dandelionsandlavender

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Unsolicited Witch Tip 3

Want a little aid in fixing the vibes of your home? Burn yellow, blue, and white candles together. It's the perfect combination to promote peace, healing, and positivity.

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“If you are not reading the Bible with the express intent of learning how to better love God and your neighbor, you’ve already failed the most important part of being Christian” - Rev. Oliver Snow

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You said: Also, looking into old traditions is a good way to strengthen your connect with God. If you have any more questions, you can privately DM me. - where can I find information on the early traditions within Christianity? This is fascinating to me!

A good book to get is:

This book has a lot of information about old Christian traditions. I also have this in PDF form, but I am looking for a physical copy so I can make notes in it, lol.

I hope this helps.💕

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Patron Saints for World Mental Health Day

Today is reserved for, among many other things, World Mental Health Day. Raising mental health awareness is vital to helping to understand and accept the challenges we face internally.

Here are four patron saints I've picked to share that represent common mental health challenges that you can pursue intercession with!

✧ St. Dymphna, patron saint of mental health (nervous and mental afflictions), who experienced intense trauma herself in her lifetime

✧ St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, patron saint of stress relief

✧ St. Jude Thaddeus, patron saint of lost causes and desperate situations

✧ St. Christina the Astonishing, patron saint of mental illness who experienced a profound return from death after experiencing a seizure

divider by animatedglittergraphics-n-more, img edits by me.

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"So how can I like be capitalist and a Christian?" You can't. Join the darkside. Christian socialism is calling to you lmao

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Queer Christian loneliness paired with regular gay loneliness and autistic loneliness is quite the treacherous combo. Which is why I’m honestly quite surprised God would give it to Me, the Whiniest Bitch Who Ever Lived

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"not all men" you're right. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the son of God, would never treat me like this

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evangelicals being like "god made men to do This and be like This and women to do That and be like That that's just how it is" and it's just a picture of a white man and woman following traditional gender norms makes me so insane like you boring fascist fucks. god made 2 million species of beetles. god made whales, ducks, humans, and 1500 other species capable of same sex behavior. god made fish and amphibians that change sexes. god made more than 30 different intersex variations in human beings. god, in his infinite curiosity. wake up!!! fuck!!

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small prayer I wrote! check under the cut for the translation. I felt inspired to post it

Padre nostro che sei nei cieli,

Ti chiedo di aiutarmi con i miei emozioni,

che sto soffrendo tantissimo,

e non riesco più a continuare senza il Tuo aiuto,

Ti chiedo di darmi una guida,

nel nome di Gesù Cristo. Amen.

the translation!

Heavenly Father,

I ask You to help me with my emotions,

as I am suffering constantly,

and I can't keep going on without Your help,

I ask You to guide me,

in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Aphrodite loves sex workers and victims of sexual assault and intersex people and people who are insecure about their body/self harm and nonwhite people and queer people and fat people btw. pass it on

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“May your fire burn warm and bright, & may the Yule Spirits bless you this very night.”

a blessed yule & winter solstice to all those who honor this tradition, from my home to yours. - ish 💕

🐗-❄️-🥂 / 🏔️-🎄-🕯️ / 🎁-🍊-🐐

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Finished just in time for the solstice. A little unbalanced in composition because frankly I had just been fucking around and hadn’t planned to turn it into an official project. Oops.

From Susan Cooper’s poem, “The Shortest Day”:

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Ritual Gestation and Birth: A relatively low-spoons method (at least I think so) of creating powerful* servitors, enchantments, etc

*Powerful as compared to other techniques that work worse.

A common spellcasting method is to immediately deploy the spell once the casting is complete. In fact, deployment is often a part of the casting ritual in and of itself.

A different option is to keep the spell vessel in a state of magical gestation over a period of days or weeks, so that it slowly matures, gains strength, and solidifies, until it's born into this world, ushered by your hands.

This method is opposed to one where huge amounts of energy need to be raised at once. It's not a technique I'm able to manage in a sustainable way, and I find the results to be a little too... jittery.

If you are a witch who must not, or may not, raise lots of energy at once, this technique may be more manageable. It involves supervising a pot of spell, a bit like a simmering pot of stew, but overall I find it to be less of a draining process. Perhaps other people will find the same.

I believe that creating a magical seed (or embryo, if you like), and tying it to a physical object - such as a candle, crystal, piece of jewelry, charm bag, poppet, and so on - is in and of itself a powerful act of magic. This is why a candle can be enchanted, immediately burned, and still result in miraculous effects.

However, I also believe that giving the seed time to magically gestate can produce deeply powerful, effective, and long-lasting (or perhaps better to say, permanent) results. This isn't the same as completing a casting and letting the enchantment sit until you're ready to use it - it's an active process of nurturing.

Instead of immediately sending a spell to go out and work, sending it to a gestation phase is an easy change. If our spellcasting methodologies are anything alike, all you've got to do (in crude terms) is to swap out your targeting/release portion of the spell with an introduction to the magical womb, or egg, or embryonic sack, (&etc), within which the spell will grow and gain strength.

Examples:

If you direct energy as you raise it, instead of chanting, focusing, writing, or affirming that the spell goes to the target as you raise the energy, instead C/F/W/A that the spell goes into the gestational vessel.

If you gather energy and imprint/program it before you deploy it, send it to the gestational vessel instead of the target.

If you fully enchant a spell vessel (such as enchanting a candle, or creating a poppet), after the spellcasting is complete, instruct the new spell to rest and grow strong within the gestational vessel, until it's time to be fully born.

After the spell is cast, and you have magically moved the spell into its gestation phase, the spell components should be placed securely within the gestational vessel and tended to until they're ready to be born.

The "gestational vessel" is a physical object - in Traditional Witchcraft, this is most suitably the cauldron. But the gestational vessel only needs to meet a few qualifications, regardless of its ability to make campfire stews:

The gestational vessel must have a secure lid, even a makeshift lid, which blocks out the light.

It must be large enough to completely hold the physical components of the spell which it gestates.

It must be able to be stored without disruption, where no unqualified persons may accidentally remove the lid or disturb it.

Additionally:

Moving the vessel doesn't seem to typically disrupt what's growing inside. It can be taken down from a shelf, etc.; as long as the lid isn't opened without due cause.

I do not personally consecrate gestational vessels to that special purpose. I tend to use multi-use vessel which I'll use for other things later.

When the spell is inside of the magical egg (tired of saying gestation), it becomes your job to tend to it by providing energy. This can take many forms, and is an intuitive process.

Feeding the spell can be done in any manner which you usually recharge objects, or provide offerings to spirits. The line is blurred here, I think.

Feed the spell more of what you fed it in order to create it; that is, more of the same energy you raised, more of the same emotion you spent, and so on.

If preferred, feed the spell food, candle, and incense offerings. A general offering of "white light," or another creative energy, also does well here.

Intuition may advise that different foods are wanted by the spell at different times. Do with that as you please.

Those able to "tune in" to the energies of their spells and environment may find it to be very easy to keep track of the embryonic spell's hunger. Otherwise, follow a simple schedule.

I usually do not find that spells need to be fed every day, and when they require feeding, I do not find that they respond to huge amounts of energy or offerings.

Feeding about every three days is a safer bet for me.

I notice that an excess of provided energy just seems to pool up and go to waste.

A feeding may be as simple as placing a bit of your dinner next to the gestation vessel along with an offering charm, or if you're able to, lighting a single tea light.

Persons interested in psychism may have an excellent time noting the energetic change in the spell as the gestation develops.

The lid may be carefully opened to peek inside, especially if normally helpful intuition fails without peeking in; but treat the vessel gently, as if a tiny embryonic baby chicken is inside. Be quiet and gentle, and avoid disrupting the lid unless you really need to.

Ahead of time, before you even cast the spell, you should have decided how long you're going to gestate it for. Three days, or a full moon cycle, or dark to full moon, are a good bet; so is one week if you're doing a planetary thing. I find that even a shorter gestation period provides delightful results compared to doing none at all.

Intuition may advise that the spell is ready to be born early, or would like to stay a little longer.

If intuition is not your ally in these matters, follow the schedule you've set. All will be well.

The appointed time has arrived - the spell is to be born! (Celestial enthusiasts may be wise the the idea of birthing their spell at a special hour, day, or election).

Frankly, popping off the vessel lid, saying, "your time of rest is done, you are now at full power, go now and begin your duties" will perfectly suffice.

But better can be achieved.

If possible, consider employing a birthing ritual. Here are ideas, in no particular order:

Symbols of a gateway or passageway are very good, even something as simple as two stones or two candles to mark a 'gate'.

Using an actual doorway, especially moving from indoors to outdoors (or vice-versa, depending on the nature of your spell).

Using a hag stone to represent pulling the spell from the faerie world into our physical one; the reverse process of how such a stone is often employed.

Using a family tradition, or religious or cultural tradition, to celebrate the birth of a new baby; even if this tradition is only symbolically simulated through key points ("I am the grandpa of this family, and as the grandpa, I announce the new baby's name!")

Doing something celebratory and evocative, like that Lion King scene where Rafiki holds up baby Simba, etc.

In general, the spell should be removed from the gestation pot in a ritualistic way, glistening with the gravity of ushering new life into this world.

The spell may be carefully taken from the vessel and passed through a doorway or liminal space; symbolically drawn through a hag stone or other physically impassable space; held up to greet the first light of the day, or the light of a certain moon phase; be passed over a fire; or any number of ritualistic acts to denote movement into a new phase of life.

At this time, you should magically assert that the spell is born, and ready to do its task.

Of course, you do more. And in these matters, I find that more is better.

A christening ceremony, or a baptism, is most excellently employed to further empower this new life to be a living being in our world, capable of great influence and change - as we all imagine our children will be.

A bit of anointing oil, a touch of holy water, a formal naming ceremony ("I name you, My Paycheck is Cleared. Your name is My Paycheck is Cleared."), whatever you like - especially include a small gift to the spell (perhaps a few coins to set it on the right path in life), or - I suppose this post has gotten long enough. You can perhaps imagine what more could be done.

When all is said and done, employ the spell; light it if it's a candle, whisper things to it if it's a poppet, hang it up if it's supposed to be hung up, and so on.

Do mind that such things, having being born into this world and given real life, do not tend to quit it so quickly as only bornless energies that are diffused just as they were raised; like waves, forming and dissipating.

Things with birthdays and names and birthday presents and baptisms and godparents tend to feel as if this world is theirs, too.

I am generally not very much of a "be careful" sort of poster, but for this sort of technique, I'd recommend being careful. It really does work fantastically, and that's the problem.

Feed the spell with your blood at the moment of conception, and at the moment of birth, for something extra delightful.

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Honoring the Spirits of Home: Creating Sacred Spaces for the Unseen

Welcome back, Seekers! Within my local coven, we are journeying through the mysteries of Spirit until Winter Solstice. Today, I introduced the art of crafting Spirit Houses, and I thought it would be fitting to share a bit of that here. I like to keep these crafty posts simple and open-ended, leaving space for the practitioner to add their own touch. The best magick often arises from just diving in and letting your intuition guide the way. May this inspire you to connect, create, and explore! 🌙✨

As witches, we work with spirits every day, whether we realize it or not. Our homes, like ourselves, are steeped in the spirit world, alive with layers of unseen inhabitants that have their own roles, wisdom, and stories to tell. For many of us, it’s a quiet understanding that a witch’s home should be haunted—not in the fearful sense, but filled with life that pulses in harmony with our craft. From ancestral guides and house spirits, to the land’s ancient beings, these entities weave themselves into the very fabric of our spaces, enriching them with energy and presence.

Regardless of whether a home is newly built or weathered by decades, each dwelling becomes imbued with spirit. There’s an existing ecosystem of energies that connect to the land itself, the history of the area, and the layers of life that once lived or passed through. These spirits, sometimes subtle, sometimes profound, thrive within the space we call home, coexisting with us and enhancing our magick. But it is up to us to nurture a balanced and harmonious relationship with them.

Why Connect with the Spirits of Your Home?

Developing a deep, reciprocal relationship with the spirits of your home doesn’t just benefit your craft; it offers blessings for everyone under your roof. When these spirits feel acknowledged and respected, they offer protection, lend strength to your magickal workings, and create an atmosphere of peace and nourishment. A home can truly feel like a sanctuary when the spirits that dwell within it are in harmony with those who reside there in the flesh. This connection turns your space into an anchor—a place of personal power, healing, and resilience.

Building Friendships with Spirit

Nurturing relationships with spirits requires time, care, and a commitment to reciprocity. Just as with human friendships, there is a cycle of giving and receiving. Spirits respond to sincere attention and intention, as well as the gifts and gestures we offer them. One meaningful way to foster this connection is by creating a spirit house or a dedicated space where spirits can feel welcomed and honored.

A spirit house is both a physical symbol and a spiritual anchor. It becomes a place where offerings can be left, and it serves as a gateway for interaction with the spirit world in a respectful and clear manner. It’s a way of saying, “You are welcome here, I honor your presence, and I seek your guidance and protection.”

Creating Your Spirit House

Designing a spirit house is a creative, personal process. It need not be elaborate; sometimes, the simplest gestures carry the deepest respect. You may choose a small altar, a shelf, or even a discreet box placed in a peaceful corner of your home. Consider using natural materials—wood, clay, or stone—as they tend to resonate well with spirits of place. Personalize it with items like stones from your land, soil, dried herbs, or even water from a local stream. Each addition builds a bridge between your energy and the spirits you invite into your home.

When crafting your spirit house, remember that offerings and gifts can strengthen this relationship over time. Spirits, like friends, appreciate time, energy, love, and tokens of appreciation. Remember, spirits are aware of intention as much as they are of the physical offering, so approach this creative expression with reverence and sincerity.

For my spirit house, I’ve chosen to weave in unsea, or “old man’s beard,” gathered lovingly from my mother tree, a sacred link to the ancient and wise energies of the land. I've placed birds within the space, their forms standing as messengers and symbols of spirit, guiding and connecting with the unseen. Mushrooms, too, find their place here, embodying my bond with the natural world—grounded yet reaching into hidden realms. They carry the magick of spiritual growth, reminding me of the mystery and connection to realms beyond. Each piece breathes life into the space, deepening my relationship with the spirits I honor… and I placed a bell at the entrance, placed with the hope of hearing it softly chime as the spirits pass through.

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A modern take on magic symbols

Just an idea, but more modern spirits, and older spirits who've stuck around into the modern age probably haven't ever seen certain types of warding or other magic symbols before, or haven't seen them in a very long time. The idea that older symbols would effect them is based on the supposition that the symbol itself is inherently magical, as opposed to the practitioner's own intent or interpretation.

But, if we consider intent, and/or interpretation as being part of how a symbol operates, and if we also consider how the spirit may interpret specific symbols, then for modern witches, might I suggest some alternative symbols for a modern warding?

A standard UK (and I think a fair number of other countries) stop sign. People see it, and boom, you feel a urge to stop. You see it, and it's not just a suggestion, it's a command. Why should it not apply to spirits? Either your own interpretation gives the symbol power, or the spirits interpretation does. Either way, right? Then we've got restricted access - use it to deny any spirits you don't want, whilst allowing the ones you do want in, because they're 'authorised personnel '. The last one I think is UK specific, (correct me if I'm wrong!) The double red line indicates that there is to be no stopping in this location at any time -- I like to think of this as working for a protective circle or threshold ward. You could also use a single red line, no stopping except at specified times, or double yellow -- no waiting at any time, and so on. For cleansing spells invoke the names of powerful modern cleaning agents as you cleanse, or invoke the names of a local refuse removal company. For exorcisms, quote trespass laws as the spell!

Don't get bogged down in the idea that tradition is inherently superior, (not to say traditional methods are bad, I use folk magic practices in ancestor veneration or in specific environments), or stuck in the idea that you can only use certain symbols in certain contexts (discounting closed practices here, if you're not of that culture, don't use their stuff!). Magic is simply a mindset, a point of view, and as such, what matters most in a practice is how you specifically view your practice!

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Guy who works with Hestia but overheats easily and has a hard time with heat

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LOW EFFORT / ENERGY WITCHCRAFT

• Carry your new tools with you to bond with them.

• Be grateful! Start your day by giving thanks to the universe/deities.

• Eat a fruit or vegetable for its magickal properties.

• Light a white candle for healing.

• Cleanse your space.

• Bless your morning coffee or tea. Stir it clockwise to charge it.

• Take care of mother Earth. Be eco-friendly.

• Use showers to visualize water cleansing you of negativity.

• Read a book. Knowledge is power.

• Use music to cleanse and boost your spells.

• Practice self care.

• Carve protection sigils or runes into your food before eating.