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[school-of-roses]

☆･✧Introduction to Writing a Professional Email✧･☆

"Every professor secretly wants to be Ms. Frizzle." -@myshoeisonthewrongfoot

Introduction to Writing a Professional Email

Writing an email is one skill that you will most likely need in your professional life either as a student or in your time in the workforce. However, you can also use these skills to write emails to experts in any given field when you have questions among other things. The applications are endless.

Rule One: Don’t Panic

If you are writing to someone for information there is a very solid chance that the response you are going to get is going to be something like “yeah sure -sent from my iphone 11:35:18 PM” if it isn’t closer to an automatic message informing you that the person is out of the office until a specific date.Those who care don’t matter and those who matter don’t care. If your grammar is coherent enough to be understandable and cohesive, they are going to care more about the content of your email than the structure and soundness of the message. So fear not, internet denizen, you are probably gonna kill it. Being professional, polite, and persistent will get you very far in most things, and this is no exception.

Subject Line

Whatever anyone tells you, your job here is to NOT get caught by someone’s spam filter. Summarize what you’re looking for in about 3 to 5 words, and you should be good. I generally like to start with [What is it?] [Specific topic it pertains to.] Want to ask a professional about how many different kinds of tigers there are? 

Subject: Question about Tiger Species Statistics.

The [What is it?] helps give them an idea of what the email is about, and the specificity helps both keep you out of the spam filter and makes you sound purposeful.

Template

Writing an email isn’t particularly difficult once you get the hang of it, but when you’re first starting out, don’t be scared to use a template. Taking some of the thinking out of the process can do wonders for making you both comfortable as well as getting you most of the way there without having to struggle.  No one is going to judge you if your email doesn’t look particularly original in structure because this is about the content. You don’t have to worry here about looking like you copied someone else’s homework, rather, it’s encouraged. If you were writing a haiku you wouldn’t worry about having the same number of syllables as everyone else. In the same vein do not worry about having the same professional email structure as everyone else. Emails are a means to an end, and there is no harm in viewing them that way.

I’ve written one out below for your convenience.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Good morning,/ Good afternoon,/ Good evening,] ---> Header

[This is where you introduce yourself and provide relevant details about who you are. Are you a student with a question? Are you a professional in the field? Include that here. You may also want to include a thesis here about what you want in this introduction.  That is likely going to resemble something like “I have a question about {topic} and would like to hear your advice/ input/ knowledge on the subject, if possible.” It may seem redundant to introduce yourself here when your name is also going at the bottom, but redundancy isn’t always a bad thing.  This first paragraph is introducing yourself, the bottom is handing someone your business card.] ---> Introduction paragraph 

[This is your substantive content. You can indent this if you like, but some software gets a little finicky with this process, and most people prefer a space between the paragraphs in an email anyway because it genuinely makes it easier for people to read. Keep the paragraphs concise, clear, and don’t sweat the small stuff.] ---> First body of the email.

[I usually use much shorter paragraphs in an email that you would in an essay. You’re generally not arguing a point or giving an in depth analysis in an email, so they shouldn’t be too beefy in the first place, but generally separating them by question or by thought process is a good idea.]  ---> Second body of the email.

[And so on and so forth.] ---> Etc. body of the email.

[Best,/ Best wishes,/ Thank you,/ Thanks in advance, Kind regards] ---- Signature message

[Name O. Person] ---- Signature here

Stylistic Options

Some people insist there should be a colon at the end of the header portion, but in personal experience no one cares besides this one writing professor I had. However, if you wanna feel fancy with it, go for it. There are barely any rules to writing a professional email, but if it makes you a little less panicked to think you are performing a well guarded secret of professional email technique by using it, be the super spy you were born to be. 

Bonus Sign Off Sentence

Additionally, no one thinks for more than five seconds about the signature message. Whether you use “Regards”, or “Thank you” this is linguistic furniture. You notice when it isn’t there, but you don’t think very hard about it when it is there. I use the exact same one every single time, and so does everyone else. Pick one that sparks joy for you. If you want, you can even throw a sentence right before it to tailor it to your specific desires a la: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Body ends here.]

I genuinely appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Regards, Name O. Person

Email Signature

One way to elevate your professional email game is to create a signature in your email program. In gmail, it’s under general settings.  You click add signature, pick a name for it, and it should open a formatting box. This allows you to create essentially a business card that will automatically be affixed to the bottom of your emails. It will go in place of putting your name at the bottom every time. You can get a little more fancy with the fonts and information in this section by including things like job title or graduating class. This can elevate your professional email game tenfold and make you look like you really know what you’re doing. Nearly every program for email management has some variation of this in the settings somewhere.

[school-of-roses]

○o■Pets in Magic■o○

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. -Albert Schweitzer

Animals are a part of our lives and we love them dearly. Just as they are a part of our lives, they can also be a part of our practice.

Pet Proofing Your Workings:

If you want to incorporate your animals into your craft it is important to double check that things that are not harmful to humans are also not harmful to animals. Certain plants, incense, and other aspects of working that are either harmless or present negligible risk to humans are potentially very harmful to our pets. Your pet doesn’t need to meet their ancestors, don’t smoke out the house if your furry loved ones are home.

Pet Familiars: Not to be confused with spirit familiars, pet familiars are pets that you have specifically incorporated into your magic.  This is a physical animal that you have invited to be a part of your working. Some practitioners believe animals have a specific sensitivity to energy and other magics. In this way, a pet familiar acts as a second set of eyes in the spiritual world.

What Kinds of Animals Can Be Familiars:

Any domesticated animal can be a familiar and I imagine even some wild caught or befriended animals have been considered familiars across the ages. However, how you incorporate your animal into your practice is going to change based on what this animal is.  A bird may be more inclined to do direct communication than a dog for example.  A lizard is not so easily going to knock something off a counter because it needs to be cleansed like a cat might. Any animal companion can be a familiar, assuming the animal is okay with this, but how this manifests will be different from animal to animal.

Pets in a Working:

The ways people incorporate their pets into their workings are as numerous as there are ways to love an animal. Commonly they will allow their pets to do things like pick tarot cards for them from a set, pick which crystal they should use, or simply have them sit and participate in rituals with them as a partner and equal in their working.

Others incorporate them as a companion who simply enjoys being involved in a part of their lives as pets tend to do.

Speaking Their Language:

Learning to understand what your pet is communicating with you, especially if you want to have them in a working, can bring you closer to your furry friends. There are numerous guides that help us understand how animals communicate in ways that humans do not, and even certain pets will communicate in way specific to them. While a lizard might not be opening its mouth because it’s smiling, it may display happiness and contentment in other ways. Identifying these can help you incorporate your pet into your practice and help be mindful of their needs while you are engaging with them in both magic and every day life.

[school-of-roses]

There is a garden in my heart 🥀 © Jee Won Park (ig: zeewipark)

[school-of-roses]

☆🌈☆🌈Happy Pride Month!🌈☆🌈☆

Thank you to all 800 followers of the Tumblr and 400 members of the server! We wouldn't be who we are without all of you.

From us at the School of Roses we just wanted to make a statement that we are welcoming to all sexual orientations and genders.  We also welcome and support all intersectional identities, races, cultures, types of systems, people with disabilities, and other marginalized identities. We do not tolerate discrimination. 

Thank you again to everyone who has supported our mission of combatting hateful voices, stopping people spreading harmful misinformation, and making occult information accessible.

Anyone who wants to learn about the occult or join us in this mission is welcome and invited!

Lastly, just like last year if you want custom simple pride emotes or custom profile pic edits we make them for free through the Discord! Just come and ask @gemblue21!

Yours truly, The School of Roses Staff Team https://discord.gg/fFPpQ9qdpd

[school-of-roses]

I'm spending money to make you look at my frog. 👍🏽

[school-of-roses]

Happy Pride!

I haven't been on here too much recently because life has been throwing curveball after curveball at me but I wanted to share in the celebration along with the rest of the @school-of-roses staff!

Gem even made me new moth emotes to share!

Happy pride month everyone! ❤️

[school-of-roses]

∞Σ≜Introduction to Technomancy≜Σ∞

As we grow, so does our culture, so does our magic, and so does our view of the world around us. Superstition exists in all corners of life and modern technology is no exception. While none of these practices are based on ancient or complicated rituals due to the nature of modern technology itself not being ancient, there are evolving forms of the craft that have appeared in the modern day.

Black Box Technomancy

A black box is defined as any complex piece of equipment, typically a unit in an electronic system, with contents that are mysterious to the user. There is a belief that technology only obeys you if you know how it works, and every black box is somewhere where technology can be manipulated. This is more magic used to affect technology than technology used in the process of magic.

By this logic if you want your computer to start working, the best thing you can do is learn how it is supposed to work, or have someone who understands it better come over and explain to you what is supposed to happen. Having a holistic instead of superficial understanding of a machine you are operating can help create and maintain effective working environments. In some cases it helps if the person who knows how it is supposed to work just stands there and watches.

On the other end, this can work in reverse. You can avoid learning about the workings of the black boxes or intentionally put it out of your mind and impose your will in their place in order to bend the limits of a machine or technological device using this method. This may include intentional ignorance of the condition of a computer in order to push it beyond its normal limitations.

Forms of Divination

A common way that technomancy is used is for divination. Many use randomizers for divination purposes. There are not a lot of standard ways to go about this due to the method, but many of them are based on older systems that attribute divination means to certain numbers. There are also some online pendulums or tarot card readings that work on similar systems of randomization and interpretation.

Channeling Through Technology

There is magic where the focus *is* your technology, but there is also magic that uses modern technology in some part of the process. To go about this you might use the device itself as a focus either intentionally or unintentionally. Using a device as a focus involves having your device somehow involved while you’re doing spellwork. Some do this by having their device playing music to help them focus and others do this by having their phone contain the words of the spell they’re reading. Others will intentionally include their devices by having that be the very object they focus on with the intention that the connection the device has to the internet and beyond will carry the spell to its intended recipient.

Digital Sigils

Digital sigils are sigils that instead of being drawn on paper or something solid exist digitally.  The pictures and icons have power, but they aren’t drawn or created on paper. This can give them versatility and can be very easy to duplicate. They can be drawn using any art program. They’ve been used in places like homescreens, profile pictures or just sent as images. In most other ways they work identically to sigils.

Places to Put Spells

Technomancy also opens the door to more places to subtlety hide spellwork. You could put spells in the notes of a computer code, in the metadata of a file, or hidden in a digital image. While tech can constitute physical pieces of modern technology, technomancy can also constitute magic that lives in the digital spaces we might spend a great deal of our time in.

Everything Fucking Breaks

One thing I’ve come to hear one should learn to get used to if they plan to incorporate technology into their craft is that the devices used will start to act weird as shit. I leave the objective truth of this to the practitioners themselves, but it is something reflective of my own personal experience.

Turns out once you start breaking down the confines for how incredibly sensitive electronic objects are supposed to work, they start to get a little squirrely. Depending on how long you do this, however, you might just break even with how many things break way faster than they have any business and how many things last way longer than they have any business because of sheer force of staring into the eyes of that small bottle of lightning we’ve captured that thinks it’s hot fucking shit that is NOT going to crash on me 2 hours into writing my paper.

[school-of-roses]

📚How to Read an Academic Paper📚

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go." —Dr. Seuss *̥˚✧

Reading an academic paper can be as much of a challenge as finding the source in the first place, if not more so. Knowing how to approach the process can help take you from struggling through it, to learning what you need to know in the least terrible way possible.

Structure of a Paper

Academic papers tend to follow a similar format.  APA is as follows:

Title 

The name of the paper, authors, dates, etc.

Abstract 

A short summary of the paper.

Introduction 

Introducing the paper. Sometimes this is written before the experiment starts. You often find the hypothesis here for an experiment. Sometimes it’s written after, but they’ll usually write it as if it was written before.

Methods and Materials 

How they did it and what they used.

Results of the Study 

What they found and how they analyzed it.

Discussion

What they concluded from the results and why, often with sources from other similar papers.

Conclusion 

What this means and what they concluded.

(No Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion [IMRaD] you are most certainly not RAD. >:( )

How to Read Papers by Type

Different papers from different fields can present unique challenges to reading and understanding.

Start with the abstract. Once you’re done reading the abstract mosey on down to the conclusion!  Ignore the middle bits! Most of the time the middle bits are there to tell other researchers “I gotta make sure this is up to the standard of academic research!” Once you’ve read it once you can go back to the Method and judge how they performed it.  However, at first this is a lot so go read the conclusion!  It should be short, sweet, and tell you what they have spent the last so-and-so pages arguing. This will make it easier to understand.

It may seem counterintuitive to go in this order because we are taught to read books top-to-bottom left-to-right, but academia is full of clowns who speak in code.

Humanities Papers

Humanities papers are the most likely to dunk the format of a research paper.  They are also usually based on the researcher’s interpretation of a primary source.

Because humanities papers are often based on the researchers' (albeit very educated) opinion it lends itself to a critical analysis of everything from translation to cultural or social bias from the researcher much more easily. (What primary sources did they base their conclusions on?  Would you have done the same? What have other researchers said? In the cultural context of the time, does this translation make sense?) However, this tends to come after you’ve successfully understood what the researcher is trying to say.

Primary Source

A primary source is first-hand knowledge of something. These can include a writing from a time period by someone who was there, a record made at the time, a photograph, or even an artifact.

Secondary Source

A secondary source is second-hand knowledge. These are the papers written on the subject, textbooks, and accounts written by the people who were not around when it happened. They are not inherently worse than secondary sources, and are very important for spreading knowledge, but research based on secondary sources tends to be a compilation of a lot of research rather than direct investigations. [See: Historiographies. Synthesized studies. Meta Analysis.]

Scientific Papers

The abstract is your best best friend!!! They are not hiding the ball, it’s in the abstract.  Then once again take yourself on a trip to the conclusion. Scientific papers almost never deviate from this format. Read it once, twice, and thrice again until you understand what the abstract is saying.  This will help you understand the whole paper better.

Additional Complications for Scientific Papers

Experimental design can be, and has been, the subject of many an entire college semester for many people.  Don’t expect to understand it outright if you’re new! For the results of most studies, the relevant concept is going to be "statistical significance". This is the probability that the results were found by chance.  It is generally decided ahead of time based on what is being measured and notated similarly to p<.05. This means that the statistical probability of getting those results by pure coincidence is small enough to be significant.

Often in the discussion section you’ll see the author talk about their sample size, their potential biases, and the limitations of their experimental design (if they don’t the other academics will laugh at them). While you can look at this yourself and decide, this often gives a good idea of where there could be room for error.

Qualitative vs Quantitative

Qualitative data is the how, what, and why of research. Quantitative is the numerical measurements. [Think “quality vs quantity”.] There are different statistical terms and analyses for these different types of measurements, but that could be a whole course, let alone document, in and of itself. They use big words like they’re being sponsored by WebMD and Webster both.

Think of it like this: if you do an experiment and adding something to someone’s drink causes it to taste sweeter, that’s a qualitative measurement.  If you’re adding something to someone’s drink and it raises their blood pressure from 100 to 120, that’s a quantitative measurement. Differentiating between them can be tricky, but a good tip to keep in mind is if it’s studies with people is that qualitative research is usually done with small groups of people - often 100 people or less, while quantitative research will often be upwards of the hundreds. This is because with quantitative research you often need large sample sizes for the data to be meaningful. 

There are many types of qualitative research, including interviews, ethnographies, oral history, case studies, focus groups, record keeping, different kinds of observations, etc, while on the quantitative research side of things, we have our surveys, descriptive research, experimental research, correlational research, comparative-causal research, and more.

Causing you Problems

Those are the general rules and advice, now let's talk about how they are broken.

Style

The structure of an academic paper differs by style. APA sticks to this format very strictly.  However, Chicago (my mortal enemy) is going to have footnotes to contend with, but could still have an abstract and a conclusion. If it has neither of those, lament them, shame them, and curse the author to the pit before skirt skirting your way to the first paragraph (approximately the abstract or introduction), and the last two or three paragraphs (approximately the conclusion). They tend to have generally the same information as would be found in a labeled heading.

The code clowns not only said “make it complicated”, they made it complicated across several different paper writing formats. If by some unholy tragedy you find a writing in MLA? Bite the author with your real teeth, and hope your highschool prepared you for this. At the very least MLA tends to be easier to read by starting at the beginning.

Jargon

Academic papers are often incredibly dense! Academia knows this!  Please don’t be afraid to look up words you don’t necessarily understand!  It’s not shameful! Shame them for using big words, like the pompous elites they are, and pull out a dictionary. Understanding is important! If all else fails, no one needs to know you looked up a word, you can just do a quick Google search and look like a pro.  I do it all the time.

Plus there are often tons of educational materials for learning academic jargon because no one is born educated. They had to learn it, they are just expecting their audience to be someone who has already gotten a degree on the subject. It’s dense and boring, “no one else is reading this shit, surely,” they think while dunking a donut in a cup of hot Red Bull.

[school-of-roses]

-:✧Finding Sources✧:-

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go." - Dr. Seuss. The internet is a very large place, and countless times you’ll hear people telling you to do your own research.  However, informational literacy is hard enough without even knowing what to look for in a source, let alone how to read it.

What to Look for in a Source

There are a few good things to look for in a credible and reputable source. As can be inferred from the meaning of credible and reputable, a credible source is going to come from someone or something that is worthy of confidence, and a reputable source is going to be one that has a good reputation.

Peer Review in Academia

Peer review is the review of a scientific study, academic paper, or similar article by other members of their field with similar or greater credentials. The paper clears several other people who are actively trying to dash the hopes and dreams of the author by finding flaws with their design and reasoning.  I mostly kid, but it is a rigorous process that results in the paper being as high a quality as it can be.

Journals

Academic Journals are periodical publications where the most recent scholarship on a subject are routinely published. Often these are shortened to just “journals” or otherwise known as “scholarly journals”, “scientific journals”, or “peer reviewed Journals”  These are peer reviewed before being included, and themselves often a good place to search for information. 

If a source you find has been published in a journal, you’re in incredibly safe territory for reliable sources! There might be competing information from other scholars to review on the subject, but not only do these publications often include more reading material on the subject cited within, they are often followed by links to others who have cited them in their own writing on the subject.

University Publications

University Publications are also very safe places to look for sources.  While not themselves always a research paper, they are often the culmination of the knowledge that the university has gathered and reflect the most recent scholarship on a topic; least they risk making the university look bad. These are sometimes found on a university’s website, in a professor's online class notes, a textbook, or similar writing linked to someone in the field.

Primary Sources

Primary sources are often the gold standard for knowledge on a subject, assuming you can find something that qualifies. However, these are often hard to untangle as they can be dense, old, difficult to read or understand (and compared to an academic paper that’s saying something!) assuming they’re even in a language the reader understands.

Where to Find Sources

There are a number of places to find good sources.  A quick search engine check can do wonders, however they can be a whole mess, and even knowing what you’re looking for, they can make it harder to find good quality in the sheer volume.

Research search engines and open source libraries can make this process much easier. Google Scholar and JSTOR are good options, and if you’re really in a pinch you can look at Wikipedia. Many will tell you up and down that Wikipedia isn’t a credible source, but while there is some truth to that, you can click the numbers on the information you want to see the sources at the bottom of a Wikipedia page.  You can check these sources individually to see how you feel about them.  Wikipedia also has a “Talk” section where the contributors discuss what should be on each page that sometimes has additional sources or information that was not included.

How to Get a Library Card

Please go to your local library!  Most likely the librarian will be able to help you. You can also check the website of your local library to see if you can sign up. Often libraries will either have books on the subjects that interest you, or may even be able to order them for their collection. Libraries have also started providing eBooks and other technological services. If this is an option for you, it is highly suggested!

University Library Access

Students at most universities are automatically enrolled into the university’s library system. These people can careen around a paywall like it’s a sliding glass door between you and your dreams, and they have the keycard.  Find them, ask them, it only takes like 2 minutes of their time to download and send you whatever file you can’t get, especially if you link it directly.

Non-Academic Sources If you’re at your wits end and the only options for sources are news articles, blogs, or websites this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If this is a personal account of someone’s experience this can be a good thing! Take extra care with these and see if you can’t find multiple sources saying the same thing.  If something is true, most likely you’re going to find multiple people saying the same thing in different ways. However, if you do find multiple sources, look to make sure they aren’t just citing or copying one another in a hellish circle of plagiarism.

[school-of-roses]

◙◘Introduction to Tarot◘◙

•°•°The cards, the cards, the cards will tell! The past the present and the future as well!°•°•

While every card could arguably have its own page to itself, an overview of the practice of reading tarot cards itself might help point you in the right direction.

Querent and Reader

There is a lot of vocab in magic, and divination is no different. The querent is the person asking the question, whether they have their hands on the deck or not. The reader is exclusively the person interpreting the reading. You don’t have to use this vocabulary, but that is what that means if it comes up.

Ideas About Choosing Decks

There are a number of traditions and ideas behind how someone should choose a deck. Some say that you should only ever be gifted a tarot deck and should note endeavor to buy your own. Others think that that is just meant to keep people out of the practice and away from their business.  It is also said that a tarot deck should call to the person who wants it. There is this idea that you will simply know one is for you when you see it. While picking the best deck for you is always better, if you just want to play around with it, there is nothing stopping you from just picking any old deck of cards out.

Those who lean into a more relationship based idea of a deck might put more importance on a deck “choosing you” or “calling out to you” than those who view decks as simply tools that assist in honing their own abilities. The former more so treats the deck like it’s own being, and respects it’s answers as if it has thoughts and feelings of it’s own.  The later treats any failings of interpretation or outcome on the ability of the reader to interpret the cards.

Spreads

Spreads in tarot work by designating specific questions to different parts of a reading.  For example a three card spread most classically has past, present, and future. What you’re really asking is “What is past in this situation?”, “What is currently going on in this situation?”, and “What is the future in this situation as is?”. A spread streamlines the process of asking all three.  The “Celtic Cross” is another very popular, but much longer spread. Spreads can be done with multiple decks, multiple cards, and similar.  Those that don’t use spreads tend to ask the deck questions one at a time.

To make your own spread you take common questions asked about a situation and assigned them placements in your reading.  If you would like to know for example, “What should I be concerned about?”; “How do I avoid this?”; “What will happen if I don’t listen?”; and “What will happen if I do listen?”, you might pick four positions and label them 1: Concern, 2: Solution, 3: Current Outcome, 4: Changed Outcome.  Some like to add flair and arrange the decks to better reflect what the spread is about.  A spread for attaining happiness might be arranged in a smiley face for example. There is more art to the arrangement than science.

Major Arcana

The major arcana is the portion of the deck numbered 1 to 22. These are often considered more important than the minor arcana when they show up in a reading, but not always. The major arcana tend to be representative of large, all consuming, archetypes.

Minor Arcana

The minor arcana are the suit cards.  Usually numbering 1 to 10 and going into page, knight, queen, and king not too much unlike a standard deck of cards. There are four standard suits in tarot, cups, pentacles, wands, and swords.  Each suit tends to have meanings the cards within lean towards. There is some belief that the court cards (page, knight, queen, and king) often represent other people in a reading. For example: pulling a queen of cups in a situation asking about what is stopping you from accomplishing a goal might imply that a woman who with strong emotions is what is holding you back.

Interpretation Through Meaning Some forms of tarot reading involve interpretation through meaning either using a guidebook, or the traditional meanings ascribed to the cards (usually based on the standards of rider waite). This is by far the most common form of card reading.  Often even personal interpretations are based on or inspired by the guidebooks for an individual deck or the commonly accepted meanings.

Interpretation Through Image

Other forms of tarot interpretation involve the images themselves. The querent asks a question, the reader pulls a card, and then the reader interprets to the querent how the image, (whether it be through symbolism, feeling of the card, or very literal images), answers their question.

Shuffling

There are different kinds of shuffling techniques, and even more different kinds of reasons practitioners shuffle their decks.  The most obvious reason being that the cards need to be mixed around to properly read with them.  However, others do this for cleansing purposes, or to add energy to the deck as they focus on what they would like to ask. 

As for the ways that people do them, some mix the cards around in piles and recombine them.  Others throw the cards together in their hands, cutting and remixing them as they see fit.  Others will shuffle them like a standard deck of cards, but many standard tarot decks are a little large and bulky for this to always be a viable option.

Often the idea is to induce a bit of randomness, entropy, and unknown, as magic is said to work in the spaces that are not observed.

There is also a lot of different ways people pull tarot.  Some spread the cards out and pull the one that feels the most important. This style leans far more towards those who see divination as an expression of their own abilities. Others will throw them around and wait for a card to throw itself out at them. Some will pull directly off the top of the deck when they are done shuffling.

[school-of-roses]

This person is cool af! We regularly reblog her content, but go give her some love too! They deserve it! *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

☽☽☽ꕥ⎯⎯⎯⎯・∙・❖・•・⎯⎯⎯⎯ ꕥ☾☾☾

❖ Hello! I’ve been posting for a while but it’s probably about time I introduce myself! Apologies in advance, I tend to ramble

❖ I’m Noma, a Teacher and Admin for School of Roses - A Discord server with an associated tumblr - we are a group of people who want help create an open and accessible place of knowledge in witchcraft and spirituality in both an academic context and in a safe environment for others to talk about their beliefs.

❖ I’m eclectic in practice, and omniest in religion. I can be solitary in my personal practice but that doesn’t stop me from sharing stories and info dumping. I'm Agender and use They/Them, She/Her, He/Him pronouns. I am disabled, wide spread body pain with chronic fatigue and migraines, and some other symptoms, and I do use a cane if I need some extra help moving around. I’ve been practicing for 4 years and primarily work with the Greek Pantheon. I teach general education in the School of Roses meaning I don’t particularly stick to one subject, but flutter around to multiple different ones because I know a little bit about all of it. In my free time I’m often found knitting, reading, or playing a game (mostly Genshin Impact and Minecraft). Other than that I’m usually on Discord - I won’t disclose my Discord here but you can find me in SOR’s server!

❖ We’ve moved on from the basics on the school’s tumblr because everything is posted and now we kind of want to hear from you! So feel free to ask away and I’ll answer to the best of my abilities.

❖ Credit to @gemblue21 for the moth emotes/pictures! She also do all of the emotes/stickers for the school and other places.

☽☽☽ꕥ⎯⎯⎯⎯・∙・❖・•・⎯⎯⎯⎯ ꕥ☾☾☾

School of Roses Tumblr:

School of Roses Discord Server:

[school-of-roses]

𝕁𝕖𝕨𝕖𝕝𝕣𝕪, ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕞𝕤, 𝕊𝕚𝕘𝕚𝕝𝕤, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕎𝕖 ℂ𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪 𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕌𝕤

☽ ☽ ☽ ꕥ⎯⎯⎯・•・❖・∙・⎯⎯⎯ ꕥ ☾ ☾ ☾

•・❖☽ Introduction ☾❖・∙

In most cases things that you have on you everyday can be used as a form of protection. They can absolutely be used for other forms of magic but the more commonly known use is protection for one’s self. This ranges from the hair clip you might wear everyday down to your shoelaces.

•・❖☽ Jewelry ☾❖・∙

This can be any rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc that you have on your person. How to enchant these can be pretty straightforward - maybe you put some energy in it to give it some more oomph, maybe the stone you use in the setting is used for protection - like amethyst or citrine (there are way more options than these two). It’s also seen sometimes where people rely on the type of metal used in the jewelry - whether it’s bronze, silver, gold, or a different metal entirely. One can also take into account the imagery used for things like pendants and charms bracelets - flowers, moons, words, names, etc.

•・❖☽ Clothes ☾❖・∙

Shirts, pants, shorts, skirts, shoes - you name it - it can most likely be used for protection. Headscarves, gloves, hats, etc fall under this too. There are a few ways to go about this. One of them - like for many other methods of protections is putting some protective energy into it. Another method I’ve seen is people whispering prayers, hymns, quotes, etc. into their clothes before wearing them. You can also sew sigils and other protective imagery into your clothes.

•・❖☽ Bags, Purses, Satchels, and More ☾❖・∙

Bags are great for holding and storing things. Most times we use them to store things like our phones and money, but they can store other things like crystals, protection jars, other forms of protection that may be unique to you so that you can carry that protection with you wherever you go! As for satchels, these can have mixes of herbs, crystals, have sigils on the front of them - and they can even go in a bigger bag as well. You can also draw or see sigils onto everyday backs you use.

•・❖☽ Key Rings & Charms ☾❖・∙

These are things you can hang from your key ring, backpack zipper, rear view mirror, bracelets, etc. Perhaps you can enchant your keys for protection or a charm or pendant for the same reasons. These kind of follow the same methods as the previous ones. Put a little energy into it - maybe make it a sigil, rune, or a meaningful symbol, and run with it.

•・❖☽ Earrings & Beads ☾❖・∙

So things like earrings, hair pieces, the wires that are attached to the ear pieces of glasses - those can be used too! It’s a little harder to use methods of protection like sigils on these, instead - this relies more on imagery. Maybe your earrings are sun and moon themed, maybe they’re shaped like shields, maybe flowers. Hair pieces like crowns and hair clips can also be enchanted. I’ve seen people tie strings of beads to things like their hair, mobility aids, etc. As for things like the glasses mentioned previously - those can have tiny crystals placed into the frame, the cables you can get can also have beads or crystals on them although that may weigh them down more than your comfortable with.

•・❖☽ Crystals ☾❖・∙

Some of the most protective crystals are Obsidian, Black Tourmaline, Amethyst, Citrine, and Quartz. Obsidian usually appears as a black stone that is slightly glossy. It’s known for absorbing negative energies for the wearer. Black Tourmaline appears translucent, but not opaque and is known for being grounding. Amethyst will appear in shades of purple, sometimes reds or blues, and is known for protection with emotions and physical energy. Citrine ranges from pale yellow to a dark brown and is known to help with things like dreams and overall healing. Quartz is all around just seen as protective. There are a ton of different quartz and they all have different correspondences

•・❖☽ Colors ☾❖・∙

Deepending on who your asking colors will have different correspondences entirely than that of someone else but you can probably still gather a general list of ideas of what color corresponds to what. Where as one might use light blue for healing, a darker blue might be found to be more suitable for emotional release. White is usually associated with purifying, cleansing, and protection and black is more so associated with banishment of negative energy and grounding

[school-of-roses]

Hello! We are the School of Roses!

◈ 𝅒 𝅓 𝅒 𝅓 𝅒 𝅓 𝅒 𝅓 𝅒 𝅓 𝅒 𝅓 𝅒 𝅓 𝅒 𝅓 𝅒 𝅓 𝅒 𝅓 𝅒 𝅓 𝅒 𝅓 ◈

We are a group of several people who run a discord server, and this is the associated Tumblr!  This was originally started to help advertise, but seeing as Tumblr is a Platform, we now have more followers on the Tumblr than we have people in the server.

Our goal is open and accessible knowledge in witchcraft and spirituality in both an academic context and in a safe environment for others to talk about their beliefs. Sometimes this means we do the reading so you don’t have to, and other times it means helping members find open source research or circumvent paywalls to their practice.

Where we are now: We’ve exhausted what we currently have in the beginner section, and while those things will still be put up when they’re created, we wanted to ask what people would be interested in hearing about!  

In the past this usually meant we start dipping into the spirituality and home & hearth magic sections for our documents, but those aren’t the only options.  If you’d be interested in a specific topic please feel free to let us know!  We have protection, spirituality, home & hearth, divination, mythology, history, geomancy, plant magic, and astrology! If we don’t have a document on a topic, we’d be happy to make one!  Hope to hear from you! °:. *₊ ° . ° .•

Link to the Discord: https://discord.gg/fFPpQ9qdpd

[school-of-roses]

✧☆Introduction to Set Up☆✧

Everyone starts somewhere! Setting up for a ritual can be a whole process that some look forward to, some dread, and others simply see as part of the process. This can apply for home grown or found rituals alike.  More ceremonial practices might have their own rules for how one should set up for their rituals that are specific to them, but if you are making your own, you own this part of the process too.

Cleansing and Warding

More often than not you’re going to want to cleanse and ward a space before you do a spell. This cleans the slate and readies the space for your intent. This is also when you might ward against unwelcome spirits or against those who might seek to undermine your working. While not everyone is going to make a hobby of making enemies of other witches, the person undermining your working might even be yourself, your own self doubt, your own conflicted wishes.  This is the moment you leave that at the door. Cleanse out what does not serve you, ward against it while you work, and have faith in yourself to carry through unimpeded.  This is your space now.

Who, What, When, Where, and Why?

Who?

Who is going to be part of a spell can range from a group to those who will be present metaphysically.  Your guides might be part of this process, your friends might be apart of the process. You may even say a prayer to ask a deity or similar entity for their help with the proceedings. Regardless, those who are present should know that this is what is happening.  You largely don’t want anyone interrupting.  

What?

Spellwork often involves materials or other objects that correspond with what you are trying to do. This is your substance.  These are your elements.  You may want to make a checklist of all the components you will need, or construct the spell where you keep all of your witchy objects to have it be burnt, buried, or returned to nature to complete your spell. This is going to vary by spell.  Other things to consider are what you have your spell in, what you plan to do with it after, and how this can be done. (You wouldn’t bury forever a non-biodegradable vessel or burn something that produces toxic gas for example.)

When?

Those who prescribe more to astrology are going to use the position of the stars or phases of the moon to decide when to perform a spell.  Those that follow the equinoxes/ solstices, or the wheel of the year might pick times when the veil (the separation between the physical and the metaphysical) is thinner.  Those that follow saints or other religions might pick specific holidays to plan for when their guides, patrons, or deities will be able to offer them the most assistance.

Where?

 Many witches take to doing their craft in their home, and will have an altar of sorts that they do their spellwork around. However, many practitioners will also take into account place as an aspect of their working.  They may go out into the woods to get more help from nature or take advantage of very old corresponding trees that they don’t have to take clippings from in order to utilize. It also might be the best way to find a space that you can temporarily designate as your own, or where you won’t be bothered.

The ease of using an altar means that you have to be less concerned about not having everything with you that you plan to use.  If this is the case you can have everything set up ahead of time, or just in reach for when you need it.  However, if you plan to go somewhere else, you might want to pack a travel altar (a smaller, often easily concealable, altar to take with you).  This will act as your witchy toolbox.

Why?

Setting up as a process is important to many for a variety of personal reasons. As you progress as a witch you may do more rituatual preparation or you may do less.  It can help get you in the right headspace, involve divination to decide if it’s worth it, or just be a more literal act of preparing tools, objects, and a clean quiet space. Your reasons are your own, and all of them are completely valid ways to approach the craft.

Sealing and Taking Down

Once you’ve sealed, signifying that this now comes to a close you may want to start undoing everything you’ve put up to perform the spell. This begins the process of returning the space to the way it was prior.  If this is your home it might include taking down the warding around the spell.  If this is out in nature remember to take only memories and leave only footprints.  Usually in the reverse order that you put everything up. I still use righty-tighty lefty-loosey. Many also cleanse the space afterwards.

I have a tendency to leave things for a few days the way they are because I have the executive function of a goldfish, but whether you do this can depend heavily on location, living situation, and how much you put up in the first place.  If most of what you did was clean the house and light some candles this isn’t a big deal, but if there are tripping hazards, something a child or pet could get into, or something that could attract wild animals, you’re probably going to want to be prompt with taking it down.

[school-of-roses]

△▼Spellwork on Others▼△

☽༓･*˚⁺‧ Sonder: The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. ‧⁺˚*･༓☾

Controlling yourself is often one of the things you have the most direct power over in the craft, where affecting another person comes with it's own tricks and techniques. Where there are certain things that work better when performed on yourself, there are certain things that change when doing a spell on another person.

Taglocks

Taglocks are the parts of a spell that identify the subject. When doing spellwork on another person, you are going to want some part of the spell to include something that identifies them.  There are many things that can tie a person to a spell.  There is a general belief that the more connected the object is to the subject the easier a time the spell is going to have affecting them. For example, some people feel their divination on another person is better quality when they have a picture of the person to work with, or when they can hear their voice.

Different Forms of Taglocks

Clothing and things from the body tend to be the most classic taglocks, but are kinda gross to touch. This is followed closely by names, icons, and other identifiers. These tend to be some of the easiest ones to acquire. Even more popular now are photographs and other digital fingerprints like profiles. We put a lot of ourselves into our accounts, and in some ways they become like our digital clothing. Other things that people use include birthdays, star charts, sigils meant to represent the party in question, and objects they’re connected to either through sentimental connection or frequent contact.

Incorporation

There are a number of ways to affix the taglock to the spell and it’s largely going to depend on the type of taglock.  Some are more obvious: writing their name on the spell, tying their picture to a candle, throwing the object connected to them into the pot, etc. Other forms you might have to be a little more creative with.  Some will focus and visualize the image of the person or connection they have in their head or speak the connection over the working.

Casting out

Another difference between spells on another versus spells on the self is that you’re more often going to be casting the spell up, out, or away.  Where you might drink something, carry something with you, or cover yourself in a spell done on yourself, this is not going to be the same for spells where someone else is the subject.  You might, rather, burn and scatter the ashes of a spell outwards.  You might also open a window to allow the smoke to escape and, in idea, go towards the person.  You might even give the object of your spell to the person physically to which they would, in turn, keep it on themselves.

On Permission

Please get the person’s permission before making them the subject of your spellwork. Not everyone is going to be comfortable being the subject of a spell or even prayer. Having their permission is a good idea both for respect of boundaries, and also because you’re going to want a spell done on another person to be working with them, not trying to overpower their will with yours. It brings them into the spell, makes them part of the process, and can help put everyone on the same page. Please please please get their permission if you’re going to take their hair, clothing, or personal information.  This is a good idea because of the reasons above, but also because just imagine walking in and seeing someone else has an effigy of you in their room with a picture of your face on it, wearing your clothes, and your hair glued to the side that they use for spellwork. It’s the stuff of nightmares.

[school-of-roses]

[school-of-roses]

"Red Velvet" 🌹❤️💋