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khajiit-spelltome · 2 months ago

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Constellation Correspondences

[updated 12.13.24]

Andromeda - power, removing barriers, release, letting go

Aquarius - innovation, luck, rebellion, intellect, curiosity

Aquila - guidance, psychic work, astral travel

Ara - hearth, home, devotion, refuge, protection

Aries - fertility, abundance, protection, banishing

Auriga - wisdom, knowledge, storm warding

Boötes - inspiration, nature, storm warding

Cancer - astral travel, dreamwork, psychic abilities, imagination, creativity, subconscious desire

Canes Venatici - companionship, faithfulness, protection, healing

Canis Major & Canis Minor - death, renewal, new beginnings, protection, purification

Capricornus - harvest, energy, abundance

Cassiopeia & Cepheus - balance, relationships, love, union, healing, maternal conflict (Cassiopeia), and familial/home conflict (Cepheus)

Centaurus - balance, duality, healing, wisdom

Cetus - power, intelligence, communication, change, growth, happiness

Columba - peace, relaxation, fidelity, devotion, marriage, union

Corona Australis - emotions, love, spirituality, success, manifestation of goals

Corona Borealis - guidance, protection, knowledge, divination, success, manifestation of goals

Corvus - wisdom, secrets, duality, prophecy, divination

Crater - life, emotions, abundance

Crux - elemental energy, crossroads, decision-making

Cygnus - light, death, transformation, prophecy, self-esteem

Delphinus - intelligence, wisdom, truth, releasing negativity, fertility, safe travels

Draco - wisdom, power, knowledge, prosperity, luck, protection

Eridanus - life, health, abundance, power, wisdom, transformation, meditation

Gemini - balance, change, transition, increased power, banishing

Grus - death, rebirth, mysticism, truth, divination

Hercules - wisdom, creativity, strength, energy

Hydra/Hydrus - life, reproduction, forces of nature, power, healing, transformation

Leo - power, protection, courage, strength

Lepus - abundance, swiftness, wisdom, divination, hidden knowledge, transformation, lunar magic

Libra - balance, healing, legal matters

Lupus - power, purpose, loyalty, protection

Lynx - isolation, purification, cleansing, illumination, insight, hidden knowledge, swiftness

Lyra - underworld, enchantment, immortality of the soul, music

Monoceros - beauty, freedom, love, luck, spirituality, transformation, wisdom, creativity

Ophiuchus & Serpens - healing, balance, the flow of energy

Orion - self-confidence, strength, victory, winter storms

Pegasus & Equuleus - travel between realms, contacting the dead, astral travel, divination, psychic abilities

Perseus - hope, desire, wishes, manifestation, power

Phoenix - change, cycles, transformation, rebirth, renewal, personal growth

Pisces - creation, fertility, union, creativity

Piscis Austrinus - prophecy, divination, inspiration, astral travel, wisdom, otherworldly knowledge

Pleiades, the - mysticism, power, higher consciousness, wisdom, awareness

Sagittarius - mental stimulation, virility, sexuality, physical energy, power, skill, manifestation of goals

Scorpius - protection, the underworld, creativity, transformation, psychic abilities

Taurus - abundance, regeneration, power, strength, potency

Triangulum - balance, change, transformation

Ursa Major - protection, strength, survival, exile, familial love

Ursa Minor - renewal, rebirth, awakening, strength

Virgo - rebirth, harvest, regeneration, prosperity

source

#correspondences

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khajiit-spelltome · 2 months ago

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Shufflemancy 101: A Brief History & Analysis

Hey! If you like my work and want to support me in my quest for divination theory, digital tools, algorithmic quandries, and research into niche divination tools, consider throwing dollars at my Ko-Fi tip jar! Every contribution helps me keep making posts like this one. (You can also read this post over on Ko-Fi!)

The difficulty with researching something like shufflemancy is that it's a relatively modern phenomenon. I haven't yet found anyone (online or in a book) specifically talking about the origins of shufflemancy as a term or where it might've come from.

So, we start from square one.

What is Shufflemancy?

According to Wikipedia, shufflemancy is divination "by the use of an electronic media player such as an electronic playlist, iPod, or other medium wherein one skips a certain number of songs and the lyrics and/or tune of the song is the answer to the divinatory question."

Simple enough. Use an electronic collection of music that's been shuffled to divine.

This did lead me to the question: What counts as shufflemancy? Does tuning into a radio station count?

It's my opinion that radio divination does not count. There's no shuffle function. Yes, it has an element of chance, and that's what makes it divination. It certainly falls under the wider umbrella of divination via music, too. But it isn't shufflemancy if it doesn't make use of a shuffle function.

So, to make things simple, for something to be shufflemancy, it must:

Use an electronic medium

Involve a randomized shuffle function

Be something the shufflemancer can interpret to answer a question (pretty much anything)

Early Shufflemancy

The earliest form of shufflemancy as we understand it today, using the above requirements, would probably be tape players capable of shuffling music. With the nature of tape, it would take a while for the thing to wind and rewind to find the cue on the tape which signaled the start or end of a song, but it'd work.

With that said, shuffling as we understand and recognize it today would've started with CDs in the 1980s. There were CD players that could hold three to five disks at a time. They could shuffle songs between all disks held in the player, creating a random mix of tunes for listeners to enjoy.

Using either of these methods for divination would work, technically. The results would be somewhat limited, but that doesn't mean it's a bad method to use. Especially if your CD player could hold 5 disks, you could easily put in 5 albums from different artists with all different vibes for a wider variety of outputs.

I certainly remember using my little blue radio that held two CDs at once like this. I'd put in two albums and hit shuffle, and the first song that played would be my vibe and advice for the day. It was divination -- some of the earliest I'd ever done consciously, at the young age of nine. And when I got the bigger one that held three CDs? Game changer.

So this puts shufflemancy's origins somewhere around the mid-to-late 1980s, when Sony put out the first CD player with shuffle. As we moved into the 1990s, CDs became more popular and cassettes faced obsolescence.

The Shuffle Revolution & Early Modern Shufflemancy

In 2005, Apple changed the game again. It had already debuted the iPod in 2001, providing an easy, pocket-sized music experience as a direct challenge to the CD's cultural domination. On January 11, 2005, nearly 20 years ago, Apple announced the iPod Shuffle.

And oh, boy, did it change everything.

I could talk forever about the iPod's impact on the music industry, the death of the in-order album, and the eventual rise of music streaming services. But others have done that to death, so I'll focus in on our topic of shufflemancy.

This is where we start seeing shuffling music as it is now, in the modern day. In my digging, I found mentions of the term "shufflemancy" as early as 2007 -- just two years after the iPod Shuffle was announced. Someone proposed the concept and terminology of "shufflemancy" as we understand it today on a Halfbakery Forum "Idea" post on October 3, 2007.

It's difficult to say whether this is the first instance of the term. In reality, shufflemancy seems to have emerged as a natural by-product of the evolution of music technology. Where there is innovation, witches and diviners will mold it to their purposes. We're a resourceful bunch like that. It grew organically as we moved from buying albums to buying singles to streaming music without buying at all.

People were offering public shufflemancy readings as early as 2009 in places like TarotForum.net. It's spoken about during this era as a "silly" and "new" form of divination that people were trying out. There aren't any dates in that link, but according to the website's data, the first post in the thread was published on June 16, 2009.

From there, shufflemancy saw a gradual rise in popularity. It evolved from using iPods to iTunes, Napster, and eventually Spotify as these new applications emerged.

Shufflemancy Now

If you look up "shufflemancy" using Spotify's search function, you'll receive dozens of results. Many of the top playlists are public ones curated by shufflemancers for themselves and others to use. Options range from general playlists to "mega mixes" containing upwards of 200 hours of music from all different genres, artists, and eras. There are some with a paltry five hours of music, while one that I've seen goes up over the 600 hour mark. (If I can find that one again, I'll reblog it, because... damn.)

Select a "messages from your guides" option from the search or curate your own -- the choice is yours. For one-time shufflemancers, using a pre-made option may be the best, most economical choice. But dedicated shufflemancers sometimes boast multiple hundred-hour playlists for different purposes, all personally curated.

Clearly, it's popular. There are shufflemancers on Tumblr and Etsy offering free and paid services using their specially curated playlists. A quick search is all you need to find someone receiving a divinatory reading via song lyrics, meanings, and vibes. And it seems to work -- sellers on Etsy boast hundreds of positive reviews. Some even offer playlist curation services for personal shufflemancy or messages from deities and/or spirits.

It all begs the question, how does shufflemancy work?

Shufflemancy Methodology

Finding this is significantly easier than pinning down the history of shufflemancy. This post from Tumblr user orriculum, sums it up fairly well. So does this one by the-daily-diviner.

To do shufflemancy, the basic steps are:

Create or find a playlist of songs. A large collection seems to be the most favorable option for a wide spread of possibilities.

Ask a question. Divination 101 -- figure out what you want to know and ask it. Simple enough.

Pick a number. Choose any number and shuffle that many times or skip that many songs.

Listen to the song. Write down lyrics that stick out, messages that come through, and anything else that seems relevant (genre, tempo, vibe, etc.)

Interpret. Take the information gathered during the song and use it to draw conclusions, just like any other form of divination.

Simple enough. Shufflemancy is the sort of method that requires a high level of intuitive thinking. It's very mutable and suits a good amount of personalization.

This is both good and bad, I think. It would be incredibly easy to create a bias in your shufflemancy playlists by selecting songs with primarily one genre, artist, album, emotion, or through-line. The ideal playlist really does have a wide variety of music, and this means selecting songs that the shufflemancer doesn't necessarily like. We all have a genre or artist we hate; excluding an entire genre skews results. Impartial selections of music are critical to the success of good divination. Otherwise, we risk interfering with the outcome.

And speaking of interfering...

The Algorithm Problem

(Note: I'm focusing in on Spotify since it's very commonly used and because it's accessible to me. Shufflemancy can be (and is!) done with plenty of other apps like Apple Music.)

When Spotify was originally launched, it used a version of the Fisher-Yates Shuffle to perform its shuffling of music. In essence, this algorithm takes a finite sequence of data, picks an option from that selection of data, and removes it from the pool. Then, it picks another and another until no more options remain.

At first glance, this seems great! It creates a fairly random output. But as is the nature of randomness, there were clusters. The same artist would play four or five times in a row from a large playlist, and Spotify users complained. It was random, but it didn't feel that way.

The human brain is wired to find connections and patterns. When the same artist plays over and over again despite a playlist being on shuffle mode, it creates a pattern that the brain recognizes. Therefore, the "true" randomness of clustering outputs was unsatisfactory.

So, in 2014, Spotify updated it. Their new algorithm would detect and remember the song it just played and, in shuffling, account for the artist and album to provide a more random-feeling result. The new algorithm detects what's already played and selects accordingly to prevent the same artist from playing twice in a row, just as it prevents the same song from playing twice. It spreads artists out evenly (though not perfectly, to maintain the illusion of randomness) to provide an enhanced listening experience.

What does this mean for shufflemancy, then? If Spotify's algorithm is interfering in the output provided from a playlist, does that mean it's not a reliable form of divination?

At first, I wasn't so sure. I adjusted my thinking -- if a tarot app was preventing certain cards from being drawn (or from being drawn in a particular order) because I'd already drawn them that day or week, would that render the app unreliable? And the answer was yes. It would! It removes the random element from the method, therefore making it not true divination by my definition.

So shufflemancy with Spotify isn't (good) divination, then. Right?

My Opinion & Theory

In thinking about this further, I think it comes down to personal opinion. People certainly have success with shufflemancy via Spotify, or else they wouldn't do it. They definitely wouldn't offer their services (free or otherwise) if they weren't confident in the results it provides.

Thinking that way, I believe there's a way to off-set the algorithm's interference. With enough songs in a playlist, the random element is enhanced despite the algorithm. Not by having the same song multiple times (Spotify would surely detect this and prevent it from playing), but perhaps the same song covered by different artists. Songs with the same vibe, the same meaning, similar lyrics... AND songs from a wide variety of artists and genres, regardless of whether the shufflemancer likes the songs or not.

The person with that 600+ hour playlist for shufflemancy has it right, I think. That's the key. Variety and volume to make up for Spotify's algorithmic shuffler.

Additionally, in listening to my many, many Spotify playlists, I noticed something. If I'm listening to a playlist on shuffle and decide I want a specific song, I can choose to play it immediately. Afterwards, songs I've already heard might play. It seems as though doing this resets the shuffling algorithm in some way. Doing this in combination with a large and varied playlist might be the key to making shufflemancy in Spotify truly, fully reliable.

My Next Steps

Obviously, scholarly research only goes so far in situations like this. In order to properly gauge the accuracy of shufflemancy, I'll have to do it myself.

First, I'll need a playlist. I have a handful of playlists that sit in the hundred-hour range, but they're curated with friends for specific vibes. They're not really suitable for shufflemancy. So making one for myself is step one. I'll use premade playlists as a springboard for ideas, but the end result will be my own. For transparency, I'll make the playlist public and share it as part of the next edition in this series of posts.

The next step is to just... do it. Do the divinations, and do them regularly. Instead of a daily tarot card, I'll do a daily shuffle. I'll form "spreads" and put together a more in-depth methodology that fits my style as it develops.

Then, finally, maybe public ones? For reviews and feedback, obviously. It's one thing to do divination for myself -- confirmation bias and all -- but to do it for others and to be open for immediate feedback is entirely different.

Last, it's a matter of compiling my findings into a coherent document. Easier said than done, but done it must be.

Resources

I pulled from a lot of places for this one. Massive thanks to the Crossroads Discord for listening to me yell about divination for the last several weeks. It will continue.

In any case, here are all the resources I referenced for this leg of research:

Wikipedia - The Fisher-Yates Shuffle

Wikipedia - Methods of Divination

Wikipedia - The iPod Shuffle

PopSci - History of Shuffling Music

Engineering at Spotify - How to Shuffle?

The Verge - The Mixed-Up History of the Shuffle Button

Auntie PanPan (YouTube) - Shufflemancy - What IS It?!?

Halfbakery - Shufflemancy Idea Post

Fox and Faith Wordpress - Radio Divination and Intentional Living in Your Day to Day

Scientific American - How Randomness Rules Our World and Why We Cannot See It

PC World - The CD Player Turns 30

Make Use Of - How Spotify's Shuffle Feature Really Works

Orriculum on Tumblr - Post on shufflemancy technique

The-Daily-Divinre on Tumblr - Post on shufflemancy technique

Empirical Zeal - What Does Randomness Look Like?

#cartomancy and etc

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khajiit-spelltome · 2 months ago

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Okay, my fake sockcourse post has too many genuine reblogs on it, so here are some actual spirit work/cemetery-related superstitions I have and practices I do:

I never go anywhere without a head covering. I generally consider it veiling, though I'm usually in either a beanie or a baseball cap. It keeps a no-effort barrier up to keep me from hearing spirits when I don't want to be hearing them.

Anytime I visit a new cemetery, I bring a variety of options for offerings to leave at the gate: coins, bird seed, peanuts, handwritten notes, pretty stones, etc. Not all cemetery guardians want the same thing, so it's good to have options. They tend to appreciate getting to pick out their own goodies.

When making offerings, I try to have one thing representing each element (earth, air, water, fire). Again, options.

Sitting quietly in an appropriate place is a significantly more effective method of getting a spirit's attention than performing some grand ritual.

If I have to cross a bridge in a cemetery for any reason, I hold my breath. If I have to go under a bridge, I set my hand atop my head until I'm out the other side.

If I walk or drive by a cemetery, I remain silent until I've passed by out of respect for the resting dead. It'd piss me off if some guy went by chattering away while I'm trying to sleep.

Within the confines of a cemetery, graveyard, or other place sacred to the dead, I keep my voice low at all times and stay as silent as possible. Similar reasons as the above, but also so that I can hear and feel more clearly. You can't listen if you're talking, you know?

I always ask permission before bringing divinatory tools, magical items, or ritual supplies into any place where the dead have been buried. I ask again before starting anything, since permission to bring something in isn't always permission to perform an action.

Aaaaaand a whole bunch of other stuff.

#cemetery work

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khajiit-spelltome · 2 months ago

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hey chicken! any good tips on cursing someone?

I got a few for ya' in the old grab bag of henpeckery.

Listed in no particular order.

One is generally advised to not curse another magical practitioner, especially one who Knows What They're Doing. But if hands must be thrown, ensure you have more than a couple wards up to break malefica - and if this person is in your friend group, under no circumstances can you accept gifts or food from them (and destroy anything they have given you). Do, however, try to give them gifts and pre-cursed foods.

Giving someone a cursed object or cursed food is an excellent way to get the job done. There's something very fairy-like in the way magic can work: by accepting the gift, they accept the curse, and it circumvents many natural defenses.

Perhaps more than any other form of magic, it does to pre-divine on the matter to see what outcome will occur. I highly encourage this when the cursing is done as a form of self-defense, because sometimes some forms of malefic magic can be fuel on the fire of abusive situations. However, even a practitioner of slight power can cause serious harm with a curse - perhaps more damage than intended. It's really just best to measure twice, as it were.

As with many spells, create for yourself a little indicator that the spell has worked. For example, wear one of those brittle hematite rings. If it breaks, the spell has become manifest. This is especially lovely if the person to be cursed is outside of your social circle and you don't have access to see if your manifestation worked.

Cleverness is all well and good, as is poetic justice. A witch does well to keep in mind, however, that their natural strengths may neither be clever nor poetic, and sometimes you've got to just make due with the tools you have in your toolbox.

When casting spells on yourself or your household, targeting isn't much of an issue. You're right there, the magic is right there, and voila. However, when working on a third party - especially one that doesn't live with you - targeting becomes relevant. If gifting an object or food to your target won't work, consider doing what you can to bring your curse into their presence by whatever physical means are safe and possible. If you can't do this, see if you can obtain something of theirs to work over by use of a poppet or some other sympathetic magic. If none of this is possible, try to make a thoughtform or employ a spirit to deliver your spell (or attack them outright), but this will be hard unless you know where they live. In other words: your spell has to get to them somehow. Figuring out how to make it happen is half the job.

Depending on how the magic is worked, it is beneficent to cleanse both yourself and your casting area after the work is done. If a spell must be kept ongoing and close at hand, cover it with a black cloth (or t-shirt, or whatever) and keep it out of view to avoid having your own space polluted with unwanted energies.

If you need a specific outcome for your own wellbeing, consider employing as many spells as you require to obtain that outcome. E.g. one for binding a tongue, another for getting that person fired, another to calm gossip in the workplace, and so on.

Pay extremely little mind to people with moral admonitions, but keep their scoldings filed away. In a few months or years, in moments of reflection, ask yourself whether or not they were right.

If for no other spell, this time, write down precisely what you do. If for no other reason than to cackle maniacally as you see exactly how each little ingredient of your spell plays out in their lives.

#baneful

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khajiit-spelltome · 2 months ago

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sometimes I feel bad about banishing spirits from a new space because its like. they were here first. maybe I'm the evil spirit for kicking them out of their home like some kind of settler. is there literally any merit to this worry or is it simply anxiety and overthinking getting the better of me?

This is an interesting way of looking at the process of claiming a space and banishing spirits, and it certainly is a good idea to be consciously decolonizing our thinking whenever possible.

However, in the context of most homes (I assume that's what you're referring to), they probably haven't been around long enough to really build up a strong ancestral energy presence. The land the structure is built on might have residual energy, but whether that rises to the level of a conscious entity is a debatable topic and depends on your own background, the history of the site, and the entities which could be argued to be present. (See Also: Genius Locii, land spirits, elementals, fae, etc.)

And even assuming that is 100% possible, there's the additional layer of how often it happens and how many / what type of buildings it affects. Really more of a question for spirit workers and hardcore animists in that case, cause you're getting into philosophy and a lot of conflicting theoretical ideas.

And yes, to answer the back half of the question, I DO think that some of that is anxiety and overthinking putting a word in.

If it helps, you might look at the cleansing and claiming of a new space as less of a fire-and-brimstone banishment and more of a notice of new occupancy. "Hi it's me, I live here now, this is me putting up new drapes and changing the locks, as all new tenants do. Previous residents sentient enough to notice are kindly asked to either go to the place best suited for them or remain here peacefully. If you can do that, then we'll get along fine. Hope you like the new decor!"

If you regularly engage in spirit work, you can go a step further and invite any peacefully-remaining spirits to use your pre-existing system of communication to alert you of danger, provide small requests, or help out with the household. Think of it like asking the neighbors what day the trash goes out and occasionally borrowing a cup of sugar. Giving them a little honorary spirit house or symbolic place to live can be a nice gesture. (I've done this for household spirits before.)

Hope this helps!

#spirit work #banishing

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khajiit-spelltome · 2 months ago

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✖ spell & curse breaking ✖

methods for negating spells you have cast:

destroy the physical representation of the spell i.e. if your spell was contained within a jar, break the jar and dispose of the pieces

disassemble the spell and cleanse each component individually

place item in a bath of sea salt and dried herbs that are associated with cleansing and banishing - leave overnight and disassemble the spell when finished

cleanse the item with moon or rain water and disassemble if applicable

place the item in a black box to negate its effects

bury the item for 3 days, retrieve it, then dispose of it

bury the item on the night of the full moon and retrieve it at the next new moon

create a sigil or written incantation with the intent of breaking the spell and place the item on top of the paper - leave in place overnight

create a written incantation that includes the details of the spell - bury, burn, drown, rip apart, or throw it away

light a black candle that is surrounded by sea salt while focusing on the intent of negating the spell - recite an incantation if you wish, and allow the candle to burn down; sweep the sea salt out your back door

breaking spells others have cast upon you and protecting yourself:

perform a “return to sender” spell - find a black taper candle; turn it upside down; cut the tip off and leave the wick in place; carve “return to sender” and the target’s name (or a description of them) into the candle; light the candle upside down and let it burn down completely

leave a witch bottle outside of your home - it should contain items like: pins, needles, broken glass (to shred their negative intentions towards you); your name and the names of those who may be affected by this negative energy plus an incantation for protection (e.g. your loved ones, pets, anyone who lives in your home); and lemon juice, lime juice, or sea salt (to purify their negative energy so that it may not get to you)

create a mixture of charcoal, chili powder, and garlic powder - sprinkle around the perimeter of your home to stop a spell in its tracks

alternately, you may combine these ingredients, add to a hollow pendant, and wear on your person to protect you from the effects of a spell

if you know the details of the spell that has been placed on you, write them down on paper; while focusing on breaking the spell, hold the paper in your hand, and then rip it to shreds; throw the pieces in the trash, or bury in your backyard

if you don’t know the exact details, write down the effects you have been feeling if you think they have been caused by a spell or malintent directed at you; follow the steps above

submerge yourself in a bath of sea salt and light frankincense incense - place the incense on the edge of the tub or somewhere safe in your bathroom - to cleanse yourself of any negative energy that has been directed at you

place an energetic shield over yourself or your home that is designed to negate negative energy

tips:

close all loopholes

when crafting a spell, remember to create a fail safe (e.g. “this spell will be broken if X occurs”)

add timed conditions to your spells (e.g. “this spell will be broken on the night of the next full moon” and include a specific date)

be specific when describing the target that will be affected by the spell (whether it’s you or someone else, be sure to include taglocks whether it be their name written or spoken aloud, DNA such as hair, fingernail clippings, etc., or a photo of the target)

use ingredients, supplies, and tools that match your intent

employ a method of protection before casting spells, whether the intent is malefic or not

cleanse your space and tools before and after performing a spell to “wipe the slate clean”

herbs:

ague, angelica, asafoetida, bamboo, basil, bay leaf, benzoin, boneset, brimstone (sulfur powder), burdock, chili pepper, cinquefoil, comfrey, datura, frankincense, galangal, garlic, geranium, holy thistle, huckleberry, hydrangea, iris root (orris root), lemon verbena (vervain), lilac, lily, lucky hand (orchid root), mimosa, myrrh, nutmeg, oak moss, onion, oregano, papaya, patchouli, peony, pokeroot, prickly ash bark, rue, safflower, solomon’s seal, st. john’s wort, stinging nettle, squill, thistle, toadflax, turmeric, vetiver, willow, wintergreen, witches grass (dog grass), wormwood (absinthe), yarrow flower, yew, yucca

crystals:

agate, amber, amethyst, ametrine, black tourmaline, bloodstone, carnelian, celestite, chrysocolla, citrine, emerald, epidote, fire opal, fluorite, garnet, halite, hematite, howlite, jet, kunzite, labradorite, malachite, natrolite, obsidian, ocean jasper, onyx, selenite, silver, smoky quartz, sugilite, sunstone, turquoise

lunar phases:

waning moon

new moon / dark moon

planets:

saturn

pluto

#baneful

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khajiit-spelltome · 2 months ago

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i'm pretty sure i'm remembering correctly that you do a lot of work in a graveyard, but if not you can disregard this

do you have any general advice for if someone finds you doing work in the graveyard? i live in the bible belt of the usa and am scared of being seen or leaving behind remnants of my spellwork because i worry a lot and feel like it'd cause a great stir and possibly get me in some form of trouble, even if only a scolding or something like that

i'm not bothered by the spirits and can handle any problems with them, but it's the living i'm worried about.

I do indeed! I've been doing magic in the same cemetery for over 13 years. As well as a verity of others, and places like beaches, parks, gardens, and woods.

Encountering people can be awkward when doing magic there. I was once doing magic at the cemetery gate around midnight while wearing horns and shaking a rattle when 2 people walked up on me. I knew technically I was still sitting on the sidewalk so I wasn't trespassing so i minded my business. Saying a quick prayer to my spirits. To my surprise I it was an old coworker and her new partner, they were drunk happened to need to pee and she thought this would be an empty spot. She asked what I was doing and I got a feeling I could be honest, so I said "Witchcraft." They thought I was kidding, but seeing my bone rattle and horns they quickly realized I was being serious and asked me not to curse them for the disruption. I told them not to worry, and they went on their way.

Little did they know, I was calling male and female ancestral spirits who happened to be strongly connected with alcohol. They were a sign, a vessel, a spiritual encounter. So sometimes the people you meet you meet are sent by spirits, and how these moments play out can be very important.

Other times tho, you should definitely be mindful of unwanted guests or prying eyes. For me I do a lot of work at night and know drunks will sometimes sleep here, so safety is a priory. Which means I carry self defense gear with my witch supplies, being mindful of my state laws. I've also have observed and walked this cemetery causally enough times to know when police patrol, when people come to walk dogs or grieve, to see who these people are as they are characters of the cemetery too along with the ghosts. This helps inform me when and where in this space are best to do my work.

Generally when I go to the cemetery I try to take as few tools as possible, and make sure they can be kept on my person or put easily in a bad. That way should I have someone walk up on me I can clean up very quickly and tell them I'm just appreciating the grave or mourning. Tho I'll often try to stay alert and leave the area as soon as I feel someone coming to avoid this.

I might also tell people I'm wiccan, even tho I'm not, if I get the feeling they'll understand that. As it's a recognized religion in my state, so certain spiritual protections are available like holding public rituals or praying in public. I know in your area this might not be the case, but this has helped me with the authorities ones night when they asked me what I was doing.

As far as leaving remnants, I recommend going in with the mindset of leave no trace. Especially at first. Then, should the spirits of that place feel welcoming to it, would I potentially leave offerings around. Usually in forgotten spots, by tree roots or bushes, and away from where people commonly traffic daily. This way It will go unnoticed, and offerings of this type are best if they can decompose before anyone could notice. I also commonly use chalk because It fades quickly, and I can wash it away if i wanted too. I might also time this sorta stuff with weather that I know will clean up evidence of me being there.

Personally I find most stuff like this will be attributed to teens, college students, or drunks before the average person thinks witchcraft. So I've never encountered any real problems in all my times doing this stuff. I've brought a sword to the cemetery, carried bowls with painted stones by hands from my home to there and back, worn horns and masks, rang bells in the streets, and more. And I can't think of single time it was a problem. People don't see what they don't want to see, and I've also been very lucky. Anytime someone has said anything it's been neutral or positive simply for being an eccentric person. Cops have slowly driven by, asked me what I was doing late at night, and if I'm not doing anything illegal they say their piece and go on their way. Most don't say anything tho, they'll stare to make sure you're not drunk or something, but otherwise I've never had a problem.

#cemetery work

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khajiit-spelltome · 2 months ago

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Baneful Magic Requires Trigger Discipline

Apply the Four Universal Laws of Gun Safety to your magical practice and you'll be golden.

Always assume all guns are loaded. For some reason I will never fully understand, a lot of people do baneful magic under the assumption it isn't actually going to work. When you're doing baneful magic, you need to assume that it will work, and that it will work devastatingly, to its fullest capacity.

Don't point your gun at someone you aren't prepared to kill. Don't do any magic if you aren't prepared for it to do exactly what you asked it to do. If you cast a spell with the potential to kill someone, you have to be prepared for it to do that. If you cast a spell that could destroy someone's family, you need to be prepared for it to destroy the family in any way the magic sees fit. If you aren't ready for that, don't fucking do it. When I made a poppet of some fucker who attacked my goddaughter, and started breaking its bones, I was fully prepared to actually break his bones. When he ended up in the ER for an injury on the same limb I had just broken, I accepted that as the consequences of my actions. If you don't know how to set and enforce parameters on a spell, don't use a spell that can do things you aren't ready for.

Keep your finger off the trigger until your target is lined up and you have made the decision to shoot. Don't just be flinging shit out into the universe. Don't send out a spell until you have fully laid out what it will do, what you won't allow it to do, the consequences, the sacrifice, and everything else. Don't cast that spell until you are fully confident in your informed decision.

Always be sure of your target, and know what is around and behind it. Make sure you're going after the right person. Make sure you're aware of all of the various ways that this spell can impact the people around that person. Make sure you can accept those consequences. Make sure you can deal with any magical repercussions for your spell.

#baneful

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khajiit-spelltome · 2 months ago

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Nonverbal Witchcraft

For my witches who cannot speak, struggle to speak, or choose to remain quiet.

This post is a compilation of ideas and personal methods from fellow nonverbal witches. Not everything may fit for you, but hopefully it will give you a starting point!

Spells:

Write the words and focus your energy on bringing them into being. You could burn the piece of paper to finish off the spell. One contributor also mentions burying the paper.

Our thoughts are powerful. Focus, and say the words in your mind.

You can also mouth the words without speaking them, if that helps you.

Whispering is also great if that works for you!

Find power in silence, use it as its own tool.

Use instruments to create certain rhythms for different spells, instead of chanting.

If sound is helpful, play music that you feel relates/connects you to the spell.

Cast circles and finalize spells by snapping.

Sigils are concentrated intention–use that to your advantage. They can absolutely be a base for spellwork.

Use a power source; the elements (candles, soil, the air around you, a bowl of water, etc.), crystals, burning herbs, etc.

To feel energy without using words to confirm: use tools that have stronger energy that you can physically feel.

Make spell candles, jars or sachets.

Use sign language! I’m of the opinion that everyone should at least learn the basics, and there are plenty of free resources out there!

Specific spells:

Casting a circle: “You can cast a circle by walking in a circle and visualizing your footsteps imprinting on the earth below, creating a barrier of light (color chosen to correspond to intention at the time), walk the circle 3 times and see the barrier in your mind forming a perfect sphere around your work space, becoming brighter and stronger each step you take.”*

To banish: write the things you wish to banish on a piece of paper, light them on fire with a black candle and place in a burn bowl.

To release and invite: use two pieces of paper. On one, write down everything you’d like to release from your life. On the other, write down everything you’d like to invite into your life. Burn the release paper and dispose of the ashes, keep the invite paper. (Optional: I like to do this on the new moon, and have a black candle above the release paper and a white candle above the invite paper).

Protective charm: (click here)

To raise you out of a dark place: (click here)

Spell of destruction: (click here)

Energy work:

Use a cajon, bells, singing bowl, steel tongue drum/moondrum, or other instruments to raise energy!

“I have a specific snapping rhythm that is ‘magic time’. When I snap the rhythm once or three times it’s go time and I fall into the zone.”*

“For energy work and to raise energy I dance and as my heartbeat gets louder in my ears I mentally chant with it, focusing on a short phrase, intention, or incantation with the energy I physically raised and the meditative repetition of my mind.”*

Use a power source; the elements, crystals, burning herbs, etc.

Most energy work involves movement, rather than words (click here for energy work with restricted movement).

Other ideas:

Worship: write letters, devote your actions, decorate an altar. Prayers don’t need to be spoken! Or write your prayers and place them on an altar, burn them, or keep them. (Bedridden worship)

Divination doesn’t require spoken word, especially once you have a bond with your tools. You can always use writing, sigils, or your thoughts to channel your intent/question. (Bedridden divination)

Charge crystals with your intent and wear them/carry them in a pouch.

Kitchen witchcraft, garden magic, tea magic, etc. etc.

Utilize the correspondences of the items in your life.