Power, Magic, Electric Revival.

Enski's pagan/witchcraft/demonology & images blog. Will follow from @spangler-kaiser

[hamlet-makara]

I've been slowly getting back into sewing and letting myself enjoy the process (vs focusing on how good the result could-should be).

Using @/itsthebeastpeddler's poppet pattern I've made 2~3 little guys so far! One of them is super important to me since it's my [for lack of better word] servitor.

They all look rough but I'm making them and that's what matters!

[hamlet-makara]

A quick picture of the ones I've finished! Hoping to make more 💪🏿

[heylsgowt]

[scryhard]

❦ Intent Is Not Everything: The Architecture of a Spell

You don’t build a fire by yelling “burn.” (or maybe you do?)

So let’s talk about why some spells flop. It's not because your desire was weak. Not because the moon was in the wrong position. But because you built a magical toaster and forgot to plug it in.

You can have a brilliant, spicy spark of intent, but if it has nowhere to go? No structure to hold it, no current to carry it, no ritual act to release it? That energy just... sits there. Fog in your chest. Static in your bones. Sometimes it loops. Sometimes it leaks. Sometimes it just becomes ✧vibe soup.✧

This isn’t about perfection. Or control. Or doing it “right.” It’s about structure and the subtle architecture that lets magic move.

Let’s break it down.

⚙︎ The Functional Parts of a Spell

⚘ 1. INTENT — The Internal Spark

This is the raw juice. The emotional voltage. The psychic heat. It’s not just what you want, it’s what you’re willing to make room for. Not a wish. A directive.

Intent is clearest when it’s emotionally honest and not trying to control everything like a micro-managing Virgo sun.

Bad intent ≠ evil intent. It usually just means the signal is fuzzy, performative, or split. You say “I want clarity,” but your gut is screaming “abandon ship.” That’s a short circuit.

⚛︎ Scientific thread: Functional EEG studies show intent activates motor planning centers before action begins (Libet, 1985). Translation: the brain literally starts prepping for action the moment will is engaged. Magic agrees.

Ask: What am I actually calling for? Not with my mouth, but with my will?

➴ 2. FOCUS — The Conscious Thread

Focus is what holds the circuit together. Lose it, and your spell turns into an energetic sneeze.

It’s not just about “concentrating.” It’s about staying present enough that the energy doesn’t leak out your ears. Focus is somatic. Breath. Trance. Motion. The ritual nervous system.

⚛︎ Scientific thread: Sustained attention boosts neural connectivity (Posner & Rothbart, 2007). Theta waves (4–8 Hz), accessed in trance or deep meditation, = peak spellcasting state. High suggestibility, low inner critic, good vibes.

Ask: Can I stay with the energy long enough to deliver it?

⚒︎ 3. ACTION — The Ritual Anchor

Action is what makes the spell real. It’s not a metaphor. It’s a physical interface.

Whether it’s lighting a candle, chanting, drawing sigils, or screaming into a jar. A ritual action anchors intent in time and space.

The body becomes the spell’s delivery system. It’s not just theater, it’s sensorial confirmation that “something has changed.”

⚛︎ Scientific thread: Embodied cognition says movement affects belief. Intentional gestures create somatic markers (Wilson, 2002). You literally move your body into belief.

Ask: What is my body doing to tell the world this spell is happening?

❀ 4. CORRESPONDENCE — Symbolic Resonance

This is how your spell speaks the universe’s language.

Correspondences (herbs, colors, crystals, numbers) aren’t just ✧aesthetic choices✧. They are the semantic tags of the ritual world.

But they’re not universal. What’s “attraction” in one system might be “banishing” in another. Magic is contextual. Meaning is coded.

⚛︎ Scientific thread: Lakoff & Johnson (1980) argue that cognition is metaphor-driven. When you use red for desire, you’re engaging neural circuits that associate red with heat, passion, and activation.

Ask: Do my symbols clarify the spell, or confuse it?

⌛︎ 5. TIMING — The Temporal Current

Spells don’t exist in a vacuum. They drop into a world that’s already moving.

Timing can mean:

Moon phases

Planetary hours

Your own emotional weather

Ancestor holidays

“This just feels right”

Right spell, wrong time? It fizzles. Or misfires. Or just ghosts you completely.

⚛︎ Scientific thread: Chronobiology says our bodies respond to time cycles (Refinetti, 2006). Mood, immunity, cognition—they’re all tide-sensitive. Why wouldn’t magic be?

Ask: What larger rhythm is this spell stepping into?

❂ 6. MEDIUM — The Elemental Channel

Magic needs a conduit. An element. A field. A medium to move through.

Is it fire? Smoke? Water? Ink? Your body? A blog post? A bone? A USB drive?

Medium decides how the energy moves, and where it lands. Wrong medium = muffled signal. It’s like trying to cast a glamour using baking soda.

⚛︎ Scientific thread: Energy always moves through something. Different materials conduct energy differently. Even placebo effects rely on the “medium” of meaning and context (Benedetti, 2012).

Ask: Where is this spell going? And can the medium carry it?

🜸 7. RELEASE — The Letting Go

No spell works if you cling to it like it’s your ex. You have to let it go.

Release is the exit point. The click. The exhale. The hand off the steering wheel. Without release, the spell loops. It stalls. It paces in your aura like a ghost waiting to be dismissed.

⚛︎ Scientific thread: Polyvagal theory says we need closure to reset our nervous system (Porges, 2011). The same might apply to magic: unresolved intention = energetic static.

Ask: Have I released this? Or am I still haunting it?

The Spell as a Functional Circuit

Visualize it like this:

If any part of the circuit is broken, the spell may misfire, stall, or just sit in your chest like ghost soup.

This is basically the magical version of a pre-flight safety check.

Magic Is Not Wishful Thinking. It’s Systemic.

A spell is not a vibe. It’s not ✧aesthetic ✧. It’s not a Pinterest board with herbs.

It is a functional symbolic system designed to influence reality. Neurologically, emotionally, energetically, maybe even physically.

It works when it’s built to move energy. When the circuit is whole. When the fire has a place to go.

A spell isn’t just a spark in the dark.

It’s the structure that carries that spark into the world. And lets it burn clean.

Part Ⅱ of Occult Mechanics 𝟷𝟶𝟷

✍︎ Further Reading & Sources

✧ Magic & Culture

Frazer, J.G. The Golden Bough (Sympathetic and contagious magic)

Tambiah, Stanley. The Magical Power of Words

Betz, Hans D. (ed). The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation

✧ Science of Mind & Body

Porges, Stephen. The Polyvagal Theory

Libet, Benjamin. “Unconscious Cerebral Initiative and the Role of Conscious Will.”

Wilson, M. (2002). "Six Views of Embodied Cognition." Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

Benedetti, F. Placebo Effects: Understanding the Mechanisms

Posner & Rothbart. Educating the Human Brain

Refinetti, Roberto. Circadian Physiology

✧ Symbolic Logic & Metaphor

Lakoff & Johnson. Metaphors We Live By

Starhawk. The Spiral Dance

King, Karen. What is Gnosticism?

[hamlet-makara]

I've been slowly getting back into sewing and letting myself enjoy the process (vs focusing on how good the result could-should be).

Using @/itsthebeastpeddler's poppet pattern I've made 2~3 little guys so far! One of them is super important to me since it's my [for lack of better word] servitor.

They all look rough but I'm making them and that's what matters!

[cryptotheism]

A major component of Greek religion were special rites, in which the participants would meet the gods directly and experience their stories firsthand. These special rites were known as Mysteries. Despite the name, these were often public religious festivals, albeit with a significant element of secrecy. Often, these mysteries had both a public and a “secret” component. A public festival might be held, which culminates in groups of people being taken into a closed sanctum, where they would be shown something secret, and become “initiated” into The Mystery. The most famous of these rites, the Eleusinian Mysteries, allowed initiates to experience the descent of Orpheus into the underworld. They would learn how it felt to die and thus, emerge less afraid of death. 

Greek Mystery Rites, today on patreon

[rotas-opera-tenet-arepo-sator]

Sometimes, witchcraft is inseparable from things you do in your life. Anything can be magical, and anything can be spiritual. Likewise, anything can be mundane. You don't always have to define things as "witchcraft" or "not witchcraft". The line between them often blurs.

[wishful-seeker]

Sufficiently advanced witchcraft is going from using herbs and rocks to making your own complex tools and ingredients lol. Usually creating them based on personal associations and objects with a strong personal symbolic meaning. I think eventually you end up having your own personal signs from the otherside, personally a few of mine is visions of the night sky, and morning shower rain water. The more you practice the more highly specific the practice becomes. And i think thats important that it is highly unique and personalized. I think one reason advanced witches do not often share these deeply personal UPGs is because not only is is very vulnerable to do so but also it wouldn't work for anyone else. You have to find your own path, and i think people don't really tell you thats what it takes. Your spiritual initiation is unlike anyone elses, the destruction and rebirth of your soul could never be taken from another's grimoire. And even me saying this some will think "what does that even mean? What is she talking about?" And i simply cannot explain any further. Its transcendence. Something you cannot list steps for.

Right now im designing a new tool for my practice that came to me in a dream, and after all my research it seems the tool i want to make doesn't exist anywhere else, its just from me. And even though there are no guidelines, i know it will be extremely powerful and useful to me, while possibly being completely useless if another tried to use it.

Thats why its so important to experiment and start to drift away from doing anothers spells, or using anothers associations or rules. To become truly powerful you need to develop your own style, your own spiritual language, your own connection with the otherside.

[dvoeverie-stitches]

Autumn Equinox Goldenrod Syrup

I popped out of the house late this morning after the rain finally stopped. I don’t have just a lot of goldenrod growing around the place, so this might be my only forage this year unless I find some elsewhere. I decided to make syrup with the flowers and I’ll dry the leaves for tea.

I stopped at the River birch and left a little offering.

I brought the flowers to a boil with 2.5 cups of water and then gently simmered them for an hour, strained the water and added it back to the pan, brought it to a boil and then gently simmered it for another hour (I like a thick syrup). It filled a pint jar.

[dvoeverie-stitches]

Goldenrod Soda

I added 4 TB of goldenrod syrup to 7.5 oz club soda and it made one of my favorite homemade sodas yet. The bitterness of the goldenrod is really mellowed out in syrup form and this tasted like a sweet fall meadow and spicy honey!

[windvexer]

I think a confounding factor is that (I believe) Witches are actually magical; at a certain point in your practice you stop doing magic and start being magic.

You can maintain this to greater or lesser degrees depending on your tolerance to it (and within the parameters of your hardware). But I think it's a tepid take to expect that Witches are magical.

So anyway I think it's possible to get to a point where you just start seeing around corners in a magical way, like the spirits do. Maybe it's part life wisdom - when I was 30 my base assumptions were ten years more fine tuned than I was 20, right.

But I also think one season the morning comes and you just start knowing things. I think this can onset pretty fast based on the path you take, and I also think this can be sought out.

Then one day you walk into a new situation, immediately know a bunch of stuff about it you couldn't really know, do divination, and the divination supports what you already knew. You can Fly into a situation and expect to meet a spirit you couldn't have known was there, but you did know and it was there.

Which I think is in some ways disorienting because it can require relationships with our own tools and skills to be adjusted.

But anyway if you're in a position where you're struggling with verification because your tools or spirits never really disagree with your intuition, I might have some positive news about your base competency.

[hamlet-makara]

My copy of the Lubanko Tarot is here! I have big plans for this one so I'm stoked for the work we'll do 💪🏿

Decks: Mythos Astrologia by The Whimsical Arcane The Solar Kingdom by Modern Magic Press Lubanko Tarot by E. Lubanko Dice: Fennek and Finch

[windvexer]

From a purely sorcerous perspective (not veneration, worship etc) I think that there's maybe no actual connection between our perception of value and the sorcerous impact of an offering.

In my paradigm offerings serve to deliver energy or resources, basically taking up the niche of food and money in the human world.

Even offerings we perceive as being very cheap can readily deliver energy (like mass-produced pressed incense being prayed over so it's filled with power, and burned to send this power to the spirit).

Similarly, an offering can be cheap or easily obtained for us and still contain resources (like a glass of water devoted to the spirits, so they can directly nourish themselves from it).

I believe that as a Witch, the miracle comes from your ability to pluck things from the physical world and give them to the spirits.

It's not a miracle that the cheap pressed incense can deliver necessary nourishment and fine things to the spirits.

The miracle is that you can put things valuable to the spirits inside of incense, and through your power deliver it to them.

It's not the substance but you which are the fulcrum of power. Witches stand with one foot in each world, as they say - this can be taken quite literally; you can take magical power, condense it, and deliver it from this world to theirs, or from theirs to ours.

The pressed incense is nothing but the cardboard box it's all delivered in. You know?

Witches are so magical. I love it so much.

[magpiesmagicnestarchive]

☤ ✉︎ - Hermes - ✉︎ ☤

This is from personal practice, I encourage people to look into epithets and associations to find what works for them, these are just what works for me or information I use regularly in my own practice or have noted down in my book of shadows. - Magpie

Epithets: Epimelios - Taking care of animals. || Angelos/Aggelos - Messenger. || Agetor - Of travellers. || Hegemonios - Protector of the wayfarers. || Psychopompos - Conveyor or conductor of souls. || Pheletes - Thief. || Agonios - As president of games. || Ploutodotes - Giver of wealth (as inventor of fire using fire sticks) || Dotor Eaon - Giver of good things. || Hodios - Patron of travelers and wayfarers. || Oneiropompus - Conductor of dreams.

Colours: Green, gold, yellow, cyan, silver, light blue.

Symbols: Caduceus staff, winged helmet (Petasos), golden sickle, winged sandals (Talaria), satchel (kibisis), herma/herms.

Stones/Metals: Silver, lead, pebbles, emerald, alexandrite, amethyst, blue lace agate, carnelian, opal, malachite, red/yellow jasper, rainbow moonstone, aventurine, goldstone, pyrite, tiger's eye.

Animals: Tortoise, ram, hierax, hares, rooster, snake, pigeon, hawk.

Food/Drink: Olives, pork, ram, honey, wheat, saffron, wine, mead, strawberries, nuts, cakes, eggs, sweets, beer, coffee, food from other cultures.

Perfumes/Incenses: Storax, mastic, dragon's blood, nag champa, poppy, lavender, vanilla, frankincense, myrrh, rosemary, cinnamon, mint.

Plants: Poppy, lavender, strawberry plant, crocus.

Misc: Lyre, letters, coins, stones, dice, playing cards.

Devotional acts: Travel and leave a penny at new locations, writing, communicating with friends, leave flower or charms on graves, ask him to join you for lunch when going out eating, give to the poor, exercise, dance to music, thank Hermes for good luck, visit a thrift store, learn slight of hand, leave kind notes for strangers, flip a coin for decision making.

[taurzza]

Inktober - day 5 - deer

[ofcedarandbone]

Inspired by @windvexer's Simple Ward Against Spirits (and Other Varieties), I spent some time this week creating some wards to hang around our windows and doors..

Instead of premade air-dry clay however I made my own salt dough.

🧂SMALL-BATCH SALT DOUGH🧂

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsp table salt

1-2tbsp water*

1 tbsp or less ground dry herbs* (optional)

oven (optional)

rolling pin (optional)

cookie cutters (optional)

toothpick for carving/hole punching (optional)

string (optional)

paint* (optional)

🧂 INSTRUCTIONS🧂

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly then slowly add water until it combines into a dough.

Form into small balls and lightly flatten them/roll out the dough and use cookie cutters/roll dough into uniform log and slice evenly into discs.

If you wish to hang them, poke holes near the top big enough to run string or thread through.

Carve in symbols, sigils, runes, or other designs associated with your intent.

Allow to air-dry or bake in the oven at 250°F for 2 hours, checking often to ensure they are not burning. If still soft in areas after baking, allow to air-dry until all moisture is gone.

If you wish to add colour to make your designs more prominent, do so then allow them the paint to dry.

If you wish to hang your wards, string them up.

*I used storm water collected on the Autumn Equinox and black pepper, cinnamon, and rosemary as my three herbs. The paint I used to ink the runes was acrylic medium mixed with wood ash and rust, thinned with a little storm water.

*Due to their salt content, salt dough wards are best for indoor use so as not to harm plant life or draw in potentially unwanted wildlife.

[iliothermia]

ancient friends

[hamlet-makara]

I've been practicing my dice casting 😤