wings and sparks

note to self: w&s, glimmering

[pure]

as a general rule. if what we’re calling ‘cultural appropriation’ sounds like nazi ideology (i.e. ‘white people should only do white people things and black people should only do black people things’) with progressive language, we are performing a very very poor application of what ‘cultural appropriation’ means. this is troublingly popular in the blogosphere right now and i think we all need to be more critical of what it is we may be saying or implying, even unintentionally.

[pyrrhiccomedy]

There is nothing wrong with everyone enjoying each other’s cultures so long as those cultures have been shared. 

Eating Chinese food, watching Bollywood movies, going to see Cambodian dancers, or learning to speak Korean so you can watch every K drama in existence is totally fine. The invitation to participate in those things came from within those cultures. The Mexican family that owns the place where I get fajitas wants me to eat fajitas. Their whole business model kind of depends on it, actually. 

If you see something from another culture you think you might want to participate in, but you don’t know if that would be disrespectful or appropriative, you can just…ask. Like. A Jewish friend explained what a mezuzah was to me, recently. (It’s the little scroll-thing near their front doors that they touch when they come into their house. It basically means “this is a Jewish household.”)

“Oh, cool,” I said. “Can I touch it? Or is it only for Jewish people?”

“You can touch it or you can not touch it,” she said. “I don’t care.”

“Cool, I’m gonna touch it, then.”

“Cool.”

It’s not hard.

You want to twerk, twerk. I’ve never heard a black person say they didn’t think anybody else should be allowed to twerk. Just that they want us to acknowledge that they invented that shit, not Miley fucking Cyrus.

[queeranarchism]

It really boils down to three simple things:

Consent. Is the culture open to sharing this thing? (& don’t cheat by finding one person who consents while most of the culture disagrees.)

Context. If a culture is open to sharing a thing but it is a thing of great religious significance, take the time to learn what is a respectful way to treat the thing. Probably don’t use it as random decoration or sexualize it unless that’s what it’s for. 

Credit. Give credit and if possible, buy from the original creators so the money goes where the credit should be.

[weirdo-with-a-nametag]

This is really useful to me personally because I’ve definitely caught myself losing sight of what cultural appropriation actually is, and why it matters, so thank you, and everybody else pay attention too

[witchesversuspatriarchy]

Bog witch biome is tricky

[friend-crow]

Get moist, loser.

[friend-crow]

Honestly? The longer I spend on witchblr the more disinclined I am to share much of anything about my practice. People want to be taught but then they respond to posts like

Why do you assume that's not just mental illness? Have you seen a psychiatrist or doctor about that? Let me ask you intrusive questions about your medical history.

This post is BAD because it is UPG! (yes dude, what do you expect? you think your personal practice is universal?)

Ummm, you didn't leave a disclaimer on this post so now I'm going to make a bad faith response about how it COULD be interpreted to be about appropriation!! How dare you write a post that doesn't cover every possible situation??

My personal experience is not like this which means you're an IDIOT and a FAKE!



There's also the fact that a personal practice is... you know... personal. Secrecy is sometimes an important ingredient.

[friend-crow]

After a brief discussion I regret to announce that we will all be getting very secretive and conspiratorial with our practices, effective immediately, under penalty of being smote via bad faith responses.

[windvexer]

From here on out, shitposting is the only valid form of witchcraft communication.

[friend-crow]

I need that pic with the calligraphy of "sufficiently advanced witchcraft is indistinguishable from shitposting".

Just imagine it's there, alright?

[windvexer]

(credit to @theshitpostcalligrapher post link here)

[asksecularwitch]

Me doing that gif of the like "well" gesture with my hand having closed my practice entirely to all the internet years before tumblr due to demands for spiritual awakening for others. Everyone's joining me in the closed practice convo.

So now we can all gossip about spells instead. :D

[cryptotheism]

The idea that belief is a necessary component of a magical practice is a deeply, deeply Catholic way to look at it.

[6thlovelanguage-deactivated2020]

dark green is a nice color. underrated

[hesitating]

ladies and gentlemen, Phtalo Green

[takenbythestarcatchers]

This is literally my favorite color. 😩 Smaragd green is another dark shade of green that I’m absolutely obsessed with.

[simzart]

[hearth-and-veil]

Magic isn't only valuable if it's old. Magic isn't only valuable if it's passed down over generations. The weird hyperfixation on old magic passed in an unbroken line for centuries has led to a lot of problems for modern witches.

Yes, magic itself is ancient. Yes, a lot of it has been passed down since before written history. Yes there is a rich global history of both high and low magic that spans basically every civilization to have ever existed. But that isn't the only good magic!

So what if modern magic was invented in the 50s, or during the Victorian era, or during the Enlightenment, or yesterday afternoon? Does it work?

If I found out tomorrow that my mother made up everything she had ever taught me, or realized that something I do was picked up on my own without noticing it, does that change anything?

Don't let a fetishization of ancient take away from the modern. If it works, it works, and that's valuable magic.

[breelandwalker]

THIS.

THIS THIS THIS.

[iris-polaris]

Crystals: they taste good. Especially when used in magic. CRUMCH.

So do rocks. So do minerals. Just so deliciously spiritual. Y'know?

But they don't all taste good on your soul in the same way, because these words don't mean the same thing. GEM and STONE and CRYSTAL aren't synonyms, though their definitions sometimes overlap. In a casual setting it's fine to fart these words around interchangeably. I just wouldn't do it in any serious capacity.

🔮 YO WHY DOES THIS MATTER

🐻 In short: it'll make your spells more powerful.

🐻 In long...

To start getting into these lovely crunchy snacks, dear humans, you're going to have to know at least a little of the science. And if you're groaning right now, you're not ready to be a practitioner of any ding-dang metaphysical thing. You have to understand a touch of the natural world before working with it.

For instance: if you need fiery passion in your life, are you going to use something in your spell that comes out of a mollusk (a pearl) or from a volcano (obsidian)? If you need structure, is it better to use an object that's chemically a blobby mess (an opal) or orderly and neat (quartz)?

Unless you have prior associations with these objects, the basic science is all very crucial.

Still, I'm not gonna bore you. Let me just lay on you what you need to know to start with. You can go scurry off and read more as you please.

🔮 WHAT IS A CRYSTAL?

A crystal is a homogeneous solid substance with a repeating symmetrical structure. This structure is called a crystal lattice.

— Crystal Basics: The Energetic, Healing, and Spiritual Power of 200 Gemstones by Nicholas Pearson

What the hickety heck does that mean? Basically:

A crystal is a solid. OK.

Its internal chemical or molecular structure is homogeneous. All its parts are the same.

Its internal chemical or molecular structure is symmetrical, meaning its parts, on an axis, are the same. Mirrored. Think a butterfly, a snowflake, etc.

Its internal chemical structure also repeats. So you have the same chemicals or molecules repeating.

Its internal chemical structure is called a crystal lattice.

SALT is a crystal. It looks like this, way down on a teeny-weeny level:

Those are the elements sodium and chloride in a crystal lattice.

🐻 As an overview...

✨ USUALLY CRYSTALS: minerals ✨ SOMETIMES CRYSTALS: gemstones, stones ✨ USUALLY NOT CRYSTALS: mineraloids ✨ USUALLY NOT CRYSTALS, BUT MADE OF MINERALS: rocks ✨ DEFINITELY NOT A CRYSTAL: eggs, sadness, your mom

🔮 WHAT IS A MINERAL (AND MINERALOID)?

A mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic crystal. That means that minerals must be formed by nature, from nonliving sources, and exhibit homogeneous compositions and symmetrically repetitive structures.

— Crystal Basics: The Energetic, Healing, and Spiritual Power of 200 Gemstones by Nicholas Pearson

Let's break this down again.

A mineral is naturally occurring, which means it forms in nature.

But it's also inorganic. Animals don't make them. Plants don't make them. Things that are alive can't make them. It's gotta come from the earth. (Which is alive in a spiritual sense but not in a scientific sense. It's not, like, an organism. You know what I mean?)

They have homogeneous compositions. This means they're made up of the same thing throughout their entire structure.

They also have symmetrically repetitive structures. Their composite parts mirror on an axis, again like a snowflake, and the patterns of their molecules, elements etc repeat.

Labradorite is a mineral. It comes out of igneous (magma-formed) rock and it has a repeating chemical mixture of oxygen, silicon, aluminum, calcium, and sodium.

🐻 On the other paw...

When a substance meets some, but not all, of the criteria of a mineral...it is called a mineraloid.

— Crystal Basics: The Energetic, Healing, and Spiritual Power of 200 Gemstones by Nicholas Pearson

If you have yourself a substance that's real close to a MINERAL but doesn't check off all the boxes, it's a mineraloid.

Obsidian is a mineraloid. It comes from lava, so it's non-organic. But its structure is amorphous, meaning it's not arranged in a crystal lattice.

🐻 So: a MINERAL is a CRYSTAL. A MINERALOID is generally not a CRYSTAL.

🔮 WHAT IS A ROCK?

This one's so easy I don't have to pull out a book for it: basically, a ROCK is made up of one or more MINERALS or MINERALOIDS.

Marble is a rock. It's composed of the MINERALS calcite and/or dolomite.

Limestone is a rock. Its parents are (generally) the MINERALS calcite and/or aragonite. I'm sure they're proud.

🔮 WHAT IS A STONE?

Not an official scientific term, as far as I know. This is one that's gonna vary depending on your dialect, your background, etc. I use STONE as a synonym for ROCK, but wouldn't use it for just any old MINERAL or MINERALOID. (Like, a piece of obsidian is not always a STONE to me.)

Your mileage may vary.

🔮 WHAT IS A GEMSTONE?

Also not an official scientific term, as far as I know. Like STONE, this will vary based on your background, dialect, etc. Generally, GEMSTONE refers to any MINERAL, MINERALOID, or ROCK that you humans have used to decorate yourselves over the years. Think jade (ROCK) or ruby (MINERAL) or opals (MINERALOID).

🔮 OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

There's way more scientific rocky rockiness to be talked about. For instance:

The rock cycle (how rocks are formed)

Crystal structures (based on the shape of their lattices)

Color, hardness, etc

...not to mention the METAPHYSICAL properties involved here. But this post is already long and to be honest I'm tired of speaking Human. More later.

Blessings, cubs!

(Typed up by my wife Mate-chan. Thank you, baby.)

[iris-polaris]

So you want to use tasty, tasty rocks and minerals in crystals in your correspondence magic.

Problem is, a lot of metaphysical sources don't cite their sources. Good folklore books, additionally, can be hard to find or acquire. Especially the ones that may give you a lead on ancient magical uses of various stones!

That's where science comes in. Good old GEOLOGY FACTS and LOGIC can show you where you can use stones in your spells when all else fails.

I already told you humans the difference between crystals and rocks and minerals and why it matters to spiritual folk. (We'll be using "stone" to cover all these categories in this post.)

Here's part 2: how to use science as correspondence inspiration. This will help you develop personal associations with the rocks as well.

When you have a stone, ask...

🔮 HOW'D THIS LITTLE TURD FORM?

How or where ye olde earth birthed your stone will give you hints as to its potential powers and associations. If you know the name of your stone, likely you can easily look it up on Google.

If it's a rock, for example, it might be...

Igneous. These rocks form when magma/lava cool. Good for fire magic, perhaps?

Sedimentary. These rocks form when layers of existing rock and other material glomp together. Decent for community magic, maybe?

Metamorphic. These rocks form when existing rocks change under pressure or intense heat. Great for transformation magic, perchance?

If you know where your stone was mined, think about that, too!

Of course, it may also be synthetic, or man-made. This is fine, because any object can have power, even if it's "unnatural." (You humans sure are obsessed with drawing a line between you and "nature.") But only you can decide if this will shape how you use it in spells.

🔮 THE HECK IS THIS STONE SHAPED LIKE?

This is one of the easiest aspects of your stone to figure out, since, like, it's right there.

For example, is your stone tumbled or carved? These are qualities you can use in any spell. A skull-shaped piece of quartz likely has a different vibe than a simpler tumbled round piece, y'know?

Orrrr...maybe your stone's natural? If so, what's its overall "habit" (general shape)? Prism-like? Plant-like? Needle-like?

🔮 HOW HARD IS THIS STONE?

Some stones are soft little boys and some are battle-hardened Warriors of the Big Tough. If you scratch the stone gently with your fingernail, does it leave a mark? How deep? Does powder come off of the stone?

Of course, sometimes a stone is too important to scratch like a poopy little kitty. In that case, most stones lie somewhere on the Mohs scale. If you know what kind of stone you have, you can likely Google its hardness on said scale.

All this, obviously, is just another property of the stone to note. If you're into correspondence magic, how might you use a very hard stone in a spell vs. a soft one?

🔮 WHAT'S THIS STONE'S COLOR?

Obviously, you'll want to take note of the stone's color and what connotations that brings up for you personally. One human's red isn't another human's red, as it so happens.

If the stone's synthetic, it's still fine to take note of its color. Angel aura quartz, for example, may not have come out of the ground all Rainbow Like That, but that doesn't mean it's any less Rainbow Like That.

Also take note of the stone's luster, or shininess. Like, is it shiny? And what kind of shiny? Is it metallic, glass-like, or more waxy? Think about the associations that might have when you use it in spellwork.

Finally, look at how transparent your stone happens to be. It may not be transparent at all. Or only a little. Or only in bits. Where might that quality come in useful for your spells?

🔮 HOW DO SCIENCE HUMANS GROUP THIS STONE?

There's a hundred thousand ways that scientists group various crystals and rocks and minerals depending on the various weird little traits they have. It's worthwhile to look those up and see what you find.

For example, minerals come in numerous flavors:

Oxides, which are combinations of metals and oxygen, like pretty much any ore,

Carbonates, which are a combination of oxygen, metals, and carbon, like malachite,

Silicates, which are a combo of oxygen and silica and include all quartzes ever,

...and many more.

How might these natural groupings affect your spellwork?

🔮 IN CONCLUSION

Use science where you don't have personal connections to a stone or are unsure a stone's traditional magical uses.

Uh. I don't give a rat's butt about actually concluding these things so just remember I also did a post on the difference between crystals and rocks and minerals and why that matters for a witch.

More later.

Blessings, cubs!

(Typed up by my wife Mate-chan. Thank you, baby.)

[inthisuproar]

Was going to write this as a reply to something but realized it needed its own post.

The tl;dr is that, from the looks of it, Automattic absolutely has every intention of turning Tumblr into a marketing media platform.

I work for a marketing company. I build websites.

Specifically, I build websites on Wordpress.org, which is operated by the Wordpress Foundation.

The Wordpress Foundation is the non-profit counterpart to the for-profit company Automattic.

Automattic, as we know, is the company that currently owns Tumblr.

Now, the thing about Wordpress.org (not to be confused with Wordpress.com) is that it's very, VERY popular amongst small businesses. Not only can you build a fully-customizable website with relative ease, you can also add an online shop using another Automattic product: Woocommerce.

Not too long ago, I noticed a new feature was added to Woocommerce: A button next to each Woocommerce product which allows you to Blaze them to Tumblr right from the comfort of your dashboard:

This is what I get when I click that little "Blaze" button...

As someone who understands these tools, I understand the potential implications of these features:

The Blaze feature is basically an up-and-coming ad campaign system that's directly integrated with Woocommerce websites, which I htink is the first ad marketing system of its kind. You don't have to log into a social media account to advertise your products, use a second-party integration, or even pay another service to manage your social media ads. It's all baked right into your business's website.

THIS is their planned money-maker, folks, not the rainbow checkmarks or crab armies. And the reason why Automattic would do this kind of thing is simple: Businesses are wealthier than individuals. By implementing a B2B service, Automattic can make more money off of Tumblr than user subscriptions and shoelaces will ever provide.

It's all the same song and dance. Businesses can now shove more ads into your face in a new, convenient fashion. It'll be ads that don't look like ads disguised amongst ads that do look like ads, just like it is with Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and literally every other marketing media service that calls itself a "social" media.

(Tumblr's new video feature? My guess is that it's there to prepare for video-format Blaze campaigns. Influencer-style videos are the only kind of ad format Gen-Z is receptive to, which is why you're suddenly seeing videos on every platform.)

All they really gotta do now is make Tumblr look appealing to the normies, so they can draw in a userbase that isn't trying to escape the onslaught of commercialism that plagues other sites.

Tumblr is one of the last true social medias we have; a place where content is made purely for the sake of talking about it. But given the writing on the wall...I doubt it'll stay that way.

[filmnoirsbian]

I do think the majority of us should strangle the shame that lives inside of us like wringing water from the rag until we are soft and dry and weightless

[narutwitter]

[iseneri]

Quarterstaff and a cloud of spores, actually

[libraford]

You really...REALLY need to have someone else look at your promotion images because it took way longer than it should have for me to read this font:

[traegorn]

Who or what is a "Mimi 8eggiong?"

[asksecularwitch]

You mean to tell me this isn't Niri Segging???

[iseneri]

It's "mini sessirus"

[asksecularwitch]

Honestly, opener (I'm using this as a category) spells are really useful and I do recommend.

But now I'm going to have to add this one to my list. We're going back to the basics.

LUCK.

MONEY.

PROTECTION.

OPEN - COMMUNICATIONS.

[ophidian-whispers]

Okay but just out of curiosity... have you never heard of road opener spells? I feel like it fits the category pretty neatly.

Come to think of it, it's not really the kinda spell I see around here...? (And by here I mean the anglophone side of the witchnet)

I know they do exist up there, I've seen it before, but it doesn't seem to be as well known somehow... Maybe it's an afroamerican thing. Down here it's quite popular considering my country birthed two african-based religions and those make up around 2% of the country's population. Anyways, just thinking and saying much stuff

[asksecularwitch]

If you're asking me? Yes, I have heard of a road opener. I am not part of those traditions and not trained in them. So I have adopted a similar concept [opening / openers / threshold spells] based on my own personal understanding and practice - so as to not take away from the genre of spells which are road openers - especially since they do a lot of different things in a lot of different ways. *nod*

If you're asking the audience? Maybe not. There's a lot specific folk traditions that are not popular in the general mainstream of spellwork spell classifications.

[ophidian-whispers]

Yeah, yeah, I know.

It's just that it's such a common and well-known thing here (where I'm from) that I just... forgot it's not so common elsewhere 😅 most of my RB was just me thinking out loud anyways

[ophidian-whispers]

Okay I'm gonna talk about this for a bit. To start, I just wanted to disclose that I am NOT initiated into either of the Afrobrazilian religions that are known to make this kind of work! All that I'll say here is what I was made aware of, since it's not necessarily something that is hidden from outsiders all the time. (Some of the practices are kept secret, while others not so much, so most people here can be made aware of what to do or not even if they're not a part of the religions. Do remember that I'm talking about a general Afrobrazilian context, so it probably does not apply to other African-American religions.) So like, anything that I say here can be overridden by someone else's opinion, considering their position in the context being discussed.

However I think the key is to focus on what part of the working is related to the effect you want to happen, and what is related to a specific cultural and religious practice.

In Umbanda, it is common to make petitions to Exus and Pombagiras, deceased spirits that work within a more earthly sphere. The Exus are, afaik, more requested in this context because of their association with crossroads.

So let's say and umbandista wants to make a road-opening work, so they call for one of the umbandan Exu of their choice and makes the petition — alongside the offerings and such.

How would that work, say, in my specific context as someone who works closely with Aphrodite, Apollon and Hekate? Certainly Hekate, as my Queen of the Crossroads, as well as a Queen of Spirits and goddess of witchcraft, is my best fit for a petition of that kind. In the helpol context, Hermes also seems like a good fit.

That, however, is road-opening in a very general understanding. If we're talking love or sex, Aphrodite definitely is the one I'd be petitioning.

The key, to me, is to understand the "road" to be a metaphor for the path you want to walk and where it's leading you. It's a road-opening work because it's supposed to rid you of the things blocking said road, literally opening the path so you can walk safely through it. To my understanding, it's more of a way of thinking about your priblems and how to magically solve them, than a specific way of doing the work itself.

As a closing note, I just want to say, again, that I'm not initiated either in umbanda or candomblé, so my understanding may be clouded, for obvious reasons. Again, all that I said here is what I have been made aware of as an outsider. I encourage practitioners of said Afrobrazilian religions to express whatever opinions they got on the matter if they're able and comfortable to. :)

[asksecularwitch]

I also focused on the "what is blocking me"/"ridding the blocks" and the "thinking of your problems and how to magically solve them" as part of the way that I don't appropriate them. So for me, an opener might be an.... EYE OPENER. (boom boom) So something that makes me able to see what is in front of me and avoid the item or to be realistic. OPPORTUNITY MAY CLOSE A DOOR, BUT OPEN A WINDOW OPENER: So Maybe I'm not jumping through the nearest door, but I am moving forward (very similar to the idea of road / path). I might be going in a hard way but I am still getting in there. A CLOSE DOOR OPENER [the follow up]: Ah so my opportunity got shut. Nah, I got a key for that. Nah that door is actually open, actually. See it's open.

And for an OPEN COMMUNICATION it would be a combo of the EYE OPENER and an additional OPENER. - it actually for me, would be a head thing. Meaning your ears, your mouth, your brain are all up here in your head so it would be literally a sense opening where you can begin to decode someone's communication. And so that you can communicate freely, knowing what you want to say, how it would be best received, and when the right time to say it is. So this isn't necessarily a road or a path, and it's not using the crossroads or any crossroad deities. But it is using the same concept of "stop getting in my way" about things. I like to "dissolve" my blockages via ritual fire or smoke. But that's not how everyone handles that blockage situation. So technique wise this is different as well. But the concept and the thoughts about magic is entirely awesome and hence why I took what inspired me to think about magic differently from the learning that someone else had. Then I applied that inspired thought process to what made the most sense to me.

[windvexer]

I do think that when considering the validity of 'fuck around and find out,' context is really helpful.

Like, what's the worst case scenario?

Because if someone wants to build a custom oracle deck using yu-gi-oh cards and they aren't sure how to balance monsters to traps, the advice "fuck around and find out" basically amounts to, "why not just try something out and see how it works? You can always change it if you don't like it."

Whereas if someone says, "I know I've only been practicing for a month but I believe that devoting myself to Old Scratch is what I'm called to do," the statement "fuck around and find out" is the same thing as saying "I don't care what happens to you, see around you if you survive."

[windvexer]

And I do think there's a middle ground, like, building an altar just to see what's going to arrive because why the fuck not, perhaps that's a curable situation; not wise, but who is when they're 20 or under.

Anyway. I don't think I have anything else very useful to say about this, so I think I'm going to go do some chores.

[stagkingswife]

I think part of the problem is that so much of the community is against experimentation at all that it’s become difficult for people to recognize, or maybe acknowledge, the difference in scale of consequence between what I would call “no risk,” “acceptable risk,” and “high risk” experiments.

Your example of how to use trap cards in a Yu-Gi-Oh oracle deck is what I would call a “no/low risk” experiment. Messing around with different options for this isn’t likely to cost anything but time.

To me an “acceptable risk” experiment is something that might cause some trouble, but it’s trouble I’m confident I can handle. An example of this for me would be experimenting with spell variables. Changing out steps or ingredients in a spell might cause it to fizzle out or blow back depending on one’s paradigm, but if you know how to handle that it might be an acceptable risk to learn more about how spells work for you.

I classify “High Risk” experiments are experiments that either I don’t fully know or understand the risks of, or ones where I’m not confident that I can take the fall out in stride. Sometimes I take the risk anyway because the reward seems worth it and I’m confident in my ability to figure it the fuck out, and sometimes I decide that it’s not worth it and I don’t want to be bothered.

I think as a community we have such a weird relationship with experimentation. You have the people who will fear-monger about it and people who will support it, but neither one tends to get into the nitty gritty of how to judge and decide what to experiment with, when, and how. I’ve always been very pro-experimentation, and I’m only just now realizing that I’ve never talked about how I make these decisions, I just assumed that everyone else would have their own internal low, acceptable, and high risk rubrics.

[upthewitchypunx]

The funny thing about the fear-mongers is that their concerns are always anecdotal and rarely their own experience.they also never have a problem solving element and no one likes to be told "don't do that!" Without an explanation.

But also, humans are terrible at risk evaluation.

[asksecularwitch]

Sincerely. The amount of time, throughout the years, that i have been told:

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MESSING WITH" - when saying that I'm a non-religious witch is gate keeping at it's finest.

"YOU WILL BE CURSED/HEXED/HURT/ETC" - when saying that I will do contract work instead of religious work with spirits. "YOUR SPELLS ARE GOING TO BACKFIRE/WON'T WORK" - when saying I'm doing experimentation on the lowest level of experimentation. Like my "fuck around and find out" or rather my "hold my beer" mentality comes directly from outside sources defining what I can and cannot do, versus me deciding that based on a risk analysis. Have I fucked around and found out in a bad way? Yes - for particular style of energy work I found that I personally? found it ethically and morally unacceptable and am still grossed out by it. I did it, it worked, and I will never do it again. It was yuckie. But it's been a useful way for me to judge my risk appetite for certain things in the future. I'm sure this energy manipulation would be low on the risk scale if it was objective. Right? But it's the subjectivity that needs to be in place. You need to think about it really for yourself.

Otherwise had I listened to all these fucks before? I wouldn't be the witch today I am. And I certainly wouldn't have had the impact that I have had throughout til today. I know that the ask here is for measure and thought. Hence my mixed feelings around this conversation. Because to me? Fuck around and find out is a rallying cry of self determination. But I understand that fuck around and find out without the juxtaposition of large amount of voices telling you WHAT TO DO and HOW TO DO IT and HOW THERE CAN BE NO DEVIATION makes it a really bad rule to follow. BY itself? It would be bad. With this context? It is not that.

[breelandwalker]

A collection of free-use texts on witchcraft, magic, and related topics. Shared with Dropbox

Hello, witches! Since I’m always harping on about learning your history and checking your sources, I thought I’d help folks get a head start by compiling some source material.

To that end, I’ve started a Dropbox folder with a stash of historical texts on witchcraft, magic, and related topics. Nearly everything I’ve managed to find so far is public domain (thank you Project Gutenberg), with the exception of a very thorough herbal grimoire I found online some years ago and a book of witchcraft from the 1970s that appears to be out of print.

I will be continuing in this vein with future texts that I find. Everything will be public domain or cited to the source that it came from, in PDF format. I will NOT be including PDFs of any book currently in circulation with a copyright linked to a living author or estate. The point of this folder is that everything in it should be free for sharing and open use as research materials.

Below is the initial list of titles. I tried to include as many as I could find, with a focus on some oft-cited classics. I will be adding new texts as I find them.

A Collection of Rare and Curious Tracts on Witchcraft and the Second Sight, by David Webster (1820)

A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718, by Wallace Notestein (1909)

British Goblins, Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions, by Wirt Sikes (1880)

Curiosities of Superstition, by W. H. Davenport Adams (1882)

Daemonologie, by King James I/VI (1597)

Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, Edited and Selected by W. B. Yeats (1888)

Irish Witchcraft and Demonology, by St. John Drelincourt Seymour (1913)

La Sorcière, or The Witch of the Middle Ages, by Jules Michelet (1863)

Lives of the Necromancers, by William Godwin (1834)

Magic and Fetishism, by Alfred C. Haddon (1906)

Magic and Witchcraft, by Anonymous (1852)

Modern Magic, by M. Schele de Vere (1873)

Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics, by Richard Folkard (1884)

Practical Psychomancy and Crystal Gazing, by William Walker Atkinson (1908)

The Devil in Britain and America, by John Ashton (1896)

The Discoverie of Witchcraft, by Reginald Scot (1594, 1886 reprint)

The Extremely Large Herbal Grimoire (date unknown, internet publication)

The Golden Bough : A Study of Magic and Religion, by Sir James George Frazer (1890)

The Illustrated Key to the Tarot, by L.W. de Laurence (1918)

The Magic of the Horse-shoe, by Robert Means Lawrence (1898)

The Mysteries of All Nations, by James Grant (1880)

The Mystery and Romance of Alchemy and Pharmacy, by Charles John Samuel Thompson (1897)

The Superstitions of Witchcraft, by Howard Williams (1865)

The Witchcraft Delusion in Colonial Connecticut by John M. Taylor (1908)

The Wonders of the Invisible World, by Cotton Mather and A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches, by Increase Mather (1693, 1862 reprint)

Witch Stories, by E. Lynn (Elizabeth Lynn) Linton (1861)

Witch, Warlock, And Magician, by W. H. Davenport Adams (1889)

Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland, by John Gregorson Campbell (1902)

Witches’ Potions & Spells, ed. by Kathryn Paulsen (1971)

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that these texts are (with few exceptions) more than a century old, and may contain depictions, references, or language that are outdated and inappropriate. The point of including these documents is to provide access to historical texts for research and reference. Inclusion in the collection does not equal unconditional agreement with or wholesale approval of the contents.

Take everything with a grain of salt and remember to do your due diligence!

Happy Witching!   -Bree

[skaldish]

Wait then how does magical manifestation work if that’s not too basic a question

Depends on what you want to manifest. There isn't a single formula for doing all magical things just like there isn't a single formula for doing all physical things.

I'd need some kind of prompt to work with.

[skaldish]

This also may be an instance where I know how something works but not enough to explain how to do it.

[embervoices]

Would it perhaps help to first unpack what all is meant by "Manifestation Magic"?

To the degree that an oft-repeated definition of magic[k] is "creating change in accordance with will" what isn't "manifestation work"?

[skaldish]

Sure, I'll give it a shot.

Firstly, there's a difference between "manifestation" and "magic." Manifestation is the act of making something exist in your life that currently doesn't, while magic is a method for doing that.

Secondly, magic is NOT the act of triggering a miracle that can override reality.

Magic is the act of orchestrating change by pulling things around within the web of ideas, worldviews, and narratives that govern our understanding of reality. "Weaving the wyrd" is not abstract poetry. It's literal.

(This is also why people who are skilled at magic say you need to study things such as science and history, because you need to understand the difference between The Thing and The Ideas We Have About The Thing across the broad spectrum of human knowledge. Wizards are called wizards because their expertise is not magic, but wisdom. Strong magic is a byproduct of strong wisdom.)

And then, of course, you use metaphor as a way to facilitate this wyrd-working. There's a semiotic something involved that I can't quite put into words just yet.