May we find that inner fire to make magic in (and despite of) the Chaos :) More of my babbling at: chaotically-magic.blogspot.com ----------------------------> (A side note for the 'culture appropriators' : Kindly learn the differences between 'culture', 'religion', 'Schools of Thought' and metaphysical beliefs & practices--before reacting violently about any of the spells and rituals shared in this account)
Things to Consider Before You Dunk Your Crystals in Water for Cleansing (or for whatever reason)-- A Summary of the Contents of the link below~~
1. Hardness level: Aye, my fellow jewelry enthusiasts, witches, and magicians, behold, the MOHS Scale. It's our friend. "The MOHS Hardness Scale starts with talc at 1 being the softest mineral and ending with diamond at 10 being the hardest mineral. It is universally used around the world as a way of distinguishing minerals. Simply put: the higher the number, the harder the mineral." - gemrockauctions.com
2. Purity: Did you know that for some crystals and gems, the higher the purity is, the softer or more brittle they actually are? This is another reason the Mohs Scale is important. The scale assumes that the gemstones are at its purest form. You can use it as a reference for the level of purity of the stone you are buying.
3. Water Resistance/ Water Solubility: Since some crystals are softer in its purest form while some are harder, certain types of stone are more likely to wear down faster if soaked in water or exposed to anything liquid. For example, with the softness of pure selenite, not only can you easily scratch it with a fingernail, you can also expect it to become mushy and disintegrate in water. If it doesn't do either of the two after a thorough soak or frequent exposure to liquids, it's definitely been "treated" in one way or another.
4. Treatments: Hardening agents, Color enhancements, and Coating/ polishing enhancements--it is very common for soft and chalky minerals to be mixed with stabilizers or hardeners. This allows them to sell gems in larger batches and at a cheaper price. Often times, the "diluted" or "treated" gems also undergo other forms of treatments in the process to enhance its appearance.
--Please check out the link below if you're interested in the whole post :3
Saltwater rinse, Sound frequency cleansing, moon-water cleansing, moonlight baths, smudging-- and many other ways of cleansing divination to
Nothing creepy (or unusual for some people-- it is for me though).
I got up to pee. Went back to bed. Grabbed my phone to check the time. Then I noticed the battery power... Lol. The abundance of 44444's.
And then my brain went like, "Oh. What are the chances? That's cute."
I'm not really the type of person who is keen on numerology stuff, but for some odd reason, I felt like I had to look it up despite my lingering sleepyness... So I opened the browser to check what consecutive 4's might mean...
And then I noticed, I was searching for the meaning of multiple 4's... In the 4th tab O__o
So there's that. Waking up, just to get back to bed at 4:44, to notice battery at 44%, to search the meaning of 4's... In the 4th tab.
You've come to the right place sweetness. For clarity's sake I want to specify that I am not a professional. This is simply what I did to make the incense that I use. Always research your herbs and herbal mixtures, be aware of your allergies, and remember to use herbs from high quality sources to protect your health. And remember, the best witchcraft is safely practiced witchcraft.
What you'll need: Herb of choice (no correlations listed here, otherwise we will be here all night)
Coffee grinder (or a mortar and pestel, but baby we are in the 21st century work smarter not harder)
Tap water (charge it if you want for extra pizzazz)
Optional: oven, preheat to 190 degrees Fahrenheit
Step one: grind up your herbs in the coffee grinder, the finer the better. My herb was food grade lavender.
Step two: Divide the ground herb into two separate bowls, a wet bowl and a dry bowl. Into the wet bowl, mix into the herb with some water so the consistency is a modable clay. Sacred water is great for this.
Step three: Form the clay into a cone shape in any way that makes the most sense for your body. For me, that involves using my thumbs and middle fingers, but whatever way works best.
Roll the wet cone into the dry bowl, coating the cone in a layer of powdered lavender.
You can either leave the cone to dry over night, alternatively---
Place in oven for 40 minutes to an hour to dehydrate the cones!
Ta-da! I hope these directions inspire you to give this a shot yourself. I know I had a lot of fun making this lavendar incense, and I know I'm excited to make more in the future. Don't stop creating lovelies.
I hate how marketable witchcraft has become within the last few years.
Don't get me wrong- I'm glad it's gaining momentum and more support! I love to see new people within the community! I welcome you all with open arms.
However, the mass spreading of misinformation, cultural appropriation, cheap goods sold at expensive prices, amongst other things is. Headache inducing at a minimum.
The local stores and festivals I've frequented over time have gone from small, affordable, locally sourced goods, to large-scale social media shills, shoving bundles of "DIY spell" kits and overpriced crystals under my nose.
Frog Fact: Chinese 金蟾 (Jin Chan), or Money Toad, is a mythical creature said to appear during the full moon near places which will soon receive good fortune.
Believers of Feng Shui will often have a Jin Chan figurine in order to attract and protect wealth and guard against bad luck
Wealth Bowls: How to Prepare One to Help Manifest Abundance Into Your Life
Prosperity bowls, Wealth bowls, or Money Jars are basically containers that are filled with items or charms that are associated with attracting material abundance into one's life.
(I'ma jump into the basic steps on preparing your own Wealth bowl to save busy people time. But if you're new to this topic and would like to learn more about it, I left the link from my blog at the end of this post :3)
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR OWN WEALTH BOWL
1. Prepare items you would like to place in your prosperity/wealth bowl:
Rice Grains- Associated with bountiful harvest and being well-fed. A spoonful of rice grains is fine (UNCOOKED, okay? Don't go fermenting cooked rice in that bowl. This isn't a blog post on mold/bacteria-culturing or sake-making).
*Note: Please don't feel obliged to include this ingredient in your prosperity bowl if you don't feel comfortable about it (I understand that in some households, this may be seen as an act of wasting food). Only do this if you can afford to spare some grains and are fine with incorporating food into your craft/ manifestation tools.
Coins- You can use loose change or old coins of whatever currency is available to you.
Crystals/Gemstones- I recommend putting in once that are associated with abundance and business, such as jade, pyrite, garnet, tiger's eye, aventurine, and/or citrine.
Additional items to further personalize your Wealth Bowl:
Charms associated with Prosperity and Abundance- this can be those little charms in the shape of coins, currency symbols, or even little, loose pieces of beads (such as pearls or random crystals you no longer use) from your trinket stash which you associate with looking and feeling more "luxurious".
Image or little icon of deity or guardian associated with wealth- You can include a small picture or carved amulet piece of any deity, guardian, or saint which your religion or craft associates with wealth.
A wealth mantra- you can write a mantra inviting abundance into your life on a piece of paper and fold it.
2 . Prepare your bowl/jar:
You can use a bowl/jar made of plastic, porcelain, brass, or whatever material you have in mind. But remember that the more durable and weather-proof it is, the better. The container symbolizes what holds and will catch your wealth. It has to be able to withstand different environmental conditions.
>> You can buy or use any available bowl or jar to your liking. If you have the time and money to spare, you can even find traditional wealth bowls with zodiac animal prints or mantra carvings on them. If you're feeling crafty, you can get a jar or a bowl and redecorate it as you see fit.
Make sure the bowl or jar is completely empty and clean. If you decide to recycle old product containers, remove any sticker labels. You can also repaint it with your favorite color or any lucky color associated with money and riches (gold, silver, or green).
***Recommended but not mandatory:
>Use a container with a lid. Closing the bowl/jar secures its contents from spilling or being grabbed by someone else-- both in a literal and figurative sense.
>Smudge or smoke-cleanse your jar before filling it.
3. WHERE TO PLACE YOUR WEALTH BOWLS
General rules
Place in a well-lit area
Avoid placing in spots next to doors or windows; you don't want your wealth "escaping" or getting sucked out by these big holes.
Make sure there's a wall or a fence protecting one side of the bowl if you can't avoid placing it in open spaces next to large windows.
Keep the area clutter-free at all times; treat it like a sacred space for gathering "Wealth energy"
"Feng Shui" Placements (If you'd like to follow this more traditional Eastern Geomancy Placements which is centered on the idea of harnessing the flow of energy to achieve harmony)
Simple placement: You may place your wealth bowl in the "Wealth Corner"; find the far left corner of the room from where the entrance door is located.
Specific placement: For a more specific directional guidance, you may look up "Bagua maps" on your search engine (I also placed my recommended links in the full blog post for quick reference) :3
>>>This is a summary for the lazy and busy folks who want to get straight into the process of making their own Wealth bowl. For a more detailed Quickie on the topic, I'll just leave the link below so you guys can view it anytime. The full post has the following contents: Common Forms of Wealth Bowl-- from the Fruit Bowl, Ingot Bowl, and the Classic Wealth Bowl, a Crash background on Unlucky numbers (4 and 13), and as well as my own actual take on making a wealth bowl from a recycled moisturizer jar XD)
Prosperity bowls, Wealth bowls, or Money Jars are basically containers that are filled with items or charms that are associated with attract
Image above: Tassled Chinese Hanging Charms. The Chinese coin is meant to symbolize and attract prosperity and abundance, with the tiger figurine on the top in tribute to the Chinese Lunar Year of the Tiger (February 1, 2022) ; Tassled or dangling types of charms are hung by the door or by the window (much like wind chimes), to call in abundance and good fortune, as well as block away negative energies and bad luck.
Fog is magical. There are few situations where you can feel how thin the veil between worlds is and fog is one of them. Spidery shapes emerging from the snowy gloom, a picture perfect liminal space where what lurks beyond the misty curtain you can never be sure. I like fog.
Superstitions and Celebratory Practices: A crash course on Asian Red Envelope/ Red Packets for Sharing and Receiving Good Luck
If you're Asian and belong to a family who practices traditional Asian ways of celebrating New Year (or if you're a Westerner who loves watching Chinese, Japanese, even Korean dramas), chances are, you're very familiar with the "Red Envelope".
The red envelope (红包) is commonly given out by the elders to children and the "juniors" in the family. One of the red envelope stories I heard about while growing up is that the reason why elders do this is to buy "youthfulness" from the young. Pretty grim if you think about it. 😂😅 But buying youthful energy aside, and for all purposes, the red envelope actually symbolizes vitality, good luck, and well wishes.
Giving out red envelopes is not limited to New Year celebrations; it can also be given to friends and loved ones on other special celebrations such as birthdays and weddings.
Typically, red envelopes contain "fresh" bills. It is considered bad luck (and disrespectful to the receiver) if the bills are crumpled. But sometimes, the red envelope may contain cheque instead of cash. Other times it may contain coins and other lucky charm trinkets. Some modern day establishments and folks even give out gift cards and place them in the red envelopes.
👉 Thanks for sharing, but what if I'm not Asian? Won't it be culturally inappropriate for me to practice giving out presents and little cash tokens in red envelope?
Not at all! I know a French guy who gives out Red envelopes to family friends and his Asian staff at work. Giving out red envelopes, especially to Asian friends and relatives (especially the young ones), is a good way of letting them know that you'd love to extend your "blessings" and well wishes to them! Not to mention there's that "vitality" trade 😉
👉 How much should I put in the envelopes? What if I'm not exactly a millionaire?
It really depends. If you're giving out to kids, putting money below 10 USD is perfectly fine. Actually, if it's just for tradition and rememberance's sake, even around 5 USD is acceptable. Putting in larger sum is more appropriate for weddings, first birthdays, graduations, or when you want to show that you'd like to support them in buying something from their wishlist. Doting grandparents and rich uncles and aunties tend to give out 50 USD and above for the latter reason.
👉Red Envelopes as a Money Charm:
Sometimes, working adults who receive red envelopes from their elders choose to keep it in their wallet as an abundance-manifesting charm. My dad does this. He will not take out the red envelope money in his wallet unless a case of emergency arises. He will simply keep the envelope folded like a normal paper bill. When I asked why he did this, he'd say "it's to make sure that the wallet is never empty". He said having a lucky red envelope in your wallet will help you attract more abundance to fill it.
👉 Can I make my own lucky red envelope as a Money-Attracting Charm?
Sure. I don't see why not. Lately, in some Asian shopping apps, I've been seeing people sell little red envelopes (instead of pouches) containing money charms. Specifically, a folded piece of paper containing an abundance mantra, ancient Chinese coin replicas (you can replace that with loose change/coins of your country's currency), and tiny pieces of crystals/ gemstones associated with attracting business opportunities (such as jade, citrine, garnet, and tiger's eye).
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In case you are non-Asian and is still very concerned about matters of cultural appropriation, feel free to read on ... :)
Edit: This post was meant to give an introduction to a very common custom of "sharing" and "well-wishing". For everyone else unfamiliar with the essence of common Asian auspicious beliefs and celebratory customs, thanks for your concern with regards to cultural appropriation. I will just leave a screen shot of these comments here for anyone who might be worried about whether or not people from other racial backgrounds may apply the beliefs and practices mentioned in this post👇
Oh, and when we say "masters" these people are not necessarily from "professional cultural schools" or "ordained by leaders of religious sectors". Most Feng Shui and "Law of Attraction" Masters come from different backgrounds and earn the title by experience, track record of clients, and application of theoretical as well as traditional aspects of the mentioned beliefs.
That being said, and with the mention of international publishing of topics related to this meant for audiences worldwide, basically anyone interested in the principles of balance, manifestation, and auspicious beliefs & practices may apply it to their lives--as long as they follow through it with sincerity and respect. If you need more "guide materials" related to this, you may either walk into a bookstore's International/ cultural (even "occult") section. Or just google and pick among the thousands of Asian blogs giving their own take on the subject. I hope that clears up any confusion regarding this post and any of my future posts that involve any mention of common practices from my culture involving auspicious beliefs and luck. (Lmao. Take a shot every time I mentioned the word "belief". I can't seem to highlight it enough) 😅👌
