🪴

probably high somewhere 🍃// 11/26/17 🤍// 22 // blessed be 🌙

[heatherwitch]

Weather spells resource list

To bring…..

Sun:

Sun invitation (in winter)

A spell for sunshine

Chants to bring the sun

Sunny day charm

Quick sun spell

Warmth:

Warm weather chant

Sun spell to bring warmer weather

Good weather spell

Rain:

Rain summoning spell

Rain summoning spell jar

Rain calling chant

Rain-bringing chant

To bring rain to a region

Heavy rain spell

Quick and easy rain spell

A summers rain

Cold:

Chant to bring cold weather

Cold weather spell

Snow:

A spell for snow

Chant to draw snow to you

Holiday ornament snow spell

A snow day incantation

Spell to keep the snow coming

Make it snow spell

Snow spell

Clouds and Fog:

Chants to bring fog + mist

Chant to bring clouds

Fog calling spell

Wind:

Wind charm

Chant to make it windy

Calling a strong wind

Whistling up a wind

A storm:

Thunderstorm spell

Long distance storm calling

“Song of storms” enchantment

Spell to bring up a storm

Storm calling incantation

Summon a storm spell

To raise a storm

To Banish:

Spell to weaken a hurricane

Anti-hurricane spell

Charm to seal up a storm

To lessen a storm

Spells to end a storm

Protective storm ward

Spell to ward off rain

Stop the rain incantation

Dissolving clouds

Untie the wind

“I’m tired of this heat” spell

Other:

A collection of spells + sigils

This post with even more spell links and resources for beginning weather magic

Some tips + Part two

Bedridden witch: Weather edition

Helpful blogs:

@rainy-day-witchcraft

@stormwaterwitch

@stormbornwitch

Links updated June of 2024, please inform me of broken links via askbox!

[xruyamae]

These are not mine, nor am I claiming them to be. The information here is good & I needed a place to save it for when I can incorporate it into my home.

[rosemary-snorter]

WITCH'S 2023 CALENDAR

if i miss anything or get anything wrong, don't be afraid to correct me!

i live in the Northern Hemisphere, so some of these dates are based on that

sorry for the long post!!!

RETROGRADES OF 2023:

MERCURY RETROGRADE:

December 29, 2022 - January 18, 2023

April 21, 2023 - May 14, 2023

August 23, 2023 - September 15, 2023

December 13, 2023 - January 1, 2024

VENUS RETROGRADE:

July 22, 2023 - September 3, 2023

MARS RETROGRADE:

October 30, 2022 - January 12, 2023

JUPITER RETROGRADE:

September 4, 2023 - December 30, 2023

SATURN RETROGRADE:

June 17, 2023 - November 4, 2023

URANUS RETROGRADE:

August 24, 2022 - January 22, 2023

August 28, 2023 - January 27, 2024

NEPTUNE RETROGRADE:

June 30, 2023 - December 6, 2023

PLUTO RETROGRADE:

May 1, 2023 - October 10, 2023

FULL MOONS OF 2023:

WOLF MOON:

Friday, Jan 6

SNOW MOON:

Sunday, Feb 5

WORM MOON:

Tuesday, Mar 7

PINK MOON:

Thursday, April 6

FLOWER MOON:

Friday, May 5

STRAWBERRY MOON:

Sunday, Jun 4

BUCK MOON:

Monday, Jul 3

STURGEON MOON:

Tuesday, Aug 1

BLUE MOON:

Thursday, Aug 31

HARVEST MOON:

Friday, Sept 29

HUNTER'S MOON:

Saturday, Oct 28

BEAVER MOON:

Monday, Nov 27

COLD MOON:

Wednesday, Dec 27

NEW MOONS OF 2023:

Saturday, Jan 21

Monday, Feb 20

Tuesday, Mar 21

Thursday, Apr 20

Friday, May 19

Sunday, Jun 18

Monday, Jul 17

Wednesday, Aug 16

Friday, Sept 15

Saturday, Oct 14

Monday, Nov 13

Tuesday, December 12

FIRST QUARTER MOONS OF 2023:

Saturday, Jan 28

Monday, Feb 27

Wednesday, Mar 29

Thursday, Apr 27

Saturday, May 27

Monday, Jun 26

Tuesday, Jul 25

Thursday, Aug 24

Friday, Sep 22

Sunday, Oct 22

Monday, Nov 22

Tuesday, Dec 19

LAST QUARTER MOONS OF 2023:

Sunday, Jan 15

Monday, Feb 13

Wednesday, Mar 15

Thursday, Apr 13

Friday, May 12

Saturday, Jun 10

Monday, Jul 10

Tuesday, Aug 8

Wednesday, Sep 6

Friday, Oct 8

Sunday, Nov 5

Tuesday, December 5

HOLIDAYS OF 2023:

Samhain (All Hallow's Eve, Autumn-Winter Cross Quarter Days): Oct 31 - Nov 1

Yule (Winter Solstice): Dec 21 2023 - Jan 1 2024

Imbolc (Ground Hog's Day): Feb 1 - 2

Ostara (Spring Equinox): Mar 20

Beltane (Mayday): May 1

Litha (Summer Solstice): Jun 20

Lammas and Lughnasadh: Aug 1

Mabon (Autumnal Equinox): Sep 21 - Sep 29

*stupid little footnotes: i'm trying out some colors. idk. i think it's cool. more organized. lmk if you guys like or dislike it

[witchybitchy1211]

i wanna brag on myself a bit. lately i’ve been digging a lot more into really learning and understanding each tarot card’s meaning. while for years i’ve been actively practicing and doing readings for close friends/family, i still felt like i was struggling to understand certain cards when they came up in spreads, and that would make interpreting the message a lot harder to do. however, lately i’ve noticed it’s become a lot easier to interpret them, and i’ve even had a few people ask ME advice about their own spreads they were trying to interpret!

nothing super major for most, but i’m honestly just so proud of myself! it’s so nice to finally see progress, and know that my hard work has been paying off. it makes my lil heart so happy ☺️🤍!

[fiddlysticks-deactivated2024070]

theory aside I believe it is important that your witchcraft be, first and foremost, Cool As Fuck. it needs to slap. if you don't have something that you're like "yeah this is just plain awesome" what are you doing. live a little

[nikswonderland]

fantasia (1940)

[radiqueer]

one fairly common experience of gifted children is wishing for pain. wishing you had some great big horrible thing in your past so that you can justify the pain you’re in, and so that you’ll deserve help. it’s exhausting and it fucks you up and to anyone out there who feels like they haven’t suffered enough to get help: you’re allowed to want help. you’re in enough pain. you deserve to feel better

[lilliluminous]

[sunnyfuneral]

Gifted kids be like let me describe something it’s very common with anyone with mental illness but I’m going to connect it to me being very smart when I was six years old haha it’s sad that I’m not constantly validated in the way I was when I was in elementary school . there’s no reason you couldn’t have just said person with a mental illness but you said gifted kids cuz you don’t feel special anymore

[star-anise]

Uh… no.

Your argument doesn’t even hold up. You think this is about former Gifted kids being sad now because they’re not being treated like they were in elementary school, which was presumably better.

But the post was, “It’s common for Gifted children to experience deep psychological pain in elementary school.” As in, a lot of Gifted kids didn’t experience being held up as an example and praised a bunch as actually, you know… positive.

It’s not like you do anything to earn having a high IQ, any more than you earn being tall or having good eyesight. It’s just something that happens to you as you grow up. Sure, you might be able to reach things on high shelves, but you also smack your head into doorways. And from personal experience? When a teacher points you out as the only person in your grade 2 class to score perfectly on a test, fucking nobody wants to play with you at recess after.

Often growing up Gifted is just like childhood with any other neurodivergence—having social and emotional issues the people around you need to be experts to even realize you’re having trouble, much less know how to help you. A four-year-old’s parents don’t usually have to watch for “I just realized that everyone I love will inevitably die and I can’t reliably self-soothe myself when we drive away from Grandma’s, so I have NO emotional coping tools for this” meltdowns.

Oh, except there’s one difference: A lot of adults think that being intellectually smart means you will never have social problems, emotional problems, learning disabilities, or mental illnesses. So adults will literally actually say, “They’re a smart kid, they’ll figure it out” when the problem is… every other six-year-old hating you and you don’t know what you did.

Hence… the really common experience of wishing for some “real” cause of pain, because finally people would recognize that you may he a seven year old that all the grownups think is just great, but you still have really big problems you don’t know how to deal with and you really need some fucking help.

[sunnyfuneral]

Lol. I have ADHD and i felt all that in elementary. Wow its almost like the school system is trash to everyone and you being gifted does not make you suffer anymore than anyone else.

[star-anise]

You… you do realize that the vast majority of children are neurotypical and mentally healthy, right? Like, neurodivergents of any sort are the minority of the population. Having ADHD, Giftedness, or any other brain weirdness is pretty unusual and most children go through their entire childhoods without ever once yearning for death.

Like Gifted kids do not seem to suffer more than kids with ADHD, Autism, depression, trauma, or whatever else. But all of those groups together definitely do suffer more than the majority of their peers.

[death-burst]

I feel like you’re not addressing the real issue here @star-anise. When I read this discussion, what I get is that @sunnyfuneral considers the “gifted” label as simply arrogance and not-a-real-thing, as if “gifted children” are just a bunch of pretentious people who don’t want to admit they “just” have another form of mental illness. I may be extrapolating too much, but I think what they want is solidarity from the Gifted (as a label with a superficially positive perception) with the other “mentally ill” people (a much more stigmatized group). Which, having read the rest of your blog, I’m convinced you’re ready to offer, and this all sounds like a big misunderstanding from where I stand.

I don’t know, I don’t want to talk over other people, I just hope this will help defuse the conflict…

[sunnyfuneral]

Thank you! There is overlap in mentally ill kids and gifted kids but not because giftness is a burdern but because mental illness is way more common in kids than people think. have solidarity with the rest us (including the Us who always got bad grades and never had a fall but instead a never ending cycle of failure.) You come off as a dick who wants sympathy for being smart.

[jmtorres]

“gifted” is the label schools put on kids, not an Arrogant Declaration by the people who were externally labeled “gifted”, at least in this thread.

I feel like the original point was that kids who were externally labelled “gifted” experienced trauma/anxiety/depression/mental illness BECAUSE of being externally labelled “gifted,” treated differently from and by their peer group

I feel like you’re conflating why schools identify kids as “gifted” (they’re smart in traditionally recognized ways) with the experience kids who were subjected to that label had. Nobody’s saying “I want sympathy for being smart,” if they’re asking for sympathy, it’s for the shitty experience they had because they were labelled and excluded and prevented from getting help with problems because you can’t have problems if you’re smart!

i was in a gifted program as a kid and it’s STILL screwing up my access to mental healthcare. The psychiatrist I saw as an adult withheld the diagnosis of ADHD because the fact that I was in a “gifted and talented” program in elementary school meant to him that I was not enough of a problem child to have had ADHD, despite me having several clear markers AND experiencing improved focus on adderall. (god, at least they’ll give me the treatment, even if they won’t admit the problem?) I have a friend who has dyscalculia, she triple checks her arithmetic because she can’t trust her brain to see the numbers right, she tried to get assessed so she could get accommodations in test-taking, but she was denied an official diagnosis because she’s “too good at math.”

I get that all kids with mental illnesses, especially unacknowledged ones, can have shitty experiences in school. But I feel like you came into a discussion where a specific group was talking about their specific experiences and started playing oppression olympics and saying people in this specific group didn’t REALLY suffer, not as much as you! You ask for solidarity but you started off by dismissing us entirely as saying “gifted kids cuz you don’t feel special anymore” and even when you attempted a reconcialiatory reply you finished with “you come off as a dick who wants sympathy for being smart.”

You come off as one of those kids who treated me differently and excluded me because teachers put a label on me. I would like to ask you to step back, examine why, if your argument is that gifted kids are just like any other kids with mental illness, you feel the need to tell us off and alienate us for talking about our experiences, and also consider that the experience of being labelled “gifted” actually had consequences that if you didn’t have that experience, you might not know about! And that you could let people talk about their experiences without telling them that they’re wrong about their own experiences.

[lierdumoa]

@sunnyfuneral I have ADHD and I assure you “giftedness” IS a HUGE burden. The reason I was never diagnosed or treated for my mental illness was *because* I was given the gifted label.

“You’re gifted, so if you’re not focusing, it must be because you’re choosing not to focus.”

All of my very real mental illness symptoms were interpreted by the adults in my life as moral failings — laziness or selfishness. And I believed them. I believed that if I underperformed, it was because I was a bad person.

I never got help because no one thought I ever needed it. My struggles were not viewed as struggles — they were viewed as me being spoiled or having an attitude problem.

Being burdened with the gifted label made my struggle with my mental disability EXPONENTIALLY HARDER, because instead of getting help when I needed it, I was told to stop goofing off.

Which is to say, fuck you very much.

[cwicseolfor]

OH GODS THIS, and it doesn’t even go away when you grow up - anyone who knew you as such a brilliant, remarkable, promising young child will judge any failure through the rest of your life as evidence of moral turpitude. Have a sleep disorder in grade school because resting well is impossible at home? You’re just disobedient and don’t care about your classes. Struggle with balancing a heavy college-level classload and parentification re: your addicted parent in high school? You’re a snobby ungrateful teen and you think you’re “above” your family. Can’t easily get a job in a massive recession? You’re just lazy and need to be scared straight. Can’t shoulder the workload of three “normal” employees? You must not want it enough.

“Gifted” isn’t something you are so much as something they do to you, how they tell people to treat you. In a system that turns people into things, being a thing of perceived high quality does not make you less of a thing. The education system, struggling for funding in a society that sees everything as a transaction, needs to classify and rank its things to prove the results they’re getting and secure its own future. Even great teachers have to play this game to stay employed. So you aren’t a person, you’re test results, shuffled between classes or programs like poker chips to be wagered and spent, go to these prestigious schools, take out those loans, of course you’ll be able to pay it – wait, what do you mean you’ve been unemployed and underemployed for years? But - you were so promising! It sounds like you’ve really let yourself go - the young person I remember would pull themselves up by their bootstraps!! We’ll touch base in a decade or two in case you want to make donations when you’ve straightened yourself out.

If you’re mad at the people who got the “good” scores and not the adult people who decided that only kids with “good” scores got pizza coupons in first grade, you have missed the point.

(I got out in the end but it took until my third decade to find my feet. Every bright young thing I ever have contact with will be warned that the same traits that authorities like in them are the ones that the authorities would most like to use them for, and to go with their own best interests in mind, because they can’t trust others will.)

[sadlyglyphtaken]

I really appreciate your contribution, @cwicseolfor​. I always found the original post a little unsatisfying. Because, the fundamental drive of the whole “I wish terrible things would happen to me/had happened to me” mindset is wanting an explanation for the way you are, and the original post, helpful as it is to point this phenomenon out, doesn’t explain shit.

I have major childhood trauma symptoms, like not being able to remember most of my childhood, and a host of mental illnesses and maladaptive behaviors. My friends with similar issues got sexually abused as kids, while I’m just sitting here with… nothing? When I was a kid, I considered joining the army, so that I could become traumatized properly (what???), but I ended up taking the path of least resistance when the time came.

So any discussion into the mechanism of how I could have ended up this way is welcome. I hope I get to the bottom of it someday, because “people expected too much of you when you were a kid” seems like kind of an incomplete explanation for why my second or third earliest memory is of thinking about killing myself while walking down my elementary school’s hallway in 4th freaking grade.

[jottingprosaist]

@mszegedy​: I’m a teacher and (I guess) a former gifted kid, so while I’m far from a specialist on giftedness/exceptional learners, I have some professional training and an explanation.

In short: That “people expected too much of you when you were a kid” is genuinely traumatic. Or, the ways that adults treat children when they expect too much of them are traumatic.

This is evident in just the stories on this single thread. When adults see that a child is gifted (e.g. exceptionally good at certain valued skills, such as literacy, numeracy, music) they assume that the child needs less support. They blame the child for struggling or failure. They single out the child for praise, which is isolating and contributes to social ostracism (when positive social interaction is so fucking important for children’s development!!). They neglect to teach the child certain skills that other kids that age get taught. They ignore the child that needs help, because surely this smart child can handle it alone! They accidentally or deliberately teach the child that their worth is derived from their ability to perform. All of this is hard even for adults to endure, but profoundly bad for a developing brain and personality.

(For the record: It’s bad when adults do all these things to children with ADHD and mental illness and all kinds of exceptionalities. I’m saying that the differences of a gifted brain and personality are one reason why adults Do It Wrong. Giftedness can cause adults to Do It Wrong in the absence of other exceptionalities, which is why the original post was… only about giftedness.)

Basically, when adults see that a child is exceptionally competent at some things, they tend to assume that the child is also broadly competent at all the other things that most* adults would be. But a child is not. A child doesn’t have the life experience of an adult. Depending on their actual age and brain development, a child may lack the basic ability to regulate their own emotions. The skills to cope with setbacks and mistakes. The ability to have abstract thoughts like “we’re all gonna die” and handle it.

(*For a given assumption that the adult and the child are Standard Able Neurotypicals, of course. At this point it’s not surprising that all these assumptions are wrong.)

Feeling really bad about experiencing all of this ^^^ is understandable. But on top of that, children’s reactions to their experiences aren’t always calibrated to the same level of “reasonable” that most adults’ reactions are. “What is an appropriate reaction to this and how do I cope with it” is a thing people have to learn as they grow. So it isn’t surprising that when gifted children experience emotional suffering, they often react with “I wish I were dead” or “I wish I were traumatized properly.”

You were traumatized. But that trauma isn’t recognized or validated– not by our teachers, our parents, or most of the world. Sometimes not by us. Definitely not by us as children. People around us said, “But you’re so smart, but you’re so talented, but you’re so lucky,” and we believed them.

But we still felt the pain. For “no reason.”

And the only thing our little brains could come up with was, “I wish there was a reason. I wish it was physical pain, or death. Then they would see that my pain is Real. And then it would be okay for me to feel this way.”

(And for @sunnyfuneral​: Your belief that giftedness is “being smart” and that “there is overlap in mentally ill kids and gifted kids but not because giftness is a burdern” is fundamentally wrong. I sincerely hope you listen to all the people trying to explain why.)

[witchybitchy1211]

supermoon info for y’all :)

[trippistitch-deactivated2025102]

Incense Meanings

Acacia: Burned with sandalwood to stimulate the psychic powers.

African Violet: Protection and to promote spirituality within the home.

Allspice: Attract both good luck and money.

Aloes: Attract good fortune, love, spiritual vibrations, and strength.

Althea: Protection and to stimulate the psychic powers.

Amber: Love, comfort, happiness and healing

Ambergris: Burn for dreams and aphrodisiac

Angelica: Protection, harmony, integration, insight and understanding, stability and meditation

Anise seeds: Meditation and emotional balance incense.

Basil: exorcise and protect against evil entities such as demons and unfriendly ghosts, and to attract fidelity, love, good luck, sympathy, and wealth. This is also an excellent incense to use when performing love divinations.  Also burn for concentration, assertiveness, decisiveness, trust, integrity, enthusiasm, mental clarity, cheerfulness, confidence and courage

Bay: Facilitate the psychic powers, and to induce prophetic dream-visions.

Bayberry: Attract money and also burned for protection, happiness and control

Benzoin: Purification, astral projection, clears negative energy, emotional balance, eases sadness, depression, weariness, grief, anger, anxiety and to attract prosperity

Bergamot: Money, prosperity, uplifting of spirits, joy, protection, concentration, alertness, confidence, balance, strength, courage, motivation and assertiveness

Bistort: Burned often with frankincense as a powerful incense to aid divination.

Bracken: Burned in outdoor fires to magickally produce rain.

Cardamom: Mental clarity, concentration, confidence, courage, enthusiasm and motivation

Carnation: protection, strength, healing, love and lust

Cedar: Purification, to stimulate or strengthen the psychic powers, attract love, prevent nightmares, and heal various ailments, including head colds.

Cedarwood: Healing, purification, protection, money, balance, grounding, clarity, insight and wisdom

Chamomile: Harmony, peace, calm, spiritual and inner peace

Cinnamon: Protection and to attract money, wealth, prosperity, business success, stimulate or strengthen the psychic powers, and aid in healing.  Also burned for stimulation, strength and lust

Citron: Burned in rituals to aid healing and also to strengthen the psychic powers.

Citronella: Cleansing, warding off, healing and exorcism

Clove: Dispel negativity, purify sacred and magickal spaces, attract money, and stop or prevent the spread of gossip. Also burn for pain relief, intellectual stimulation, business success, wealth, prosperity, divination, exorcism, protection, eases fears, improves memory and focus

Coconut: Protection

Copal: Purification, uplifting spirits, protection, exorcism, spirituality and to attract love.

Cypress: Strength, comfort, healing, eases anxiety, stress, self-assurance, confidence, physical vitality, willpower and concentration

Damiana: Facilitate psychic visions.

Dittany of Crete: Conjure spirits and to aid in divination, astral projection, especially when mixed with equal parts of benzoin, sandalwood, and vanilla.

Dragon's Blood: Dispel negativity, exorcise evil supernatural entities, courage, purification, attract love, and restore male potency. Many Witches also burn dragon's blood for protection when spell casting and invoking. When added to other incenses, dragon's blood makes their magickal powers all the stronger.

Elecampane: Strengthen the clairvoyant powers and scrying abilities-divination by gazing.

Eucalyptus: Healing, purification and protection

Fern: Burned in outdoor fires to magickally produce rain. Also used to exorcise evil supernatural entities.

Frankincense: Dispel negativity, spirituality, purify magickal spaces, consecration, protect against evil, exorcism, aid meditation, astral strength, induce psychic visions, courage, protection, attract good luck, and honor Pagan deities.

Fumitory: Exorcise demons, poltergeists, and evil supernatural entities.

Galangal: Break the curses cast by sorcerers.

Gardenia: Peace, love and healing

Ginger: Wealth, lust, love and magical power

Ginseng root: keep wicked spirits at bay, and for protection against all forms of evil.

Gotu Kola: Burned to aid meditation.

Heather: Conjure beneficial spirits, and to magickally produce rain.

Hibiscus Flowers: Attract love, lust and also for divination.

Honey Suckle: Attract money, happiness, friendship and healing

Horehound: Burned as an offertory incense to the ancient Egyptian god Horus.

Hyacinth: Happiness and protection

Jasmine: Attract love and money, and also to induce dreams of a prophectic nature, purification, wisdom and astral projection

Juniper: stimulate or increase the psychic powers, and also to break curses, exorcism and hexes cast by evil sorcerers. It is also burned for calming, protection and healing.

Lavender: Induce rest and sleep, and to attract love-especially of a man. Also burned for cleansing, healing, happiness and relaxation

Lemon: Healing, love and purification

Lemongrass: Mental clarity

Lilac: Stimulate or increase the psychic powers, and to attract harmony into ones life.

Lotus: Elevate mood, protection, spirituality, healing and meditation

Mace: Stimulate or increase the psychic powers.

Mastic: Conjure beneficial spirits, stimulate or increase the psychic powers, and intensify sexual desires. The magickal powers of other incenses are greatly increased when a bit of mastic is added.

Mesquite: Magickal powers of all healing incenses are greatly increased when mesquite is added

Mint: Increase sexual desire, exorcise evil supernatural entities, conjure beneficial spirits, and attract money. Mint incense also possesses strong healing vibrations and protective powers.

Musk: Aphrodisiac, prosperity, courage

Myrrh: Burned (often with frankincense) for purification, consecration, healing, exorcism, and banishing evil. Myrrh is also aids meditation rituals, and was commonly burned on alters in ancient Egypt as an offering to deities Isis and Ra.

Nutmeg: Aid meditation, stimulate or increase the psychic powers, and to attract prosperity.

Oakmoss: Money and attraction

Orange: Divination, love, luck and money

Patchouli: Attract money, love, growth, mastery, sensuality and also to promote fertility.

Peppermint: Energy, mental stimulant, exorcism and healing

Pine: Purification, and to banish negative energies, exorcise evil supernatural entities, and attract money, as well as to break hexes and return them to their senders. Also burned for grounding, strength, cleansing and healing

Poppy seeds: Promote female fertility, and to attract love, good luck, and money.

Rose: Increase courage, induce prophetic dreams, house blessing, fertility, healing and attract love. Rose incense is used in all forms of love enchantment and possesses the strongest love vibration of any magickal incense.

Rose Geranium: Courage and protection

Rosemary: Purify, aid in healing, prevent nightmares, preserve youthfulness, dispel depression, attract fairy folk, and promote restful sleep and pleasant dreams.

Rue: Help restore health.

Sage: Protection against all forms of evil. It is also burned to purify sacred spaces and ritual tools. Plus it is great for promoting wisdom, clarity, attract money, and aid in the healing the body, mind, and soul.

Sage Brush: Aid healing, and to banish negative energies and evil supernatural entities.

Sandalwood: Exorcise demons and evil ghosts, conjure beneficial spirits, and promote spiritual awareness. Sandalwood incense is also used by many Witches for protection, astral projection, healing rituals and in wish-magick.

Solomon's Seal: Mainly as an offertory incense to ancient Pagan deities

Star Anise Seeds: Stimulate or increase the psychic powers

Strawberry: Attract love and for luck.

Sweetgrass: Conjure beneficial spirits prior to spell casting.

Sweet pea: Friendship, love and courage

Thyme: Purification of magickal spaces prior to rituals, to aid in healing, and to attract good health.

Vanilla: Attract love, increase sexual desire, and improve the powers of the mind.

Vervain: Exorcise evil supernatural entities.

Vetivert: Break curses, exorcism, for protection against black magick and thieves, money, peace and love.

Violet: Break curses, exorcism, for protection against black magick and thieves, money, peace and love.

Willow: Avert evil, attract love, and promote healing. It is also used by many Witches as an offertory incense for Pagan lunar deities.

Wisteria: Protection against all forms of evil.

Wormwood: Protection against all forms of evil.

Yarrow: Courage, exorcism

Ylang Ylang: Love, harmony and euphoria

[thevirginwitch]

vintage headers, dividers, and other images for your digital grimoire/book of shadows

i've compiled several images i've been using for my digital book of shadows, and thought i'd share some of my favorites!

[sosuperawesome]

Art Prints

Wallflower Ghost on Etsy

[inkindofmagic]

How to charge Crystals

source mindbodygreen.com

🔮 Why you need to charge them

Crystals tend to hold on to the energy they're exposed to—which isn't always a good thing. If you're using a crystal for protection energy, for example, that stone is absorbing the energy it's protecting you from.

That's why it's important to get rid of any negative energy your crystal has accumulated as needed. It needs to be refueled, just like our energy needs to be refueled by sleeping every night.

Part of charging your crystal is clearing its energetic slate—hence why some people refer to charging crystals as "clearing" them. From there, it's about filling your crystal back up, often with grounding energy that comes from places in nature: the moon, the soil, water, etc.

🔮 How to pick the best method

Building an intuitive relationship is really important because there's an intimacy with your crystals.

No charging method is better than another. Just be mindful of your specific crystal and whether it does OK in water or salt, as some will not take well to those. (More on that later.)

SOME METHODS

🌝 1. The full moon

The full moon is a powerful point in the lunar cycle, and it works wonders for clearing and charging your favorite crystals, too.

All you have to do is place the crystal outside on the ground, overnight on the night of the full moon, to charge it with lunar energy. Even a windowsill inside that gets moonlight will do!

Works with all types of crystals. (Most popular)

🌙 2. Moon water

For another moon-related crystal charging option, you can make your own moon water. You can place your crystals in this lunar-powered water for around an hour, or pour the moon water over your crystal.

Check if the crystal tolerates getting wet.

🌱 3. The ground

Dig a small hole where you would like to bury your stone, placing the soil you have removed into an earthenware pot or jar, bury the crystal in the soil within the pot or jar. Then, lower the pot into the hole and cover it with the remaining soil. Mark your crystal with a flag or some other marker, and leave the stone buried for at least one week. This will help charge your stone with the powerful properties of the ground it came from.

🎶 4. Sound

Sound can be a powerful tool when it comes to shifting frequencies. Place them in a singing bowl and ring it.

💨 5. Burn incense or herbs

To cleanse your stones by burning sacred herbs, pass your stones through the smoke (such as sage, sweetgrass, Palo Santo, or cedar) or incense (such as sandalwood, lavender, or jasmine) for approximately two to three minutes.

🧂 6. Salt

You can also use salt (preferably sea salt) for charging your crystals. Simply place your stone in salt and let it sit overnight.

Check the hardness of the Crystal. Softer stones like turquoise, opal, and calcite can scratch easily.

🌬️ 7. Your own breath

Your breath can also be used for clearing crystals. To clear a stone using your breath, you must first clear your mind of any outside thoughts, then, hold the crystal in one hand and breathe out forcefully while quickly waving your other hand over the crystal.

🎋 8. Your spirit guide

If you work with any spiritual guides or deities, you can connect your crystals with them. Whether through prayer or meditation, you can take a moment to ask your guides to connect to your crystals and your intention for them.

👁️ 9. Cleansing visualization

And lastly, using a visualization technique to charge your stone: Picture universal, healing light filling your crystal up until all the old energy has been dissolved.

See the light expand until it surrounds the stone and fills your hands. Intend that all negativity be removed from the stone and dissolved, when you intuitively feel that the stone has been cleared, you may stop the visualization.

🔮 Tips

Charging crystals doesn't have to be a complicated business, but if you're just getting started, here are some tips to keep in mind:

Know whether your crystals can tolerate salt or water. A few common crystals that are fine with water are varieties of quartz, amethyst, agate, moonstone, and citrine. When in doubt, opt for a different clearing technique.

Know which element the crystal is associated with. Look up the properties of each crystal and see what they are rooted in. For example, malachite is associated with Earth, so charging it in the ground by burying it makes sense.

Because crystals can pass through many hands before they wind up in yours, it's always a good idea to clear them as soon as you get them home from the shop. You never know what kind of energy they may be holding!

Via @inkindofmagic

[blindwyrm]

Basics of Energy Work - Part One

Expanding Awareness Energy work is a subtle art, a foundational building block to successful magic. Almost all magical practices involve some form of energy work - and there are countless forms - but how it will function from individual to individual will differ greatly. To put it simply, energy work is the practice of manipulating unseen energies. Everything - people, places, animals, inanimate objects, even our thoughts - vibrates at a specific energetic frequency and emits energy. By learning how to identify and tune into these energies, we can use them to direct our magic and spell work. Chances are, you have worked your own personal energy before. More often than not, your own energy will be the easiest for you to tap into. To do this, we need to learn how to expand our awareness. Meditation Meditation is a good practice to have when pursuing any kind of magical endeavor; there are many ways to meditate and there is much to achieve through it. The overall key to meditation is, generally, focus. You are training your mind to simply observe with non judgement; not to simply clear your mind of any thought at all, which is the common misconception. There is not just one way to meditate - if sitting cross legged in a room bathed with incense as you engage breathing exercises works for you, great! Some people meditate through dance, yoga, exercise, crafts, etc. Anything where your mind can drift, “tune out” so to speak, as your body instinctively goes through the motions. There are also several forms of guided meditations that you can use for specific goals, such as attentiveness, visualization, improving memory, empowerment, etc. Elemental meditation is popular among the witchcraft community. What’s great about guided meditation is it extremely accessible through apps and things like youtube (favorites of mine are the fire meditation and the water meditation from magickians!) and makes the whole process of learning to meditate a lot less intimidating.  As meditation relates to energy work, it will sharpen your ability for visualization, increase your focus, have you more in touch with your physical and inner self as both the same and separate entities, and increase your awareness of changes in and around you - all of this working towards an enhanced ability to sense energy and its movement.  What is this mystical “energy?”  If you’re having trouble wrapping your head around the idea of the elusive and all encompassing vaguery of “energy”, don’t worry. The idea may seem intimidating, but they are not inaccessible. If you are struggling, it only indicates that you are human. This will take practice and it will require you to understand the concepts on a physical level. Luckily, these are steps that nearly every magical practitioner, old and new, has and will continue to work on for the rest of their spiritual journey. Every question you have has likely already been answered. Some may just take a bit of research to find! However, I’m going to try and provide at least some cursory information here. To get a real idea of what “energy” feels like, set aside some quiet time for youself. Close the door, dim the lights, turn off your phone. Light your candles and make sure you will be left alone. Sit down on the floor and make yourself comfortable - not too comfortable! You don’t want to fall asleep. Draw in some deep breaths and clear your mind, as you did in your meditation. Continue until you feel your breathing regulated and yourself relaxed. Now, close your eyes and rub your palms together, like you’re trying to warm them up, then pull them an inch or two apart. You should feel a charged sensation tingling between your hands, maybe even like a ball, vibrating and pulsating in your hands. If you concentrate, you may even be able to feel a sort of magnetic resistance if you attempt to push it back together. That’s energy. It’s really that simple. If you don’t feel it at first, just try again. The more you do this, the easier it will become to identify your own and different types of energy all around you through a technique called centering, which will be discussed below.  Grounding The term grounding, sometimes called Earthing, means to recalibrate your energy. Essentially, the purpose of grounding is to shake off “excess” energy and ground yourself back in reality, into the rhythm of the plane on which we exist. And while grounding does restore balance and connectedness, there are greater implications to explore when it comes to grounding. Everything on this earth is shaped by forces and presence of the Earth and cosmos, and as such, “this connection is deeply inherent to a sustainable state of well being. The Earth, as an organic and inorganic system, is constantly bathing all life on the planet with its highly ordered and coherent electromagnetic field. The natural tendency of an organism is to couple with the Earth’s energy field and come to a mutual state of cooperation and harmony within its environment, finding its niche and proper place within a system. What we need to understand is that all systems strive to achieve, return to and/or maintain a state of coherence. Whether one is aware of it or not, we are always taking part in a constant process within our universe, coupling with other energy fields and finding some sort of balance within this space. This happens everywhere within the context of an ecosystem, whenever two forces interact for any reason. The more organized or coherent these fields are, the more effectively and efficiently energy can be [manipulated.]”  Grounding allows us to cultivate a relationship with the earth and facilitate a healthier, more coherent state of being. It allows us to align our energy for more accurate working. Like meditation, there are many ways to ground; a list of some of my personal favorite methods can be found (here.) Shielding and Centering Shielding is important for magical workings as it provides a protective barrier to maintain our center. To do this, you’ll want to get a feel for your personal energy first. A good way to do is something called centering. Throughout the day, you naturally will pick up on all kinds of external energy; some good, some bad, most of it probably neither of the two - either way, it is energy that is not yours. Meditation and shadow work will be useful in identifying what feels distinctly you, but you should be able to know when you’re not feeling entirely you. If you’ve been feeling particularly out of sorts, a good tip to get back in touch with yourself before centering or shielding is to spend some time in self care. Turn off your phone and go to your room or a friendly space in nature, a library, a favorite haunt and engage in a creative project, put on your favorite music, eat your favorite food. Be mindful of your physical space, your body, sensations your are experiencing. Be attentive to you and only you; your wants, needs, feelings, comforts, etc. Take a bath and allow yourself to relax. Your only responsibility right now is you have no responsibilities - if even for just a short while. Just do what you can to access some “me time” to do something you love to do and observe yourself. Take note of what you choose to do that brings you joy, why those things make you feel happy and fulfilled, how exactly these feelings and activities resonate with you. Record this in your Book of Shadows, as it is useful information to getting to yourself on a more intimate level. Learn to recognize this energy and get familiar with what it means to feel yourself. It can be easy to get lost. Centering can get you back, especially when you make these feelings more accessible to yourself.  To center, we’re going to go back to the exercise in the beginning; in a quiet place, meditate and rub your palms together - build up that energy between them again. When you pull your hands apart, you want to visualize this sensation. What color is it? What does it feel like? Is it light? Heavy? Is it vibrating? Focus on the pulsation and how it pushes against you. Allow it to move and grow. Picture it contracting and growing until you no longer can. Pull it in close to you, somewhere you can focus on it - many people use their solar plexus or heart chakras. This is the same energy you’re going to use to shield yourself. Instead of centering this energy, however, you’re going to push it out to envelope you. Visualization in your meditation and centering exercises should help with this; visualizing energy usually makes it easier for people to push it outward. Again, knowing what specifically makes this your protective energy will be useful - what color is it? Texture? Is it elemental? Perhaps your energy doesn’t feel like light, but water or air. Maybe white is a protective color to you or maybe green is, for Earth. Maybe your energy shield is a network of stars in the shape of your zodiac constellation. Maybe the outside is reflective, to reflect any negativity directed your way. Maybe its a shield of smoke, to conceal yourself. No matter what it looks like to you, just make sure it is yours. Don’t feel pressured to commit to something either - your idea of what these concepts look like will grow and change as much as you do.  Push this energy outward and around you, as if you are creating a protective bubble for yourself. To enhance the intensity of desired outcome, surround yourself with corresponding elements. Light white candles or wear black tourmaline. I personally like to use dragon’s blood incense or oils. There are many things you can do in tandem with any of these practices, so long as they make sense for you and are helping you to achieve your desired results. This shield will become stronger the more you do this and keep you protected from psychic attacks, curses and hexes, negative energy, and bad intent.  These exercises are all building blocks to unlocking great power within oneself, but they are also a great power on their own as well. Taking the time and patience to hone these skills will aid you in all your magical endeavors, whether through sharper focus, strong visual associations, enforced protective barriers, and/or knowing your true self above all else. Once you have established your abilities, you will be able to do them any time, anywhere and begin to play more with energy, both internal and external. In the follow up, I will focus on charging and programming. 

[crystalherbalist]

relaxing shower spell

limited ingredient & super limited effort spell designed for when you’re feeling really drained after work or after an outing, yknow <3

what you’ll need;

white candle (or pink!!)

honey

optional;

rose quartz <3

🛁 light your candle anywhere you can place it safely in the bathroom, aim for somewhere you can see it’s light nicely from inside the shower but if you can’t that’s ok no worries ofc!! take a dab of honey and place it onto your forehead. i usually just put it on my finger(s) and press in some intention for a moment, sometimes i’ll press some across my cheeks too <3 rinse off your hand but leave the honey on your forehead and anywhere else you put it to rinse off in the shower! if you’re using one, get your rose quartz and hover it above your honey covered area(s) for a moment and take a few breaths, then go ahead and shower with your rose quartz in sight or just near the tub! blow out your candle when you’ve finished up your night routine <3

[thorsvinur]

Jól (Yule): A Norse Midwinter Festival

**I figured rather than keep editing and reblogging the old post I would just start new. This is at the core my original Yule post, but with significant corrections made in an attempt to cease spreading certain false assumptions and enrich the understanding of what we do know about Yule. Thank you for reading!**

What is Yule?

Yule, or Jól (Yohl) as it is spelled in Old Norse, was the Midwinter celebration of the Germanic peoples before Christianity had spread far into those regions. The Norse year was divided up into two seasons: Summer and Winter. At the halfway point of the Winter season lie Midwinter (Yule), which appears to have been the most important festival of the year, so much so that even beyond Scandinavia and the other Germanic regions it persists to this day. Though through conversion Yule was gradually replaced by Christmas, a number of its traditions remained as the people who were converted kept them alive in their new religion. Terms such as Yuletide and traditions such as the Yule log have persisted, and the name Yule even persists as the default in Scandinavian countries; for instance, the Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish words for Christmas are “Jul”, pronounced exactly the same as Yule in English. Modern Icelandic and Faroese have retained the original term Jól with the same pronunciation as well; to wish someone Happy Yule or Merry Christmas in Icelandic, simply say “Gleðileg Jól!” (Gleth-ih-leg Yohl, with a soft [th] like in “breathe”). If you want to wish someone a merry Christmas in Swedish, just say “God Jul!” (Go Yool). In addition to the Scandinavian languages, the term Yule is represented in works describing the ancient Continental Germanic months. The festival of Yule is believed to have lasted three or so nights based on extant source material, but for all of its importance there is little surviving record of exactly what went on during those nights.

There have been a number of theories in modern times framing Yule as a solar celebration welcoming the returning sun, but these theories cannot be confirmed as fact based on what sources remain or given the festival’s original dating well after the actual solstice. It does appear, though, to have been a time of great feasting and drinking, during which wealthier people (jarls and kings, particularly) would host large community feasts for their families; friends and subjects. Gift giving is mentioned in Fóstrbræðra Saga, although the gift cycle was a major element of Old Norse culture and was pretty much a given at most major festivals and celebrations.

In Ynglingasaga, Óðinn commands that the people make three primary sacrifices during the year, one being at Midwinter. While the earlier part of the saga featuring the gods is clearly euhemerism, it does make a possible case for this time being sacred to Óðinn. One of his many names was also Jólnir, which can be translated as “Yule figure” or “Yule being”. He is commonly thought to have been a large influence on the legend and original appearance of Santa Claus, although much of this may very well be conjecture as there are a host of theories concerning this topic and Santa Clause has as much in common with Þórr as he does with Óðinn. In any case, his name of Jólnir and his being worshipped at Yule are the only things that have solid evidence behind them.

Along with Óðinn, Freyr was likely the object of worship during this time as suggested by the practice of boar sacrifice at Yule, the boar being an animal sacred to him. Hervarar Saga ok Heiðreks and Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar both mention this practice, known as sonargöltr, where the best boar of the herd is sacrificed. In Hervarar Saga ok Heiðreks, the practice is also carried out by Heiðrekr who notably worships Freyr.

Yule was a time of peace, and this concept is attested in saga literature as well as in the term “jólafriðr” (Yule peace) found in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic.

Of course, while merriment was widespread at this time of year, there was also danger lurking in the cold dark of night. This time of the year was seen to give rise to an increase in spiritual activity. Trolls, draugr and other ill-spirits were seen to wander free more often during Yule, so it was not a good idea to be far out at night. While people would venture outdoors during the day and a little bit at night, they primarily stayed inside with company where it was considered to be safer. One piece of later Norwegian folklore, called Oskoreia (Ásgárðs riders) is the ride of the immortal souls of the dead through the night sky during winter. Another name for these riders is Jólareia (Yule riders), suggesting that this event would occur during Yuletide. Though this lore is post conversion (as evidenced by the riders being fended off by a man holding a cross out toward them), it’s firmly rooted in Old Norse legend of Yuletide monsters and may be a carryover of the cautionary tales of the dead and otherworldly beings during this time.

Somewhat in contrast, the nisse, also known as tomte in Sweden, is recognized at this time of the year as well. Described as a very short, elderly looking, bearded man, much like the popular depiction of a gnome, the nisse was originally known to be the spirit of the first inhabitant of the land, and protected later families who inhabited the land from misfortune. Later on, in the 1800’s, the nisse came to be known as the bearer of gifts to families at yuletide. He has been commercialized to be more like the American version of Santa Claus, but even then his appearance has retained elements of its Scandinavian roots.

When is it celebrated?

The timeline of Yule has some variation depending on the tradition, but in modern times it often lasts for about twelve nights. Anglo-Saxon traditions begin the Yule celebration on Modranicht (Mother Night), which is usually the night of December 20th. As the Germanic peoples began their days at the setting of the sun rather than the rising, this would essentially be to them like celebrating at the beginning of December 21st. Because of that factor, it seems appropriate for the celebration to begin at that time, but many Norse-focusing traditions will not address the night as Modranicht, since there is no record of it being called as such, and in that case it is sometimes just called Yule Night. The celebration then carries on through the next eleven nights until New Year’s Eve, after which it is finished.

According to Hákonar Saga Góða, the original Yule observations actually occurred in mid-January before being moved into December by King Hákon to be closer to Christmas, and because of this there are many groups who will choose to time their Yule observances in-line with this fact. Those who do this usually are going consistently off of the Old Icelandic calendar for their celebrations, which hold Summer and Winter starting several weeks after they do by modern reckoning (by this I mean comparatively considering the timing of the Spring and Autumnal equinoxes, where many modern Heathens choose to observe the Summer and Winter halves beginning). The primary celebration may have only lasted for three days, but the Yule season appears to have lasted for at least two months, based on the Old Norse month names of Ýlir (Nov-Dec) and Jólmánuðr (Dec-Jan). While Jólmánuðr has an obvious connection to Jól, it should be noted that Ýlir comes from the same root etymologically. Andreas Nordberg theorizes that this time may have included a number of festivities culminating in the formal observance of Yule for those three nights around the full moon of Jólmánuðr.

How is it celebrated?

Variants of modern Heathenry such as Ásatrú, Forn Sed, etc. have collectively sought to produce a Yule festival which is close to the originals in their cultures of focus, with the limited amount of source material available. Common traditions in modern practice include those which are present in Christmas such as decorating a tree, giving gifts, hanging mistletoe and wreaths, and many others as well as older traditions which we know of, such as wassailing the apple trees to ensure a good crop in the next year. Many groups who celebrate in December will skip the 24th and 25th of because a lot of members celebrate Christmas with their families on those days, but the primary days that are often observed are Mother Night (AS), High Feast of Yule and Twelfth Night. For these and other nights in-between, festivities are usually held at the home of a volunteer.

One tradition which seems to be present in just about every record of Yule throughout the sagas is drinking, and lots of it. In Hákonar Saga Góða it is mentioned that when King Hákon the Good moved Yule to be closer to Christmas, he also required by law that all people brew a measure of ale and not cease celebrations until it was gone. This is echoed in Haralds Saga Hárfagra where the phrase “drinking Yule” is used, and “Yule-drinking” and “Yule-ale” are both featured in Zoëga’s A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic.

Swearing of oaths during Yuletide is mentioned in a couple of sagas, one of them being Hervarar Saga ok Heiðreks. Oaths were taken quite seriously in Old Norse culture, and oaths made at a major holy tide would carry even more weight.

Another piece of Yuletide tradition mentioned in Hervarar Saga ok Heiðreks is that of sacrificing and eating a boar. In this account, Heiðrekr leads his best boar into the palace at Yule to be sacrificed; the men there also make oaths while putting their hands on the boar’s bristles, making this the second mention of oath swearing at Yule in that saga. Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar is another source that mentions a boar sacrifice at Yule, and the practice is collectively known as sonargöltr. Though the element of sacrifice was taken out, boar meat at Yuletide feasts was carried over into post-conversion practice, and many modern Heathens include it today.

One practice that wasn’t retained, though, was that of eating horse meat. In Hákonar Saga Góða, King Hákon attends a Yule sacrifice where he is forced by the locals to participate even though he is Christian. This includes not only drinking a number of times from the ritual horn, but also eating a piece of liver from a sacrificial horse. Sacrificing and eating the meat of horses appears to have been an important part of Old Norse religious practice, and the fact that laws developed post-Christianization banned eating horse meat lends even more credence to this.

The celebration of Yule has been adopted into the calendars of other contemporary pagan religions such as Wicca, but the changes made to it are often substantial enough that they can be considered to have their own distinct versions of it. While they often still celebrate the return of the sun as many modern Heathens have come to do, differences such as cosmology and individual practices as well as the length of the celebration make them very distinct from what is present in ancient or modern Heathen practices. For the most part, the versions seen in religions such as Wicca will only last for a day or so, and they also factor in the birth of the God as well as the victory of the Oak King over the Holly King; neither of these events are observed in the traditional Yule celebrations.

Other traditional Yule and Scandinavian Christmas practices include:

The Julbok (Yule Goat), which can either be a large display or a small toy which is left in someone’s house as a prank and must be passed on to another. The figures are also commonly set at the base of the Christmas (or Yule) tree to await the arrival of Santa or Jultomten. This figure is reminiscent of older Yuletide customs where the Yule Goat was previously the bringer of gifts, and in some places still is.

The Yule Log, which is decorated with holly, fir, and occasionally yew as well and then burned. The burning of the log is seen as a petition to the gods for protection from misfortune. It is greatly advised that, rather than cutting down a living tree just to burn a section of it, one looks for an already fallen tree to cut the log from.

In Iceland, Grýla is known as a giantess and witch who is the mother of the 13 Yule Lads (Jólasveinar) who play pranks on people during the Yule and Christmas season, but may leave gifts for those who leave out offerings for them.

Also in Iceland, Jólakötturinn is a giant cat who according to traditional folklore eats people who do not get new clothes for Christmas. So don’t be sad about getting socks!

In Norway, children will sometimes go from house to house asking for treats.

In Sweden, one person in a house may dress as Tomten and hand out presents.

As with tomten in Sweden, Norway and Denmark regard the nisse as a mischievous being who plays pranks on people, but will be friendly if rice pudding is left out for him.

In Sweden, Lucia (13 Dec) is a major holiday and signals the beginning of Christmas celebrations. Sankta Lucia was a Christian saint who was essentially a bearer of light in darkness, and this aspect made her highly popular in a place where at this time the sun barely rises if at all. December 13th on the Julian calendar was the winter solstice, and even though the switch to the Gregorian calendar changed it to the 21st, the 13th is still often regarded as the longest and darkest night. While she was a Christian saint, there are some who theorize that she may have occupied the place of an earlier being named Lussi, especially since her candle wreath and procession through the darkness have some strong solar associations.

Scandinavian Winter Food/Drink:

Glögg (Mulled wine): This is a favorite of many; a traditional Scandinavian holiday drink made with wine and spices such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cardamom. It also has a citrus flavor to it, and can be found in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, though there are many non-alcoholic mixes that can be mixed with liquor to be quite tasty. Personally I make my own every year, but if I am mixing with store bought I prefer aquavit or vodka.

Julmust: Another holiday drink, mostly consumed in Sweden. It was originally developed as an alternative to beer and contains water, sugar, hop extract, malt extract, spices, and a few other ingredients. It has a taste somewhat similar to root beer, but sweeter, and similar drinks are sold throughout the year such as påskmust around Easter.

Gingerbread (Pepparkaka): Pretty self-explanatory for this one. It is common to make a gingerbread house (pepparkakshus) as well.

Rice Pudding/Porridge: This is common between all three of the main Scandinavian countries, and is made in a somewhat different style in each of them.

Main course of duck, cod, pork or similar dish: Cod is most notable in Norway, duck or goose in Denmark, and Sweden usually has any of ham, fish, poultry, etc.

Lefse: A traditional Norwegian soft flatbread, often made with potato in addition to other usual ingredients. It is commonly eaten with butter and sugar, and possibly cinnamon.

Nisse Cookies: Much like gingerbread cookies, these traditional Swedish treats are shaped and decorated to look like the nisse.

Why celebrate Yule?

Why not? It’s the darkest time of the year, the days are getting colder and there is already a winter holiday which contains many of the same base elements anyway (at least in North America and Europe)! This is a great time to get together with friends and family and celebrate in warmth and merriment. Feasting with the gods and other powers also helps to build a relationship, and this festival was seen as the most important of them all, so if one is going to choose only one holiday to celebrate from the calendar, they would do well to make it this one!

References:

Mapes, Terri. Christmas in Scandinavia. About.com. Web. 2012.

http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/scandinaviatripplanning/p/christmashub.htm

Rossel, Sven H.; Elbrönd-Bek, Bo (1996). Christmas in Scandinavia.

Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Wikipedia: Yule, Odin, Thor, Santa Claus.

How We Inherited Christmas from The Viking Yule. Skandland. Web.

http://skandland.com/vikxmas.htm

Hintz, Martin and Kate (1996). Christmas: Why We Celebrate It the Way We Do. Capstone.

Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer.

Snorri Sturluson (1990) translated by A.H. Smith. Heimskringla or The Lives of the Norse Kings. Mineola, NY: Dover.

Nordberg, Andreas (2006). Jul, disting och förkyrklig tidräkning: Kalendrar och kalendariska riter i det förkristna Norden. Uppsala.

Kvilhaug, Maria. The Old Norse Yule Celebration - Myth and Ritual. Freyia Völundarhúsins. 2012. http://freya.theladyofthelabyrinth.com/?page_id=397

Zoëga, Geir T (1910). A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic. London: Oxford University Press.

http://thorraborinn.tumblr.com/post/103505575458/hi-i-am-looking-for-some-help-celebrating-jul#notes.

[broomsick]

It’s coming, you guys!

[silver-daffodils]

Full and New Moons of 2021

The dates of all the full and new moons that we’ll be having this year.

Full Moons

January 28th

February 27th

March 28th

April 26th

May 26th

June 24th

July 23rd

August 22nd

September 20th

October 20th

November 19th

December 18th

New Moons

January 12th

February 11th

March 13th

April 11th

May 11th

June 10th

July 9th

August 8th

September 6th

October 6th

November 4th

December 4th

[everythingstarstuff]

[lost-carcosa]

Oh look, it’s campus-police officer Lt. John Pike who pepper-sprayed peaceful protesters at University of California Davis.

And UCD reportedly payed $175,000 for this image to not appear when you search it on google:

[ladychurch-deactivated20200811]

Darn shame if this circulated…

[deedesria543]

So you mean to tell me that just by reblogging this I’m ruining an organizations plan, wasting them money, and uncovering some shitbag humans awful behaviour?

T R I P L E K I L L