I'm an aromantic, asexual, agender nonbinary wizard who uses they/them pronouns but will accept he/him when it's funny. I am an adult.
I'm an eclectic wizard with a focus on pop culture and apparently chaos magic, but I'm specifically anti-appropriation. As far as my beliefs go, I'm a kinda-animist cosmic nihilist polytheist.
Important other blogs:
@jasper-the-menace is my main blog which holds my weird fandom and personal stuff
@jasper-tarot-reader is my tarot reading blog (free readings currently open)
@the-college-of-whispers is my Elder Scrolls pop culture magic/paganism blog
@jasper-grimoire is my tumblr grimoire for information that I'm transcribing or saving for future use
@missouri-witchcraft is my Missouri-specific magic blog
@jasper-polytheist-wizard for some spite and stupidity and bad shitposts I guess
@jasper-and-the-forty-servants for my work with the Forty Servants deck-and-servitor-system by Tommie Kelly using Magic: The Gathering cards
@coding-emoji-spells for emoji spells and technomagic, which I co-run with a buddy now!
This blog is about my practice or me talking with my pals!
Here are some extra helpful links:
Alabaster Crow's Expanded Guide to Divination by me, my buddy Alabaster, and my buddy Jaieson
The Jasper's Beans Discord Server where we chill.
My masterposts:
Jasper's Tarot Spreads Masterpost
Jasper's Pop Culture Magic/Paganism Resource Masterpost
Jasper’s MTG Pop Culture Masterpost
Jasper’s Servitor/Thoughtform Resource Post
Neopets/Skyrim Tarot: Masterpost - on @jasper-tarot-reader
This blog is safe for most mages, witch or otherwise in title.
This blog is not safe for Messianics, appropriators, """Lilith devotees""", Harry Potter/JK Rowling supporters (even having your Hogwarts house in your bio will get you blocked on sight), religious missionaries, bigots, exclusionists, or assholes. This blog is also anti-essential oils (mostly the unsafe usage of them).
For discussion’s sake and because I think the waters are muddy for a lot of people on this: What do you think is the distinction between the realms of the High Priestess and the Hierophant? What counts as spiritual and what counts as religious?
I think it comes down to titling and positioning between them. The High Priestess does not need a title when presenting to other humans as her focus is more on the other side of a line between mundane and magical, but the Hierophant is more public-presenting and steps on the mundane or human-dealing side of the line more often than the High Priestess does.
There are also the whole gender roles and its dynamics baked into each of the five cards that leads to this reading of each of them, but that's ultimately part of dealing with these cards. You can de-gender the titles, you can switch the order, you can give them different names entirely, but if you're still following the tarot order, they're still going to be the same cards.
Honestly I think the lesson I've learned from trying to read books about tarot is that it actively hinders your ability to read the cards.
If you want to learn the history of tarot, start on Wikipedia and follow its sources instead of relying on the bullshit pseudohistory that gets passed around in tarot books.
If you want to learn about the symbolism of tarot, look up information on the religious and historical circumstances during which it was popularized and learn about Pamela Colman Smith's work.
If you want to learn about reading tarot, check the guidebook that comes with your deck (only the card meanings rather than whatever dickslappery fills out the whole introductions and how to reads) and then start offering free readings to build your skills.
If you want to do tarot, do tarot.
If you want to read about tarot, don't pick up a book about tarot. Pick up books and academic articles about the things around it.
Note: This is not to say that every tarot book is bad. I have enjoyed a few. But recent reads has strangled my faith in "tarot authors".
Keeping in mind all of the racist, appropriative, and New Age-y elements of The Magic Of Tarot: Your Guide To Intuitive Readings, Rituals, And Spells by Sasha Graham, I have to say that "remove the scary cards from your deck and don't read to predict misfortune" is the part that finally broke me and made me DNF this book at page 72.
1 out of 10, I wouldn't even use it to wipe my ass. I will not recommend this book and I will not recommend this author. This book singlehandedly turned me off of her work forever.
Here are some of the really bad parts of it near the end where I finally gave up!
This editing error where it was changed to black instead of blank, showing that no one actually fucking read through this book to edit it.
Section of note: A card a day. This practice is described later in this chapter. Dedicate a section to recording your daily pulls and insights. Begin with a black sheet of paper. Write your question on the top of the paper: "What do I need to know today?"
It was obviously meant to say blank rather than black.
This passage which made me go "girl, what?"
Section of note: Reading for pregnant women is something to consider before an expectant mother shows up in front of your cards. Are you willing to say or show something that could frighten a woman who is soon to be in the hospital? Consider the power of suggestion. The image of the Death card can be terrifying to one unfamiliar with its nuanced meaning. Do not run the risk of frightening or stressing out a pregnant woman. Avoid it altogether. Would you really want to bear the weight of responsibility for a woman in her last trimester to see the Eight or Nine of Swords or something equallly spooky that she might internalize? I have made it a personal rule to never read for a pregnant woman and highly advise you to do the same.
Honestly the section below it about drugs and alcohol is equally cringe-worthy but I was so fucking baffled by "cards may scare pregnant women" that I didn't even process the next paragraph.
And finally, the thing that broke me once and for all, the part where the author says to just remove scary cards from the deck because they might scare your querents.
Section of note: Remove scary cards if they freak you out. Tarot should not feel frightening. If something bothers you, remove it until you are ready to integrate it. You might consider removing scary cards when reading tarot for the public. Remove the Death card when reading for strangers since people tend to take that card at face value. You never know who is going to walk up or what experience or assumptions they hold about tarot cards. What if an eleven-year-old with a sick mother walks up to your table and pulls the Death card? Do you want to be responsible for putting that image in a child's mind? There is no right or wrong answer, but it is something for you to consider.
I love how she says "there's no right or wrong answer" after giving you instructions and leading you to what she obviously thinks is the right answer.
Overall, the infantilization of everyone in this book is one of its most annoying qualities, but I cannot stress enough that the repeated racism, appropriation, and New Age bullshit is enough on its own for me to rank it a 1 out of 10. Genuinely, skip this one.
Keeping in mind all of the racist, appropriative, and New Age-y elements of The Magic Of Tarot: Your Guide To Intuitive Readings, Rituals, And Spells by Sasha Graham, I have to say that "remove the scary cards from your deck and don't read to predict misfortune" is the part that finally broke me and made me DNF this book at page 72.
1 out of 10, I wouldn't even use it to wipe my ass. I will not recommend this book and I will not recommend this author. This book singlehandedly turned me off of her work forever.
This is for anyone who self-identifies as a witch. This poll is about assumptions or social pressure about the role of creative spellcrafting in witchcraft.
"Spells" can also broadly refer to magical techniques meant to have an effect on yourself or the world.
This refers to how you practice a large majority of the time; vote with your heart.
When I need to cast a spell...
I never re-use spells, I come up with a new one for everything
I will re-use spells but I always individualize them
I will re-use spells and sometimes individualize them
I will re-use spells but rarely or never individualize them
Thanks to memory issues, everything I do is for the first time
Invalid reason to take away someone's witch card: "I looked at the picture of your altar and the gods/my psychism revealed to me you are weak"
However that does not mean there is no good reason to lose your witch card. It's time for us all to stop putting on airs and be honest about why we are unworthy. This is a no-judgement zone, what have you done recently to lose your witch card? I'll start.
I left an active spell in a bowl when I moved out of my parent’s house five years ago, just completely forgot I did it. It absolutely fizzled at some point when the water evaporated, but I only remembered it existed recently when my parents sent me the bowl in a box with some of my other things and there was the pulp of what was once paper crusted on the bottom. What kind of witch forgets about spells they’ve cast :(
Alright, figured I should post this here. I'm looking for video game recommendations that are not "play Baldur's Gate 3/The Elder Scrolls/Dragon Age games".
Requirements:
The game must be playable on the Playstation 5. I do not have any other game systems nor a gaming PC.
The game must not punish me for keeping it on the lowest difficulty setting. I do not find struggling and having to constantly reload saves to be fun. This also means I do not enjoy Soulslike games; I simply cannot get good so I'm avoiding that.
No shooter games. I am absolute shit at guns in video games and want to avoid it as much as possible.
No required mods. I am technologically illiterate and do not enjoy trying to mod games. If you wholeheartedly believe that a game cannot be played without a specific mod, don't recommend it; I don't want that sort of thing.
Requests:
Action-adventure and/or roleplaying game elements. I prefer both simultaneously.
Character creation, ideally with both customization for the physical appearance and classes or other such things for doing different builds. I prefer things more on the Oblivion side (established classes, attributes, etc) than the Skyrim side (perk points) but could go for either.
Fantasy setting. I prefer magic as an option for my combat, even if it's optional and you can use other kinds of weapons too. Options for fighting are great.
Being able to have the option to play something that is not human is ideal. Ideally there will be many options for playing not human things.
When you're reading a tarot book and get hit with the combo multiplier of "feminine power"-third eye-chakras-Qabalah appropriation-the g slur-the word shaman used incorrectly-saying you don't need tarot cards in a book about tarot cards because "the universe" is already sending you messages and you haven't even made it out of the introduction yet
Advertisements VS Non-Advertisements in Witchcraft & Occult Spaces
Maintaining a skeptical, critical eye when it comes to selecting someone to purchase a magical product or service from is generally good. It's important to vet your options both to prevent being scammed and to ensure that the product/service actually suits you. Similar to buying shoes online, you don't want to accidentally purchase from a dubious source and end up with something you didn't order, shoes that fall apart quickly, shoes made unethically, or -- in the worse case -- nothing at all.
However, turning that skeptical eye into a knife meant to cut down other practitioners on the internet is at best rude and at worst completely antisocial behavior. Operating under the assumption that every post someone makes is an ad just because they accept tips, offer commissions, or sell products is simply ridiculous.
Casting a very wide gaze over a massive group of people and reducing them to, essentially, "posers" does a huge disservice to that group and to the person making that generalization. It flattens an extremely diverse populace based on nothing more than bias and a desire to appear superior. The idea in statements like this one isn't to offer critique or start conversations about trends and behavior in online witchcraft spheres. The intention is to declare: "These people are inferior to me. I am better than them. They are not like me. You, the reader, should not trust them, because they are fake, and I am real."
But I digress. Let's return to the original point: The average practitioner on the internet is sharing their practice and personal experiences, even when they're selling something. A person might curate their content to better cater to their audience, but that's... sort of all social media, whether or not an exchange of money is occurring. It's a symptom of the environment as a whole. In this way, I suppose you could argue that all social media posting is advertisement -- a plea for attention, a shout into the ether saying "I'm worth listening to! I'm here, I'm here!"
(There is something in here to critique about people asking for payment in return for regurgitating the same five basic "baby witch" tips using stolen graphics found on Pinterest -- but that's not what this post is about.)
Some posts are advertisements. Some posts are not advertisements in themselves, but they contain links to payment-focused websites like Ko-fi or Patreon. Some posts contain no advertising at all.
For the sake of argument, I will assume that the person I am currently vague-posting about perhaps cannot tell the difference between an advertisement, a post with tip/commission links, and a regular post. So, let's dissect a little bit.
Now, if you know me, you know I love an example. I love proof. I love a source. For this, since I'm among the witches using Tumblr as both a social platform and my primary advertising platform, let me use my own posts as examples of what is and is not an advertisement.
Let's start with a really easy one. Read it over and ask yourself: Is this an advertisement?
[Link to the original]
Is this an advertisement? ... Yes! It is! This is an advertisement for limited-slot free tarot readings. The purpose is to provide the freebies because it's fun, but also because I offer tarot readings as paid services!
Offering free readings is an excellent and enjoyable way to expose my work to more people. It displays my skills and my personality while giving me the opportunity to link to my paid services a whole bunch.
You can tell it's an ad, because:
A particular service is being offered within the post
Links to extended services (in this case, paid services or tipping) are provided
It contains instructions for how to receive the thing being offered
Even if there were no links for exchanging money on here, it would still technically be an advertisement. Advertising is specifically "the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service" (Wikipedia, accessed Jun 18, 2026). Though the service in question is free, it's still an ad.
Not only that, but every ask I answered with tarot readings is, in a way, also an advertisement. Again, the purpose is to display my skills and link to where people can receive paid services from me.
Personally, I wouldn't do the free tarot if it wasn't fun and if I didn't have the energy for it (which is why you might notice a lack of free tarot sessions lately!). But I don't think there's anything wrong with using this as an advertising strategy, specifically because it's the most honest method I can think of. If the skills aren't there, the free readings will be garbage, and the paid ones won't take off.
How about a tougher one next -- is this an advertisement?
(For context, I start offering year ahead tarot readings every year around late November into January.)
[Original post]
Is this an advertisement? ... Nope! It isn't! Although this post references the year ahead readings I was offering at the time, it isn't an advertisement.
There aren't any products or services actually being touted here. Again, the post references the year ahead readings, but there aren't any links to the listings or even to the page where they were being offered. They're being mentioned as context for the question I wanted to ask, which was whether other people were doing year aheads and seeing the same patterns.
This post isn't an ad; it's a conversation starter about year ahead readings in general. While it might expose someone to my services, it isn't a call for them to buy. However, I could see the argument that this is an advertisement, simply because it has the potential to inspire someone to click through my blog for links to the services. But if that's the case, then every post I make is an ad -- because every post has potential to inspire curiosity, and that might lead to a sale.
It's an uncharitable take, one that I would hesitate to make even against someone I really, really dislike or distrust.
Let's do another easy one. Is this an advertisement?
[Original post]
Is this an advertisement? ... Of course not! It's a silly post joking about a set of spells I was working on as a favor for someone I know. Note the "#my practice" tag and a lack of links to anything.
Not only that, but I don't offer spell services! This could only be construed as an advertisement in an extremely bad-faith interpretation if I sold spells.
Another easy one... Is this an advertisement?
[Original post]
Is this an advertisement? ... Yes! Yes, it is! This is very clearly an advertisement for the webring I created. Check out all the tags I put on this for visibility, too!
This post is advertising a service to a particular demographic, with links for people to join. The webring is free, but this is still an ad meant to inform people about its existence and entice them to join.
Alright, what about this one? Is this an advertisement?
(This post is partly cut off, but the contents are just recipe ingredients and instructions.)
[Original post]
Is this an advertisement? ... Sorta! Mostly, it isn't, but part of it is.
For transparency, on a post like this, I would typically link to my Ko-fi so that if folks like my work, they can click through to tip me. Why? Because I work for myself, and this is my gig. My partner is our breadwinner, but I bring in a little bit with the work I do to help pay our bills and pad out our savings. I didn't link to it on this post, but I usually do.
That's why it's sort of an advertisement. The post itself isn't necessarily an ad. It's just a set of recipes I wrote. It does also mention commissions, because that was the origin of the base recipe, which could be construed as an advertisement for those. I also link to a better-formatted version of the post my website, so this could be considered an ad for that, too.
My intention wasn't to have this be an ad... mostly because the lead-up was an ad. There's a version of this post that links to the article on Ko-fi, because it was up in early access for supporters. Again, I do this as a perk for folks who decide they like my work enough to throw money at me about it. It's a "thanks" for dollars. That post was 100% an advertisement. This one, not so much, but it could be interpreted that way, and I would say that's pretty fair either way.
One more screenshot, because the context of the original quote was bitching about people posting photos of spellwork/altars "performatively." Is this an advertisement?
[Original post]
Is this post an advertisement? ... Fuck no! This is an aesthetically-pleasing photo I took of an altar arranged specifically to be aesthetically pleasing. It was featured in a live stream vigil for Trans Day of Remembrance, which is why I took extra care to make it look very pretty. It was a public space, and I wanted people to feel drawn to it and welcome. A pleasing appearance is crucial for that sort of thing.
The posts leading up to this one might be considered ads, specifically for the livestream event itself. If this post is advertising anything, it's advertising my staunch solidarity with my fellow trans people, our collective grief, and blazing, furious hope for the future.
"But that's not the kind of thing the original person meant!" What did they mean, then? People sharing pictures of candles they poured by hand for personal rituals? Diviners posting photos of their daily tarot draw with their musings on the meanings? Witches making pretty collages or artsy edits of spells on pleasing-looking altars?
The environment is different on other apps/websites, but the core principle remains the same: Not everything is an advertisement, even when someone has something for sale.
Bonus Points: Is this post an advertisement??
That's right -- the post you're reading right now! Is this an ad? After all, I've:
Linked to a bunch of my own posts
Shared screenshots of my own posts
Talked about services I offer
Talked about that webring I run
Linked to posts that contain links to places where you can pay me
Linked to Ko-fi right here (GASP!), because it's my post and I can and if you like my work you can chuck dollars at me (semi-joking -- I prefer commissions over tips, because then you Receive Something Tangible in return)
Well? Is it an ad? ... No, not really! Well, not until I added that link to Ko-fi. C'est la vie.
The screenshots and links provided here are shown for the sake of discussion. Without them, this post would become a series of vague hand-waves complaining about absolutely nothing in particular, with nothing to show and no proof to give. Examples are crucial in these kinds of conversations, in my opinion, and I'd rather use myself as target than someone else.
To be perfectly clear: There is nothing wrong with advertising your work, your services, your products, or your business. You are allowed to make posts designed to attract eyes to your work, whether or not you're making money off it. That's, like, the whole fucking point of social media -- to gain attention and meet others in the digital space. It's social. Get with it.
This post is open ground for commentary, debate, and disagreement. Include your own examples of your posts, if you want, to discuss whether they're advertisements or not.
Oh, Death, the Devil, and the King of Wands, in that order, easy. Death is very trans-affirming for me, the Devil is my favorite out of my two birth cards, and the King of Wands is what I hope to be later in life.
When you're reading a tarot book and get hit with the combo multiplier of "feminine power"-third eye-chakras-Qabalah appropriation-the g slur-the word shaman used incorrectly-saying you don't need tarot cards in a book about tarot cards because "the universe" is already sending you messages and you haven't even made it out of the introduction yet
When you're reading a tarot book and get hit with the combo multiplier of "feminine power"-third eye-chakras-Qabalah appropriation-the g slur-the word shaman used incorrectly-saying you don't need tarot cards in a book about tarot cards because "the universe" is already sending you messages and you haven't even made it out of the introduction yet
This just reminded me of the "native american-inspired" Tarot deck I have shoved at the back of a drawer somewhere. I just don't know what to do with that.
When you're reading a tarot book and get hit with the combo multiplier of "feminine power"-third eye-chakras-Qabalah appropriation-the g slur-the word shaman used incorrectly-saying you don't need tarot cards in a book about tarot cards because "the universe" is already sending you messages and you haven't even made it out of the introduction yet
