scissorwitch - Tumblr blog

[scissorwitch]

~May your plants be healthy, Your spells succeed and your ancestors be proud~

[scissorwitch]

Science is important.

I love spirituality, I love witchcraft, but we need to make something very clear. 

Science and medicine cannot and will not ever be something that witchcraft can replace. 

You still need to get vaccinated.

You still need to go to your therapist.

You still need to get antibiotics.

You still need your cancer treatments.

You still need your check ups.

You still need to believe scientists.

Do not fall into the trap that witchcraft will cure physical illnesses like Covid, diabetes, fibromyalgia, or anything else like that. It will not, and you need to take care of yourself.

[scissorwitch]

Disabled Witchery

So for reference: I’m autistic, have ADHD/depression/anxiety/insomnia, and have mobility issues, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia.

My witchcraft is more recent than all of these (about 3yrs now), so I’ve not really adapted a practice to my limitations, but I’ve created my own practice which thus works around them. It’s hard to know what qualifies as a ‘hack’ when you’ve never really known anything different, but I’m going to see what I come up with.

Timing is Flexible

I guess one of the things that makes the biggest difference for me is being flexible about time. Wanna do a full moon ritual but you just don’t have the capacity to do so in the hour closest to its peak illumination? Anywhere within a few days is cool - I know considering 3 days as full (ie the night closest to 100% and the night either side, but some also consider 5 days (at which it’s still 98%+ illumination), or even 7 (still over 95%)!

Likewise with your seasonal celebrations, it doesn’t have to be on *the* date! Nature doesn’t flick sudden switches between seasons, so the energy of a certain celebration or event doesn’t suddenly appear and then disappear after 24 hours. There’s often up to a week between the traditional and astronomical dates of the sabbats, and honestly, I’ll do whatever I’m planning within up to a week either side of that. If there’s a few things I want to do, they they don’t all need to be done on the same day, either. You don’t need to do everything at once, and you don’t need to do them at the exact time/day.

You don’t have to do All The Things!

I especially see the stress of this from younger and newer witches, but you really don’t have to do everything. Sure, it might be nice to do an elaborate ritual every new moon, full moon, and sabbat, but that’s a LOT! And that’s even a lot for someone young, in good health, with lots of energy and minimal external commitments! Maybe you still want to observe all these, but all you can manage is 5min meditating near your window or lighting a candle to acknowledge these - that’s rad, and totally counts!

Magic + Self Care = Win

Honestly there are so many books on how to inject magic into your self-care routine*, but witchcraft has literally been the best thing for my self-care game. Learning to connect with myself and the natural world around me has been the best thing I’ve ever done for my mental health. Plus it’s an easy way to implement the things you’re learning! I incorporate colour magic into my clothes/makeup selection, medical and magical herbalism both inform my tea selections, perfume and bath salt blends, and charm my food/drinks.

* My fave book on the topic so far is Light Magic for Dark Times by Lisa Marie Basile (she’s also chronically ill).

Nature is Everywhere

I literally live in the very centre of my city - I can’t drive, how much I can walk is pretty limited, and even spending much time on public transport wipes me out - but nature is still EVERYWHERE! Even excluding the herbs growing in pots on my balcony and and the pothos in my bookshelves, an urban space still has nature. Without leaving my apartment I can still see a few pigeons/crows/etc flying past occasionally, and a few paperbark trees, plus the roses and crepe myrtle in the garden of the old building across the road.

If you don’t have 4 different species of street trees growing on your block or any parks/gardens nearby, what plants grow in abandoned spaces, or force their way through cracks in the concrete? What birds are around? Is anyone nearby growing plants in window boxes or balconies? Even on a terrible day, walking past the paperbark tree across the road when it’s covered in flowers brings me a moment of joy.

Meditation Isn’t That Hard…

… But it still kinda is. Literally the main purpose most folks are using meditation for is to train their focus. All that needs to be is picking a focal point (the breath is a common one, because it’s always available) and focusing on it - your brain will absolutely wander from that, that’s just when you gently nudge it back to your focal point. That’s literally it! Over time, your brain will wander less often, and return back where you want it more easily. It’s not supposed to be easy straight-up, otherwise there wouldn’t be any benefit to it - it’s a skill you practice to get better at, like any skill.

You don’t need to sit any particular way - if you have pain/fatigue, you can lie down (just ideally somewhere you’re not at risk of falling asleep), if you have ADHD or are otherwise hyperactive/easily bored, you can combine it with movement (stretching, walking, running, you can honestly meditate while smashing out your cardio at the gym). There’s lots of ways you can adapt the basic premise, and it’s totally fine to use guided meditations if you get caught up in your own mind and need external reminders to prompt you back to your focus.

ADHD Note: Meditation is literally THE most effective non-medication way to improve our focus! The down-side is that our brains are dopamine-deprived/seeking and meditation doesn’t tend to give us that dopamine hit it wants, which can make the executive dysfunction a massive block to actually doing the thing. I’m pretty stuck here myself, particularly with my physical health stuff ruling out anything particularly physical/active.. I might need to see if I can find something high-dopamine to do afterwards as a bribe?

It’s Okay to do Your Own Thing

Throw out any idea of what your practice “should” look like or include and just roll with what works. If you’re physically disabled and struggle to leave the house, feeling like you need to do you rituals in a remote forest is probably going to mean you don’t get to do many and then feel crap about yourself - craft a ritual you can do sitting in bed! If you’re asthmatic, perhaps using candles, sprays, or bells would work better to cleanse your space than burning incense or herbs. If you have poor fine motor control or impaired vision, maybe you find it easier to record your journey digitally! Doing something “differently” and being able to do it is far better than doing something “properly” and just.. literally never being able to do it.

You’re Not Alone

There are honestly SO many disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, and mentally ill witches out there. We’re really often drawn to witchcraft, and there are some folks putting out some great resources on how they adapt their practice - like @heatherwitch’s “Bedridden Witchcraft” series. Quite a few popular witchy authors are chronically ill as well, like Lisa Marie Basile, Juliet Diaz, and Arin Murphy-Hiscock. Don’t let anyone tell you that your can’t practice witchcraft unless you’re physically and mentally well, it’s bullshit, and we’re all living proof.

[scissorwitch]

Good Luck Magic Raven Mug by crazycatladyceramics

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A little book I made a few months ago

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You and the crystals are both beautiful!

When you find the perfect crystal to bring home with you 🙌🏠 Now that’s what I’m talking about, look at those rainbows! 🌈

[scissorwitch]

Ain’t nothing wrong with picking up fallen succulent leaves off the floor of the Walmart garden center, takin’ ‘em home, and growing your own plant babies. Pirate those plants. Fuck the system.

[scissorwitch]

Posting this to my biggest platform as well, please share this if you can and whoever has Twitter, please share this there as well because his case is not getting enough attention and his family is understandably crushed. His father flew there as soon as they found out Mavro was missing and is cooperating with the police trying to locate the young man. The family is desperate, please help them get the case exposure and notice, it's horrible to think what they're going through not knowing if their child is safe and alive.

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I was taking pictures of some leaves and this cat appeared out of nowhere and just walked right into one of my shots….an autumn miracle…

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I think a common misconception is that lesbian, gay, bisexual are "neat little boxes" that a lot of people don't fit into but that's not the case. Each label encapsulates a lot of different experiences and approaches to attraction. A lesbian that doesn't want sex is still a lesbian, a bi person who struggles to tell the difference between platonic, romantic and sexual feelings which differs or doesn't differ according to gender can still be bi. A gay man who isn't all that interested in dating is still gay. These are not limiting labels and not every person who uses an lgb label feels exactly the same about attraction.

[scissorwitch]

Beautiful!

Moonlight - Hauntober

Not exactly what I had in mind with this prompt but close enough. :)

[scissorwitch]

Y'all I got an update

The zucchini started growing out of NOWHERE. Literally you can see them growing leaves under the dirt instead of sprouting, then moving it out of the way when they're good n ready. I didn't know they could do that??

The peas are growing FAST. Last night it was as long as my pinky, now it's as long as my index finger omg. Also aww I bet there's itty bitty cell circles in those leaves. They look very pod like. This is my hypothesis but don't worry little guys I'm here to watch you love, not produce.

The mesculin is sprouting like grass still. There's so many of them. My room is going to fill with grassoid plants aaaa

This is peak witchcraft y'all. The divine said I did good for the first half of Quarantine, and now here's my reward. I can finally not kill everything I look at yeeaaaaaayyyy

[scissorwitch]

O shit o FUCK I'm growing a garden

Because of Quarantine, my Dad's company, Nikon, has been sending us a lot of v odd gifts. Stuff like jellybeans, crayons, books, etc all with Nikon branding on it. Weird

One of the gifts they sent us was a pack of seeds. I was like, "Man I should totally try to grow this. Hey Dad can I grow this?" and he was all, "Ya sure." and they didn't grow BUT I also had a plastic baggie of seeds I bought years ago and I have no idea what either were but I grabbed some goth chalices my mom left me and planted them and sat them right at my window sill

After a while of them growing so frickin FAST I knew I had to get them something bigger. So as soon as I got my paycheck I went to Home Depot and my Dad and I built this

See that little orange thing? That's where I put it. Since it was still smol I gave it a paper hat I made

Well it's fucked up now. That was a MISTAKE. Makes sense as I do live in the frickin desert. So now it's in this tea vase thing I got from GoodWill. Trying v hard to regrow it. It seems to turn a little greener everyday, but them stems and leaves are still so withered. Very sad.

Now that being said, I happened to buy more seeds when I was getting tons of potting soil. Almost all vegetables as my mom is a homesteader and I am a cook. It's sensible and delicious. However, seed companies always assume you are also a farmer. I am not a farmer I built a smol box in the back of my suburban home. I hate suburban home but such is life. Make the best of what you got, y'know?

Well, with so many extra seeds and not enough room, I left a lot of space and started growing some in my room. Not in chalices though. The package said they should be better spaces out so I recycled plastic water bottles and check it out!!

When I first started, that one chalice was the only one that grew. I had about 9 chalices. But look now! ALL of the bottles have little sprouts!! The ones lined up are various edible greeneries so they are more quick to sprout and in abundance. The one out of line has peas, but you can see the large seeds starting to unfurl sprouts in them!!

EXCITEMENT !!!!!

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I got my cute earings from Callum! Seriously, check them out on Depop ( https://depop.app.link/ObOwfw0G85 ). They're a sweet trans frend who just wants a binder and to make jewelry. I got black eyes and custom skulls in a lesbian flag AND OMG THEY'RE SO CUTE AND TINY LOOK AT THE SIZE COMPARISON WITH MY NAILS.

Again, the link is https://depop.app.link/ObOwfw0G85

PLEASE LOOK AT THE EARINGS THEY'RE JUST CUTE FUNKY LIL THINGS HERE TO SPREAD GLAM ♥️♥️

[scissorwitch]

Awww!!!

[scissorwitch]

Any designs with witchy vibes?

long overdue witchy post, more witchy designs on the way!

:eyes: by @mossdeep-island