be kind to light fish

fish · 30 · modern / urban / pop culture witch · trying to live a kinder, more mindful life · if you divine with trading card game decks, talk to me. we're friends already · a digital BoS of sorts · sideblog (i follow back from nigiyakapepper)

[lichtfish]

hello! I'm a mod for Diwatahan (discord server, but just created this account recently~) and was wondering if it's okay if we credit you as inspiration for an Adobo Spell Jar post that we're working on for Instagram?

hello! i’m sorry for the late reply but yes of course!

[pinoy-culture]

[the-surreptitious-solitary]

Tarot Spread For The Upcoming Year, Two Ways

First, a simple overview, shown above. Shuffle while concentrating on the upcoming year. If you have a particular type of concern for the days ahead (career, romance, finances, etc), focus on that and ask for guidance. If not, ask for general guidance or predictions and deal as shown. These cards represent:

Overall theme for the year

Message for January

Message for February

Message for March

Message for April

Message for May

Message for June

Message for July

Message for August

Message for September

Message for October

Message for November

Message for December

Read upright/reversed based on their relationship to the center of the wheel; center is the bottom, the rim is the top, so, for instance, card 2 is in a normal orientation, while 5 is on its side with the top to the right.

Alternately, you can take a more comprehensive look at the upcoming year. As above, shuffle and concentrate on the kind of overview that would fill your needs. Last the cards as shown. These cards represent:

A lesson you will bring with your from the past year into the upcoming year (will help you deal with the coming year)

Overall theme for the new year

Overall struggle/adversary for the new year

A lesson you will need to learn in the coming year to prepare your for the following year

Message for January

Message for February

Message for March

Message for April

Message for May

Message for June

Message for July

Message for August

Message for September

Message for October

Message for November

Message for December

Struggle/adversary for January

Struggle/adversary for February

Struggle/adversary for March

Struggle/adversary for April

Struggle/adversary for May

Struggle/adversary for June

Struggle/adversary for July

Struggle/adversary for August

Struggle/adversary for September

Struggle/adversary for October

Struggle/adversary for November

Struggle/adversary for December

Read upright/reversed on the monthly messages as indicated with the first spread. The struggle/adversary cards (3 and 17-28) should be read holistically; the upright or reversed meanings may be most appropriate to be aware of. Use your intuition. Be aware that these cards often have advice for how to deal with that struggle.

The struggle/adversary may be a person, situation, mindset, etc.

I suggest reading each month as a pair (its message and struggle/adversary together). You may find that a month that has a negative message may carry advice on the struggle for how to get through it, for instance. It is surprising how these cards interact sometimes.

[adapembroke]

Stop Memorizing Your Tarot Cards

Stop memorizing your Tarot cards. Burn the little white book. Learn to read images.

I beat this drum incessantly in the Tarot community. In the past I’ve emphasized the ease of this approach, and it is, actually, much easier and much less tedious than memorizing descriptions. If you sit with a card and allow your mind to wander freely, you will come up with dozens of associations for each card that are just as valid as anything Waite or Crowley came up with. Probably more valid. Nothing I’ve read by any occultist has helped me heal a broken heart, but sitting with the emotions that bubble up when I’m hurting and looking at the 3 of Swords certainly has.

The hardest part of learning to read images is unshackling yourself from the tyranny of words. There are schools of thought that teach a thought doesn’t exist until it’s formed itself into words, but art proves the lie of that, dripping through the spaces between the letters, reaching the places words can’t reach. Who was the ballerina who said, “If I could tell you what the dance was saying, I wouldn’t have had to dance it?”

Tarot is art. You can’t just call the High Priestess “introversion” and call it a day. That’s like trying to reduce Hamlet to the word “indecisive.”

Tarot cards aren’t words. They aren’t even sentences. They are libraries.

And your mind already knows how to read them.

Choose a card. Any card. Sit with it for five minutes and watch where your mind goes.

That’s all you have to do.

This post was originally published on adapembroke.com in November 2020.

[grimoirebabylon]

Why You Should Keep Track of the Tarot Cards You Pull

People will often notice patterns to the cards they pull - you’ll notice that certain cards come up more often. This tends to be based on a feeling though, rather than any real data about which cards you’ve pulled - and the real data may surprise you. 

I’ve kept track of the cards I’ve pulled in my single card readings over the past three months, and here are some things I’ve noticed: 

I pull one card more frequently than any other card. In my case, that card is The Magician. It’s really useful to know - not just suspect - that one card turns up constantly for me. 

Some cards don’t actually appear as frequently as I think they do. I recently pulled the Nine of Pentacles and thought, “Again?? Why do I pull this card so much??” but when I look at the actual data… I’ve pulled other cards way more frequently. I think it’s a form of the Baader-Meinhof effect - a card can stick in your brain for some reason and you remember it as appearing more often than it actually does!

There are interesting things about the cards that I don’t pull. In three months, these Major Arcana cards have never come up at all: The Emperor and The Devil. I can look at the data of what archetypes don’t appear in my life and draw some interesting conclusions. I’ve also not drawn a single court card (page, knight, queen, or king) from the suit of swords - swords tend to deal with conflict, which I maybe have less of during this particular time in my life

I can identify which suit and which numbered cards appear the most and the least in my readings. While the totals of Swords, Wands, Cups, and Pentacles I pull are pretty close to even, Wands eke out a little bit higher total than the others. Cups and Pentacles are tied, with Swords coming in last. If I didn’t have this data, I’d probably assume I pull Swords the most - because they leave the biggest impact on me when I do pull them! Of the numbered cards: I pull Aces of any suit the most, and Twos of any suit the least. This makes for some interesting patterns: The Magician is sort of the “Ace” of the Major Arcana, as well. Aces are about a very singular willpower whereas Twos are about partnership and duality. Through this pattern I can identify the focus the cards have on my life at this particular point in time.

I pull Major Arcana cards more than is statistically likely. The Major Arcana makes up 28% of the deck, but 39% of my pulls. The Major Arcana are more associated with long-term messages, and so my life may have more long-term type changes needing to be made during this period.

This is a quick guide to how you might interpret some of the overall themes you notice:  Minor Arcana: temporary, easily changed, daily life, current situation Major Arcana: long term, archetypes, themes, life lessons, current lesson Wands: spirituality, inspiration, determination, strength, intuition, creativity, ambition and expansion; energy, motivation and passion. Cups: love, feelings, relationships and connection; emotions, intuition and creativity Swords: action, change, force, power, oppression, ambition, courage and conflict; thoughts, and words Pentacles: work, business, trade, property, money and other material possessions Aces: new beginnings, news, movement in a positive direction Twos: duality, connection Threes: creation, creativity, growth, action Fours: stability, structure Fives: tension, conflict, challenge Sixes: relaxation, harmony, reevaluation Sevens: mystery, disruption, adjustment Eights: action, movement, growth, change Nines: contemplation, reflection, looking to the next step Tens: conclusion, culmination, new beginnings, complexity Pages: youth, vitality, fascination, learning, and focus Knights: adventure, energy, missions, conviction, willfulness, recklessness Queens: curiosity, openness, expressiveness, creativity, flexibility Kings: authority, leadership, expertise, mastery, inflexibility

[mysticramblings]

Weekly Tarot Challenge

This challenge is something you can do just once or you can make it a regular part of your weekly routine! It is based on a Monday-Friday work week so if you have a different schedule you may want to rearrange the challenge.

Sunday: What can I do to prepare for the upcoming week?

Monday: How can I energize my mind, body, and soul today?

Tuesday: How can I challenge myself to improve today?

Wednesday: How can I reach my full potential today?

Thursday: How can I ensure my work is high quality?

Friday: How can I accomplish my goals today?

Saturday: How can I honor myself for a job well done?

[samwisethewitch]

Keeping Consumerism out of Your Craft

Consumerism is a set of socioeconomic conditions and attitudes that encourage the continual acquisitions of goods and services. There is no “enough” in a consumerist society — members of the society are constantly pushed to buy new things, pay for new services, and keep up with the latest trends.

There are a few reasons consumerism is bad news. For one thing, it’s terrible for the environment — consumerist cultures usually have linear economies, where resources are extracted, consumed, then discarded, with no effort to replenish them. This is highly unsustainable, because at some point those limited resources are going to run out. Consumerism also has a human cost, as it often leads to the use of sweatshops, which violate basic labor laws. In many sweatshops, workers are not paid a livable wage, children are employed as workers, and working conditions are unsafe. Companies in countries like the United States get around labor laws by outsourcing labor to other (poorer) places. Consumerism also contributes to classism, as the acquisition of expensive items is often treated as a status symbol.

Consumerism is present in nearly every aspect of Western culture, and this includes spirituality and witchcraft. There are multiple “Beginner Witch Kits” for sale from Amazon and other online retailers which include candles, crystals, and incense — which is great, as long as that’s all stuff you’ll actually use in your practice. (I mean, do you really need twelve different varieties of incense?) Witchy authors and bloggers often treat magic like a matching game, where every problem requires a very specific herb or crystal. YouTube is full of “witch hauls,” videos solely dedicated to showing off new purchases. All of this contributes to a commercialized witchy aesthetic, which can only be achieved by buying the tools of the trade.

I get it. Shopping is fun, especially when you’re still learning about magic and magical items. It’s exciting to search for the perfect crystal or incense blend, especially if you have a local metaphysical store where you can shop in person. But owning the right stuff doesn’t make you a witch. All you need to practice magic is your will — everything else is optional.

I’m not saying every witch should be a hardcore minimalist, or that you can never buy new things. What I am saying is that all of us, witches or not, need to be more mindful of how we spend our money and the impact of our purchases on the world around us.

How to Avoid Consumerism

If you’re considering buying something, ask yourself if you’ll really get use out of it. For example, I don’t use a lot of tools in my practice because I prefer to work with my hands, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to buy an expensive wand or ritual knife. Don’t feel like you have to buy something just because another witch uses it — if you don’t think you’ll use it, don’t buy it.

Don’t buy multiples of the same tool. Instead of buying multiple different colored altar cloths for different times of year, buy one white altar cloth you can use year-round. Instead of buying multiple tarot decks, find one or two you really enjoy working with. You get the idea. (Obviously, there will be some items you need more than one of, like spell candles. This rule applies more to tools that can be reused.)

Replace things as they run out instead of buying them before you need them. Buying things in bulk can lead to unnecessary waste and drawers full of unused magical supplies. Buy things you know you’ll really use, and only buy one or two at a time. Use up the items you have before you buy more.

Invest in items that have multiple uses. For example, most kitchen spices can also be used in spells — search your spice cabinet before ordering special ingredients online. There are some items that have multiple magical uses, like rosemary and salt. Buy a couple of these multitaskers instead of a large collection of herbs with very specific uses.

Use the “two week” rule. This is something I do to keep myself from making impulse purchases. If I think I want to buy something online, I wait two weeks before I order it. If I still want it after two weeks, I take that as a sign that I’ll actually get some use from it.

Go “shopping” in your backyard. Familiarize yourself with the plants, animals, and minerals that are native to your area and go foraging for spell supplies instead of buying them. Items you can probably find near your home that could be used in ritual include leaves and flowers, pine cones, seed pods, tree branches, rocks, and naturally shed feathers. Just make sure you never harvest enough of a plant to hurt it, and make sure you properly disinfect any animal products you pick up.

If you can, make it yourself. Not only does making your own magic items save money, it also creates a much stronger personal link between you and that item. You can grow your own magical herbs in a garden or in indoor pots. Many common magical tools, like brooms and wands, are easy to make at home with some basic craft skills. Making your own items also means you can customize them, tailoring them to your own craft.

If you can’t make it yourself, but it used. There are some items you can’t reasonably make yourself, like incense burners, cauldrons, and books on the craft. But you can find most of these items used, either in thrift stores or online on websites like Ebay and Depop. Buying used almost always ends up being cheaper than buying new, and because you’re buying items already in circulation you aren’t contributing to a linear economy. Thrifting is also a great way to find unique items that won’t be like what anyone else has on their altar.

If you can’t find it used, support a small business. Sometimes, you can’t make what you need or find it in a thrift store. In that case, buying from a small business is preferable to buying from a big retailer like Amazon. When you support a small business, you’re supporting an individual rather than contributing to some CEO’s massive yearly bonus. A lot of small business owners make their items themselves, which avoids sweatshop labor. Pretty much everything I buy new for my craft comes from Etsy sellers — there are a LOT of witches on Etsy, so with a little digging you can easily find exactly what you’re looking for!

Don’t buy crystals. I know, I know. Thanks to social media, large crystal collections have become synonymous with witchcraft. But the crystal trade is highly unethical, with unsustainable mining techniques, dangerous working conditions, and child labor. Because of a lack of regulations, it’s virtually impossible to find crystals that are truly ethically sourced. Most sellers don’t know where their crystals come from and can’t guarantee that no workers were harmed in their extraction. No stone is worth the health and safety of other human beings, no matter how pretty.

Avoiding consumerism in your witchcraft means being less reliant on tools and set dressing. This will allow you to rely on your own energy and will, which will lead to a deeper and more meaningful spiritual practice.

Resources:

Revolutionary Witchcraft by Sarah Lyons

Simply Living Well by Julia Watkins

“11 Facts About Sweatshops” on dosomething.org

“Child labour in the fashion supply chain” from The Guardian

“Bangladesh factory collapse toll passes 1,000” from BBC News

“Are crystals the new blood diamonds?” from The Guardian

“Dark crystals: the brutal reality behind a booming wellness craze” from The Guardian

[lichtfish]

this weekend’s meals, now tagged “fish food diary” for blacklisting purposes. menu details are on instagram, as usual!

what has all this got to do with magic? it hinges on the mindful aspect. my magic is a powerful self-improving force for me, and very personal. only until recently have i started getting serious in making it a lifestyle - and it touches on several aspects, not just me wanting to lose weight (and while that’s part of it) it’s having a better relationship not just with food but with everything - energies that come with the food, energies that greet me during the day, my own body, my godspouse who will now hopefully have less of a difficult time talking me down from anger or anxiety, etc.

i’ll be able to commune better, tap into my intuition better, live better, as well as just enjoy benefits that come with being mindful. so i start with my relationship with food, doing yoga, and talking with my decks before bed

[lichtfish]

menu details are here if you're interested. it's fall where i live so that means grape season. shiojiri is known for growing a large variety of wine grapes and table grapes. ours is the only train station in the country that has a vineyard on one of its platforms. but don't visit until this covid mess is over 😂

anyway, i'm showcasing different varieties of grapes i happen on at the grocery / convenience stores. if you've only had sultanas all your life (like me), it's worth it flying over here just to try different ones.

[lichtfish]

today's meals

breakfast 🍚 rice w natto, egg, cherry tomatoes, nameko miso soup and green tea dinner 🍚 natto with rice, chicken porridge soup, cranberry bread, cherry tomatoes, snacks, banana

an example of an overshot dinner ^^; my last meal was some 6-ish hours ago & i thought i'd need to eat this much. it's very brown ahaha. bc it's kinda early & i have commission work, the rice is okay. but had i eaten any later, the soup and bread would have sufficed.

but anyway, mindful eating says i should just be happy/thankful for the food in front of me.

why have i been posting about food lately

it's currently the only content that i have that's actually regular. like a food diary. i'm a daily/unremarkable practice witch otherwise. i update here, on PF, witchblr and the lifestyle instagram/twitter

if you want to avoid such content (or follow it?)

https://www.instagram.com/chingcamposano https://twitter.com/chingcamposano

[lichtfish]

this week's meals

🥗 lettuce mix with a bean mix w customary steamed chicken and egg. iced coffee. made an avocado shake w a manual smoothie maker i found at the secondhand store! (just milk & one avocado) 🍵 tomato, lettuce, egg, ham on wheat bread, some ritz, cherry tomatoes, egg soup, matcha tea and an unreasonably long banana 🍜 tempura udon, coleslaw w fried chicken, cherry tomatoes, iced coffee and a cheesecake tart

do i have any thoughts about mindful eating this week? nothing much, i'm still getting the hang of what will fill me just so at night without being tempted to snack on something. so far so good. i really do have to eat mindfully or else i tend to speed up and not be filled by what i eat.

[lichtfish]

today’s meals. lunch was a bit big since i had it early so i could get started on commissions. now, i’m feeling a bit stressed bc of work tomorrow so those snacks at dinner will increase ^^;

it’s going to be an interesting challenge keeping this up during the work week. aside from eating mindfully, i’ve been trying to do sun salutations every morning and other simple forms after i get home from work. it’s a small thing but i don’t have time to work out, and only after a few days, i’ve been feeling lighter and decreased 2 kilos

what has all this got to do with magic? it hinges on the mindful aspect. my magic is a powerful self-improving force for me, and very personal. only until recently have i started getting serious in making it a lifestyle - and it touches on several aspects, not just me wanting to lose weight (and while that’s part of it) it’s having a better relationship not just with food but with everything - energies that come with the food, energies that greet me during the day, my own body, my godspouse who will now hopefully have less of a difficult time talking me down from anger or anxiety, etc.

i’ll be able to commune better, tap into my intuition better, live better, as well as just enjoy benefits that come with being mindful. so i start with my relationship with food, doing yoga, and talking with my decks before bed

🥗  fried chicken, tuna salad w egg & corn, cherry tomatoes 🥪  tomato, lettuce, egg, ham in JP's version of wheat bread, iced coffee 🥣  mushroom soup w pasta, tuna & potato bun, lemon pepper snacks, cherry tomatoes & dalandan

[lichtfish]

day 1? of eating mindfully. tho technically not since i've been reading about it recently on my quest to live a slower, kinder life. first meal i fixed and "plated" in a long while, even if it was a matter of taking stuff out of bags then rinsing them 😅 when i realized i was annoyed w the amount of stuff i need to wash after prep, i deliberately slowed down and washing went faster. i wonder if i'll allow myself to do this during the work week and not just because it's a holiday

i'm not gonna take photos of every meal moving forward, unless it's something new - or well, i might since this practice is encouraging me to try out new stuff! i usually dislike hot drinks (or food) but this is forcing me to drink slowly. it's nice too, since the weather's getting colder

🥗 salad with egg & chicken, sesame dressing, cherry tomatoes, pistachio cocoa 🥪 tomato, ham & omelet sandwich, cherry tomatoes, durian coffee

[lichtfish]

it's here!!! the Mercury Tarot Deck from The Shapeshifting Detective FMV

this has got to be one of the most coolest decks i'll have the honor of working with! also the most challenging yet since i'll have to exercise my intuition more than usual. peep those instructions!!!

i thought i'd have to get into color magic to be able to use this deck but nope, it came with a solid "this is my personality / how you use me" vibe so i'll run with it X'D maybe a bit of color magic since i'm interested in their choice of graphics anyway

fandom decks are super fun to work with! even the ones not meant for divination bc use them often enough & they eventually will be. i did a welcome read / introduce yourself for the mercury deck and it's clearer than any deck interview i've done lol

[lichtfish]

fifteen years

it’s a couple of hours til midnight until the day that marks the day i’d be married to my god-spouse for fifteen years. the time might catch up to me as i’m writing but i just want to write, so...

we were wondering what to do. i was feeling down about having an annual Golden Week event cancelled bc it was my pop culture-y pilgrimage to go to and recharge. we decided to just welcome the day with some good food, lots of desserts, Graham Norton clips, listening to our wedding album (lol) and just generally being at peace

i’m also going to do some readings w all my decks for my spirit family and finally craft my wedding ring later in the day

it feels weird attaching ‘god’ and ‘spirit’ to these things bc they’re people i’ve known since high school, some even sixth grade. i didn’t call them anything until i saw witchblr and the labels, and so i go, well that’s a convenient way of referring to them even if they don’t exactly fit the bill.

it starts out very chunnibyou, but i have fond memories of it. looking back now, i still concede that high school was a lot of our most powerful years. i wasn’t expending my energy on stuff i stress over now. 

anyway, i met my husband when i had been pubescently suffering unrequited love and dated his betrothed.

“fish, what?”

okay. in high school, i agreed to date my classmate who wanted to take my mind off my crush. what i was then told some months after was that she was part of a coven and was betrothed to the king of darkness who they had a deal with, that they’d marry off one of their own so that he doesn’t go berserk.

so i date his fiancee bc she was a belligerent twelve year old like i was. 

then the king takes interest in me too.

and i remember being warned. i had gotten a phone call from an upperclassman i had never met warning me about him, and i remember thinking “oh god, this is serious.”

tl;dr my yami & hikari (fanfic writers, remember when we had those? dang.) took over for me (read: my body) when i was practically kidnapped & married off in a different dimension.

this is why i don’t remember much of first year high school. when i got back, (my spirit fam planned and carried out dimension espionage to kidnap me back but was busted, i was told. everything worked out fine in the end) i remember bits & pieces of what my body does thanks to them. but there are things that i have that i don’t know about (like Amry’s bookmark) and just no memories of stuff.

“so what happened?”

like i said, things worked out. i had a grand old time being mistress to a king of darkness (i’m assuming there are a lot, he very much wasn’t a god, especially not one on this plane) i bore him a daughter, my high school girlfriend bore him a son. i imagine now, he’s winked out of existence, unless she continued to believe in him

my daughter grew in power. it was kinda scary at that time, but hey, she’s in line to inherit the realm. when it was starting to feel like too much, i split my husband in half, took the lighter half and sealed the realm off.

i go to college, i graduate, i work. my energies have been diverted & drained. i wasn’t feeling anyway magical for several years. my husband and my spirit family kept me sane. it wasn’t until 2013 when i decided to pursue magic that’s more tied to this realm than that other dimension’s.

it is, again, a very unique & personal kind of magic that never fits any bill, but it works for me. very well actually.

in May 2017, with some help, we went back, retrieved my daughter & my husband’s other half - it...honestly felt like becoming whole, including myself. it was the strangest, lightest feeling (my daughter is still distant with me tho) we forged another dimension where our kingdom lies

so i’m waiting, when i’m done on this plane, for my spirit to join them & go home.

tonight though, it’s been a wild, incredible fifteen years. crafting my wedding ring to have some physicality of that bond is pretty neat.

[thetarotroot]

✨Yes/No Tarot tips✨

Here are some ideas to help you answer those pesky Yes/No questions using Tarot. These are just ways that I’ve found work for me and Yes/No card interpretations that have always given me the answers I seek. Sometimes, this varies from reader to reader, so use this as a springboard to find out what works for you! 

If you pull a Yes card in reverse, it could indicate a “Yes, BUT…” or a “Yes, IF…”. You’ll need to understand what each card means in reverse to determine the caveat for a reversed Yes card. 

Pay attention to the positive meanings for each No card. Sometimes, things aren’t as clear cut as a simple No. Sometimes, it becomes a “No, but…” and gives you clues about how you can change your No into a Yes.

If you pull a Maybe card, you can often get a feel for your options either way by drawing additional cards to go on either side. For example: Two of Swords is a Maybe card and often represents a difficult choice between two options. You can draw two cards to set on either side of this card that represent the two choices and their pros and cons. 

YES

Major Arcana: Fool, Magician, High Priestess, Emperor, Empress, Lovers, Chariot, Strength, Hermit, Star, Sun, Judgement, World

Cups: Ace, two, three, six, nine, ten, page, knight, queen, king

Pentacles: Ace, three, six, eight, nine, ten, page, knight, queen, king

Swords: Ace, page, knight

Wands: Ace, two, three, four, six, eight, page, knight, queen, king

NO

Major Arcana: Death, Devil, Tower, Moon

Cups: Five, eight

Pentacles: Four, five

Swords: Three, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten

Wands: Five, seven, ten

MAYBE

Major Arcana: Hierophant, Justice, Hanged Man, Wheel of Fortune, Temperance

Cups: Four, seven

Pentacles: Two, seven

Swords: Two, four, queen, king

Wands: Nine

[crowecreates]

TAROTWAVE Kickstarter launches tonight, March 1st, around 6PM EST. 

After positive feedback we have decided to bring back Tarotwave a second time for a reprinting. Tarotwave is an aesthetics Tarot deck inspired by vaporwave, glitch art, space, and the beyond that was first successfully crowdfunded in 2018

There will be early bird discounts so keep an eye out for the launch! 

Follow and keep an eye out on the official Tarotwave blog @tarotwave for Kickstarter announcements and updates!