Sceptic Witchcraft

[academia-darling-deactivated202]

💌Spell Envelopes💌

Y’all this is seriously a game changer!! 

As a college student, I’m super broke and haven’t wanted to buy sachets for spells, but I have a solution! Just use an envelope instead! You can get a whole box for like $3 (or you probs already have some) and they work just like a sachet: you put your herbs, pieces of paper, little crystals, etc. inside.  

You can also decorate them with designs, colors, and sigils that correspond to the spell you’re doing!  The one in this picture is a love spell I made for a friend! Art isn’t your thing? Just use stickers! Washi tape! 

You can carry them around easily and discreetly too.  You could even mail a spell to a friend! And add a layer of enchantment to bless your postal delivery person while they’re carrying the spell :)

✨✨

Addition:  As the lovely @crystal-w0lf added to the comments, you can also bury them for offerings or protection spells!!!

[kaplisbelial]

Things My Non-Witch Friends/Family Have Said To Me (Part 2)

“It looks like you have an apothecary”–My grandmother

“Are you making something for the faeries?”

“Do we have to go on a walk now?”

Me: *word vomits facts about candle colors*

My mother, a borderline witch and retired goth: That’s cool kiddo, i didn’t know that

“I hate you and those cards”

“Stop being cryptic you’re concerning me”

“Dude the answer these cards give is about as straight as you”

“did you know this was gonna happen or are you just a lucky asshole?”

“You left your rocks on the counter again”

*asks me tons of questions about my deities*–My little sister

“No I’m not giving you another jar”

“I don’t care how beautiful they are we don’t have room for more plants”

“Why the hell do you need to bake now?

*sees me looking longingly at candles* “No”

“Please put the book away”

“Can i help find flowers?”– My little brother

“I don’t care how neat it looks we can’t afford it”

“How do you have this many jars?”

“Did…did you really spend a whole 3 hours organizing rocks?”

[scepticwitchcraft]

Can relate 

[scepticwitchcraft]

Lughnasadh (Lammas)

Lammas marks the beginning of the harvest season, when farmers would traditionally start harvesting crops in northern Europe (I’m referring to northern Europe because that’s where the tradition originated from and because that’s when the harvesting season was in northern Europe.) This Sabbat is also about death, rebirth, and reflection on your successes over the past year as well as things that should be left behind. 

When: August 1st 

Altar: Colors: yellow, orange, red, brown, green. Objects that are great to put on the altar:

If your job requires creativity, put objects that represent that creativity on the altar (for example, as an artist you could put your paintbrushes or your paints on the altar). 

Food such as bread and corn 

Objects are the ones that represent the harvest such as baskets, sickles, and scythes. 

Dry flowers to represent a change of the seasons towards the fall. 

Straw braids 

Corn dolls 

Crystals: Aventurine, Carnelian, Malachite, Sardonyx, Shiva Lyngam, Citrine 

Activities: have a bonfire, make corn dolls, journal about things that you don’t want to continue doing/want to live behind in the previous year, dry herbs, flowers, etc... that you had gathered for future spell work, make candles, watch the sunset, (if you are allowed to and it’s safe) have fireworks 

Spells/Rituals: Prosperity spells, blessing charms, protection spells, courage spells, career spells  

Food: Bread, corn, grapes, wine, onions, carrots 

Deities: Lugh, Adonis, Attis, Demeter, Dagon, Osiris, Mercury, Parvati, Tammuz, Pomona 

[mayleeillustration]

After work drinks and meat pie 

[scepticwitchcraft]

Curses and Hexes

Recently, there were a lot of confusion on this topic in the witchcraft community. So this is a very high level overview on this topic. 

What are Curses/Hexes? 

Curses, hexes and jinxes are spells that you cast with the intent to cause harm. Curses are the most serious types and are meant to be permanent while hexes are less severe and are meant to cause some temporary discomfort. Jinxes are the least serious of the 3 and are just meant to cause some annoying discomfort. 

Who can you Curse/Hex? 

You can curse/hex individuals. You can also curse people who come from the same family lineage, often referred to as “blood line”. With this said, there is a caveat. If a family member is cut off from the rest of the family, the curse will not work on that person. There is a ritual that one can do where one cuts a string with a knife, signifying his/her “separation” from the family. In that case, that person will no longer be effected by the curse. You can also curse/hex places (houses, lakes, forests, etc...) and objects. Think of it as creating a haunted house or a haunted object. 

What you can’t curse (or not curse with a lot of success) are abstract ideas such as “hunger”, “poverty”, “white supremacy”, etc... You can curse or hex a specific white supremacist (an individual) but you can’t curse it or hex it as an ideology. Curses/hexes also work better on people that you personally know rather then people that you don’t personally know. And if you do hex/curse a very loosely defined group, if the hex/curse were to work, it’s most likely to work on the person/people in your social circle.  You also can’t curse/hex deities. You can’t curse gods, goddesses, angels, demons, etc... You can ask for a certain deity to “go away/leave you alone” but that’s pretty much all that you can do. You also can’t curse the whole set of objects as a whole, such as for example all oceans, all rocks, all fire, all water in the world, etc... 

How common are Curses/Hexes? 

Genuine curses/hexes that can’t be explained by science or something outside of witchcraft are extremely rare. The majority of curses and hexes are nothing more then a placebo effect. A person thinks that he/she had been cursed and his/her subconscious mind starts manifesting the curse (regardless if the person was actually cursed or not). Often times, witches who go around screaming “you are cursed” (Yes. People like this exist especially on TikTok) don’t actually do any rituals to place a curse on people that they claim to curse. It’s all in the mind of the victim. 

The second issue is a question of coincidence and hidden variables. Correlation does not always equal causation. If you, for example, were to curse someone who smokes and that person were to get lung cancer, is it because of the curse or because he/she smokes? If you had cursed a guy who acts like a jerk and he loses his job, is it because of your curse or because that guy acted like a jerk towards his boss and the boss fired him? There is no clear answer to those questions.

With this said, there are some curses where there simply is no logical non-supernatural explanation outside of it being a curse. The details of the curse just match too well with what happened to the target for it to be a coincidence and there was no way for the target to know about the curse. However, as mentioned earlier, those curses are extremely rare. It’s very difficult to curse someone. So don’t be too worried about being cursed. And if you want to learn how to do curses, understand that it will be a difficult journey for you.  

[ghostlyparallel-deactivated2021]

Someone has tried to hex the Fae and the Moon. I do not know the reason as to why they would even think about doing something this stupid, but their actions have caused an upset in the witchtok community (for good reason). If you, your pets, etc have felt off for the past couple of days: the above might be the reason.

Lemme—just—WHY?!

For education: DO NOT attempt to hex the Fae or the Moon. It shouldn’t be said because, ya know... common sense, but I guess it has to be spoken now. You cannot hex the Fae. You cannot hex the Moon. If you attempt it, you’re showing major disrespect to the gods, the Fae, the Celestial Beings, and more.

Put simply: you.will.regret.it

[scepticwitchcraft]

Are you a deity? No. Then why do you think you can hex one. 

(By you I mean those people on TikTok not the OP) 

[scepticwitchcraft]

Garlic

Good for Spells: Love potions, repelling evil and psychic vampires, protection against negative energy, purification, breaking spells, good luck spells. I personally mostly use it for protection spells and to protect me against unwanted people. 

Element: Fire 

Gender: Masculine 

Deities: Hecate. Could be used as an offering to her if your practice includes deities 

Chakra: Solar Chakra (Manipura) 

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Planet: Mars 

Medicinal Properties: Through out history, garlic had been used to treat a variety of different diseases, from bronchitis to diabetes to getting rid of parasites to treating cancer. However, none of this claims had been backed up and proven to work by science. Which means that taking garlic should not be a substitute for pharmaceutical medications and talking to your doctor. Garlic is also high in manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C, selenium, and fiber and taste pretty good if you use it when cooking (therefore, great for kitchen magic). There are some people who are allergic to garlic. If you are in this group, do not eat or, in some cases, even touch it. 

Overall, garlic is a relatively safe (from a physical perspective) herb to work with in your practice. It’s highly unlikely to cause harm to your health and well being. But claims made surrounding its healing properties are also unfounded and unsupported by evidence.  

[scepticwitchcraft]

How to Write a Dream Journal?

A basic idea of a dream journal is that you write out the dreams that you have while you sleep when you wake up. Keeping a dream journal is an important part of learning how to control your dreams. They are also important in empowering you to be able to see a “trend” and patterns between your dreams and the real world. 

How Should it Look Like? 

Well... whatever you like. It’s your personal thing. With this said, I recommend that you follow the following guidelines: 

Have a physical journal. Don’t do it online. The reason for this is sometimes you might see visual things in dreams that are hard to write out in words and it would be easier for you to sketch it out. And it’s significantly easier to draw in a physical book then online. 

Keep it private. You might have some pretty weird dreams. It’s probably NOT a good idea for people to know that you are having nightmares with them in it. It just creates for awkward dinamics in your day to day life. 

Date all of your entries. And by all of your entries, I mean all of your entries. Keeping track of when you had what dream is important. Without dates, you will soon get lost and it will be harder for you to draw parallels between your dreams and the “real world”. 

The Layout/Format I follow in My Dream Journal: 

Date: If the date has some sort of significance, I mention the significance in this section as well. For example, if it’s a full moon, a sabbaths, I’m having an exam on that date, etc... I make sure to mention it in this section. 

Description of the dream (sometimes with pictures): 

My feelings/reflection about the dream: 

A blank page left out in case something from the dream is reflected in the real world: 

This is the layout format I personally follow in my dream journal. I like keeping my book of shadow and my dream journal well organized and more “formulaic” rather then a lot of other witches do. So I usually follow a format. Following a format helps develop a routine, which helps with consistency and sticking to keeping a journal. 

When to Write? 

The best time to write in your dream journal is in the morning. The reason for this is because you are most likely to remember your dreams well in the morning. So when you just wake up, get into the habbit of jotting down whatever you remember when it comes to your dreams in the dream journal. Keep the dream journal close to your bed in order to make the process of writing more “comfortable” and “convenient”. 

If you don’t remember you dreams, do not feel discouraged. DO NOT make stuff up just to have an entry. DO NOT force yourself to remember. This will only lead to you making stuff up in your dream journal. If you don’t remember, you don’t remember. Just don’t write anything. If you have trouble maintaining routines, just write the date down and then “nothing” or “N/A” or “Can’t Remember” and move on. 

[honeyglazedgoblin]

i keep thinking about that post where everyone was arguing with a 13 year old (i looked that the op’s page and they disclosed their age that’s how i know) and i reblogged saying “reminder that the op is literally only 13 years old” and someone else reblogged from me and goes “reminder that it’s okay to argue with a 13 year old if it’s something worth arguing about” -so i checked that persons page and they were 16 lmao

yes, it probably is okay for a 13 year old and a 16 year old to argue. but i am almost 25 years old, almost double the age of the op, and i find it very inappropriate for someone my age to be picking a fight with a 13 year old for their opinion they posted on tumblr, am i wrong for that? just curious was y’all think lol

[scepticwitchcraft]

I think it depends. If you are critiquing ideas and work/content, that’s ALWAYS ok regardless of the age. Criticism helps one grow and it can be helpful for his/her followers to see opposing view points. Especially if the 13 year old’s opinion is misguided and/or could be dangerous for his/her followers (since it’s very likely that his/her followers could also be in the similar age group). 13 is an age where a lot of new ideas get formed and, if anything, arguing over ideas could help introduce the 13 year old to new ideas that he/she might not have been aware about. Having your ideas challenged and learning how to defend and express your view points and what you believe in is an important part of growing up. For example, arguing about wether or not schools should be reopened, wether or not you should water a certain plant 2 times a week, how to take care of a dog, etc... is perfectly normal and, in some cases, could be even very helpful. 

However, name calling and reverting to arguments such as “you are stupid”, “your content suck”, “you are ugly”, “no one will ever read or like you content” etc... is NOT ok. Especially it’s not ok when arguing with a 13 year old. For adults, while such arguments are unproductive and don’t add anything to the discussion, adults usually have tougher skin and can handle those types of comments. 13 year olds often times can not. It’s much harder for a 13 year old to understand that that person is just blowing off steam or had a bad day at work. He/she is much more likely to take it personally and feel hurt by those types of comments. 

[alittlewitchyworld]

Is it a crime to be a witch that doesn’t use essential oils? Because every spell that I have found in my Witchy Information Books™ has oils in it and that is not my thing.

[scepticwitchcraft]

Not my thing either, tbh. I burn a lot of incense. And I also sometimes just use perfume instead. If you don’t want to use or don’t have essential oils, don’t use essential oils. 

[dancing-at-the-funeralparty-dea]

[scepticwitchcraft]

Rosemary

Good for Spells: Purification, protection against evil spirits, protection against nightmares, good sleep spells, memory spells and other spells related to cognition, helping you get rid of jealousy spells, spells related to health. 

Element: Fire 

Gender: Masculine 

Deities: Hebe, Aphrodite, also related to the Virgin Mary (but I prefer not to include christianity within the context of witchcraft), Venus, Faery 

Chakra: Heart Chakra (Anahata, 4th Chakra) 

Zodiac Sign: Leo 

Medicinal Properties: Helps boost the immune system and blood circulation. Also, there is growing evidence that rosemary helps with memory and brain health. With this said, if you plan on ingesting rosemary, don’t go overboard with it. Ingesting extremely high quantities could lead to you vomiting, spasms, and even cause you to go into a coma. 

[studyblr]

if there’s a voice deep inside you telling you what makes you truly happy, telling you what you should do, don’t let it die.

[scepticwitchcraft]

Chamomile

Good for Spells: Sleep, money, relaxing, tranquility, defensive/protective spells, spells against unwanted energies, luck spells, sometimes also used in love spells. I personally mostly use it for spells related to sleep and relaxation. Chamomile helps me calm down. 

Element: Water 

Gender: Masculine (Although, oddly enough, I personally always felt like it was more “feminine”). 

Deities: Ra, Cernunnos, Lugh 

Chakra: Vishuddha/Throat or 5th Chakra 

Zodiac Sign: Leo 

Planet: Sun 

Medicinal Properties: Helps with sleep and relaxation, menstruation pain, and cold symptoms. Some studies suggest that it could also lower blood sugar levels and reduce inflammation. Should not be given to very young children and used if you are allergic to it. 

[cafeconbrujeria]

In my efforts to Understand the Community and not be a gigantic bitch all the time, magically speaking, I’ve sought advice for intermediate to advanced practitioners. Some of it is very good! It is on the whole more sensible thus far than the usual baby witch propaganda about historical events that didn’t really happen.

However, some advice I see over and over is something like “you must understand how magic works.” As in, they’re not telling you what to do, but you gotta figure out your cosmology before you get real shit done.

And I profoundly disagree with every bone in my sometimes skittish body. Like writing, like athletic feats, like most things: you learn magic by DOING. Theory will only get you so far. Don’t spend ten years outlining your novel and never writing it. Don’t spend months reading sporty best practices and never breaking a sweat.

Spend too much time on that question and you’ll just spin around in circles. It’s so broad, so abstract. You could spend lifetimes figuring it out, and you probably are.

I’m not saying never think about it. But I am saying: careful, or this navel grazing will trip you up. Especially early on, this question is a distraction from your practice, not part of it.

Now, as you get more experienced, you develop some kind of subconscious understanding about this question. You might still be better off not thinking about it, the way that sometimes thinking too hard about your movement sequence (dance, asanas, kata, etc) makes you lose your flow and mix up your steps.

Because, fundamentally, the answer to “how does magic work?”

is just, simply:

it does.

[scepticwitchcraft]

I believe that both practice and theory are important in anything that you are trying to learn and this includes witchcraft. If you make theory part of your craft, it will then be easier for you to come up with spells to do, understand what things are essential and what aren’t, how you can “substitute” different ingredients in a spell and how you can’t, etc.... 

So I do believe that theory should be part of the craft. But not the only part. It should always be guided by and followed by practice. If I had to put a percentage on it, I would say around 20% theory and 80% practice. 

[scepticwitchcraft]

Gender and Witchcraft

🏋️‍♀️Masculine: Aggressive, active, energetic, causing change, controlling, focus on spiritual and mental, rational and conscious, vision, power 

 👠Feminine: Passive, the unconscious and emotional, nurturing, creation, creativity, intuition, calmness, 

Within witchcraft, both feminine and masculine energies are important. Often the focus is disproportionately on the feminine energy. However, it is important to combine the element of both in your rituals and practice. 

Also, for most rituals your gender is not important, since the goal should be to combine both masculine and feminine aspects. And, on a spiritual level, we are all a combination of the feminine and the masculine. 

This means that you can do witchcraft if you are a man, woman, transgender, gender non-binary, etc... And most rituals can be done exactly the same regardless of your gender. 

Now, there are some rare exceptions to the rule. For example, if you had been born a man, you can’t do a fertility spell in order for you to get pregnant. Since it is impossible for someone who is biologically male to get pregnant and witchcraft can not bend the laws of nature. Outside of those rare exceptions, it is pretty much irrelevant and your focus should be on crafting rituals that combine both the feminine and the masculine essence rather than worrying about wether or not you can call yourself a witch and/or do a certain ritual because of your gender identity. 

[birches-and-hawks]

Quick PSA to all the witches trying to cast spells, especially baby witches.

If you wanna cast a spell to help the black lives matter movement,please DO NOT cast a hex. I am not against hexes in the slightest, but if you're a baby witch, please leave that to more experienced witches. You don't know if it will backfire you or not and you don't want to risk that. Also the whole system is much bigger than you. A simple hex will not stop police brutality.

You know what you can do though? Cast a protection spell. Instead of trying to hex the police, protect the protesters. It will be more affective AND safer.

Leave the hexes to the more experienced witches.

(Feel free to reblog it to spread the word)

[scepticwitchcraft]

Also, spells have this tendency to work more close to home. This goes for hexes/curses as well. So if you have any family and friends who are in the police or had ever worked in the police, be careful not to do unintentional harm to those people.