reap and sow

[upthewitchypunx]

Last week I took this Yale survey about religion, spirituality, and mental health and I keep thinking of it. Like, it was so fixated on the "spiritual but not religious" question it didn't seem to notice it's monotheist and culturally Christian stance. I think some polytheists should take the survey and make a point to mention every time they use God in the singular.

[theredwingbriar]

Why are ‘witch tips’ always like “use quartz as a substitute for any crystal!” and not the good stuff like “River spirits are almost always looking to fuck shit up, so if you rile em up and then feed them a name, they’ll lay someone tf out.”

[therainshallmakeadoor-deactivat]

Excellent ! My turn. I onced tricked a spirit into believing the red wine and dragon’s blood powder mixture I served it was the blood offering it was due. No idea how it bought that, no idea if it would work again, but when you have certain geasa, you make do. To whomever it may concern…

[quietjustice]

Witch Tip: Venusian plant spirits love flattery, love to have their praises sung. I also find they’re more active during midday in full sun. Saturnian herbs can be slow to open up, but are excellent teachers once they do.

[helheth]

Witch Tip: When visiting a graveyard, especially for magic purposes, leave a penny at the gate as offering to its guardians. I’ve seen them fight off spirits that would have hurt me otherwise.

[mahigxn-deactivated20200629]

Witch Tip: numerology is helpful but trust me, repeating that prayer or incarnation until you can barely speak and the words hang heavy from your tongue, rather than adhering to a set number of repetitions, will 1000% get you in an altered state of consciousness which will allow you to commune with the spirits at work much more easily. This is when you raise power and gain the ability to affect the weave.

[therestlesswitch]

Witch Tip: You don’t need to be in a ‘positive state of mind’ or any of that bs when performing magic. Use your power wherever it comes from. Feel your feelings and use their energy.

[ofwordsandblood]

Witch Tip: If you have plants and tress around your property, you can have them help you create a solid ward against any ill intentions or malicious spirit that tries to enter the property. Regulalrly giving offering and holding communion with those spirits will ensure the continued power of the work.

[little-forest-spirit-deactivate]

Reblogging this version for that last point. As someone who works with Trees, 100% true!

I bonded with many Trees in my area and I was under their protection for a long time. Then came a really bad time where I separated myself from them and they distanced themselves as well as they didn’t feel welcome in my space anymore. They never truly abandoned me though, as once I removed myself from the situations that I kept getting myself into that created a huge rift, and I returned to the forest to seek forgiveness and wished to come back to them, they welcomed me and I am once again connected with them. Earn the trust of Tree and Forest Spirits, befriend them. They are more than willing to treat you like family if you treat them with love and respect.

I also bring them bio-degradable gifts and offerings to show my gratitude, though I never felt like it was demanded from me, I just think it is good to be giving to them as they are giving to us.

[deerhoofandrabbitsfoot-deactiva]

A Brief Word about Familiars

I received a question yesterday asking for books on familiars. I found I could only recommend one - a high-quality, dry, academic text that costs about $40. So I tried to find posts about familiars here on Tumblr.

I wish I hadn’t. I was like…

But then I took a moment and decided to write a little blurb to set the story straight.

So let me start by saying that this is not the core of my practice. I have a familiar spirit. I will not talk about Him at length here for reasons you can probably gather. We do stuff together. Not that much stuff together, over all. But I know a few things about familiars so let’s do this.

Despite the popular conception here on Tumblr, familiars are not pets. That is, they are not physical animals you can buy at an animal shelter or a pet store. Your cat is not a familiar. Your dog is not a familiar. Your chinchilla/snake/tarantula/lizard/whatever is not a familiar.

A familiar is a nonhuman spirit acquired by a witch. It may take the guise of a human, an animal, or an otherworldly being. Though it may occasionally resemble an animal, it is not, strictly speaking, an animal. Gaining a familiar was often part of the initiation process. When it was not part of initiation, obtaining a familiar sometimes mirrored the initation process in that it was often done through a major spirit (i.e. the Devil) or through another witch.

In times gone by, having a familiar spirit was one of the criteria for being a witch. According to the Witchcraft Act of 1604, possessing or communing with a familiar spirit was a crime punishable by death. It was one of the major markers of witch-dom.

During the New England Witch Hysteria, sightings of familiar spirits were used as evidence against the accused parties. Tituba, in her confession, claimed that the witches of Salem used a variety of familiar spirits to cause harm to others. These spirits included black dogs and foxes, as well as a hog and most notably, a yellow bird. During the trials, the afflicted girls of Salem Village claimed to see a yellow bird that bit and attacked them. Tituba also claimed that the accused Sarah Osbourne possessed a creature unlike anything seen on this earth. Her familiar spirit had a woman’s head and wings.

In the early modern period, these spirits would have been given to witches by the Devil as part of their pact with him. Modern witches working in the traditional paradigm who wish to acquire familiars would be wise to seek his wisdom on the subject.

Familiar spirits were said to pass along family lines, too, as was magical capability in general. It was fairly common, in Salem and abroad, for the family members of witches to be accused of witchcraft themselves, namely the daughters and husbands of accused witches. A witch, according to the belief of the day, could gift her familiar spirit to her daughter or to another family member. This is another way to obtain a familiar spirit.

Most of the witches I have spoken to have obtained their familiars through others. Emma Wilby describes another way witches obtained familiars - sometimes they just pop up. A witch will be traveling through the country or will be in a moment of great need and a familiar will appear to help them.

So what do familiars do and why would you want one?

A familiar can act as a witch’s servant. If you wish to harm someone, you may send your familiar (perhaps in the guise of an animal) to attack them. Been attacked by a crow? Hounded by a black dog? Scratched by a strange cat? Could be a familiar. This prevents the witch from getting her hands dirty. If the witch appears as a spectre, sitting on someone’s chest, it is immediately obvious who is causing the attack. If a witch sends a yellow bird to bite her victims, there is room for doubt.

Familiars, being spiritual beings themselves, possess a magic all their own. They can lend their assistance to magical works. Like any other spirit, they can put their power into a spell. Without going deep into the subject, some familiars are more, well, familiar with certain kinds of magic than others. They possess both knowledge and power.

According to Emma Wilby, the use of familiar spirits is linked to the reminents of shamanic practice in early modern Europe. If we accept the idea that witches “flew” via shamanic journeying, the popular image of the witch flying with her cat-familiar makes sense. The familiar spirit can protect and guide the witch through the spirit world. Being a spirit itself, this is terrain the familiar spirit knows. The familiar spirit is not just a helper, but also a teacher.

Familiars can do pretty neat things, too. Despite its flaws, the popular series “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” shows this fairly well. When Sabrina is in trouble, her familiar spirit, Salem, protects her. A familiar spirit can also act as a witch’s protector. They can devour curses and ward the home.

Familiars do require upkeep and regular offerings. Historically, these offerings would have been blood. When initiated, witches were given witches’ marks. These sometimes acted as teats from which spirits could draw blood from the witch. Blood (of any kind) is a good offering. In modern times, a bit of wine or milk often suffices.

One kind of familiar I do not wish to discuss here (because this post is already waaaay longer than I intended) is the plant familiar. Plants (especially mandrakes) can work like familiars. Do a Google dive. You’ll find something.

So that’s the tea on familiars. In summation,

[oakenroots]

I appreciate the historical insight, but I find that this is just a bit TOO historical. Spirits and Magic adapt and evolve like any other thing. I have one “traditional” familiar (Family Entity that my mother and grandmother distinctly remember having around as kids) and one “modern” familiar (though he hasnt been initiated yet). I have an additional spirit living in my house who is a Home & Hearth Troll (a Tomte) but she is adamant that she is NOT my familiar. She is a friend and we have a working agreement.

The function of modern familiars, the pet that is super closely bonded to you, is to give you a source of energy nearby that willingly shares their energy with you. Cats are traditional for a reason.

My uninitiated Familiar is my cat Kokoro. He’s not just a cat. One night almost 3 years ago I had the strangest dream that I was sitting in my living room, and I looked up to the cat shelves, and there was a long haired black cat grooming my short haired male. I went to him and reached out my hand and he looked up into my eyes, and very clearly, in my mind, the name KOKORO appeared. It was so jarring I woke up. I told my husband we were getting another cat, then went to petsmart to look at the shelter cats a day or so later and immediately made contact with a long haired black kitten who was absolutely in love with me in a split second. As soon as I laid eyes on him it was like my energy started humming.

Now that he’s almost 3, I am planning to initiate him. Initiation is where I introduce him to my deities and say “hey, this little creature shares my home and space, he is my energy vessel, please be nice to him and help him if ever he is in danger.” And it is also where I ask him formally “hey, do you wanna be my familiar, spend your time with me, lend me your energy, and protect me as I protect you?” The reason I waited until he was full grown is because he was rambunctious as a young cat and I didn’t want to attach that sort of energy to my spirit while I was feeling vulnerable in my personal life. Not every spirit you come into contact with needs to become your familiar to share your space and most spirits dont come from “the devil” they’re often just manifestations of energy or the personification of ideas.

Spirits regularly take the shape of normal creatures because honestly our world is a dangerous place and there are few places left in this world where nature is bountiful and safe from human reach.

[awitchandhersecrets]

Thanks Oaken for the add! I was gonna say, things have evolved. And if they take the form of a cat, what says they can’t be my cat? I don’t watch my cat 24/7, she could be shapeshifting to some demon at night. Sounds like she does. Lol, I find the bond matters most in this definition.

And most of the historical evidence above comes from Christian writers, not witch writers. So we have to look at how much of those “facts” are being warped through the eyes of men, Christians and whites. I mean, mentioning Tituba should immediately bring in the complication of non-white, black Caribbean spiritual traditions and how they were misinterpreted by white men and twisted by white women. There are a ton of magical traditions and gods from other cultures that Christians called the Devil, mostly influenced by racism and a need for a monotheistic monopoly.

[viking-illustrator]

I needed something that was just a little more “witchy” for my phone during the autumn months.

Border was based off of this design, with the addition of my art from my Jera rune study page that I decided to turn into a vector.

I designed them to fit my iPhone SE, but they’d fit an iPhone 6 or 6S perfectly, too.

[normal-horoscopes]

LIKE TO CHARGE REBLOG TO CAST

[utmostconfusion]

We settled with Biden. but if you decide to vote third party or not vote instead of supporting Biden... fuck you. You have to see that this is bigger than choosing the “best” candidate. This is a fight for the soul of our nation. Settle for Biden. Settle because if you don’t hundreds of thousands of people will die. People. will. die.

[luminescent-city]

To the people in the notes saying they refuse: what are you actually going to do to change the system?

Because voting third party as it stands right now is NEVER GOING TO WORK. I understand that you want a further left candidate. By GODS I understand. But right now? It's either you vote blue and the fascism boulder stops rolling quite so fast, and maybe we get a chance to stop it and even start trying to push it back up the hill; or you vote third party, support an actually good candidate that doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of winning, get your warm fuzzies from not voting for the centrist, and THE FASCISM BOULDER GETS BIGGER. And anyone who tries to stop it gets crushed. And anything we were building to slow it down has a worse chance of stopping it.

Nothing is going to fix this country immediately. And your cynicism is fully understandable. But jesus FUCKING christ people, just voting third party is going to do LITERALLY NOTHING to fix it. It's not a "cry to fix the system", or at least it's not gonna be heard as one. And not voting is just as bad.

So tell me. What is your actual plan? What are you going to do to dismantle the two-party system, what are you going to do to stop fascism in its tracks, and what are you going to do to put an actual leftist and not a right-leaning centrist into office?

Because if you can do that, hallelujah! Let's HEAR IT! Let's DO IT! I support you 100%, I'll get the megaphones, the guillotines, I'll help draw the coup plans, whatever we need.

And if you can't? At least don't stop the rest of us doing the best we can. We can at least make an ATTEMPT to push Biden left. We cannot do the same for Trump. They are not the same.

And we are not 'settling' for Biden. We're not going to sit down and stay there and be like "oh no this is fine right where it is." But we have to take the first step to go anywhere and this is the best shot we've got, a hell of a better shot than voting for a candidate that's probably not even on some of the ballots. Because when Trump wins, the right won't settle either. They are going to keep dragging it further and further and we are going to be completely drowned out.

And you're giving them ground.

[nerdymouse]

Seriously, get Biden in and flip the senate which matters even more than the presidency.

Would you rather have a fascist who wants you dead in office or do you want someone who might be able to be swayed to help you?

I know I can't handle 4 more years of Trump. I can manage with Biden and continue to do distro work and the like. But we shouldn't become stagnant after voting Biden in. We still need to work for universal healthcare, to dismantle prisons, improve our schools, make childcare free/affordable, making voting day a holiday, etc. We have a long way to go and have to continue dismantling the ability for white nationalists to survive in this country.

Also, I'm going to be honest here. Trump has already said that he won't peacefully transfer power. We might have to fight either way. Things might get ugly.

I am also saying this from a side of selfish endeavors since I hope to run for city council and then aim higher after I finish with college. If we leftists make a habit of giving up on voting then I won't be likely to be elected and serve as an ally for those who need it. I won't be able to pass legislation to give housing to the homeless. I wouldn't be able to pass measures to hold police accountable. I wouldn't be able to hold weekly or biweekly meetings with local activists to come up with concrete ideas on what needs to be accomplished. I want to make the world a better place and that can't be done without some help.

[breelandwalker]

And remember to vote blue ALL THE WAY DOWN THE BALLOT.

Educate yourself on your local legislation and who's on this year's ballot. (BallotReady.org can help.) Then make sure you vote for those local roles when you go to the polls, from Congress on down.

We've only got one chance at this. If we screw things up like we screwed up with all that apathy and troll bullshit in 2016, we are FUCKED. There won't be a second chance. There won't be anything to stop this bus from hurtling straight off the goddamn cliff it's headed for.

However you slice it, it's going to be Trump or Biden. If you think anyone else has a chance of actually winning, you are fucking fooling yourself.

Biden may not be perfect. But getting him into the White House and a lot more blue votes into Congress is our best chance at a step in the right direction, which is all we can do right now.

And make no mistake - the alternative is four more years of steadily-worsening fascism helmed by a blithering egotistical xenophonic maniac. We will not survive that.

Sure the current administration is going to try to cheat. Sure they're going to immediately question the results if they don't win. So let's make sure it's undeniable.

If we go down, we go down swinging.

[personalgremlin]

this makes me want to cry

[euryalus-deactivated20220430]

This is true, they painted everywhere, and most of the example of outdoors rock art is found in other continents aside from Europe. Some examples:

The Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape, in Guangxi, southern China.

The Helan Kou Valley carvings, north of China.

Kakadu National Park, Australia.

Saimaluu Tash, Kyrgyzstan.

Gobustan, Azerbaijan.

Horseshoe Canyon (Utah)

[paradiseismade]

What the caves are trying to tell us

Whatever they once said to their authors, they scream their message of no message across the millennia to us now.

The quote is from “What the caves are trying to tell us” by Sam Kriss. It’s a gorgeously written article and I highly recommend reading it.

[freyjalestrange]

Some herbs and their magical properties from Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs 🌿

[stormwaterwitch]

I am NOT a Perfect Witch

I’ve seen a few asks/comments running around about how the witches of Tumblr seem to have all their ducks in a row and do magic spells 24/7 and are generally “perfect” because of it. I can tell you this is probably not the case. At least for me its not. I am not a Perfect Witch. I don’t rigorously follow the phases of the moon, most of the time i forget anyways. I don’t do spells on a regular basis (at least not what i consider to be spells) Heck most of the time the most witchy things i do is reblog stuff to this tumblr.  So for newbie witches and hidden witches please understand: It’s completely okay to not be a “perfect” witch. Once you’ve discovered that you’re a witch you don’t have to cast spells 24/7 in order to protect your title. The Title of Witch is yours as soon as you decide you want to Claim It. No one can or should tell you how to run your path. That is something you will have to discover for yourself, and honestly that’s the best part of the journey. So you forgot a sabbat, big whoop. Sabbats come and go and i rarely do anything for them anyways (maybe halloween but thats tradition haha) Another full moon pass you by? That’s okay, some people don’t like working with the moon and that’s also okay. Try casting a spell and you don’t think it worked? Trust me i still do spells and most of the time they don’t work too. So to all the newbies and hidden witches: Do not fret. You have plenty of time to come into your path and please please please do not feel like you HAVE to be perfect in your path. I am proud to follow my path with all its bumps and turns it throws at me

[valtsv]

my body is less of a “temple” and more of a rotting 19th century mansion rumored to be haunted by several wicked and vengeful spirits

[honey-potions]

Tbh whats a temple but a house filled with ghosts

[grendelmenz-deactivated20200929]

I have a really complex relationship with religion, but here’s something positive

[dragonanarchist1155]

Hey this is beautiful

[dovewithscales]

Oh wow.

[herbwicc]

As someone fascinated by religion with no religion of her own, I vibe with this

[red-moon-witch]

You’ve mentioned Casting Stones: What are they?

My casting stones are my first divination tool which I devised when I was a baby witch because I couldn’t afford to go out and buy a pendulum or tarot cards. 

The idea for them was inspired by Elder Futhark Runes and Pendulums. I wanted something that could reliably answer Yes/No questions, regardless of slightly shaky hands. I haven’t seen anything similar to them so I wanted to share how I made them and how to use them for all the baby witches and broke witches, or people who are just looking for a different kind of divination tool. 

I picked four smooth river stones from a nearby stream.  that could all fit in my hand at once. They’re all different shapes and but mostly are the same size, and are fairly flat. each of them is a color i connect with one of the four elements. A reddish one for fire, an off white one for wind, a true brown for earth and a dark grey for water. I find that this distinction in color brings more balance to the Casting stones as a group. Then on one side of each of them I drew a sigil each  for truth, connection to the universe, connection and answered questions.  

Here’s how they work: Casting stones like pendulums can tend to take on a life of their own, developing a personality as you work with them. Mine can, and do sass me when I ask silly, confusing or indulgent questions.  They can be used to ask questions of spirits or of the universe, and I have even on a few occasions used them to communicate with deities. I recommend cleansing and charging them once a month at least. The following is the method for using them. 

1. Hold the stones and ask the question aloud or in your head.  2. Toss the stones.  3. Interpret the results

4 stones face up, is a definitive yes.  3 stones face up is a yes, but the answer may be influenced by your actions.  2 stones face up and 2 face down is an unknown, or a maybe.  3 stones face down is a no, but the answer may be affected by your actions.  4 Stones face down is a definitive no. 

And there you have it! I hope this can be helpful for the witches out there who are looking for another divination option! - Aesa <3

[artisticlog-deactivated20231213]

We stand by you. We love you. We will never stop fighting for you. 🌟🔮❤️

[heretoblessyourscreen]

Gotta learn that dif

[breelandwalker]

Mmkay, this is an important thing to discuss and it requires a little modern history. And I want to preface this by saying this is not a judgment on you or any other witch who runs into this idea and takes it at face value. This isn’t something that gets talked about a lot.

The one-point-up vs two-points-up orientation of the pentacle has absolutely no bearing on whether it is a “good” or “bad” symbol. Flipping the star around doesn’t indicate beneficial or baneful magic. What it DOES indicate is the still-prevalent influence of the Satanic Panic on modern witchcraft.

During the 70s, 80s, and part of the 90s, there was a huge moral panic in America over the alleged presence of secret Satanic cults. Supposed “evidence” of their presence included the popularity of Dungeons & Dragons tabletop RPG games, violence and occult symbolism in children’s cartoons, hidden messages in rock music and product packaging, and the increasing shift of American youth away from “traditional values.” If you’re thinking conservative Christian mass hysteria, you are correct.

(There were also several famous legal cases involving daycare workers who had allegedly abused or even murdered children for the cult, for which there was never a single shred of physical evidence. Some of these people are still serving time for crimes that never happened. I suggest listening to the American Hysteria podcast episodes on the Satanic Panic for more information.)

Out of this panic grew the Moral Majority, which has been a part of the American political scene ever since they helped get Ronald Reagan elected in 1980.

At the same time, the modern witchcraft movement was beginning to gain steam, particularly toward the late 80s and early 90s when the panic was starting to wane. But it was still a very dicey time to be a witch or to display the symbols of your craft, such as pentacles, in public. And since the panic was largely about Satanists, non-satanic witches (Wiccan or otherwise) took it upon themselves to create this differentiation with the orientation of the pentacle.

“Nope, this isn’t a Satanic pentacle! Look, they have it with two points up, like the Baphomet symbol, right? Well mine only has ONE point up, it’s just for good magic. We never use magic for harm, only for love and light and to help others….”

Sound familiar?

Anyway, all this to say that the idea is still circulating among modern practitioners. It gets quoted in the literature, but very few authors seem to take the time to research or notate where the idea comes from. And it’s very important to do so. Because Satanic witches get thrown under the bus all the time and it’s only fair to recognize that and not perpetuate the idea of an “evil” pentacle. There is no such thing.

[liminalblessings-lkdghlklkha-de]

Not everything you touch or see needs to be fucking “cleansed”. Your purity culture reeks. Stop it.

[reno-matagot]

Witchcraft must stay dirty.

[liminalblessings-lkdghlklkha-de]

Congratulations. That’s not at all what I was talking about or implying.

[liminalblessings-lkdghlklkha-de]

Here’s the fucking thing: Y’all buy an apartment, you cleanse it the second you move in… Y’all buy rocks, or new tools, or new books, and you cleanse them the second you get home…  Hell, y’all find a rock walking on the beach, and y’all still cleanse the fucking thing.

Y’all buy and find and buy- and you cleanse almost every single time regardless of whether or not it’s even needed… No waiting. No thinking or evaluation. No testing. No getting-to-know… Just buy-or-find and cleanse.

It’s literally spiritual purity culture; can’t have no possible taint around you. No ma’am. Everything must be squeaky clean. No contamination to see here… But it’s absolutely ridiculous! It’s insane! Y’all’re acting like the metaphysical equivalent of Germaphobe Gina, scrubbing the counters with lysol and bleach every 2 seconds.

Fuck spiritual purity culture, not everything needs to be fucking cleansed.

[witchcraftingboop]

This might sound uwu as fuck, but this post reminded me of how I “welcome” new tools and items rather than adhere to a strict cleanse-and-go policy for everything I bring home with me. In particular, I think that if I had cleansed, or rather purged, my first crystal ball, we wouldn’t have the dynamic we have today.

I’ve also never actually considered the purity culture aspects lurking behind the “cleanse this that and the other thing” posts I see here, as my path tends to always center around my animism background. So this post has given me some topics to think over, as well as reminded me that I need to discuss this eventually with my younger sister.

[haint-blue-horns]

Cleansing culture always felt weirdly anti-animistic to me. You buy something, cleanse it to remove any hanging-around-ness of the manufacturer or transportation. Find it, cleanse it to shake off the spiritual gunk it may have picked up from anywhere. You don’t know where it’s been after all!

But to me that’s the point. I haven’t been everywhere. Why would I strip something of its history? It feels arrogant, if not cruel, and as far as my practice goes I want that experience to tap into and utilize.

Yeah, I’m a sentimental softie, but I’d much rather work with smart and useful tools than “pure” ones.

[growing-yet-into-magic]

This is a fun thought! I used to cleanse more religiously, but as I’ve spent more time with my tools, I tend to just go every now and again if I feel that something’s off or otherwise interfering. I don’t necessarily think that when I cleanse an item I remove its history; I don’t think that anything I could do anything less than full item restoration and spiritual bleaching to do so? But I do think that if the item was held by a former owner who was a witch or who was deeply emotionally invested with an item, or if the tool is really new and hasn’t been shown any love yet, it needs at least a little bit of touching up if I’ll use it for spell work. But this post does drive home that universal cleansing is something we should not just rely on and to actually investigate our relationship with our practice.

[themori-witch]

BLACK SALT (also known as WITCH’S SALT) is used primarily for protection, banishing, and repelling.

Those uses aren’t exclusive—it has also been known to feature in baneful magics, and can be used in uncrossing rituals.

WAYS TO UTILISE BLACK SALT

To protect your property from negative spirits, people with ill-intent, unwanted visitors, and negative energy: sprinkle black salt around the perimeter of your property.

To both banish any residual icky energy that a person may have left in your home, and prevent them from returning: sprinkle black salt on the front step and sweep it away. If you’re feeling more traditional (and brave!) you can throw black salt at the back of someone that is leaving your home also.

To prevent nightmares: use in a sachet and keep beneath your pillow.

To repel negativity, unwanted visitors, and rumours/gossip: sprinkle generously across windowsills and doorways.

To cleanse your home and keep nasties from entering: add black salt to a floor wash and go ham on your floor. Focus especially on high traffic areas.

To undo a curse, hex, or other form of malignant magic that has been cast upon you: use in an uncrossing oil or powder. Learn more about uncrossing [here].

To alleviate any negative thoughts and feelings that you are carrying: add a pinch of black salt to your bath, or to an oil with a similar purpose that you anoint yourself with.

[moon-lightfaerie]

Things to Research Before Working with the Fae

Research is the most important thing to do before heading into Faery work and witchcraft. You want to have a lot of in depth and versatile knowledge covering many areas of the topic so you’ll be able to understand and interact with the Fair Folk! If you don’t want to work with the Fair Folk you can use this list to help yourself understand them and take the proper measure if you ever stumble upon them. I know the list could go on forever but I’m compiling the topics I find build a good foundation of understanding. I have compiled this list to give those interested guidance and a push in the right direction, it is best you do your own research before asking other’s personal knowledge and opinions!!

The Basics

Terminology ( Fae, faery, fairy, changeling, seelie, unseelie, sidhe, etc)

The Origins of the Fae (Tuatha de Dannan, Aos Sí, Tylwyth Teg)

Faeries in Different Cultures: Celtic (Irish, Scottish, Gaulish, French), Norse, Influences from Greek and Roman culture.

Folklore & Myths!! ex. Oisin and Tír na nÓg , Fenian Cycle, Arthurian Legend. 

Celtic Gods, Goddesses & Heroes- strong influences and connections to the Fae

Types of Faeries (study diverse types from pixies,brownies, pooka to Kelpies, Bwbach and Red caps) *Make sure you can at least answer who, what and where about them.

The Otherworlds (Tir na Nog, Caer Arianrhod, Annwn, Alfheim, Svartalfheim, etc.)

Faery Landmarks (fairy tree, fairy ring, fairy hill)

Signs of the Fae

Sacred Trees and Plants (Hawthorn) 

Protection!! very important

*Bonus if you learn Celtic Culture

Getting into Working with Them

Connecting to Nature and the Land

How to Banish Faeries & Protect yourself, house, family, etc.

Faery Behaviour and Proper Etiquette

Proper Offerings, How to give an Offering

Animals associated with the Fair Folk and Why? (raven, deer, etc)

Faery Festivals and Holidays (Samhain, Midsummer, Beltane)

Why certain things offend them- iron, saying “thank you”,etc.

The Courts (Seelie, Unseelie, trooping fairies, solitary)

Setting up a Faery Altar

How to work with them in Rituals 

Faery Flowers, herbs and crystals

A proper and personal way to communicate with them!!this means developing psychic ability, tarot, meditation, signs, etc.

Hagstones, heptagram/faery star

Some Good Books :) 

The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, by W. Y. Evans Wentz  

Encyclopedia of Spirits by Judika Illes 

Enchantment of the Faerie Realm by Ted Andrews 

Faery Craft by Morgan Daimler 

Celtic Mythology: Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes by Phillip Freeman

**if you have more topics, books or anything else feel free to add some!