royalmagissa

[royalmagissa]

The Star. Art by Harriet Moulton, from Lady Tarot Cards.

[royalmagissa]

Festivals we know (almost) nothing about - Part 1

Once in a while, it's good to remember that none of our calendars are complete. This is much more obvious with non-Attic/Athenian calendars, and anyone who decides to jump into attempting to reconstruct the cultic calendar of Delphi, Delos, Sparta, Argos etc. will know exactly what I mean, as they are painfully fragmentary (not to mention the ones that are completely lost).

Because of the contrast between the fairly well-preserved Athenian calendar and the others, we often forget that Athenian calendar we know about is only "well-preserved" but by no means complete.

Back in January, I decided to make an user-friendly calendar and I had to make several choices about how to keep it simple. One of those choices was to get rid of obscure festivals, especially when their date or content is unknown or highly speculative.

The downside of my project is that it further solidifies this illusion of completeness. This is why I'm making this post: here's the list of Athenian festivals we know by name that haven't made it into my calendar for the reasons mentioned above. Emphasis on "know by name", because there's probably a few we completely lost as well. This list likely isn't going to be exhaustive either (took out deme-specific festivals, hero worship, battle commemoration festivals etc. + I probably forgot stuff).

Note 1: This will be cut in parts of 10 festivals because there's really a lot.

Note 2: The aim isn't to tell people to add all of those holy days and festivals to their calendar, that would be way too much for a single person. Rather, this list is meant as inspiration for worshippers, especially those who have relationships with less widely worshipped deities.

The Adonia

Date unknown but probably happened in the summer. We actually have decent information on this one, aside from the date issue. It was primarily a festival for women. A few days before the festival, they would go plant young sprouts of lettuce and other garden plants and cereals on the rooftops. The sprouts, being left out in the sun, would quickly die, which was meant to represent the tragic short-life of Adonis. On the day of the festival, the women would come back on the roof to cry and mourn the death of Adonis.

For a complete study and contextualization of this festival, see "The Athenian Adonia in Context: The Adonis Festival as Cultural Practice" by Laurialan Reitzammer.

The Aiora

A swinging festival of unknown date, though there is debate about it being part of the Anthesteria. The Aiora was probably connected to the death of Erigone.

The Amarysia

Pausanias is our only source of a cult to Artemis Amarysia in Athens (Description of Greece 1. 31. 5):

"Amarynthus is a town in Euboea, the inhabitants of which worship Amarysia, while the festival of Amarysia which the Athenians celebrate is no less splendid than the Euboean. The name of the goddess, I think, came to Athmonia in this fashion and the Colaenis in Myrrhinus is called after Colaenus."

We have no further information for this cult in Athens specifically.

The Anthesphoria

This one is tricky to fit in the list, because we have very little proof this was ever celebrated in Athens, and most of our sources on the festival trace back to Sicily, even though there are indications it was held in other parts of the Greek world. It was a festival of the flowers focusing around Persephone and Demeter. It was probably held in early spring, if we take into consideration the common stem between Anthesphoria and Anthesterion (anthes = flower), the Attic month of February-March, which alludes to the abundance of flowers during this time of the year.

For a more complete post on this festival, see @verdantlyviolet's breakdown. For a study, see "Hera’s Lettuce Women and the Peculiar Uses of Flowers, Fruit and Vegetables in Ancient Greek Festivals for Women" by Lucinda Guzman (Master's thesis)

The Arrhephoria

Festival held in honour of Athena and Pandrosus, date unknown but it seems to have been linked to the Acropolis.

The Asklepieia

Probably a set of two festivals to Asklepios, one occuring in winter (between the Lenaia and the City Dionysia, so roughly between January and March/April) and another roughly six months later, between the Eleusinia and the Thesea. At this point, it is believed that the latter actually is known under the name of Epidauria, which was celebrated on Boedromion 17 or 18 (around September). Whereas the first festival would fit with an observance to Asklepios known to happen on Elaphebolion 8. It was probably at those two festivals that doctors would make their sacrifices to the god.

The Diisoteria

Two dates are known for this festival to Zeus Soter and Athena Soteria, as there are indications this festival has been changed over the centuries. The original date was Skirophorion 30, the last day of this month (somewhere between June and July, most likely - which also happens to be New Year's eve for the Attic calendar). According to R. Parker, the date was moved in the 4th century BC to be earlier in the month, before Skirophorion 11. A decree from the 2nd century BC indicates Asclepius and Hygieia were also added to the list of recipients.

The Elaphebolia

Festival to Artemis, probably in the month of the same name (Elaphebolion - March/April). We can assume it was held on the 6th day, but we have no certainty. The preparation of ‘deer’ cakes (probably in private houses?) attested by Athenaeus is all that we can be sure of.

The Galaxia

Festival in honor of Cybele, the Mother of the Gods. No date known. For the occasion was offered a golden bowl with ‘galaxias’, a mixture of barley flour and milk.

The Genesia

Festival celebrating the dead, most likely dead parents. It was held on Boedromion 5 (late August - early September). Details are blurry, it's possible this was mostly a private, familial celebration. If there was a public rite distinct from private commemorations, we do not know where it was held.

_______________________

Unless stated otherwise, most of the information is taken from Parker R., Polytheism and Society at Athens, 2005

[royalmagissa]

Yet another list of historically attested offerings

This is a list of botanical burnt remains found in several temples including:

Sanctuary of Apollo and Artemis, Kalapodi, 10th-9th c. B.C. “Pilier des Rhodies”,

Delphi, 8th-7th c. B.C.

Samian Heraion, 7th c. B.C.

Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore, 5th c. B.C.

Roman Palaimonion, Pit A A.D. 50-100 Palaimonion, Pit C, late 2nd-early 3rd c. B.C.

Heroon of Messene 3rd c. BC

the "x" originally indicates where said remains have been found, I left them in as an indication of frequency.

Cereals

Wheat (Triticum sp) x x x x x x

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) x x x x

Cereal cakes

Legumes

Lentil (Lens culinaris) x x x x x

Fava bean (Vicia faba) x

Pea (Pisum sativum) x x x

Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) xx x

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) x

Ervil/bitter betch (Vicia ervilia) xx x

Fruits and nuts

Olives (Olea sp) x x x x

Grape (Vitis vinifera) xx x x

Fig (Ficus carica) x xx x x

Pomegranate (Punica granatum) x x x x x

Apple (Malus sylvestris/Domestica) x

Walnut (Juglans regia) - not found in Greek temples but found in Italian ones.

Hazelnut (Corylus avellana) x

Chestnut (Castanea sativa) x

Almond (Amygdalus communis) x

Date (Phoenix dactylifera) x

Pine (Pinus pinea - bracts and nuts) x x

Oak (Quercus sp - acorns) x x

Quince (Cydonia oblonga) x

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) x

Melon (Cucumis melo) x

Pistachio (Pistacia sp) x

Poppy seeds (Papaver somniferum) x x x

Basically: people offered what they had, lists like those are best used as inspiration if you don't know what to offer and informative purposes.

Source: Megaloudi, F. Burnt sacrificial plant offerings in Hellenistic times: an archaeobotanical case study from Messene, Peloponnese, Greece. Veget Hist Archaeobot 14, 329–340 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-005-0083-x

[royalmagissa]

thoughts on adapting greco-roman polytheist worship for the current day (pt.2)

(Part 1, where I discuss a friendship model for our relationship with the gods.)

So what does this friendship model mean for worship?

Put simply, it means that you should worship in whatever way is genuine for you and feels 'right' for the deity you're worshipping.

I don't want to veer back into the whole 'lists of what you should and shouldn't do for each god' thing, because, as discussed, that approach stresses me out. I also won't get into the debate around UPG/SPG.

Instead, what I'm trying to get at it is this: you will only know what is right for your relationship with any given deity by approaching them genuinely and like somebody you would like to befriend. That will look different for every single person.

A personal example

For me, that means silent prayer - both the meditative kind and the 'talking inside my head' kind. It means I have a morning ritual where I wake up, put the kettle on, wash my hands, light a stick of incense on my kitchen window next to my statue of Hestia, give her a quick smile and a fresh glass of cold water before I have my coffee/breakfast.

None of what I do is historically-constructed. None of it is researched.

Some people might criticise this - say that I should be offering it up verbally, that I should be using kernips to wash my hands, that I should be pouring a 'proper' libation, that I should be drinking that water or that I should be doing all of this outdoors/over the stove/at a fireplace rather than at my kitchen sink next to the dirty dishes.

There is nothing wrong with doing any of that. But it doesn't work for me. I wash my hands for cleanliness and as a sign of respect. I offer my incense and a glass of fresh, cool water. I smile. I then feed and nurture myself. Hestia is at the heart of my house, on the windowsill over my sink, close to my kettle and right next to the open window my cat uses to come and go. She watches over my home from there, and her presence is a constant reminder to try to look after myself and my home. This, to me, feels like a genuine and respectful relationship, and every day Hestia becomes dearer to my heart and a bigger part of my life for it.

So if you're also new to polytheism and wondering where/how to start and whether you even can start....just try approaching any given one of the gods as a friend, do so naturally, and see what comes of it.

[royalmagissa]

The Basic Basics of Ancient Greek

For @temples-wreathed-in-laurel and anyone else who wants to learn :)

Alphabet and Pronunciation

The pronunciation I use is reconstructed Ancient Greek pronunciation as I was taught at school. It’s basically modern Greek, except the pronunciation of some letters is different. There is some debate about how Ancient Greek sounded, however, so others who have studied it may disagree with me.

Α, α: alpha, corresponds to English A. Pronounced “ah”, as in that sound you make when you notice something that displeases you.

Β, β: beta, corresponds to English B and is pronounced the same way.

Γ, γ: gamma, corresponds to English G and is pronounced the same way. In front of κ, μ, ν, ξ, or χ it is pronounced “ng” as in “doing”.

Δ, δ: delta, corresponds to English D and is pronounced the same way, only a little bit more dental (try saying it by putting your tongue against your teeth).

Ε, ε: epsilon, corresponds to a short English E. American and British English don’t really have a sound for it (though I may be mistaken) but it is pronounced a bit like French “é” or “get” with a New Zealand accent.

Ζ, ζ: zeta, corresponds to English Z. Pronounced “dz”. Some people pronounce it “ts” or “z”.

Η, η: eta, corresponds to a long English E. Pronounced “eh” as in “there” or “fair”.

Θ, θ: theta, doesn’t have an English equivalent. Pronounced “th” as in “think”.

Ι, ι: iota, corresponds to English I. Pronounced “ee” as in “keep”.

Κ, κ: kappa, corresponds to English K and is pronounced the same way.

Λ, λ: lambda, corresponds to English L and is pronounced the same way, only a little more dental (like the delta).

Μ, μ: mu, corresponds to English M and is pronounced the same way.

Ν, ν: nu, corresponds to English N and is pronounced the same way.

Ξ, ξ: xi, corresponds to English X. Pronounced “ks”.

Ο, ο: omikron, corresponds to a short English O. Pronounced “o” as in “or”.

Π, π: pi, corresponds to 3.14159 and English P. Pronounced “three point one four one five nine” or simply “p”.

Ρ, ρ: rho, corresponds to English R. It is trilled as in modern Greek or Spanish.

Σ, σ, ς: sigma, corresponds to English S. Pronounced “s” as in “snake”. Sigma is special because there are two ways of writing it. ς is only used at the end of the word, and is σ used everywhere else (ex: κοσμος).

Τ, τ: tau, corresponds to English T and pronounced the same way, only a little more dental (like the delta and lambda).

Υ, υ: upsilon, corresponds to English U. Pronounced “ew” as in that sound you make when you’re disgusted, only a little more closed (like the French “u”).

Φ, φ: phi, doesn’t have an English equivalent. Pronounced “f”.

Χ, χ: khi, doesn’t have an English equivalent. Pronounced “ch” like the German “ach”. Try to growl like a tiger, sounding both fierce and annoyed at the same time, and you might have it.

Ψ, ψ: psi, doesn’t have an English equivalent. Pronounced “ps”.

Ω, ω: omega, corresponds to a long English O. Pronounced “oh” as in “got” with a British accent (as opposed to the American “gaht”).

Ancient Greek also has diphthongs, meaning two letters making one single sound (English has this with “ou”, for example). These are:

αι: pronounced “ay”, like the word “eye” but more like the Spanish “Ay!”.

ει: pronounced “ey” as in “hey”.

οι: pronounced “oy”.

αυ: pronounced “ow” as in that sound you make when you’re hurt.

ευ: this one’s a bit difficult. It’s like “ew”, except instead of the “e”, you use the epsilon sound described above.

ου: pronounced “oo” as in “cool”, but more closed (like the French “ou”).

Here’s a sentence as an example:

Παιδευω την αρχαιην ελληνικην γλωσσην μετα σιστεροφιρις.

That means: I am learning the Greek language with sisterofiris. Try to read it using the pronunciation above!

Except there’s a small problem with the sentence above, namely: accentuation.

Accentuation

Ancient Greek, unlike modern Greek, has many accents. There are two types: tonal accents, which show you where the stress is in a word, and breathings, which show you whether or not there’s an “h” sound at the beginning of a word.

When using capital letters, these accents are written before the letter (example: Ά). Otherwise, they are written on top of the letter (example: ά). They are only written on vowels, with the exception of ρ, which always takes a rough breathing (ῥ) at the beginning of a word.

ἁ is a rough breathing. It means that this letter is pronounced “ha”.

ἀ is a smooth breathing. It means that this letter is pronounced just “a”.

ά is an acute accent (not to be confused with a cute accent). It means that you stress this syllable. Your voice goes up, like when you ask a question.

ὰ is a grave accent. Nobody actually knows how it was pronounced. Ignore it.

ᾶ is a circumflex accent. It means that this syllable is long and stressed. Your voice goes down.

Breathings are only used at the beginning of a word. So if your name is Hank, great! But if your name is Rihanna, sorry, you’ll have to settle for Rianna.

You can have any combination of one breathing and one tonal accent on a letter. This means you can have letters that look like this: ἂ, ἇ, ἅ. But you can only have one breathing, and only one tonal accent, on a letter at a time.

As a general rule, you can only have one tonal accent per word, but there are exceptions. Some very short words don’t have tonal accents at all.

With this in mind, let’s rewrite our sentence:

Παιδεύω τὴν ἀρχαίην ἑλληνικήν γλώσσην μετα σιστεροφίρις.

But wait, there’s more!

Punctuation

There are four different kinds of punctuation in Ancient Greek: the question mark, the colon/semi-colon, the comma and the full stop.

; is the question mark. Confusing, I know. In a sentence, this would be: Παιδεύω τὴν ἀρχαίην ἑλληνικήν γλώσσην μετα σιστεροφίρις; Am I learning the Ancient Greek language with sisterofiris?

˙ is very small, but it is both the colon and the semi-colon. Παιδεύω τὴν ἀρχαίην ἑλληνικήν γλώσσην μετα σιστεροφίρις˙ και… I am learning the Ancient Greek language with sisterofiris; and… Or I am learning the Ancient Greek language with sisterofiris: and…

, is the comma. It works just like in every other language.

. is the full stop. Like the comma, it works just the same as in every other language.

Unfortunately, there is no exclamation mark in Ancient Greek, so you can’t excitedly say:

I am learning the Ancient Greek language with sisterofiris!

[royalmagissa]

Witchcraft for the Home: Herbs and Spices

Kitchen and Cottage witchcraft is really what I focus on and I love to do little things to encorperate little things into my every day practice and a great way to do that is in the kitchen. So I’m going to list some of my go to herbs and spices that I use. A page straight from my Book of Shadows DISCLAIMER: NOT ALL HERBS FROM YOUR LOCAL WITCH SHOP ARE FOOD GRADE. MAKE SURE TO ASK FIRST. USING HERBS THAT AREN’T FOOD GRADE TASTE AWFUL AT THE LEAST AND CAN MAKE YOU SICK AT THE WORST.

Basil- Good for Protection. A favorite for pasta dishes. Use pesto as a good way to incorporate it. It’s also really good in soups.

Bay Lead- My favorite use for Bayleaf is healing, but not really physical wellbeing. I use it motly for emotional and spiritual healing. Really great after a long, stressful day. Cooks best in slow cooker meals like soups, stews, and pulled meats

Cinnamon- Protection and passion. I always find that it always brings a sense of warmth to whatever I’m making. I use it in a lot of sweets or whenever I’m making Chai.

Clove- Brings in warmth and casts out negativity. Clove is my favorite spice so I’ll add it to just about anything that’s “spicy”

Nutmeg- Strengthens divination. Nutmeg is really good in fall flavored baking and warm flavored stews, like those with a tomato base.

Pepper- Used for protection. I like to think of it as sort of a ‘bite’ at the things you need protection from. Actively expelling instead of putting up a “wall” like cinnamon.

Poppy seeds- Prosperity. Lemon poppy seed muffins are an amazing good luck charm to use before a a big test or meetings.

Rosemary- Purification, intellectual protection. Rosemary is a sort of go all herb. It goes great in roasts and traditional English and American cooking. Use a spring of rosemary on roast veggies, chicken, or steaks.  It’s also good in homemade bread and can be used during Sabbats and Holidays as part of the feast.

Thyme- Divination and clarity. This is another sort of ‘old school’ herb. You can find it in a lot of simplistic cooking (three or four ingrediant meals) and in a lot of italian food. It pairs great with marinara, eggplants, and peppers. Roasted egg plant with olive oil and thyme is one of my favorites.

Vanilla- Love. I put a drop of vanilla in my coffee almost every morning to try and bring love into my day. It works great if you have a stressful job you need to remember to stay caring and level headed at (childcare, health care, support lines). I also like to use it in small short bread or sugar cookies and use those as offerings (particularly to Aphrodite)

[royalmagissa]

“I ATTRACT HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS”

[royalmagissa]

Hybrid tea roses. House and Garden. June 1951.

[royalmagissa]

Since February, my cycle has fallen on every single sabbat. Very cool and divine or whatever, but also very frustrating bc I just wanna wear a cute dress and bake and do sexy things BUT I FEEL LIKE GARBAGE

[royalmagissa]

Let’s Talk Litha!: Celebrating the Summer Solstice

June 21st marks this year’s Summer Solstice - the Sabbat known as Litha (or Midsummer)! If you celebrate the Wheel of the Year, Litha is one of the key points in the calendar: The summer solstice marks the Sun’s peak of power, and also marks the longest day in the year!

Litha, or, The Summer Solstice

Litha marks the longest day of the calendar year - the Summer Solstice - and is positioned at the bottom, Southernmost quarter point in the Wheel of Year. Traditionally, this is a great time to commune and connect with the Sun, do solar magic, and use the Sun’s peak power to spellcast, charge, and cleanse.

Colors: Red, orange, and other fiery, bold tones

Incense & Scents: Dragon’s blood, orange, musks (personal correspondences here - use your own for max results!)

Altar Setup: Find stones and crystals that have washed up on the summer shore, local flowers, seasonal fruits, and plenty of candles. A bonfire is traditional (a red candle is practical!)

The Litha Feast: What would a Sabbat be without a feast? Litha is a perfect time to eat outdoors (if possible!). Traditional foods include herbed breads and pastries (baked!), desserts and dishes with summer fruits (try berries, stone fruits, or citrus, depending on what’s local to you!), cold cooked poultry for our omnivore witches, and flower or berry wines. More modern foods for Litha could include potato salads, dishes made with lavender or sorrel, peppery foods, or dandelion greens.

Litha Traditions:

Light a bonfire and jump over it (if it’s small enough!) to cleanse yourself of past ills.

Stay up on Midsummer Eve to wait for the rising sun.

Dispose of old amulets in the Litha fire.

Work magic with stone circles.

Make speeches to Fortuna, the lady of Fortune (is my Hellenic Revivalism showing?).

Phone past friends and invite them over.

Honor the Oak tree by paying one a visit in your local neighborhood.

Lead the way to your Litha celebration with a torchlit procession (or lantern or sparkler-lit, as it were!).

Magic for Litha: Healing, purification, cleansing, fire, protection, rebirth, power, sun magic, magic with stones and crystals, reaffirmations, and oaths.

Have at it, witches! (and link me to your Litha altars/plans/feasts! I’m a sucker for peeking on all your aesthetics & magics :>)

[royalmagissa]

Reactionaries are malding so hard over the blues clues pride parade that they had to make up that the MAP flag was secretly put in there.

This float represents the gender questioning flag

You can even see the distinction between the green and yellow.

I pointed this out to them, but they said it was a pedophile dogwhistle anyways. They don’t give a fuck.

Anyways, if you see posts like this going around, make sure to correct it.  because its really shitty that this is circulating.

[royalmagissa]

Greek mythology from A to Z:

[H] - Hestia (Ἑστία) is the goddess of the hearth, the family and the home. Cronus’ and Rhea’s first-born child, she was pure and peaceful.

[royalmagissa]

I made an oil for attracting wealth and used a smidge of it on a product at work that I needed to sell quickly.

I sold about two and a half weeks worth in three days.

[royalmagissa]

It's here!!!

[royalmagissa]

Witch Tips 24

Holy shit it’s been over a year since I posted one of these but it’s because I kept setting myself up for failure by putting way too high of expectations on myself to crank out 10 new and unique and helpful tips everytime I got 100 new followers except first it was 10 and then it was 50 and holy shit I got so stressed about these so I’ve just been writing them down as I’ve thought of them instead and now here we are, please be gentle.

Hello here are tips

1. Use transfer paper and a hair dryer to decorate candles.

Maybe you’re doing a spell for someone & you want to put a picture of that person on the candle. This can be a way to help you better visualize the effects of the spell on the person the spell is for. Or maybe you need a picture on the candle for some other reason. Maybe you want to put pictures of coins on it for a money spell. Or hearts for a love spell. Simply print out whatever you want on transfer paper, cut it out & place the image face-down on the candle. Then, you’ll want to get your hairdryer and a piece of tissue paper (I highly suggest the tissue paper is the same color as the candle, otherwise you risk getting that color onto the candle. Which can also be fine, but if it’s not what you want…) use the blow dryer on a low-warm setting to melt the photo onto the candle side. Remove the tissue paper and there you have it! A picture printed onto a candle.

2. You can incorporate witchcraft into ANYTHING… even brushing your teeth.

I recently got this fucking delicious toothpaste from Trader Joe’s. I’m one of those people who sometimes struggles to brush my teeth twice a day because I hate the taste of toothpaste. So I got a super unconventional toothpaste flavor instead, “fennel, propolis, & Myrrh. And about a week after using it, it struck me -holy shit these ingredients have meaning behind them. Most obviously, myrrh is associated with wisdom and meditation. And fennel has been used in magic for centuries! Even if you use regular mint toothpaste, that ingredient has power behind it! Obviously this goes more so for natural toothpastes but I’m sure you can find a way to enchant other varieties as well! Use the ingredients already infused into your toothpaste for enchantments & glamours!

3. Actually study your grimoire.

If I sound at all harsh by saying this, it’s only because I’m being harsh with myself too. Study your grimoire. Don’t just write everything down & then expect to have it all perfectly memorized & be a master in everything you research. Reread it. Rework it. Learn.

4. Feel drawn to be a sea witch but you don’t live by the ocean? Get a saltwater aquarium!

First off, I’m not saying that it’s a flawless solution. Being a witch of the sea is more than just using salty fish water in your craft. HOWEVER, with that out of the way, there’s no way that a salt water aquarium will harm your craft as a sea witch. Think of it like a houseplant for a green witch. Sure, living in the forest would be better but it’s still something special to be able to bring a little piece of your craft into your home.

5. Personal taglocks make a spell more powerful, but exercise caution when using them.

Undoubtedly, using a taglock (such as a strand of hair) can better connect you to the spells you’re performing, but they’re not always wise to use. I only use them in extremely personal spells and crafts. Things that no one except for me can have access to. I would never suggest using a taglock on something that you wish to give another person (especially another witch) such as a spell bottle or sachet. Even if you’re best friends. Even if you’re siblings. Even if you’re MARRIED. You never know when a relationship can turn south or what someone is capable of when they’re extremely angry with you. Don’t risk it.

6. Be respectful of the deities that you don’t worship or work with

I don’t work with deities. Shocker, I know. I have my own belief system when it comes to higher powers that I won’t get into on Tumblr, probably ever. But I do believe in showing respect to all things, both living, dead, & otherwise specified. If a deity approaches you who you’re not interested in working with, please remain kind & respectful with in declination. You’re allowed to say no to anyone and everyone.

7. Just because someone is more experienced doesn’t necessarily mean they’re always right.

Without naming names or being too specific, there was a witch I followed on Tumblr for a long time. They were much older than me and had been a witch for like 20+ years. I followed everything they said as fact. But slowly, over time I started to learn more and realized I didn’t always agree with them. They were SO negative. If they heard basically anything new that younger witches were coming up with, they’d have a whole 10 paragraph post about how "stupid and wrong and ridiculous and fake” these new witches were. There was not an ounce of open mindedness with this person. And because of that, I started to feel really bad about myself and my craft. Things they said would stick with me and I’d feel so shitty about it. Well fuck. That. More experience means absolutely nothing if the person is unwilling to learn or expand their minds beyond their previous knowledge. Anyone can learn and anyone can teach. Age means nothing. Surround yourself with open minded people.

8. Put full moon water into your humidifier to charge your space.

This is an idea that only just occurred to me while I was setting up my crystals & jar of water to charge under the full blue moon on Samhain. I always turn my glowing humidifier on at night while I sleep. As I watched the mist begin to arise out the top I thought to myself, ‘if I’m charging that water (the glass jar on my altar) for the full moon, why not this water too?’ So now, I just add a little splash of full moon water into my humidifier water whenever I’m performing rituals or doing spell work. This way, the full moon water can charge my entire bedroom with the power of the full moon as I work.

Speaking of…

9. You can charge water under more moon phases than just full.

I don’t know if that wording was weird or not so I’m sorry if it doesn’t make sense. My point is, I always see people talking about moon water as if it’s only full moon water. The moon holds power in every phase she goes through. Adding to the above tip, you can put new moon water into your humidifier to cleanse your space. Waxing moon water to help you plan and focus. And waning moon water to assist during a banishment spell. Hell yeah dude, all phase of the moon are useful and powerful!

10. Incense matches are a great alternative to full incense sticks

I love burning incense, but sometimes it can really overwhelm the area, especially because my house is small & I dont want to expose my cat to it. Incense matches are literally matches that are covered in incense powder. They burn for just a few minutes & produce a steady stream of smoke for spells. They come in a bunch of different scents. I buy them locally for 30 matches for $1.05USD but you can probably find them cheaper online. Still be sure to keep them away from pets & those who are smoke-sensitive.

Thank you so much for reading, follow me for more #10tips, search my blog for the previous 230 tips, & have a magical day.

[royalmagissa]

📄Days of the week magick📄

Sunday (Sun)

Sunday’s energy is male, this causes Sunday to be the best day to work on issues revolving fathers/authority figures. Sundays are great for working on questions of leadership, money, prosperity, and power. This is also a good day to work on health, vitality, energy, and happiness

Monday (Moon)

Monday’s energy is female, this causes Monday to be a great day to work on issues revolving mothers, nurturing, fertility, and growth. Monday is also a great day to do divination. This is also a good day to work on clarity, beauty, or help with women issues.

Tuesday (Mars)

Tuesday’s energy is male. Mar’s energy is one of courage, success, and lust. Tuesday’s are a great day to focus on issues revolving violence, competition, conflict, and survival. Tuesday’s are also good for money, endurance and leadership.

Wednesday (Mercury)

Wednesday’s energy is male. Mercury’s energy will aid in magick having to do with issues of addiction and psychology. This is a great day to work on communication, thoughts, self-expression, wisdom, and the arts. Wednesday’s are also great days to do divination.

Thursday (Jupiter)

Thursday’s energy is male. Jupiter’s energy is one of growth, expansion, business, prosperity, abundance, success, and health. Thursday’s are great days to focus on magick dealing with the big issues going on in your life.

Friday (Venus)

Friday’s energy is female. Friday’s are great for working on magick that has to do with love, beauty, and romance. Friday’s are also great for doing magick for healing, protection, loyalty, fidelity, trustworthiness, and women’s issues.

Saturday (Saturn)

Saturday’s energy is female. Saturday’s is a good day to work on divination and psychic abilities. Saturday’s energy works well with magick revolving elderly, illness, death, and end-of-life issues. Saturday’s are also great for doing binding spells dealing with constrictions, limitations, or infidelity.

[royalmagissa]

Great for a book of shadows or digital grimoire!

Part 1