HEATHENWITCH @velvetwitchcraft - Tumblr Blog

Witchcraft for when depression hits 🥀

Sometimes, we may think that our magick is invalid, or that our deities don’t want to work with us anymore when we have depression. Altars get dusty, the air gets stale, and maybe you have quit working with magick all together, but still identify as a practicing witch.

Depression is an illness. If a professional runner fractured a leg, how could they continue to run while going through recovery? Can a witch continue to do mental work if their mental health is suffering? Think about it: witches are constantly using their brain to get themselves in a highly spiritual and magickal state. You cannot expect yourself to want to work with magick if getting out of bed is difficult on its own.

Understand that your deities are forgiving and understanding beings. Your magick will not dwindle. In fact, when you are sick, your deities and spirit guides will protect you and make sure nothing bad happens to you while you are sick. Don’t feel guilty for your depression. Depression is an illness, not a lack of dedication or general carelessness. I am going to give you advice on what kinds of spiritual work you can do while in a depressive episode.

Candle magick 🕯

🔮 Light a candle of your choice that symbolizes whatever you want to manifest (i.e yellow = confidence)

Aromatherapy 🧼

🔮 Different essential oils promote all different kinds of things. Lemon is uplifting and happy, while lavender is calming and promotes sleep.

Healing crystals 💎

🔮 All you need to do is set the intention. You can keep crystals by your bed, or you can set them up in a specific way for a spell or intention.

Chanting 🗣

🔮 You don’t need to get up for this one! You can even chant in your head.

Sleep meditation 💤

🔮 Sleep meditations are wonderful because of all of the insight you can get from intense dreaming. YouTube has great sleep meditation music.

Guided meditation 🧘🏻‍♂️ 🌀 🧘🏼‍♀️

🔮 This can be done in the bed as well. There are meditations on akashic records, spirit guides, past lives, you name it.

Be safe and know that it is okay to feel depressed sometimes. Make sure to get professional help if possible to help if these depressive episodes are chronic or prolonged. Know that the world loves you. Your deities love you. I love you. We love you.

sorekbekarmi-deactivated2022051

Trigger warning for Nazis and antisemitism.

I came across the above image being shared by a friend, and I would like to point out some problems with this simplistic approach.

For context, I am a Jewish man, I read and write elder Futhark fluently, I am familiar with runic divination, and I have MANY close Norse neopagan friends: even my sister is a Norse pagan. This post is not an attack on the pagan community. It is a reminder that we MUST address reality, not fantasy.

I understand the sentiment this image is trying to convey, and if you are a Norse pagan, you should resent and defy Nazis for abusing something that is important to you.

However, the reality is that symbols carry meanings given to them by humans, and Nazis have given hateful meanings to Germanic symbols, beginning under the third Reich and continuing to this day. Those symbols include the Futhark runic alphabets, specifically odal and sowilo, as well as symbols like the equal armed cross, the valknut, vegvisir, and mjolnir. These symbols have carried deeply hateful antisemitic meanings since before you, and most of your parents, were born. You CANNOT ignore that, or make it go away.

It would be blind to assert that the swastika does not belong to Nazis, has no antisemitic and evil meaning, and is not tainted by their use of it. Indigenous people groups who value that symbol in their own cultures have reacted differently. For example, some Desi cultures still use it, but the Navajo people do not, because of the Nazi implications it now irrevocably carries. If you are white, you DO NOT get to "reclaim" the swastika, no matter how much you love other cultures.

While I understand that these symbols and others are important to my pagan and wiccan friends, you can't deny the darker meanings that they carry. If you are going to be using them, you are accepting upon yourself an obligation to educate people about their meanings - ALL their meanings - and to make it abundantly clear that you are an ally of the Jewish people.

Unfortunately, when I see people wearing or using Germanic symbols, I WILL think "I wonder if they're a Nazi" every single time. Every time. It is an inescapable reality that these symbols are being used as silent dog whistles for hatred of Jewish people and other "non-whites."

If you don't want people to suspect you of being a Nazi, you have ONLY two options.

1: Don't use Germanic symbols

2: Make it FIERCELY evident that you are an ally to Jews, POC, and queer people

Gentiles, you are invited to reblog this post.

Antisemitism will not be tolerated on this post: specifically, do not speak over Jewish voices on the issue of antisemitism, and do not assert that the claims in this post are false.

juniperandfog

Daily Rune Castings

Traditionally, the role of the völva was to provide her community with insight, answers, and guidance from the gods and wights through her seiðr, spá and galdr work. In that spirit, I will be serving my community by offering three slots per day for free rune casting. Odin’s Eye || I will pull one rune. This is best for simple questions or general insights. Nornir || I will pull three runes. The first represents Urðr, that which was. The second represents Verðandi, that which is. The third is for Skuld, that which needs to be. This spread is best for gaining insight into conflicts and guidance on the path forward. Yggdrasil || I will pull nine runes, in three groups of three; the upper worlds, the middle worlds, and the lower worlds. This is the most in-depth and I will only do one of these per week, due to the energy it requires of me. This spread pulls one rune for each of the nine realms, each representing an aspect contained within you. This is best for insights into yourself, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I can only offer one of these per week, due to the energy and time the require. If you would like to request a slot, please send me an ask (it may be anonymous) including your desired spread and either a particular question you may wish me to present to the runes or a general reading request. Should I receive more requests than there are slots for the day, you will be queued for the following day’s list. Skål!

viking-illustrator

JERA

The Norse rune for the letter “J”, the name “Jera” translates as “year”, and the rune conveys meanings of harvest and reward.

It’s a very goal-oriented, yet patient and balanced rune. And it’s totally an “autumn rune”.

witchyautumns

🍂🔮🍁 tathariel 🍂🔮🍁

ihavegotnotimeforfeelingsorry

Heilung - Interview at Wacken Winter Nights 2019

arcusxx

kassarie-art

Really quick Freya doodle before I go to bed. Had to get it out of my system. :3

pagan-pride

Hedeby II

husfreyja-elin

Details ✨

armthearmour

A stunning Viking era sword hilt of bronze inlaid with silver, Eigg, Scotland, ca. 9th century, housed at the National Museum of Scotland.

quarkmaster

Valkyrie

Personal work for study and fun!

Giulia Costanzo

barbucomedie

Skuldelev 1 from Sognefjord, Norway dated to the 11th Century on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde

Skuldelev 1 is a Knarr type and sturdier than most Viking ships as it was designed to sail in the ocean. The ship was built of stout pine planks at Sognefjord in Western Norway and repaired many times with oak from the Oslo fjord region and Eastern Denmark. There were decks fore and aft as well as an open hold amidships.

The ship and its cargo may have been owned by a magnate, who used it to sail on trading expeditions with his retinue, or cooperatively with a other magnates and merchants. The crew would have consisted of 6-8 sailors who would have sailed it over the North and Baltic seas as well as the North Atlantic.

Photographs taken by myself 2018