#ironandrue

[yorubaby]

I wish people would stop equating wealth and monetary gain with having "real" power or being "favored".

Time and time again, I've seen people say "If you really practice witchcraft , you should never be broke."If the Gods/Spirits love you, you should never suffer" and honestly, it infuriates me.

Money and physical wealth are irrelevant when it comes to power or favor.

It makes me so sad and angry to see this tepid ass take doing rounds in spiritual communities, because it's just so not rooted in any sort of reality.

Money and physical wealth can come from witchcraft or Spirit relationships, but to say someone does not have power or love/favor from the Gods if they're broke is fucking insane work to me.

Some of the most spiritual and blessed people I have met live lives that aren't at all extravagant.

I look at one of the Gods I commune with, and LAUGH because they have flat out said "I am not a God of bringing about riches, so don't ask for that shit." yet... I feel acutely loved, and dare I say "favored" by them despite that fact.

If you're only in witchcraft or spirituality for money then idk man, maybe this shit ain't for you.

Witchcraft, connecting with Spirits, and expanding yourself is not about climbing your way up the socioeconomic food chain until you're sitting on piles of money.

Money =/= Favor from the Gods.

Money =/= Having real power.

The only way to define favor by the Gods, is by one's own ideals.

The way I feel favored by the Gods may not feel very favorite to someone else, just the way other's feel favored might not relay into favoritism to me.

Personally? I feel witchcraft and Spirituality is here to help us take control of life/situations in what ways we can, and growing and expanding our soul and spirit-- and I hope to fuck that if I took the money first approach with my Spirit Team, they'd spray me with a water bottle because what the actual fuck?

In summation: Don't listen to people who try to define favor or magical success by monetary wealth because they are very incorrect and really need to maybe take some time to sit with the things they say.

[hillbillybubbeleh]

Sometimes you have to have a Lestat the Brat Prince himself level reaction to some bullshit. Sometimes, you just have to.

[shoebillsorcerer]

(ages ago) @ironandrue tagged me in a fun little game:

Rules: How does Pinterest see you? Search up "fashion", "pantone", "mood", "food", and then save the first picture that comes up.

Now I don't actually use pinterest like at all, so I wasn't sure at first if I even really could do this buuuut I do use tiktok (shh, not witchtok), which I think has proved a decent substitute!

Tagging @space-queen @crazycatsiren @awitchnamedjuniper @wayfind-er @trash-bin-witch and anyone else who would like to participate!

[banjeekuntd]

Trick or treat!!! 👻💀🦴

You get a TREAT!

This one is about superstitions / folk beliefs :)

In both Hoodoo and Appalachian folk beliefs, there is a motif of backwardness or inversion as a protective measure.

Some examples recorded by Zora Neale Hurston in "Hoodoo in America" and Mules and Men are:

If you want to be sure to return (be welcomed) to any place, wear your hat backwards as you leave.

To prevent anyone's harming you, get up early in the morning and walk barefoot out of your house backwards into the road without looking back. Pick up your tracks and walk forward into your house again, and stop the tracks with sugar and rum and drink water, and no one can hurt you. 

If you k*ll someone, step backwards over the body and you will never be found. (Please, for the love of G-d, no one do this. This example is just for illustrative purposes!!!)

Similar examples and motivations can be found in Appalachia, like these superstitions, as recorded by Jake Richards in Backwoods Witchcraft (2019):

Turning your hat backwards when a black cat crosses your path, until you get to where you're going, in order to avert bad luck.

If you accidentally put an article of clothing on inside-out, you should leave it that way because it means someone's trying to charm you.

When a mother is in labor, all empty vessels in the room are turned upside down to prevent the baby from being breech.

To prevent being conjured by walking over a trick, cut out the soles of your shoes, flip them over and then place them in the opposite shoe.

Bonus folk belief (though I can't remember for the life of me where I read it or what tradition it belongs to):

If you encounter a spirit or creature in the woods, turn around and look at it from between your legs to scare it off.

[prideandprejudice]

how does it feel to have such an amazing URL omg.

hi! you are too nice, thank you =D but i feel blessed, ngl! especially for being such a fan of pride and prejudice (book, tv & films adaptations) and jane austen in general!

[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.

[yorubaby]

Hoodoo is a closed practice.

If you see something that's derived from hoodoo-- it's not for you to take and use if you're not of African descent.

Be respectful of closed practices. Be respectful and understand that some things aren't for you to touch.

Appreciate a practice for who it's for, and then move on about your day.

[yorubaby]

"A jinx will ruin someone's day or week (maybe), a hex will wreak havoc in a certain area of someone's life, and a curse will get up from your altar, pick up it's purse and lipstick and go become the worst roommate they ever had" - My wife when I asked her to describe the difference between the three