Secular Witchcraft & DIY Witchery

I’m Alex (they/them & she/her) agnostic secular witch, animist, 46 year old small business owner, vegan, punk, anarchist, feminist, zinester. https://linktr.ee/alexwrekk NO TERFs. No Nazis (I can't believe that's a thing that needs to be said)

[upthewitchypunx]

Greetings and Welcome to DIY Witchery!

I’m Alex  Wrekk (they/she) I am an agnostic secular witch and have built my personal witchcraft practice over 15+ years. I am the owner of Portland Button Works and the Spiral House Shop I am an organizer for CritWitchCon, librarian at the Archive of Witchcraft, Magic, and Occult Zines (AWMOZ), I’m 45 year old punk,vegan, anarchist, feminist, and zinester (itt means I make zines).  I identify as white, bisexual, and a relatively cis woman. I love DIY projects, building altars, making charms, collecting jars, filling my pockets with acorns, zines, travel, befriending crows with peanuts, my Jackie Cat, Ian B, my house and home and things I grow in my garden while living in my 120+ year old house in Portland, Oregon. 

I have built my own practice and I do not discuss particulars about it very often. I call it DIY Witchery because it is built on my personal DIY punk ethics and methodologies. It takes a hands on and trial and error approach to witchcraft. ie: fuck around and find out magic.

I don’t cast spells so much a build them and then release them.  From the outside it probably looks like cottage witchery set loose in a punk house of a philosophy student drop out. In reality, I probably draw a lot on folk magic, traditional witchcraft, and a twist of chaos magic for the fun of it.

I got tired of this being so long so I’m putting a “cut” here.

My witchcraft, as my politics, is intersectional and I work to decolonize my practice.

I do not give away spells or take spell requests, but I’m happy to help brainstorm ideas for spells.

Please note:

I am agnostic

I am a secular witch

I am a “soft” animist

I am not religious

I am not Wiccan

I am not pagan

I do not work with deities as deities but occasionally as archetypes

I do not work with spirits in a way that is relatable to others

I don’t work with auras or chakras

I do not work in the astral

I do not work with runes or ogham

What I post here: reblogs of things I think similarly minded witches might find useful but not necessarily things that are included in my practice, my answers to asks, witch humor, pictures of my garden, talk about the crows that I’m friends with by way of giving them peanuts and telling them secrets, and the occasional personal things or reblog-style correspondence with other tumblr witches.

To get an idea of the flavor of this blog check out these “greatest hits” posts.

New to witchcraft and might have some questions? Check out my “Witchling” tag for resources, tips, and book recommendations to get started. Check there before asking questions because it might have what you need. I get asked frequently about how to start practicing witchcraft and that is a good place to start. Here’s another post with tips about starting a witchcraft practice.

Please check out my DIY Witchery Resource page for more information.

Still got some questions? Ask them here!

When asking questions please keep in mind:

I do not give spells away but I will help you brainstorm ideas for spells.

I am assuming you are asking me for an answer that pertains to my style of agnostic secular witchcraft.

I will get to answering question when I find time to do so

Please do not send messages through the tumblr messaging system unless we have spoken before. Do not send me message for things that should be asks. I will not respond to them.

Other Stuff

My primary blog is @alexwrekk (I’m alexwrekk pretty much everywhere on the internet)

I have an upthewitchypunx instagram and twitter

Gemini/Cancer cusp, rising Sagittarius, Leo moon

linktree

My day job is making custom button at Portland Button Works and running the The Spiral House Shop. We have a thoughtfully curated catalog of things related to witchcraft and magic, lots of books, zines, tarot decks, pinback back buttons, and more. I also have an Etsy shop here.

I wrote two zines about my exploration of secular witchcraft, Brainscan #33 & #34. You can find them on my Etsy here and in the PBW Witch Shop here.

[upthewitchypunx]

custom pinback buttons, personalized 1 inch pins, bulk buttons Portland OR, 1.25 buttons, 2.25 pinback buttons, 3.5 inch pins, band buttons,

I think we finally have the custom button stuff sorted on the new site. Did you know you could order one single custom button for $5? Got that friend with a catch phrase that would be funny to put on a button? We can do that! Got a cute photo of your cat you would want on a magnet? We can do that!

[witchcitywasteland]

“there’s fucking crumbs in your bed!”

“it’s not crumbs it’s…”

“herbs! fucking witch bed!”

[crazycatsiren]

What to do with my growing collection of my feline kids' shed whiskers... 🤔

[upthewitchypunx]

I wove mine into a witch ladder to add the cats into the home protection.

[slewfootwitch]

Practicing folk magic means constantly thinking I've lost my scissors and shears, and constantly replacing them...only to find them all tucked under the bed, wedged behind the mirror, or hidden in the corner by the door.

[stagkingswife]

It’s amazing how much of folk magic can summed up with “take household item, put it in a weird place, profit.”

And the profit is real.

[upthewitchypunx]

My partner "Why is _____ here? Wait, nevermind."

[free-my-mindd]

[upthewitchypunx]

It's called a Saturn Return...

[scooter-witch]

And then, if you live long enough, there's a SECOND one. Because life isn't confusing enough.

[upthewitchypunx]

I will never forget to think about it when my second comes around after our Wizard Camp realization.

[windvexer]

Dear Friend, I am very glad to see you. I haven't been here for a long time, but I really wanted to know your opinion, if it's possible. From an energetic point of view, how dangerous is it to post personal photos on social media? I like one of my photos, I turned out just super in it, I posted it as my avatar, but a thought started to gnaw at me, like, won't my photo be used against me if someone is envious or decides to do something magical against me? I understand that I need to pay more attention to my own protection here. With gratitude to you!

I generally believe in the following:

It is not dangerous to post personal photos on social media, from an energetic point of view.

All persons, whether or not they are magical practitioners, benefit from a good baseline of spiritual protection (which can be derived through a wide variety of means).

A good baseline spiritual protection will aide in diverting intentional magical harm, but more importantly, the evil eye and various forms of unintentional harm.

If being affected by energetic harm is a concern for you, then 97 times out of 100 that harm will be diverted or mitigated by normal spiritual protections.

A photo of you is not the only online taglock people can use to target you. Your username or a URL will also suffice. So if the game is "don't let people target me," just not posting personal photos is insufficient. People's profile pics, even if they are of other people or objects (or whatever), also work as taglocks.

You can add sigils to photos through digital editing if you are particularly concerned with safety although this is unnecessary for basically everyone.

"Baseline spiritual protection" means things like being right with your ancestors, gods, or spirits, evoking protection via prayers, habitual energy work, and of course the wide variety of protections that can be accessed through Witchcraft.

In general, if you are secure in your spiritual protection, there is no need to take any special concern with social media photos.

If you are feeling insecure about your spiritual protection, focusing on the photos is an ineffective strategy. Working on things like personal protection amulets would be far more beneficial.

[wizard-council-bureaucrat]

Not everything is a curse, sometimes it’s just Tuesday

[upthewitchypunx]

I woke up to the same fucking annoying woodpecker who was screaming in the neighborhood yesterday. They always sound so confused and out of it.

[upthewitchypunx]

Revised Pentagon religious codes drop pagans and other minority faiths. Here's what to know

In a list released in May, the Trump administration dropped atheists, the Unitarian Universalist Church and other minority faiths who have t

Good to see this being reported on, especially by a pagan witch friend.

[wetheurban]

For the sake of your mental health, let people think what they want. Their fiction is not your truth.

[free-my-mindd]

[upthewitchypunx]

It's called a Saturn Return...

[upthewitchypunx]

On Sunday one of Ian B's bands played some kind of take back the flag event in Vancouver, Washington. It was near the farmers market so I walked around and looked at stuff. There were 3v different vendors selling plants and they had papyrus plants. i had never seen the sold like that before, is this a new things? I guess it could add it to my bog plant situation with the NW native pitcher plants. Papyrus is really pretty but I would be really tempted to harvest and make paper.

anyway, there was a flyover that was unannounced, annoying, and not part of the event. All I could think was that it was the sounds children heard before bombs drop on them.

Last night I went to a show of an old friend who dramatically picked me up and swung me around when he saw me, no one has done that to me in quite some time. The room was filled with people i hadn't really hung out with in 15+ years, not because there was any kind of beef, but sometimes paths diverge. It felt nice.

I've got to work on the new International Zine Month poster this week.

[chungledown-bimothy]

i genuinely don't think there's much, if anything, hotter than someone clearly having a blast doing something they're really good at. doesn't really matter what it is. the combo of competence and joy is absolutely lethal to me

[witchynyx]

Wheel of the Wyrd #2: WinSol (the Winter Solstice)

I just finished the Winter Solstice edition of my zine series about my personal, bioregional (south-west Aussie) wheel of the year 🥰

It's 5:30am, so typing more is outside my current capacity, but if anyone wants to know a lil more, you can check it out in my store!

(I've just printed off some copies, but I'll wait until I've slept to assemble them, and then I can grab a lil flip-through video)

[witchynyx]

All printed!

And I did a little flick-through, as well, but it seems the app won't let me upload a video 🙃

[nohoperadio]

Are you still bitter about it sometimes?

yes

no

Remaining time: 1 day 9 hours

[crazycatsiren]

Don't let the losers with no magic tell you what to do with yours.

Don't let the bastards grind you down.

Don't let the unhealed mess of others ruin your joy and peace.