#lilbitleblog

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Entry #7 — WitchiOS

What’s a modern witch without her technology?

There’s an app for almost everything so let’s dive right in to my 8 favourite ones. (Disclaimer: I do not get paid to review these apps.)

STONE

This is a great app for getting to know your crystals. The layout is really simple and easy to use.

When you open the app, you get to see a (quite elaborate) list of crystals shown in pictures. Tapping on a crystal will give you the name and properties of said stone. It will also tell you what sort of energy / magick the stone can be used with. It’s a stunning and nifty app but I do not think each and every crystal you can find on planet Earth is listed on it.

I do have a physical book on crystals since my real life witchy library seems to keep on growing; which is way less distracting than using an app, in my opinion. It’s just handy to have a guide in your pocket, ya know?

SPELLCASTER

At first I started using this app just for fun, but after some time, I started to realise it’s practically a pocket horoscope, tarot deck and book of shadows; all in the same app!

When you open the app up, you have a selection of options.

Tarot readings, spell book, daily horoscope, settings and more.

Starting with the tarot section of the app; the lovely developer advises you to have clear intentions before picking and using a tarot spread.

Whilst you don’t have a wide variety of spreads to choose from; it is a fun and easy way to get a glimpse of what the future holds for you.

The spell book is a compilation of the creator’s personal spells free for you to use and the daily horoscope bit kind of speaks for itself, doesn’t it? I gotta leave something to your imagination!

NIGHT SKY

Ever wondered where the constellations are when you can’t sleep at night? This app will sort you out. Night Sky is an AR app that shows you the constellations, planets and space stations in real time and also notifies you on meteor showers and what the conditions of the sky are when you want to have a little spy. Using the app is fun and simple. Just point your phone around to find what the universe has to offer you.

THE MOON

Okay, I use this app almost on the daily. It shows you everything you need to know about the moon. (Duh) Like where it is in the sky, what sign it’s travelling through and what phase it’s in. I love it. You can upgrade to the full version, but I mainly use the free one for preparing moon rituals.

ASTRAL COACH

I use this app to read my daily horoscope; which is almost always spot on. This app also shows you the status of the moon and offers you a daily motto. It’s simple but useful. You can buy the full version if you want more features; but I’m happy with using just the basics.

THIRD EAR AND HEADSPACE

I’m sure most of you are familiar (or have at least heard of) Headspace. Third Ear is very similar. Mindfulness is really important and I personally wished I used these apps more often. This is something I will need to work on in the new year.

Whilst Headspace is all about breathing exercises; Third Ear also gives you the option to meditate and chant — for us witches. You could say that Third Ear is the Headspace of the witchy community,

GOLDEN THREAD

Okay, this might be the best tarot app ever. It just blows me away. I don’t even know where to start because I’m so excited. (And again, I don’t get paid to review this)

Personal log: this is where you record your journey. Personally, I will try my best to read my daily card every morning and record my process on the app. (Yet another thing I need to add to my to-do list in 2019)

You can draw a daily card, which gives you a detailed description of what everything means. Which is amazing for witches like me whom are fairly new to tarot and find it hard to get the hang of all the different terms.

And do you know what the most incredible thing about this app is (in my humble, free opinion); it literally TEACHES you how to read your own physical deck of cards!

The app gives you the option of doing a digital reading; which is super easy for when you’re on the move and don’t have your physical deck with you.

It also gives you the option to read your physical tarot deck and guide you through it all so you don’t get lost in translation!

I for one will be using this a LOT in future.

TIME PASSAGES

I mainly use this app to consult my birth chart. But apart from this feature, you also get to see which sign the sun and moon are in at the moment of consulting the app. You can also figure out if the moon is void of course and when Mercury is going into retrograde. (Which is always good to know...)

And that’s it regarding witchy apps I currently use to help me along in my craft. I hope this brief review can help you decide whether or not these apps would be something for you, too!

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Entry #5 — 666

When you Google “Wicca” or “Witchcraft”; you will notice that “people also search for” Satanism. It’s a common belief that witches worship Satan. Maybe not so much now within covens of modern Wiccan witches; but in the early years of witchcraft; Christians thought Satan gave witches their magic. So there’s that.

I, for one, do not worship Satan, per say. Do I believe in him/it? Yes. Do I participate in ritual orgies where blood gets smeared on my body whilst we chant anti-Christian incantations? No.

I’ve had people tell me “if you believe in the Devil, then you must also belief in God.” — Well.. not necessarily. I don’t belief in one God; I belief in the Universe. Satan isn’t the embodiment of all things evil. If anything Satan is more of a good guy than God is.

Hold your horses before you begin sending me hateful messages —

I’ll tell you why. Satan is in all of us. He doesn’t necessarily have to be a deity to be worshipped. He’s an aspect of our own persona; our own individualism and freedom.

Man created God. Therefore, man doesn’t worship a God, but rather the one that created the idea of a God. A Satanist puts themselves at the centre of their own universe. We are our own God and thus can deliver both love and wrath to those whom deserve it.

Nowadays, when you hear the mention of Satanism, the first connection your brain makes would more than likely be to the Church of Satan and Anton LaVey. I have read the Satanic Bible and I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that no Satanist sacrifices children and virgins to the Devil. Whether any of these sacrifices actually ever happened, pre-LaVey, I can’t be sure of.

And to avoid any debates; “Reactive Satanism” used to be a thing displayed mainly by problematic individuals or groups of people. These persons were rebelling against the Christian society they lived in and did in fact murder animals and humans. Though, personally, I don’t view them as real Satanists; but merely as criminals whom needed something else to take the blame for their vile actions.

Satanism is more a lifestyle rather than a religion. You can’t be converted into a Satanist; you realise you have been one all along.

Do Satanists practise magic? Hell yes. (Don’t you just love the puns?)

“Magic is the change in situations or events in accordance with one’s will, which would, using normally accepted methods, be unchangeable.” — LaVey

Greater Magic focuses on emotional energy like destruction, compassion and sex. This type of magic is mainly used for sexual gratification, personal success, material gain, or if you want to take it to the next level; curse your enemies. Basically, be selfish. As long as what you wish for is realistic.

Meanwhile, Lesser Magic is all about manipulation of circumstances using psychology. And by psychology I mean your own body. Seduction using your good looks, the perfume you wear, the clothes you choose to pull out of your wardrobe; you name it. Use anything your body has to offer to bewitch your object of desire. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? And you don’t even need to sacrifice any virgins!

One of the main things, if not THE main thing Satanism has taught me and I always keep in the back of my mind is “do unto others as they do unto you.” I used to be over-apologetic and I used to care too much about what everyone thought of me. Always wanted to be a good person even when the world treated me like dirt. That was until I read the Satanic Bible and came upon this.. rule, as you must. Treat others the way they treat you, NOT the way you want to be treated. Trust me, it opened so many doors for me.

To conclude this post, I want to include the Eleven Satanic Rules down here. Just… to make you think.

1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.

2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.

3. When in another’s lair, show them respect or else do not go there.

4. If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat them cruelly and without mercy.

5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.

6. Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and they cry out to be relieved.

7. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.

8. Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.

9. Do not harm little children.

10. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.

11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask them to stop. If they do not stop, destroy them

(NO CHILDREN, VIRGINS OR ANIMALS WERE SACRIFICED WHILST WRITING THIS POST)

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Entry #8 — Omens #1

*/omenˈəʊmən/*

*noun*

*/plural noun: omens/*

1 an event regarded as a portent of good or evil.

2 prophetic significance.

This entry will be the first of a series of posts (if they prove to be a success) where I tell the story of other people’s experiences with omens; whether good or bad. The reason I’m choosing to tell other people’s stories is because I cannot remember having any experience with omens myself.

The subjects I have chosen for this series are people I know personally and whom have told me their stories willingly. Their identity will remain unknown for privacy reasons.

A Murder of Crows.

One bird outside your window is normal. But when more and more birds start to appear at the same window over the course of a few days; things do get a little bit freaky. Especially when those birds are crows.

A; my colleague, told me the story of how crows started to appear outside her kitchen window in enlarging numbers. This was shortly after she sought answers from a fortune teller. She pieced two and two together and started to pay closer attention to what she had been told by the lady with the tarot cards. The cards didn’t look good. The father of A’s children was mentioned. (I haven’t been told the details, and I didn’t ask for any, either.)

Naturally, she started to get worried. About a week or so later; her ex husband (and also the father of her children) suddenly passed away. And the crows also stopped coming.

In this case, which also coincides with spiritual belief; the crow is an omen of bad luck and death.

I felt so sorry for my colleague. I could tell when she told me the story that she was really freaked out and anxious. I’m sure I would be, too. Something tells me she’s got more experience with the spiritual; but our five minute locker room break before work wasn’t going to be enough for more stories.

I haven’t stopped thinking about A and her tale. It’s certainly taught me to be more attentive to the little things that might turn out to be much bigger things in the end...

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Entry #10 — Witchy Library #2

A Little Bit Of Wicca by Cassandra Eason

This book is (one of) the very first I read on the subject of Wicca. I think I picked it up at the time because the cover spoke to me. It’s pretty and purple and, well, I like purple.

It’s a really easy-to-read, 100 page book that you can easily get through in one sitting. And it basically covers everything you need to know when you very first start out. I really recommend it if you’re curious about “becoming” a Wiccan and don’t know where to start!

Eason starts off with talking about the Wiccan altar and magickal tools. Altars come in many shapes and sizes and you can’t really go wrong with setting up your altar, but Cassandra Eason will guide you through it in her book!

Apart from having an altar, one of the most important things in spellcraft in Wicca is casting a magick circle. This is a form of border around you where you can safely do your spells and rituals in with the help of deities (if you wish). Knowing how to create it is pretty important!

Eason then takes you through creating your own spells and rituals, which might seem scary and complicated in the beginning, but once you’ve got the hang of it, it’s pretty damn wicked! (See what I did there?)

She also talks about the Moon Goddess and Horned God; the two main deities wiccans worship. Next to this is the Wheel Of The Year; which you undoubtedly have heard of here and there. This is basically the calendar wiccans go by; but more... elaborate than you think.

The penultimate chapter in the book talks about covens. Which is suuuuuuuper interesting and I haven’t found a lot of other books that mention covens, now I come to think of it.

Of course you don’t necessarily have to join or create a coven, you can be a solitary which and work solo! (That’s what I do, at this moment. But I would love to find my own coven in the future.)

I would recommend this book for the beginning Wiccan, as more “evolved” members of the community already know all of what’s being said in this book.

You have to start somewhere, and you might as well start with this book!

Side note; I bought all (?) my books on Witchcraft and Wicca in Waterstones. They have a little section on spirituality where you can find some pretty cool stuff!

This was a pretty short breakdown, because it’s a pretty short book. But I hope you still learned something or your curiosity got sparked at least a little!

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Entry #9 — Witchy Library #1

Greetings. Today’s post is (hopefully) going to be the first in a series of posts called “Witchy Library”. In this series, I will be talking about books on witchcraft and Wicca. I do not get paid to do this (but if you want to pay me to read and review your books, hit me up...) I’m just doing this for fun and to be a help for others if they’re struggling to find books on these subjects. And, because I love blogging, soooo. Let’s dive right in!

Craft: How To Be A Modern Witch by Gabriela Herstik

Also known as “Inner Witch”, “bruja” and “czary” in other parts of the world.

These 280 pages (in the U.K. edition at least) might just be all you need to get you started on your path to self discovery as a modern witch.

Gabriela starts off with a brief introduction through her journey as a witch and continues with an explanation about what Witchcraft and the history thereof exactly is. Chapter one delves into the beliefs of witches, to give you an understanding of what this lifestyle can hold for you. There’s a (mandatory?) section about the tarot a few chapters in; which you will find in most books on Witchcraft and Wicca. It’s an interesting aspect and Herstik explains it in a really basic and easy to understand way. It’s a great reference to keep next to your deck when you’re doing a reading.

Further on in her book, Gabriela writes about various types of magick that she’s familiar with and practices. Which is very interesting because she writes from experience and knows what she’s talking about. (You go, girl!)

Then there’s Moon Magick, a section that you will find in like, every book on Wicca and Witchcraft. It’s an essential. Herstik gives an introduction with a bit of history about the subject and then goes on to dissect the phases of the moon, the type of spells you can perform during them and she even gives us some of her own, personal spells and rituals to perform if we like!

This writer witch also addresses crystals and astrology; including the characteristics of a handful of crystals, how to care for your crystals, the characteristics of the zodiac signs and birth charts etc. This is again a recurring theme in this type of books.

The last part of the book talks about miscellaneous rituals, spells, correspondences and the how-to’s.

In my personal opinion. I like this book. More so, I love this book. After reading this, I even decided to follow Gabriela Herstik on Twitter and Instagram to have a glimpse of her day to day life. She really is a writer whom will stick in the back of my mind and whom I get inspired by.

I wouldn’t say this is the first ever book you need to pick up on this subject, but it’s one of many that is (in my eyes) a must. You need to have at least a little bit of understanding about the magickal world of Witchcraft prior to picking up this book.

Writing about this made me want to read it again. (Sorry, 2019 Goodreads challenge, but this book will be in there for the second year in a row.)

I hope this post helped at least a little if you were considering books on Witchcraft and Wicca and I hope you get to know yourself differently after reading this book. (I know I did.)