borage-witch - Tumblr blog

[borage-witch]

Casual late night reminder that witchcraft does not always need to involve spells and candles and crystals and cards. Some days it is my embroidery and my tea against the world and that is OKAY

[borage-witch]

"the world isn't kind" ok??? Much more importantly are you?????

[borage-witch]

The world's most unwanted plants help trees make more fruit

[borage-witch]

Getting a lot of mileage lately out of saying "I hope they turn into a newt/I'm going to turn them into a newt" instead of I hope they die/I'm going to kill them. Same effect in terms of expressing your desire that the subject will never meaningfully affect your life again, cannot possibly be construed as a serious death threat. As a bonus it makes you sound like a witch. Flawless lexicographical substitution imho.

[borage-witch]

Teach your children to respect animals and the world around them. Teach them that nature isn't their toy and that their actions have consequences. Teach them compassion for other beings and creatures.

[borage-witch]

kind of obsessed with this comment from the aoteaora nz subreddit….

[borage-witch]

"the world isn't kind" ok??? Much more importantly are you?????

[borage-witch]

Due to popular request, here are some dividers inspired by Greek gods:

Zeus

Poseidon

Hades

Hermes

Apollo

Dionysus

Hephaestus

Ares

Hypnos

[borage-witch]

You were there, you had the hat, you did the job. That was a basic rule of witchery: It's up to you.

Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

[borage-witch]

in middle school during my Intense Greek Mythology Phase, Artemis was, as you can likely guess, my best girl. Iphigenia was my OTHER best girl. Yes at the same time.

The story of Iphigenia always gets to me when it's not presented as a story of Artemis being capricious and having arbitrary rules about where you can and can't hunt, but instead, making a point about war.

Artemis was, among other things--patron of hunting, wild places, the moon, singlehood--the protector of young girls. That's a really important aspect she was worshipped as: she protected girls and young women. But she was the one who demanded Agamemnon sacrifice his daughter in order for his fleet to be able to sail on for Troy.

There's no contradiction, though, when it's framed as, Artemis making Agamemnon face what he’s doing to the women and children of Troy. His children are not in danger. His son will not be thrown off the ramparts, his daughters will not be taken captive as sex slaves and dragged off to foreign lands, his wife will not have to watch her husband and brothers and children killed. Yet this is what he’s sailing off to Troy to inevitably do. That’s what happens in war. He’s going to go kill other people’s daughters; can he stand to do that to his own? As long as the answer is no—he can kill other people’s children, but not his own—he can’t sail off to war.

Which casts Artemis is a fascinating light, compared to the other gods of the Trojan War. The Trojan War is really a squabble of pride and insults within the Olympian family; Eris decided to cause problems on purpose, leaving Aphrodite smug and Hera and Athena snubbed, and all of this was kinda Zeus’s fault in the first place for not being able to keep it in his pants. And out of this fight mortal men were their game pieces and mortal cities their prizes in restoring their pride. And if hundreds of people die and hundred more lives are ruined, well, that’s what happens when gods fight. Mortals pay the price for gods’ whims and the gods move on in time and the mortals don’t and that’s how it is.

And women especially—Zeus wanted Leda, so he took her. Paris wanted Helen, so he took her. There’s a reason “the Trojan women” even since ancient times were the emblems of victims of a war they never wanted, never asked for, and never had a say in choosing, but was brought down on their heads anyway.

Artemis, in the way of gods, is still acting through human proxies. But it seems notable to me to cast her as the one god to look at the destruction the war is about to wreak on people, and challenge Agamemnon: are you ready to kill innocents? Kill children? Destroy families, leave grieving wives and mothers? Are you? Prove it.

It reminds me of that idea about nuclear codes, the concept of implanting the key in the heart of one of the Oval Office staffers who holds the briefcase, so the president would have to stab a man with a knife to get the key to launch the nukes. “That’s horrible!,” it’s said the response was. “If he had to do that, he might never press the button!” And it’s interesting to see Artemis offering Agamemnon the same choice. You want to burn Troy? Kill your own daughter first. Show me you understand what it means that you’re about to do.

[borage-witch]

I love room guardians, go make yourself one out of oven bake clay and paint 🫵

This is mine he even has a little backpack full of crystals to help him with his job :) what a fellow.

[borage-witch]

"If thing has scientific explanation then thing no longer feels magical" - skill issue.

[borage-witch]

I'm so serious about being kind above all else. it has genuinely changed the way I interact with the world on a fundamental level and has made me so so much happier.

[borage-witch]

Herbs to Avoid During Pregnancy

If you’re looking at this for a list of herbs to avoid while you’re pregnant, so as not to risk hurting the fetus and ensuing baby, then you should be avoiding these herbs if you’re trying to become pregnant too. Studies show that 30% to 50% of all fertilized eggs are lost before a pregnancy is actually established, and the woman never even knows about it. Of known pregnancies, 10% to 20% end in miscarriage. So, it’s important if you’re trying to have a baby, to do everything possible not to contribute to those numbers.

So, with no further ado, these are the herbs to avoid if you are now, or are trying to become pregnant.

Saw Palmetto

Goldenseal

Donq Quai (used in combination with other herbs to induce miscarriage)

Ephedra

Yohimbe

Pay D’Arco

Passion Flower

Black Cohosh (used in combination with other herbs to induce miscarriage)

Blue Cohosh (used in combination with other herbs to induce miscarriage)

Chamomile (roman)

Pennyroyal

Ginseng

Evening Primrose

Feverfew

Kava Kava

Aloe

Valerian

Rosemary (in amounts greater than normally found in food)

Yarrow

Licorice

Angelica (used in combination with other herbs to induce miscarriage)

Lovage

Mistletoe

Myrrh

Sage

Thyme (in amounts greater than normally found in food )

Tumeric

Motherwort

Also, while you (hopefully) don’t ever ingest known poisonous herbs, I’d also advise not handling them while pregnant as some things can be absorbed through your skin. Not a lot, but better safe than sorry. These are herbs that are listed by the USDA as Unsafe or Potentially Unsafe for use during pregnancy.

[borage-witch]

another fucking bird in my house

[borage-witch]

the entire point of life is to be silly, kind, and really weird btw.