mintylilacs

[mintylilacs]

Is there anything you can get off it? Like a little broken piece that would be replaced in the process anyway?

So... my shitty boss gave me a piece of jewelry to fix for her. (She didn't really ask, she just kinda said "you do that kind of stuff, right?" and I went "Kinda?" and she decided that meant I'd fix it.) BUT WHATEVER because that means that I have a piece of personal property that will be worn on the daily. And like, magically speaking, that's... big.

But like, here's the thing. Magically messing with this particular thing is... a dick move. Like, you don't need all the details, but it would be borderline messed up.

So, you know. That's a quandary.

[mintylilacs]

I just thought of an ingredient for a baneful spell- dirty shoe water

Sometimes I forget that it's going to rain and wear my sneakers, and they end up very muddy and wet. I usually just wash them in the washing machine. Today was different, as I finnaly decided to do my first "real" hex.

I was thinking about things that would seem extremely disgusting and remembered that I hadn't washed my shoes. I decided to hand wash them and keep the dirty water for my hex!

[mintylilacs]

Do you have any pets that could have knocked it over? Otherwise I think it’s time to break out a pendulum and start asking questions because that IS bizzare

have you ever heard of candles flipping upside down and if there is a meaning behind it?

on monday i set a candle under the wax burner and changed the scent to lemon as i started my ostara cleaning. when i went to light it last night i saw that the candle was flipped over and there was a trail of candle wax going away from the wax holder.

was just wondering if you’d heard anything about this happening before or something similar and what you think it might mean.

Interesting! I've never heard of this before. The closest I can think of is candle tunneling. However, I wonder if there was an air pocket or something in the candle or perhaps something made it spark and that could've jolted it out of its holder?

Anyone have any idea about what happened to our friend's candle?

[mintylilacs]

Yeah for some reason more often than not lighting plants on him fire has a weed smell it’s really annoying actually

I don’t think rose petals smell like weed but the one time I tried to burn some back in high school my mom thought they did lol

I’d recommend a personal air purifier if you can’t have your windows open all the time!

Bay leaf spell was a fail lol. No idea it smelled like weed when burned.

I feel kinda ⬆️ and sick 🤢

[mintylilacs]

Random witch advice:

If you’re going to a gem faire, enchant your mask with protection. The people at these events do not care about your health. I’m currently in the midst of one of those “I don’t know what’s wrong but everything hurts and I’m coughing and dizzy” illnesses, the kind that act like they’re getting better after a day and then just. Don’t.

Seriously did anyone else get sick after going to the pyuallup gem faire? I know plenty of you live in Washington! That place was PACKED

Another idea I just had while writing that: enchant your vitamins for potency! Keep that immune system juiced to all hell.

Sigils of cleansing/protection on an air purifier. I live in the PNW, I have a personal air purifier for fire season. And just for whenever. And it’s enchanted to hell and back

And in return for this information I ask for a piece of my own:

is there any way to make honey taste less repulsive? Honey in warm water is the best I’ve got for a sore throat remedy atm and I just really dislike the taste of honey.

[mintylilacs]

Bounding off of the prayer element: if you in any way incorporate sprits or the dead/ancestors in your process, talk to them! Tell them about your day, what’s bugging you, how difficult this boss fight in your favorite video game is, give a rambling presentation about a book you like, whatever.

The amount of time I lay in bed just muttering to the ceiling has got to look concerning on some level 😅

Low Energy Witchcraft

I'm neurodivergent and i experience really intense burnout. I get to a point where I struggle to even get out of bed, take my meds, remember to drink water, let alone practice. But, when I want to practice i have a list of things i can usually do. Everyone's experiences with burn out/low energy are different so this list may not apply to you, and that's okay. Take what resonates, leave what doesn't and i hope you enjoy my silly little list :)

create a playlist and infuse it with an intention. eg, a money spell playlist filled with songs about wealth.

draw sigils with soap when in the shower. (you can also use a wet wipe if you can't shower)

found some juice? give it a little shake and use the ingredients as a spell.

have food that has grains as ingredients? wow! an abundance spell!

the classic add intention to your tea and coffee.

bind your hair. for me with is as simple as putting my hair in a ponytail.

watch a witchy video. while not technically practising witchcraft, sometimes all you need is to sit back and relax to connect with your practice.

when I have a decent amount of energy I'll grab a large pillar candle and carve sigils into it. I use it as a long-term spell; all I have to do to activate it is light the candle. I like to light one of these spell candles when I'm having a bad day.

if you're religious, pray. Even if you're lying in bed. Even if you haven't showered in a week. If it makes you happy and you can, do it

burn some insence! it smells good, you don't have to really worry about forgetting about it, it's good for cleansing. it's great!

take a nap with some crystals. any restorative crystals or calming crystals work great! just make sure that they aren't geodes or roughs. i'd hate for you to hurt yourself while sleeping.

if you don't have any crystals for your nap, set an intention instead. please let yourself rest.

It's important to remember that you're allowed to take breaks from your craft. If you're forcing yourself to practice when you have no energy because "that's what a good witch would do!" then you're probably going to make your situation worse. it's a great way to fall out of love with witchcraft. give yourself some grace. rest is infinitely more important than 1 full moon, 1 new moon, or missing your daily/weekly/monthly cleanse. You aren't a bad person if you don't pull your morning tarot card or check the astrology forecast for today. and you aren't a bad person if you miss your daily prayer. take care of yourself. your health is WAY more important than your craft. Go get a drink of water and take care of yourself <3

[mintylilacs]

I divide witchcraft into three levels - beginner, intermediate, and advanced, but they often coexist. You are rarely at just one level at a time.

Beginner Witchcraft: the What of magic. This is where you learn the basics, the procedures, the associations, the methods. (When it comes to most divination, I'm here!)

Intermediate Witchcraft: the Why of magic. This is where you question what you have learned to understand it.

Advanced Witchcraft: the How of magic. This is where you take the information you have learned from the previous two categories and learn to use it in your own way.

Example

Beginner Witchcraft: use salt to cleanse.

Intermediate Witchcraft: salt cleanses because it has multiple functional capabilities, including scouring, disinfecting, and absorption.

Advanced Witchcraft: salt is sodium. All forms of sodium have cleansing capabilities. The most absorbant form of sodium is sodium bicarbonate. This box of baking soda has been in my pantry for a few months so, even while closed, it has absorbed some of the protective essence of my home. Therefore I can open the box of baking soda and use it to absorb the negative energies out of my suitcase from this terrible trip. The home energy will capture and negate the away energy. I can then combine the baking soda with vinegar, which is effectively opposite on the pH scale, and which has strong banishing energy, to render both the energies and the chemical composition of the baking soda inert and I can dispose of it safely down my sink.

[mintylilacs]

Was reading on wikipedia about how lots of ancient cultures had beliefs and traditions where you had to offer prayers and/or sacrifices if you wanted to cut down a tree because you were basically killing the spirit that lived within the tree and if you did that without good reason bad stuff would happen to you

we should bring that back. if you want to clear cut a forest you have to pray and sacrifice on behalf of every single tree

[mintylilacs]

Basically one time one guy accidentally bought a demon at goodwill and suddenly everyone’s freaking out.

Witchcraft is often far too concerned with sanitization.

"Cleanse your tools weekly!" "Never buy anything second-hand or bring a gift into your home without purifying its energy!" "Your tools won't work if they've sat too long!"

No wonder your craft has the vibrational tone of a department store. I'm looking for that kind of magic that has a ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹patina◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ

[mintylilacs]

Anyway I think I may have accidentally stolen the concept of saints from the Catholics. But like they’re Catholics, who cares if you steal from them.

The weird part is this came as an unintended result of grieving for a couple people I… adored from a distance, who passed this year.

And the weirder part is…. It’s working.

[mintylilacs]

An elaborately planned weather magic ritual spell performed under optimal conditions

Vs

Humming a few bars of the song from my sixth grade orchestra class that me and my friends noticed correlated pretty strongly to a steep drop in temperature and usually snow

It was raining ten minutes ago

[mintylilacs]

Ok to be real I’ve never seen anyone use that fir Neptune lmao. Everyone I know uses the trident

oh

☿

OH IT'S A CADUCEUS

IT'S A PAIR OF ENTWINED SNAKES NOT A ♀ WITH HORNS

GODDAMMIT MERCURY

[mintylilacs]

i’ve been inspired by the person who said if they got 666k notes they would practice self care. so ya know what? i’ve been in a spiral of depression for months so if this post gets 1 MILLION notes by the end of 2023, i will start taking care of myself and actually try to battle my depression and live my life. (this is never going to get 1m notes yall HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA)

[mintylilacs]

November reminder to Witchblr: Wicca was invented in the 20th century by one British man. Nothing about it is "ancient".

[mintylilacs]

Red Flags In Pagan Circles

I've seen a lot of younger, inexperienced members of the pagan (and witchy!) communities fall into some traps set up for them by people who wish to harm them. It saddens my heart to see this happen, as a lot of newer practitioners join these circles so they can learn! And because they're new, they often get taken advantage of.

So I'm creating this non-comprehensive list of some red flags in pagan and witch circles. Again, this isn't comprehensive. I will be updating this as time goes by, so I recommend checking in on this. For each red flag, I'll give a brief explanation as to why it's a red flag. As always, feel free to add your own in the replies and I'll add them to this post!

Use of the terms "black" and "white" magick: [can be racist: the association of darkness or black things with evil can be tied all the way back to the Atlantic slave trade]

Argues that using closed plants such as white sage is ok: [this is cultural appropriation]

Argues that closed practices such as smudging, voodoo, hoodoo, etc. are ok: [like the above, this is cultural appropriation]

Believes that open pantheons (especially watch out for this is Nordic circles) should only be worshipped by those with Nordic blood: [this is an argument straight out of folkism, which is a Neo-Nazi movement]

Offers to teach advanced to newbies: [new practitioners are NOT ready for things like this!]

They use the terms "witchcraft" and "Wicca" interchangeably [they are not! These types of people often believe you must be Wiccan to practice witchcraft]

Refers to Wicca as an "ancient" religion [this is demonstrably false: Wicca was formed in the 1960s]

Acts as if baneful magick is evil [it is not]

Acts as if the "Threefold Law" is the end-all-be-all of practicing [not every witch believes in the threefold law. This goes back into my point about them believing you must follow Wiccan teachings to practice witchcraft]

The use of racial or cultural slurs. Even if they say it is "non-discriminatory" [they are racist. PERIOD]

Pushes a specific diet [people are able to eat what they want. Some practices might have specific diets, but not all of them do]

Pushes pseudoscience and/or anti-science ideologies (anti-vax, etc.) [this is dangerous!]

Enforcement of gender binaries (e.x. "masculine" and "feminine" energies) [not everyone falls into one of these binaries.]

Promotes the idea that only witches can be female/male witches are called warlocks [witches can be any gender!]

Promotes the idea that mentally ill/neurodivergent witches are that way because they have a strong intuition [this is extremely dangerous!!]

[mintylilacs]

Discussion time!

At what point of substitution and reworking does a spell become original or divorced from its original inspiration? Where do you (yes, you, the individual or system reading this) draw the line?

[mintylilacs]

I feel like these things would be a lot easier if everyone had an ounce of creativity in their heads.

Having an “I hate witchcraft names” moment where I want to yell - can you please sign the emails with your legal names so I know which “Raven” you are on the spreadsheet without having to double check what email everyRaven uses.