[funkyfrogwhore]

so i keeping thinking about sasha and how little we actually know of her personality. her entire characterization is made up through headcanons, more or less. we know she’s a reliable worker, she’s tim’s best friend, that he liked her, that she’s good with computers, and that she’s pleasant to work with. but in 162 one of the things tim said that really struck me was something along the lines of “so you’re okay with everyone thinking you’re just some dependable nerd?” and like... that’s most of what we know of her. so not even we the audience know the real sasha, not really. we just knew the mask she wore for work. in the end that’s the biggest tragedy of real sasha; nobody actually knows who she was. the only character with that honor was tim, and by season 2, she’s gone and by the time he finds it out, he can’t even be sure that anything about those memories that he does have are real.

[coinandcandle]

Anatomy of a Spell

This post will go over what is needed for a spell to be created!

This is a page from my grimoire and by no means is this a set-in-stone situation. Take what you will and leave what you won't.

Desire or intent. This is the whole point of the spell. What is the desired outcome, what do you want to achieve from this spell?

Planning of ingredients, spell structure, time, and location. This includes the verbal or written aspect of the spell if any.

Protection, there’s really no reason not to have a safeguard on your spell in my opinion but this isn't true for everyone. Do what feels right for you.

Raising, gathering, or building energy for the spell. Energy is how you get your spell to work. This can be done by chanting, breathwork, borrowing energy, and more.

Directing energy into the spell. Self-explanatory, gotta get it in there somehow. Basically just getting the intent/desire from inside you to inside the spell so that it can work its magic (pun intended).

Release any excess energy if needed. Grounding is a good way to do this.

Clear and concise ending; this could be a phrase, word, or physical act that indicates the ending of the spell. It’s best when everyone and everything involved knows when you have ceased doing the spell.

Extras:

It’s a good idea to record your process and results of the spells you create and cast so that you have a reference for future spells; also you can figure out what went wrong or right.

I personally think it’s a good idea to put a fail-safe in a spell, I usually do this by stating it out loud: i.e. “If I take apart this spell bag then the spell will cease.” or “If I do this spell in reverse the spell will cease/reverse” and so on.

Preparing the physical and non-physical things for the spell; can mean gathering, cleansing, or preparing yourself to be in the headspace needed for the spell. It's better to be prepared than to get blindsided halfway through because you’re missing something!

[lunavenefica]

⛤SAMHAIN: History and Meaning⛤

Samhain is the holiest and most important Sabbat of the whole wheel of the year; it combines a number of elements: the agricultural crop, the wild crop, the transition of the autumn season into a winter temperature and the commemoration of the day of the dead. 

It is the time to remember our ancestors and our loved ones who greeted us, and as a solemn time it should tend towards contemplation of the mystery of life and death as taught by the ancients. 

Samhain is a time for introspection, to empty the false of our mind, heart and soul. It is time to heal the source of our deepest wounds and those we have inflicted on others, before time overtakes us. It is the time when we can learn to see clearly. 

The true victory of self is in the cauldron. Now we need to look at the nature of our motives and the outcome of our actions. 

Samhain is the time to communicate and listen to others, a time of death, of the thought of the ancestors and what we are thanks to them.

The leaves are falling, the apples are ripe, and the ice is on the ground. 

There is the scent of Autumn, an indescribable smell of October - pumpkins, apples, cinnamon, dry leaves and beer. 

Samhain approaches and the veil between the worlds gets thinner every night. 

You can feel it in the air that the Otherworld is approaching and the sunlight turns into sunset light. Our ancestors are celebrated in Samhain, it is the time of the dead and the dying. 

The spirits of the departed are closest to our hearts, at this time when even the earth is dying.

A melancholy and introspective mood descends upon us in this dark time of ends and completions; and therefore possible rebirths. 

In the growing shadows, darkness and fog prevail while the trees give off their colorful leaves, taking the appearance of skeletons.

This was also the time when cattle were killed for meat to be consumed in the winter months (the symbolic death of the wheat God). 

All the cereals still in the fields after Samhain were considered taboo, no one could collect them and became an offering for the spirits of nature.

⛤Samhain is the best known of all Wicca Wheel of the Year celebrations. And there is a reason for all of this. Obviously, first of all it is a festive Sabbat

and above all it is the only Sabbat that people recognize as a pagan festival  and they love to celebrate it anyway. 

In years past, the Christian Church decided, according to the tradition of the time, that people could hold this festival that they were so attached to, but that it needed a new name. He also decided that instead of being a feast to celebrate all the dead, it was to be transformed into a celebration of the dead saints. 

So the party turned into the best known Halloween.

⛤Our ancestors used to protect themselves this night, cutting out faces in vegetables and placing them near the windows. 

This gave birth to the so-called Jack o 'Lantern pumpkin. 

These carved pumpkin faces were placed next to the windows to keep the spirits of this night away. 

Being the veil of the subtle worlds, it was not only the ancestors who returned to earth, but all the people of the Underworld.

⛤Samhain is obviously the end of the "summer" mid-year(The Celts divided the year into two parts, summer and winter). 

It is also the last harvest before the snow. 

It is the opposite black of Beltane, announces the role of the Dark and celebrates the Crone. It is also considered the first of the witchcraft year. 

Since the Celts considered time to be circular rather than linear, the night is both the end and the beginning of the year. 

For this reason, Samhain is a feast of divination and a time for the dead. 

A night of contradiction where life and death, opposite but parts of the same cycle, were celebrated together.

⛤Sometimes most people think that this holiday is to venerate an evil god by the name of Samhain, but this deity does not exist in any Celtic or European pantheon. 

It is a literary creation of the twentieth century, without a foundation of reality. 

Fables of Druids who left pumpkins at the doors of families who had provided sacrifices for Samhain (Satan). 

This is not TRUE! Samhain today is famous as Halloween, and obviously still has much of the old Celtic tradition, despite the church's attempts to turn it into a day of prayer for the pantheon of saints.

⛤The best known aspect of Samhain is the Festival of the Dead. It is a night to honor ancestors, to celebrate their lives and to respect their memories. It is a time when families get together and listen to stories about the life of their great grandparents and legends about kings and their knights. It was believed that on this night, the dead could return to earth to find the living. It was common practice to prepare the table even for those who have recently died and to leave food for their wandering souls. Lights should have been placed on windows and along streets to guide the spirits of the night.

Witchfully Yours,

⛤Isidora & Bleiz⛤

[giallo4ver]

Yes.

[cajunwitch101]

[cajunwitch101]

[lunavenefica]

⛤History of Mabon⛤

The Mabon or Autumn Equinox is a holiday that takes place from the 21st of September to the 24th of the same month.

⛤The autumn equinox divides day and night equally - here we should all take a moment to pay homage to the impending darkness.

We also thank the sunset light, as we store this year's crop of crops.

The Druids call this celebration, Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honor the Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to the trees.

On this holiday it is appropriate to dress in elegant clothes and dine and celebrate in luxurious surroundings.

It is time to finish the old jobs and prepare for a period of rest, relaxation and reflection.

⛤ Pagans celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone, and her consort, the Lord, as she prepares for death and rebirth.

⛤The feast of the autumn equinox is also known by other names: Feast of the second harvest, Feast of Wine, Feast of Avalon, Autumn Equinox, or Cornucopia.

The Teutonic name, Winter Finding, spans a period of time between Mabon and October 15, which is the New Year in Old Norse.

The Romans celebrated a festival dedicated to Pomona, the goddess of fruit and growing things.

However, the most famous ancient myth comes from Greece. The autumn equinox marks Persephone's return to the underworld:

⛤In ancient Greek mythology, the beginning of the fall is closely linked to the story of the abduction of Persephone, also called Kore or Cora. Daughter of Demeter, goddess of earth and fertility, she was kidnapped and taken to the underworld to become the wife of Hades, the god-king of the underworld. After a period of mourning and struggle, Demeter eventually brought her daughter back from Hades to the light, but only for six months of the year. Each fall, Persephone must return to the underworld to spend six months with Hades. During these months, Nature withdraws.

⛤Mabon is a relatively modern neo-pagan celebration, which takes place around the September equinox.

⛤In the 1970s, the American author Aidan Kelley gave new names to the six pagan holidays rooted in the ancient Celtic tradition and added two new celebrations proper to the September and March equinox.

These holidays are celebrations based on the cycles of the sun.

⛤Inspired by a proper name derived from the Welsh word mab / map, meaning "son" or "boy", Kelly chose Mabon as the name for the autumn equinox celebration, and founded the ceremony he had composed for the festival in the Greek myth of Persephone.

⛤Mabon celebrates the second harvest and the start of winter preparations, and it's time to respect the impending darkness while giving thanks in the sunlight.

⛤Druids and pagans also flock to Stonehenge, the famous 5,000-year-old site in Wiltshire, and Castlerigg, another megalithic stone circle near Keswick, Cumbria, to watch the equinox dawn.

⛤The Christian church replaced many pagan celebrations with Christian observances. The most famous is Christmas, which replaced the ancient Yule festival around the December solstice.

⛤The closest Christian celebration to the September equinox is Michaelmas, also known as the feast of St. Michael and all angels, on September 29th. In this period, the feast of St. Michael is mainly observed in the Catholic church.

⛤Centuries ago in England, the time around the feast of St. Michael also had a commercial side: servants were paid wages after the harvest and workers looked for new jobs at job fairs that also became a place for celebrations.

⛤Mabon is a time full of magic, all connected to the changing seasons of the earth, this is the Second Harvest, the Fruit Harvest and the Great Thanksgiving.

⛤The Goddess is radiant and the God eventually dies with her gift of pure love with the cutting of the last grain. As the grain is harvested in abundance during Lammas and reaches completion, we enjoy the abundance of fruits and vegetables at this time.

⛤It is time to thank the waning sun for the richness of the harvest that has been bestowed on us.

⛤Sometimes it seems like every Holiday calls for thanks, and it really is: every spin of the Wheel brings both inner and outer gifts and insights, so Mabon is a celebration and also a period of rest after harvest work.

⛤In terms of your life path, it is time to reap what you have sown, time to look at the hopes and aspirations of Imbolc and Ostara and reflect on how they have manifested.

⛤It is time to complete projects, to clear out and leave what is no longer wanted or needed as we prepare for the descent, so that winter can offer a time for reflection and peace.

⛤And it's time to plant seeds of new ideas and hopes that lie dormant but nurtured in the dark, until spring returns.

I'll be posting more Mabon related content during the week so stay tuned for spells, rituals, prayers, history and affirmations!

Hopefully, you'll have a great Celebration this year too!

⛤Isidora⛤

[strawberrycauldrons]

Witchcraft: Mabon Information and Inspiration

Mabon is only a few days away in the northern hemisphere, so I hope this may help you plan! 🍂

Credit: thewitchoftheforest, witchytips, losillewitch, leladymoon, Spoonie Witches Facebook, blessingmanifesting.com

[the-cobalt-athenaeum-deactivate]

EYE OF NEWT, WOOL OF BAT... HERB CODE NAMES IN WITCHCRAFT

"Filet of fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye Of Newt, and Toe Of Frog, Wool Of Bat, and Tongue Of Dog, Adder's Fork, and Blind Worm's Sting, Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing. For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble" - Second Witch, Act IV Scene I, William Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Though, Shakespeare was a master of manipulating words, he doesn't get credit for the macabre sounding ingredients in Macbeth's witches' brew. In fact, as long as mankind has been using plants for food and medicine, we have given them interesting folk names. Throughout history, commonly used plants and herbs have been given different names based on certain attributes of the plant, it's growth habits or even specific reasons it was used for. Common dandelion has been called bitterwort, for it's strong and bitter taste, blowball and puffball because of it's seeding habits, lion's tooth for it's deeply serrated foliage and piss-in-the-bed because of it's diuretic properties. Depending on where you live, you may call Glechoma hederacea creeping charlie or ground ivy; it's also gone by gill over the ground, runaway robin, and lizzie run up the hedge because of it's aggressive runners, cat's foot for the shape of it's leaves, alehoof because it was commonly used in the making of beer and ale, and field balm because it has been used for as a general heal-all herb for balms, salves and teas for thousands of years.

Witches were specifically careful to guard their herbal secrets. They came up with odd and grisly sounding folk names for the plants they regularly used, like eye of newt for mustard seed or wool of bat for moss. Many historians believe that witches used these gruesome sounding names so that their spells and herbal remedies could not be easily copied. Back in Shakespearean times, those who were labeled as witches were usually herbalist, midwives and healers; their livelihood often depended on their knowledge of herbs and their uses. Therefore they created secret code names for the plants they used.

In some cases certain body parts were used as code for the part of the plant used in a spell or herbal remedy. For example, "eye of…" would usually refer to a round shaped blossom or seed of a specific plant; as in eye of newt, which is simply mustard seed. In some cases, an animal name was used in place of a plant name, just like the "newt" would represent mustard plant in eye of newt. Below I've listed some of the common body parts in witchy plant names and their meaning, as well as commonly used animal code names.

BODY PARTS AS PLANT PARTS Eye- Blossom or Seed Heart- Bud or Seed Beak, Bill or Nose- Seed, Bud or Bloom Tongue or Teeth- Petal or Leaf Head- Blossom Tail- Stem Hair- Dried Herbs or Stringy Parts Of Herbs Privates, Genitals Or Semen- Seeds Or Sap Blood-Sap Guts- Roots or Stalk Paw, Foot, Leg, Wing or Toe- Leaves

PLANT NAMES AS ANIMALS Toad- Sage Cat- Catmint Dog- Grasses, Specifically Couchgrass Frog- Cinquefoil Eagle- Wild Garlic Blue Jay- Laurel Hawk- Hawkweed Lamb-Wild Lettuce Nightingale- Hops Rat- Valerian Weasel- Rue Woodpecker- Peony

Secret codes among witches and herbalists There are many other animal/plant associations, and even associations to gods and mythological beings, that were used as plant code names. Like folk names, witchy plant names would have changed by region and era. By combining a body part and an animal from simple lists like these as a code, a witch or herbalist could keep the ingredients of their spell or remedy secret. For example a witch who wanted to sell her herbs might list the ingredients of a tea for insomnia as rat guts and blood of lamb, instead of just valerian root and wild lettuce sap. This would not only prevent the customer from just growing their own valerian (which is actually heliotrope) and wild lettuce, but it also had a much more official witchy sound. Even though these names were crude and sometimes vile, they made the healer sound more legit and gave the tired consumer confidence that they finally found the one magical cure.

Some of these names are still in use today! These days, there are many almanacs of magical herbs and herbal grimmoires available online or at bookstores, that list out Witch Herb/Plant names and even details their uses. Just for fun, I will leave you with a list of some of my favorite witchy plant names.

Ass' Ear- Comfrey Bat's Wing- Holly Leaves Beard Of Monk- Chicory Bear's Foot- Lady's Mantle Bird's Eye- Germander or Speedwell Blind Eyes- Poppy Blood From A Head- Lupine Blood Of Ares- Purslane Blood Of Hestia- Chamomile Bloody Fingers- Foxglove Calf's Snout- Snapdragon Cat's Foot- Ground Ivy Crow's Foot- Wood Anemone Devil's Ear- Jack In The Pulpit Devil's Plaything- Yarrow Dew Of The Sea- Rosemary Dog's Mouth- Snapdragon Dragon's Teeth- Vervain Elf Leaf- Lavender Englishman's Foot- Common Plaintain Fairy Eggs- Nutmeg Flower Of Death- Vinca Goose Tongue- Lemon Balm Graveyard Dust- Mullein Hawk's Heart- Wormwood Juno's Tears- Vervain Jupiter's Beard- Sempervivums Lion's Foot- Lady's Mantle Little Faces- Viola Man's Bile- Turnip Sap Mortification Root- Rose Of Sharon Nose Of Turtle- Turtlehead, Chelone Nosebleed- Yarrow Our Lady's Tears- Lily Of The Valley Old Man's Flannel- Mullein Ram's Head- Valerian Scale Of Dragon- Tarragon Semen Of Ares- White Clover Semen Of Hermes- Dill Serpent's Tongue- Dog's Tooth Violet Sparrow's Tongue- Knotweed Tree Of Doom- Elder Unicorn Root- Boneset Weasel Snout- Yellow Archangel Wool Of Bat- Moss

[notrixxtarot]

Reading the Candle Flames

Divination through candles and flames is probably one of the easiest forms of divination in my experience. This is a form of divination that some people do without knowing, which I find really fascinating.

As always, everyone has different opinions and perspectives on what particular things mean, you are allowed to disagree, but this is based on my experience. ANYWAY here is what all the pretty flames mean

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Tall Strong Flame

You've been heard by the divine and they're going to grant you what you want. It's a big ol' green light pretty much. In regards to questions, it means yes

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Smaller Flame

Yikes, it's probably not meant to happen. This is usually a sign of "no".

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Flame That Leans Right

What you want isn't meant to come just yet, but it will soon. "In the future" is a basic meaning of the candle flame

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Flame That Leans Left

You guessed it, this one references the past! It's also a potential sign that you are going through a cycle and have done this before

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Flame That Leans Away From You

TAKE ACTION HOMIE. The ball is in your court, you have to physically do this thing.

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Flame That Leans Towards You

You know the answer already.

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Strong Flickering Flame

Yeah, what you want will come, but it definitely won't come easy. Get your big witch hat on, because some trials and conflict may be coming your way

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Crackling/Popping Flame

YOU'RE NOT LISTENING your guides gave you the answer, or you know the answer, listen a little closer

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

I hope this gave everyone a good idea of what candle flames mean. If you feel it means something different, it probably does for you, but this takes experimentation and practice.

I am making a Patreon to offer paid access to more exclusive information and I can't wait to share it with you all. Make sure to support my Etsy and other links in the meantime!

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

beacons.page/notrixxtarot

etsy.com/shop/NoTrixxTarot

[theholydivines]

Short prayers to Aphrodite

Short prayers to Holy Aphrodite for confidence, self-love, finding a partner, protection and more.

Keep reading

[enchanting-jewel]

Egg shells in witchcraft

Save your eggshells and make them into a powder. You can use them for protection, peace and cleansing!

Also, can be used to make Black Salt. Just add some incense ashes!

Just rinse them, allow them to dry, crush in your mortar and pestle and store them in a labeled bottle.

Powdered Eggshells can be used in your magical workings to cast circles or for protection.

To add some extra oomph, add a pinch of salt and dragon's blood resin in your protection blend.

[scotianostra]

Declaration of God Save the King met with boos in Edinburgh.

[xmagnet-o]

Crying 😂

[helenafreakgan]

Inej laughing in Van Eck's face, breaking his nose, and threatening him after he literally kidnapped and tortured her is, to this day, the most metal thing a book character has ever done and i stand by that

[funkyfrogwhore]

the feminine urge to play norman fucking rockwell at the function and watch all the guy friends start sweating

[awitchinghour-deactivated202302]

🧿🕯💍 enchant jewelry for protection 💍🕯🧿

you can use this spell on every jewelry you have whether it is silver, other metals, plastic, etc.

what you need + correspondences:

jewelry

protection sigil or rune

OR

black candle - protection, banishing

it's best to start every spell with a quick cleansing, centering, grounding and shielding session (this can be 2-5 minutes)

for fire safe jewelry:

put the jewelry on the sigil/rune (only when the jewelry is fire safe !!)

burn the sigil beneath it, visualizing a protective bubble around the jewelry

chant five times (five - the number of protection):

protect me from evil

protect me from negativity

i invoke your shield

and i command you to shield me

for fire unsafe jewelry:

light the candle and lead the jewelry around the flame in circles

chant five times (five - the number of protection):

protect me from evil

protect me from negativity

i invoke your shield

and i command you to shield me

wear the jewelry through out the day

this spell is perfect to do before spellwork

repeat the spell whenever you feel it's necessary

[hagoftheholler]

Red Flags in Witchcraft & Magic

There is bad information regarding witchcraft and magic everywhere. I don't expect beginners to know how to spot bad information when they are just starting out, but that does not make learning red flags less important. Knowing how to spot bad information when researching can save you from a lot of trouble- spiritually and mundane.

Now, bad information does not necessarily make the person a bad practitioner. Sometimes people make mistakes. How they react when told of their mistakes is what you should pay attention to. That being said, here are some red flags to look out for when researching for your craft. [TW: mentions of racism, homophobia, misandry, mental illness, disabilities and more]

🚩 The person tries to claim their path is the only path, and that all other paths and methods are wrong. This is a big one. There are a lot of people like this out there. While they are entitled to their opinions, this mindset is simply wrong. There are thousands of religions, spiritualities and belief systems out there. One path being different from another does not make them wrong by default.

🚩 The person claims using things from closed practices is okay. This is another big one. Closed practices do exist, are valid and should be respected as such. There are just some things that should stay reserved for certain people. This does not make certain people more special than you- it just means their path is significantly different from yours. If it is something sacred to or rooted from a closed practice (such as certain plants, deities and magic) it is best to leave it alone.

🚩 The person claims that open practices are closed. I don't see this one quite as often as the previous, but it is happening more often now that the occult has become more mainstream. Things like tarot, paganism and many other practices are open. If you see somebody claim these are closed practices, be wary. This type of claim tends to stem from a place of racism, homophobia, transphobia, etc...

🚩 The person is racist, antisemitic, homophobic, ableist, classist, etc... Unfortunately, we do have these types of people to look out for. Some people are convinced only women can practice witchcraft and magic. Some people are blatantly racist towards bipoc and try to exclude them from witchcraft and magic. Some people try to exclude people with disabilities and mental illness because their craft is different. Be careful when coming across these types of people.

🚩 The person claims that a rule in their practice is a universal rule you must follow. This is a claim I most commonly see with Wiccans and the three-fold law but is a claim anybody can make. Understand that different religions, spiritualities and cultures have different rules. They all have different standards. Things like the three-fold law, karma, reincarnation and many other things aren't universal concepts. You can believe in whatever you wish, but don't expect other people of different backgrounds to have that same belief.

🚩 The source is purely based on UPG (unverified personal gnosis). This one is mostly regarding things like deities, entities and spirits. Everybody will have different experiences with these beings; but you have to consider the origins of the deities, entities and spirits if you are trying to worship or work with any. If you are going into a branch of paganism, you have to study the religion and its stories. If you want to worship or work with a deity, you have to study that deity and their stories. The stories and beliefs are what provide us with knowledge of their existences, how they present themselves, their relationships with other beings and their conflicts with other beings. To completely disregard them and go purely off UPG is a dangerous thing.

🚩 The person believes that religion, spirituality and witchcraft can cure mental illness and disabilities. I see things like this often. Religion, spirituality and witchcraft will not cure a mental illness or disability. These things require more than faith and crystals. Some are not curable. Although religion, spirituality and witchcraft can be helpful to some degree... these things aren't the cure.

🚩 The person DMs you without consent trying to make profit off of you. Listen, people who have respect for themselves and others will not DM you at random claiming that they can solve your problems. They won't DM you at random offering paid readings, spells and mentorships. If you want to pay for such things, you should be the one going out of your way to find a reputable person. Don't get scammed.

🚩 The person claims you are required to work with deities, entities or other spirits. You don't have to be religious or work with any beings to practice witchcraft and magic. If you want to work with different beings, by all means please do your research and go ahead! Don't feel pressured to work with deities, entities and other spirits just because somebody on the internet says you have to.

🚩 The person claims that paganism and new age spiritualities are superior to other religions. Listen, I understand some people have religious trauma. I have religious trauma due to my mum's mother. However, you cannot allow your trauma to cause hatred for the entire religion by default. Understand that religious text is up for interpretation and that there are shitty individuals in all religions- including paganism. There are good individuals, too.

🚩 The person claims that spellwork doesn't come with consequences. Sometimes spells backfire. Sometimes spells come with unexpected results. Sometimes we get results at the cost of something else. You shouldn't be afraid of these things, though. Just be careful and take precautions. Be specific in what results you're seeking. This is why beginners are pushed to learn how to protect and ward so early on. It's in your best interest to do so.

🚩 The person claims that you must do shadow work to be spiritual or a witch. Listen to me closely. Shadow work is not inherently a witch thing. It is a psychology concept. Although shadow work can be beneficial for some people, it can be harmful to others. If you are a person with severe trauma and are easily triggered by those subjects, please don't go trying to unpack it all because somebody on the internet says that you have to. If you can afford it, consult a therapist who can help you. Shadow work is not required to be a spiritual person or a witch.

🚩 The person claims that medication will cloud your psychic abilities or your ability to practice magic. This is another dangerous idea and I have no idea how it was thought of. Coming from a person with depression and adhd: do not listen to people who makes claims like this. If you are taking medication for something, don't stop taking it because somebody claims it is hindering your abilities. If you aren't taking medication for something but believe you should, don't avoid it because somebody claims it is hindering your abilities. Medication is important to many people in order to have a sense of stability and it is not going to harm your abilities.

🚩 The person claims your mental illness or disability is a karmic thing or spiritual gift. Don't. Fucking. Listen. To. These. People. I cannot even begin to explain how much this idea enrages me. My adhd isn't some new age "karmic" thing. My adhd is a chemical imbalance caused by a gene I inherited. I do not have adhd because of some spiritual debt or gift. Don't be fooled by people who make harmful claims like this.

🚩 The person encourages you to consume or burn poisonous plants. This is one of the reasons why I always encourage people to study the medicinal uses of plants to learn their magical correspondences. Always check to see if the plant is poisonous to you or your pets. Accidents happens but many can be prevented with a little time and research.

🚩 The person references authors or sources that aren't trustworthy. Always do research on authors before buying their books and check to see where people get their information from. There are many authors and bloggers who are racist, homophobic, transphobic and more. There are also many authors who write books with bad information targeting witches and spiritualists to make a quick profit.

These are all the red flags I could come up with, but I'm sure there are more. Always cross reference your information and check to see if the people you're sourcing from has a negative reputation.