drgrim98

[drgrim98]

Rocky Seashore (1876) by Ivan Aivazovsky

[drgrim98]

“Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others.”

— Unknown

[drgrim98]

‧₊˚ ☽ ⋅ SHARING MY KNOWLEDGE OF WITCHCRAFT (PART ONE)

Moon Magick Witch Tips

Harnessing The Moon's Power for Your Hair

Scent Magick: The Power of Aromatic Alchemy (RECENT)

Storm Water in Witchcraft

Different Types of Clouds in Witchcraft

Apartment Witch Tips

3-3-3 Morning Ritual

Meditation Doesn’t Require An Empty Mind: The Biggest Meditation Myth Busted

First of the Month Rituals

Money Bowl Magick

Cleansing + Recharging Your Protections and Wards Energy Vampires vs. Dark Entities: Spotting the Difference 5 Signs You're Already Manipulating Energy: Many Do These Daily Without Realizing

Graveyard Etiquette

Understanding Deity Work vs. Deity Worship and Addressing Common Fears

Deities Are Not Pokémon Cards: Stop Collecting Gods Like Trophies (RECENT)

Animal Associations with Deities Tarot Timing: Methods That Actually Work

Journaling After A Tarot Reading

Strawberries in Witchcraft

Don't Fall For These Witchcraft Scams: Red Flags You Should Know

Shedding the Light: Toxic Trends in the Spiritual and Witchcraft Community

[drgrim98]

Eyes Wide Shut (1999), dir. Stanley Kubrick

[drgrim98]

[drgrim98]

the Star: A Tarot Spread for Pursuing New Endeavors

From @sheydmade's 'Tarot Spreads for Making Decisions, Forging New Paths, and Pursuing New Endeavors'.

[drgrim98]

You are not born a witch, you become one.

I’ve been seeing a reemergence of the narrative that everyone is “a witch deep down” or “there’s witchcraft in all of us” this just isn’t the case and never has been. While the opportunity is available to everyone…

Not everyone will or should take it.

Witch-fire is not passed down in the blood.

It is not a gift that lies dormant in every soul, waiting to be stirred.

Folklore and history, the ways recorded in stories and confessions, say otherwise:

The powers of the witch are not innate.

They are taken, offered, or bought.

And the price is always high.

Sometimes you are tempted,

sometimes you are desperate,

and sometimes you are simply lured to say yes.

Catherine Remy of Belgium in 1603, said the Devil came to her when she was in need. He offered her power, not with force, but a touch to the forehead and chest, freely accepted. After that, she could heal, curse, and know things no ordinary person should.

(Van Haverbeke, Les procès de sorcellerie à Tournai, 1895)

In 1579, Jeanne Harvilliers of France said a dark figure came to her at night and gave her oil and powder. She rubbed it on herself and flew through the air, transformed, and brought harm to those who wronged her. She said she served him in exchange for those powers.

(Jean Bodin, De la démonomanie des sorciers, 1580)

William Barton of Scotland, said he met a woman in the woods who gave him a new name and scratched a mark into his skin. after that, he could see what others could not. he renounced his baptism and gave her his soul.

(Pitcairn, Criminal Trials in Scotland, vol. 3)

This is the witch-fire.

The black flame.

The crooked gift.

It is not within you by birth, though there are those who are oil-blooded, born to burn.

The ones that are called to this dark art and are sought after by the witching spirits, those who can smell the petroleum flowing within.

But for the fire, you go out to find it.

You trade for it.

You are engulfed by it.

And the cost?

Your name, your soul. Your place in the world as it was.

This is one of the reasons why the witches of the past were feared, because this path didn’t happen to them, they chose it. They had given themselves over to the spirits, to the night, to the woods. They weren’t forced to do it, they made a conscious decision to accept it.

You aren’t born a witch.

You become one, when you say yes to the fire

and leave the rest of yourself behind, in ashes.

[drgrim98]

Jonathan on the 12th: This thing isn't human, I just watched him scale the bloody walls like a fucking lizard, what sort of beast am I forced to be in contact with????

Jonathan on the 15th: Saw the old bastard scaling the fucking wall again and honestly fuck this shit I am so over it hope he falls actually.

[drgrim98]

May 3: Jonathan Harker leaves for the castle Dracula, for a completely normal and safe work trip

[drgrim98]

Happy Normal Trip East Day!

[drgrim98]

[drgrim98]

pan moodboard // god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, sexuality, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs.

[drgrim98]

“Time is tricky. You have whole months, even years, when nothing changes a speck, when you don’t go anywhere or do anything or think one new thought. And then you can get hit eight a day, or an hour, or a half a second when so much happens it’s almost like you got born all over again into some brand-new person you for damn sure never expected to meet.”

— E.R. Frank

[drgrim98]

Scottish Divination Practices

by autumn sierra

The Frith

The Frith—translating to “to find”—is a divination charm practice used to gain insight into the future, specifically about missing people or predicting events. Traditionally performed on the first Monday of a quarter, the frithir (seer) would stand in a doorway at sunrise, cross their hands or fingers to represent the equal armed cross, and observe the landscape for omens found in birds, animals, or weather patterns.

The Ritual of the Frith

Traditionally performed on a solstice or equinox at a liminal time such as dusk or dawn. Frithers would often fast to heighten spiritual sensitivity, as well as use Saining water to bless themselves

Frithers would step past a threshold of the home or other significant place (crossroads, old well, etc) to stand with either foot on opposite sides, symbolizing standing between two worlds

Observed images, animals, environmental phenomena, etc were used to divine answers to questions or prophesy

Saining

Although the practice of saining is used to cleanse and bless primarily through the use of smoke, water, fire, etc, it can also be used as a method of divination. During the saining, the diviner would pay close attention to the movement of smoke and flames of burnt herbs—specifically Juniper, which is a traditional saining herb.

An Dà Shealladh (Second Sight)

An Dà Shealladh is a prophetic ability occurring through visions, and was often associated with Highland seers. Those with the ability were said to see spirits, wraiths, or omens of death and misfortune which would give them insight into future events. It was said to be hereditary, and some speculate that the ability may have unfortunately become dormant in the descendants of previous seers.

Hearth Divination

Once logs had been added to the fire of the home’s hearth and burned, diviners could read the behavior of the wood in response to the flames. Sparks and cracks had varying indications, as well as ashes which could be read similarly to how one reads tea leaves.

Mirror/Water Scrying

Water and mirror scrying are popular forms of divination in modern practice. Scrying with darkened, spiritually significant bodies of water (wells, lochs, lakes, bulláns, etc) was very effective for identifying shapes and visions within the water’s reflection (or lack thereof). In a similar way, darkened mirrors—or black mirrors—are use to mimic this effect. The keek-stane, most commonly known by its mention in Raymond Buckland’s Scottish Witchcraft & Magick, is something of a cousin to the black mirrors that are most popular today in that it uses a glass lens rather than a flat pane.

Creating a Keek-Stane

Find and obtain a glass lens, preferably one from an old clock or thermometer face, or one made specifically to be just that—a lens (frequently found in the scientific community)

Black out the lens using black paint on the convex side, careful to make the color as solid as possible without streaking or trapping dust. Be sure that the convex side is completely opaque with no light passing through

Place the lens convex-side down in a protective container of choice (Buckland specifies a box) with the proper materials to keep it in place and keep it from breaking

Oomancy

Egg divination, or oomancy, was a common form of folk divination often performed at Samhainn, Latha Bealltainn, or Hogmanay. It was mostly used to predict marriage, future events, or fortune. An egg would be cracked into a bowl of water, and then the diviner would interpret the shapes made by the egg whites.

Salt and Wax Divination

This method of divination is achieved by pouring salt or hot wax into water. The patterns and shapes created through this method would then be interpreted by the diviner. This method of divination was commonly used during Samhainn and Hogmanay.

Scapulomancy

Scapulomancy is a divination method in which seers would divine the future by interpreting the shoulder blades of animals (usually sheep). Cracks, dents, and other abnormalities in the bones would change the outcomes of the readings. Some would use fire to create the cracks necessary to read the bone, and others would read the natural bone as it was following its cleaning. Scapulomancy was used for predicting weather and harvests, guidance for battles, monitoring the well being of communities, and other fortune telling.

Stone and Fairy Mound Divination

Stones, Hagstones in particular, were believed to enhance An Dà Shealladh when peered through. Visiting fairy mounds at Samhainn and listening to the wind or the whispers of the fair folk and other spirits was another way to divine the future.

[drgrim98]

If you are a pagan devoted to a deity, please live.

Continue writing about them, please keep saying their names. Please keep worshiping them. If you can’t find the strength within yourself to live for yourself, please try to live for them.

I know it’s getting scary. I think it’s going to get scarier. But please, if nothing else. Live.

Thousands of years, hundreds of genocides and crusades and decimation of culture, and yet somehow my Lords still have followers. Somehow I’ve found them. Somehow these names still have meaning. Through all of us they still remain.

Despite the efforts of centuries of suppression and control, My Lord is still alive, because I am alive.

In our fringe little cults, even when we must whisper because we cannot scream.

and maybe one day we’ll be free to frolic in fields or dance in forests while we chant without fear.

but for now, just live. Please.

[drgrim98]

At the end of this month we'll be rescheduling all the Re: Dracula episodes for re-release on their dates! If you're part way through your Dracula listen now would be a good time to finish OR just wait and rejoin the fun in May.

At the same time, we'll be moving the Re: Carmilla episodes to their own rss feed! These won't be re-released on any schedule, just moved over. If you're part way through your Carmilla listen, don't fret, you won't have to wait.

[drgrim98]

“And the executioners face is always well hidden”

Bob Dylan - A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall