crowefeathercuriosities - Tumblr blog

[crowefeathercuriosities]

It’s funny how a key tenant of my most effective attempts at magical practice is remembering that magic isn’t real, which really seems to help it work better

I love that not only does it work like that, but occultists have been writing about magic like that for like 2000 years.

[crowefeathercuriosities]

I'm not sure even academics have a conclusive definition of magic. I think trying to define magic is like trying to define love or beauty. It's difficult to get further than "it's a type of semiotic system" and even that doesn't actually tell you much. However, I do think there are things that can be usefully discussed as magic.

The question "Is X magic?" Often runs up against the fact that things can be magic and not magic at the same time, and those two definitions may not even conflict. There's this idea that X being magic must therefore exclude it from being science, religion, philosophy, etc, and I don't find that particularly useful. The idea that something is magic and only magic is like saying that something is art and only art.

A better question is "How magic is X?" Because I've found that line of inquiry produces much more interesting results. It helps zero in on how systems of magical thought manifest in ostensibly non-magical things.

Off the top of my head, here are a few good questions to ask

Are there "esoteric" skills that can be taught?

Are there non-linguistic symbols?

If so, what is the relationship between sign, signifier, and signified?

What is it like experientially? Does it change the participant in some significant way?

What is it's relationship to knowledge? Does it deal with things beyond what is considered "ordinary" human experience?

How important are theatrics to "proper" functioning of the system? Is charisma important?

Does it fuck? Read; regardless of whether it can be considered magic, does it feel like magic?

If you've checked all these boxes, you might just be dealing with magic.

[crowefeathercuriosities]

In witchcraft, you don't need to have beliefs about everything. I mean, especially if that thing has no relevance to you or your practice. But you don't have to have your own personal theories or explanations for, well, anything. "Oh so you read tarot but you can't even tell me how it works?" Sure can't, you want a reading or not?

"I don't know," "I used to think I knew but now I don't," "I'm figuring it out," "That answer isn't important to me," and "I just don't care"

are all perfectly great responses to, and truths about, questioning your own beliefs.

[crowefeathercuriosities]

Doubt is divine. It is healthy to doubt the lived experiences of witchcraft, magic, and spirit work. After all, a hypothesis which cannot be argued against is no foundation to build upon at all.

Some practitioners, when faced with the cold slap of, "what if I'm making this all up," have a go-to oh well statement. Like, oh well, at least my practice is good for my mental health.

Add your oh-well statement(s) in the tags.

[crowefeathercuriosities]

lmao okay so

thought

you know how we all encourage ppl to use divination for like, pathworking and developing their own practices and even talking to spirits and stuff like do your own work,

which in and of itself is fine I guess,

but then also like, 98% of available meanings for tarot are dominated by a few small voices of writers and bloggers who speak to generalized masses and whose opinions and ideas shift according to popular sentiment and what feeds the almighty algorithm

and like even when people are trying to do divination for themselves literally everything is being filtered through the loud voices in the front shouting about what the cards mean

like genuinely fascinating to consider how much "UPG" and personal systems are completely in the New Age biddytarot "karma and chakra" pipeline because when someone tries to summon a demon and draw a tarot card about it every single popular resource is like, "positive affirmations! personal growth is important, but may be hard. is someone important in your life? even if you don't feel how it is, many are. introspection is important, you can't go to heaven if you don't meditate"

and then that guy is like "what's up just talked to asmodeus and he's a very safe guy who supports personal growth and affirmations, also he confirmed heaven is real and we all have to meditate, coming up next my 12-part series on positive life affirmations for asmodeus devotees."

[crowefeathercuriosities]

Probably not, I'm guessing.

That wasn't really a high control group unlike what a bunch of people say; just a really poorly managed toxic environment LMAO

Afaik it was trying to target leftists, not witches. No Discord server involved either. And it was a real commune (no idea if it still is).

People call it a cult because it's a commune and people think cult = bad commune that does weird stuff. Afaik, no one in that group had any explicit control over the rest, and no one showed any signs of thought control or any other cult signs. It was just an awfully managed environment that happened to have Some spiritual people in it. They might've been new agers, which is closer to cult like, but I don't think even most of the people there were new age.

It's important to use the term "cult" correctly, or else we risk watering it down until it's hard to identify real, actual cults. Just because an environment that has some weird shit is toxic or even abusive does not mean it is a cult.

Heyo!

I hope its okay but i had a random question after seeing that “don’t get caught in a cult” and am about to have a lot of reading to do

but i wanted to ask if you ever saw something about a witch village spilling from tiktok into other witch spaces the last few years? (Like 1-3 years) Me and a couple people had a discord where we talked about the realities of a witch craft centered commune but it very quickly got out of hand and most of us left because it was VERY worrying. Im just curious if it ever stirred beyond tiktok because i cant even remember what it was called.

Either way, i hope you are having a good day/evening!

Anon, I'm gonna level with you: I've never heard of that. Then again, I also don't have a TikTok.

Any of my followers, have y'all heard of anything like this? I assume many people have tried to make witch communes, but I don't think I've heard of any of them.

~Jasper

[crowefeathercuriosities]

[crowefeathercuriosities]

I have some personal issues that make the concept of offerings and worship/praise really uncomfortable for me. Is there still a way for me to have a relationship with gods?? I feel particularly pulled to both Persephone and Hestia but I can’t stand the idea of doing offerings and speaking praise.

This seems like a question for a Hellenist. My understanding is that there's a lot of history and culture that can answer this question from a Hellenist perspective.

Since you asked me, my own perspective is: yes, it's perfectly possible to have deep and fulfilling relationships with gods without offerings/worship/praise.

I speak often about offerings in my own blog because it's a central part of my cosmology and has a distinct mystical reasoning for it and ties in to the brand of sorcery I do and my entire spirituality.

But offerings definitely aren't universal and definitely aren't standard or mandated. Nobody should feel that they have to engage in offerings or else nobody will want to hang out with them.

Again, I can't speak for Hellenists, but I don't see praisegiving as being vital, either. To be honest I'm not really sure I'd be able to form a god who demanded adoration as part of my end of the deal, like from the very beginning. I spent like almost ten years yelling at my god to get bent, so it can't be that important.

[crowefeathercuriosities]

As far as pcp goes, how would you go about creating and worshipping your own deity, if thats possible?

Hello hello!

As requested, I am tagging @alter-altars and @janhasnoplan in this answer. For convenience, I'm breaking this down into three headers - Don't Get Caught In A Cult, DIY Gods, and Religions From A Writing Perspective.

Don't Get Caught In A Cult

Cults are fucking terrible. And the worst part is, the more immune you THINK you are to them, the more likely you'll be to fall for their tricks.

The New Age to Alt-Right pipeline is a big example of this in metaphysical spaces, but many people have also drawn parallels between Jehovah's Witnesses, the Amish, or Mormons and cults - not because the model is wrong, but because groups that are cults often get away with it in many parts of the United States.

You may not be trying to start a cult for your DIY divinity, but it's important to be aware of the warning signs. People much smarter than I (or at least have the PhDs for it) have written many things about how to identify and escape cults, which brings us to:

Important Links

Steven Hassan’s BITE Model of Authoritarian Control on the Freedom Of Mind Resource Center

Mind Control - The BITE Model on the ex-cult Resource Center

The BITE Model of Cult Mind Control Explained by Joseph Sherwood on A Little Bit Human

How to Recognise a Cult; How to Avoid Cults That May Try to Convert You; and How to Leave a Cult on WikiHow

What To Do When You Realize You Accidentally Joined A Cult ​by Carrie Saum on Ravishly

How To Help A Loved One Who Joined A Cult by Stephanie Gomulka on Oxygen: True Crime

@pondering-the-kaiju's entire pinned post

DIY Gods

People have been making up gods for their needs for as long as we've had gods. Aradia (the creation of Charles Leland, fuck that dude) has one book as her source. Cernunnos appears on maybe one cauldron. People make up Greek gods all the time because there were just so many of those guys, what's one more? (Good examples of this are Mesperyian and, arguably, Makaria.) And, of course, we can't get through this without mentioning Robert Graves (fuck Robert Graves) creating the White Goddess as his wife's self-insert.

So yes, creating your own god is possible and has precedent. You could even argue that every god was created by someone at some point, because that's just how humans work. We see an idea (often because we're introduced to it by someone else), we go "Oh, that's neat!", and then we take the bits that work for us and we add new stuff that helps flesh out the divine in question. It's how Aphrodite evolved from Astarte, it's how Dionysus got developed and changed over time, and it's how we have the two Wiccan divines.

I recommend studying other religions and how they came to be, because that will also help you learn about how the gods in question came to be. Who moved where? What gods got brought along and turned into other gods? I particularly recommend looking at the Romans and how they went "Wow, everyone worships our gods but with different names! Neat!"

Important Links

Literally anything by Overly Sarcastic Productions that goes into detail about the origin of various deities (which is mostly on Red's end) - namely these ones about Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hades and Persephone and Demeter, Hermes, and Loki

Anything broadly about deity work and religion, frankly, because in the course of developing your divine figure, you'll have to come up with their offerings and portfolio and what they may help you with

Wolf Of Antimony Occultism - aka @wolfofantimonyoccultism here on Tumblr, they're creating their own religion that's really cool to see

Religions From A Writing Perspective

At heart, I am a worldbuilder. I build worlds. That's what I DO. My Kephea project is a great example of this, though I have others as well. In particular, I love building magic systems and religions.

I will accept any chance to talk about my Kephea project, but this is about building a religion. Generally speaking, religions like to talk about the following three things:

How did the world come to be?

How should we act towards one another?

What happens when we die?

Not every religion (real-world or in media) talks about all of these. Hell, some don't touch on any of them. Here's a fictional example of a religion that has some things to say: the Church of Avacyn (the plane of Innistrad in Magic: The Gathering):

Doesn't discuss how the world came to be.

Says that humans should help and protect each other from the monsters of Innistrad, which include vampires, werewolves, zombies, geists, and even other humans. Later says that humans are inherently sinful during the height of Avacyn's madness and they should be slain to save them from themselves. One archangel and her flight took that second part personally and caused a schism in the church.

Promises a Blessed Sleep that won't be bothered by undeath in either zombie or geist form. This isn't going well now that the archangel and her flight who oversees it are destroyed.

It's important to sit and think about how your religion addresses or doesn't address these questions. Is it more of a henotheistic approach, where any number of gods exist but you only worship some? Is it a monotheistic approach, where there's only a single deity? Is it a polytheistic approach, where there are many deities with a strong connecting thread? Is it an entirely different approach, like archetypes (the Mother, the Child, the Himbo), natural forces (the sun and moon, the forest, the potty pond), or something else? That's up to you.

A lot of my links here will be about polytheistic religions, because those are the ones I build the most. Yes, I have a lot of these links, because this is one of my special interests.

Important Links

On Worldbuilding: Religions [ polytheistic l Avatar TLA l Game of Thrones l Cthulhu ] by Hello Future Me/Timothy Hickson on YouTube (a written version of this video is also Part 12 in his book, On Writing And Worldbuilding volume 1)

So You Want To / Create a Mythopoeia; Fantasy Pantheon; and Stock Gods on TV Tropes

Creating a Religion Guide part 1, part 2, and part 3 on Roll For Fantasy

Common Misconceptions About Old Mythologies & Religions; Basic Tips To Create More Believable Sci-Fi & Fantasy Religions & Belief Systems; How To Create Fictional Structured Religions; and Things That Show Up In Christianity-Inspired Fiction That Aren't In The Bible on Springhole

List of religious ideas in fantasy fiction on Wikipedia

8 Tips for Creating a Pantheon for Your Novel by Jill Williamson on Go Teen Writers

How to Create God Characters for Your Fantasy World by Kathy Edens on ProWritingAid

In Summary

I didn't actually give advice, did I? I just kind of dumped a lot of my resources here. Oh well, hopefully you all get something useful out of this!

~Jasper

[crowefeathercuriosities]

A spread which can be used with most oracle and tarot decks. (Image credit dw4.me, taken directly from whiskyflavour.com) 

The glass: your current situation being affected 

The beverage: what is DOING said affecting 

The rocks: what can help bring some chill 

[crowefeathercuriosities]

[crowefeathercuriosities]

I think what you describe as 'magic' appears to be itself be completely different to what normies would label magic. I personally agree with your definition as well, but would it be possible for you to expand on why/what you think in regards to describing events that--dictionarily speaking--isn't supernatural as magic is important. Compared to solely referring to them with mundane words like placebos or pattern recognition or something like that?

Yeah of course! I use the term magic in a pretty idiosyncratic way, but I think it's a result of how the more you try to read about magic, the more you kinda realize that nobody really has a good definition of what it is. It's like this ultimate wastebasket taxon, a signifier with no stable signified, but nonetheless one with a comprehensible history to which methodologies for understanding can be meaningfully applied. (Yeah I know the word meaningfully is doing a lot of work there.)

I think magic is found in the representational. It's why a home feels safe, or why globus cruciger feels important. It's found in that gap between "Logically I know that X is happening, but nonetheless I feel Y." For better and for worse.

Like, humans are not these perfect logical machines. Being a person, as in the experience of being a person, is not always driven by logic. We are the result of a tug of war between innumerable different chemical impulses, and the result is a gap between what you Logically Understand, and how you Feel. This dissonance is sort of the seedbed where magic grows, it can produce both harmful superstition, and profound beauty. It's a garden that must be cultivated.

Also, I think magic can be conceptualized as a sort of narrative weight.

Logically, you know that there is no Real connection between the soda advertisement, and the bubbly sugar water, but through clever manipulation of signs, you might feel like there is.

Logically, you know that the people on the stage are actors, that nothing happening here is real, but fuck man Ophelia is dead that sucks.

Like, logically, we know that exchanging wedding rings doesn't literally bind anyone together, it's just a tradition we do, and it's just a little loop of metal, but to say that a wedding ring means nothing feels disingenuous. That little loop of metal is deeply, meaningfully different from every other loop of metal on earth.

[crowefeathercuriosities]

Friendly reminder to my anxious animist witches that while the tools and accoutrements of your craft may have an energetic signature that resonates with your intuition, and while you might personify them in your own perception, they are not sentient and they are not angry with you.

If you are experiencing feelings of guilt or anxiety connected to your pendulum, cards, wand, etc, that's coming from your own worry or an imagined sense of inadequacy, not animosity from the items themselves. If you feel like your tools aren't working properly, it's because there's some internal or external factor affecting your ability to focus, not because the objects are somehow refusing to work.

Please know that you are always enough and that your tools are extensions of yourself, rather than independently intelligent entities that might randomly decide to thwart you. If something doesn't work, it does not mean that you suck and everything is against you. It just means try again later. 💜

[crowefeathercuriosities]

But like how wondrous is it that we can encode meaning in symbols

Because I would say that it's actually very mundane and that most questions of semiotics are extremely fucking boring logic games and little more, certainly not magical in any meaningful sense of the word

You sound like you look at a sunset and go "it's just photons hitting my eyes, nothing special here." Find some beautiful things in the world. Joyless fuck.

[crowefeathercuriosities]

one word spells

As long as you can focus your energy and set your intention your spell should work, so I’ve designed these 5 spells using just one word for a Witch who needs a quick fix.

Mariquil

Pronounced mar-e-quil

Used to calm a temper or an upset person. From the latin word for sea, mare, and the english word tranquil. Essentially you are calling the sea inside them to be still. For better results cast with wet hands.

Univert

Pronounced Uni-var

Used for faster transport. I use it at the train station to have a shorter wait time but really its designed for traffic lights. By combining uni from universe and vert,the french word for green, you’re essentially asking the universe to make your path green.

Visididen

Pronounced Vis-e-did-en

Used to go unnoticed or invisible. Taken from the english words vision and hidden. For best results chant it softly while visualising yourself turning transparent.

Lapagna

Pronounced Lap-ag-na

Used when you just need someone to shut the f**k up but are too polite to say so. Taken from the Latin words lapis and magna, meaning stone and voice. For best results hold a stone or some earth while casting, if they’re really pissing you off just throw the stone or dirt at them.

Bavarignis

pronounced Bav-are-ig-ni

Used to strike up a conversation or to continue a conversation. Taken from the French word bavarder, which means chat, and the Latin word ignis, which means fire. Basically you’re asking for the conversation to spark or catch fire. For best results flick a lighter in your pocket or light a match.

[crowefeathercuriosities]

For the love of the craft please explain your spell correspondences beyond what they’re meant to symbolize. Saying orange means creativity is great and all, but why? Why should or shouldn’t I listen to you? I don’t want to just do the spell blindly relying on you saying it means this, I know it, just trust me bro. Even if the source is “my own experience” then say that!

[crowefeathercuriosities]

Hey there Windy, I was wondering, I am new at witchcraft ( I think I actually started years ago but only now am actually taking it more seriously and delving into it as an important part of my life - is there a need to put up protections before performing spells in general? I heard someone say that when you practice you can attract spirits just from putting yourself on the map in that way... should I be worried and take more precautions before even practicing small things that perhaps initially seem harmless? Like making a money bowl or burning a bay leaf with a wish written on it?

Thanks!

It's tempting to say, "just cast a protection and don't worry about it,"

but the idea that witchcraft is inherently dangerous,

or creates real vulnerability for witches that "normal" people don't have to worry about

should probably be questioned.

Off-handed acceptance of this belief might have more to do with cultural conditioning about the inherent evils of witchcraft and spirits than of any actual useful spirit-working lore.

I mean, a lot goes into it. Do you live in an area of high spiritual activity? Do you normally attract spirits? Do you want spirits in your life or do you actively reject that?

Some people can walk past a graveyard and get bombarded by like fifty spirits. Some people can hold a seance at a graveyard at midnight and receive zero contact.

So is it a truism that working magic automatically brings spirits into your life? No. I mean, absolutely no.

Is it a truism that working magic makes you more visible to spirits even if it doesn't attract them? Some people will say this is true. Some people will say no. Some witches are over in the corner looking at us weird for believing in spirits at all.

Are you into witchcraft because you want to make money bowls and burn bay leaves? Or are you into it because you want to have chronic low-grade anxiety that there are spirits out there waiting to force their way into your life if you make even the smallest misstep?

Work the magic you want to work. Pay attention to what's around you. Deal with problems as they arise. Question your beliefs that tell you that in this universe, putting coins in a mug and saying a rhyme makes you a target of spiritual intrusion.

Think about what role you want to play in the spirit world, whether that be a hermit who keeps to themselves, a social butterfly, or someone with a few close friends. Live your life and practice your path in such a way that supports your goals.

Put up protections if you choose to.

But if you don't, don't.