Dear Diary

Jay | 27 they/them | ♋️ |

[sweetoothgirl]

Lemon Rolls (GF)

[animepopheart]

★ 【kobi】 「 natsume’s book of friends 」 ☆ ✔ republished w/permission ⊳ ⊳ follow me on twitter

[tomotoad]

Natsume Yuujinchou season 7 Natsume Yuujinchou season 7 Natsume Yuujinchou season 7!!!!

[breelandwalker]

Simple Moon Spell - One Dozen Wishes

Intent: To create a jar of potential wishes, to be used as needed.

Materials:

Small Jar

Whole Bay Leaves (12)

Moonlight

In addition to their usefulness in spells for protection, wisdom, and healing, bay leaves are a potent ingredient for wishmaking. This spell does not specifically create a wishing spell, but it prepares a small supply of leaves for future spellwork, using the fulfilling energy of the full moon to pre-charge the component.

Obtain a bag of whole bay leaves. These can usually be found in the spices and seasonings aisle at the grocery store, or you can order them from a botanical supplier if you wish. Prepare a clean, dry jar with a lid as you see fit. Select twelve leaves, as whole and unbroken as possible, and place them into the jar. Cap the jar and leave it to soak up the moonlight on the next full moon evening.

When you have need of some wishmaking magic, take a single leaf from the jar, write your wish upon it, and use it in your spell. The use of the leaf depends on your casting method - you can include it in a jar or sachet charm, cast it into fire or water, or bury it to help your desired results grow, to name just a few.

Use the leaves as needed and when the supply is exhausted, you can pick twelve new leaves and refill the jar.

Happy Witching! 🔮🍃

[tears-of-amber-deactivated20260]

Hearth & Home Witchcraft That I've Learned

One of the biggest things that stands out to me when reading about hearth & home witchery is that everyday items are considered magical. Everyday moments, tasks, and chores as well. Its a beautiful way to live, if you really think about it. Big rituals are great, but as someone who is disabled, they rarely are doable. Here is a list of Hearth & Home Witchcraft Tips that i actually practice.

-Enchant a blanket by embroidering a sigil in the corner and using its color correspondences for your needs. It also helps me feel shielded from negative energy during meditation.

-Play music that makes you feel safe and AT HOME. This is almost like grounding, but also can be cleansing to the environment and especially the listeners. For me, its smooth jazz. The chill sound of the standup bass and the wandering piano notes that always seem to find their way to a comfortable key... its soothing to my soul.

-Talk to and about your home (kindly). So often its easy to complain about your living space. How you wish it looked or functioned differently. The house (in my belief) hears you. Treat it with kindness and gratitude for the shelter it provides. I say thank you to the house spirits and my home every morning.

-Find a convenient home protection ritual to do each month. I say convenient because if you overcomplicate things you'll feel less enthusiastic and less motivated to do it, and might even skip several months.

-Make a home cleansing spray using essential oils mixed with an appropriate amount of moon water. I like using a few drops of lemon, rosemary, lavender, and cinnamon. DO NOT spray this in the vicinity of your pets. I only use this spray in rooms where there arent any animals, to avoid complications with their health.

-Wash your bedding as often as you can and say a short incantation before you put it in the wash. It could go something like this. "I cleanse this bedding of all negative energy, from bad dreams, and from and all stress." Sleep is so important to your sense of safety and wellbeing at home.

-Open the damn windows when you can! Stagnant energy is known for dragging down people's moods. And there's nothing quite as uplifting as fresh air. This provides a healthy flow to your house's energy.

-Don't bring things in your home unless you want to incorporate their energy into your environment. This is something that's often overlooked. I especially advise heavy consideration when it comes to thrifting items and bringing them home. Try practicing sensing the energy of items so you can easily tell whats good to bring home and whats not. Thrifting is great! Im not discouraging it btw.

-Fresh flowers work miracles. Not only do they aesthetically brighten the room, but their correspondences and magical properties apply to the room that they're in. Sunflowers are a great example of a flower that encourages positivity, and are extremely affordable to get lots of them. Roses are a bit more expensive usually, but they invite that loving vibe. And African irises are great for psychic enhancement.

Thats all for this post! Reblog it if you found it helpful, or have any of your own cool practices for hearth & home witchcraft to share!

[manifestmoons]

Welcome to manifestmoons

Magical water properties. A part of Grimoire Basics Volume 3

[starthereligious]

Ways to call a storm

Hi there! I've been calling storms for pretty much my entire life, sometimes subconsciously, sometimes consciously. There's not a lot of variety in posts about calling a storm, so I decided to gather all of my methods in one post.

Some things to note:

- As storm witches, we are still bound by the laws of science. Read up on the actual scientific process of the water cycle, types of clouds, etc. The best results come when you know what you are trying to do, and the type of cloud that corresponds to the storm you want.

- Speaking of clouds, the more clouds there are in the sky, the easier a storm-calling will be. I have never been able to call a storm from a clear sky, and if you have, then teach me your ways. In storm magick, you seek to speed up the water cycle in order to bring rain quicker.

- Storm magick is intrinsically tied to water and sea magic. More on that below.

This brings us to method 1-- interaction.

Method one is best for when you don't need a storm-- use it to practice on a cloudy day. This method is like a meditation. Depending on your practice, you may prefer complete silence, or gentle music, the traditional meditation position of crossed legs and hands on your knees or something different-- it's up to you. I've practiced this in classes before, so it doesn't really matter. In this method, focus on the actual process of what is happening to the clouds. Based on what you know about storms, what cloud do you want to form? Try to form that shape. Feel the clouds get heavier and heavier, closer and closer to the ground, until they're too heavy; and they let go of the water. Rain.

This method is the least effective, in my experience, but the most important to practice. With practice of this method comes more understanding of how your interactions with the sky work.

Method 2-- manifestation

Method two is very loose and depends on your favorite manifestation methods. In my experience, I repeat things over and over again in my head and try to experience the emotions of the storm. When I was forced onto the swim team by my parents, I used this method in the car to try to call a storm so it would get rained out. It always made a storm-- without fail. I was even able to call rain from cirrus with it. My parents ended up taking me off the team because my mom is aware I do magick.

Method 3-- petition

When I was a kid, I used to speak directly to the weather, as if it were an imaginary friend. I still don't know if I was making these interactions up or if I was speaking to an actual spirit, but I called her (quite creatively) Weather. When I needed something, I would say "Hey Weather, I really don't want to do yardwork today. Can you hold off on raining until xyz time so that it lasts longer and I won't have to?" I would either hear (or imagine, I don't know) a response, like "Yes, if you could help me move that cloud over than we'll be okay." This was the beginnings of my practice. Sometimes I was joined by an entity (or imaginary friend, still don't know) called Wind, except Wind couldn't speak. They were just kind of... there, and would help Weather move the clouds. (Side note, I had really awful allergies and was allergic to everything in my backyard, which is why I never wanted to do yardwork. Someone please tell me if I was contacted by deities as a child, because I still have had no interactions with deities after growing up.)

Additionally --

- While doing method 1, I sometimes get a cup or small container of water to touch to help ground me and remember what I'm doing. If that helps you, do that!

- Don't be discouraged if you don't get it right away. Storm magick is hard, and doesn't work right away. It will take a lot of practice. I still have trouble, and I've been practicing my entire life.

- Mix and match your methods! Remember, this is just my practice-- yours may be completely different.

Have fun!

[taking-thyme]

✨Aesthetics✨ For different Types of Witches

Weather Witch

☔ Accidentally summons weather with their feelings

☔ You or your Storm Deities summon weather at almost every major event 

☔ *Dramatically looks up at the sky* A storm in coming

☔ Has a million different jars on the windowsill for rain water

☔ Saying Hi to your storm deities whenever you hear thunder

☔ Dresses in weather-related motifs for the fun of it

☔ Genuinely annoyed when it’s too hot

☔ Has almost single handedly been keeping their hometown out of drought with all the rain they summon

☔Gets very worried when it snows later in the season

☔ Probably talk too loud

☔ Very protective 

☔ Not afraid to curse people

Stitch Witch

🧵 Sews magic into everything they make (literally)

🧵 Constantly enchanting their clothes and jewelry

🧵 Probably makes the coziest quilts ever

🧵 Will sew a quilt for nightmare free sleep

🧵 Always trying new crochet and sewing projects

🧵 A natural caretaker who loves helping people

🧵 Knows color symbolism like the back of their hand

🧵 Is always looking for meaning prints on fabrics 

🧵 Has correspondences and meaning for every type or fabric they use

🧵 Puts intent into every stitch

🧵 Talking to your clothes to set intentions for them

🧵 Probably has a really lovely, aesthetically-pleasing home

Kitchen/Hearth Witch

🍳 Their Book of Shadows is basically a cookbook

🍳 Thinks cooking is a love language (it is)

🍳 Hates the idea of cleaning but loves it once they actually start

🍳 Probably an incredibly forgetful witch

🍳 Talks to your home and spirits inside

🍳 Always baking

🍳 Stirring intention into your cooking

🍳 Knows what direction to stir to bring things or dispel them

🍳 Saving egg shells and drying orange peels

🍳 Drying and pressing herbs

🍳 Very impressive herb collection

🍳 Owns a mortar and pestle

Fairy Witch

🍄 Stumbled ass-backwards into a faerie contract

🍄 Things constantly go missing around the house

🍄 Has a garden but rarely needs to maintain it (that’s the fairy’s garden)

🍄 Their plants and garden flourish effortlessly 

🍄 Researching plants that fae like

🍄 Has a million different names and aliases for safety

🍄 Definitely liked Fairies as a kid and now it’s come full circle as an adult

🍄 Researching the different types of fae in their area

🍄 Weird dreams

🍄 So many bees, butterflies, birds and insects around their house

🍄 Never harms spiders

🍄 Lowkey scared of the fae

🍄 I feel like they’d enjoy trying out fun hairstyles

🍄 Suddenly smelling floral scents with no explanation

Death Witch

🪦 Always asks spirits before collecting graveyard dirt

🪦 Possibly Chronically Ill

🪦 Wears the same outfit every single day

🪦 Saves the dirt from dead plant pots

🪦 Always looks forward to when Pomegranates are in season

🪦 Knows the deceased will be well cared for by their deities, which brings them comfort

🪦 Really into taxidermy (it’s like goth stuffed animals)

🪦 Not put off by Vulture Culture or roadkill

🪦 Loves making playlists

🪦 Loves oddities and strange happenings 

🪦 Knows all the local graveyards

🪦 Probably has a favorite grave

🪦 Has already designed their headstone

🪦 Doesn’t fear old age as much as everyone else

🪦 Loves their ancestors and keeps in touch with them even after death

[thevirginwitch]

Weather Witchcraft & Correspondences Notes

This post was released early for subscribers over on my Patreon! If you like my work, and would love to check out some pretty sweet rewards, you can support me on Patreon for as little as $2/month!

Rain

second changes, renewal, cleansing

emotions, intuition, connecting with your inner self

Activities

Meditate in the rain: imagine the water washing away your worries

Snow

representative of the macrocosm/microcosm (think of the way each snowflake is unique, yet snowflakes pile on and on until they create huge blankets of snow)

concealment, hidden magic

purity, freshness, innocence (this has less to do with color magic [that old concept of black vs. white magic] and more to do with the way fresh snow looks)

revelation, awareness

cooperation, unity

Activities

Find an area covered in snow and, using your finger or a stick, write a wish in the snow. Watch the open spaces fill back in as the snow falls, and imagine your wish is being carried out by the universe.

Hail

haste, speed, action

power, motivation

strength

Activities

When you  hear hail, close your eyes and focus your energy on something you've been avoiding. Using the energy of the hail, write out a plan to tackle the problem at hand. When the hail ends, you will have gained the strength you need to carry out these tasks - don't be afraid to ask for help from others if necessary!

Thunderstorm

power, amplification

contains power of all four elements: earth=thunder, fire=lightning, air, and water

Activities

Count the seconds between lightning and thunder as the storm approaches. When the storm is at its peak (there's no delay between the lightning and thunder), focus on your current magical workings. Feel your energy pour into the storm as the storm fills you with strength and power. Imagine the storm continue to pour strength into you and your magical workings as it fades away.

High Sun (Hot Days)

strength, endurance

intense

projective

analytical, objective

Activities

Take a yellow, orange, or red stone and let it charge under the sun for a few hours on a hot day (be sure to double-check that your stone/crystal is sun-safe). Place the stone on your altar, desk, or area of your preference. Pull out the stone and call on its energy when you need a boost of strength or endurance. 

Sources:

Weather or Not: Two Books About the Magic of Timing & the Timing of Magic by Katrina Rasbold Stormy dividers are from @firefly-graphics

[semiotics-studies-deactivated20]

How I stay organized

I spent the last couple of days working out the organization system that seems feasible for 2 PhDs and life in general. I'm gonna go through everything here, not just academic stuff, because it overlaps a lot and I don't want to use more organization apps than is necessary, so I have everything in one place.

Let's go through the whole process.

My requirements (What I need to have organized)

notes: for classes, for research, for general readings

dates: all of the deadlines, appointments etc.

tasks: what I need to do in the long run (e.g. write 3 papers for PhD no.1), what I need to do in a week/day (read x articles for give paper)

projects: ideas, projects in progress, brainstorming

chores: stuff like grocery list, to-buy in a general, wishlist, recipes

What I ended up using

1. Notion

My dear friend recommended me Notion and I'm currently building it. I really like the interface and variability.

This is what I have in my Notion

projects tracking (research, articles, general stuff for Uni) -> these are basically bigger to-do lists, that I break down into ->

weekly agenda (daily to-do lists)

habit tracking (exercise mostly)

Tumblr posts ideas and other personal projects

life to-do list (dentist, dry-cleaning, insurance etc.)

wishlist (what I want to buy basically haha)

recipes

2. Physical Planner & Apple Calender

I use both physical planner (Verso radical one) and electronic one because sometimes is either of them more convenient and I synchronize them. It just works for me the best.

3. Evernote

I use Evernote for all of my notes - class notes (when possible), notes from books, general research, I even wrote some assignments (shorter homework) in Evernote. I have several Evernote notebooks - divided by topic, course, project or just a year, and everything is tagged, so it's easy to find according to author, topic, field of study.

4. Forest

Last not least, to stay on top of my shit, I use Forest as pomodoro technique, when necessary aka when I'm unable to force myself to stop scrolling and start working.

I hope this is helpful for at least some of you!

M.

[honorthegods]

Free Online Courses

Updated 16 September 2021

Many of these courses offer free certificates of completion.

Open University 

How to be a critical reader  https://www.open.edu/openlearn/languages/english-language/how-be-critical-reader/content-section-0?active-tab=content-tab

Discovering Ancient Greek and Latin         https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/discovering-ancient-greek-and-latin/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Getting started on classical Latin                https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/getting-started-on-classical-latin/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Continuing classical Latin                           https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/classical-studies/continuing-classical-latin/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Introducing the Classical world                                   https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/classical-studies/introducing-the-classical-world/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Health and wellbeing in the Ancient World   https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/health-and-wellbeing-the-ancient-world/content-section-overview?active-tab=description-tab

The body in antiquity                                https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/the-body-antiquity/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Icarus: entering the world of myth                         https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/icarus-entering-the-world-myth/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Introducing Homer’s Iliad                             https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/introducing-homers-iliad/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Introducing Virgil’s Aeneid                         https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/introducing-virgils-aeneid/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Library of Alexandria                          https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/library-alexandria/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

The Roman Empire: introducing some key terms                                https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/social-economic-history/the-roman-empire-introducing-some-key-terms/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab                 

The repute and reality of being a Roman emperor       https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/world-history/the-repute-and-reality-being-roman-emperor/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Hadrian’s Rome                                   https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/hadrians-rome/content-section-0?active-tab=content-tab

Exploring a Romano-African city: Thugga                   https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/social-economic-history/exploring-romano-african-city-thugga/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Art and life in ancient Egypt              https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/art-and-life-ancient-egypt/content-section-overview?active-tab=description-tab

Future Learn 

Rome: A Virtual Tour of the Ancient City  https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/rome

Health and Wellbeing in the Ancient World  https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/ancient-health

Archaeology: from Dig to Lab and Beyond     https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/archaeology

Hadrian’s Wall: Life on the Roman Frontier     https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/hadrians-wall

Harvard University

PredictionX: Omens, Oracles & Prophecies     https://www.edx.org/course/omens-oracles-prophecies?source=aw&awc=6798_1584215634_1c3e9be36c74f18ac210336c499febcd&utm_source=aw&utm_medium=affiliate_partner&utm_content=text-link&utm_term=85386_VigLink+Content

Coursera

Greek and Roman mythology                                       https://www.classcentral.com/course/mythology-353           

Roman Art and Archaeology         https://www.classcentral.com/course/roman-art-archaeology-5796

The Ancient Greeks                                                  https://www.classcentral.com/course/ancientgreeks-502

The Changing Landscape of Ancient Rome: Archaeology and History of the Palatine Hill                                                                       https://www.classcentral.com/course/palatine-carafa-8624

The University of Texas at Austin Linguistics Research Center

Classical Greek Online                                                             https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/grkol

Latin Online                                                                               https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/latol

[teawiththegods]

Hey Jessie! Quick question: I remember coming across a digital library for Ancient Greek hellenistic resources in the form of a Google drive folder on your blog here, but I can't find it again. Could you link it again, if possible?

Of course!!

This is a database, created for the Hellenic Polytheist community

[sugar-petals]

Do you remember, in a how to learn language post, you mentioned psychological barriers to learning. I'm really interested in that because it's something I struggle with. Could you give me some sources from where I could read about these and how to overcome them?

motivation psychology in language learning

language diary's tip

science journal: the 4 types of motivation

how do we acquire language? a speech

i'm a lazy language learner and that's fine

scientific study tips video

lazy ways of learning

making it easier

reasons to learn

on efficiency

on goals

and, caro's tip: as a passion project, create a tumblr blog in a fandom of your choice that speaks the target language. or go down the youtube rabbit hole of a foreign fandom you immensely care about. 1000% success rate because you bypass learning blocks inside your head and transfer motivation from productivity to understanding which is times stronger. also brings you extra close to real-life language use and slang you'd otherwise never learn.

[black-is-beautiful18]

I love Lore Olympus. I really do, but imma need some of the people that read the comic to differentiate between a retelling/original story and the actual myths. There is no reason why followers of Apollo should be getting hate messages cuz some of y’all don’t know anything about Greek Mythology outside of the comic. Do your research and don’t be idiots.

[a-pop-of-korean]

Talk to me in Korean is a good website that has free lessons from their textbooks that you can use, and have a book store in case you would like to buy the books~

Yes! I love TTMIK as well! I used to use their PDF lesson things all the time, but I'm not sure if they're available online for free anymore. I do know that they have a podcast on Spotify explaining grammar structures and stuff that you can listen to! I highly recommend! 

I haven’t bought any of their books but I’ve heard great things! They seem very helpful! If anyone has any other resources they’d like to share, please let me know! 화이팅!

[will-o-the-witch]

Tips for Discernment

Discernment is a crucial skill for any magic worker. It’s how we separate the magic from the mundane, reality from our imagination, and reduce the risk of being deluded or manipulated. Everbody already naturally does this a little bit, but actively strengthening the skill can be difficult for a beginner. Here are some tips, tricks, and techniques that have helped me. 

Write everything down. When doing a spell or working with a spirit, keep a written record of what you feel, say, witness, etc. This will help give you something objective to look back on later, which is a huge help for doing any post-research. You never know what details may give you a lead.

Pick a rule for “signs” and stick with it. What do you believe about coincidences? When do you believe something is a message from the Universe or your gods? Create a litmus test/threshhold for what you consider a sign; it doesn’t really matter what it is, so long as it’s consistently applied. That way, you’re saving your energy for the more important stuff instead of worrying/wondering about the small fry. On that note…

The “Rule of Three” (NOT to be confused with the Wiccan Rede.) This is a common discernment method for the concept above. One time seeing something is an instance, two is a coincidence, and three is a message.

When you ask for signs, be specific. Ask for something unique/specific enough that you wouldn’t reasonably expect it to happen anyway, but not so rare that it has no chance of manifesting. Color + Object (ex: let me see a purple feather) is a good method. That way you know exactly what your sign will be. 

The Gut Test. Sometimes when I’m communicating a spirit and I feel like something’s off, I’ll take a moment in my head and think, “this isn’t real. I’m making this conversation up.” Listen to how your gut responds. Does it agree right away? Does saying that feel incorrect, like it’s truly legitimate? Was the conversation legitimate up to a certain point? Listen to your gut and act accordingly. 

The Mimic Test. When working with spirits and “hearing” a voice in your head, try to recreate it with your own inner mind voice. Can you get it to be the same voice? Same volume? If you can, then you’re probably safe writing it off as your imagination.

PRACTICE. Practice. Practice. Practice feeling the energy of your plants. Practice feeling your own energy. Describe it in detail. Practice feeling the energy of any ritual objects. Practice communicating with a spirit you trust, like a guide or Ancestors. Just like a muscle, discernment becomes stronger with repeated use and withers when ignored. Practice on little things to keep you sharp for the big stuff.

Don’t Beat Yourself Up. It’s understandably a little embarrassing to admit we were wrong about something. And that’s okay! Pobody’s Nerfect! Recognizing our discernment mistakes makes us stronger practitioners, because it means you’re critically thinking about what you’re doing and striving to improve. At worst, a practitioner who never admits a lapse in discernment is actually missing that chance for growth, and runs a very high risk of being taken down a flight of fancy and getting increasingly disconnected from the real world. So be kind to yourself! Growing is good. 

[cottagelf]

Dream collection 🍂