#shaycastsseaspells

[jasper-pagan-witch]

Hey! I'd love to know more about how you approach the creation of your servitors and thoughtforms, if that's okay! I like to compare and contrast techniques.

Hello hello!

See, I start out with an idea. Usually it's because I'm flipping through creatures cards from Magic: the Gathering (five of my seven thoughtforms are MtG-based!). These cards give me an idea of purpose, personality, appearance, and how they do things.

That's when I break out the big guns, my template. Each of my thoughtforms are assigned an activation phrase, a dismissal phrase, and associations of several forms.

Then, I flip my page on over and give them some power sources. Usually I give them between three and five different power sources. My go-to is often sunlight and moonlight, so I can put their physical vessels (if applicable; often the card that inspired them) out to charge them up.

Usually the last thing I do is decide a name.

Once I do all of that, I compile the information onto the template and put it in my binder, at which point I start activating the thoughtform.

Overall, I find it to be pretty simple, because I've given myself guidelines to work in!

Hopefully this was interesting to read!

~Jasper

[breelandwalker]

For the ask game, Bottle Vase!

Bottle vase -- what is your favourite flower, and why?

It's really a tie between lilacs and violets. I love the smell and the color, and also the flavor of violet syrup and candies. Spring and summer aren't complete for me with those flowers.

[watch-grok-brainrot]

So, I started following a bunch of c-drama blogs and I really want to get into it. Where would you recommend a newbie start? What's your favorite show? 😃

Oooh. Uh... i don’t watch that much C-drama. I really don’t think I do? I watch more C-drama than I do other things... but uh.. i’m mostly slow. 

Favorite show? Nirvana in Fire. Hands down. Best pseudo-period C-drama. Do I think you should start there? No. uh. yeah. get some sense of structure and tropes and what not first. 

I really don’t know where to start. I started probably with Legend of Condor Heroes when I was 10ish? I still remember being really excited by a girl dressed up as a boy jumping on people’s shoulders. I loved Jin Yong wuxia the way a lot of people love tolkien. 

Then the next major thing I watched was Princess Pearl 还珠格格 (1998 with Zhao Wei and Ruby Lin and some dudes i can’t remember) and with it I somehow got my parents to let me binge watch 像雨像雾又像风 and 情深深雨蒙蒙. I’m not sure if you can find either of the latter two titles easily. But one stars Zhao Wei and the other has Zhou Xun and Chen Kun. I enjoyed both of them. I was also 15 when i watched it. 

I watched a TON of wuxia dramas between 2000 and 2005. Anything adapted from Jin Yong titles I watched... so 笑傲江湖， 神雕侠侣， 射雕英雄传， 倚天屠龙记, 天龙八部. I also read the novels... But after a while I got sick of the industry cycling the same 10ish IPs... so i stopped paying attention. 

Oh! I did watch Meteor Garden which I loved. but it was part of a craze in like 2001-2005ish. I tried to watch other chinese/taiwanese adaptations of manga... i liked mars. couldn’t get through watching 战神. 

Uh.. in 2014/2015 ish there was a cdrama called tiger mom 虎妈猫爸 that i thought was hilarious. It had Zhao Wei (previously mentioned) in it. I loved it. very modern drama. idk how good it is all things considered. I also liked my sunshine 何以萧笙默. but that’s because i like the way the leads looked. it was a very mellow drama. sad, melancholy. i watched some other stuff with 唐嫣 in it. 

Then i watched NiF. NIF is SO GOOOOOD. I cannot begin to explain. After NiF, i watched the Disguiser. Which was also good but it suffered from not being NiF. NiF sets the bar and the bar is HIGH. I also tried watching ode to joy and never finsihed it... 

Where to start? The Untamed seems like a good fit for many people. Since Nov 2019, I have watched: 

Eternal Love, Ashes of Love, The Untamed, Ever Night, Dating in the Kitchen, Word of Honor, Love o2o, King’s Avatar, Love and Redemption, And the Winner is Love. 

I recommend Untamed, Ever Night, and Word of Honor. Word of Honor comes with warnings that the plot isn’t compelling and it gave a friend nightmares due to treatment of a disabled character. Also, Ever Night is only season 1. Things are not done. S2 is very very different. I cannot get through ep 1 of S2. but S1 is so delightful i don’t regret watching it. 

Eternal Love was ok but the female lead can’t really act. Some of the side characters are interesting. It was a solid not awful. Dating in the Kitchen is modern and cute and a little contrived. Love o2o was really sweet but really boring. It was good bkgd noise for gif making. King’s Avatar was a bit more compelling than Love o2o but long and i wasn’t paying that much attention. It was ok enough i guess. They’re both videogame-centric. And the Winner is Love isn’t great. Love and Redemption was a bit better than Eternal Love but annoyed me at many points. 

I do not recommend Ashes of Love. It is pretty at points and Luo Yunxi is a delight. There is a side ship that’s cute. Everything else about it can burn. 

What is on my list/WIP:

Joy of Life -- i like it so far. i’m about 6/7 eps in... but got distracted. 

Sleuth of Ming Dynasty -- i also like this a lot. 8 eps in. doing it as a groupwatch. 

Legend of Fei -- 5-6 eps in. Fun so far. got distracted by Word of Honor. oops. 

Rise of Phoenixes -- 3 eps in. really good but i need to be able to focus on it... and i’m bad at focus lately. did i mention i’m obsessed with word of honor? 

The Romance of Tiger and Rose -- hear it’s cute. I have it DL-ed. haven’t started. 

Things I have on my hard drive:

Legend of Miyue, Dance of the Phoenix, Fights Break Sphere, Douluo Continent. IDK if i’ll watch any of these but I’ve heard good things about Legend of Miyue. 

I don’t know if i’ve helped... but i tried. Orz

[thegrapeandthefig]

Your art is beautiful! What's you favorite medium to work with?

Thank you! Normally, when I’m actually motivated to draw a full piece, I’m an ink person. I like very fine pens (eg. micron pens) and I started using those because I wanted to emulate the style of 16th-18th century engravings.

I’ve recently started including colour with alcohol-based markers. I like them a lot, they’re comfortable to work with. 

I have so much unfinished art it’s shameful. My current priority is to finish the Priapus drawing. 

[teawiththegods]

Let's see... Pink, purple, dark blue??? I really enjoy your podcast and your insight with the Theoi! I've always been curious about Hellenism, so your info has been very educational! Please keep doing what you do!

Ooooo a summer wedding and burning in hell together??? How romantic i love it!! 

Thank you so very much, love!! I’m really glad you enjoy my content and it has helped you!! <3

[cloudselkie]

I finally settled on a new blog name!

shaycastsseaspells is now she-who-keeps-the-lighthouse!

Image via NPR/US Coast Guard

[jasper-pagan-witch]

Saw your asks are open and I've been enjoying your blog since I started following, so here is a question!

Do you have a main deity you work with? Or perhaps a few that you enjoy working with?

Hello hello! My asks are always open, I just don't always have anon on.

I'm actually a devotee of Athena! I've worshiped her for a very, very long time, because I grew up in a situation where I was luckily able to be open about not being Christian with my family - Satanist "father", Christian stepdad, Norse-Wiccan mom, agnostic sister.

It wasn't until recently when other deities started making an appearance in my life - Azura (the Daedric Prince, yes I'm a pop culture pagan), Aphrodite, Tehuti, and Loki.

I honor Loki's whole immediate family too - Sigyn, Angrboda, Hel, Fenrir, Jormungandr, Narfi, Vali, Sleipnir...

I have a very family-oriented worldview, so honoring the family of the deities I worship makes sense to me. I often refer to Athena as my mom (and do the same with Azura lately too) because that's the energy I feel when she's present. I also refer to Tehuti as an uncle, because, well, that's just the energy I associate with his presence.

I don't really see or hear my deities, but I catch their vibes, if you know what I mean.

This ended up a little more rambly, but I hope it was interesting to read! I hope you have a good day, and thanks for stopping by!

~Jasper

[cloudselkie]

Hey y'all! Just a heads up that I've changed my name to better reflect myself and my practice, from theteagardenwitch to shaycastsseaspells.

When I first joined, I was nervous about being more open about my practice, so I picked something pretty generic. But now that I feel more confident and at home, it's time to make my name reflect that!

I know some people like to be notified when name changes happen, so I wanted to make a post so no one is caught off guard. ^-^

[graveyarddirt]

Hagging Out: June 28-30th [☀️]

Ahoy, and welcome to the June edition of Hagging Out!

Over the next few days Hags from all over the world will be posting & sharing their unique takes on this month's challenge - preserving. I'll be reblogging as notifications roll in, and commenting in the AM when Bird's having her post-breakfast nap on the ladder (the only time I get to type with both hands).

💀 June Hags: @msgraveyarddirt, @fernandfog, @serpentine-eyes, @shaycastsseaspells, @sacredtrashfire, @sparrowhearted, @momerath74, @aviandinosaurfluff, @toverijenspokerij, @nerdsorrow, @hugleikinn, @ludditereformed, @prairiefirewitch, @pagan-stitches, @neelytherese

I'm really excited to see what you Hags got up to (even more excited to see how this month's challenge reappears in 6 months time)! Be sure to tag your post(s) with #Hagging Out so fellow crones can follow along.

Happy Hagging Out! <3

[weekendwitchcraft]

@shaycastsseaspells LMAO We should get a matching pair, that would be hilarious

wizard hat cowboy brim

[stumpyshocky]

@shaycastsseaspells

this was meant to be for mermay…. but then i forgot to post it lmao

[qedavathegrey]

@shaycastsseaspells said: "Oh, definitely add "The Lightning Strike" By snow patrol. I think it fits with this list."

you know it's already on there 😎

Excuse me, calling the weird artsy kids from the late 2000s: I made this playlist for posterity's sake, but I know I'm missing a lot. Help me!

[hadjiiembercolgatenerdmctillhawk]

"I can completely remove the sale of the chemical from the market" ok and I can add more sale of the chemical to the market to counteract that, what's the point?

"you will always resort to violence to justify your means" and that's projection

who are you people?

@shaycastsseaspells do you think H2O is a human right despite it being a critical component in sustaining terrorist regimes?

It's completely okay to ban the sale and private ownership of KNO3. Chemicals have been heavily regulated, and should be.

No.

[whichwitchami]

wow, quick responses!

@shaycastsseaspells​ a youtuber I watch does that, where his kid goes through toys semi-regularly (Christmas, Bday) and that was another thought I had. I like how that targets local charities specifically, or like giving to other children in need. Part of the charity idea was to teach broader things, like social justice issues (missing, murdered, indigenous women for example, when they’re a bit older) or for them to find what they’re passionate about. 

@eccentricnightengale​ I appreciate the thought on modeling it too, that’s definitely something I would do. Modeling is super important for teaching your children. “Monkey see, monkey do” kind of thing. I hadn’t thought about making sure they see the impact though, I love that idea. It would certainly help motivate them and understand /why/ we help others. 

Parenting thought

Not a parent yet but hope to be someday.

My parents weren't great about giving a allowance. I just kinda... Got some $$ on our yearly back to school shopping trips and that was my accumulated "allowance" as such, I'm shit with $$. I'm working on it

One thing I want to do is give my hypothetical future child (ren) allowance. But I also want to reach them the importance of giving back.

Would it be a shitty parent move to request they donate a portion of their allowance? They would chose the amount and the place it goes.

If it is a shitty parent move then I'll figure something else out, but I want a concrete way to teach about money and giving back

[thegrapeandthefig]

@shaycastsseaspells​

I feel that. I have some abandoned pieces in my ipad that I need to finish. And one chalk piece that's like 95% done that I just need to finish so I can stop remembering that it's not done. Lol

Here is my nemesis. I started it probably around 2014 and it’s still in this state. The worst part is that I like it, and I should do it but it’s just *there*. It's a reproduction of an actual 19th century engraving but it's been so long that I don't remember which one.

Your art is beautiful! What's you favorite medium to work with?

Thank you! Normally, when I’m actually motivated to draw a full piece, I’m an ink person. I like very fine pens (eg. micron pens) and I started using those because I wanted to emulate the style of 16th-18th century engravings.

I’ve recently started including colour with alcohol-based markers. I like them a lot, they’re comfortable to work with. 

I have so much unfinished art it’s shameful. My current priority is to finish the Priapus drawing.