circeknox - Tumblr blog

[circeknox]

Don’t EVER use the Gods to justify your hatred

Racism is not divine, and neither are you. May you rot with your beliefs and fester

[circeknox]

Hello, my loves

It has been a long time since I’ve used this account. I am looking to be more active again, but I am not sure what I am looking to do on here. I am still growing with my craft, but I was wondering what you all are looking to see. Please reply or message me with ideas, questions, and any other comments you may have

Love you all, 

Circe 

[circeknox]

‘Llegar Al Fondo’ (’Reach the Bottom’) ex libris bookplate (cropped to omit owner’s name) ~ 1904 ~ by Alexandre de Riquer (Spanish artist and poet, 1856-1920)

[circeknox]

[circeknox]

“The core of witchery is about tapping into a creative life-force that is ancient, non-human (though we are a part of it), intelligent, daunting, and disturbing at times, and has been the object of natural magic since the beginning of the human quest to understand and even manipulate these forces toward a safe, happy, and healthy life.”

- Orion Foxwood The Flame in the Cauldron: A Book of Old-Style Witchery

[circeknox]

♡

[circeknox]

florence welch: forest goddess, queen of the fae

hozier: florence's son with a mortal woodcutter, trapped between the mortal realm and the fae realm

lorde: dark entity summoned by victorian occultists

lady gaga: diva possessed by the spirit of a modern art exhibit

beyonce and solange: the sun and the moon

kanye west: protagonist of an epic greek tragedy

lana del rey: met the devil at the crossroads and sucked his dick

carly rae jepsen: a mortal, but we don't deserve her

[circeknox]

[circeknox]

More Grimoire Ideas

Hey all! I have compiled a few more ideas for your grimoire! Enjoy! ⭐️Alchemy ⭐️Knot magick ⭐️Info on the astral plane and astral projection ⭐️How to cast a circle ⭐️Meditation and grounding techniques/tips/purpose ⭐️Self care ⭐️Info on the fae (if you are into that) ⭐️Chants and songs ⭐️Song lyrics to turn into spells or prayers ⭐️Wheel of the year (holidays) ⭐️Essential oil uses ⭐️Substitutes for spells ⭐️Chakras ⭐️Witchy DIYs ⭐️Charm bags and spell bottles ⭐️Protection charms/spells ⭐️Hexes ⭐️Safety tips ⭐️Ideas for spells ⭐️Zodiac info ⭐️Animals and their powers and associations ⭐️Interactions from your day (that seem important/ suspicious/magickal) ⭐️Your traits/symbols (your element(s), flower, animal, etc) ⭐️Tarot spreads

Once again, I am going to be posting more soon, so look out for them! If you don’t understand something or want further explanation for anything I mentioned here, feel free to drop an ask! I will respond ASAP. 🌛🌕🌜

[circeknox]

BOS Entry: Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila)

Planet - Mercury & Venus

Element - Air & Water

Zodiac - Gemini

Holiday - Imbolg

Season - Spring

Uses in Magic:

 For free flowing communication and creativity

 To open clear lines of communication between couples, in love spells.

 Instill a strong bond in friendships

 To release the truth, no matter the consequences.

 It represents a true heart and everlasting love

 Attracts the Fae into magical workings

 Symbolizes peace, love, and unity

[circeknox]

Tarot Cheat Sheet

The Fool: Beginnings, innocence, spontaneity, free spirit. Reverse: Naivety, foolishness, risk-taking

The Magician: Power, skill, concentration, action, resourcefulness. Reverse: Manipulation, poor planning, latent talents.

The High Priestess: Intuition, higher powers, mystery, subconscious mind. Reverse: Hidden agendas, listen to inner voice.

The Empress: fertility, femininity, beauty, nature, abundance. Reverse: Creative block, dependence.

The Emperor: Authority, father-figure, structure, foundation. Reverse: Domination, excessive control, rigidity, inflexibility.

The Hierophant: Religion, group identification, conformity, tradition, beliefs. Reverse: Restriction, something to shake up routine.

The Lovers: Love, union, relationships, aligned values, choices. Reverse: Disharmony, imbalance, misalignment of values.

The Chariot: Control, willpower, victory, assertion, determination. Reverse: Lack of control and direction, aggression.

Strength: Strength, courage, patience, control, compassion. Reverse: Weakness, Self-doubt, lack of self-discipline.

The Hermit: Soul-searching, introspection, alone, inner guidance. Reverse: Isolation, loneliness, withdrawal.

The Wheel of Fortune: Good luck, karma, life cycles, destiny, a turning point. Reverse: Bad luck, negative external forces, out of control.

Justice: Justice, fairness, truth, cause and effect. Reverse: Unfairness, dishonesty, unaccountability.

The Hanged Man: Restriction, letting go, sacrifice. Reverse: Martyr, indecision, delay.

Death: Endings, beginnings, change, transformation, transition. Reverse: Resistance to change, inability to progress.

Temperance: Balance, moderation, patience, purpose, meaning. Reverse: Imbalance, excess, short term vision.

The Devil: Addiction, sexuality, materialism. Reverse: Detachment, breaking free, reclaimed power.

The Tower: Disaster, upheaval, sudden (brutal) change, revelation. Reverse: Avoidance of disaster, fear of change.

The Star: Hope, spirituality, renewal, inspiration, serenity. Reverse: Lack of faith, despair, discouragement. 

The Moon: Illusion, vision, dreaming, fear, anxiety, insecurity, subconsciousness. Reverse: Release of fear, unhappiness, confusion.

The Sun: Fun, warmth, success, positivity, vitality. Reverse: Temporary depression, lack of success.

Judgement: Judgement, rebirth, inner calling, absolution. Reverse: Self doubt, self blindness.

World: Completion, integration, accomplishment, travel. Reverse: Incompletion. Lack of closure.

[circeknox]

Why the Major Arcana Aren’t Majorly Useful (And How to Make Them Moreso)

The Major Arcana are often my students’ favorite part of Tarot Cards – and that’s fair. They’re usually the most highly illustrated cards in a deck and since they have no parallel in playing cards, they often seem more mystical.

But my incredibly unpopular opinion is that they are not terribly useful.

When a person asks for a reading, they generally want to know some version of what’s going on now and how things will end up. The function of the Major Arcana doesn’t align very well in answering those questions as they often speak to self-development on a very high level.

Not every person who comes to you asking about their love life will be wrestling with all the lessons inherent in the Tower card. They’re more often than not going to hear that a new relationship is developing nicely, that a break up is imminent, or that their baggage is causing problems.

So how do the Major Arcana fit into a reading then?

The Major Arcana as a Journey

There are two key ways I use Major Arcana in a reading.

The first is as an insight to where in the “cycle of enlightenment” a person is/was/will be.

The Major Arcana can be read as the Fool’s journey to enlightenment or self-actualization. The first 10 cards represent the Fool’s development materially – learning skills, gaining power, and losing it all. The second 10 follow their journey for deeper meaning and satisfaction with life – the actual nature of justice, identity, and the universe. The Fool and The World are two sides of the same coin. Only someone who’s seen the true nature of the World can know what a Fool they are. And the cycle repeats.

Learning the Major Arcana in this context can help you better remember them narratively.

Practice: Place your cards out like the diagram. Read each of the meanings of the “material” Major Arcana cards, imagine the Fool becoming each of the figures in the cards, and write a summary of the events. Then do the same with the “spiritual” Major Arcana Cards.

  The Major Arcana as a Series of Teachers

The other way I work with the Major Arcana is through understanding them as a series of teachers and gifts. This works well when they show up outside of an action or time oriented slot in a reading.

This is probably closer to how most people I’ve seen read them and I definitely still use it.

Practice: Meditate on the lessons of each Major Arcana card. Summarize how you would teach that lesson to another person and write it down.

  The Major Arcana as Dualities

This one has limited usefulness but I still find it comes in handy when I need to better explain why a card has shown up in the reading to a querent. Sometime this is best done by beginning to “read vertically” – something I’ll cover in a future post – with the Major Arcana.

Say the Empress shows up in a reading in the past slot. Knowing that she is 3 in the material sequence and 3 in the spiritual sequence is Death, I can begin to explain that the reason this card has shown up here is because of the cycle of death and rebirth and the querent in the past was at the beginning of that cycle either as a steward for someone else or their own (re)birth. It adds a bit of depth and perspective.

I use this more for some pairings than others. Sometimes this doesn’t work perfectly but it can be a useful lens to look at them through.

Practice: Take each pair starting with 1 and 11. Read their meanings and see if you can sense their dual nature. If you do and it seems useful, jot down some notes about how the two relate to each other.

I hope this helps! If you have any questions, let me know!

*I never claim my way is the one true way. Take what is useful and leave the rest.

**If you wind up using this stuff in another setting, I’d really appreciate it if you could cite me. This is my art. Don’t steal, please credit.

[circeknox]

Spirit Communication Tarot Spread 🌸🌷💀🌼🌙

Last week while picnicking, some witchy friends and I stumbled upon an almost complete skeleton of a whitetail faun. We gathered the bones, and I took home the skull and a few other pieces. I scoured the internet but couldn’t find any tarot spreads on (respectful & consensual) communication with animal remains, so I took the liberty of creating one myself and sharing it with all of you! Forgive my awful spread sketch, it’s nearly 4am and I’m more than a little sleepy!

🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿

I started off with a quick pendulum reading, just asking the spirit if they were willing to talk with me and making sure they were ready to discuss their passing with me.

•Cards 1-4: Basically a little “Tell me about yourself” exercise. Each card tells you something about the spirit, card #4 being the most important. •Cards 5-9: “How can I honor you?” These cards represent a way that you can honor the spirit of the animal you’re connecting with and how you can best make them feel respected and appreciated, card #9 being the most important. •Cards 10-12: How the animal passed of from the physical plane of existence. It’s important to note, that not all spirits are ready or comfortable talking about their passing, so please be respectful and kind. •Cards 13-16: Anything else the spirit wants you to know about themself. This can be anything from how they feel regarding their passing, to places they frequented as a living creature.

🌿🌿🌿 Let me know if you use this spread; I’d love to hear about other people’s experiences communicating with animal spirits and how they use their cards to connect with other beings!

[circeknox]

Tarot Hacks

(DISCLAIMER: I didn’t invent most of these, just accumulated a lot from across the internet amongst other resources)

When something isn’t going your way: find The Wheel of Fortune, the cards on either side are the solution to the problem

To bring wealth; shuffle then pull the 1st, 5th, 10th, 20th, and 50th cards

When a romantic relationship is turning rocky; shuffle and find The Lovers, the cards on either side are the root of the problem

When you need to make a decision; shuffle, then find the 2 of Swords, the cards on either side are the different outcomes

When you’ve done fucked up shuffle then find The Fool, the cards on either side are how to fix the problem

Make a wish and draw a card

To get a glipse at your future; find your birth cards, then check out the cards laying underneath

[circeknox]

Reading Tarot Cards Without Spreads

I’ve been putting off writing this post for a while because every time I go to draft it I realize that I don’t have fully have words to explain how I intuit cards without spreads. Normally, when I suggest it to students, they come up with their own unique way so I think it’s totally possible to learn by just diving in and trying it. I’ve taken some extra time lately though to really dig into what it is I do but I still feel like I come up short. So I present this as best I can and I might come back and add notes or revise it later as I have new realizations. In the meantime, here are my thoughts.

Drawing 1 – 4 Cards

For me, when I’m only drawing a few cards, there’s no real placement to read. I almost always take them as “This is what’s going on” or “This is what you need to know”. I use these more as a dialog between me and a spirit or me and the universe. So, for instance, I might pull 3 cards for “What’s going on?” and realize I’m neglecting my physical health and the reasons why. Then I can either stop and problem solve on my own with that new perspective or pull another set with a new question like “What do I need to do?”

It’s conversational and I like it because it really breaks the idea of one card answering one question that you get used to when you read with spreads. I think that’s really vital, especially if you’re doing lengthy interactive readings for querents who might request follow up cards or clarifications cards. When you get out of the “1 card for 1 question” mentality, that process becomes much more intuitive and smooth.

So there’s not much to add here. I really see drawing a few cards like a conversation with a person. They’re not going to always sit there and tell you a story in order – they’re going to highlight how they felt, what it meant, the why and the how. It’s very similar in my experience with pulling a few cards without a spread.

Drawing 5 + Cards

This is where I realized I’ve built up a combination of frameworks in my head for when I pull a lot of cards with no spread. A lot of people will say look at where the characters in the cards face to draw connections, count the major arcana and court cards to know how many people are involved – and I think that style can be really fruitful but it’s not what I know so I’ll let others speak more to that.

I do recommend pulling cards and not flipping them over until you’re done laying as many as you feel are needed for a question, just to prevent yourself from trying to make the story as you lay them down, but it will work just fine usually either way.

This is a rough diagram of how I interpret them.

Observant readers may note similarities between this diagram and my spiraling spread. It’s true they both inform each other, but the difference is that I’m not drawing a card for every “spot” on this diagram. I lay out the cards and then determine their meaning relative to each other rather than the numbered spot they occupy.

For instance, spreads done this way are often bottom or top heavy, pointing toward either a lot of outside influence or a lot of deeply rooted shadow self/unconscious blocks. They’re often left or right heavy too, meaning either the past was particularly relevant to the present or the universe is gearing up for some big shit in their/your life. There might be several cards in the self/present spot which might point to leading a double life or the strain of conflicting roles. I will generally let the suit of the present/self cards determine the area of life the reading is most relevant to.

If a querent is more interested in what to do at the end of a spread like this, then I might use one of my quick diagnosis spreads to gain a little more insight. Or draw 1-4 cards conversationally like I described above.

Conclusion

The real pro of reading without spreads is the flexibility of it. It really helps develop intuition and pattern regconition. It’s also super helpful for developing your own regular spreads. Several of my quick diagnosis spreads were patterns I kept seeing so I codified them into an actual spread. I really hope you try reading without spreads. Borrow from this method if you like, but I think developing personal systems works the best.

Best of luck!

*I do not claim my way is the one true way so take what is useful and leave the rest.

**If you wind up using this stuff in another setting, please credit me. This stuff is my art. Don’t steal, please credit. Thanks!

[circeknox]

Empath jar - shakable &/or sniffable

Things you’ll need:

Crystals

Carnelian crystal (shards or whole) : grounds you into reality, positivity, motivation, helps you trust your perceptions, banishes negativity, sharpens concentration, improves analytical skills

Amethyst crystal (shards or whole): protection against psychic attacks + negativity, enhances consciousness, strong healer/cleanser, transmuting energy into love

Candles

White: balance, peace

Black: protection from negativity

Yellow: Happiness, confidence, energy

Dark blue: helps fight against depression

Light blue: patience, happiness, harmony

Orange: energy, cleansing, courage, Rids person or area of negativity

Rose/pink: compassion, love, joy, endurance, stability, healing, security, forgiveness

Essential oils

Lavender: peace, happiness, balances emotions, clears negativity

Geranium: love, protection, anxiety

Rose: mood enhancer

Other

A small jar, vial ect. that you can seal

Steps

Melt some of your white candle over the top of your jar so the wax falls inside and fills it as much as you want, let it dry

Melt some of your black candle over the top of your jar so the wax falls inside and fils it as much as you want, let it dry

Add 1-3 drops of Geranium essential oil

Melt some of your yellow candle over the top of your jar so the wax falls inside and fills it as much as you want, let it dry

Melt some of your dark blue candle over the top of your jar so the wax falls inside and fills it as much as you want, let it dry

Add 1-3 drops of Rose essential oil

Melt some of your light blue candle over the top of your jar so the wax falls inside and fills it as much as you want, let it dry

Melt some of your orange candle over the top of your jar so the wax falls inside and fills it as much as you want, let it dry

Add 1-3 drops of Lavender essential oil

Melt some of your Rose/pink candle over the top of your jar so the wax falls inside and fills it as much as you want, let it dry

Add your shards/whole carnelian and amethyst on the top

How to use:

Keep sealed between uses

Smell or shake when needed

Ideas on when to use

Use before bed and upon waking up

Bring to school and/or other crowded places

Bring to new places you’ve never been before

Use during meditation

Let a pet sniff it

[circeknox]

help me out ☄

hey, tarot readings are currently only 1.30$ per card! I’m incredibly broke right now so buying one would really help me out! Or sharing this would help too. Thank you!