pretend you know what you're doing and the rest will follow

witch and wildcrafter

[mandatorywitchblog]

If I ever claim to have undergone a trial by fire, please know that I am referring to the many, many blisters I carry from my useless clown hands being absolutely incapable of using a fucking lighter correctly.

[mandatorywitchblog]

Is there anyone out there who truly finds minimalist tarot decks useful? Or are they just a pretty novelty?

I find tarot useful and illuminating to me because it’s heavily based on visuals, symbolism, and imagery, and those tend to be the things which I find easiest to divine from. Remove those and, well, I guess I don’t understand why you wouldn’t use geomancy or some other, less image-driven, form of divination.

(Also can I just say right now that “novelty” tarot decks get a bad rep. I don’t know whether this is a hill I’m willing to die on. But if something works I don’t care much if it isn’t Arkanely Aesthetic. It’s just that I don’t find cutesy minimalist decks to work for me.)

[mandatorywitchblog]

Here’s that milkweed drink (this is with vodka and seltzer). I realize I am banging on about this but I would love to have these results verified by someone else. This is first time using milkweed (it only recently seems to have become extremely prolific, before I was concerned about taking too much)- and I was not expecting this.

[mandatorywitchblog]

@ravensroad  

>> That looks like something a faerie would offer to entice you to stay

It tastes like it, too. Rich, sweet, floral, spicy. You’ll either love it or hate it. Unfortunately, coming from someone who’s drank enough of these that I may as well start growing orange butterfly wings, it isn’t quite good enough to remove the taste for all other food. Perhaps one day.

I know that substance is more important than style but a little style in the form of wildcrafted color-changing cocktails can’t hurt. (I don’t know if you have milkweed growing near you, but I think it is invasive in Australia, so if it is there then removing it would almost be a public service!)

[mandatorywitchblog]

Here’s that milkweed drink (this is with vodka and seltzer). I realize I am banging on about this but I would love to have these results verified by someone else. This is first time using milkweed (it only recently seems to have become extremely prolific, before I was concerned about taking too much)- and I was not expecting this.

[mandatorywitchblog]

Milkweed umbels are like giant weak-limbed spiders draped on top of each other, once they’re cut from their plants. They’re beautiful to look at and smell, but a little ghastly to harvest, in my opinion.

Don’t worry, I left plenty for the monarch butterflies to enjoy. You wouldn’t believe how much milkweed I have. It’s a sea of pink out there.

[mandatorywitchblog]

DID YOU KNOW MILKWEED SYRUP CHANGES COLOR

(I didn’t! I’ve never turned it into syrup or made drinks with it before! I wasn’t expecting the color change and no one is talking about this online so I genuinely don’t know what chemically happened with the milkweed)

Everyone go make some milkweed syrup immediately, if you are in a place where milkweed is abundant, I must know if this is an inherent property to the milkweed, or indicative of me fucking something up in creating it.

Milkweed syrup recipe:

-Harvest 2 or 3 cups of milkweed umbels, by going out in the morning and cutting them off as close to the stem as possible. Inevitably there will be some milky sap, but we would like to minimize this.

-Pour about two cups of sugar into the container with the umbels. Shake to cover completely. 

-Wait 24 hours. The sugar should be fragrant, floral and vaguely spicy, somewhat reminiscent of carnations. After that time, dump the sugar and blossoms all into a pan. Add about two cups of water to the pan.

-Heat and stir until sugar dissolves, let it come to a boil. Here is where our experience may differ. The color of the syrup, to me, changed from green, to mauve, to red, to brown, throughout the boiling time. It should not boil for too long, we don’t want to reduce the liquid, just extract flavor. 

-Turn off the heat and strain the syrup into jars. Let cool.

For the drink:

-About three ounces gin. You could use vodka, but why would you?

-An ounce of milkweed syrup.

-Shake these up with some ice in a cocktail shaker, pour it into the glass. What color is your drink? Mine was a spring chartreuse. Is yours the same color?

-Take some tonic water (or plain seltzer, if you used vodka). Pour over the top of the drink. Does it change color? What does it change to? Mine changed to pale pink. Does yours?

My current theory is that I may have boiled the flowers for too long. Or I should have used only the end blossoms and not the whole umbels. Or I didn’t strain sufficiently (although I don’t think that’s the issue- the drink was clear and not murky). Or perhaps it is meant to do this, and people just don’t talk about it online so as not to spoil the surprise for others.

[mandatorywitchblog]

So I have a whole bunch of new followers and as long as you are here I would love it if you’d go out and try this experiment for me, assuming you live in an area where milkweed grows. It’s late in the season but there should be plenty of blossoms still ripe. 

Oh, and try it with both gin and vodka- in my experience the color change is more dramatic with vodka, but I don’t know if this was partially influenced by the particular brand of gin I used.

[haint-blue-horns]

So a group apparently tried to hex the moon (???) and somehow the worst of it are the people thinking they need to "protect" various moon deities and spirits. Like. Even if a god was reliant on you for existence, you think a dollar store tea light is what's gonna do it, sis?

[jbirdoftheriverlands-deactivate]

I dont want to know what lead up to this or any context beyond the image of somebody saying "alright fuck it. We hex the moon."

[ravensroad-deactivated20201024]

i’m just picturing that Simpsons episode where Mr Burns tries to blot out the sun

[mandatorywitchblog]

[mandatorywitchblog]

I don’t see enough stressing the importance of working with native plants for newer witches. So many of those ~beginners correspondence lists~ are the same things over and over. Mostly native European plants. 

Work with what’s around you. Don’t be tied down. (Also, can we just retire correspondence lists? There’s more than enough of them at this point and learning the theory behind why plants are associated with certain traits is far more interesting and practical than just memorizing a list.)

The most important book recommendation for anyone interested in working with the earth is a guide to native wildflowers and plants in their area. This will be a thousand times more useful to you than any kind of “green witchcraft” book you read.

[ankhdjehuty]

Green witchcraft got me interested in botany and herb lore. The best and most historically accurate book on herbal magic is the one by scott Cunningham.

[appleandelder]

So while Cunningham’s book might offer an introductory to certain plants, it kind of misses the point of the this post. Which is saying to stray away from books like his herbal encyclopedia that only offers a list of correspondences without any deeper understanding of the plants or those that may be available locally.

[ankhdjehuty]

I meant the magical herbalism one. It gives great historical information as well as recipes and spells. It tells you how to interact with plants on a spiritual level. Knowing what that plants are means nothing if you don’t understand how to communicate with them. And a good lot of thr plants in the book are native to where i live

[mandatorywitchblog]

While I am glad you find Cunningham useful, I still stand by the point I was making which is that a guide to native wildflowers and plants in a person’s area is almost certainly going to be more useful than any generic ‘green witch’ herbal encyclopedia. It is best to know plants- really know them, the structure of how they’re created, the specific chemical compounds that they release, what insects and animals they interact with, how human interaction has changed them, the entire ecosystem that they play some small part in- and this is all information that you’re unlikely to find from Cunningham or Schulke or Culpeper or indeed any kind of nonspecific vaguely Europe-focused treatise on herbalism. 

Those books have their place, not disputing that, but they are by no means as foundational as a guide to your native plants.

[mandatorywitchblog]

I don’t see enough stressing the importance of working with native plants for newer witches. So many of those ~beginners correspondence lists~ are the same things over and over. Mostly native European plants. 

Work with what’s around you. Don’t be tied down. (Also, can we just retire correspondence lists? There’s more than enough of them at this point and learning the theory behind why plants are associated with certain traits is far more interesting and practical than just memorizing a list.)

The most important book recommendation for anyone interested in working with the earth is a guide to native wildflowers and plants in their area. This will be a thousand times more useful to you than any kind of “green witchcraft” book you read.

[maddmedusacraft]

Hey witchblr!

I need help, I'm trying to make rose oil for my witchy friends but every time I make it, it smells moldy? Curious as to why, I have a rose, chamomile, lavender oil mix that smells okay i think. So I'm pretty sure the issue is the roses. However for the purpose of getting info here's what I use:

Olive oil (carrier oil)

Wild Roses

Orange fragrant Roses

Hybrid Tea Roses

Purple Floribunda Rose (plum rose)

Rio samba rose

[mandatorywitchblog]

There could be a couple things. The oil could be rancid, but I doubt this is the case, since it seems like it’s smelling bad right after you finish making it, and that you’ve successfully used the oil for other things without issue. How are you preparing your roses for infusion? If they aren’t completely dry, water can allow for mold growth and rotting. Different plants can be more prone to this than others, which might be why you’re having more issues with the roses.

[ravensroad-deactivated20201024]

Western Occultism (Abridged)

A disclaimer: I’m no historian or expert, just a layperson with a passion for the occult. I wish more people knew about the history and context of the ideas they believe. So, in the interests of sharing, I’m writing a series of brief posts on key ideas and people in Western occultism.

Part Zero: The Greeks

This is a long-ass post. Hop in the Delorean, we’re going back in time!

So how far back can we go when we’re talking Western occultism? If you wanted to, I think you could probably take a study of occultism as far back as the earliest traces of human religious ritual. But for simplicity’s sake, we’re gonna start with the Greeks. Two of them in particular: Plato and Pythagoras. (Because otherwise this could get insane.)

Keep reading

[ravensroad-deactivated20201024]

Maybe it’s because I’ve literally never understood celebrity culture, but I’m seriously baffled by the tendency to Big-Name people.

My respect is and always will be earned.

[mandatorywitchblog]

Milkweed umbels are like giant weak-limbed spiders draped on top of each other, once they’re cut from their plants. They’re beautiful to look at and smell, but a little ghastly to harvest, in my opinion.

Don’t worry, I left plenty for the monarch butterflies to enjoy. You wouldn’t believe how much milkweed I have. It’s a sea of pink out there.

[mandatorywitchblog]

DID YOU KNOW MILKWEED SYRUP CHANGES COLOR

(I didn’t! I’ve never turned it into syrup or made drinks with it before! I wasn’t expecting the color change and no one is talking about this online so I genuinely don’t know what chemically happened with the milkweed)

Everyone go make some milkweed syrup immediately, if you are in a place where milkweed is abundant, I must know if this is an inherent property to the milkweed, or indicative of me fucking something up in creating it.

Milkweed syrup recipe:

-Harvest 2 or 3 cups of milkweed umbels, by going out in the morning and cutting them off as close to the stem as possible. Inevitably there will be some milky sap, but we would like to minimize this.

-Pour about two cups of sugar into the container with the umbels. Shake to cover completely. 

-Wait 24 hours. The sugar should be fragrant, floral and vaguely spicy, somewhat reminiscent of carnations. After that time, dump the sugar and blossoms all into a pan. Add about two cups of water to the pan.

-Heat and stir until sugar dissolves, let it come to a boil. Here is where our experience may differ. The color of the syrup, to me, changed from green, to mauve, to red, to brown, throughout the boiling time. It should not boil for too long, we don’t want to reduce the liquid, just extract flavor. 

-Turn off the heat and strain the syrup into jars. Let cool.

For the drink:

-About three ounces gin. You could use vodka, but why would you?

-An ounce of milkweed syrup.

-Shake these up with some ice in a cocktail shaker, pour it into the glass. What color is your drink? Mine was a spring chartreuse. Is yours the same color?

-Take some tonic water (or plain seltzer, if you used vodka). Pour over the top of the drink. Does it change color? What does it change to? Mine changed to pale pink. Does yours?

My current theory is that I may have boiled the flowers for too long. Or I should have used only the end blossoms and not the whole umbels. Or I didn’t strain sufficiently (although I don’t think that’s the issue- the drink was clear and not murky). Or perhaps it is meant to do this, and people just don’t talk about it online so as not to spoil the surprise for others.

[hexfeathers-deactivated20241121]

On the topic of spirits: conjure shops, spirit companion shops, however you wanna call them.

If you want a “spirit companion” or a guide, go and learn to conjure yourself. Or, even better, communicate with the land, plants and energy around you in order to attract one and make a bond. Working with spirits is an important, intimate practice, and robbing yourself of making that connection yourself is only going to negatively impact your own learning and experience.

Many spirit conjure shops on Tumblr dot com charge outrageous, scam-level prices, claim to have “hundreds of spirits” waiting to be sent to their “new homes” (which sounds a lot like trafficking, if you ask me, when they make posts like “x spirit has been waiting to go home with someone for 6 months now!” Edit: My favorite is when they then go “x spirit has been waiting for a while, I’m gonna list them 20% OFF! ! ! !” As if they’re the back rack chocolates the day after Easter.), and claim to have “exclusive contact” with certain “species” and will go out of their way to claim that another shop is “copying” their “exclusives.” (Which, again, is absolute BS.) Not to mention, there is a very high chance that the “spirit” that you are being sent isn’t a “spirit” at all, but your own placebo fueling your desire to be delivered a “magical ring holding a super powerful archdemon who is TOTALLY going to be your best friend and hold your hand while you go to Target.”

Invest in your own skills and power as a practitioner.

Don’t throw $500 at someone on the internet to do it for you.

Etsy banned sales like this for a reason.

[mandatorywitchblog]

Milkweed umbels are like giant weak-limbed spiders draped on top of each other, once they’re cut from their plants. They’re beautiful to look at and smell, but a little ghastly to harvest, in my opinion.

Don’t worry, I left plenty for the monarch butterflies to enjoy. You wouldn’t believe how much milkweed I have. It’s a sea of pink out there.

[mandatorywitchblog]

Mulberries are ripe!

Unfortunately jar fermenter is in use for the dandelion wine, so the thoughts I had about mulberry wine will wait another year. But I can make mulberry liqueur, which should be nice. 

I may reblog this with pictures but I cannot guarantee they’ll be ~aesthetic~

[mandatorywitchblog]

The mulberry liqueur in progress, blood-colored and steeping in its jar of alcohol like some kind of wet laboratory specimen.

[ravensroad-deactivated20201024]

Kinda wanna explore a chronological breakdown of ideas in Western occultism

Because it's fascinating to me how ideas get rehashed and how people influence each other

Also because I get the impression that many people are totally unaware of the sources of the ideas and magical systems they're using

[mandatorywitchblog]

Do it

[mandatorywitchblog]

Found a white mulberry tree today, fruit untouched by the blood of Thisbe. Unripe appearance but sweet taste.

Very poetic but it’s an invasive species and its hybridization may threaten the red mulberries. Might have to get rid of it. It was beautiful today though.