#water witch

[thesorceresstemple]

[scytheofdelphi]

[ladyiristheenchantress]

Hey everybody! I know it’s been a minute:

I just want to remind everyone (esp w summer approaching in the northern hemisphere) that when you are looking for shells on a beach that you are doing so ethically.

Many beaches currently have a shelling ban, meaning if you find one, leave it there. This is because shells greatly impact the coastline ecosystem, offering homes and latching points to many organisms, offering minerals as they break down, and creating sand in the middle of a global sand shortage.

Additionally many countries have bans on taking shells in luggage, even by car. It’s important that you ‘know before you go’ on vacation. You can look up a specific beaches laws prior to your visit, and when in doubt leave shells where they are.

For my witches: I know many posts suggest taking shells home as offerings, esp older sources, however due to the nature of the situation it’s best they are left where they are. Rather than taking them, bless them, skip them closer to the waves as offerings, make fun sigils around them in the sand before they are washed away, honor the species they came from as a muse, charge shells in sunlight or moonlight before placing them back. Ideas are infinite, so depending on what you need them for there are beach equivalents that are ocean friendly!

Finally: please don’t introduce foreign materials into the water systems, buying commercial shells just to put back, adding random crystals to beaches, buying shells from beach shops (unethical to begin with) and trying to put them back. Many of these objects either are not native to the area, or have been treated for craft purposes, or like in the cases of beach stores have been brought from international sources. These shells are no longer beach safe, and risk introducing things into the water ways that don’t belong.

We can respect these beauties from a distance, our water ways need us 🙌

This has been a water witch PSA 🌊🐚🦪

[backfliips]

Here's my lyric comic based on the song "Water Witch" by the Secret Sisters

I somehow knocked this out in three days

[bewitched-moonlight]

🌞 Summer magic 🌞

I know summer hasn't really arrived yet in the Northern hemisphere, but what can I do, I'm excited for the new season that is ahead...

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Water witches

🌊 Summer is *your* season, so enjoy it! Spend as much time as you can in the water, whether it's in lakes, oceans, or swimming pools.

🌊 Make sun tea infusion by placing a glass of water with lemon or mint directly in the sunlight, and then sipping it out slowly with intention.

🌊 Practice your spells at dusk near a source of water. That's when you'll be most powerful.

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Nature witches

🌿 Watch the sunrise and sunset every day for 7 days in a row, and see what changes you notice in yourself.

🌿 Collect peppermint from your garden and place it in a spray, mixed with warm water. You can use it on your doors and windows to ward out evil spirits.

🌿 Make flower crowns with blooms from your garden, or use wildflowers you collect while hiking in nature.

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Kitchen witches

🥧 It's barbecue season! So grill your veggies or food outside, as close to nature as you possibly can.

🥧 Make a simmer pot to give your kitchen a great smell, with summer scents like lavender, mint, lemon, and flowers.

🥧 Use yellow ingredients in your cooking to celebrate the color of the season - lemons, bananas, honey, butter, eggs, turmeric, potatoes...

[wildflowerdaysi]

Coastal scene in the moonlight by H. Mosby (1878)

[butterflytarot]

Beginner's Sea/Water Witchcraft

Hey, beginners!

I've posted a few of these (one of which earlier today) and so far people have been really receptive, so I thought I'd keep going! It's really fun to connect with all of you & share more knowledge / experiences! This post's topic is about sea/water witchcraft! This post is quite extensive compared to my other ones that I've made like this, because it kind of branches into various topics, but all have to do with water/sea witchcraft!

As my usual disclaimer, this is simply my knowledge and my teachings that I've come across & developed through research, speaking with others, cultural teachings, etc. However, everyone has the right to believe what they like, I just hope this serves as beneficial to some of you somehow, whether it be providing information you resonate with or just teaching you something cool.

Lastly... BEFORE DOING ANYTHING: SET UP THOROUGH PROTECTIONS!

Comment any questions :D

Beginner-Friendly Practices for Sea Witches (Give + Take: Mutuality)

Working with the ocean can be as simple as giving and being given to. It requires self-reflection, and it requires working in relationship with the ocean and the land.

Pick up trash: Cleaning up litter around the beach/water. It shows that you care and are considering the ocean and its inhabitants and relatives. This can be done as an offering, gift, favor, or just because!

Offerings: Giving food, aquatic items, etc (biodegradable or safe for the sea/land/creatures) to the waves/sand (also counts for returning items that belong to the ocean!)

Accept gifts, don't steal: Taking only what is being given to you by the ocean (for example, your intuition might tell you to turn around, and when you do, you spot a sand dollar -- that sand dollar is intended for you, a gift. If you bump a shell with your foot, it may have been meant for you. If you tripped on a shell, it’s probably not meant for you - it just tripped you! You can take that as an accident or a sign.)

Connection: Sitting by or in the waves; putting your hands and/or feet in the water (this may be calming or grounding). Quality time and good company is always a friendly gesture!

In my opinion: We can learn a lot from the ocean. We can receive many blessings from it. It’s only right that we do something in return. We are symbiotic with water. It’s important that we value it.

Water Types & Common Uses/Properties

Disclaimer: The following list is nuanced, as it can change depending on culture or practice. I tried to be inclusive, but this is a brief guide. Depending on your practice, make sure you are mindful with your intentions and energy work, be aware of what properties you'd like to utilize and which you wouldn't.

River water: Flow, movement, travel, banishing (cleanse yourself of ill health, negativity, etc, as you let abundance, good health, prosperity rain down on you), communication with the spirit world. Often associated with creation, fertility, and purification

Ocean water: Purification (cleanses & refreshes), healing (in many ways, one of which is deep shadow work), power, divination, opens energy centers

Lake water: Peace, stillness, divination, knowledge, strength

Storm water: High energy, force, personal power, big changers, chaos

Holy well water: Blessings, healing, purification, protection

Dew: Renewal, healing, beauty

Moon water: Lunar energy (depends on the moon phase), emotions, empathy, intuition, intentions

Sun water: Solar energy, illumination, power

Floral / herbal waters: Holds the energies of those plants

Snow / ice: Stagnation, stillness, getting unstuck (if melted), transformation

Conch Shells

Conch shells are, and can be, used for a variety of purposes and practices. This section includes some of the usages, benefits, associations, and properties of conch shells.

Common / Main Spiritual properties:

1. Used for good luck, healing and protection

2. Feminine energy

3. Energy purification

Other Spiritual properties:

Communication with the spirit world

Abundance and prosperity

Getting rid of negative energy and evil spirits

Brilliance, luster, purity, and auspicious beginnings

The existence of the spirit of the sea

The animation of succeeding generations by the spirit of the ancestors

Rituals & Symbolism:

ceremonial instruments in Pre-Incan temples

metaphysical symbol of fertility, luck, infinity, and interconnectedness (according to the Metropolitan Museum)

used in some cultural weddings, for brides to blow a conch shell as part of rituals (I believe this is Bengali but don't quote me on that)

Conch shells are used in rituals to mark important religious, life and agricultural milestones, like birth/death or religious initiation

in Hinduism, conch shells are used for their purifying properties

In some African-American and Afro-Caribbean cemeteries, conch shells are placed on graves

representation of infinity and the cyclical nature of life, death, and rebirth, as well as interconnectedness and Indigenous concepts of time (the spiral)

Fertility and feminine aspects of birth, life, etc

A vessel filled with the water of life and a symbol of the womb

Mother of Pearl

Mother of pearl is, and can be, used for a variety of purposes and practices. This section goes over some of the spiritual usages, benefits, associations, and properties of mother of pearl.

Healing (physical and mental/emotional):

Soothes or calms emotions

Stirs, balances & harmonizes emotions

Healing (the mind):

Divinity and intuition

Potentially enhances psychic sensitivity and imagination

More:

Prosperity

Feminine energy

Potentially protects against negative energies

Thank you for reading this far!

I hope that these bits of information are somehow helpful to you!

[selkiese]