#magical practices

[theweightofdivinity]

[occult-research-bibliography]

The 10 Mahavidyas: Goddesses of the Hindu faith

All 10 grant worshippers magical powers, usually along more negative lines. For instance: The abilities to sew discontent and dissent, paralyze, destroy, bring others under one’s own control, and kill

[someonesoonforgotten]

I am begging people to engage with stuff beyond the literal.

Like obviously this is extremely important for understanding poetry, mythology, fiction etc. But it’s also vital for seeing the value in cultural practices and such.

Take divination. Lots of folk will dismiss it because nothing can predict the future and all that. It’s fine if you think that, but contemporary divination is more than that. Many contemporary magical practices are focused on changing consciousness before reality. Divination is no different. The cards, runes etc. force you to connect abstract ideas to concrete people and events in your life. This symbolism elevates subconscious connections to a conscious level, leading you to introspection and more emotionally aware decision making. The belief that this process is somewhat spiritually or supernaturally empowered can enhance the experience but is not all it is.

Same with many cultural practices. There’s a “literal” explanation, which opens people up through the invocation of the magical & the supernatural, but there’s also the psychological, social and emotional meaning that goes much deeper and is completely missed by literalist “hard science is the only truth” NA readings.

If you’re just reading spiritual texts and practices through a literalist lens, you are choosing a reductive approach. This is very likely to lead culturally imperialist behaviour when you try to dissuade people from their practices because “they aren’t real” not because of any actual harm.

If you are an empiricist to a fault, then you need to look at actual violence and harm caused by practices, not the abstract harm that “religion” or “superstition” does in a generalised manner according to your bias, which often ironically ignores materialist readings.

[modernwitchsguidetolife]

Aromatherapy & Candle Magic are one of the best + easiest pairings to aid you in your Rituals, during Meditation & Spellwork. Thanks to the scented candle industry so many people today use this powerful combination of two forms of Sympathetic Magic without even realizing it. When applied deliberately & with clear, emotion-infused intent, this combo becomes a super power booster for any Magical or Spiritual Process. ‪

[eye-prophet]

i love magic!!! i love witchcraft!!! i love the full moon!!! i love doing spells!!! i love sigils!!! i love crystals!!! i love herbs!!! i love cleansing!!! i love seeing!!! i love dreaming and knowing!!! i love it all!!!

[devonrinchen]

A small guide on how to assemble a home Altar for spiritual and magical practices

There are many tips and instructions on this topic, I offer options that I use myself. At the same time, I will add that one of the deities that I worship is Loki.

There are two paths that a beginner can take. The first is to assemble an Altar in accordance with some tradition, where there is already an established practice and recommendations. For example, you can turn to the experience of Wiccans or other priests of the god you worship. The second option is to take the basics and act intuitively.

I will tell you about the second method and some of my recommendations. To follow them or not, decide for yourself!

So, to begin with, you will need to choose a surface for the Altar. This can be a table, a nightstand, a shelf. Be careful about what surrounds this place, because if you plan to light candles, you should watch out for safety. Remember also that wax flows and leaves marks. It is desirable that the room is well ventilated.

Some advise to orient the Altar to the cardinal points, but I do not think that this is always necessary. Choose a place and, if you think it is necessary, check with a compass which way your Altar will be facing. You can fill this direction with your own meaning, or you can not take it into account. You can also move the Altar around the room. I believe that it is not always possible to freely dispose of space, which means we do what we can at the moment!

*I will not touch on the options for temporary Altars, those that are assembled and disassembled as needed. All this applies to these types as well.

Perhaps you will want to assemble the Altar gradually or arrange a whole ritual. In the first case, you can add items as they appear to you. In the second, you can collect what you consider most important and install it at once.

Once you decide on this, you need to think in more detail about the purpose of your Altar. For example, worship of gods, some power, your magical practice. I suppose you already had an idea for this initially, but this time I suggest approaching it more from a practical side.

Having chosen a place for the Altar, you will be able to estimate how much space you have for attributes, how often you can use it without prying eyes. This will help you understand what should be left in sight and what should be kept separately. For example, for some items, allocate a shelf in the closet, a box or a casket.

When you are ready, speak your intention to create the Altar and begin.

I suggest using an intuitive approach. This means that you can safely change the recommendations for yourself, do it your own way, trusting your intuition.

Remember that the Altar can and should be reassembled, something can be added, something removed during your practices. Some attributes can be taken out during the corresponding holidays or as needed for some work. Then you can remove them. Turn on your imagination, trust yourself and the gods will tell you the right path!

To begin with, I recommend cleaning the selected surface for the Altar: wipe it with water and salt, fumigate it with smoke from herbs that drive out extraneous energies.

Then you can begin filling the Altar. Each item that you put on it should be cleaned. For example, rinse under running water, if the material allows, fumigate with herbal smoke, carry it over a candle flame or any other method that you know and that is suitable for this purpose.

If you revere a god and goddess, install a candlestick for each of your Patrons and talk about it. If you are assembling an Altar for one deity, then accordingly you install a candlestick for him alone.

I also recommend putting any protective symbol that corresponds to your tradition or faith on the Altar. If you haven't decided on this yet, you can apply special essential oil to the corners or edges of the Altar surface. Sprinkle salt or put stones/crystals that will cleanse and protect the space from extraneous energies. Don't forget to say your intention and change the salt, cleanse the stones or add oil from time to time!

*Since I don't use crystals for this purpose, I can't recommend specific examples. But if you do use them, you can refer to those you already have. I wouldn't be surprised if something suitable is definitely found!

What else can be placed on the Altar:

*Images or figurines of a god and goddess; *A bowl for offerings (food, drinks); *A stand for incense, if you plan to use them; *An aroma lamp for oils, if you want to use them; *Your artifacts that you use in magic; *Symbols associated with your deity (these can also be animal figures, signs, runes, images, some objects (attributes) that are considered associated with your god) *and other options

There is a nuance here! If you are assembling an Altar dedicated to a deity, think about which of its hypostases you want to reflect in it. I recommend turning to good manifestations at the initial stage. But you can also not think about it in advance, but add exactly what you intuitively respond to, like and seem closer. For example, someone will add a fox figurine to the Altar of Loki, and someone a spider. Someone will prefer an image from the Internet, and someone a rune. *I would recommend for beginners to start with symbols and avoid images of deities taken from the Internet at first.

So, your first Altar can be considered assembled. Prepare candles in advance in order to light them in honor of the deity or for your spells. In practices, follow your tradition and believe that the Higher Powers hear you! Ask for signs if you need them. Ask for help in finding something for the Altar that you need or to guide you in this if you feel unsure.

Be open to new experiences!

And remember, the Altar is a place of power. It is a place where your reality touches the spiritual plane. Try to keep it free of extraneous things, so that it is hidden from prying eyes if possible.

Do not forget to remove offerings on time, wipe dust and cleanse the space from time to time.

Blessed be!

P.S. Sorry for my English. I used a translator.

[mask131]

You know... It is REALLY easy to do the whole "voodoo doll" trope or practice while avoiding any cultural appropriation, religious misrepresentation or racist cliche. Just... don't call it "voodoo".

Because if you are not aware, this practice of using a doll or figurine to bewitch or curse or put a spell onto a person, is actually older than the creation of vodou and its various branches. It can be found in medieval Europe. Several European countries have their own specific words and terms for this magical practice - a pratice attested since very early days. Heck it was even present in Greco-Roman Antiquity!

So... there is nothing forcing you to constantly say "voodoo doll" when talking about a spell-through-puppet. Except a bad habit that the United-States media imposed onto the rest of the world, I guess...

And, as the bitter old cynical soul that I am, I will definitively grumble something about how it is very telling that Americans did not choose to pick one of the several European terms and words for this magical practice and rather latched desperately onto a term related to a discriminized, fantasized and misrepresented Black religion... grumble grumble grumble.

But I will be fair to Americans and leave the possibility of the doubt. Because we all know the common American is a bit too lazy to do thorough research or be interested in anything outside of its own country, and so it is possible that all those people did sincerely believe that the idea of "magical bewitching figurines" was created on American land - because as we ALL know, everything was invented in America and for or by Americans, right? So of course it is bound to be the "voodoo doll" because it can't possibly have existed before the United-States were founded right?

Grumble grumble grumble.