The Bowery Presents
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
Hole
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
Show & Tell
ojovivo
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d e v o n

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bliss lane
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taylor price
NASA
KIROKAZE
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One Nice Bug Per Day

Kiana Khansmith

gracie abrams
Noah Kahan

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@mystic-moon-maiden
𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔧𝔲𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤
𝔵𝔵
Misty Forest in Çamlıhemşin, Türkiye by Orhan Namlı
What cats do at night.
NO ONE HAS TO THINK HOW YOU LIVE IS BEAUTIFUL. NO ONE HAS TO THINK YOU’RE STRONG OR COOL OR INNOVATIVE.
DO IT FOR YOURSELF
by Caitlin
The Only Way is Through
2013-09-27
The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness
Michael Kagerer
𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐤
💀 Connect with the spirits of the dead through meditation or rituals.
🕸 Watch your favorite spooky/witchy movies to awaken Samhain's energy.
💀 Pull some tarot cards for guidance.
🕸️ Take a walk in nature for grounding, clear your mind, and appreciate the beauty of autumn.
💀 Since Samhain is also a fire festival, connect with the element of fire by lighting candles or a small bonfire (always safely).
🕸️ Craft yourself a Samhain mask, inspired by ancient Egyptian funeral masks, which were believed to protect the soul on its journey. By creating your own “death mask,” you symbolically protect yourself when the veil is thin.
💀 Celebrate Samhain also as Nutcrack Night, by enjoying the season’s nuts, you can crack them open to release their energy and use them for their magical properties, whether by eating them or using them in spells.
🕸️ Practice candle and fire magick.
💀 Try scrying or mirror gazing, divination is especially powerful when the veil is thin (this whole month especially, and in November too).
🕸️ Do a simple releasing spell: take a leaf, focus on something you want to let go of, crush it gently, and then release it into nature.
💀 Host a Samhain feast for your loved ones. Leave an empty place at the table with food and a photo of the deceased, inviting their spirit to join you.
🕸️ Do some trick-or-treating with baked cookies or small crystals to share your energy with others.
💀 Try an apple peel divination: peel an apple in one long, continuous spiral and throw it over your shoulder. The shape it forms is said to reveal the first initial of your future love.
🕸️ Offer wine libations or food offerings outdoors (make sure they’re safe for animals).
💀 Visit a cemetery or the grave of a loved one. Leave flowers or other offerings to honor them.
🕸️ Add photos of your ancestors or deceased loved ones to your altar.
💀 Wear black to honor the Sabbat and the departed.
🕸️ Bake Samhain treats (like soul cakes, barmbrack, Colcannon, or pies) with your desired intentions and positive energy.
💀 Harvest the last fruits and vegetables of the season.
🕸️ Dance and celebrate both life and death.
💀 Invoke and honor deities associated with this sabbath, such as Hades, Hekate, Morrigan, Persephone, Anubis, and more.
🕸️ Use divination tools like pendulums, dice, or tarot cards to communicate with spirits or seek guidance.
💀 Collect acorns, chestnuts, or hazelnuts and keep them until Ostara. Care for them and charge them with your energy, then return them to nature in spring as an offering.
🕸️ Collect animal bones or feathers to honor the natural cycle of life and death.
💀 Play apple bobbing (traditionally done to honor the goddess Pomona). Successfully catching an apple symbolized a successful future relationship. You can place your caught apple under your pillow to dream of your future partner.
🕸️ Try reading in tea leaves.
💀 Carve pumpkins with sigils, runes, or symbols you want to attract into your life.
🕸️ Bake a pumpkin or apple pie and carve a sigil on top.
💀 Focus on healing and transformation spells.
🕸️ Wear Samhain colors in your clothing, makeup, or nails (orange, purple, white, black, brown, and gold).
💀 Set up your altar with Samhain or autumn symbols.
🕸️ Use crow feathers or crow motifs to honor death and transformation.
💀 Carve symbols onto candles and anoint them with essential oils and herbs.
🕸️ Visualize your intentions and desires clearly, and ask your deities or ancestors for help, but remember, they guide you, they don’t do all the work for you.
💀 Try a dumb supper, eating in silence to connect with spirits and ancestors.
🕸️ Connect with crystals associated with Samhain (hematite, obsidian, black tourmaline, bloodstone, smoky quartz).
💀 Decorate your home with Halloween or Samhain-themed decor to welcome the energy of the season.
🕸️ Prepare a dinner and leave offerings for your dead loved ones.
💀 For many pagans, Samhain marks the Witches’ New Year, so channel your energy into spells for new beginnings, healing, transformation, and manifestation, and honor deities connected with witchcraft.
🕸️ And last but not least, don’t forget to have fun and, most importantly, celebrate every sabbath in the way that feels right to you and connects you deeply with your own magic. Blessed Samhain!!! 🎃♡🕷
Witches in History - Podcast Recs
If you prefer your history lessons in podcast form, here’s a list of audio treats about witches, witch trials, and witch panics, from antiquity to the modern day. Check out these shows on your favorite podcast app!
I will update this list as I find new examples. Feel free to add your own!
(Last Updated August 27, 2024 - Full post under Read More)
For more witchcraft and occult-related podcast recs, check out my other masterpost, Debunking and Fact-Checking for Witches & Witchcraft Spaces.
Witches & Witch Trials in History
Hex Positive
Ep. 3 - Hex Positive June 1, 2020 Bree delves into what it means to be Hex Positive, as well as discussing and dismantling some of the confusion surrounding the use of hexes and curses. Just what IS the Threefold Law, anyway? The answer may surprise you.
Ep. 19 - The Trouble with Tarot August 1, 2021 Tarot and tarot-reading have been a part of the modern witchcraft movement since the 1960s. But where did these cards and their meanings come from? Are they secretly Ancient Egyptian mystical texts? Do they have their origins among the Romani people? Are they a sacred closed practice that should not be used by outsiders? Nope, nope, and nope. This month, we delve into the actual history of tarot cards, discover their origins on the gaming tables of Italy and France, meet the people who developed their imagery and symbolism into the deck we know today, and debunk some of the nonsense that’s been going around lately concerning their use. The Witchstorian is putting on her research specs for this one!
Ep. 20 - Witchcraft and the Law September 1, 2021 A discussion of the history of witchcraft-related laws and how changing views on magic, religion, and superstition first denied the existence of witches, then panicked over their alleged activities, and finally settled into something resembling common sense. This is a long slog, encompassing over 3000 years of history from a broomstick-height view, and I get off on a few tangents where history crosses paths with modern issues. But if you’re a history buff, you’re gonna love this episode!
Ep. 21 - Witchcraft and Modern Law September 21, 2021 A follow-up to Ep. 20, this time dealing with modern legal codes that may affect our practices even if they don’t deal with witchcraft directly. There is also some discussion of 20th-century events missed in the previous episode, as well as a brief overview of witch hunts still occurring in some parts of the world today.
Ep. 22 - Bree and Lozzie vs the Witch Hunters October 1, 2021 Bree NicGarran and guest host Lozzie Stardust run down the history and many misdeeds of notorious witch hunters Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne.
Ep. 23 - The Name of the Game November 1, 2021 Bree delves into the history, myths, and urban legends surrounding Ouija boards. Along the way, we’ll uncover their origins in the spiritualist movement, discover the pop culture phenomenon that labeled them portals to hell, and try to separate fact from internet fiction with regard to what these talking boards can actually do.
Ep. 28 - The Easter-Ostara Debacle April 1, 2022 Bree puts on her Witchstorian hat once more to delve into the origins of both Easter and Ostara and to finally answer the age-old question: which came first – the bunny or the egg?
Ep. 036 - Margaret Effing Murray with Trae Dorn July 1, 2023 Margaret Murray was a celebrated author, historian, folklorist, Egyptologist, archaeologist, anthropologist, first-wave feminist, and the first woman to be appointed to the position of lecturer in archaeology in the UK. So why so we get so annoyed whenever her name is mentioned in conversations about witchcraft? Well, it all has to do with a book Margaret wrote back in 1921…which just so happened to go on to have a profound influence on the roots of the modern witchcraft movement. Nerd & Tie senpai and host of BS-Free Witchcraft Trae Dorn joins me in the virtual studio to discuss the thoroughly-discredited witch-cult hypothesis, Murray’s various writings and accomplishments, and why modern paganism might not have caught on so strongly without her.
BS-Free Witchcraft
Ep 03: The History of Wicca October 06, 2018 On this episode Trae digs deep into the history of Wicca, and tries to give the most accurate history of the religion as they can. I mean, yeah, we know this is a general Witchcraft podcast, but Wicca is the most widely practiced form of Witchcraft in the US, UK, Canada and Australia… so how it got started is kind of important for the modern Witchcraft movement. (And trust me, there aren’t any pulled punches here.)
Ep. 28: The Burning Times May 30, 2020 On this installment of the podcast, we tackle probably one of the more controversial topics in the modern witchcraft movement: The Burning Times. What were the actual “Burning Times,” where do we get that phrase from, and what really happened? Also, how has this phrase been used in modern witchcraft? It’s a heavy one, folks.
Ep. 33: The Wheel of the Year March 27, 2021 After two fairly depressing episodes, it’s time to move on to something a little less bleak. This time around we’re talking about the Wheel of the Year! Well, at least the basic idea. Where did it come from, who slapped these eight holidays together, and are they really something every witch needs to give a crap about? (Minor spoiler, the answer to that last question is a firm “no.”)
Ep. 39. - Mabon and Aidan Kelly Sept. 25, 2021 In the last few years there has been some minor push back against using the name “Mabon” for the Autumnal Equinox. In this episode we’re going to talk about how Mabon got its name, who came up with the name, and why exactly a small group of British Traditional Wiccans are so mad about it. (Spoiler: it’s because a bunch of Gardnerian Wiccans are mad at Aidan Kelly.)
Ep. 43 - “Lilith” Jan. 29, 2022 As long as I can remember, people have been debating whether or not it’s okay for non-Jewish witches to incorporate Lilith into their practices. Is Lilith closed? Is it cultural appropriation? There’s so much misinformation in new age and poorly written witchcraft books on Lilith, it’s hard for some witches to get a clear picture. Like I’ve run into folks on social media talking about Lilith as a “Goddess,” which she very much isn’t. Let’s dive into the origins of the folklore surrounding this figure, and I’ll let you decide whether or not it’s okay to work with Lilith. But, uh, spoiler – I don’t think you should.
Ep. 53 - Modern Witchcraft History Nov. 26, 2022 This episode of BS-Free Witchcraft is actually a panel from CritWitchCon 2022 this last October. Spend an hour with Alex Wrekk, Bree NicGarran, Lozzie Stardust, and Trae Dorn as they talk about the history of modern witchcraft. Also you get to list to Trae speed run like 130 years of history in under five minutes. [It was epic.]
Ep. 54 - A Conversation with Aidan Kelly Dec. 31, 2022 Trae sits down with Aidan Kelly (yes THE Aidan Kelly) to discuss the September 2021 episode listed above and set the record straight about Kelly’s new Wheel of the Year.
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