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Anyways I crossed the hedge a bit deeper than normal last night and had an amazing moment with the morrigan. I love her more than air and I’m so grateful to grow with her beside me 🖤🐦‍⬛🌀🌙

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Would anyone be interested in me writing an entire exposé on Walt Disney World as a former cast member and unleash the horrors I witnessed now that my NDA is up?

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People still tend to lump JK Rowling in with the category of ~problematic artists~ and I need everyone to understand that is not the problem with her. She is not comparable to anyone who wrote a piece of fiction you hate, or someone who made rude comments in 2015 and has since learned better.

She is far more like Elon Musk. She is a radicalized person with an extreme amount of social and financial power, and for YEARS she has been using that power to try to influence her government into hurting vulnerable people, on purpose. And she has succeeded. THAT is the problem with her, and THAT is why spending money on her books is so dangerous, not because her books aged badly.

Critiquing her work is fine, of course (I personally was never a fan so I really don’t care) but you NEED to understand that fiction is not the main issue here. And I truly think acting like she’s the same as the rest of any giant list of ~problematic creators of the week~ waters down how dangerous she is.

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"but the text never explicitly stated it!!!" hey, so that's actually what they tried to teach you in those english classes you barely passed 😁

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Paganism:

This term originally referred to non-Christian religions, encompassing a wide range of practices and beliefs from various cultures. It can include historical pagan traditions that existed before the rise of Christianity and more modern expressions of those traditions.

Neopaganism:

This term specifically refers to the modern revivals and reconstructions of pre-Christian pagan religions, particularly those originating in Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Neopagans draw inspiration from ancient pagan myths and traditions, but often incorporate modern interpretations and practices.

Just a helpful branch.

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Hey, don't be afraid of things that challenge your faith. Seriously, don't.

Either they'll give you a new perspective on things, or you'll become more secure and confident in your current beliefs. But avoiding the hard questions leaves you in an echo chamber with half-baked ideas and an insecurity in yourself. Step out of your comfort zone so you have room to grow.

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the gods understand your disabilities, mental health, and neurodiversities.

they understand if your disabilities, mental or physical, prevent you from being able to go outside.

they understand you even when you cannot articulate what you mean during prayer or cannot find the words to express gratitude and love.

they understand if you can't spend much time or stand still at their altars.

they understand if executive dysfunction keeps you from making offerings or doing a lot of active practice.

they understand if you have to take breaks and hiatuses from practicing to focus on yourself and your mental or physical health.

they understand if you lose focus during meditation/trance work or cannot do it to begin with.

they understand you and are with you when you cannot get out of bed for mental or physical reasons.

they understand you and are with you during times when you cannot care for yourself or love yourself.

the gods will always understand, love, and accept us for who we are. we are all valid, and we are seen and heard by the gods, even when it feels as if we are alone. 💙

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Grimoire - Decolonizing Witchcraft

Racist Stereotypes About Magic What you mean to say: Karma Edition Depth and Cultural Appropriation in Witchcraft Racism, Spirituality, and Witchblr Making Magic More Inclusive Accidental Appropriation Closed Traditions Aren't a Monolith. Chakras - What they really are CHAKRAS (are not what you think they are) Recognizing the difference between real history and pseudohistory

More related posts at: For Pagans/Witches to Beware of My Posts Related to My Practices Religions and Deities

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The Three Cauldrons

The Three Cauldrons — a rich, mystical framework from Celtic (specifically Irish) poetic and druidic tradition. Also called the Cauldrons Of Inspiration, these are spiritual vessels within the self, deeply tied to soul-craft, inspiration (Awen), and magickal power. The concept comes primarily from the medieval Irish text "The Cauldron of Poesy" (An Cormaireacht na nÉigeas), a metaphysical poem from the bardic tradition.

Each cauldron is an inner vessel of energy, consciousness, and soul-force. They correspond to the body, the spirit, and the creative self — and like literal cauldrons, they can be full, turned, or empty depending on one’s life force and spiritual journey.

Cauldron of Warming (Coire Goiriath)

Located in the abdomen or belly.

Purpose: Vitality, life-force, grounding. This is the cauldron you're born with upright. It governs survival, physical health, and basic emotional energy.

Element: Earth / Fire

Function: Stores primal energy. It is warmed by joy, compassion, health, and connection to the land or kin.

Shadow side: When cold or overturned, it leads to despair, apathy, or illness.

Magickal use: This is where energy is generated for workings. It fuels stamina for trance, journeying, or ecstatic ritual.

Cauldron of Motion (Coire Ernmae)

Located in the chest or heart center.

Purpose: Transformation, emotion, and initiation. Unlike the first, this cauldron starts tilted on its side and must be turned upright through suffering, ecstatic joy, or initiation.

Element: Water / Air

Function: Governs emotional wisdom, courage, grief, and devotion. It’s the vessel of the spiritual warrior and poet.

Activated by: Life’s trials — heartbreak, sacrifice, ecstasy, grief, or spiritual awakening.

Magickal use: This cauldron processes experience into meaning. It opens when you commit fully to your spiritual path — even if it breaks you.

Cauldron of Wisdom (Coire Sois)

Located in the head or crown.

Purpose: Divine inspiration, prophecy, poetic truth. This cauldron is most difficult to turn upright and only opens with full alignment of body and soul.

Element: Aether / Spirit

Function: Connects you to the sacred, the Awen or imbas forosnai (inspired illumination). From here come prophecies, divine speech, and higher magick.

Awakened by: Transcendence, mystic union, and advanced spiritual discipline.

Magickal use: When this cauldron turns, you become a vessel for divine truth — a prophet, bard, or magus touched by the Otherworld.

States of the Cauldrons

Each cauldron can be:

Upright – full and functioning

Tilted – unstable or wounded

Inverted – blocked or dormant

Spiritual practice seeks to turn them all upright, through ritual, ordeal, poetic expression, and Otherworldly contact.

Integration into Magickal Work

• Invoke each cauldron in ritual to balance body, heart, and mind.

• Craft a cauldron triad sigil, with glyphs representing belly, heart, and head.

• Journey inward to your cauldrons using trance or guided pathwork — and speak to them as spirit allies.

In the quiet turning of the Three Cauldrons, we come to know ourselves—not as fragments, but as flame, breath, and song in sacred accord. When each is awakened and aligned, we do not merely live; we embody the art of becoming. In their deep and ancient wisdom, the Cauldrons remind us: the soul is not poured into us, but rises from within.

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Respect the earth.

She always reaps what you sow.

Ever loving,

Ever generous,

Ever powerful.

And for all,

Doth she come.

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Girls who love their nose buried in a book

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“Hand sew an apron!” I thought to myself with glee.

It wasn’t until my joints started screaming and the seam lines became sloppy that I’ve realized my mistake.

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What is Trancework?

Trancework is the majestic art that I like to refer to as Magic Floppy Time. Trance naturally happens when you set your body to a simple repetetive task with some kind of rhythm either built in or in the background. It is not a religious experience by itself. It happens when driving in the rain with the windshield wipers going. It can happen while reading or doing the dishes for an extended period of time. These things happen on accident which means that this is something our bodies and minds were built to do and it does not require training to get the basics. But if you want to do it on purpose and learn to do some really neat things with it, that would take some skill development. And that is what trancework is--trancing on purpose. What does it feel like? Trancing is rather like sleepwalking. If you slip into it without realizing it then you will really only become aware of it once you start to wake. At that point you somewhat suddenly come back to your senses with absolutely no idea how much time has elapsed since you were last fully conscious. You may just feel a little disoriented and possibly a little groggy. However, if you slip into a trance while fully conscious of it, you will likely feel a few effects. There is a spectrum of normal at play in trancework--which is to say that there are a good number of sensations that can be experienced. For some it may feel like a narrowing of the field of vision, for others it may feel like your consciousness is pulled into either your stomach or right above your head. Still others may just feel a bit woozy or they may feel like their bodies are locked into a particular motion and that they cannot make themselves stop doing it.

Hold out your hands and spin in a field for about 20-30 seconds and then either stop or just try to stop. That's what it feels like. And the reason that is what it feels like is because that is actually a method of getting yourself into a trance on purpose. While any simple repetetive motion can get you into an altered state, the heavy hitters are movements that disrupt the body's equillibrium--that sense of balance in your inner ear. This is why dancing is so strongly linked to trancework and it is why I refer to trancework as Magic Floppy Time. It is because the movements of the body become more and more relaxed as you get into an altered state. You largely surrender your spine for a while and get... well... floppy.

(Playing with the big drum, aka Making Magic Boom-Boom)

Why does this happen?

I have my theories. I personally think that our bodies do this to conserve energy. If you are going to be doing the same activity for a while and utilizing just a select group of muscles to do it, your body will eventually just relax the ones it doesn't really need. Same with the mind. If you don't need it to make decisions or take in the sensory environment, it starts to relax everything that it doesn't need. The unused parts of your brain and body start going night-night.

Is trancework religious or not?

It can be if your religion has a purpose for it. Trancework can have a profound impact on the psyche and it is strongly associated with meditation, chanting, and prayer recitation. So, either we started doing this as a means of reaching towards the spiritworld OR we started praying and noticed this happened as a byproduct. It doesn't have to be an either / or really. The end result is that trancework is and has been used by a lot of religions.

It is also something that just naturally happens during repetetive physical labor. Like mining, weaving, spinning thread, rowing a boat, threshing, kneading, etc. Most pre-industrial occupations involve trancework at some point in the process so it has been a useful tool in the workplace. Think of the musical traditions associated with things like fulling/ wauking, seafaring, and chain gangs. These are secular examples of people using trancework on purpose to coordinate their labor together with others.

Trancework can be secular or religious, it just depends on what you are trying to do and how you go about it.

How do I do it on purpose?

Put on some music with a good beat, give your body permission to relax into it deeper every few bars, close your eyes a little or all the way, sway your shoulders in a figure 8 and let that whole body just go with it. Imagine your body moving like water and let it happen. Say bye-bye to your thoughts. They do not matter. Picture a flowing image--a river flowing around the base of a mountain, a gust of wind carrying a little bird on an adventure, a serpent eating its tail... whatever floats your boat. After about 10-20 minutes of this, allow yourself to slump over, give away all excess energy, and just flop somewhere comfy. Let yourself return to consciousness gradually. When you do, have a snack and drink some water. Do something relaxing like taking a shower or a nap. That's pretty much it.

What if I want to use trancework to do something magical or religious?

Trancing is a skill. You can be good at it and you can be bad at it. It is something that you can improve at over time and with experience. Once you can get into an altered state on purpose reliably and get yourself back out again safely every time, you can then start exploring the other things trancework can be used for. Things associated with magic like: Divination Bilocation Shapeshifting

Or things associated with spirit-based religion like: Possession Mediumship

Or things associated with religion like: Deity Bridalwork Presence Ceremonies

Each of these things have unique structures to the rituals that will get you through them successfully. Think of them like recipes. Because there is a physical and neurological component to trancework, this is not a matter of making up whatever you want or doing what you think makes sense. You can absolutely do that but you will not get the same outcome as what someone who uses a traditional method of doing so would get. If you smoke bacon but call it bread, you're only really fooling yourself. The tried and true recipe gets you the predictable result. (I have to mention this because there are A LOT of modern trancework practices out there that are not based in anything traditional--they're just something someone made up because they moved around it made them feel tingly and they assumed it was the same thing as what the traditional folks were doing. It really isn't. No matter where you go on this planet, traditional trancework functions in the same spectrum of ways. It really is an exact recipe and you can't make changes to the load bearing aspects of it and expect to get the same results. Technique matters.)

If you look around on this blog you will find loads of posts on how to get into the more complicated forms of trancework and what exactly those are used to do. So, I recommend starting there or reaching out to someone who has ties to traditional forms of trancework who can walk you through the exact kind of thing you want to do.

What other beginner questions do you have? Did I miss any? Let me know how I can help!

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Love and light yeah but also sacred rage and darkness

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Telling the bees

The custom of "telling the bees" is a charming and ancient tradition where beekeepers inform their bees about significant events in their lives, such as deaths, births, marriages, and other major occurrences. This practice is believed to have its roots in Celtic mythology, where bees were seen as messengers between the human world and the spirit world. The presence of a bee after a death was thought to signify the soul leaving the body. The tradition became particularly prominent in the 18th and 19th centuries in Western Europe and the United States.

To tell the bees, the head of the household or the "goodwife" would approach the hives, gently knock to get the bees' attention, and then softly murmur the news in a solemn tone. This ritual was believed to keep the bees informed and prevent them from leaving the hive or dying. The custom underscores the deep connection and respect that people historically had for bees, viewing them as integral members of the household and community. (The Historian's Den)

I can easily see how you can turn this in a magical tradition with some little adaptation: plant flowers and plants for bees in your garden, invoke the spirit of the bees, keep bee-telling to the bee-spirits and take care for the plants. I am sure that one day the spirit of the bees will be your ally and that you will learn from it. And a big plus: you are helping the bees to survive in a world full of mono-cultures and poisons. Witchcraft and care-taking for your environment can go hand in hand if you wish to.