#ask sheydmade

[sheydmade]

If you get the chance, would you link all your Jewish posts this far? I want to make sure I've not missed any. 🧿🤍🌟

Of course! Here are the Jewish pieces I've posted thus far:

Diary of a Jewitch: Spells & Magical Workings for the Days of Awe

Jewish Incantation Bowls (article)

Jewish Incantation Bowls (infographic)

The Jewitch: an Exploration of Jewish Magic

Treading the Veil: Graveyard Measuring, Soul Candles, & Beseeching the Dead in Ashkenazi Jewish Tradition

And while these aren't wholly dedicated to Jewish magic, they have mentions of Jewish practices or customs within:

Home Protection in Folk Magic: Charms, Wards, & Work to Magically Protect One's Home

Protection Work in Folk Magic: Herbs, Spells, & Charms for Protecting Yourself & Others

Simple Methods of Magical Protection

[sheydmade]

can you do one of your round-ups of your plant and nature magic posts?

You got it (though you should stay tuned because there will be a new addition very soon)!

Apple Magic: Using Apples in Spells & Divination

Flower Power: Using Spring Flowers in Divination

Pumpkin Magic: Utilizing Pumpkin in Witchcraft

Rose Magic: Using Roses in Spells & Divination

Small But Mighty: Violets & Their Many Magical Uses

Summer Plant Allies for Spells & Divination

Trust the Trees: Dendromancy & Autumn Leaves Divination

These aren't posts dedicated to plant magic, but they feature herbal allies and the like!

Protection Work in Folk Magic: Herbs, Spells, & Charms for Protecting Yourself & Others

Spring Magic: Herbs, Spells, & Charms for Cleansing & Prosperity

Winter Protection Magic

[sheydmade]

May I ask for some spring reading suggestions from your articles?

Of course, anon!

Flower Power: Using Spring Flowers in Divination (also on Substack)

Rose Magic: Using Roses in Spells & Divination (also on Substack)

Small But Mighty: Violets & Their Many Magical Uses (also on Substack)

Spring Allies: Charms, Spells, Divination, & Plant Magic; Part 1 (also on Substack)

Spring Magic: Herbs, Spells, & Charms for Cleansing & Prosperity (also on Substack)

[sheydmade]

do you have any faveorite pieces youve written? like your recommended reading for your own blog lol?

Okaayyyyyyy, I love this ask! I definitely have some favorites!

Firstly, I'm proudest of my piece on Jewish incantation bowls, because that's one of my special interests:

Jewish Incantation Bowls (article) *an underrated slay, imo

Jewish Incantation Bowls (infographic)

And I'd throw in this bit on Jewish witchery in general for anyone interested in a brief overview of historical evidence of Jewish magic, a few examples of different "types" of Jewish witches, and debates on those "prohibitions" people love to throw in witches' faces (as if we care):

the Jewitch: An Exploration of Jewish Magical Practice

I'm rather partial to my folk magic pieces:

Protection Work in Folk Magic: Herbs, Spells, & Charms for Protecting Yourself & Others

Home Protection in Folk Magic: Charms, Wards, & Work to Magically Protect One's Home

Love in Folk Magic: Charms, Omens, & Divinatory Customs

And these magical history bits:

the Craft of Isobel Gowdie: A Look at Scottish Folk Magic in the 1600s

the Dumb Supper Divination Rite

And if I had to pick just a couple of my plant ally pieces, it'd be these:

Summer Plant Allies for Spells & Divination

Apple Magic: Using Apples in Spells & Divination

And I'd throw in a few mythology/cosmology pieces, for sure (because I'm a major mythology and folklore nerd):

Into the Underworld: Psychopomps & Death Deities

the Otherworld of Irish & Welsh Mythology

the Apple in Myth: Deities, Figures, & Lore

the Winter Ones: Folkloric Figures of Winter, Yule, & Christmas

I definitely mixed in some relatively ignored pieces with the current hits, so I think it's a well-rounded list.

[sheydmade]

as a jewish witch, do you celebrate the wheel of the year instead of/with the jewish calendar? and if you don't mind me asking, how religious are you?

I apologize now for the novel of an answer lol, but if I'm going to answer this, I'm going to answer it properly. I keep a Jewish calendar, but because it's a solar/lunar hybrid calendar, a lot of Jewish holidays and traditions are kept on/around the same days that someone would be marking Equinoxes, Solstices, and the corresponding holidays. In my Jewish practice, I do mark solstices and equinoxes, as we have specific customs for them. I'm also from a multicultural background and am multiracial, and I keep traditions pertaining to all of my identity, not just my Jewish identity, so writing about the history and customs of Irish and British holidays is a way of honoring those parts of me and honoring my family members to whom they were/are extremely important.

As for how religious I am, I'm not sure how to answer that or how one measures "religiousness." This is, of course, a question I've been asked before and seen asked of other Jewish witches, but I find it interesting that it's not often a question asked of witches of other faiths, i.e. Pagan witches or Catholic witches. I suppose the answer as to how "religious" I am depends on whom you ask and how one measures "religiousness." Am I Jewish? Yes. Am I spiritual? Yes. Am I an active participant in community? Yes. But "religious" means different things to different people. If we're talking branches of Judaism, I don't subscribe to one in particular, as I'm not a fan of labels. If we're talking observance levels, I'm fairly observant but not especially strict about some things. I keep shabbos, keep kosher, keep holidays; attend services quite regularly (usually weekly unless unable due to disability); have even been tasked with writing lessons and leading study groups for my old temple's Talmud study hall, lead a Midrash study group with my new temple, have served as one of the only local bar/bat mitzvah/b'mitzvah tutors in my area, have dedicated much of my time and my life to the study and preservation of Jewish folklore, history, mythology, mysticism, and culture; and am ceaselessly pestered by my cantor to become a cantor and by my rabbi to become a rabbi, all of them knowing the whole while that I am a witch and that I embrace all of my identity, which has never been an issue for me or my community. All of that being said, I don't, personally, feel that any of this -- how one labels one's self or how "observant" one is/is deemed to be is a fair measure of "religiousness." Personally, I consider myself very spiritual and have never put much importance into labelling myself otherwise. It matters more to me to keep certain traditions and to truly connect to myself and my Jewishness/Judaism than it does to keep labels, if that makes sense. 🦇🧿🦇

[sheydmade]

Anon bc I'm scared to be Jewish in public online spaces but just wanted to let you know that your jewish magic posts make me so proud. I esp enjoyed the graveyard measuring one and the days of awe one. That one was so beautifully done

🥹 Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed them! I'm always a wee bit more anxious and excited when I'm posting a Jewish-specific piece, because they are all extremely near and dear to my heart. I'm so pleased they found you. 🖤✨

Here are the posts anon mentioned, readers:

Treading the Veil: Graveyard Measuring, Soul Candles, & Beseeching the Dead in Ashkenazi Jewish Tradition

Diary of a Jewitch: Spells & Magical Workings for the Days of Awe

[sheydmade]

🍎🐣🌱

🍎: what inspired you to begin your craft? My bubbe! She inspired it, and from there it became all about preserving tradition, giving life back to forgotten practices, and rolling deep with the spirits for me.

🐣: what is one silly thing you used to do as a beginner witch that you would never do now? I used to care when someone perceived me as something I wasn't or when someone had something to say about my multicultural practices, which match my multiracial existence. It used to bother me and impacted my practice because I was in my feelings. I'd not give even a second thought to anything like that now, thankfully lol.

🌱: what is one aspect of witchcraft you think is underrated by the community? I've always strived to keep a practice that doesn't much touch my bank account, building a versatile tool kit that utilizes what's accessible over what's expensive. I think some have lost touch with that and gotten caught up in prioritizing aesthetics over practice, trends over function, and, unfortunately, there are some loud voices within that broader community profiting off of that. I'm hoping to see a shift in the opposite direction in the coming years, because I hate seeing people being taken advantage of.

[sheydmade]

👻 for the pathandpractice ask game

What is the scariest thing that has happened to you in your practice??

Ooh! This is a fun question.

I think I've always been the type of person that just isn't scared easily or often, but I do actually have an answer for this! As someone who works with and comes in contact with a lot of different spirits due to the nature of my craft, there have been a couple of times that I've seen or encountered things that did chill me to the bone. One happened about 7 or 8 years ago, when I encountered a spirit that just the sight of it and the feeling it gave off genuinely terrified me. Every hair on my arms stood up and I couldn't even breathe for a moment. I don't get spooked very often by anything in my craft, but that one stuck with me, and I think it always will.