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What are you doing in tumblr

[natanvance]

[bionicunicorn]

[lavenderwaterwitch]

two most beautiful Amethyst clusters ✨

[witchcasket]

Crystals!😍🌿

Available in store and a selection can be found on our website (www.practical-magick.co.uk)🔮✨

[datable]

[themanicnami]

Get to Know Your Deck Spread

Here’s a lovely spread for all of you out there who are new to tarot, recently received a new deck, struggle with bonding with your deck(s) and/or are having issues getting clear or understanding readings. Sometimes decks have personalities to them, they have their own likes, dislikes, alignments and even preferred ‘work’ to go into. They also often require bonding to get the most accurate smooth readings. I have explained before the differences in my decks and what they like to answer, and I know of others who struggle bonding or understanding who their decks are. This spread should be of help!

1. How is your deck feeling today? Are they in a good mood ready to work? Or are they just having an off bad day? I have found decks, like people, can have moody bad days. These days their readings may be harsher than usual or even not even slightly logical. Its good to see what mood your deck is in before using it for readings, especially readings for others (and especially if they are paying for them). This may also affect the questions they will wish to answer.

2. What element does your deck align with? All decks are different and some may align themselves with specific elements. Is your deck fire, water, earth, air, spirit or a combination of them? This may affect the manner which they read. Air decks may be more interested in giving creative advice and focus on individuality, free-spirited natures, the arts, and even love. Water decks tend to focus on emotions and seeking gentle fixes. Fire decks tend to be the most assertive, they are competitive, encouraging, brave, passionate but also tend to support the idea of feuds. Fire decks, also from my experience, tend to be very blunt about things. Earth aligned decks tend to be a bit calmer, they focus on bonds with people such as family and friendships. They also focus on careers, prosperity and money matters. Spirit decks, tend to like to do more of the ‘divine’. They focus on self-enlightenment, self discovery and communicating with supernatural forces, guides, and deities.

3. What Questions does your deck enjoy answering? Does your deck enjoy answering questions about love? Friends and family? Do they enjoy giving personal advice? Do they like money matters and career focuses. This could determine what questions they may be the most accurate and ones they will give the best advice on.

4. What Questions does your deck least like to answer? These are the questions they may not have the most accurate advice on. Such as my Rider deck greatly dislikes romance questions so I never use him for them because he will always just advice break-ups no matter the situation.

5. What is your deck’s current feelings towards you? Does your deck feel close to you? Is it a strong professional business bond? Or is it more like a friendship? Do they feel distant from you? Like you ignore them? Do they not understand you or feel like you are a stranger? Do you intimidate them?

6. How can you improve your relationship? How does your deck feel like you two can do to help build your relationship? Practice more or perhaps make spreads.

7. A Negative trait. Pretty self explanatory, this is a negative quality about your deck that it feels you have a right to know about. Take note that this is a negative trait in the mind and views of your deck, its something it feels is negative.

8. A Positive trait. Again, pretty self explanatory, this is a trait that your deck feels is a positive trait it has. Again, this is a trait seen as positive in its mind.

[chaosophia218]

Pliny the Elder - The Earth and orbiting Celestial Spheres, “Natural History”, 1476.

[mouselet]

[matialonsorphoto]

[chaosophia218]

W. & S. Jones - Magic Lantern Slides on Assorted Astronomical Topics, 19th century.

[untrustyou]

[thegreatkosmickitchen]

FIRST, gather your herbs.

Consider starting with something gentle that will be nice to learn with. Some of my first tinctures were skullcap and lemon balm. These herbs aid in stress and are usually effective if taken multiple times daily over time. I find that trustworthy plants like these are great doorways into herbalism. 

The best place to gather herbs from would be your own garden. If this is not possible be sure to find a trustworthy local herb shop or a bigger buyer like Mountain Rose who sells organic. It is best to tincture most herbs fresh, but dry works well too.

*** If the herbs are coming straight out of the garden you can gently wash the aerial parts, and definitely scrub the roots clean of any dirt residue.  

THEN, chop and macerate.

Chop up the herb or root as small as possible. Once you think it is small enough, go smaller. The more surface area that is exposed during the maceration process, the stronger the medicine can be! For roots, dried herbs, and larger projects I will use a Vitamix. If you often have a small amount that can be easily ground, you may want to consider getting a coffee grinder to reserve for all your herbal endeavors. 

Now you are ready to macerate, which basically means to let the plant sit in alcohol for a few weeks. This process pulls out all the healing constituents that make tinctures therapeutic! 

For your menstrum (or solvent) you will need to use some sort of alcohol. Some people like to use glycerites which are sweeter, or apple cider vinegar. Traditionally brandy or some form of alcohol like vodka was used. When I do the standard method, which is a bit more complicated, I use grain alcohol that is nearly 100%!

Fill a jar all the way to the top with your herbs. Cover it with your brandy or alcohol of choice. Let the herbs macerate for one full lunar cycle. Starting medicines on the full moon can be quite magical! Label your jar with the ingredients and date, and store in indirect light. Shake the maceration daily with good intentions.  

***Remember that you are powerful and the energy that you put forth and the intentions that you set will come through in the medicine.

FINALLY, strain and enjoy!

After a month (or longer) has passed, strain out your herbs with the muslin cloth. Squeeze out any remaining liquid that might be living in the herb. Compost the finished herb which is also known as mark. Pour the now tincture back into jar or into a dosage bottle with a custom label. You have now made your very first folk tincture!

Now you can make medicine from all the beautiful plants that grow around you. You will begin to discover that most of what you need is pretty close by. The St. John’s Wort on the highway, the kudzu on the pine trees, the wild oats dancing in the pasture, the dandelion in your lawn, all the plants are here waiting for you! 

With love and healing light,

Summer Ashley

[astrariumsmoved-deactivated2021]

thedas moodboards | the brecilian forest

There are places in the Brecilian Forest where the Veil is so thin that the difference between awake and dreaming is next to nothing. 

[dark-witch-dark-night-blog]

The Elements

Earth

Earth is our mother. It’s as fertile and nurturing as farmland; as moist as soil and as dry as sand. In its physical manifestations (such as stones), Earth represents the densest of the elements.

Symbolic associations of Earth

Basic Nature: Fertile, moist, nurturing; stabilizing; grounding. Gravity is a manifestation of this element.

Type of Energy: Receptive.

Color: Green (from the color of living plants).

Places: Caves, canyons, chasms, forests, groves, valleys, fields, farms, gardens, arboretums, parks, plant nurseries, farmer’s markets, kitchens, baby nurseries, basements, mines, holes.

Rituals: Money, prosperity, fertility, stability, grounding, employment.

Ritual Forms: Burying, planting, making images in soil or sand.

Herbs: Earth-smelling plants, such as patchouly and vetivert; mosses and lichens; nuts; dry and stiff plants; heavy, low-growing plants; generally roots.

Stones: Heavy or opaque, as in coal; green, as in emerald and peridot.

Metals: Iron, lead.

Musical Instrument: Drum, all percussion instruments.

Creatures: Dog, horse, earthworm, gopher, ant, cow, burrowing animals.

Season: Winter (the time of darkness).

Direction: North (the place of greatest darkness).

Time: Night.

Magical Tool: Pentacle (a wooden, metal, or clay disc inscribed with a five-pointed star).

Point in Life: Advanced age.

Astrological Signs: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn.

Sense: Touch.

Natural Symbols: Salt, clay dish of fresh soil, rocks, sheaves of wheat, acorns.

Types of Magic Ruled: Gardening, magnet, image, stone, tree, knot, binding.

Symbols for:

Air

Air is the power of movement; of freshning and of intelligence. It’s the invisible and yet quite real mixture of gases that we breathe in every day. In magical terms, Air is also the power of the mind: the force of intellect.

Symbolic associations of Air

Keep reading

[potionslab]

In many cultures, honey is still considered sacred and held in high esteem. The Egyptians, for example, paid worship to Min, a fertility god, and in doing so they were known to make offerings of honey. In Hinduism, honey is one of the five elixirs of Immortality. Even Christianity and Judaism have their own references to the substance. No matter which path one may pursue, most remind us that honey is divine – it’s a celestial food. So celestial, in fact, that ambrosia, the nectar of the Greek gods, was thought to be comprised of it.  

In addition to a rich religious history, honey also has a long history of magical applications. One of the magical papyri tells the practitioner to: Take honey with the milk, drink it before the rising sun, and there shall be in thy heart something that is divine. One witch I know often makes offerings to the Spirits of Land using a potion made from milk and honey. These two are gently heated over a low fire while lavender and clovers are slowly folded in. The brew is poured off into a ceremonial chalice and then taken outdoors where a supplication to the spirits is spoken, a sip of the potion is taken, and then the remainder of it is poured upon the earth as an offering. Honey can be used as a base in potions designed for worship, healing, or a wide spectrum of other magical goals and is associated with the sun because of its golden color.  

I know I’ve mentioned Valerie Worth before, but her small books continue to astound me. In her Charms & Spells book, she gives us the following honey elixir that is worth sharing here, if only to show how versatile honey is in potion-making today.  

An Elixir of Honey

To strengthen the constitution and dispel afflictions of the mind and body, this honey elixir has no equal. It is pure and wholesome, and may be taken as a tonic by children, grown men and women, and ancients alike, with good results. Concoct it thus:

Boil in eight ounces of water the fresh leaves of sage, thyme, and mint, a large spoonful of each, until of liquid there be but an ounce or two. Pour off this brew, and when it is cool add to it a teaspoonful of good brown cider vinegar, and also three ounces of honey, strained fresh from the comb. Stir these well until the honey is blended and the whole shines clear. Then it may be sipped, from a wine glass, all or in part. If any is not used, it may be kept in a tightly corked vessel for later draughts.

[darkbelliedclouds]

the magical cauldron by ~inessa-emilia

[sashaleephoto-blog]

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