Death and Cosmos, Motherfucker

(Syncretic) Kemetic pagan | Witch of the blood, bones, rocks, cards, ghosts and gods variety | She/her | 30 | Primarily working with Isis, Osiris, Set, getting to know Hades, Persephone, Hekate | TERFs will be blocked and possibly hexed | Friend to the dead |

[thegeekstressart]

I’ve been slowly working on illustrating my own Tarot deck about black cats.

I have a long way to go, but I’m nearly done with the major arcana.

Here are some of my favorites:

I set myself a design challenge (as I often do). I wanted to limit the color palette and the brush styles to create a very consistent look.

And since each card focuses on black cats, it forces me to think deeply about symbolism and design to make sure the meaning of each card is clear and each design is unique.

But there’s still a lot of variety coming through. It’s not all class, or all silliness - just like cats

I have a forearm tattoo of the cats in this one ☝️

I’m so happy with how both of these two managed to feel dark, but adorable at the same time.

And then there’s this one absolute diva:

Most of these used my own feline friends for reference.

There are more but I don’t know yet how many I want to share online. If I can actually complete the entire deck I would love to have it made. But I have a ways to go, so for now I continue to chip away, one card at a time.

[teashoesandhair]

PLEASE I'm begging the neopagan girlies to stop spreading misinformation online, because I've just seen someone argue in earnest that the UK government has banned swimming in the ancient geo-thermal spring at Bath due to a hatred of 'native Celtic spirituality', and completely ignoring the fact that it was closed after a girl contracted a brain-eating amoeba and fucking died

[cparti-mkiki]

"goddess" "matriarchy" "female wisdom" girl your civic rights

[tauindi]

“But I didn’t and still don’t like making a cult of women’s knowledge, preening ourselves on knowing things men don’t know, women’s deep irrational wisdom, women’s instinctive knowledge of Nature, and so on. All that all too often merely reinforces the masculinist idea of women as primitive and inferior – women’s knowledge as elementary, primitive, always down below at the dark roots, while men get to cultivate and own the flowers and crops that come up into the light. But why should women keep talking baby talk while men get to grow up? Why should women feel blindly while men get to think?”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

[yeetus-6942069]

[visionsofgideontheninth]

Jo in Little Women: "I find it poor logic to say that because women are good, women should vote. Men do not vote because they are good; they vote because they are male, and women should vote, not because we are angels and men are animals, but because we are human beings and citizens of this country."

[mychemical-boatdrinks]

Listen: I am a pagan, and when you've been told your entirely culturally Christian life that the face of divinity is masculine, there is absolutely something empowering in recognizing the way the feminine has been traditionally recognized in pre-Christian and non-Christian belief systems and embracing that empowerment is totally grand and great and ok. But here is what the divine feminine is not:

- Solely domestic (see: warrior goddesses, retributive goddesses and spirits, barren goddesses, death goddesses, origin of the universe earth shaking chaos goddesses...)

- Solely nurturering (ditto)

- All about spring and growth and fertility (see also: goddesses who are about the decay and destructive part of the fertile cycle)

- Confined to magic and the ethereal (goddesses of crafts, of strategy, of institutions...)

Like actually by all means embrace the divine femine but know you're showing your entire fascist ass if you reduce that concept to "wombyn power nuture loving garden planting barefoot kitchen passive actually power who?"

In the names of Athena and Dread Persephone and Sekhmet and Tiamat and a hundred thousand other forms of the divine feminine who have existed for thousands of years of human history what you actually deserve is a good old fashioned divine smiting if "patriarchy, now with crystals!" is your idea of the feminine divine.

[ava-is-up-to-something]

YOU 🫵 want to see Predynastic Set animal!

Look at him! Look at his chubby little body and droopy snout!

The first image is of a statue from around 3500-3400 BC during the Naqada Period. There are holes in its head and rear where ears and a tail were probably inserted, but they're gone now.

The second image is a carving on the Scorpion Mace Head from the reign of King Scorpion in Dynasty 0

[khangi]

What Native people say about the use of sage: you can use sage, but you cannot smudge as nothing you are doing (waving sage around) is actually smudging. Smudging is a ceremony and you are, we promise, not smudging. Please buy sage from either us, or someone who sources the sage from us. White sage may not be considered endangered by the US government but corperate sourcing is making it difficult for us to source sage for our own religious purposes. Let alone to sell it.

What white people hear: never use sage ever, don’t ever buy it, don’t own it, don’t even look at it.

Look, y’all. There’s a couple of facets to my talk today.

1) Yes! You can buy sage! You really, truly can! Buy it from either native sellers (go to a powwow! Eat our food, buy our stuff, watch some dancing!) Or buy it from a seller who sources the sage from native people. Pick one. And no, buying it from 5 Below doesn’t count.

2) you CANNOT smudge. This isn’t just you “shouldn’t”— this is a YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF SMUDGING. Waving a sage stick around your doorways IS NOT SMUDGING. It is smoke clensing. Smudging, depending on the tradition and tribe, could easily have dancing and drums involved. You, as a white person, do not have the cultural BACKGROUND to even know how it works. At all. Period.

3) please, for FUCKS SAKE, stop making posts here on tumblr where you tell other white people about cultural appropriation and what they can and cannot do. Please stop, your license has been revoked because none of you bother to get the facts right. We native people are FULLY CAPABLE OF DOING IT OURSELVES. Consider instead: a) reblogging our posts where we talk about it! We’re here! We have made posts!! b) Making a post that states what we said and then LINKS BACK TO US. Screenshot with a link if you must. Stop centering your own voices in these conversations. You are already centered in everything, stop centering yourselves in a native space.

I’m tired of this nonsense, y’all.

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk ™

[death-witch-envy]

Can’t agree enough with point #3 especially. That’s a big problem here on Tumblr.

[thatlittleegyptologist]

Cursed AI image of Horus suckling from Isis cannot hurt me. Jeezy boy and Horus aren't the same. Cursed AI image of Horus suckling from Isis cannot hurt me. Jeezy boy and Horus aren't the same. Cursed AI image of Horus suckling from Isis cannot hurt me. Jeezy boy and Horus aren't the same. Cursed AI image of Horus suckling from Isis cannot hurt me. Jeezy boy and Horus aren't the same. Cursed AI image of Horus suckling from Isis cannot hurt me. Jeezy boy and Horus aren't the same. Cursed AI image of Horus suckling from Isis cannot hurt me. Jeezy boy and Horus aren't the same.

[thatlittleegyptologist]

The hieroglyphs aren't real, Isis has six fingers, Horus is a full grown man in a pose I have *never* seen these two in and conveniently doesn't have a beak. He's got a man face but bird eyes. I hate it.

[thatlittleegyptologist]

I have two, separate, angry asks about Dan Brown this morning and I’m willing to show you the stuff that was written with this (albeit alongside corrections). Who wants that?

[thatlittleegyptologist]

Two people wanted it! So here we go! (original post text is italicised)

• Both babies were conceived by divine intervention (one by the Holy Spirit, one by the magic of the High Priestess/Goddess).

Can't really refute that, they were. However, one was because God went 'pregnancy laser beam upon ye!' Don't come for me I know that's not what happened, I'm just referencing the Annunciation paintings from the Medieval period like this one:

(Fra Angelico’s Annunciation for the monastery of Santo Domenico in Fiesole, completed in 1426 cf. Museo del Prado)

Horus, on the other hand, was conceived after his mother fashioned a new gold dick for Osiris' corpse (fish ate the other one...according to one version of the myth. In others it's just lost), reanimated him just enough so he could live in the afterlife, transformed into a Kite (bird), and bounced on it divine style.

One is a disembodied being impregnanting a woman with his child at will. The other is a goddess bringing her husband back to life and slamming it in the back of a Dragula. They're only the same if you remove all the details.

• Both babies had a human foster father who raised them but was not their biological generator (Joseph for Jesus; Seb/Geb is often the earth-father figure, though Osiris is the spiritual father).

Who the fuck is Seb? As far as I'm aware, only Isis raised Horus. Geb was busy doing other things like...being the literal earth. Osiris being a 'spiritual father' is hilarious because, again, Isis got down and dirty. If this was on Springer, that little dna test would tell you Osiris is the father. Isis on the otherhand has to threaten Geb to give her a cure when Horus is bitten by a snake. Which is more like a woman telling her dad to go to the pharmacist than Geb helping raise him.

• Both babies were of royal lineage and born to be King (King of the Jews vs. Pharaoh/King of Egypt).

Yeah, okay. Different circumstances though. This is like saying a Prince is the same as the son of a man who calls himself the King of Used Cars. They're both heirs to a throne of one sort or another...but they're not the same. You could argue that Jesus' throne is largely...I guess symbolic? It's not a literal throne at the very least. Whereas Horus' throne is an actual throne. He's supposed to rule over Egypt.

• Both babies were hunted by a jealous tyrant who wanted to kill them to secure his own throne (King Herod vs. The God Set).

Yes, but again the circumstances are very different. Jesus' birth challenged Herod's claim to the throne...kinda (it always seemed weird to me that he lost his shit about a newborn who never really challenged him), but he was already in power. Seth had already murdered Osiris, his brother, for the throne (reasons why he does this vary depending on time period) and Horus was just a complication, and one who was born a god with divine powers. I'm explaining it badly, but they're different.

• Both babies had to go into hiding to survive infancy (Jesus fled to Egypt; Horus was hidden in the marshes of the Nile Delta).

Horus was hidden for a lot longer than Jesus and he never left Egypt. Jesus returns home a few years after his birth (as far as I remember from school they hid in a cave at least for a few days). Horus is born in secrecy and remains hidden for many years, and protected by a divine cow (Hathor). This also fails to take into account that the marshes have a symbolic meaning of life and protection within Egyptian mythology. Again it's 'similar theme, different circumstances'.

• Both babies were announced by a star (The Star of Bethlehem vs. The Star Sirius/Sothis, which heralded the birth of the new year/flood).

Horus is associated with Sopdu but it didn't announce his birth. We don't even have a date for the birth, so it would be strange to suddenly associate it with the opening of the new year. Horus' association with the Sopdu is the same as Isis and Osiris'. All three of them form the Abydos Triad (father, mother, son. Not complicated), which is associated with a different triad, that of Sah, Sopdet, and Sopdu. Horus is equated to Sopdu as both are hawk gods, and Sopdu's father is the personified constellation of Orion, which belongs to Osiris.

Sirius the star gets associated with Anubis in later periods, which might be why it's known as the Dog Star. Sopdet, his mother, is associated with the Opening of the Year because *she* is the personification of the star Sirius. She is the literal star and is more associated with Isis, whose cult entirely consumed hers in later periods, and Osiris as a point of rebirth/opening of the year (which is in August if we match the Egyptian seasons up with ours, just so you know.)

• Both babies were visited by adoring figures bringing gifts (The Magi/Shepherds vs. The Gods and Kings depicted in "Birth Houses" bringing offerings).

That's a reach and a half. No one visits Horus after he's born because he was born while Isis was already in hiding. In the Late Period, the version of the myth from this time does have Isis travelling the wider world and helping Egyptians, but she leaves the infant Horus in the marshes. He's looked after by Hathor and seven scorpions. Were the three kings scorpions? I don't think so. Checkmate Jeezy boy.

• Both babies are celebrated as "The Light" arriving during the Winter Solstice to conquer the darkness.

There is no recorded day or month, even in the mythology, on which Horus is born. If, as they claim, his birth coincides with the 'new year' (wnpt rnpt - opening of the year) that would be in uhh...August. But since it's mythology and the gods of Ancient Egypt don't do anything as trite as 'use the Gregorian calendar' this is all moot. It's just not possible.

• Both babies were destined to avenge their father's honor (Jesus glorifying the Father; Horus avenging Osiris).

Jesus did this by performing miracles and dying for people's sins. Horus didn't so much 'avenge Osiris' as 'try not to get killed by Seth', and if battling your uncle for 70 years and then being persuaded by your mother to have sex with your uncle so you can embarrass him in front of the Ennead is the same as 'dying on the cross' we're going to need to have a bigger cultural conversation.

• Both babies are depicted in art sitting on their mother's lap (The visual of Mary nursing Jesus is a direct artistic continuation of Isis nursing Horus).

Common motif. Literally, child in the lap of their mother is one of The Most Common motifs humanity has. It's weird in the depiction above because it's never on tomb walls and he never wears his headdress because he's a BABY.

Oh no, breastfeeding! Must be all about Jesus and not at all how 99% of babies were reared.

• Both represented the "Resurrection of the Father" (Jesus is the "Resurrection and the Life" who glorifies the Father; Horus is the "Living Image" of Osiris who ensures his father’s immortality in the afterlife).

Qué? Osiris already has immortality in the afterlife after Isis put him back together. Her doing the nasty with him was to ensure there was an heir to challenge Seth's rule. If whoever wrote this knew anything about Egyptian mythology, then they'd know Osiris is merely forbidden from rejoining everyone outside the Duat because he can no longer live there (he's kinda...still technically dead), so he resides in the Duat and watches over it. He is the King of the Dead.

• Both had a "missing years" period (The Bible is silent on Jesus from age 12 to 30; Egyptian myth is silent on Horus’s growth from a vulnerable child in the marshes to a warrior adult).

I mean we're missing a lot of information on Egyptian myths simply because it got lost? We don't know Thoth's childhood. Is he also Jesus? Is Khepri Jesus? If I erase all my life between 12-30 am I also Jesus? I can invent new heresies at will you can't stop me.

• Both began their work at age 30 (Jesus was baptized and began his ministry at approx. 30; Horus was considered to come of age and challenge Set for the throne at 30).

I'm pretty sure Jesus did stuff before this. Horus has no age. We're not out here like 'when Seth had a midlife crisis at 43 and murdered his brother...' The Egyptian gods don't have ages.

• Both were "baptized" or anointed (Jesus was baptized by John in the river Jordan; Horus was ritually purified with water by Thoth before being crowned).

That's umm...two very separate things. One is being welcomed into a religion, the other is being ritually purified in a Non Christian Religion. I would want to be ritually purified too if I'd had to have sex with my uncle.

• Both performed miracles involving sight (Jesus healed the blind; Horus restored his own "Wadjet Eye" after it was gouged out, which became a symbol of healing and wholeness).

Jesus does miracles. Horus fixes his own face. Totally the same. Obviously.

• Both walked on water (Jesus walked on the Sea of Galilee; Horus is depicted in texts as crossing the waters on "wings of a falcon" or trampling crocodiles underfoot to cross the Nile).

Horus...has a bird form. Not sure what Crocodiles have to do with Jesus, but yes in very late periods, (usually Ptolemaic) there are depictions of Horus as a child trampling two crocodiles. This is more a talisman against illness than walking on water. He's like three years old and wrestling crocs. Jesus can only take the wheel.

• Both fought a 40-day wilderness battle (Jesus fasted 40 days and was tempted by Satan; Horus fought a protracted battle in the desert against Set, the god of chaos/evil).

Jesus went on a 40 jaunt to the desert. Horus fought a 70 year battle against his Uncle. These are not the same. Also, for the fuckteenth time - SETH ISN'T EVIL HE'S JUST CHAOTIC AND THE EGYPTIANS LIKED THAT.

• Both were associated with the "Tree of Life" (Jesus is the vine/fruit of the tree; Horus and Osiris are often depicted rising out of a Djed pillar or Acacia tree).

A Djed pillar is a spine and I've never seen Osiris or Horus emerge from it. The Tree of Life is a Sycamore and associated with Hathor. Hathor comes out of this tree a lot I can tell you that. This tree is also breastfeeding kings. 99% sure Christianity doesn't have that.

• Both are the "Word" or "Command" (Jesus is the Logos or Word made flesh; Horus carried out the Hu or authoritative command of Ra).

The what? No, seriously. The what? wD (wedj) is to command, mdw are the words, but Ra does his own thing. Horus isn't beholden to his whims. Egyptian mythology doesn't work like that.

Perhaps the most eerie parallel is how they identified themselves. In the Book of the Dead, Horus says:

"I am Horus in glory... I am the Lord of Light... I am the victorious one... I am the heir of endless time."

In the Gospels, Jesus says:

"I am the light of the world... I am the way, the truth, and the life... Before Abraham was, I am."

I'll level with you, I've no idea what utterance of the Book of the Dead that is. Horus, generally, isn't found there because he's not a funerary deity, and most of his roles are to do with kingship. I can find these three declarations from the Papyrus of Ani, which are not said by Horus, but by the deceased:

"I am with Horus on the day of dressing Teshtesh. I open the hidden water-springs for the ablutions of Urt-ab. I unbolt the door of the Shetait Shrine in Ra-stau. I am with Horus as the protector of the left shoulder of Osiris, the dweller in Sekhem. I enter in among and I come forth from the Flame-gods on the day of the destruction of the Sebau fiends in Sekhem. I am with Horus on the day[s] of the festivals of Osiris, at the making of offerings and oblations, namely, on the festival which is celebrated on the sixth day of the month, and on the day of the Tenat festival in Anu."

This translation is by Budge because I'm not going to find the actual papyrus and do my own full translation, but please note DO NOT USE EA WALLIS BUDGE. HE IS OUTDATED. HE'S KINDA RACIST IN PLACES. We've moved on a great deal since his time. Please and Thank you. Anyway, that's nothing like what the quote purported Horus said.

Some of Horus' actual titles, that don't sound like they walked straight out of a Bible study group are: 'foremost of the two eyes', 'great god', 'lord of Ombos', 'possessor of the ijt-knife, who resides in Letopolis', 'Shu, son of Ra', 'Horus, strong of arm', 'great of power' and 'lord of the slaughter in the entire land'

Okay I'm done now. Kill this myth, save an Egyptologist.

Bye.

[portalibis]

Statues of Isis-Persephone holding a sistrum, Pluto-Serapis and Cerberus. Gortyn, Roman Imperial Times (180 - 190 AD)

P.I. Telegram / P.I. Facebook

[witchblr-uncensored]

honestly guys I'm mostly confused by the godspouse thing being so popular online, but maybe that's because the only real ritualistic description of anything close to it I've ever encountered is during researching Voudon. a ritual commitment of such a type exists in Haiti but it is serious business. it's a legally binding contract I believe with a public marriage ceremony, and the particular lwa claims part of your life with private duties. it's not for everyone.

obviously helpol culture is a bit different in its ritualistic framework but guys... this is a difficult and complex endeavour to pull off on your own so I dunno it sounds weird. most people posting about being a godspouse don't sound serious at all. even just from the point of view of emotional maturity – if you were talking about a human person who you've gotten married to in this manner it would seem very off. you don't get married for publicity after all, but because you love the person. so why use your marriage to show off and make yourself look special?

.

[casper-ghostly]

Anyway, daily reminder from a culturally isolated Romani person.

Gypsy does not mean wanderer.

It literally means ‘people from egypt’ or similar, as europeans believed Romani people were from Egypt. It has become known similar to nomad due to how our ancestors have been forced to be nomadic due to racism and ostracization, but it is a SLUR.

Romani people are STILL being forcibly sterilized.

Romani people are STILL being forced into ghettos.

Romani people are still facing violence and danger in countless European countries- and recently, I’ve seen the beginnings of the extremes in the United States.

Have a little fucking respect and DON’T USE A SLUR THAT’S BEEN USED FOR CENTURIES AGAINST US.

And for the love of whatever’s up there, ESPECIALLY do not use it to describe your witchcraft. It is playing on the ‘magic gypsy’ trope, and is EXTREMELY insulting.

non romani people, please reblog this.

[witch-hot-takes]

There are too many witches and pagans who are trying too hard to create pseudo history. It is OK that historical people were also wrong and bad. Trying to create false narratives of more inclusive and progressive ideas in previous peoples, beyond what can be proven through archaeology is not any better than just straight up lying.

^^

agree

disagree

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other (reblog/reply)

Voting ended onOct 16, 2025

[creature-wizard]

Just about every "AKSHUALLY, this thing is SECRETLY PAGAN!" claim can be traced back to:

Protestants making shit up to try and "prove" whatever shit they decided to hate on was secretly Satanic.

German nationalists making shit up trying to "prove" that Christian holidays had no connection to anything Jewish.

People failing to understand that European converts to Christianity retained many of their old customs and traditions, because Jesus being Lord doesn't mean there's no dragons in that there lake or that the plant lore everybody knows is all bunk.

People making wild assumptions due to a failure to comprehend that similarities between traditions does not inherently imply connection between traditions.

[witchynyx]

5. Victorian folklorists deciding that every single European folk practice was actually an unbroken continuation of an ancient, pre-Christian (usually pan-European) pagan practice, despite all evidence to the contrary, because it made them feel special ✨

[breelandwalker]

6. Modern witches and pagans not bothering to do mundane historical research and relying far too heavily on pagan-published sources (which repeated that Victorian/Edwardian rhetoric) for information on the history of witchcraft and paganism and taking pseudohistorical persecution narratives as gospel. Because it makes them feel special. ✨

[teawitch]

Certain modern authors just flat out lying.

[breelandwalker]

Witchcraft Supply Recommendation Roundup

Okay witches, this one's for all our friends and neighbors who are trying to get away from Big Box Monopoly sites or want better / more specialized / more affordable ways to get their components.

Please assume that following things are true:

Reader has visited local thrift shops

Reader has explored local spaces for foraging and wildcrafting

Reader has looked for resources at their local library

Reader has the desire and ability to order things online

Reader has the ability to receive packages

Reader has a small to modest budget

Reader has a non-specific witchcraft path

Reader has a desire for ethically-sourced components

SO. All that being said - what are your favorite places (websites, chain stores, specialty suppliers, etc) to find components for your witchcraft?

Annnnd GO!

[breelandwalker]

Getting some good suggestions in the notes! My turn to add a few. I do most of my ordering online and I make things and run a small business, so I do tend to buy certain supplies in bulk.

Penn Herb Co - Bulk dried plants and spices at very reasonable prices. Products are sold by the ounce and come in 1oz/4oz/16oz packages. Many are available in whole, cut/sifted, and powdered form.

Starwest Botanicals - Bulk herbs, spices, and teas. The prices for some items are a little high, but the company is up-front about Fair Trade pricing for teas and offers wholesale accounts for businesses.

Mountain Rose Herbs - Bulk herbs, spices, and botanicals, plus essential oils, books, containers, and supplies for cooks and makers.

Bulk Apothecary - Raw materials and supplies for the production of candles, soap, fragrances, and more. Excellent for makers, kitchen witches, and small businesses.

Candlewic - Small-town business selling candlemaking supplies. Everything from equipment to wax to dyes to scents and more. I bought from them for several years when I was making my own.

SaveOnScents - Wholesale fragrance oils, incense bundles, supplies for making candles and perfumes. VERY wide selection, sample packs available for scent testing. Great for anyone who wants to make their own scented candles, soaps, perfumes, etc.

100 Candles - All kinds of candles at bulk prices. Scented and unscented options, plus LED candles, lights, and accessories.

Specialty Bottle - Bulk-priced glass bottles and jars in many shapes and sizes. They also sell tins and some plastic items. Been buying bottles and vials from them for years, always good quality. (I've also been recommended Container and Packaging, but I haven't tried them.)

Factory Direct Craft - Pretty much anything you could want in your neighborhood chain hobby shop, in wholesale form. Lots of miniatures, dolls and doll parts, jewelry making supplies, silk flowers, wooden pieces, paints, home decor, and so on.

I've been recommended WEBS/Yarn.com, Knit Picks, Hobbii, Embroidery.com, and Yarn Paradise for fibre arts supplies, though I've only started to explore them.

I also make a habit of looking for potential supplies when I'm browsing the supermarket, dollar store, hardware store, garden center, farmer's market, or craft/hobby shop. (I'll go to Michaels when I need to, but you won't catch me dead in a Hobby Lobby.)

[teawitch]

Alchemy-works for very specialized oils, incense and more.

Black phoenix alchemy lab for perfumes.

Arcane fiber works and Hella good yarn for hand dyed yarn. (Though I'm usually searching etsy for destash yarn.)

A quick yarn note - there have recently been reports of carpet beetles in knit picks yarn. Double check Ravelry or reddit before ordering to make sure they've resolved that. (Yarn good. Bugs bad.)

[tyetknot]

Apothecary's Garden has just about any weird resin you could ever want and probably even some that you don't, and is Canadian-run to boot.

[tlirsgender]

You are not the daughter of the witches they couldn't burn you are a white woman with a rock collection and wicca was invented in the 1950s

[tlirsgender]

I have a little spiritual woowoo to me so I Am familiar with some freaky neopagan/new age/etc stuff & every time I'd be like "hmm I'm getting a weird vibe from all the bioessentialist gender fertility stuff, what's up with that?" & I'd look it up & it's like "the founder made all of this up based on appropriating other cultures he didn't understand as well as fabricating historical documents, to make as many women have sex with him as possible" & I say Oh ok. And this is like really easily accessible information but people are still being grifted into buying penis candles for their fake ancient rituals

[vimoftheforest]

there is NO WAY

[modernwitchtips]

chatgpt is a valid and powerful divination tool!! i use it all the time.

[confusedand-dazed]

Chatgpt is destroying the planet and if you use it for divination you are also actively destroying the planet. There are so many online tarot decks and other tools that are not actively killing us and the world around us. Leave Chatgpt alone.

[modernwitchtips]

Yes, chatgpt uses the power of the planet to become my personal telephone to the gods. Real mayjeek comes at a cost pookie.

[the-fox-jawed-cryptid]

don't use AI, that's the fakest thing as a witch that you can do.

[modernwitchtips]

umm excuse me? all majick is valid!!

[blackthornwren]

About "Twin Flames"

If you scroll through the witchcraft, tarot, or divination tags with any sort of regularity, you are bound to come across the mention of Twin Flames - and you may be thinking, “oh, this is just another flaky term for soulmates”. You’re partially right, but it’s also a cult. The Harmonious Twin Flames Universe is a cult that was created by Jeff Divine (formerly known at one point as Ender Ayanethos) and his wife, Shaleia.

Much like Scientology, HTFU aims to take your money by exploiting your weaknesses - specifically, a desire to love and be loved by a soulmate. HTFU relies on similar cult models as L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology and Keith Raniere’s NXIVM; combining new age concepts with religious belief, as well as multi-level marketing and wellness. Twin Flames recruiters often use YouTube or other social media platforms, offering divination readings using numerology, tarot, angel numbers, etc., to essentially cold read a new recruit and get them interested in the HTFU.

One of the main features in the HTFU is the use of the “mirror exercise” which aims to take any event that left the participant feeling sad or unhappy and re-frame it in a way that places the blame directly on them. It is specifically designed to adjust someone’s thoughts and keep them within the cult, and rapidly becoming more dependent upon it.

How:

By offering courses for “ascension” and instruction on how to “clear blockages”. Participants pay for these classes and begin a cycle of instruction which frames every bad thing in their life as being their fault; and that they must continue to pay for further teachings to remove these spiritual blockages which prevent them from ascending to their more divine self - which will make them deserving of their own perfect Twin Flame.

Additionally, because the HTFU demographic is a majority of women, former members of the cult have stated that the leaders and the readers will attempt to even out this imbalance by informing cishet women that they are actually the embodiment of the divine masculine in their Twin Flame relationship. The gaslighting is real, y’all.

Former members have cited abusive behavior amongst the leaders and inner circle members; this information can be found in books, podcasts, news articles, and documentaries that have been created about the HTFU over the last few years. The point of the cult is to create a vicious cycle of emotional abuse that keeps its victims dependent on expensive classes that give nonsense answers and shift blame back onto the victim, which then keeps them coming back for more.

Why it’s Important:

Current spiritual and witchcraft communities can use similar language - a repetition of jargon and buzzwords that shut down critical thinking. No, witchcraft as it currently stands, does not have a specific cult that I can tell you to watch out for; but it is important to familiarize yourself with the language so that you know what to look for. Influencers can be dangerous; people who put themselves in a position of authority, promising things such as:

-Online attunements, alignments, or initiations. You know how reiki has attunements and you have to pay for them in order to level up your reiki skills? Yeah. That’s because reiki is a holdover from a cult too. The internet has made it so much easier to work these kinds of grifts as well - because everything can be done online, over zoom or a voice call; and well, sometimes it “doesn’t take” and you have to get the ritual done again…for a fee, of course. But hey, maybe you’ll get a discount if the first one didn’t work!

-Things that build dependence such as the promise of exclusive mentoring, healing sessions, guidance and ritual. In and of themselves these are not necessarily a red flag, but it’s how the person behaves, how they attempt to steer a customer’s mind that makes the difference. Do they try to keep you coming back for more? Do they tell you that you are under some kind of attack? Do they make you feel special or chosen?

-Perpetuating an Us versus Them mentality that is both hostile and isolating. A charismatic leader will also portray themselves as a victim of unfair persecution; and with this they look to get you on their side, make you isolate yourself going to extreme lengths to defend and protect them - after all, you may be “the only one they can trust”.

There can also be specific focuses on things like the law of attraction, spiritual hygiene, and paid-for purification rituals to clear your miasma or put you in tune with your higher self/guardian angel/guiding spirits/etc. These practices can be extremely exploitative; not just taking a customer’s money, but also creating a mentality of blame - if things are still going wrong, they feel as though they haven’t been purified enough or they’re not “clean enough” to reach their guardian angel/attunement/higher self/whatever. Additionally, the fear of things like spiritual or psychic attacks, psychic vampirism, or spiritual parasites cultivates this feeling of dependence upon a person who appears to be wise and powerful that can “save” or "protect" the victim.

The capitalism and the consumerism of the current witchcraft community is literally setting us up for a cult. The substantial increase in influencers working to monetize their craft by selling expensive services and classes is already a very good entry point for someone who wants to take things further and create a very dependent, very parasocial, very exploitative relationship with a group of loyal followers.

[tyetknot]

Reblogging this for now but I have some personal experience with twin flame cultists that I will be relating later on when I have a minute because: God damn these people are insane.

[tyetknot]

OK so. I used to have a friend who was a regular in the old Wiccan Church of Canada days, like 2005-2006, he came to my Dedication even. He sort of fell out of the community because of life issues but would pop up again every so often, I'd be happy to see him. His life kind of started falling apart, he had some mental health stuff going on, he transitioned (and was living his best life after doing so), several years passed. He'd stop by my vendor table at Pagan Pride Day and we'd catch up, that sort of thing.

In 2023 he started getting into this Twin Flame shit and basically went fucking nuts with it, which I had been totally unaware of until PPD that year when he came by my table, sat down behind it (GF was off doing Vendor Co-ordinator things, I think) and started going on about all of this Twin Flame stuff. About how he was spiritually connected to someone, how she was his 'twin flame', they were in love and spiritually married or something. I had been vaguely aware of the existence of this concept but thought it was some re-heated soul-mate thing from 1970s New Age stuff. I was incorrect.

He wasn't just spiritually connected to someone. He was in constant spiritual contact with her and in addition to that he was randomly channeling her at random, unexpected moments. Which, he alleged, was happening all the 45 minutes he was latched onto me at my table, and that the person he was connected to / channeling / being possessed by (?) had personal messages for me. This became extremely upsetting, because 1) my friend was clearly extremely mentally ill and 2) the person he was 'twin flame' with was my teacher in the Craft.

Now, I can kind of understand being in love with my teacher. She is a lovely, kind, extremely sweet and caring and generous and spectacularly talented person, the sort of person who is good at just about everything, and yes, I am a little biased here because I love her very much, and have missed her dearly ever since she moved to a distant part of the province. I don't see her often enough these days and there is a small wound in my heart because of it. But this! This was absolute madness, and like? My dude, I don't need you 'channeling' her at me with messages saying she loves me. I know she does. And how do you not see how hurtful and offensive such statements could be? The day after the festival I called my teacher up and told her that to my surprise she had been present with me at the festival, and it turned out she knew about this guy because he'd been sending her unhinged messages on Facebook and calling her and all kinds of things, and she had been trying to deal with it.

I am used to dealing with people who come up to my table and clearly do not inhabit the same consensual reality we all share, but not like this. I'm not equipped for it. Usually when a nutjob shows up they're on the other side of the table and being Fucking Weird about one of the things I'm selling, and I can usually stonewall or redirect or suddenly become Very Busy with another customer, but this was someone I knew, sitting next to me being crazy at me for the better part of an hour. I made a lot of non-committal noises and tried to change the subject as much as I could and eventually GF came back and I fled to the bathroom. To my horror he followed me in, still chattering - I think perhaps some transmen don't really know about male bathroom etiquette, there should be an orientation video or something - but thank God, I managed to ditch him in there and told GF that under no circumstances was she to abandon me for an hour for the rest of the day. This was arguably one of the most uncomfortable things I have had to deal with in the last few years. In 2024 we got held up at work and were tied up at gunpoint and even that bothered me less than this incident did.

The awfulness of this wasn't just that he was clearly mentally ill or that he was 'channeling' someone I love very much - it was that he also appeared to be suffering while these 'channeling' episodes were happening. They seemed to be causing him some kind of distress. It was, to put it bluntly, Fucking Weird, and I really wish something bad would happen to the people behind this kind of.....inflicted mental illness, because that sure seems to be what it is.

[xanaxfarts]

Arches National Park, Utah photo: Elliot McGucken

[codydrawin]

Freakin looking at me

[zooophagous]

I didn't ask if it made sense to keep going. I said I'm going to kick your twisted evil ass.

[pea-gravel]

@thatlittleegyptologist