Unfamiliar

Moth | 18 years old | They/It+Neos | 8+ years practicing | Please be patient while I redo this old blog

[theunfamiliar]

Witchy Friends

Ania'm looking to make some friends who are interested in the same things as me! It would be awesome if you could comment/reblog this post if you wanna be friends!

Things I'm Into-

Bones

Witchcraft

Green Witchcraft

Animals

Plants

Foraging

Crochet

Fiber arts

Videogames

Candles

Crystals

Mushrooms

I'm looking forwards to meet you all!

[wandering-wizardry]

I have made the executive decision to give less of a shit about anything and everything and to let myself enjoy things

[heatherwitch]

Sick Witchery

Because everyone gets sick, even witches! Witchcraft is to be used in addition to proper medical care, and please be cautious when using herbs and do your research*

Teas and potions:

Sore throat potion

Sore throat sage tea

Cough/cold tea

Cold banishing potion

Us witches get colds too

Magick sick tea

Feel better tea spell

Fire cider recipe

Sick witch’s brew

Flu and cold buster

Milly’s “the flu can f*ck off” brew

Soothing tummy tea

Vitamin C healing potion

Syrups:

Easy DIY cough syrup

Soothing lemon cough syrup

Simple elderberry syrup

Magic cold syrup

Food:

Swamp’s immunity boosting noodles

Faye’s patchwork soup

“I am not getting sick!” broth

Spells:

Simple sickness spell

Simple healing spell

Christian witch healing spell

Bath magic:

Anti-nausea bath

Healing milk bath

Healing bath

Shower meditation

Odds and ends:

Cold remedies and tips

Common cold healing

Lil’ witch tips for sickness

Immune system sigils

Basil

Coriander seeds

Eucalyptus 

Onions

You may also like:

Chronically ill witchcraft: For your symptoms

Witchcraft and meds

Witchcraft in the hospital

My spoonie sigils: (1) (2) (3)

Spoonie witch masterpost

*Resources for herbal interactions*

Links updated August of 2021. Please inform me of broken links via askbox!

[experiencinglifeagain]

TERF Spotting 101: The Bio

This topic will be triggering to some transgender and nonbinary individuals, please do not read if you do not feel like you are able to. If you can read this, please do.

Common Words Used In Bios

TERF (obviously but still putting it here)

SWERF (they are always interconnected)

♀️(the Venus sign, which to them is considered the female sign)

Radfem/Radical Feminist/Radical Feminism

Gender Critical/Gender Critic

Rad/Radical (sometimes a play on words, or just alone)

XX (a reference to female people having two X chromosomes)

Rad Leaning

TradFem (associated with 1950s gender roles which is not inclusive of transgender people or people who break the binary)

FebFem (radical feminist term to describe bisexual women who exclusively date "females")

Gyn (radical feminist term for women, used because afab people need to go to gynecologists)

Gender-Free (not in a nonbinary way, but in a way that reduces people to their sex.)

Anti-Prostitution (this is another way to say Anti-Sex Work, another hallmark of someone being a TERF is hating sex workers, for some reason?)

LGB (purposefully does not use the T)

Drop the T

Biological Woman

Woman (no pronouns)

Male exclusionary

No males allowed

"Males DNI"

Actual Woman

Pro-Misandry

"I will not expose you for following me" (considered a TERF code of conduct)

"Woman is not a feeling."

"Same-Sex attraction"

Gender abolistionist (not in a nonbinary way, but in a way that reduces people to their sex.)

Womyn/Womxn (used to disassociate with men, however also used to include all AFAB people no matter their identity ie Transmen and Nonbinary people)

[stagkingswife]

Ancestor Veneration

In the occult discords I frequent I periodically see questions from new practitioners who want to start spirit work and have been directed to start with their ancestors, but they’re in a bind because like many young folk today they don’t have such a great relationship with their family. For their own reasons they don’t know their family history and either feel disconnected from previous generations or don’t want to connect to their bloodline. Over the years my personal ancestor veneration has taken shape in a way that I think might be helpful or of interest to people who want to strike up a relationship with their ancestors, but don’t have a great one with their living or recently deceased family.

Types of ancestors:

Beloved Dead: These are my known/recently deceased spirits, people I have known in life who have passed on. Not always technically ancestors, because these spirits aren’t aren’t necessarily related to me, or in my direct line of descent. The only requirement is that I knew them in life, as well as in death.

Ancestors: My actual forebearers, the people I’m directly descended from. I know many of their names because my family tree is very well researched, but I never met them in life. This also includes the ancestors whose names I don’t know but are still in that familial line, those spirits I refer to as “unnamed ancestors” or “unnamed forbearers”.

Cultural Ancestors: This by far the largest category, because there is no upper limit to the number of sub categories I can squeeze in there, none of which rely on actual blood ties. It has my ethno-cultural ancestors, the Irish people who came before me, the Italian people who came before me, the Norwegian people who came before me… etc. But it also has the ancestors of the things I choose to identify my self as: The disabled people who have come before me, the witches who have come before me, the Sailors, the Dancers, the Musicians, the Storytellers, etc. Everyone in this category connects me to some kind of cultural history that exists outside of my bloodline.

Who To Call On and When?

For me calling on my ancestors is a lot like calling on a deity. I petion them/ dedicate my actions to them, when I’m doing something that’s in their realm of influence. For instance: Say I’m cooking a traditional Italian meal, I would call on my Italian cultural ancestors, and they would get some of the meal as an offering in repayment. I would also probably call on the individual spirit of my grandmother, one of my beloved dead, since she was the one who taught me Italian cooking, and it’s quite likely her recipe I’m using.

I also have specific days set aside for my most frequently called upon groups Christmas Eve was always big with the Italian side of the family, and I still celebrate it the traditional way, so that’s become a day for my Italian cultural ancestors. St Patricks Day is for my Irish cultural ancestors. St. Lucia Day is for my Norwegian ancestors. I’ve set aside Talk Like a Pirate Day to venerate all of the sailors, fishermen, and wayfinders who have gone before me, and

Why Approach Ancestor Work/Worship/Veneration like this?

I feel like this approach gives me, and perhaps others, the most flexibility and the most options to approach ancestor work on terms that work for me. Have a great relationship with the family you’ve interacted with, but uncomfortable with the actions of your ancestors a few generations back? Interact only with your Beloved Dead and your Cultural Ancestors. Want nothing to do with your biological family, but still want to do ancestor work? Create a spiritual found family by working only with Cultural Ancestors. This way of thinking about those who loved what we love before us could be applied to any interest or personal identity that a person holds dear. However you choose to define yourself you can can use to draw a connection to people who also defined themselves that way in the past.

[babysfirstpentagram]

How to cross reference: a guide by a white person on the cultural appropration of bipoc

As stated in the title, I am a white person. Because of that, I try to be very cautious of my craft and practice, as to not encouch on others cultures. Now, how do I know what’s okay to do and what is not okay to do? What if one person says something and another person says the opposite. Here are a few tips and tricks I use to make sure I’m staying in my lane and being respectful.

For each scenario, I am just adding random names. This isn’t a call out post and I am sorry if I said your name. 

Scenario One: Learn what each person’s culture is. 

Let’s say that recently you saw a video on that famous clock app about aligning your chakras. The original poster, let’s call him Thomas, says he has no connection with Hinduism or Buddhism in a livestream, he just likes learning about chakras because he heard from someone that they are allowed to be used by everyone. He doesn’t name who told him that or give you anymore information before moving on. Later that same day, Alice says that chakras are a closed practice, and even though everyone has them, only people practicing Hinduism or Buddhism can manipulate them. Alice goes on to tell you how her grandmother, a lady from India that practices Hinduism, would help people’s Chakras back home. Who do you believe? 

Well, as stated, Thomas isn’t a Hindu or Buddhist. He has no connection to the religions minus knowing about Chakras. However, Alice is directly connected to the religion and goes on to explain how she is connected to it. In this situation, someone from that culture directly is telling you that it is closed, so you would listen to her. 

Scenario Two: Same culture, different Ideas

What if two people from the same culture have differing standpoints? Well, then you just leave it alone! Don’t practice it until an obvious side is shown through the majority of the people that practice that culture. A quick rule of thumb: if it is associated with a group of people that have been oppressed by white colonizers or it is directly stated that it is a heritage thing and only family and blood can practice it, its probably closed!

So, say that Eren is part of the Ojibwe tribe. They are continuously stating that dreamcatches are closed and were only adapted by whites for aesthetic purposes. On the other hand, Aja is also apart of that tribe and is happily telling everyone that Eren is just trying to gatekeep something that is beautiful. What do you do then? 

Well, just assume its closed until multiple people from that tribe are telling you it’s okay to use it! Until then, keep your hands off of it! 

Now, what if you’re not white, but you want to practice a culture you don’t belong to? Its still closed! Native cultures are only open to other natives, even some tribes don’t share with other tribes as things can be extrememly sacred. This goes for Native Americans and Native African Tribes! Just because you aren’t white, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to listen to when others are telling you that their culture is closed and sacred to them. Just please be considerate about everyone’s cultures, read up on them, learn if they are closed or open and to what extent. Do not cherry pick the good and forget the bad. 

I hope I got everything right, and if I messed something up please correct me. At this point in time, I will only be accepting critizism from bipoc only, as this is an issue that deals with them. I would like them to educate me, not butthurt white people that are mad that they can’t keep colonizing cultures. 

Remember that ily (/p) and dont forget to drink some water today! 

[theunfamiliar]

Candle Magick

Did you know, you can cast spells with just a candle, some oil and herbs? Yeah! Candles are a staple in many witches arsenal, so why wouldn't we use them for spells?

Each colour means something new and exciting for your candle.

White - Protection, Serenity, Peace, Enhances Personal Strength

Black - Protection, Banishment, Hexes, Curses

Blue - Emotions, Mental Health, Depression, Anxiety

Green - Wealth, Money, Prosperity, Luck

Yellow - Friendship, Social Skills, New Beginnings

Red - Lust, Courage, Passion

Pink - Romance, Love, Self-Love

Purple - Creativity, Psychic Awareness

Brown - Health, Energy, Possessions, Pets

Orange - Broadens Horizons, Opens New Doors

So you wanna cast a candle spell? Good for you! The first step is to think of what your intent is. What are you manifesting? Put it into a simple sentence, "My home is well protected from all evil."

Next step is to dress your candle. This is optional, but if you wanna add extra umph to your spell, you can dress your candle in oils and herbs to help strengthen the spell. Or, alternatively you could carve sigils or runes into the candle.

Final step, cast your spell. So say you dont have a dressed candle. What you wanna do, is pour all your intent into your candle. You can do this by meditation, chanting, visualization, etc. Once your candle is charged, light it. Some spells require a candle to burn down to the wick, others you light occasionally when you need that specific thing in your life.

Make sure to pick your candle colours to help go along with your intent!

[theunfamiliar]

Spell MasterList

Protection

- Protection Sachet

- Herbal Protection Jar

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Banishment

- Beginner Banishment Spell

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wealth

- Wealth Spell Jar ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Healing

- Healing Jar Spell ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Baneful - Baneful Potion

[theunfamiliar]

Protection Sachet

Tools:

Incense

Lighter

Black/White Sachet Pouch

Ingredients:

Eggshell Powder

Sharks Tooth

Protection Oil

Sea Salt

Black Salt

All Spice

Rosemary

Bay Leaf

Cloves

Mugwort

Pine

Mile a Minute Weed (Optional)

Black Onyx

Clear Quartz

Protection Oil

Steps:

Light your incense and cleanse you sachet, crystals and sharks tooth.

Cast a circle and (optional) invite your entities in who will be helping you with the spell.

Add in your ingredients, stating which each one is for.

Ex)) "Black Salt for protection, All Spice for amplification, etc"

Close the sachet and fill with your intent

Dismiss your entites and take down your circle

[theunfamiliar]

Wealth Jar Spell

Ingredients:

Frankincense

GoldenRod

Allspice

Bay Leaf

Rosemary

Orange Peel

Chamomile

Clove

Pine

GoldenRod Oil

Pyrite

Green Aventurine

Lapis Lazuli

Tigers Eye

Clear Quartz

Tools:

Jar

Incense

Lighter

Green Candle

Steps:

Gather your materials and cast a circle.

Invite any deities/entities into your circle who you want to help you with this spell (Optional)

Light the incense, cleanse your jar and jar lid.

Add your crystals and herbs, telling each one it's role in the spell.

Ex)) "Pine for wealth, abundance, and prosperity."

Cap your jar and fill with your intent.

Light the candle and seal your jar.

Fill your jar with intent again.

Dismiss any deities/entities and take down your circle.

[wolfricivarrwitchythings]

Protection Magick (A Masterpost)

I’ve discussed warding and covered the basics, but now lets get in to some practical techniques your protecting yourself, your home, and your family.

This is going to be a long one, so buckle up. 

Iron: A powerful tool against fey, most other spirits, and against evil and malevolent spells.

Sew bits of iron (such as nails) into the hems of your clothes. Only works while wearing those clothes.

Wear an iron ring or bracelet.

Wrap an iron coffin nail in brown silk and carry it with you for protection against curses.  

Wearing a pentacle is another simple protective practice amongst witches. The pentacle represents the five (yes, five) elements of fire, water, earth, air and akasha (spirit). Therefore, a pentacle provides the protection of all of these elements. Water guards your emotions. Air guards your intellect. Fire guards against actions brought against you. Earth guards against physical harm (especially physical harm from magickal sources). Akasha obviously guards against negative energies and spirits.

Circles

Circles are also powerful protective symbols. An unbroken circle can be designated as a “safe-zone”, allowing only that which is allowed into it. Of course, this is best used when practicing magick, as the raising of energy can occasional attract the wrong kind of attention. However, only those energies that have been specifically invited into a circle are welcome to stay. 

I like to use the elemental method, instructions for which are here!

Circles, however, can be cast with a number of different things:

Chalk

Charcoal

Salt

Fiery Wall of Protection powder

Red brick dust

Vervain

Vermilion

Whiskey

Rum

Flour

There is much more, but these are some basics. You can also cast invisible circles using a wand or Athame (Made of iron or steel is best).

When and where to cast a circle:

Draw circles during rituals and spells. 

Draw circles around sickbeds

Draw circles around women in childbirth

Draw circles around your own bed, and the especially the beds of infants and young children.

Salt

Salt is a powerful protective tool. Salt represents the earth, and therefore also represents that Earth Mother. Salt is also cleansing, and repels malevolent spirits. 

Sage your home often, cleansing it of negativity, being sure to leave a window open for the negativity to escape. Be sure to get in corners and in low places as well as in high places. When finished, close the window, and then pour salt on all window ledges and in front of all outside doors. Natural sea salt works best. I also, for added protection, draw a pentacle with my wand over the doors and windows.

Re-do this once a month for best results.  

Spiritual Protection

Spirit guardians and guides serve as excellent protection against anything unwanted. However, do not make the mistake of thinking their protection is good enough. It is absolutely essential to learn how to protect yourself instead of relying solely on your spirit guide to do it.

Your Spirit Guide/Guardian

Your Spirit animal/familiar may also provide protection to you as well. Usually, your spirit animal is usually separate from your spirit guardian. For example: My spirit animal is a Wolf, but my Spirit Guardian’s animal (yes, spirit guardians have spirit animals too) is an Owl. 

There are also more advanced theories of magick such as thoughtforms and tulpas that are created with a certain purpose. Usually these spirits are created within your own astral temple and then made stronger over time. Again, this is advanced magickal theory.

NOTE: I would not, unless you know exactly what you are doing, enter a contract with any spirit/deity/demon/angel for use as a protective measure. Often, these contracts contain dangerous “clauses” that cause more harm than good.

However, if you happen to have a connection to your spiritual ancestors they are usually willing to provide protection without entering a contract. At the same time, this protection only lasts as long as it suites them. It’s possible that your ancestors are loyal to you. Or it’s possible that they will abandon you the first time danger arises.

Spells and Such For Protection

This list of spells will likely grow over time as I find/write more spells for the purpose of protection.

Fiery Wall of Protection Oil/Powder

Protection Enchantment

[mywitchlingjourney]

Wood

Alder - weather magick, necromancy, courage, passion

Almond - wisdom, prosperity, love magick, healing, self protection

Apple - fertility, healing, abundance

Ash - protection, healing, prosperity, strength, intellect, will power, justice, balance, travel, wisdom

Beech - binding work, love, friendship

Birch - intuition, creativity, love, healing, protection, grounding, cleansing

Cherry - mental clarity, decision making

Cedar - healing, spirituality, prosperity

Driftwood - protection, energy, moon magick

Elder - healing, protection, banishment, prosperity

Hawtorn - protection, magick sacred to dragons and the fire

Hazel - truth, divination, wisdom, luck

Holly - purity, sun magick, strength, protection, luck

Maple - love, abundance, money, health

Oak - protection, fertility, strength, health, luck, defense, courage, longevity

Pine - healing, fertility, protection, money, cleansing, mental clarity

Poplar - the Crone, astral projection, divination, rebirth

Redwood - “king of trees”, strength, protection, creativity, enlightenment

Rowan - defense, creation, travel, healing, divination

Willow - healing, protection, spellwork

Yew - strength, change, death, immortality, protection

[theunfamiliar]

A quick and easy healing spell I did for a friend today!

Tools-

[] Jar

[] Incense

[] Lighter

[] Green Candle

Ingredients-

[] Chamomile

[] Allspice

[] Bay Leaf

[] Mugwort

[] Pine

[] Amethyst

[] Tigers eye

[] Fluorite

[] Green Adventurine

[] Pink Salt

[] Sea Salt

Directions-

Cast a circle with all materials needed first. Cleanse a jar with incense (cleanse the lid as well!!). Slowly add your herbs, stating which each one's one's property you are using for the spell, next add crystals while stating their properties, then add your salts. Charge your spell with the intent of healing by talking to the spell itself and focusing your energy into the jar. Put on lid and seal with green candle wax. Once again pour your energy into the spell and intent.

[glamorous-astrology]

So you're a Witch with ADHD or a really short attention span.

Write everything down, everywhere. Journals, docs, notes on your phone. Write down any half baked spell idea you may have, the oh! That's what that can be used for moments. Write it all down.

So you need do research but you can't focus enough to read any information.

That's okay, bookmark a bunch of pages about the topic(google searches you may have made, articles you may have found, pictures you might want to reference but can't focus on) and read them later when you can sit and focus.

Where the f-ck did I put my-

Can't find anything but you swear to the divine that you had it a second ago. Check the shelf/cabinet/drawer. What shelf/cabinet/drawer the one you should dedicate to witchy stuff of course.

A shelf, specifically for witchy stuff that you haven't used yet but will need. When you're in a hyper-fixation but don't know what to do you can reorganize it like 1000 times and I promise you'll always go "wow so glad I found this!"

But I don't know what to do with all my witchy books!

That's okay! I don't either! BUT you can put the ones you reference the most in front of the ones you haven't read yet but want/need to and put the ones that you love but don't really need to reread right now behind them. If you can see it, you can find it.

Where do I keep all my crystals!!

Jars! Big jars, small jars, long jars, short jars. JARS!!! AND ALSO CUTE BOXES!! That you can put on the tippy top of a shelf/cabinet or the shelf in like a closet.

Spice racks are Diveine

Use a spice rack to all the spices you use the most. Label each container on the wrack so that you can see which spice it is from like across the kitchen (or wherever you keep the spices in your adobe).

Please remember that ADHD and other attention based illness are different person to person so I ask you to find what works for you and hey if you feel like it, share it on this thread!

~Admin Cryptid

[themirroredmoon]

Methods of Spell Work

To Banish: • Burning to ashes and sweeping away the ashes • Cast out a window, down a cliffside, etc • Bury it and spit on the spot

To Bind: • Wrap in black thread • Cover in wax or other material • Seal in jar and hide in dark spot

To Hide: • Wrap in ribbon • Place in a (painted) black jar or other container • Cover in cloth or other material and bury

To Encourage: • Plant or bury near the front door/steps • Plant or bury near a window • Place near a window

To Communicate*: • Anoint a candle • Leave out an offering • Meditate • Open the front door and/or windows

To Glamour: • Leave under the full moon • Work with its reflection

To Cleanse: • Bury in salt • Burn herbs and pass through the smoke • Let it bathe in the moonlight

To Protect: • Leave sigils/wards on doors and windows • Carry sigils/wards on every day items (keys, phone case, etc) • Enchant jewelry with protection spells

*: Communication with deities, spirit guides, etc

[theskepticalwitch]

Practical Things I Think Witches Should Research

Cultural Appropriation

Closed paths and practices

Cult warning signs

Spiritual Discernment

Herb interactions (i.e. how they interact with your medications, if they are poisonous, if you are allergic, can you ingest them, etc.)

Fire safety (for candles, smoke cleansing, incense, etc.)

Crystal Care (learn if your crystals will dissolve in water, if they can be in the sun, if they can be in the cold, etc.)

Pet Care (make sure herbs don't have poor interactions with your pets, make sure you know what to keep away from them, etc.)

[talesoftheimaginary]

Vetting Spirits for Beginners

Please keep in mind this is a brief guide and nothing in spirit work is a hard and fast rule and this list is by no means the only ways to go about spotting an imposter. Don’t forget that spirits claiming to be your ancestors are included in this guide.

Communication with imposter spirits can/will:

- Be vague

- Distract you from your concerns

- Ask you to hurt yourself or someone else

- Imply they know everything or things they shouldn’t know – (for example, they can’t read your thoughts or if a spirit, who would have died in the 1800s, claims to know how to use a computer)

- Talk about themselves as being infallible

- Claim to be a famous/historical figure you didn’t seek

- Make you feel negative or sick after interaction (ruling out medical issues)

- Make you start acting in ways that are uncharacteristic of yourself, including changes in your daily routine (ruling out medical issues)

- Be offended if you want to verify who they are

- Be impatient or demanding

- Expect you to change aspects of your craft to accommodate them (this is different than suggesting you practice your divination or meditate more – that affects you more than them)

- Expect you to rely on them for all aspects of your life, including outside of your craft

- Ask you to hide things from people you’re normally open with or tell you that you’re not allowed to tell people what you’re doing

- Change its name, or is inconsistent on their identity (for example, if they claim to be a deity that oversees certain things, then later denies that characteristic)

- Ignore boundaries you’ve set up

- Promise more than they deliver

Communication with proper spirits can/will:

- Offer hope, strength, inspiration, and encouragement

- Show patience – they have no rush to get results and will wait the necessary time to watch you develop

- Have no issues with their identity being questioned

- Not punish you for mistakes or doubt

- Send signs you ask for to prove their identity or should be able to name family members if they’re truly ancestors

Tips:

- The longer you work with a spirit, the more likely that they are who they say they are. Imposter spirits cannot keep up a façade for too long

- The way a deity interacts with someone will likely not be the same way that a human spirit or a land spirit interacts with them. (For example, the Christian God is believed to be infallible and punishes sin but you will know that going in.)

- If you work with a deity or spirit you’ve already vetted, they can act as a guard from other spirits. Check with them on a spirit’s identity before or even during communication

- Spirits brought forth by previously vetted spirits are most likely always going to be who they claim they are

- Your ancestors are going to be powerful allies in vetting a spirit and keeping you safe. If you build your relationship with them, it’ll be less work to vet spirits in the future