lilelvenwitch

[lilelvenwitch]

I mean, I know I'm always posting about Elloren and Yvan but let's be real here. My biggest ship in the series is Rhys and Cael lmao. Give me that sweet childhood bestfriends to lovers!

Like I know they aren't actually a couple yet but I have hope.

[lilelvenwitch]

Burn Notice. [S1.E1: Pilot.]

[lilelvenwitch]

Another black witch chronicles post, because why not?

I've been sitting on this for a while.

So in Wandfasted, Tessla says sanjire root is nutty, right?

In the shadow wand Elloren describes the root she takes as bitter.

It could just be a difference of taste buds, but what if it isn't? What if it wasn't actually sanjire root?

ELLOREN COULD BE PREGNANT IN THE NEXT BOOK AND I AM NOT READY FOR THAT

[lilelvenwitch]

Hello, fine fellow, an ask for when you'll be bored next: what do you think about the notion that in following the crooked path a witch will become something other than fully human? Have a merry day and/or night!

I think the very nature of performing witchcraft causes one to be Othered in society, and, indeed, by certain initiations one becomes Other.

However, I agree with Cora Anderson when she says that the Craft makes us into better humans. Rather than becoming "Otherworldly", I believe that the witch becomes intimately aware of their Other selves, of their deep spiritual nature that resides in our flesh, our blood, our bones, and how that nature is all around us at all times. The Witch becomes aware of the totally of being. They go into the forest and come out mad, dead, and a poet. To a regular person, becoming aware of the totality of our being (which is a divine, human, and animal being) can seem otherworldly and strange.

When you traffick with beings beyond the "normal" perception, you become a little like Them. And when They teach you their secrets and mysteries, you take on those teachings and philosophies and powers of perception.

There's a working in Sounds of Infinity by Lee Morgan where one obtains the spirit of a dead man. This, of course, has multiple meanings that we are left to contemplate before we under take the working. Becoming a witch means becoming aware/apart of the spiritual forces which are aware/apart of us. Then we utilize that awareness to cause things to happen. We let go, and are enfolded in the mysterious dance of Nature -- something regular people are afraid to do.

The point of view of "Other" is flawed, I think. The point of view is from society, which views anything outside of it (spiritual, natural, animal, et cetera) as OTHER. When in fact, it is quite the opposite. Those things are reality -- society is an illusion. Witches are an insertion of reality into an illusionary hellscape -- and that freaks people out.

So, do I think that walking the Crooked Path causes one to become other than human? No. I think walking this path causes us to become more human than the average person walking down the street because we become aware of the totality of being, with all of its interesting and complex interactions with the rest of reality. Witches are Other because they marry Nature, and are expressions of the natural -- and that is death to society.

[lilelvenwitch]

For developing and deepening a practice, my second greatest advice (we'll get to this) is to delve into primary sources (records, journals, grimoires) and scholarly articles. Both of these take certain skill sets of critical thinking that can be developed. Analyzing papers, pulling main ideas out, understanding the writers background and bias, determining if the subject is metaphorical or literal, etc. Take your time, mark it up with questions, define words and phrases that you're unfamiliar with.

90% of what I read are scholarly articles on the herbs I work with to better understand their traditional and current uses.

The greatest thing you can do, however, is put it into practice. Read something and then do something about it. Doing the work with your own hands is the best way towards growth. Write it all down, your successes and failures, and see where it takes you.

Once you've read a few introductory books, you can generally skip out on the rest for niche writings. The majority of witch/pagan books are written with beginners in mind, so it's an easy place to stagnate.

[lilelvenwitch]

Do you happen to know any digital curses?

I incorporate technology into my magic quite frequently, actually! I rarely curse, though.

That isn’t because I fear a “law of return” or am against cursing. I don’t have many people in my life that deserve any kind of curse. I curse rarely, but am not opposed to it.

As luck would have it, though, I do know a method for casting a digital curse. It’s a spell I wrote and cast back in September of 2016.

The original spell targeted a Discord server. You can adapt it to cursing a single person online, too. It’s possible to use in any online interaction.

As I’m sure folks wonder, the Discord server in question no longer exists. It had exactly nothing to do with witchblr, Tumblr, or anyone on here. I doubt any of my readers would know the people involved, even in passing.

The server’s leader was a vitriolic misogynist mage. He ran the place like a cult. To make matters worse, he kept dragging young people (often underage) into his orbit.

I decided to curse the server. I was curious if it would work, and also wanted to destroy that toxic, harmful community. I did see results from my curse within a few short weeks. I wasn’t in the server at that point, so I didn’t have a front row seat for the drama.

I heard that it started with some massive arguments over trivial aspects of energy work. Soon, the owner deleted the entire server in a drug-fueled fit of pique. Someone else tried to remake it, but the new version died on the vine. So, I’d say this was an effective curse!

To begin, you will create a sigil expressing your intent. It won’t be a normal visual sigil, though - it’ll be a verbal sigil.

I can’t recommend using a regular visual sigil to curse anyone online. This is because the person might recognize the image as a sigil. If they’re a mage or witch themselves, they might take evasive action if they realize what you’re doing. A verbal sigil flies under their radar, though.

Verbal sigils are short phrases formed from a statement of intent. They usually read like complete babble to anyone but the caster, but that’s part of why they work - it’s stealthy.

Start by writing out your goal with as few words as possible. It might be something like “CONFUSION AND CHAOS” to cause strife for the person or persons.

It could be “HOPELESSNESS” or any other adjectives that sum up what you’d like to happen to the target. For this example, we’ll use the phrase “SHUT YOUR MOUTH.” This verbal sigil would be useful if your target keeps spreading rumors or something.

Take the phrase and remove all repeating letters. Some people remove all vowels, but I leave them in because it makes the results easier for me to pronounce. With “SHUT YOUR MOUTH,” you end up with the following letters: SHUTYORM.

Now, scramble it a bit, turning it into a completely different three-word phrase. The phrase should be easy to pronounce and read in your mind. It should not include any actual words in the language you’re using for this.

It should, if done right, read as if it could be real words, but at base will sound like gibberish. So, keep scrambling until all the real words are gone. Soon you’re left with something that won’t sound particularly meaningful to you (or your target).

Anyways, back to SHUTYORM. If we play with the remaining letters a bit, we can create something like “SOTH MYRU.” That’s two “words” and not too difficult to sound out in your head.

A single “word” version might be “THUMYOS.” Other possibilities include “THYS MOU” or “TY HOS MU.” Any of these suffice, but we’ll pick “THUMYOS” as our example.

So, in this example, “THUMYOS” will be your verbal sigil. You’ve culled it from your initial statement of intent. The time and effort you put into this will imbue the sigil with power.

I recommend this spell for witches who’ve a strong energy-sensing ability. Sense the way your energy fluctuates when you read the sigil out loud.

If the sigil seems weak or you can’t sense a change, you might want to backtrack and redo it, to create one that works better.

Now, the time comes to cast this digital curse in the form of a verbal sigil. You can do this in several ways, depending on how you’ll be interacting with your target.

If you’re cursing an individual person, all you need to do is fire off the sigil into your communications with them.

For example, if you’re talking to them in DMs or another messenger, type the verbal sigil into the chat. If the person asks what the hell “THUMYOS”, means, make up some nonsense about your cat walking on the keyboard.

Never let the target know that this is a spell, particularly if your target is a mage or witch themselves. If the target realizes what you’re trying to do, they might be able to dismantle the curse or deflect it.

If you’re amenable to voice chat on Discord or elsewhere, you’ll find a far less conspicuous way to cast this curse. Turn on your microphone and whisper the verbal sigil a couple times.

Do this when other people are active on voice chat, or when your target is speaking. That will lessen the chances of anyone noticing that you’re spouting gibberish.

If someone asks what the hell you meant by “THUMYOS,” try to steer the conversation away from it. If possible, make up some kind of excuse (like the stereotypical cat on your keyboard).

You could even say, “Sorry, wrong window,” or “Oops, didn’t know my microphone was on.” Then, pass the sigil off as a video game reference of whatever else you can come up with.

It’s imperative that you disconnect from your target after this. If you’re targeting an entire chat server, that means you’d leave said server. If it’s only one target, stop talking to that person.

Don’t make a giant flounce-y exit. Drift away. You may want to stay in touch to see if your curse worked. Resist that temptation and rely on other people to relay information to you.

You can also adapt this form of sigil for other purposes, like blessing or attraction. Follow the same steps (albeit with a more positive statement of intent). You can even bless websites and blogs using this type of sigil.

I’ll be writing another (shorter) article soon about how to do that. In the meantime, stay safe! Make sure that you’ve thought through possible consequences before casting this spell! Don’t do it on impulse. Blessed be, and I hope this article was helpful!

[lilelvenwitch]

I love this ♥  from Holly’s twitter.

artist:  @icandrawthingz from Instagram/ twitter

[lilelvenwitch]

Divergent is a bad book, but its accidental brilliance is that it completely mauled the YA dystopian genre by stripping it down to its barest bones for maximum marketability, utterly destroying the chances of YA dystopian literature’s long-term survival 

[lilelvenwitch]

i don't believe that you become a witch. it was within and around you all along.

every time you'd collect rocks as a child, or spoke to the moon when you needed comfort, or even when that warm, tingling sensation would hit you while walking in the woods. it was always the little things that didn't quite make sense.

it was calling to you, remember that. you're no less just because you figured it out later.

[lilelvenwitch]

so in case anyone was curious as to why i’m so against anyone buying this book, here you go. screenshotted straight from page 204, stephenie meyer, a middle aged white woman, made a “joke” about her main character slaughtering a tribe of native people*. a group of native people, i might add, that is real, and was never consulted on the use of their histories for the series. they were never consulted, they never gave permission, and they were never compensated. they have faced negative actions directly from this series, and every penny you chose to give to stephenie meyer and the twilight saga perpetuates this racism. money talks. there are far, far better places to spend your money.

donate to the Quileute tribe: (x)

check out my anti-racism post for more information, other places to donate, and native creators you can support: (x)

*as vile as this is, it is only a small, small sample of so much that stephenie meyer has written in her books. i urge you to seek out sources from native writers and critics that talk more in depth about the racism and other problematic elements of her books.

[lilelvenwitch]

also I learned about this project called “queering the map.” the idea is that in the past gay neighborhoods and gay spaces were very clearly defined bc it just wasn’t safe to be yourself anywhere else. as lgbt+ people become more visible and accepted many feel that we are losing our connection to those spaces

so every dot on this map is basically someone’s queer experience: coming out, meeting their future wife, seeing another gay man in public for the first time, anything you can think of that truly left a mark on them

it started in Montreal and is primarily English-language with most pins dropped in the US, Canada, and Europe, but there are people all over the world who’ve shared their experiences. it’s great to look at places near you but it’s also great to see that even people in places you thought were the middle of nowhere are happy with themselves and finding community and living their lives

[lilelvenwitch]

💋 Ariel Singing Glamour 🐚

a disney-spiried a glamour to help your singing voice be like a mermaid’s

🐚  gather: a seashell, full moon or ocean water, a pinch of glitter, a necklace chain and a song that makes you confident in your singing voice.

💋  mix the water with the glitter.  rinse the seashell in the water.

🐚  play the song and sing along with it as you mix the water clockwise. 

💋  when the song is over, dry it out and make it into a necklace. 

🐚  wear the necklace when you feel you need a boost with your singing voice

[lilelvenwitch]

A very rare Andean cat stretching out in front of wildlife cam 

(via)

[lilelvenwitch]

new critical thought: is the celebrity that everyone is calling a ““fashion icon”” really that fashionable or are they just skinny and rich?

[lilelvenwitch]

Things to Research Before Working with the Fae

Research is the most important thing to do before heading into Faery work and witchcraft. You want to have a lot of in depth and versatile knowledge covering many areas of the topic so you’ll be able to understand and interact with the Fair Folk! If you don’t want to work with the Fair Folk you can use this list to help yourself understand them and take the proper measure if you ever stumble upon them. I know the list could go on forever but I’m compiling the topics I find build a good foundation of understanding. I have compiled this list to give those interested guidance and a push in the right direction, it is best you do your own research before asking other’s personal knowledge and opinions!!

The Basics

Terminology ( Fae, faery, fairy, changeling, seelie, unseelie, sidhe, etc)

The Origins of the Fae (Tuatha de Dannan, Aos Sí, Tylwyth Teg)

Faeries in Different Cultures: Celtic (Irish, Scottish, Gaulish, French), Norse, Influences from Greek and Roman culture.

Folklore & Myths!! ex. Oisin and Tír na nÓg , Fenian Cycle, Arthurian Legend. 

Celtic Gods, Goddesses & Heroes- strong influences and connections to the Fae

Types of Faeries (study diverse types from pixies,brownies, pooka to Kelpies, Bwbach and Red caps) *Make sure you can at least answer who, what and where about them.

The Otherworlds (Tir na Nog, Caer Arianrhod, Annwn, Alfheim, Svartalfheim, etc.)

Faery Landmarks (fairy tree, fairy ring, fairy hill)

Signs of the Fae

Sacred Trees and Plants (Hawthorn) 

Protection!! very important

*Bonus if you learn Celtic Culture

Getting into Working with Them

Connecting to Nature and the Land

How to Banish Faeries & Protect yourself, house, family, etc.

Faery Behaviour and Proper Etiquette

Proper Offerings, How to give an Offering

Animals associated with the Fair Folk and Why? (raven, deer, etc)

Faery Festivals and Holidays (Samhain, Midsummer, Beltane)

Why certain things offend them- iron, saying “thank you”,etc.

The Courts (Seelie, Unseelie, trooping fairies, solitary)

Setting up a Faery Altar

How to work with them in Rituals 

Faery Flowers, herbs and crystals

A proper and personal way to communicate with them!!this means developing psychic ability, tarot, meditation, signs, etc.

Hagstones, heptagram/faery star

Some Good Books :) 

The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, by W. Y. Evans Wentz  

Encyclopedia of Spirits by Judika Illes 

Enchantment of the Faerie Realm by Ted Andrews 

Faery Craft by Morgan Daimler 

Celtic Mythology: Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes by Phillip Freeman

**if you have more topics, books or anything else feel free to add some!

[lilelvenwitch]

Y’all.... this is not good.. #freebritney