ashinthesky

[ashinthesky]

Dragon Hoard Bowls

Dragon bowls are a passive working designed to invite traditioal draconic energies into your life or practice! That means power, wisdom, confidence, and prosperity. It can also be used as a way to attract friendly dragon spirits if you incorporate spirit work into your practice. It's inspired by the way money bowls are designed to attract luck and wealth. Feel free to alter and fine-tune it to whatver suits your personal needs.

First, get a bowl. It doesn't have to be that big unless you have a lot you plan on putting in it and need the space. A trinket dish may be enough. It doesn't have to be explicitly dragon-themed, but try to make it something of reasonable quality. We're trying to create something that reflects an abundance of treasure, after all, so disposable styrofoam bowls aren't ideal. Local or handmade pottery is a good choice.

Fill the bowl with your dragon hoard. This can technically be made of anything, but particularly crystals and coins. Shiny curios, paper money, anything that conveys some sort of luxury or value is also acceptable. As tempting as they are, I try to avoid shiny plastic gems and similar items because while they look nice, it's still only a superficial value and they're easily disposable. Don't feel like you need to break the bank for your bowl. Start with whatever you already have on hand, even if it's just some loose crystal beans and spare change. It will grow over time.

Remember to feed your bowl. This is important. If you want it to stay effective, don't let this thing just sit and collect dust. Add little things to the bowl when you can, or burn incense in/over the bowl. Mix around the treasure now and then. I personally let the ashes fall and collect in the bowl. Every now and then I give it a refresh and clean it out to keep everything looking nice, but you may prefer to let the ashes build up over time and have that be part of it. Whatever makes sense for you!

The stuff in the bowl operates like an offering would. This is especially relevant for things like crystals. Everything in the hoard is dedicated to being a part of the hoard now, so try to avoid taking stuff out of the bowl to use it for other purposes and then putting it back in. If you're doing that then you don't have a hoard, you have a storage place for your stuff. In other words, no take-backsies. If you truly need something out of the bowl but don't want to damage the hoard, I recommend just removing it completely from the bowl and replacing it with something of equal or greater value.

[ashinthesky]

A Reminder to my U.S. Witches -

Whether you're a private practitioner or a witchy business owner, it is now more important than ever to KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.

Wicca as a religion is officially protected by Freedom of Religion under the First Amendment. This extends somewhat to other less organized pagan religions as well as the general state of Being A Witch, which is also protected by Freedom of Speech.

But we must remember that this only protects you from PROSECUTION, not PERSECUTION.

You have the legal right to present as a pagan or witch in public spaces and technically you cannot be discriminated against in the workplace for such things. However, we all know how that kind of bigotry disguises itself and the way things are going, resources for reporting and resolving such grievances may soon be in short supply.

You also have the right to own and operate a pagan-oriented or witchcraft-related business, provided that you obey all applicable tax codes and consumer protection laws. (This is why we have to mark so many of our goods and services as "For Entertainment Purposes Only," and I strongly suggest updating your disclaimers to include additional language if need be.)

Again, as we've seen, this doesn't always protect business owners from harassment or help them with seeking reparations if there's trouble. But it's important to know, as more and more "proclamations" roll out from the "new management," that executive orders do not immediately or fundamentally change the law.

This is nowhere near a comprehensive explanation of the constitutional rights and laws applicable to witches and pagans currently living in the United States. I urge everyone to familiarize themselves with all applicable laws in their area which deal with public gatherings, small businesses, consumer protection, public transit, loitering, search & seizure / "stop & frisk," and anything related to being detained by law enforcement for any reason.

Familiarize yourself also with social and legal resources in your area, just in case you or someone you know needs them. Talk to the elders in your local LGBTQ organizations as well - we've been there before.

Most importantly, build links and relationships with trusted people around you, whether it's your neighbors or your colleagues or like-minded people in the community. We all need to be looking out for each other and the more we know, the better we can protect ourselves, our homes, our livelihoods, our communities, and our rights.

(If anyone has any applicable links or information, PLEASE add them in comments and reblogs.)

Stay safe!

[ashinthesky]

Emergence came around daylight savings time this year.

I walk around my neighborhood every other day and my area has a lot of "false spring"s, so pinning down the true point where "we're going into spring for real now" can be difficult. But when I find it, I take a moments to mark the day or days as Emergence.

This year, I noticed the daffodils and my irises peeking up, the visual "fuzz" of buds on the trees, and a patch of grass with the first flush of spring green. That was a few days ago; I had an attentive walk and took breakfast with the door open. I took a quick walk in the yard to see what's going on under the leaf litter. The answer? Not much, but it's close to time to rake for the year anyway.

[ashinthesky]

In regards of the Trump government scraping all trans inclusion in its queer information portion of its websites I have made this thing. Spread the word. Don't let them pretend we never existed.

P.S: Don't like! Reblog! <3

[ashinthesky]

Nazis will never be welcome in paganism. They have no space in our communities, we will have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to nazis. You have no right to the cultures, gods and religions you hijack to spread your disgusting ideologies. You will find no refuge or comraderie amongst pagans.

Reblog to let nazis know they’re not welcome here.

[ashinthesky]

Casual Curse for Bigots

Inspired by the douchebag who saw fit to put a neo-Nazi (oh sorry, “alt-right” -eyeroll-) propaganda flier under my wiper at the market today.

May the hateful hands that forged this Have their own hatred turned back to bite them May their own teeth bite their slanderous tongues May their own bile choke them May their own spite confound them May the harm they do be visited upon them a hundred times And a hundred times again Until enlightenment finds them Or death takes them

Tear the flier into pieces, dispose of it in a public waste receptacle, and spit after it.

[ashinthesky]

[ashinthesky]

farming magic versus wild foraging magic

It's been on my mind a bit but I really think in Witchcraft, a lot of it is finding power. A LOT of it.

You know I talk about my system a lot, building relationships with ally spirits ("correspondences"), evoking and petitioning spirits, laying a compass, carefully storing and distributing energy between spells.

And this is all kind of like farming; you can learn how to cultivate the magical ecosystem around you to carefully seed, grow, harvest, and store power, and to make friends with the gods and spirits within and around this system who help you (or decline to hinder you, which is also very good).

This farming is good because it serves the same function as regular farming, i.e., it's hard work but it provides reliable and predictable resources available throughout the year.

But that's not finding power, that's farming it.

Several months ago I did one of the most powerful workings I had done in a while, which transformed my life. There was no evoking correspondences or compass laying or invocations or spirit offerings.

I found a free-flowing source of incredible power (an eclipse, and I found it by looking up), called it into myself, and asked that it do something specific.

No candles, incense, bells, talismans, or whatever: the actual technique I performed was extremely basic energy work.

The results were humbling, and continue to humble me, and I believe it is probably beyond what I would have been able to accomplish working only through 'farming'.

After all, I am a competent adult. I could build a fish farm. I could learn to keep it regulated and sustained to provide fish all year round.

But it doesn't matter how good of a farmer I am, I'll never be able to compete with the open ocean.

A lot of this stuff about Witchcraft techniques - if it seems like a lot, that's because it is a lot; it seems like hard work because farming is hard work, and it seems like you must plan ahead so much because farmers must plan seasons ahead.

But that's not all of Witchcraft, and homesteading your magic isn't just farming - it's wild foraging, too.

So if all this Traditional stuff seems a bit stuffy and laborious and lacking in spontaneity, perhaps it's good to ask if you're ever leaving the boundaries of your homestead and venturing out into the woods.

And all those planets and transits and holy days and plant lore and special tricks for foraging power without profaning it are not tedious rules, but maps that show pathways to wild foraging your own power, bringing great boons and benefits to uplift your seasonal farming.

[ashinthesky]

In regards to research:

Don’t accept witchcraft books for history. Read history texts. 

Don’t accept witchcraft books for mental processes. Read psychology and biological texts. 

Don’t accept witchcraft books for mythology. Don’t accept witchcraft books for religion. Read original texts and papers written researchers credited in their fields. 

Use witchcraft books for witchcraft, and witchcraft alone. That is what they specialize in and what they are published for. If it branches out into a different subject, be suspicious and research the topic later. 

[ashinthesky]

[ashinthesky]

Being a witch trying to research with books is just like:

"no"

"that's blatant misinformation"

"this guy was exposed as a nazi"

"no"

"that's historically inaccurate"

"this person was exposed as a terf"

"no"

"oh something I can use-"

[ashinthesky]

Wanna learn energy work? Wanna keep yourself on your toes? Get a rock.

Legit any rock, bonus points if it's got personal meaning. Put it in your hands or in a space where you can see it. Connect to something, like the sun, the moon, a spirit, the earth... Create a circuit, energy goes into you and energy goes out of you. You're not the proprietor of the world, you sustain it and it sustains you.

Find your center point, find the source's center point... Now find the stone's center point. Continue with the circuit. Energy comes into you, leaves you and enters the stone, leaves the stone and back into you, and then back into the source.

The stone becomes more affected and resonant by exposure, now pump it with energy. Give it its own circuit (it takes in energy and sends out energy, sustaining itself) and repeat constantly to just build up the muscle.

[ashinthesky]

this is going to be difficult -> i am capable of doing difficult things -> i have done everything prior to this moment -> this difficulty will soon be proof of capability

[ashinthesky]

something i think about a lot in relation to cycles is that they're a kind of circuit. a loop through which a current flows. and it is vital to understand this if you're going to break them without leaving the ruined, ragged ends to bleed out into empty space like poison, or attach themselves parasitically to someone or something else in order to survive.

[ashinthesky]

For some reason, it never occurred to me that Project Gutenberg would have public domain old cookbooks. This is BRILLIANT. There’s a 1953 cranberry recipe pamphlet and a suffrage cookbook from 1915 and a translation of Apicus’s guide to food in Imperial Rome and a whole bunch of other fascinating old cookbooks, many pre-1800. Treasure trove!

[ashinthesky]

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh, and the greatness which does not bow before children.

Khalil Gibran

[ashinthesky]

If you see this on your dashboard, reblog this, NO MATTER WHAT and all your dreams and wishes will come true.