Okay so in doing our tallies, we found that at least half of those posts you tagged won’t pop up in search, and thanks to a couple of our emoji spells getting hundreds of reblogs a day, we are not able to see all of your posts.
We don’t want to miss anyone, so here is what we are going to do!
Until 12-30, submit your blog address, and the challenges you did (Just tier and number, e.g. Easy 1-5 or Expert 9).
I will continue to add all of these to our personal ledger. If everything you have done is already on the scoreboard as it stands now, don’t worry about sending one in, but if you don’t see your entries on the scoreboard, we couldn’t find your posts using the hashtags (likely a tumblr error, not yours, as I’ve double checked to make sure, and sure enough, some of the entries that were properly hashtagged do not show up in search.)
We will be working on a few freebies for all of our customers, friends, and followers as thanks for your patience with this. We started the move for unforeseen family health circumstances in the very beginning of November, and for that reason became a bit inundated with entries.
Please make sure to title your email “Phantom Fair Entries” and send it to [email protected].
I will run the Tally on the last day of December, and everyone’s prizes will be dispatched in the first week of January, as well as the freebies in the first or second week of January. <3 If you participated in Phantom Fair, please reblog this!
Everyone has bad days. When they are too tired to be in a good mood, or something happened and they can't shake the bad vibes. Other people have depression or anxiety, or other invisible illnesses that make it hard to stay optimistic, or energized enough to get through the day, for days on end. You may feel like a slug, or like there are an extra 500lbs attached to your body and it is hard to even shower or get dressed. You may feel like life is throwing bad things your way, left and right, and it is never going to end. It may be affecting your practice and you feel bad for being absent from devotion or bonding with companions. You may feel like you're a "bad witch." But you're not! You should never feel bad for taking care of yourself. Your deities, your companions -- they will understand. Sleep, take a bath, do anything that will make you feel better. There is no requirement regarding how often you must be 'actively' doing witchcraft. Also remember, even simple tasks can be witchy. Nothing has to be elaborate. Take care of yourself. Your deities still love you. Your companions still love you. You will be ok. Even when it appears there will never be light. You will get there eventually. STAY STRONG.
@magickalmenagerie write something motivational for others today
“Most witches don’t believe in gods. They know that the gods exist, of course. They even deal with them occasionally. But they don’t believe in them. They know them too well. It would be like believing in the postman.” ― Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad
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“‘All right,’ said Susan. ‘I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable.’
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
‘Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—’
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
‘So we can believe the big ones?’
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
‘They're not the same at all!’
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
‘Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—’
MY POINT EXACTLY.” ― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
I group these two challenges together because a lot of my personal philosophy on the existence of gods comes from Pratchett’s work, and it’s quotes like these that I feel really describe my relationship with the gods and with my craft. I was unable to find one of the more descriptive quotes from Small Gods and some of the other great passages from Hogfather and from the Tiffany Aching subseries, but essentially what I’ve derived is this:
All gods exist in potentia, but belief in them builds them up, gives them strength and shapes them into all the facets human beings need them to have. The stories we tell give them their powers, their ability to affect our lives. They all exist, whether we believe in them or not, but the belief is what makes them real to us on this plane.
Words and stories have power, especially in planes other than this material plane; telling a story and putting all of your belief into it can make it true in some planes.
Sometimes witchcraft is like telling yourself a story, and you’ve got to believe in your story in order to make it be. I break down my astral and godphone experiences like this: 88% of it is ‘real’, and the other 12% is my imagination, my story. And that adds up to it 100% being, not true or false or real or unreal, just being, and that’s enough.
If you believe in something (metaphysical), such as astrology or deities or spirit work or astral travel, then it affects you, and it’s true for you. For instance, my friend doesn’t believe in zodiac signs, and that’s fine. I do, and I like to feel the energy of my signs and I like knowing about other peoples’, because to me, it’s something that matters.
How I got onto the kemetic/hellenic path is something separate. About four years ago, probably after reading the Tiffany Aching books, I began to research Wicca, and I found it very interesting. I bought a bunch of eclectic practitioner books and I followed that path for about a year and a half, and for a while it worked. And then I was introduced to the kemetic community on tumblr, and started to think about maybe working with S.
I’ve struggled with depression for about five years now, and it really hasn’t been very easy. So, one day I’m binge-watching Xena: Warrior Princess, and Hades appears on the screen, and then suddenly H is sitting on the couch next to me, complaining about the actor and the character. “And oh, no dying for you yet, by the way.”
And after that my death god family just sort of fell together, and here I am. I offer my morning coffee to H and Dj (and now also F, my spirit companion), and do what I can when I can. Seph annoys me on a near-daily basis, S is pretty busy, Dj’s got a million things to do but always time for some coffee, and H gives the Best. Bugs. Ever.
The Bride: Is your significant other spiritually minded? Do you wish they were if not? If you are single, what do you look for spiritually or religiously in a mate if anything?
This is an awesome question, because, my boyfriend is super open and curious about what I do, and he asks questions all the time. However, he doesn’t really practice himself. I try to teach him as much as I can. :)
The Familiar: Do you have an animal or spirit familiar? Write about them, what their name is, what they look like, and how they have helped you.
I do have a familiar! Her name is Petra, and she is a little tortoise shell calico kitty. She helps to keep me grounded, and she’s just this little companion I’ve got whenever doing something magickal.
The Oracle: What would your ideal witchy-self look like? how would they dress? How would they speak? Where would they live? What would their hobbies be?
Honestly.. I’m not sure I would change much about myself. I’m really close to my ideal witchy self. I just wish I had more money to get more fasionably witchy items LOL. I’ve made plenty of jokes about being the village bog witch and just being the cool healer the people look to. Because I am apparently stuck in the middle ages. (Totally thought of Keira Metz from The Witcher 3 while writing this.)
The Warrior: What are you fighting most with your spiritual journey? What are your biggest fears?
I think I am fighting myself the most, sometimes I get so down about myself and feel like I can’t really make my magic work. Or that I sometimes have a hard time feeling energy. Or that I am a bad companion to my spirits because I feel down and have no energy to do anything but sleep. That sort of thing. My biggest fear is to let everyone down.
The Hierophant: What has been your biggest struggle on your path? Do you have to hide it from anyone? What has aided you on this journey?
Honestly...I haven’t had many struggles that were not self inflicted. I am really hard on myself, so when I have a hard time doing something that I normally can do easily, I beat myself up a bit. I have never had to hide it, my family has been so supportive (guess that is what happens when it runs in the family?) I have met so many awesome friends through this path, and their support and help has been so great.
The Queen: Is there a change you wish to bring about inside yourself, and is there any way that spirituality can do this for you? What do you hope to achieve?
There used to be, but as of late I have been making so many new changes and stepping outside my comfort zone and just TAKING ACTION in my life, and spirituality has helped me because its given me something to believe in, and given me reason to want to be a better person.
Write BLESSEDMEETING in your order notes until 10/22 and get a gold tier RA in a similar specialty or skillset when you purchase any pre-conjure or custom conjure at tier silver or above. Limit 3 redemptions per account.
