Unlearn Your Craft

Jelly Mod (🪼) & VHS Mod (📼) changing the way you view and participate in your craft || EDUCATIONAL & RANTING BLOG || THIS BLOG IS NOT IMPASSIVE AND WILL FEATURE “CONTROVERSIAL” OPINIONS AND “HOT TAKES”

[unlearnyourcraft]

HI LONG TIME NO SEE ITS JELLY MOD! I’m just here to announce that I am going to be trying to get this blog active again!

I have a few topics I want to touch on now that I’ve been in various witch spaces online and some common trends I’m noticing among spaces that work around new age spirituality. Hopefully everything will go okay.

If anyone wants to see our main blog we are @clowncorps3 now!

Watch this space…

[unlearnyourcraft]

Call out post / PSA / warning

I’ve been toying up the idea of making this post as I do not know what the outcome of this will be , the server I am warning you all of has (or had) a very substantial member count including people who turn a blind eye to the “controversies” that are about to be listed but I simply cannot keep it to myself anymore. Because the more that VHS and I talk on this discord , the more I realise that the more people I can dissuade from joining then the less damage they can do.

I know the userbox says this was written by me but VHS has ALSO put work into this post too

Warning , this post contains the following topics:

Discussion of the Nazi party and dog whistles & the wilful ignorance of people around modern day harm perpetrated by the Nazis.

Discussion of Wicca and forum staff being uneducated on a VERY important topic (cultural appropriation)

Ableism

Transphobia , J.K Rowling & individuals showing evident support to her

Intersexism

Hellenic Herald

I want to preface this statement with the following

Everything stated within this post is a combination of my personal experience , the shared experience from VHS and other things I observed during my time in the server. No proof was collected from these situations as in the moment I was both too shocked and too concerned to prioritise proof.

Hellenic Herald is a discord server , whilst primarily themed around and focusing on the Hellenic (greek) pantheon it is a general paganism server that allegedly welcomes anyone from any faith.

I wasn’t in Hellenic Herald for very long , probably just shy of a month? And within that time I gained many reasons to want to persuade people to leave or to never join in the first place.

The biggest and most important reason was the introduction of a guild / server tag. This was the situation that had me leave the server , along with a lot of other members.

Their first iteration of a guild / server tag was ⚡️HH now it’s okay if you aren’t sure why that’s problematic , that’s what I’m here for. The lightning bolt followed by double H is a VERY common Nazi dog whistle. This fact was pointed out to the mods by multiple people when the server staff were first planning out a guild / server tag , they were told to not use it whatsoever. Very clearly told it was a Nazi dog whistle. This information was not listened to , the guild tag was set and rightfully so a handful of members were in uproar. When confronted with the issue the owner of the server gave the excuse “I don’t have time to memorise all of this”.

If this was a situation where they’d accidentally used a dog whistle without prior knowledge then maybe that excuse would be semi-viable (in my mind that excuse is never valid , you should always be aware of symbolism and dog whistles online to keep your spaces safe) but as it happens , the mod team were all already told that it was a Nazi dog whistle. And nobody thought to take note to make sure everyone remembered , no one thought to actually listen when told that the symbol they wanted represented genocide.

The next issue that is important for me to discuss is the owners continued (public) association with the work of Joanne Rowling.

I have no idea if the decoration is still the same as I refuse to even check on the server with an alt account , but when me and VHS were both part of the server the decoration on the icon and the server banner were both modled after the snitch from Harry Potter. When someone pointed out that it looked like a snitch , the owner thanked them and said it was on purpose. Then followed it up (in a very afterthought way) with “oh but we don’t support JKR”

(I do not know if we have the screenshots of this , if we do I will add them)

A note from me, VHS mod, they also were particularly ableist when it comes to being disabled and practicing paganism, and did not acknowledge the difference between someone who is physically disabled, mentally disabled and someone who had a mental health condition. These are different things !! And I was called ableist for saying that the struggles faced by these three groups aren’t the same and can’t be lumped into one solution. I was told that because I honoured Hephaestus as a god of disability I was saying that the gods are imperfect. I was told that I shouldn’t offer a “sign of weakness” as an offering when I said I was offering my medical alert jewellery.

They also debated on topics that weren’t at all controversial, like I’m sure jelly mod will acknowledge further, such as being intersex ??

Including these debates, they also debated topics they knew nothing about. For example someone said “I don’t think I should have to listen to a band to wear a shirt” which is a stance I personally agree with (as long as you know a vague idea of a band) but then this transpired into non goths telling me, a goth, that goth wasn’t a music based subculture. And it was so obvious they knew nothing, and were just denying my knowledge I’m very educated in. I extended it to you need to consume and enjoy some form of goth media to be goth and that wasn’t good enough either. “Can I listen to the music and just not enjoy it?” IS A SENTENCE SOMEONE SAID WHICH DEFEATS THE OBJECT. Seems like they mixed up dressing gothic and being goth.

Oh also this one guy had a fascination with specific goddesses being virgins when that’s… not what that is. Also why do you care if someone’s had sex?? This probably isn’t common knowledge but in ancient Greece someone was a virgin until they stepped over the threshold of her husbands home. It wasn’t about sex. And the gods all live in the same place, so they’re all virgins ??

That’s all from me until I get reminded of something

I will now expand upon the points brought up by VHS , to give you a clearer idea of what the exact problematic nature is.

Ableism & the experiences of the physically disabled , mentally disabled and mentally ill

Now I was only there to witness one count of ableism and in my opinion the staff did not handle it as well as they could have.

We were (likely) in the divination chat , when a member made a comment on how they hated that minors on tiktok were “taking away the validity of divination”. Specifically they made reference to those who practice shufflemancy (for those who don’t know , shufflemancy is a divination tool where you use music playlists on shuffle to determine answers to your questions). It was then swiftly pointed out to this member (by myself) that shufflemancy allows divination to be accessible to both the low income / budget witches and those who are disabled or chronically ill.

We said that shufflemancy is a really great way to practice divination without using too much energy up , and was ideal for those who rarely have enough energy to practice other methods like tarot. This member kept making comments that they didn’t see how shufflemancy could have any validity , that it made a mockery of “actual divination”. Mods did not handle this until another member got involved and restated the points I’d already made , calling out this members ableism. A mod was in the chat at the time as I had seen them typing several times during the topic but had never actually said anything until another member got involved.

I am aware VHS has had other counts of ableism so I will allow them to tell those as there were others aside from the already mentioned Haephestus incident.

Intersexism & debating topics of being intersex under the label of them being “controversial”

I do not remember the full situation as it’s been dampened by dissociative amnesia , I do not remember the original topic nor do I remember what chat this was in.

I mentioned in this chat about the forced genital mutilation of most intersex babies , and that a lot of times not even the parents consented to these surgeries to “fix” intersex children into having the genitalia of one specific sex. A mod came into the chat and told me to “take it to controversial chat” , I was shocked and I did in fact automatically seek out someone else I knew and asked them if I was overreacting.

There is a VERY big difference between a “triggering topics” chat and a “controversial” chat. I would have been understanding if they had told me to move to a triggering topics chat , none existed in the server but if it had id have moved. I was not happy at being told to move to a controversial topics area , there is not and should never be anything “controversial” about the rights of intersex individuals and the medical malpractice and abuse of intersex infants. Triggering? Yes. Controversial? No.

The denial of the fundamentals of the goth subculture

I don’t need to go too much deeper into this as VHS did a wonderful job elaborating , so instead I shall simply teach you all the difference between being gothic and being goth.

Being Goth -> being goth means being a part of the political and musical scene of goth , it split off from the punk scene and is therefore at its core political. However a VERY key element of being goth is the musical scene , to be a goth you both need to ascribe to the political aspect (because it’s very much political) and you must also be part of the musical scene. You do not need to know every band or enjoy every band. And hey we’re even happy enough if you just know typical goth media. But you have to partake in it AND enjoy it.

Being Gothic -> being gothic is a style choice populated by the victorians , you do not need to listen to goth music or be into goth media. But being gothic is a fashion choice. Which is YES often combined with the goth subculture. But you can be a goth without dressing gothic.

Ancient Greek virginity versus Modern virginity

Again I do not need to elaborate too much , VHS did very well here but the Greeks believed you were a virgin until you stepped over the threshold of your husbands home. It had nothing to do with sexual intimacy

[unlearnyourcraft]

Hello, I'm fairly new to witchcraft, but I want to learn more and participate myself. I don't have any specific religious or spiritual beliefs, but I am spirital and have some belief in a form of mother nature and such. The term I'm seeing is secular witch, so I suppose that's what I'm looking into

I'm wondering some tips you might have of things I can do that would be appropriate (since I'm not doing this religiously and I don't want to accidently do something specific to any religion) as well as helpful.

My main goals are to give back to nature spiritually (possibly with some kind of alter but I'm looking into that I'm not sure yet) as well as help myself with stuff like anxiety via a spiritual means

I do have some incense and smudge sticks someone gifted me, as well as I already had many crystals and a tarot deck.

Thank you in advance for whatever help you're able to give. Like I said, I'm new, and I'm scared of doing something wrong, but I'm looking forward to learning!

Ooo fun secular witchcraft! Alright so in secular witchcraft you can do the exact same as normal witchcraft because witchcraft itself isn’t religious. I’ve also seen people take the gods from, for example, the Greek pantheon as archetypes instead of deities. For example Artemis being a goal to aspire to when it comes to pursuit of knowledge.

Think of it like when people idolize a celebrity. They aren’t worshipping the celebrity but they want to be like the celebrity

Tl;dr you can’t appropriate witchcraft as long as you aren’t touching closed practices because witchcraft isn’t a religion :D!! Happy casting! - 📼

[unlearnyourcraft]

Tarot is popping off tonight guys. This is your reminder to not avoid reading reversed cards, don’t learn your cards like flashcards and..: DONT FLIP YOUR CARDS FROM THE BOTTOM flip them from the side if you flip them from the bottom they’re going to be the opposite way round as to how they landed

[unlearnyourcraft]

I yearn for more disabled Hephaestus rep. And I yearn for people to not be uncomfortable at me calling Hephaestus disabled, imperfect and ugly. Because THAT IS HOW HES DESCRIBED !! Just because he is considered ugly it means he’s ugly compared to the rest of the gods, not compared to humans. People also need to get comfy with me not worshipping Apollo because many of his domains can be fulfilled by other deities without the questioning of other people going “oh you worship him to heal your disability!!” I find many of apollos domains were never really his domains and have been associated with him through modern Hellenism. People misconstrued “art” as all art, whereas it was originally oral art for example. Just my thoughts, do what ya want, I’m not here to be prescriptive - VHS

[unlearnyourcraft]

Guys I decided to lock in and make myself a grimoire on notion… I think I’ve gone overboard - 📼

Also what do you folks want? I’m planning on doing a series on accessible paganism/witchcraft so drop me an ask so we can respond - 📼

[unlearnyourcraft]

The day people treat the infernals normally and like any other pantheon is the day I can find peace

“But they’re dangerous-“

I fear any deity of any pantheon is dangerous

“They can kill you”

Any deity of any pantheon can kill you. Have you ever read a single myth they’re all about “don’t fuck with the gods or you’ll get what’s coming” which includes death

“How can I banish a demon-“

You wouldn’t banish any other pantheon would you?

“They tell nothing but lies”

A lot of them are bound to speak only but the truth in their designated discipline

You can just say evil spirit, evil spirits exist. Not every evil spirit is a demon - 📼

(Also I’m in the process of making the discord server!)

[unlearnyourcraft]

Psst… I feel not enough people know this

An ALTAR is something you use to worship, like a shrine

An ALTER has many meanings but most commonly it’s a member of an OSDDID system

Every time someone mixes them up I slowly turn into a candle - 📼

[themortuarysys2]

I wish people wouldn’t provoke me. Why the fuck are you asking me about shit I’ve already said I don’t like ??

For context I said that endogenic systems are basically transIDs and this fucking guy who does his hardest to get a reaction out of anyone asked me about Tulpas. If I don’t like endos I’m not gonna like Tulpas either. Why the fuck do you want to be plural. It’s not desirable. Some things aren’t for you. Also yeah tulpamancy is a thing but the western idea is heavily appropriated so it can be a system “origin”

[unlearnyourcraft]

Can y’all report the guy commenting under this post for spreading hateful ideologies and misinfo I blocked them but I’m real pissed at them being a fucking idiot thank ya - Rotte

[unlearnyourcraft]

You should totally do a yes or no guide ^^

Coming right up !! Guide under the cut this is gonna be a long one

Reminder that tarot shouldn’t be used for simply yes or no questions! This is meant to provide clarity for an existing reading or another perspective on things. But you can do what you want because there’s no right or wrong just don’t be a dickhead

The Major Arcana

The Fool: Yes

The Magician: Maybe

The high priestess: Maybe

The Empress: Yes

The Emperor: Yes

The Hierophant: Maybe

The Lovers: Yes

The Chariot: Yes

Strength: Yes

The Hermit: Maybe

The wheel of fortune: Yes

Justice: Yes

The hanged man: Maybe

Death: No

Temperance: Yes

The Devil: No

The Tower: No

The Star: Yes

The moon: Yes

The sun: Yes

Judgement: Yes

The world: Yes

The Suits

Swords: No

Cups: It’ll come naturally / Maybe / Ask for more clarity

Wands: Yes

Pentacles: Maybe

I am still open for requests on what guides I should make next! I’ll do basically anything apart from yucky Wicca shit

See ya my ghoulings - 📼

[unlearnyourcraft]

Do you think I could ask tarot cards or a pendulum or something specifically what someone’s thinking of me? Like “does this person still think about __ “ or something? Or is it only broad questions?

You can definitely do that!! If you’ve got access to it I’d also suggest Lenormand would be a great option as it provides very specific everyday style answers to things, but you can most definitely ask tarot etc about that! If you’d like I can even make a guide on yes/no/maybe stuff in tarot if you’re interested (о´∀`о) - 📼

[unlearnyourcraft]

Guys I yearn to explain something SEND ME ASKS PRETTY PLEASE I’m bored out of my mind - 📼

[unlearnyourcraft]

Guys do people want a paganism discord server giggles - 📼

[unlearnyourcraft]

Watch some edgelord get mad at me for saying you don’t have to offer your own blood or live sacrifices to the infernals. And honestly it’s kinda weird if you do that. If anyone wants the vague guide I wrote on how to worship the infernals generally lmk - 📼

[unlearnyourcraft]

If anyone tells you the way your praying is wrong fuck them, praying is literally just talking. You don’t need any fancy hymns or traditional prayers you can just speak. For example tonight i just gossiped about the world to Archangel Michael. It’s not that deep honestly. Any prayer is good prayer!! - 📼

[unlearnyourcraft]

I just saw someone say that Baphomet isn’t a god they’re a symbol and yeah sure. But people worship the moon don’t they? And that’s a floating rock in space so I’m going to keep worshipping my goat man - 📼

[unlearnyourcraft]

Maybe we shouldn't use the term "aspie"

Starseeds target high functioning low supports needs autistic people, and I’ve seen them use the term Aspie because they’re not “bad” enough to have big bad scary autism. It’s not a nice word, no, but how else would I refer to them. Also that’s the term for the idea of low supports needs autistic people being superior to higher support needs autistic people, no? - 📼