’s begun

By knot of TWO, it cometh true

By knot of THREE, so mote it be

By knot of FOUR, this power I store

By knot of FIVE, the spell’s alive

By knot of SIX, this spell I fix

By knot of SEVEN, events I’ll leaven

By knot of EIGHT, it will be Fate

By knot of NINE, what’s done is mine

If it’s just part of the pattern, I use it as an energy mover. It just keeps the energy moving from one stitch to the next, while keeping it strong.

Slip stitch - Great for glamours where the purpose is to go unnoticed. Also an energy mover, but lets the intent change freely from stitch to stitch. Single Crochet - A nice tight, simple stitch. I use it in items that I want to be protective but gentle to the wearer/user, nurturing love, close relationships.

Half double Crochet - A tight-ish, soft stitch. Warmth, protection, ease of manifestation.

Double Crochet - A looser, faster stitch. Good for freedom, moving energy away from yourself, and letting go.  Treble - Sort of an amplified version of the double. Spontaneity, letting go, luck.

Front post stitches - Brings the energy of whatever stitch you use to the forefront. Lets it be directed by you and seen by the world. Good for glamour spells where you want to bring attention to yourself. ex: front post treble will let the world see how spontaneous and forward moving you are.

Back post stitches - Lets the energy of whatever stitch you use run in the background. Good for glamours where you don’t want attention brought to yourself. Ex: Back post single would be great for bringing you protection, and strengthening relationships when you don’t want a lot of attention (from outsiders) brought to something so personal as a close relationship.

Stitches ‘together’ ( i.e. 2 treble together, 3 dc together) - Great for bringing people closer together (i,e, 2 together would be two people,) tightening bonds, bringing an end quicker.

Spike stitch/long stitch - Lets your energy reach farther. Good for spells where the subject is farther away (physically, emotionally or mentally) or if you’re having trouble reaching out to others.  Also good for divination or astral work to ‘see’ farther. Great for cursing as well when you use nice long, pointy spikes.

Moss stitch - (aka linen, granite, or woven stitch)  This is my favourite for warding. It’s a very tight stitch with no holes. Great for protection, keeping warmth in and not letting anything get through.

Granny stitch - Familiarity (great for when you’re traveling) comfort, familial relationships (particularly maternal), fast manifestation.

Ripple or Wave stitch - Sea/ocean magic, adaptability and riding the waves, energy flow, peace/calm.

Shell stitch - Opening up to others, manifestation, sea/ocean magic, adaptability (riding the waves, so to speak)

Picot - When used as an edging, it’s good for bringing about a good ending. It can be used to tie up all the loose ends if you’re in a situation of uncertainty. Good for curses where you want to make some bumps in somebody’s road.

Crab stitch - Sturdy, but also is a definite ending. Good for banishing and burning bridges. Can also be good for past life work since it’s worked backwards. Also good in cursing as so many hate doing this stitch.

Corner to Corner - Order, logic. Can be great to make a giant sigil project with! Just make your sigil simple enough to crochet as pixels in your C2C throw/blanket/square.

Puff stitch -  Self love, being gentle to yourself and other, slowing down a hectic life.

Popcorn stitch - Bringing fun and flavour into your life, great for brining a group of people closer together, 

Crocodile stitch - Protection, psychic ability/astral work, cloaking/camouflage spells, bringing softness into your life.

Broomstick lace - Cleansing, banishing, warding. Basically all the things you can do with a besom, you can do with this stitch. Use your besom as the broomstick for added oomph! I also like to use this as a ward that filters out unwanted energy and transforms it into good energy.

Serpentine stitch - Entangling lives (i.e. if you want serendipity on your side) moving effortlessly through difficult situations, curse magic to complicate someone’s life

 Credits: Both photos are mine, property of @TheRestlessWitch  Crochet pattern for Mandala Madness (photo #1) here. Patterns used for the Mandala Cushion cover (photo #2) can be found on ravelry here.

[witches-ofcolor]

@lady-of-flowers

[randomthingsbecausebored]

I would much like to thank you for unwittingly convincing me to finally learn how to knit. My hands have been (literally) itching for some new magic and when I started getting into the knit flow, it really felt right ❤️

[therestlesswitch]

Congratulations!! Fantastic work! I’d love to learn to knit too! I’m about at the level you are at the moment in that department. The most knit-savvy friend I have says to get really good at a variety of skills, while still making something you can use, making a bunch of mitered squares is helpful. then use them to make a cushion cover or something :) at least that’s my plan when I finally try to learn for more than one or two hours every few months 😂

But yeah, I really think that fiber craft is so so connected to witchcraft or at least connected to something… deeper/older because of the long history of weavers and fiber craft. If you like that sort of old-timey crafty way of witching, you might like the podcast Betwixt and Between. Their craft very closely resembles my own sort of worldview and they talk about fiber craft, knitting specifically from time to time :)

[witchy-kitchen-craft-deactivate]

It always makes me happy when I see posts like this on my dash! 

Fiber Craft is awesome and really fulfilling. I love knitting magic.

Plus I love to see people trying new things and learning to knit/crochet/else. Happy knitting y’all!

[exlesbophobes]

[the-witch-named-mavis]

Why did this stop this is great

[heatherwitch]

Bones & Witchcraft

This post is 100% UPG (unverified personal gnosis), meaning that while other people may also do it - I came up with these methods myself and don’t claim that they are the only way to do it!

TL;DR at bottom!

Spirit work:

Animal bones are a great way to connect to the spirit of that animal.

Before removing bones:

Some spirits/souls want to be acknowledged and let go, some have something to teach you, some want nothing to do with you and others may be happy with whatever. And it’s our duty to do our best to respect that. I figure this out before moving the bones. I also give an offering to the animal regardless of whether or not I’ll be working with them further!

I consider bones as being the key to an animal’s soul and spirit, or a tether that connects them to the physical realm after the rest of their body has joined the soils. It’s like having two cans on a string, with one end going to the animal’s spirit and soul. Often when I reach out to that animal’s spirit it’s not right there, I have to do a bit of reaching to call it back. It’s often easier to reach out with a skull than with other bones. 

More on spirit work/respecting the spirit in this post.

Holding energy:

I’ve found that bones (especially ones the animal is not longer tied to) are great at holding energy in a way that is long-lasting and doesn’t need to be recharged often.

It is powerful and transmits the energy with strength and subtlety.

I use water or soil to aid me, and while holding the bones in my hands, fill them with energy.

Using the animal’s energy:

Once I’ve established a bond with the animal’s spirit and feel comfortable with it, I will use the animal’s energy to aid me.

Some examples…

Deer bones for things like finding my way, moving quietly, awareness.

Antlers for strength, standing my ground, being intimidating.

Rodent bones for having a low profile, and more specific correspondences based off each species.

This involves either holding them and absorbing the energy or carrying them with me in a little pouch or bottle.

Using as wards:

Once I’m confident the bones are cleansed and able to hold energy, I perform a ritual to make them part of my wards.

It usually involves some combo of sigils, smoke cleansing, herbs, and the elements.

I then bury the bones or hang them in my room or the trees. (I make natural cordage if I hang them in the trees, when it breaks it shows I need to redo that part of my wards).

Connecting to their home:

As a nature-loving chronically ill person, I often am trapped inside.

These bones carried an animal over a part of the land for the animal’s entire life.

I’ll use bones to transport me to where they laid before I found them or where the animal frequented (using visualization).

Other ideas:

I do not do these, but they’re worth mentioning!

“Throwing the bones” divination.

Making a bone into a wand.

Using as a sigil amplifier.

Enchant them.

Use to connect to deities.

Utilize correspondences/energy for curses.

Quick note: Please ensure your bones are ethically sourced (don’t support people who get them using methods harmful to animals basically). ALL of mine are ones I found myself in the forest because that’s what feels best to me! And PLEASE read the animal parts laws info I’ve linked below!!

Related Posts:

On finding (animal) bones

On cleaning bones

On cleaning, cleansing + respecting the spirit

Animal parts laws (external site)

TL;DR:

Spirit work: before removing bones, ask permission and respect the answer given. Give an offering to honor the animal.

Holding energy: vacant bones are great at holding the energy you put into them.

Using animal’s energy: after bonding with the spirit, the bones may help you use their energy.

Using as wards: bones can be utilized as a part of your warding process, and represent a physical aspect of your wards.

Connecting to their home: the bones helped the animal connect to a certain part of the land.

Important note: ensure bones are from an ethical source, and read the animal parts laws linked above!!

[coyote-696]

Here is the most commonly used corrected version of the Table of Practice in Seven Spheres for anyone who’s interested. This is based off the Drawing Spirits Into Crystals section of The Fourth Book of Occult Philosphy and Barrett’s The Magus. 

[satsuti]

know that the table illustrated in Seven Spheres by RO is incorrect

[deathandmysticism]

Papus, Traité Élémentaire De Magie Pratique, 1893

[mjalti]

[bunjywunjy]

oh it totally does, but you can’t hear it because space is a vacuum and sound can’t travel through a vacuum! 

and that’s a good thing, 

because the roar of the sun would clock in at around 120db heard from earth, about the equivalent to having a train’s horn go off three feet from your face. 

constantly. all the time, even at NIGHT. there would be no escape.

[zeyrablue]

this is simply terrifying. how do you erase knowledge please ?

[kedreeva]

NASA actually recorded the sun, if you want to hear it:

And they recorded the planets too:

[gardeninthevoid]

so, the sun and the earth sound about how i would’ve expected, and a lot of other planets just make strong wind sounds which is perfectly reasonable but venus sounds like pure dread?!?! WHY IS SATURN SCREAMING?!? pluto isn’t bad and is actually kinda nice but it’s very strange to me too like Why Does It Do That. jupiter is super chill 10/10. pluto and jupiter need to collab i would buy that album

[elucubrare]

oh, fuck, guys, you know what this means? it means the ancient world was right about the music of the spheres. 

[witcheshaven]

What’s going on with Mercury, Venus, and Saturn

[zivyx-deactivated20200628]

Okay but imagine playing these when doing planetary evocations.

[coyote-696]

I always do

[elphame--bound-deactivated20181]

Ancestors Master Post : The Mighty Dead & Beloved Dead

This is a collection of articles and information pertaining to Ancestral work with both The Beloved Dead (ancestors of blood, family, familiar ancestors) & The Mighty Dead (ancestors of spirit, witchcraft). The practices that surround working with the dead, benevolent necromancy, ancestral worship, and altars, and offerings. 

Who’s Who : Ancestors (Greenstag)

Ancestral Practice, Altars & The Mighty Dead (Wildhunt)

Altars to the Beloved & Mighty Dead (Sarahannelawless)

Ancestral Altars & Rituals (Sarahannelawless)

In Search of The Mighty Dead (Pantheos)

Ancestor Altars (AFWcraft)

Honoring the Dead in the Northern Tradition (Northernpaganism)

Dem Bones (Newworldwitchery) 

Dancing with the Ancestors (Walkingthehedge)

What is Necromancy (Greenstag)

For the Ancestors (Northernpaganism)

Related Articles 

Drying & Preparing Graveyard Dirt (Unfetteredwood)

Recipe for New Flesh (Walkingthehedge)

Nature Friendly Offering Stones (Unfetteredwood)

Mullen Candles & Torches (Unfetteredwood) 

Creating an Ancestor Garden (Unfetteredwood)

Plants for the Dying & Deceased (Unfetteredwood)

[elphame--bound-deactivated20181]

Reblogging for new eyes. 

[owl-core-archive]

As of Oct. 21, 2019, many of the links in this post are dead. The posts on American Folkloric Witchcraft, New World Witchery, NorthernPaganism.org, Patheos, Unfettered Wood, and The Wild Hunt are still working.

Sarah Anne Lawless’ articles from her former blog can be found here:

“Altars to the Beloved and Mighty Dead” (link)

“Ancestral Altars & Rituals” (link)

Seb Barrett’s (may their memory be a blessing) articles on Green Stag Spiritwork can be found here:

“What is Necromancy?” (link)

“Who’s Who: Ancestors” (link)

The links to Walking the Hedge can be found here:

“Dancing with the Ancestors” (link)

“Recipe for New Flesh” (link)

[winebrightruby]

I wish witchblr would understand that “you don’t need to ask some other witch’s permission to switch out ingredients” is technically true while being completely meaningless in practice.

I don’t need to ask anyone’s permission to replace the batteries in my remote with similarly shaped plastic cylinders, but my remote isn’t gonna work if I do. “Permission” is not the issue. Practical reality is. I can ~intend~ for my plastic cylinders to represent batteries all I want, but since they aren’t batteries, they aren’t going to fill the role of batteries.

Etc etc, I sincerely hope y’all get the idea.

[mahigxn-deactivated20200629]

Given how Extremely Christian™ most of the saints were in life, how come they don't get super offended when petitioned by occultists for occult things?

Frankly I don’t really care lmao my magic works and that’s what matters to me. But the occult doesn’t necessarily mean « banned by the church », most popes were occultists in a way. Occult just means « hidden ». There’s also the theory that since Saints were mostly all humans, they still have agency. Martha won’t help men control women but will readily help women control men. Cyprian pretty much does whatever he wants. Expedite will help pretty much anyone so long as he gets a poundcake and some carnations out of it.

[thedesertgod-deactivated2020013]

I mean this is all correct but it's a bit of an oversimplification specifically in regard to saints. As someone raised from the cradle Catholic and having Catholicism tied heavily into my ethnicity, it's also just extremely standard to petition saints for things anyway, even in the most cut and dry sense of plain old religious folk with zero interest in magic, or even religious folk with an aversion to magic, who think any kind of magic is evil. It's encouraged by literal Church canon to approach the saints to essentially answer petitions by the faithful, even if they're just prayers. It's not an inherently magical thing to approach a saint; it's part and parcel of the Catholic religion completely aside from the saints as spirits you can do magic with. Fostering a relationship with the saints in a strictly religious sense builds closeness with Christ through the common ground of their patronage, because they are spiritual ancestors who went before us in a similar way and also drew themselves close to Him. For example, cancer patients are supposed to petition Saint Peregrine because he sympathizes with their particular life path as a cancer patient himself, and also wanted to be a better Catholic. Understanding this is the key to knowing why there are some seriously devout Italian and Mexican trad grandmothers out there who would beat you with a wooden spoon and drag you by the ear to a priest for suggesting to them that whenever they pray to a saint for some kind of material or spiritual blessing they're "actually" practicing sorcerery.

These kinds of hard and fast dilenations people make about what is and isn't this or that is usually because people don't have an appreciation for the background of the tradition things come from as outsiders or a working knowledge of these traditions and their original forms. They're just ripping different things out from different trads and not seeing the context of the practice from every angle. (With that being said, I would never argue saint work is cultural appropriation; that's a bad take and I won't argue it.) It's true for all traditions, not just Catholic magic or Catholic religion.

There's also something to be said for the middle ground between religion and magic when religion is tied distinctly to ethnicity and culture. Judaism is also a good example of this; of being a cultural element as much as an ethnic and religious one. It's why atheistic Jews may still observe holidays and spend time with their families sitting a traditional shiva or going to the synagogue. And why atheistic Catholics may still spend time with their families at Mass, if only for Christmas and Easter, or still have Catholic weddings. Some religions are as much about cultural and ethnic practices as much as they are about spirituality. Cultural practices can often be ritualistic and merged with the religion but not necessarily religious, and religion can influence culture and sense of ethnic identity. This holds true for my earlier example about petitioning a saint not necessarily being considered magic by everyone who does it.

@mahigxn is right about how functionally none of this matters, but an appreciation of the background tradition itself lends understanding to how traditions of magic are done when they are explicitly tied to a religion and are not just cut and dry magic or witchcraft. The saints are there to be petitioned for miracles and spiritual benefits and always have been, in every context of their existence and practices. They're also dead people, so they have an acute understanding of why human beings want certain things because they were once walking around too. That's the whole point! And it's also why you can't generalize saints as being either approving or offended by things as a group. They all have super different preferences and patronages and feel differently about certain activities (as human spirits do, even elevated ones). Saint Martha requires a very specific way of approaching her in Spanish magic, whereas that method would be completely inappropriate for Cyprian. Expedite will accept pennies and poundcake but Saint Joseph would prefer that you offer alms.

Lastly, Catholicism has a huge tradition of dual observance, which @mahigxn also touched on correctly, both by its clergy and it's laity throughout the ages and a wide and diverse sampling of geography, and the rituals of the sacraments were often viewed as magical and the only thing standing between life and death. This is why people said Masses for rain and for the sick, and still do that to this day, and why many of the folk magic in traditional Italian witchcraft apes the sacraments. The fact that many historical grimoires expect the practitioner to either be clergy or have access to clerical materials speaks for itself and dozens of books have been written on this subject which is widely substantiated. I wouldn't go as far as to say "most popes are occultists" [citation needed] but certainly a substantial handful definitely practiced magic, either goetia or Christian Hermeticism and theurgy. Borgias and Sylvester II, as well as Pope Honorious (supposedly) are good examples, with several more grimoires bearing the name of Popes.

TL;DR: historically that's not how Catholic religion or Catholic magic works, or saints. More research needed on your end, anon.

[gahdamnpunk]

Her name is Laetitia Ky and she’s only 23! 😍😍 I’ve already seen a white girl steal her idea so let’s promote tf out of the OG.

Her IG