Y’all I’m being so serious when I say this: go to the library for witchcraft reasons.
You can usually find books on witchcraft, yes, but there’s also field guides on local foraging and wildlife, cookbooks, books that teach you how to craft and DIY, books about environmental protection and stewardship, books on how to use herbs medicinally, books about other religions, cultures, and spiritual practices. My favorite local library even has a seed swapping program and fantastic resources to research your own family history!
What if Sun's magical abilities are tied with his wither-detecting stuff?
And I mean that in the sense of like... I believe Sun only actually began touching on magic AFTER the situation with the witherstorm, correct me if I'm wrong. Like during the whole situation with Eclipse being banished from Sun's head, that came AFTER the witherstorm fight. Sun, who had very little magic training, who messed up the spell, who was deemed Not Good At Magic by several magic users at the time, who STILL got Eclipse out even then... It's a miracle that that worked out.
Then, later on? Sun dabbles in Star Power. He gives it up, but it's never formally locked within him by the Astrals. We later learn that Dark Star Power, a connected but inverse energy, is in some way compatible with witherstorm energy via Nexus, but nothing more.
Sun studies magic under Atlas for quite some time. Atlas, an alien mage, picks Sun to teach and help grow. He encourages Sun to get a wide foundation on every school of magic, teaches him quite a lot, and we... don't learn much at all about him, really. We can see that he begins interactions with Sun being chipper, silly and odd... And over time, he kind of mellows a bit, in a way.
My point is, I'm... pretty sure Sun had NO visible impacts from the whole Wither Saga until after he banished Eclipse, after he touched Star Power, after he started poking around magic again. And then suddenly, he was sensing shards.
Dahlia mentions in the oasis video that Magic is a force of nature. It wants what it wants and the best, most effective practice is not to CONTROL it but to essentially GUIDE it, to work with your surroundings, to match affinities. Sun has a natural inclination to fire, which is fine but not always as potent in certain mana-rich environments.
Fire... Fitting for a sun, a literal star. Also has connection from a more purple-and-black source, ykwim
And what is destruction, what is death, if not a facet of the natural order?
Plus, Dahlia also seems surprised to learn Sun doesn't perceive magic in color. He feels it like a tactile sensation, in texture and temperature... Just like he has described how he feels withershards, interestingly enough.
Maybe that's coincidence, but it'd be pretty neat if the more Sun dabbles in esoteric powers, the more impact the wither-situation, whatever it may be, has on him.
Does anything have real meaning to people anymore? If you had told someone in the past "it's fine if you're too busy/tired to worship your Gods regularly, they will understand" they would have thought you were insane or something, because that would mean your crops would fail for the season, etc. Have any of you thought maybe that's part of why everything is dying? Because modern people think these things are a silly game, or choice of what people think they want to do, or just a second to your busy capitalist life.
People are desecrating the last of what's left of these Gods/deities/etc sacred places and people still think it's all good, just whatever you have time for, the Gods are only good and loving, of course... (heavy sarcasm)
It occurred to me as I was doing this that I don't really have nice altars that are very aesthetically pleasing. I mainly magpie things that are sentimental to me that I already have/been given or that I've found, I rarely buy things explicitly for witchcraft or my altars anymore. Because of that, most of my supplies are hodgepodge or items that had other original purposes.
Show-and-tell is under the cut💜
These are the big 'foundational' parts of my big altar. Someday when I might show the full altar, but shown here are the main components: a storage box, a peach selenite plate and a selenite wand, a ghost dish I call Boo, and a few assorted shells. I have the storage box to stow away small things for magic that are of use to the altar but not part of it, but I have 2 bigger antique witch boxes for storage too (that's for another day though)
The pieces of selenite (and incense sticks) I mainly use for different types of damage-free cleansing. I got an incense box a few years ago mainly for safety and practicality reasons (not pictured). The box is decently constructed and (assuming nothing destructive happens) the incense box and the selenite pieces should with me for a very long time. The selenite pieces are very convenient for cleansing items and I'd recommend keeping some around if you are limited in your cleansing options (just keep it dry).
Most of the shells I actually picked up when I was on a beach trip when I was 17. I use the big clam shells for more permanent holding bowls for altar pieces that have permanent space in certain spots (like one holds the thumb-drives that store my digital collection of witchcraft docs). A lot of the smaller shell fragments I found shelling on that trip are used as small natural offerings (they've been washed beforehand and are smooth, so they're safe to leave in nature). A few of the other shells I bought from a beach store on the same trip, and I use them for other magical things.
Boo holds things (usually some taglocks or other important things) and hangs out as a representative for spirit work. Since I got them most of the spooky things that would happen around me has chilled out substantially. I'd say they do their job well!
So these are the little figurines I keep on my 2 altars. My smaller non-working altar is mostly crystals, figurines, and icons so these guys hang out on that altar.
On the left is a little quartz(?) figurine that is technically a hare sitting on a moon with a star, but it looks more like a jackalope than a hare and star to me. I've loved jackalopes since I was little and for a variety of personal history reasons it feels appropriate for him to get altar space.
On the right (going clockwise) is a quartz geode chunk I broke with my bestie, an iron(?) owl on a stick, a seal carved from some variety of jasper, a sodalite seahorse, a sea turtle pendant, a rhodonite cat, an unakite tiger, and a blue lace agate(?) and a mookaite(?) mushroom. In terms of animal/figure icons, I generally pick up ones that I want to work with energetically, things I have a personal connection to, or some combination of both (I tend to be picky about the stone/material types and style of representation as well).
These are also little miscellaneous bits and bobs that I particularly like.
The 2 fossils on the left are a fossilized ammonite and an orthoceras fossil (both are types of extinct shelled cephalopods). The black stone on the orthoceras is a bit scratched and not as polished as it once was and the ammonite has some bits of really beautiful rainbow flash. I tend to include fossils and crystals with heavy earth and water influences, both because I'm a big paleontology nerd and because they feel right in regards to the rest of my practice. If I really think about it, my altars and practice tend to be rooted in the same reoccurring things... so that's a cool realization I've gotten doing this.
The little lily pads are offering plates that I like to keep around. They're not very big (they could hold a tealight) and they're not anything super special but I do think they're cute. They're good places to put small things during a working too, and that's really enough for me.
The big skull jar is Yorick and he'll chill out on my working altar until I have a specific working for him (I'm waiting for something special for him). I'm not sure if anyone has caught on to it but I like to have Weird Lil Buddies™ around my altars to help me out. The colorful things in him are strips for sigil stars which are burnables and used in the star jars I've made before (link here & here)
I'm not sure if this is what anyone was expecting but I hope you enjoyed it! Have a good day💜
This post is something in the front of my grimoire that I wanted to share with others. I am 100% open for discussion and constructive debate if people have other ideas on the topic at hand. Just please remember to be respectful.
Witchcraft
Witchcraft encompasses a wide range of beliefs and rituals. Tracing back to ancient paganism traditions, and folklore the craft often involves a deep respect for nature and ones divine happiness and self truth.
There is no right or wrong way to practice witch craft, however many will agree that consent and bodily autonomy of oneself and others is important and spells such as hexes and curses should be a last resort.
In popular media there is a depiction that only women can be witches, which is sexist and incorrect. Anyone can identify as a witch and gender has nothing to do with the identity. Some do assign roles in rituals based on gender, however this is purely a personal preference rather than a requirement.
Paganism
Similar to witch craft, paganism has a plethora of paths, though many do have cross over beliefs and traditions.
The main distinction between witch craft and paganism is that paganism is a polytheistic religion and includes deities and other spirits, where as witch craft may not.
Depending on the path, some pagans do hold rules for themselves however the general consensus for open practices is that the only guideline is to cause no harm to beings that do not deserve it. Some take this further and say harm none, no matter what.
You, reader, might argue that this quote is more applicable to Yudhishthira, the eldest Pandava. But in my opinion, even though Yudhishthira was the one who wore the crown, Arjuna was the one who beared it's weight. Arjun, who saved his family time and time again. Arjun, who always put others before him. Arjun, who was selfless to the very end. Arjun, who was fiercely loyal, even to people who perhaps did not deserve it. A character whose fate is tragic in its own right. There is much debate about whether he is the superior Archer, and perhaps he is not. But Arjun is superior not because of skill, but because of his devotion. His devotion to his craft, to the pursuit of knowledge, to learning. Arjun stands out because of his curiosity, his selflessness and for staying true until the very end. Arjun was Dronacharya's favourite because he was an amazing student, and Reader, an amazing student is not inherently the one who is the most skilled, but the person who has a genuine thirst for knowledge. Arjun had that, which is why he was loved by many, and still is now. And I don't know about you, but to me, that's what makes him, the hero.
