#beginning witchcraft

[pagan-witch-culture-is]

witch culture is restarting your grimoire or book of shadows a few times before youre actually satisfied with it

[anaturaljourney]

Today, I did my first home cleansing. I wanted protection around us and our home as we begin the process of moving out. We have quite a few more months to go but there is so much to do. With management and maintenance that is uncaring where we currently live, I am wary of the remaining months we have left here.

Since this was the first time I’ve actually done a cleanse like this (I’m sure I was quite clumsy at it) I wanted to make sure it worked. To my delight, the oracle card I pulled right after the cleansing was the protection card. Letting me know that my space and my people are protected. That was a powerful validation and I am grateful for it. Here’s to moving forward with the next step.

*The picture is of my altar with the pulled oracle card on the left.

Also…follow-up on my psychic journey…I finally got through the first exercise! It took a long time and Mat Auryn was correct…it sounds easier than it actually is…it’s making me worry about the remainder of the book!

[lady-0f-the-wood]

A few of my many vials of goodies ♡

《 EDIT: This post has been getting a lot of reblogs and likes, so I figured I'd talk about my vials a bit. So, I collect different plants, herbs, insects, and other neat things that I have foraged. Each vial has something completely different in it, and they each tell a unique story. In this picture, the vial on the far left has a queen wasp sitting atop some dried flowers from my pear tree. All summer long I would set on my porch and watch this Queen wasp build her nest. I always got close and paid attention to all of the hard work that she put in her nest. She had a few other smaller wasps that had joined her in time, and they worked hard as well, but nothing like this Queen. Well, when it started to get colder out, and when she was ready to leave her nest alone, she came down to the porch. I walked outside one day, and she stung me on my foot. I had accidentally stepped on her. 😔 I just found it so ironic that I had spent months observing this Queen's hard work and dedication, just for her to kick my ass for her grand finale, like a true Queen. I obviously had to keep her. So now, whenever I look up at that vial, I am reminded of the hardwork, leadership, and determination that this Queen had shown me over the summer, and I get motivated to do the same. Maybe you can as well! 》

[goodatyugioh]

Hello, I’m selling Tarot readings! I do 1 and 3 card draws typically, but I will do bigger spreads on request. We can do a traditional spread, like card of the day or mind/body/spirit, or I can also design a spread to fit the specific question or idea.

Costs:

1 card draw: $3

3 card spread: $7

5 card spread: $17

Larger spreads: priced as appropriate 

Each card will get roughly 1 paragraph of interpretation, with 3 and 5 card draws getting an extra paragraph for synthesis.

Payment Options:

V*nmo (preferred), PayP*l

Contact:

Send me an ask, DM, or reply to the post and I'll contact you. We can discuss over tumblr or via Discord.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions and please signal boost this. Thanks dears <3

[theoryofmagick]

This might be a silly question! Im new to witchcraft and i was wondering if its ok to read off spells? Like every time i see people casts spells they just have it memorized! Im a little too brain dead to do that but it kinda feels like ‘cheating’ to read it right off the page idk

It's totally not cheating! I read off rituals and spells from books and pages all the time. With chants, sometimes it's more effective to memorize, but honestly I have brain-fry too and often read off the page, especially with more complicated rituals where I want to be sure I'm doing it correctly. I always read all the "instructions" beforehand and walk myself through it, so the final thing always feels more like reading lines on-stage instead of at rehearsal, if that makes sense!

[Ask Ash]

[scarletarosa]

What to Know Before Training in Witchcraft (part 1)

Throughout history, humans all over the world have practiced magick; yet much information on how to perform these abilities were kept in secret from eyes of the unworthy. Due to this, the rise of monotheistic religions were easily able to wipe out much of the knowledge, making it difficult for new generations to discover how to perform this ancient spiritual art. As someone who has trained and devoted themselves to witchcraft for the past 15 years and has been initiated into the Hermetic Path, here are the main things you should know if you seek to become a witch as well:

The basics of performing magick: Every spell requires a foundation of things in order to work, these are Will-power, Intense Focus, Passion/Need for the Outcome, Visualization of Desire, and Understanding of the skills you are utilizing. Without these, the spell will not be kindled and will fall flat. Additionally, the stronger your focus, the stronger your spell will be; yet developing very strong focus requires long training in meditation. When using your focus, it is like having beams of light projected into what you are doing- if the focus is not strong enough, the light becomes scattered. Meditation also assists in visualization, as you will need to be able to hold a mental image in your mind for as long as you require and be able to manipulate its appearance or rotate it with ease. 

Most magick requires astral ability, spirit work, and etheric connection. The sooner you learn to astral travel, the better (it can be done through both full-projection and mental projection, which is easier). Yet, you do not need to astral project in order to manipulate the astral, you only need to understand how to use your astral limbs on command (this is done for many areas of magick such as cursing people through summoning malevolent energies, or healing by removing toxic energies from inside one’s body). If you do not learn how to operate your astral body, you will not be able to perform most of magick since magick mostly takes place on the astral plane. Remember that witchcraft is not simple in the slightest and most books on it are either false in order to gain money or too basic to be strong enough spells. Witchcraft is for those who are willing to devote their lives to seeking and perfecting it, as well as those who are wise enough to use it properly. It is not about spell jars or emoji spells (both of which are ineffective), magick is weather summoning, dream manipulation, exorcisms, energetic healing, and the ability to see your enemy’s location through astral sight so you can directly curse them. The possibilities are nearly endless. 

Witchcraft is not meant for everyone. I know that most people are wanting to be kind to eachother and be all-inclusive, but not only is this unrealistic for this advanced craft, but also a very dangerous mentality. If someone goes into magick without being prepared, it can cause severe damage or even death in some severe cases. There is a reason why ancient cultures have all had magick reserved for the shamans and priests; it is not meant to be handed out to just anyone, one must be worthy and actually capable of such power. Should you go into witchcraft or spirit work when you have a mental disability such as psychosis, major depression, etc, you are allowing your conditions to become far worse. This is due to many reasons since magick will shift your view of reality and you will also be tested by higher powers to prove your worth (neither of these are easy, but if you have a mental disability, it will hit you even harder and cause severe damage). So either get medicated and stable, or do not go into witchcraft or spirit work. As for physical health problems, do not go into spirit work if you have a condition such as heart disease, as some experiences can cause heart attacks. 

The more advanced you become, the more enemies you gain. This goes for both spiritual enemies and humans, since your power will attract malevolent entities of all kinds as well as other advancing witches. While witches can curse (or even kill) you out of envy for your power or if you angered them, malevolent spirits can do just the same usually with more ease and with greater consequences. There are a vast many types of malignant spirits but most of them are tar spirits (entities made of pure malice and look like tar). These can truly ruin someone’s life and cause severe trauma, so you need to make sure you actually know what you’re doing when going into witchcraft or you will be unprepared for such attacks. 

As a beginner (Novice-Intermediate Witch), you need to connect with a certain spiritual path (such as Kemeticism, Hermeticism, etc). This is because as beginners, we are still needing to train our minds to believe in otherworldly possibilities and begin thinking in ritually symbolic ways. Once you become more advanced, this connection is no longer necessary. It is best to study as many paths as possible in order to have a wide-range of knowledge, and especially make sure to learn about Animism, as it holds truth. Remember that there are spirits all around us- in plants, water, the winds, the planets. They also wander about and watch us; not all of them are human and in fact, most of them aren’t. There are a vast many different species of spirits, even ones that are unknown in myth or folklore. 

Imposter Spirits. If you go into spirit work without proper skills in sensing, hearing, and seeing, you are putting yourself at great risk to be manipulated by imposters. These are usually tar spirits who come and pretend to be deities, demons, and many other things just to get you to trust them. Their two main reasons for doing this are to trick a person into breeding with them in the astral (which creates many more tar spirits, which is horrible) or to simply destroy someone’s life by worsening any present mental health problems. To avoid this, you either need an experienced mentor assisting you, or you need to learn to be extremely cautious, educated in spirits, and take things very slow in this path until your senses fully develop. Remember, just because you called upon a spirit and they seemed to arrive, it does not always mean it is actually them; you need to test it.

You need to be able to cleanse yourself properly. Each day, we gather up toxic energy from people around us due to envy, hate, and many other things. Most people can feel this but pass it off as random bodily pains. In order to heal yourself and others, you need to use your astral sight to see where the toxic energy is (if it’s in your body, just feel for it) then use your astral hand to reach in and pull it out (it helps if you move your physical hand along with it). Once out, burn it in the astral by summoning fire in your hand. Then move your hand across your body where the energy was and heal it with golden light, covering any injuries if you were attacked. However, if you are just beginning magick, it is likely that you will not be able to do at least one of the things mentioned, so you will need to improvise until you are skilled enough through constant practice. 

Alternate methods of removing toxic energy are wearing jewelry of alexandrite or by placing black tourmaline on your stomach and slowly rotating it until you feel your energy become lighter. Although these crystals don’t heal everything, so it is best to learn how to use your astral abilities. For healers, you must cleanse yourself whenever possible, even by just summoning fire to move up and through your body in the astral. If you do not, you have a high chance of getting leukemia from the blocked toxins over time. As an advanced healer, you will be able to simply see inside a person’s body with your astral sight and be able to see what physical and spiritual conditions they have so you can heal them. 

The Spirit Death: One of the most important things a witch will undergo is the Spirit Death- the shedding of your Ego and current self in order to allow your rebirth. In order to properly perform magick, one needs to destroy their current limited mentality and become “less human” so that they can better absorb higher knowledge and surpass the ordinary person. This will not make you like the gods in complexity, as they are far beyond us. But it will make you vastly different as a person and far stronger. However, this Death requires you to undergo great suffering and perseverance, as pain is the only way we can change and develop true wisdom. This is not something ordinary people are capable of going through, but powerful magick requires great sacrifice. 

Even afterwards, you will have to live your life in loneliness when you realize in your higher awareness that you can no longer fit in among others. In order to undergo the Spirit Death, you only need to open yourself up to it and confess it to your gods, the Source, or your higher self. You do not have to destroy your entire ego, only the parts that limit you, or make you arrogant or jealous. Throughout the path as a witch, especially during the beginning, you will fail. You have to learn to fail so you can see what works and what does not, then keep trying until you finally figure things out through trial and error. There is no easy way through the path of a witch. 

Part 2 | Part 3

[citrinemystic]

Advice for the Beginner: Be cautious, but don't live in fear

Finding your way into occult/esoteric/witchy/whatever you want to call it spaces doesn't actually send you into a fantasy world like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, but it does still introduce you to things that are spooky or go bump in the night. It can be easy, once introduced to the idea of things like spirits or the fae, to suddenly be afraid of things you hadn't even heard of before.

In my opinion and experience, these things don't pose nearly as much of a threat to your average practitioner as you might think. If you weren't bothered by ghosts before, unless you go looking for them, they probably won't start throwing your things around.

I'm not trying to say that there aren't dangers or risks involved in witchcraft. There most certainly are, but the average person isn't going to suddenly be beset with poltergeists just because they learned a bit about magic. Learn protection magic first, make sure you know how to protect yourself and your space when doing rituals or spells, and don't invite any unknown spirits into your space and in most cases, you'll be fine. Protect yourself, be cautious, but don't live in fear.

[witchofbonesandkeys]

Hi do you have any tips for beginning witches ? Blog posts with good information or links to reliable books ? It's such a big world and it's hard to know where to start . Bones and crystals both really interest me as a witch

I’ve been thinking about how to answer this. You’re right it’s such a big world of witchcraft, which makes it hard for me to know what to point you towards. I guess I’ll just tell you a few things that I wish someone had told me when I was starting out:

—Read. Lots and lots and lots of stuff. Blog posts, books, articles. Read witchy history, read about different paths and practices and types of witchcraft. But, and this is a big but: be immortally suspicious of anyone who claims to know the true history of witchcraft without any legitimate sources to back it up (a lot of what people try to claim as Ancient Tradition was made up in, like, the 1970s). And be equally suspicious of anyone claiming Their Way of Witching is the One True Way.

—This goes into the latter point I made above: above all, trust your own instincts and what you like/connect with when it comes to building your practice. What drew me to witchcraft is how DIY it can be, so anyone trying to tell me I must be Initiated in the(ir) Sacred Rites to be a witch can fuck right off.

—Now, there are certain traditions (that wouldn’t necessarily label themselves witchcraft, but that have some similar practices to a lot of witches) that are closed traditions, that you cannot practice unless you have been invited/taught/initiated, and you should learn what they are because cultural appropriation is not cool, and neither is messing with stuff you can’t possibly understand. It’s also good to know that there are similar, non-appropriative practices to a lot of those things. Like, if you are not Native American and aren’t part of a specific tribal religious tradition, you can’t smudge—but you can smoke cleanse! You can’t have a spirit animal, but you can have an animal guide, or a spirit guide that takes an animal form. If you aren’t a practitioner of voudou, you shouldn’t be drawing veves—but you can sure as heck make sigils! Etc.

—But really, other than appropriation and the like, pretty much anything can go into your craft. Think about what you are into in a non-magical capacity—your interests and aesthetics and skills—and incorporate those into your craft. And don’t be afraid to experiment! I know, a lot of witches will tell you not to experiment, because of Spooky Bad Stuff that could happen, but from personal experience, the worst that happens is usually just that something you try doesn’t work. You have to be more careful about things with practical consequences than things with mystical consequences. Like, don’t leave a candle burning when you’re not home, don’t drink some homemade herbal tea without learning all the side-effects and interactions of the various herbs, stuff like that. But you’re not going to try out a money spell and accidentally summon a demon. At least...probably not. And if you do...you have a cool new demon pal! (I’m joking. Sorta.)

Anyway. Experiment, trust your instincts, trust your interests. Not everything that works for one witch will work for another. Maybe you’ll try out working with deities and then realize it’s not for you, or vice versa. Maybe you’ll think about doing a curse but then feel uncomfortable and realize that’s not your jam, or vice versa. Maybe you’ll be doing a spell that calls for an herb that you have no connection with, so then you think of an herb that represents that thing for you. Maybe you’ll try out tarot and then realize a different form of divination works better for you, or even that you aren’t particularly into divination at all.

And don’t try to narrow yourself down too much as to what Type of witch you are. Those Witch Type lists can be fun, and even helpful, to sort of direct yourself in the beginning, but you can be more than one (or even two or three) types. And you might not necessarily know at the start what type of witch you are, and/or it might change over time as you develop new interests and skills (of both the magical and mundane varieties). I only just this past year figured out that art witchery is a huge part of my craft, and I’ve been practicing for 25 years now!

—You mentioned that you’re interested in bones and crystals. If you’re going to be purchasing either of those things, make sure you do your research on where you’re getting them from, and that they’re ethically sourced, because both those things unfortunately have some pretty sketchy situations surrounding them sometimes. By the same token, if you’re searching for your own bones and rocks, make sure where you’re getting them is an ethical choice. If you’re looking for bones, animal bones found by the roadside is probably okay, but don’t be grabbing bones from a cemetery. If you find a cool rock, don’t take it unless you know a. it’s a place where you’re allowed to remove stuff, and b. it won’t be disrupting the natural environment. (Side note, this is another area where you can sometimes trust your instincts. Not to get all woo-woo—though we are talking witchcraft here—but this past summer I was at the beach collecting rocks, and I found this really gorgeous one resting in a hollowed out tree trunk. I picked it up, and immediately got this sense of “Nope, nope, I need to put it back, the spirits of this place left it there for a reason.” And I put it back. And then found a bunch of other gorgeous rocks, all of which seemed perfectly fine with being picked up.)

—So, in summation: read, experiment, trust your instincts, research, and play! Witchcraft can be fun! It doesn’t have to be a super serious thing. Or rather, you can be serious about it and be playful at the same time.

As far as other witch/witch-adjacent blogs I’d recommend, here are some of my favorites:

@upthewitchypunx @breelandwalker @lemonbalmgirl @heatherwitch @hillbillyoracle @adapembroke @grimoirebabylon @yourwitchmama @hellboundwitch @the-illuminated-witch

Hope this helps! Happy witching!