Hi, friends! I'm back with another witchy FAQ from the past couple weeks. This time from the world of tech magic!
Here are some quick TL;DR technomancy tips for those who may not want to read the long FAQs post beneath the cut:
1. Chest spells (like a jar spell but with a chest filled with in game items that match the intent)
2. Poppet spells using the game characters by giving them items or altering their names/appearances
3. Similar to a chest spell but not necessarily magic per se - using chests or sheds with in-game items as altars and/or offerings
4. Build a shrine / altar / temple with offerings, or leave an item such as a torch in the game world as an offering
5. Burn/bury/destroy ingredients to activate a spell with the desired effect
6. Write an affirmation or a spell on a sign or other in-game item and destroy it to activate as a sigil
7. Build a golem or animal pen or something as a servitor for protection
8. Use some form of sympathetic magic connecting in-game items to IRL items
9. Light sticks, flashlights, plastic lightsabers, and toy sonic screwdrivers make *awesome* wands, especially if they light up and make noise.
10. The possibilities are limited to your imagination!!
(I am choosing Wittgenstein from The Brave Little Toaster movies as my mascot for tech magic, simply because I like him and because I can. Image credit - Fandom Wiki.)
What is technomancy?: Technomancy, techno magic, and tech magic are all terms for a form of magic that utilizes common modern technology, such as smartphones and video games. Technically, “technomancy” could refer specifically to divination with technology; however, in my experience, the term usually has a broader meaning in common usage. I personally tend to use these terms interchangeably, with perhaps a slight preference for technomancy, since I learned that name first.
What are some forms of technomancy?: Common forms of technomancy include digital sigils, emoji spells, shufflemancy, video game spells, and video game altars.
How do I create a digital sigil?: The ways are about as unlimited as creating a physical sigil on paper. You can use a drawing app on a smartphone or tablet, find a digital sigil generator online, use a photo editor on a picture, or even add a string of charged letters to an email signature (just make sure they blend in!).
OK, and what's the deal with emoji spells?: Yes, this is an actual thing (though not a thing that I'm particularly experienced with). They're pretty straightforward. They can be done like a sigil - string emojis together and charge them. Or like an actual spell - put them together and send to cast, or like to charge and send/reblog to cast.
What kind of games can you use for technomancy?: Any of them. Minecraft is a very popular one. So is Stardew Valley. Skyrim and other RPGs are other common choices. As with other forms of magic, the only real limit is your imagination.
What kind of spells can you cast in a game?:
Chest spells - like digital jar spells - are very common.
Poppet spells are another common choice. In games that allow you to create a character, or in games where you can give items to an NPC, you can turn the character into a poppet of someone and give them an item to cast the spell. For example, if I wanted emotional strength, I could create a Skyrim character as a poppet for myself, and have the character drink a strength potion to cast a spell of strength for myself in the real world.
Burying or burning items in games like Minecraft can be done to cast spells that are similar to physical spells that require burning a paper, bay leaf, or other ingredient.
Enchanting! Use the enchanting function in a video game like Skyrim or Minecraft to enchant a physical object. For example, you might choose to connect a physical scarf to a shield in Skyrim, and when you enchant the in-game shield with a damage resistance effect, voila! You now have a fancy enchanted scarf to protect yourself from spiritual attacks.
Customize your avatar to your advantage! In games such as Sky: Children Of The Light, where you can accessorize your character, you can equip different items to cast a different spell on yourself. For example, you might use the Saluting Captain's staff as a cosmetic to cast a spell of protection on yourself, or you could use a particular cape as a spiritual veil.
For deity work & spirit work, consider creating a space in your game (e.g. a chest, shed, home, biome, character, etc.) dedicated to the entities you work with. For example, temples and altars in Minecraft are common. Devotional sheds and chests are popular in Stardew Valley. I’ve named some appropriate Pokemon after an entity or dedicated the critter to them. You can even place a torch or candle in the game world as an offering.
There are lots more out there, too! This list is a starting point, not a limitation. Use your imagination and swap ideas with others, too!
How exactly does all of this work?? How is it possible?!: OK, so the principle behind tech magic is that you're harnessing the energy of multiple sources.
First, the device itself (and if you're using something like a Switch, the cartridge or other physical media). Each of these items has its own materials - electricity, glass and metal, etc. And each of those materials has a magical property that you can use... Glass and metal come from the Earth and have their own correspondences, while electricity is pure energy in itself.
Second, you have the energy of symbolism, or as I like to think of it with a butchered sociology term, symbolic interactionism - i.e., the idea that we create our own reality (or our *perception* of reality) via symbols. In other words, the power of correspondences! A candle is still a candle whether it's physical or digital. Lapis lazuli has the same qualities in this world that it does in a pixelated version. And so forth. So when you use the correspondences in digital spell work, provided that you raise the energy, it can and does have real world consequences. Similar to doing magic in the astral as opposed to the physical world... you are making a conscious decision to connect a digital item to an effect either in the astral and/or physical worlds.
Finally, you're also harnessing the power of belief and the energy of attention, which is where the chaos magic concepts start to come in. The digital worlds are real because you believe they are and you pour parts of your energy and personality into them - and so do *millions* of other people, in many cases. All of that energy is sort of like a reservoir in these games and it's just waiting to be harvested for spell work!
So… This is another subset of chaos magic, then.: Pretty much, yes. I haven't seen it categorized as anything else yet, except for in those cases where technomancy is given its own category.
And what did you mean by “energy of symbolism” again?: Correspondences. Both traditional ones and your own. For example, obsidian corresponds with protection IRL. So if you were making a chest spell in Minecraft for protection, you'd want to consider adding an obsidian block to your spell. Some of this is also stuff that you can brainstorm on your own and explore! Like for example, in the Elder Scrolls series, there are several plants and items that don't exist IRL, such as the corkbulb root - but in the game, that item can be used to make a potion of healing, so for me, it has a healing correspondence. Also, if the game you’re playing has spells already, you can consider how to adapt those spells to affect the real world in a logical, realistic way! Many pop culture magicians have done a great job of turning Pokemon moves into real spells, for example. So feel free to play around (pun intended) and see what works best for you!
How come you only mentioned shufflemancy once in this whole entire post??: That, my friend, needs to be a post for a later date. I assure you, I absolutely can (and probably already have, and probably eventually will) write an entire post about shufflemancy.
How come your formatting is crap?: Because I wrote all of this on a smartphone and pieced it into a post with the mobile app. Bear with me. XD
Where do I learn more and fact check you, smarty-pants?: Tumblr. The answer is usually Tumblr for this kind of thing. Or sometimes Discord. Like pop culture magic, techno magic is simply very new. Some tags to search include tech magic, techno magic, technomancy, video game magic, etc.
Of course, only put in your book of shadows/grimoire what you want. If you don't want to put certain subjects in your book then that's fine. It's your book, utilize it how you want. This is just a masterlist of ideas that I've put together. Feel free to add anything else to the list that I may have missed, because there's absolutely no way I included everything.
And for the love of all the gods, if you come across a closed entity or practice, don't try to work with the entity or practice if you're not already part of that group or tradition. You can research it but don't practice it.
hi! sorry to bother you, but i would like to get into pop culture paganism and am intimidated by all the.. everything people are talking about that i dont understand. do you have the most basic, "explain it like im four" crash course for learning PCP? [i feel the need to specify, i dont think im interested in being a witch at this time, i just have a pop culture deity id like to venerate] [i think thats the right word? worship? work with? idk]
thank you very much!
I'll happily help, anon.
WARNING! This post is a very, very basic introduction to Pop Culture Paganism, and I'm writing from my own perspective. There's no way I can cover everything. Please let me rest.
Let's start with some abbreviations:
PCM = Pop Culture Magic, the usage of elements of pop culture in one's magical or spiritual practice
PCP = Pop Culture Paganism, the usage of elements of pop culture (including but not limited to pop culture deities or characters-as-deities) in or as one's religious practice
PCD = Pop Culture Deity, an entity who is worshiped as or is a deity in their source material
PCE = Pop Culture Entity, any entity from a pop culture source (any PCD is a PCE, but not all PCEs are PCDs)
And some of my own definitions (yours may not be the same!):
Veneration/worship = including a figure in your religious practice
Work = creating an agreement with a figure in a magical or spiritual practice, which may or may not be religious in nature
Devotion = worshiping one deity above all others, that deity becoming your patron
All of these have been greatly simplified for ease of use in this guide.
PCP can be done in addition to or in place of other religions. Due to the nature of the phrase "paganism", a polytheist approach is implied but ultimately isn't necessary - there are plenty of pop culture pagans who only worship one PCD/PCE. I practice both PCP and """mainstream""" polytheism.
PCP can be done in addition to PCM, but the two can also be mutually exclusive. I, personally, practice both PCP and PCM.
The primary appeal of PCP is that it is deeply personal. Many people who engage in PCP find that starting their religious practice from the ground up, or in using familiar religious practices from their culture that they're used to, is a lot of fun. Others love the source material(s) that they're drawing from so much that practicing PCP is just a natural way to continue expressing their love for it. There are a thousand reasons to practice PCP.
Some of the """mainstream""" polytheism issues appear in PCP, too. Gatekeeping, cliques, the insistence that deities have to "choose" you...a lot of toxic ideas tend to show up, just because of how online spaces work nowadays.
"That's great, Jasper, but how do we actually do this?" I'm getting there, dear readers, I promise.
Decide your approach. What pop culture source are you drawing from? A video game? Music? A book series, or even a standalone book?
Outreach. Do you build an altar or shrine? Make an offering? Write a poem or invitation? Pray? Wait for the PCD/PCE to reach out first? Do you create them yourself?
Set expectations. What are you going to do? What do you expect? Do you want to communicate back and forth, or just pray and not expect a direct answer? Figure out what you want.
Continue developing. Your PCP practice will likely not remain the same as time goes on. Let it grow, and let yourself grow with it.
Hopefully this is a very beginner-friendly 101 style post! For further resources, please check out my Pop Culture Magic/Paganism Resources Masterpost.
monday: create a playlist for a pop culture spirit. play it for them and write down any feelings, sensations, or events that emerge.
tuesday: look up their iconography and anything inspired by them. take notes, and see if you can make a sigil from what is significant to you.
wednesday: look at a list of their tropes. write ones that stand out to you down, and see how you can judge what they might reside over, their personality, try to conclude some information. if you need confirmation or validation, see if you can confirm with a form of divination.
thursday: write a prayer inspired by one of the songs, their iconography, or their tropes. say it (or think it) to them while imagining the sigil you made for them, and write down any feelings, sensations, or events that emerge.
friday: it's time for offerings! based on what you've figured out, use your best judgment for deciding what you think they'll like. you can use a perishable offering, a votive offering, devotional acts, whatever suits! write down anything you learn during.
saturday: do a reading with them. this will require a divination deck, a pendulum, charms or bones, a playlist, a book, or anything you're comfortable using to talk to them. take this as a conversation, rather than an interview - talk to them as you get your responses, and write down anything that you find out.
sunday: finally, it's time to write down a correspondence list or basic guide. write down anything of importance. i tend to write down information about them, concepts they reside over, signs and symbols, offering ideas, and devotional acts - but go bananas here! jot down what you think is important.
bonus ideas: hanging out with their energy, doing a spell inspired by them, doing a spell with them, the sky's the limit! you don't have to do any of these activities if you don't want to, but i just thought i'd shed some light into how i organise myself with spirits and organise my thoughts regarding them. have fun!
Made this spell jar because the past couple nights at work have been terrible money-wise (I'm a server so my tips vary). Therefore this little recipe was created. I hope this helps if you wanna make your own or are looking for ingredients for another purpose!
Ingredients:
Sea Salt and/or Black Salt - Protection
Basil - Wealth, Success
Fennel - Luck
Mint - Change, Abundance
Bay Leaves - Good Fortune, Success
Cinnamon - Luck
Frankincense Incense - Luck, Cleansing, Protection
$1 Bill (optional)
Incense Ash - Added Strength & Protection
Directions:
1. Cleanse jar with incense
2. Add in protection ingredients first to create a base layer to build your spell upon
3. Write your intention on a bay leaf, burn it to charge it, then add the ashes to the jar.
4. Add in all other ingredients
5. (Optional) Let the incense burn all the way down inside the jar
6. Seal jar closed with choice of wax. (ex. green, blue, silver, gold, whatever you associate money with)
7. (Optional) Add extra herbs on top of the jar and seal it with more wax
Then you're done! You can add affirmations and words out loud or on paper to the spell jar as well. Personalize it to how you feel is right! Enjoy your prosperity!
Enchanting/blessing an existing object? Idk if I'm using correct terms but placing magic onto something.
I used to when I was a little more physically capable stitch sigils onto my stuffed animals and have thought about undoing stitches to hide spell jars or crystals in the stuffing (before of course redoing the stitches) so that they can be a lil magic.
But I've also like the idea of attaching spells to things like jewelry (I don't have many that have actual crystals or anything) that look cute and I'd love to use as a charm, and I also always like the idea of attaching magic to letters and gifts to wish good fortune or protection on the recipient? Blessing on shoes maybe for safe travels and avoiding injury, or similar charms on other pieces of clothing... I just wouldn't know how to go about it, especially with things I want to keep physical alterations to a minimum with.
Enchanting is the term you're looking for I believe! Stitching sigils into stuffed animals is already so creative, inventive and resourceful I can't imagine you needing my help. But I do have plenty of thoughts and maybe I can give you a bit of guidance or further inspiration!
A Rough Guide to Enchanting
When you enchant something, you are basically just transferring a spell, or specific energy onto an object so it holds a certain property.
There are any number of ways you can do this. There's probably useful methods I won't list here, haven't heard of, or haven't though of. A lot of spell methods and components can be applied here and I'll go over some of them and then how you using or mixing them might look!
Herbs - This is the first method that comes to mind when I think of enchanting. You can set out a small object in a bunch of herbs that correspond to the property you want overnight. A lot of people also put the herbs in water, which could be magical, add a candle or put the whole thing under the full moon. You can also make this method more complicated by mixing in other methods but I get into that below!
Sigils - Sigils are your best friend here. You can draw them out in smoke, water or oil. You can burn them and mix the ashes in water or oil. You can draw them onto things. Sew them into things. You can draw them on yourself, and much more. The possibilities are endless. A very simple way to give an object a property is to put a sigil on it.
Anointing - You can make a magical water or oil by setting it out under a certain moon phase or astrological event, mixing things into it it, or drawing sigils in it. Then you can anoint the item with that. You can also burn things like sigils or herbs and use the ashes in this way or in a mixture for anointing, transferring the sigil spell to the object.
Smoke - Another way to use plants and herbs, select an herb (that is safe to burn) or create a bundle of herbs and burn them to create smoke. Let the smoke envelop the item to enchant it with the property or properties of those herbs.
Elemental enchanting - If you wanted an object to generally have the properties you associate with an element, you can enchant it with that element's energy. So for example you could bury an object under the full moon to give it the Earth's energies.
Mixing methods & using other ingredients
I think all the methods above can work on their own can but you can also mix them or add other ingredients! If you wanted to, you could use smoke, then anoint the item, and let it sit out overnight under the full moon in herbs/an herb mixture/or with other ingredients in a bowl besides herbs, like sigils, or even tarot cards. I love using tarot cards in spells! The possibilities are endless here. Get creative with the ingredients you use.
Petitions
You can get creative with the other ingredients besides herbs or sigils but there's another component I want to suggest here, and that is petitions. I have a post about them here but basically a petition is a sort of instruction set or contract with a spell for exactly what it will do, when it will do it, and when or what will stop it. This is a great thing to include in all spells in my opinion but it's particularly good for when you need something very specific and may be useful if you want to enchant something with a property or goal that's less general or just unusual. It also may be use to give the enchantment a fuel source or a kill switch. This is what makes petitions great for all spell work!
Visualization & your own energy
This is both a step you may want to include and a little more an advanced suggestion. So first of all, when you enchant or do any spell really you can visualize the energy for the enchantment going into the object and focus to raise energy to charge the spell. Another thing you can do, if you are familiar with manipulating energy is to manipulate your own into the object to charge it or connect it to you.
Some final thoughts
I can see why you'd want to enchant jewelry. That's probably one of the most common things people like to enchant because you wear it all the time, ideal for warding in my opinion but anyways! I know you mentioned wanting to enchant things like clothes or accessories without altering them too much and hopefully I covered that plenty. I think creating a mixture of herbs or other ingredients and setting them out in the full moon is idea for jewelry although many of the methods I mentioned could work. Using sigils with some mixture of Theban script would be an obvious choice for letters. I made and enchanted a bookmark for my girlfriend this way. But of course some of the other methods I mentioned would work as well. I'm so into DIY that I'd probably just create a patch or draw sigils on clothing or shoes... but not everyone wants that look, y'know? You could just draw sigils on the bottoms of shoes or use magical water when you clean the shoes. You could also use smoke. We're back to the possibilities are endless!
I think all of your ideas for properties to enchant objects with are great and I hope this helps you accomplish every single one of them, if you need help don't be afraid to follow up or message me!
A great recommendation on how to do so! Remember, though, this is only an opinion: always follow your intuition and include what feels right! There may be topics on this list that are not applicable to your practice and/or don't interest you, and that is okay. Each book of shadows/grimoire is unique item that should be personal to you and you alone.
Have you ever bought a journal with plans to turn it into a beautiful grimoire? Something directly out of the 90s show “Charmed”? But you ha
This may sound silly, so bear with me. Do you have any advice on how to do... more in depth spells? Like doing a money spell vs. doing a spell to improve my work to receive more money (not a good example i’ll admit but i hope you know what i mean). I’ve noticed you have very specific, complex, and well thought out spells for specific situations. & don’t worry, i know 90% of it is just years of practice, but do you have any tips for me to keep in mind/guide me? Thank you for all your help (:
Witch Tip Wednesday: 10.10.18
Stacking Spells
Aw thanks for that! I’m always pleasantly surprised when people notice something small like that my workings are multiple spells 🤗
Pardon the rambling of this post, but I think walking through some examples would be the easiest way to explain what I do.
So I do suggest reading my Playing Your Own Devil’s Advocate post because honestly, it will help bring you out of your head a bit to look at workings a little differently.
The main thing is taking the situation and looking at it multiple ways; taking opportunities to stack the deck in your favor as much as possible.
Another way of doing this is looking at different ways of achieving the goal, or different barriers that stand in the way. Sometimes it’s like laying stepping stones leading forward, or other times, it’s like attacking multiple fronts at once to achieve the goal and break down barriers. You can take multiple avenues that all support the ways that the goal can be achieved. With some forethought, these can all harmonize to support each other and strengthen.
I’ll use your prosperity spell as an example. What are ways that will make you more prosperous in the simplest forms?
Work being acknowledged/praised
A raise for that work
Additional means of getting money
Help/reparations for things owed
Motivation
Support
These are just a few hypotheticals so bear with me. You could approach the spell with multiple small components, dipping into Magic’s that you’re comfortable with.
Cast a glamour to bring attention to your positive performances and lessen the appearance of shortfalls at work.
A honey jar directed at your boss to make asking for a raise more well received. (And throwing in a confidence self love spell for yourself to ask for it too could be a good thing)
[Lets say you’re an artist, or artisan who makes things, or you have a small bussiness] a creativity charm or glamour to help come up with more products, services etc. or to bring visibility to yourself and your work.
A poppet or other spell to more or less “get what’s owed” but take caution to make it monetary only (again, refer to the devil’s advocate post)
Whether a sigil, a tea, or enchanting an object, something that you can call upon semi-regularly to keep you motivated. Another alternative just to get the juices going, you could make a hydrosol for energy (some combinations are at the bottom of that post) to spray daily as your motivational armor.
This one is more or less dealers choice, but it’s more or less a final spell to support the other options. It could be adding components to the honey jar to include future clients, or job prospects. Something that influences family and friends to recognize your hard work and be more inclined to show you support (monetarily or emotionally).
I like this method because you could do a few small things to equal something big if you’re at limited means or energies, or if you’ve got the resources and energy, you can make some solid headway into making shit happen. It’s not world changing, just my own shifted perspective. It’s what most people do for one spell, but on a bigger scale. Instead of stopping at a sachet with individual ingredients for one goal, it’s doing that in several ways for different ways it could be achieved.
It can be just as compact as a sachet, just with a bit more work! For example, I vague posted about a working a while back (can’t remember the post, but I remember there’s a photo I posted that included an atlas moth). I’ll take out the boring bits, and the motivations, but it was a working with 4 components. Without finesse and just looking at it plainly here were the 4 pieces to the spell:
Cleansing scrub
Annointed candle magic and meditation
Hex powder
Charm for protection
Simple stuff, but if done in a way where each thing is focused on a different aspect of the same root problem it works well. So the “with finese” version of the above list is:
Cleansing scrub done on three separate days for the client. I made it during the full moon, and the final application of the scrub was on the new moon.
Making an original oil dedicated to reversing current fortune (I call it, aptly, Fate Reversal Oil) and meditating between the ancestors of the client’s family and the ancestors of the bruja who was doing a fair bit of shit against them. I also used the wax to form a ball around the taglock of the bruja hexing the family creating a bind.
Hex powder spread at the doorstep of the bruja. Addition of the fate reversing oil, made for the candle, marked on their door with their initials.
Final charm made of taglocks of each family member, a cleansing and blessing of their home.
These were all individual spells that stand perfectly on their own, but done together with the same underlying attempt leads to a more rapid, complete and long lasting change. I’m happy to say that that working has gone extremely well. The person hexing them has had everything they were doing come back around on them. The family has not had any more issues, they’ve moved forward and are able to do things that weren’t possible due to the circumstances before. [Keep in mind, the details of what was happening is personal to the client. I also didn’t explain the workings because honestly, each one could be it’s own post. This was a watered down example of what was/could be done]
I hope this sheds some light, and I understand it’s not a conventional witch tip Wednesday post, but I figured why not share the fleshed out version?
🦇Cheers, Barberwitch
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Start the shower with the water as hot as you can stand it, and step inside. Once inside the shower, let the water run over you from head to toe. As you breath, watch the water going down the drain and picture it in your wind as a gray color. Next, visualize the water removing all your anxieties and any issues you had from the day before.
Begin to wash your hair with shampoo. In your mind’s eye, see the stress and anxiety leaving your body and entering int the shampoo bubbles.
Repeat the visualization process with the conditioner. Take the soap or shower gel and, starting with your face, wash your whole body several times, cleaning from head to toe. As you lather say these words over and over: “Water, water, wash away. Water, water, cleanse today.”
Once you are clean, rinse off all the suds. The lather will absorb your troubles and wash them down the drain. Cool the shower temperature slightly, and bathe for a few more minutes in the refreshing water. When you feel comfortably cleansed and refreshed, step out and dry off with a towel from top to bottom while repeating these words:
“By the earth in the soap,
By the air in the steam,
By the fire which heats the water,
By the water that washes,
I am cleansed, clean, and ready for the day.”
-
“The Good Witch’s Guide: A Modern-Day Wiccapedia of Magickal Ingredients and Spells,” by Shawn Robbins & Charity Bedell
Burn this sigil to ash and rub those ashes into a wearable object. Rinse the ashes off that object with charged water of some type.
That object is now charmed with the intention of the sigil, and yes you can wash it and it’ll still be charmed.
°˖✧ Welcome Spring and wake up from the Winter rest ✧˖°
Imbolc is a time for cleansing and planning, knowing that spring and more energy is on its way ❁*✲ﾟ*
Go on a stroll in nature, it could be a park or some woods near your house and gather some small rocks or maybe some birch from there, think about the things that you want to accomplish in this year and know that they will come true if your intention is true <3
Focus on that and with it in mind go to make this little spell.
Put the rocks inside the jar which are the stepping stones for your goals, one for every big goal you have, then add 3 little seeds inside it, representing all the growth you are gonna make.
Then write in a piece of paper your intention, or maybe use a sygil to represent it or both.
Lit your candles (2 or more) around your jar and in this moment try to bring all your energy to the positive things that will come with spring.
Close the jar and put it in your altar as an intention for the upcoming months.
*In this imbolc time you can also clean your altar and set it for new intentions and take away what does not serve you anymore either by burning or proper discard.
**If you can, plant another 3 seeds outside or in pots, whichever is best for that particular plant
Above all enjoy this time, have a meal and relax, with your coven or solo❁*✲ﾟ*
Combining the energies of shapes and colors is a powerful practice within art witchcraft. You can look for these combinations in your color castings, or other artistic forms of divination, or use them to boost your intent in spells.
Stay tuned for more free resources and information related to art magic and color craft. My inbox is always open!
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