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The Fair Folk: “I can’t believe this. Twenty years I’ve cleaned your house and you DARE to try to REPAY me with GIFTS. This is such an insult. Fuck you, you insolent humans. I’m leaving here and never returning because you have insulted me so deeply.”

Also the Fair Folk: “Remember that one time you pulled a thorn out of a cat’s foot? That was me. To show my gratitude, here is a house made of solid gold, a life-debt, my daughter’s hand in marriage, and a promise that all your children will be gorgeous and successful at all that they do. I can also throw in a blow job if you want. I hope this is enough. I don’t want to seem ungrateful.”

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Springtime in Central Park by Johann Berthelsen (American, 1883–1972) 

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Witchcraft Book Recommendation Lists

(Reposting again bc tumblr turned off the reblogs on the original wtf. From an answer to an inquiry in the witchcraft tags. Decided to repost for anyone else who might need it.)

Here’s the post I made with recommendations for green witchcraft and plant magic. The list includes magical resources and accompanying practical texts on botany, herbology, and medicinal plants.

Here’s the post I made with recommendations for general witchcraft study, including practical sources on the history of modern witchcraft. (In particular, I recommend Margot Adler’s “Drawing Down The Moon” and Ronald Hutton’s “The Triumph of the Moon” for information about the modern movement.)

Here’s a recent photo of my personal library, if you’re looking for a general list of titles to check out.

Here’s the post I made with a list of JSTOR articles I’ve found that relate to witchcraft, witch trials, folk magic, occult beliefs, superstition, and the history surrounding all of them. It’s not exhaustive, but it’s pretty comprehensive.

And here are a couple of masterlists of podcast episodes that deal with witchcraft, witch trials, the history of witchcraft-related beliefs, and resources for fact-checking and debunking misconceptions and misinformation commonly found in witchcraft spaces.

(Also I have published a few books on practical secular witchcraft, if you’re interested….)

You can also find additional recommendations in the "book recs" and "witchy books" tags on my blog.

Hope this helps!

(If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊)

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Currently trying to figure out my elemental system of magic. I’ve decided to delve into elemental magic more as my main focus in my craft, and I definitely like using the main 4 elements (fire, water, air, earth), but I’m struggling with the sub-elements. There are so many possibilities it is overwhelming. I would love to hear about any other elemental magic practitioners or any elemental magic systems you know of!

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7.9: Writing (and Doing!) Magical Activism Through Solarpunk Fiction With BrightFlame

In this episode, Ariel talks with BrightFlame: witch, workshop leader, co-founder of the Center for Sustainable Design at Columbia University, and author of solarpunk witchcraft short stories and now a new novel, called The Working. They discuss what solarpunk witchcraft looks like and how, though witchcraft’s manipulation of energy on the astral plane is extremely important, magic is only one half of the equation: the other is activism - actually getting out there and doing the thing, whether it’s attending a protest, contributing to a potluck to strengthen community bonds, or making something with a specific intent in mind. 

BrightFlame (she/they) writes, teaches, and makes magic towards a just, regenerative world. In her debut novel, The Working, a modern coven must thwart a looming eco-cataclysm and find the key to the bright futures we need. She’s a member of the Climate Fiction Writers League and SFWA, and her solarpunk stories are featured in Bright Green Futures, Solarpunk Creatures, Bioluminescent, and Solarpunk Magazine. She’s known for her teaching in the worldwide pagan community and co-founded the Center for Sustainable Futures at Columbia University that features her workshops and nonfiction. She lives on Lenape territory (Turtle Island/U.S.) with a human, a forest, a labyrinth, the Fae, bees, turtles, fungi, and many other nonhumans. Visit brightflame.com for musings, doodles, workshops, and more.

Links:

https://brightflame.com

https://waterdragonpublishing.com/product/working/

https://csd.columbia.edu/

https://starhawk.substack.com/

https://starhawk.org

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Procreate illustrations by KosmosAshes

This artist on Instagram

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also a poem from the new, unreleased collection. very possibly my own all-time favourite.

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Ground-Level Meditation Advice

A friend asked me for some meditation tips recently, and I figured I’d share what I told them here too—because honestly, most people don’t get useful advice when they’re first starting out. It’s either too vague or way too abstract.

So here’s a simple, real-world breakdown:

1. Application of attention is the foundation of every technique. No matter the form—breath awareness, mantra repetition, body scanning, focusing between your eyebrows—you’re paying attention to something. That’s it. That’s the whole root system of all meditation: deliberate attention. It's what differentiates meditation from relaxation exercises, “zoning out,” or other spiritual practices.

2. It’s focused and relaxed. The sweet spot is being concentrated but not tense. One metaphor I often use: imagine you’re a sniper waiting for your target. You don’t know if it’ll be five minutes or five hours before they appear. So you’re alert and watching, but also relaxed enough to sit with that uncertainty without burning out. That’s the presence cultivated during meditation.

3. Boredom is peace in disguise. A lot of people find meditation hard simply because it feels boring. But that boredom? It's just peace we don’t recognize yet—because we're used to always solving problems or being entertained. When we stop doing both, the mind gets fidgety. Our continual restlessness becomes more obvious. Learning to sit with that restlessness is part of the work. You will notice yourself feeling more at ease in your daily life in proportion to the degree that you release your restlessness by staying with it during meditation practice.

4. Consistency is everything. Like exercise, one day of meditation won’t change much. But a little bit every day does. Fifteen minutes daily will do way more than a three-hour session once a week. Meditation is a cumulative practice.

5. Make it part of your rhythm. The easiest way to stick with it is to link it to another part of your daily routine. I usually meditate at the end of the day after exercise and a shower. At other times in my life, morning practice worked better. Try different times and see what sticks—then build around that.

6. Keep it simple. Commit for a while. There are tons of techniques out there. The simpler ones are often the hardest, because your mind has less to chew on. Try a few and then pick one. Stick with it for at least a month. That’s long enough to know if it’s working. Apps like Headspace or Insight Timer can help if you're starting from zero. I never used them—I started before apps were a thing—but they might help you find your groove.

Meditation doesn’t need to be mystical or performative.

Just sit, watch, stay.

And if you can’t sit today, sit tomorrow.

No drama. Just return.

LY

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Queer Plant Allies for Resilience Magic

Note: This post is based on a workshop I taught at Spiralheart Convergence, an online Reclaiming witch camp, in 2025. That class was called “Rooting Down with Queer Nature Magic” and was created to complement the Convergence theme, Flowers of Resistance. 

The world can feel like a scary place. Sometimes finding peace and joy can be a real challenge, especially for marginalized folks. With governments passing bills that will negatively impact millions of their citizens, courts doubling down on transphobia, and the literal threat of war, it's understandable to feel overwhelmed, burnt out, and scared. Compassion fatigue (a state of distress caused by witnessing the suffering of others) and media fatigue (psychological exhaustion caused by an overload of information, especially about current events) are very real. If you're feeling any of these things right now, you are not alone. 

Unfortunately, spending the rest of our lives hiding from the world isn't an option. Don't get me wrong – if you need a break, by all means, make time for rest and recovery. But understand that the world's problems will still be there when you return. At some point, you will have to face reality, no matter how scary it may be.

This is where resilience comes in. 

Merriam-Webster defines resilience as “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.” The American Psychological Association defines resilience as “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.” 

Basically, resilience is our ability to survive even in terrible circumstances. This goes beyond just being tough – being resilient means being able to meet challenges head on and adjust our approach as needed. It means stubbornly refusing to give up, like a flower pushing up through a crack in the concrete. 

There are many, many ways to develop resilience, including going to therapy, connecting with community, and prioritizing self-care. For those of us with magical leanings, we can even use our magical practice to help with resilience. 

Below are three plant allies I work with for resilience magic in my queer witchcraft practice. 

Violet + Pansies (Viola genus)

Wild violets and domestic pansies are very closely related. Typically, “violet” refers to purple flowers and to wild varieties, while “pansy” refers to multicolored domesticated flowers. 

Violets have been associated with romantic and sexual love between women since at least the time of Ancient Greece. They are also used for love magic more generally.

Medieval English herbals claimed violets could protect from “wykked sperytis” (wicked spirits). Magically, violets are associated with protection, love, luck, hope, peace, and healing. They also have a connection with death and grief dating back at least to Ancient Rome. 

“Pansy” was used in the 1920s and 1930s as a slang term for gay men or men who presented in feminine ways. The term was reclaimed by queer activists in the mid-20th century. 

The Pansy Project is a modern movement in the United Kingdom, founded by queer activist Paul Harfleet, that plants pansies at sites of homophobic and transphobic violence. In the words of Harfleet, “A plant continues to grow as I do through my experience. Placing a live plant felt like a positive action, it was a comment on the abuse; a potential ‘remedy’.” Pansies, like violets, are a powerful symbol of queer resilience. 

Because of their historic connection with queer women, queer men, and gender non-conformity, combined with their traditional magical uses, violets are wonderful for protecting your peace from queerphobes. 

Violets can thrive in poor soil and in areas that are poorly managed. They are also able to thrive with limited sunlight. A recent study found that extracts from violets help regulate an overactive immune system and may be useful in treating autoimmune disorders, although more research is needed. We can lean on violet when we are feeling hypervigilant and need help grounding and relaxing. 

In medieval European medicine, violets were strongly associated with the heart, giving them the folk name “heartease.” They were believed to bring peace and joy to a troubled heart. Again, this points to violet as an excellent ally for those navigating emotional distress. 

For those who choose to work with elemental and planetary correspondences, violet is ruled by the water element and the planet Venus. 

Note that African violets (Saintpaulias spp.) are not actually violets and have different uses. 

Rose (Rosa subgenus)

“Rose” refers to any flower in the Rosa subgenus – there are hundreds of species of rose! Often called “The Queen of Flowers,” the rose has been highly prized by cultures around the world since ancient times. 

The rose is sacred to the Sumerian goddess Inanna and her Babylonian and Phoencian counterparts, Ishtar and Astarte. Inanna and Ishtar were both served by gender-bending priests called gala, many of whom were born as men but performed feminine ritual functions. Ishtar herself defied binary gender and had a masculine aspect as “Bearded Ishtar.” 

The rose is sacred to both Aphrodite and Eros, two Greek gods associated with love and sex between all combinations of genders. Both gods are explicitly connected to same-sex love in mythology. The connection carried over to their Roman counterparts, Venus and Cupid. 

In Japan, roses are associated with gay men. This connection saw a resurgence in the 1960s and 1970s – Japan's first commercially published gay magazine was named Barazoku, meaning “rose tribe.”

In magic, roses are often used for spells related to love and sex, but they have numerous other uses. The thorns of the plant are used in protection magic. Other common magical uses include healing, enhancing psychic abilities, aiding in divination, beauty and glamor magic, and calling in good luck.  

Scott Cunningham writes that, “A chaplet of roses worn when performing love spells… or a single rose in a vase on the altar, are powerful love-magic aids.”

Roses remind us that appearances can be deceiving. This flower is often seen as fragile and used as a symbol for the fleeting nature of beauty, yet its thorns have a sharp bite. Rose can help us to find our own fierceness, even when we do not feel strong. 

Because of its astringent qualities, rose is used in herbal medicine to soothe inflammation and calm irritated skin. This soothing quality of the rose can help us find moments of peace in troubled times. 

I love working with climbing roses (roses that are vine-like and grow along the ground or on a trellis) for resilience because of their extra tenacity. Like their cousin the blackberry, climbing roses can completely take over a garden if not managed carefully. They will grow across concrete paths, up brick walls, and anywhere else they can establish themselves. I find these types of roses to be more feisty and determined than the types that grow as bushes. 

For those who choose to work with elemental and planetary correspondences, rose is ruled by the water element and the planet Venus. 

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Dandelions may not be explicitly connected to the queer community, but they’re too good at resilience magic not to include them here. 

Dandelions are traditionally used in witchcraft for divination, granting wishes, and opening the way for connection with spirits. 

Dandelions are a tenacious plant, known for their ability to grow in cracks in concrete and even in the mortar of buildings. Dandelions are the ultimate survivors. They can grow in harsh conditions unsuitable for many other plants, such as disturbed soil or soil with poor nutrients. While they do best in full sun, this hardy weed can adapt to a wide variety of growing conditions. 

This edible plant is highly nutritious, with very high levels of dietary fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, thiamin, riboflavin, Vitamin B6, calcium, iron, potassium, and other nutrients. The dandelion is able to transform poor soil (or a crack in concrete!) into rich nutrients that can be used by many other species.

Dandelions improve the soil as they grow by bringing nutrients to the surface and by breaking up hard soil with their deep taproots. Because they grow in places where other flowers can't, they provide an important food source for pollinators in those areas. When the plant dies, its root decomposes, adding much-needed organic material to the soil. 

I love dandelions in resilience magic because of their tenacity and ability to thrive under any conditions. When we feel like we're being crushed between a rock and a hard place, dandelion can help us dig our roots into the cracks. Dandelion reminds us that survival is resistance.

I also love dandelion for community work because of its ability to improve the soil. Through our stubborn survival, we create better growing conditions for those who come after us. 

For those who choose to work with elemental and planetary correspondences, dandelion is ruled by the air element and the planet Jupiter. 

If you enjoyed this post, please consider checking out my website or subscribing to my newsletter for updates and exclusive content!

Sources

Wild Witchcraft: Folk Herbalism, Garden Magic, and Foraging for Spells, Rituals, and Remedies by Rebecca Beyer

Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott Cunningham 

Garden Witchery by Ellen Dugan

“The secret queer history of flowers” by AJ Willingham (published in CNN)

“About” on the Pansy Project website (https://thepansyproject.com/about/) 

“Dandelion” from the University of Minnesota Extension (https://extension.umn.edu/weeds/dandelions) 

“The Good Weed Series: Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)” by D. Deever, for the University of Nevada, Reno Extension (https://extension.unr.edu/publication.aspx?PubID=4503)

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The Evanescent, Norwood Hodge MacGilvary

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Witches of Tumblr, what are your go to books about herbs/plants/flowers?

Yesterday I learned my backyard is home to purple ground ivy and its place within herbal witchcraft and herbal medicine was fascinating so I want to continue this journey. Obviously I know a few herbs and plants that are good for certain things but I really want to educate myself deeply!

I was looking into the Green Witch but really all and any suggestions are welcome for a beginner such as myself.

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I want to do death work, but I don’t necessarily believe in spirits in a way that makes sense with traditional death work. Do you have any ways to work with death/honor death without working with spirits? (It’s ok if not, I just thought I’d ask)

Hello! Welcome! This is actually a very good question to ask and I'm glad that you did. Death is so vastly encompassing of themes, beliefs and structures that you have much more inspiration to pull from than we may sometimes think. While much of my work does involve working with the dead (As one does as a Necromancer), it's not the sole part of my work. Death Energies are available to you everywhere and anywhere. We must learn to adjust our perspective of Death Energies as a whole to truly open up to the idea of everything that is available to us. One of my favourite ways to work with Death Energies is through seasonal transitions. Death is, in and of itself, a transitionary period. Everything can be seen with a lens of death if you just know where to look. When we watch the trees flourish with leaves and buds in the springtime, we're seeing death as an aspect of regrowth. The start of something new is a form that Death takes. When we see the leaves fall, we see a form that Death takes. When we see a beast of the woods, her belly heavy with new life, we are seeing a form that Death takes. When mushrooms wrap themselves around a fallen tree trunk, we are seeing a form that Death takes. There's a lot of nuanced and many open possibilities for you to look at when it comes to death work. Additionally, you can look at Death Work through a lens of historical and anthropological studies. You can use academia studies to support your death work by acknowledging the past and the history around you. What land do you stand on and who were the people that it belonged to? You can also play with working with Death Energies and works linguistically as well. Enjoying the historical structures of the way people have communicated and spoken. On top of this you can enjoy historical foods, clothing and revival practises and studies that are throwbacks to bygone eras. The changing of eras and the transitions of time are just as relevant to Death Work as methods of working with spirits. Broaden your horizons! Try things out and work with the motifs and figureheads of death over the centuries.

I hope this has helped provide some ideas for you to start with on your Path.

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What if spells radiate in all directions in time, so the reason that it seems like things were destined to work out well even before you cast, is because the spell was working backwards from the point when you cast it.

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Choose your spell ingredients intentionally

It's all well and good to Google "spiritual protective herbs" and pick a couple random ones off the list, but do you understand why that herb is protective? Does it align with your intention?

I've always liked to use baking as an analogy for spellwork:

Let's say you want to bake a cake - yummy! You'll need flour for the basic structure, sugar to sweeten, eggs to bind the ingredients, a fat for texture and a leavening agent to make it rise.

So you pop to the shops and you grab bread flour, icing sugar, eggs, shortening and yeast.

Technically, these are all correct: bread flour is a flour, icing sugar is a sugar, yeast is a leavening agent etc. And they all work great for other baked goods! Yeast is great at making bread rise and icing sugar is super sweet on top of a cupcake.

But if you mix all of these together, the final result probably isn't going to be what you wanted. Why? Well because you haven't understood why each ingredient is needed or how a cake works!!

When crafting a spell it's important to understand what your intention is and how the spell is going to work - it can also help to think about how certain ingredients might interact within the spell.

The best way to start doing this is to experiment. Have a go at crafting your own spells and working with different ingredients. What does their folklore say? What does their energy feel like? How do they interact with the other ingredients! Keep a journal or notebook full of your notes as you build up your knowledge!

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crystals in death magic

ajoite - overcome sorrow, emotional healing

amethyst - eases grief and sadness

andalusite - crossing over into the afterlife

apophyllite - spirit communication

bixbite (red beryl) - eases grief

black tourmaline - eases grief

bloodstone - to strengthen ties with ancestors or loved ones who have passed on

blue lace agate - connection to the spirit world, eases passage into the afterlife

calcite - emotional healing, peace

carnelian - eases sorrow, protection in the afterlife

celestite - spirit communication

charoite - eases passage into the afterlife

cuprite - spirit communication

halite - dispelling negativity, protection

hematite - grounding, peace, transforming negativity

jade - protection in the afterlife

jasper - safe passage into the afterlife

jet - eases grief and mourning

kunzite - eases heartbreak

labradorite - spirit communication

lapis lazuli - spiritual connection

obsidian - healing, deflecting negativity, grounding, protection

onyx - grounding, protection

pink tourmaline - emotional healing

quantum quattro silica - eases grief

quartz - safe passage into the afterlife

selenite - spirit communication, eases passage into the afterlife

sunstone - spirit communication

tanzan aura quartz - spirit communication

tsavorite - connection to the spirit world

turquoise - spiritual attunement

violet flame opal - spiritual awareness

© 2025 bunny-claws

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Here is something I’ve learned that made my life better. You can believe in the efficacy of science, and also that there’s magic in the world. You can choose to believe in whatever makes the world more wonderful and livable for you as long as it hurts no one. You can believe, for example, that the trees you walk by often notice you, or the crows in your area recognize you when you go outside. You can notice special places in your area and believe there are quiet beings there that you can leave small gifts for or that something in the little stream nearby is pleased when you visit. What possible harm can it do to believe something like that? Why deny yourself that if it brings you joy? People try to get you to believe there are all these things wrong with you and wrong with the world, all kinds of things that make you sad or mad. Why not choose a few things to believe on purpose to make you glad? Why not be an OC in your own secret story?

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Work in progress

Pocket altar i made inspired by medulla.textiles

An altar representing my journey with accepting death in every form. A reminder to accept transformation and change , and to help me cope with ketamine infusions and other death related things.