cafeconbrujeria

[cafeconbrujeria]

at some point I just gave up on divination. like, idk, man. I have too many card decks, across too many systems. I am fluent or at least conversational in almost all of those systems, and I have tried to fight against the presumed sense of overwhelm by going back to basics (one RWS, one TdM, one playing card deck, one sibilla), but I'm just kind of eeehhh. I tried mixing things up one more time (pagan otherworlds) and then just let cards be for a while, because fields laying fallow is good for you.

there's one playing card deck, barely fancier than your standard pack of gas station bikes, that I keep in my purse and consult on occasion.

I have runes...I could be better at runes...there is a lot to improve on there...we do like the Norse. we also like Dr. Jackson Crawford, academic cowboy, frustrated nice christian man answering neopagan questions because he's HAD it with the misinformation out there. and this is funny to me. also he's hot

there's also two entirely different bone throwing sets, one personal and one more traditionally (traditionalish) to the area I live in conjure, and then, wait,--a third, the very nicely stripped down system Pocket Osteomancy by @thegreenwolf. last time I had an actual question I needed an answer to, I turned to the pocket osteomancy set, and I sleep with the little deerskin bundle on my nightstand, next to my head, so I do like it, very much. very versatile and clear system.

I have extensive notes on what I strongly feel I'm "supposed" to be doing, as communicated to me across several dreams: an entirely coyote based system. this is the only form of divination that occurs in my dreams beyond the general dreaming true that can look like anything, so you'd think I could take a hint and assemble the thing from bones and teeth I already have, especially since the foundational item of every single bone set I have is a coyote tooth, because coyote proves time and time again to be very chatty...and yet...

there's improv charm casting sets, of course, and the time a few years ago when I REEEALLLY needed an answer, I gathered some things together while not really thinking about it at all and immediately cast/threw and got a crystal clear answer, and then as a result of that throw we moved into this big beautiful house, and things are going quite well.

which I guess leads me to my sneaking suspicion that maybe you don't need to do divination THAT often, and when you do, your ancestors or whoever you hang with opens up your brain and you just do it.

but if you think of your magical practice as fundamentally not that different from your gym practice--that is, it benefits from emphasis on the practice part--then you should be doing divination fairly regularly, keeping those muscles active.

plus the future should be of interest to us: we plan on living there, for the most part.

I think part of it is that there is basically only one thing I'm supposed to be working on, and I know that there is ultimately no trick to it, so I just need to FINISH DOING IT, and there's really no fun strategy to do until I get there, and any divinations I do engage in on the subject are like yeah, you should finish the thing. oh wise and powerful oracle, how can I best finish the thing? oh by actually doing it? and not overthinking it? and just actually doing it? are you sure. are you SURE there's not a trick to it oh my fucking god--

[cafeconbrujeria]

This is the sacred duck he got an important message:

[cafeconbrujeria]

okay, so. if i manage to not forget I have a sideblog, we're gonna make some scarab amulets and document the process. we will be doing this the hard way, avoiding plastics, for eco-nerd reasons, and avoiding metal crafting, because I am allergic to nearly every reasonable option, and without ceramics because I've never done real ceramics before and haven't caved and bought a microwave kiln yet.

but I want the scarab(s) to be durable and wearable, and I am hard on my things. so no metal, no resin, no poly clay, no ceramics...

this leaves us with...CONCRETE.

I've never used concrete before. I am ordering white portland cement. I have exactly one (1) scarab shaped mold. Making a set is going to take forever but if I nail a wearable amulet on the first try, the rest can be paperclay or something.

Why wearable?

Because I fucking love jewelry. The end.

Why scarabs?

Because there is a long history of scarab amulet. Because they're cool looking. Because we have ritual instructions for the consecration of scarab amulets that are bonkers old, and that's cool. Because I bought a silicone mold on etsy already and the idea of personalization via scratching sigils into the bottom of the piece while the rest of it dries sounds appealingly easy, in theory. Because while the heart scarab of funerary use is the most famous scarab amulets, there were a shit ton of other scarab amulets for the living. Because I am delighted by the idea of a little dude who is supposed to help you answer your SAT questions in the land of the dead.

Why concrete?

Because it's not plastic but ALSO. Because you can mix other stuff into concrete. It's kind of like, the whole deal. Appropriate herbs, mayhap. The dust of various stones. Bone powder, probably. Anyway the magical correspondences potential here is VAST.

But concrete is not waterproof?

true! but sealing with sodium silicate greatly improves the durability of concrete! note to self: buy some sodium silicate.

[cafeconbrujeria]

semi accidental acquisition of pre columbian (also Colombian Colombian, as in, from ye ancestral homeland) SUPER CUTE frog amulet and subsequent commitment to the frog motif has been extremely rewarding in MANY ways actually and it's been like. a week. two weeks, tops.

this is last week's news for me but still i cannot believe I had an artifact from like 1300 AD just chilling in my fucking purse for a while there. the harsh terrain of my purse. the hostile environment of my purse. imagine surviving getting looted and melted by conquistadors and evading destruction and discovery for centuries while retaining your gorgeous golden luster and then you're jangling along in a leather bag with skulls on it. granola crumbs and uncapped eyeliner smudges all over you. knocking boots with two pocketknives and rubbing up against crumpled receipts. living life! or something like it.

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So listen in the first iteration of the fursona wizard hangout fanart I used a different reference photo for your frogself and it came out like this, so I decided to use the other reference photo.

But I'm trying to dedicate myself to fuckin chilling out on the weekends and spending more time goofing and frolicking so I took that fanart and made you an album cover for your amphibian themed glamrock hiphop jam band, Powerful Wizard.

I love the range. I love the duality. I love that you did a happy relaxed frog hanging out with friends and then an INTENSE frog serving FACE for an album cover. you know me on my fun little occult sideblog and not through years of sensationalized dramatic lighting instagram posts with occasional artistic yoga nudes, but like, this is actually EXACTLY it, this is the exact difference, the distillation, the essence of it all, what my closest irl friends have always teased me about because the gulf between vibes is so wide. I am genuinely delighted and laughing so hard about this THANK YOU. I can't believe you put my exhausted existentialist catchphrase on there. i am PRINTING this out i am putting it on my WALL i am gazing at it with JOY and WONDER.

I'm glad you're dedicating your weekends to chilling and goofing and frolicking. but also idk, I am reminded of your recent post about how to be a leader in a community or how to actually build communal spaces, because I kind of invited myself to play along and you magnificently not just opened the circle but played back with me, and with enthusiasm, and that's so wholesome in general but also specifically so nice. I feel so welcomed and I've been primed for good behavior. I shall be such a nice frog.

so anyway THANK YOU; this rules. I hope you don't mind the public answer/post.

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OH MY GOD I'M THE CUTEST MOST POWERFUL FROG IN THE WORLD THANK YOU

I have to say that getting a wizard fursona was the best witchcommunity decision I ever made. Not only are there the obvious magical implications (feel free to wildly speculate) but on a regular basis people will simply send me curated chicken content which I never would have laid eyes upon otherwise. You too can have this power. Avatar + Part of your name, that's all it takes. Doesn't even have to be your blog name.

[cafeconbrujeria]

loooool my EXACT timetable for a similar scenario was exactly three months. for my current round of "huh, guess I should do something about that," it was 2.5 months.

mayhap once a quarter the planetary alignments are favorable for ye olde ✨executive functions ✨

i know it's annoying when someone newth to the craft stubs their toe and is like AM I CURSED?? HAVE I BEEN HEXED? JINXED? CROSSED? DO MINE ENEMIES PRAY ON MY DOWNFALL? or whatever, but consider! that perhaps the exact opposite can happen to even the seasoned practitioner: laboring under lightly cursed conditions going "hahah I'm sure it's fine," which is just the occult ADHD equivalent of not wanting to sort your mail and putting off a task for two months before accomplishing it in fifteen minutes and being entirely relieved of symptoms. hypothetically.

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No, exactly, most of my witchcraft is just specifically inviting one of my favorite dudes over for a cup of coffee and chatting. and that is kind of hard to write about because after the witchcraft 101 lesson of "cultivate relationships with spirits," it's all either so wildly personal none of would really translate, or so basic it feels like it shouldn't even need to be mentioned, ex: "don't be a dick."

and that will absolutely take care of like, MOST considerations. and most serious occult afflictions, imo, or at least give you a big heads up about anything specific and heavy coming your way. it's just some of the pesky scrub under your fingernails stuff that's left to deal with. it's not even hard! it's not even complicated! (unless you want it to be, for the enrichment, as you point out) but sometimes I just, like. don't light that tealight. even though I'm probably lighting lots of other candles for specific sorcerous purposes. pile of dirty dishes in the sink while you're clanging around in the kitchen making meals while working around the mess. silly! suboptimal! and YET.

so tl;dr yeah it really is a firm handshake and a tealight and I just forget about the tealight sometimes.

i know it's annoying when someone newth to the craft stubs their toe and is like AM I CURSED?? HAVE I BEEN HEXED? JINXED? CROSSED? DO MINE ENEMIES PRAY ON MY DOWNFALL? or whatever, but consider! that perhaps the exact opposite can happen to even the seasoned practitioner: laboring under lightly cursed conditions going "hahah I'm sure it's fine," which is just the occult ADHD equivalent of not wanting to sort your mail and putting off a task for two months before accomplishing it in fifteen minutes and being entirely relieved of symptoms. hypothetically.

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i did pick a FANTASTICALLY incorrect species for that concern, didn't i? like one of THE most sociable birds of all time...much to think about...much to learn...

I have to say that getting a wizard fursona was the best witchcommunity decision I ever made. Not only are there the obvious magical implications (feel free to wildly speculate) but on a regular basis people will simply send me curated chicken content which I never would have laid eyes upon otherwise. You too can have this power. Avatar + Part of your name, that's all it takes. Doesn't even have to be your blog name.

[cafeconbrujeria]

i know it's annoying when someone newth to the craft stubs their toe and is like AM I CURSED?? HAVE I BEEN HEXED? JINXED? CROSSED? DO MINE ENEMIES PRAY ON MY DOWNFALL? or whatever, but consider! that perhaps the exact opposite can happen to even the seasoned practitioner: laboring under lightly cursed conditions going "hahah I'm sure it's fine," which is just the occult ADHD equivalent of not wanting to sort your mail and putting off a task for two months before accomplishing it in fifteen minutes and being entirely relieved of symptoms. hypothetically.

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fuck hussle culture, the toad to success is to sleep well, eat well and have fun

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read historical sources, like the actual runic poems.

Dr. Jackson Crawford does a lot of good work re: Norse everything, though he is specifically an academic, not a practitioner--but he gets a lot of asks from practitioners and the misinformation floating around annoys him so much that he does engage in discussion about this directly. And his translation of the Havamal is really good.

but seriously! just read the rune poems. literally all on wikipedia. short. easy to read.

the thing is, you have to read these and think about how to apply 7th century concepts to what you're doing. but that's not hard and you will be MUCH better off than you would be just swallowing up someone's absurdly unsourced not even reconstructionist bullshit (that is probably also mad racist). it just requires a willingness to read and think instead of relying on someone else's assumed authority. And with the Norse in particular, there really are a lot of racists around, which is a shame. It's a rich and fascinating cultural context and imo the runes are very chatty, as far as divination systems go.

Good day! What is the best way to learn rune magic for a beginner? Thank you!

I've never learned the runes so I'm afraid I can't comment. Does anyone on the dash have resources?

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I just found out about the yapok/water opossum and look at this absolute creature

Absolutely skrunkled. Truly a wretched beast. I will cherish it

[cafeconbrujeria]

fuck it maybe it's time to be a frog

I have to say that getting a wizard fursona was the best witchcommunity decision I ever made. Not only are there the obvious magical implications (feel free to wildly speculate) but on a regular basis people will simply send me curated chicken content which I never would have laid eyes upon otherwise. You too can have this power. Avatar + Part of your name, that's all it takes. Doesn't even have to be your blog name.

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jbird, it's honestly such a crime that I get to read your posts for free. i should be fasting and climbing up a mountain and getting lost in a cave about it. and if i had to, i would, but it's truly the sign of a blessed life but i do not have to. yea verily i cackled so heartily i hurt mine abdominals. thank you.

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so is it that everyone who's gone through maryaj lwa is delusional, or is it that as usual, everyone from a different cultural context isn't even invited to play?

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honey jar, petition paper treating book titles / numbers like they're names, and on the Oshun altar for me, but that's very for me. I don't think you can necessarily entirely separate the idea of good reviews and good sales, so I would still have some gold colored objects or some coins around to tie the whole thing together.

(i don't thiiiink I would do it mercurial, but insofar as I do planetary anything I basically only ever do Venusian or solar. Unless I'm doing Saturn, which works for me like I recall the sun works for you--that is, very not very best friend core, very not normal style.)

So idk, more for you--cute jar (maybe rose colored if possible), sugar/sweetener (maybe also pink if possible?), book identifiers, but also some coins or dollar bills in there, tea light on top. My short cut for both sweetening and money spells is pumpkin spice powder, so maybe some of that on the tea light, sigil in a heart shape somewhere, boom, good to go.

I mean, it's kind of a love spell, right? Venusian.

As it turns out, "ebook sales" spell is not the same thing as "leave raving 5-star reviews" spell.

How would y'all go about a spell for positive reviews? Something mercurial I imagine?