#practioner

[pigeonflavouredcake]

How to reference in your grimoire

If you intend on sharing your grimoire with the public or you're a fan of a more academic style of writing then you're gonna want to reference your sources to avoid any kind of plagiarism.

You may have already learned how to reference at your college/uni, in which case follow that method, but if you haven't let me show you what i've been doing in my grimoire.

The referencing style I was taught in my degree is a form of APA 7th edition. This style is best for essays and small research papers and since my grimoire is essentially a bunch of mini contextual essays stuck together I thought it was appropriate.

Here's the format:

Author Surname, Author Initials. (Date of publication/release). Title of source: sub-heading/title of chapter. Publishing company/website. Place of publication/website link. [Format]

So for example, the book I'm currently reading is Buried by Professor Alice Roberts. If I were to reference this book in this format it would look something like this:

Roberts, A. (2023). Buried, An Alternative History of The First Millennium in Britain: Water and Wine. Simon and Schuster. London. [Book]

(Its up to you whether you decide to put the chapter before the book title, it doesn't make a difference, but I prefer doing it this way.)

This reference will need to follow an in-text citation. You can do that by adding a little number in parentheses next to your quote or paraphrase that corresponds to the number on your list of references OR you can make a mini reference following this method:

(Author Surname, Author Initials. (Date of publication). Page number if required)

So following this method an in-text citation would look like this:

(Roberts, A. (2023). p1)

Tips

If you are citing a source with multiple authors, organised them alphabetically by surname, your in text citation only needs to include the first one.

If you're referencing an online upload of an old source like Internet Archive or Project Gutenberg, include the original authors name first, uploaders name/ID second and mark which is which in parenthesis, then the date of original publication if you can find it, followed by the date it was uploaded to the site.

If you are referencing a film/TV episode, use the name of the director and include (Dir) next to their name.

If you can't find a date of publication/upload then write DNA instead.

Always put your references at the back of your grimoire. If your grimoire contains multiple chapters, group them by each chapter and then organise either alphabetically or chronologically. If your in-text citation uses numbers, organise your reference list chronologically. If you're using a mini reference, organise your reference list alphabetically.

This last bit is especially important for practitioners who intend to publish their work. Please please please do not skip referencing! I've read so many traditionally published witchcraft books who's authors don't do this or do it half-assed and I can't stand it.

Readers deserve to know where your information is coming from so they can be the judge on whether or not it's appropriate for them to practice themselves. Not doing so creates a cycle of ignorance among readers and new practitioners that encourages the spread of cultural appropriation, poor media literacy and poor historical and scientific understanding. Always cite your sources.

[mothywitchery]

Service List!

Hiya! My name is Maple and I am a somewhat newer practitioner of roughly 4 years. I love doing readings and I wanted to expand my skills to reach more people. I still would need to charge for my services however, since I am newer my prices will be fairly low. If you are interested in any of my services DM me and we can discuss further! Hope to hear from you soon my dears!

SERVICES

General Tarot Read $8

Love Tarot Read $10

Career Tarot Read $10

Spiritual Path Tarot Read $12

General Charm Read $8

I will NOT read on Pregnancy, Legal, Health, or Death. I also retain the right to refuse a service I am unwilling to do.

[amothersmagik]

Merry Meet!

So, I am climbing up on my soapbox today. I see it asked all the time: "where do I start?"

And every answer seems the same: Research!

Great! But what does that mean? How and where do I research?? ... Starting out in The Craft is both easy and extremely challenging. Prior to the internet, research meant knowing or hoping to randomly meet other Practioners who could guide you. Or, if you were brave, checking a local library. At that point, starting was hard because getting access to information was hard.

Now we have the internet. And the problem exists in reverse. There is now SO much info available that it can be overwhelming at times. It certainly was for my nerodivergent brain. So I have typed up a "brief" summary of my process so that mayhap it will help others::

Research research research! There is so much out there and it can be so overwhelming. How i personally suggest you start? First, accept that you dont need fancy tools and ingredients to be a successful Witch You are enough as you are.

From a research aspect:

1. Look up the major types of spell work. (Candle, Kitchen, Jar, Offering, Sigils, Simmer Pots, Intention Spells, Oils, Sachets, Sprays, etc). This will give you an idea just how broad actual Craft and spellwork can be. Also, it will strike some examples of what to research and give you an idea what you will be most interested in. For example, I primarily love jar spells, sigils, and simmer pots.

2. Make a list of a couple types of spells or works that interest you. Like healing, self love, cord cuttings, etc. This will give you a list to work of to then build your research plan/database.

PLEASE NOTE, I PERSONALLY RECCOMEND THAT YOU DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY OF THESE SPELLS YET. I AM SUGGESTING YOU MAP THIS ALL OUT SO YOU HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE BREADTH OF THE CRAFT. It will also help you decide what kind of Crafter you will likely be. Personally, I am eclectic, and grey with very white leanings. I am not actually Wiccan, though the Wiccan aspect plays a huge role in my Craft.

Huge massive tip in looking stuff up? Using google or your fav search engine, type "metaphysical properties of____" or "magickal/magical correspondences of____" or simply "_____ Correspondences" and you can either read the articles and links or simply look through the images section. Though not everything will have extensive info available.

3. Pick a random spell. Anything. Now RESEARCH what doing that spell would entail. This will give you an idea of what kinds of things to research and where you want to put your emphasis.

For example, I wanted to do an anti anxiety spell. So I researched that. Discovered I have a flair for sigils. Then quickly realized I am an AVID Jar spell kinda gal 😅😁 So I then went searching for jar spells for  anti anxiety to see what would be required. Then realized how many different ways there are to do one. Which lead me to research crystals and herbs to find what ingredients to use for what. Which lead to me making my own comprehensive hard physical copy (alphabetical, might I add) of all the herbs and plants I could find and their many uses. Did the same with crystals. Then candles and their color meanings. Which lead to color magick research.

(..... It has now been 3 years since I went looking for that anti anxiety spell and I haven't performed it yet. I HAVE found so much peace within myself as I have settled into my Craft by learning. Because remember, witchcraft is NOT always JUST about performing spells. Anyway... back on topic)

I quickly realized how much info there was out there to learn and how to go about it.

Id also research the sabbats and all they entail.

Research deities for future knowledge. Though I suggest waiting on actual deity work until you are further down your path  but that is a personal preference.

Research cleansing types and methods.

At the end of the day, your path and your Craft is your own. Follow your intuition and instincts. Follow your heart and soul. And do as much as you can to research something before casting. Google is your friend. Also, i have a list of books. If you want it, just as a place to start, let me know :)

Once you start spell craft, I found it easiest to start with Sigils, once I got the hang of those, I moved on to simmer pots and candle magick (easiest ingredients to get ahold of for me). After getting comfortable with those, I moved on to Offering Spells. Then Jar Spells. I have more or less stopped there in my actual spell progression, as I have found I excel at and greatly enjoy Jar Spells. I have also ventured into oil rollers, sprays, sachets, etc. And I occasionally do rituals, like cord cuttings or ritual baths, but have not overly ventured in those directions. As such, I research as needed for those types of spells.

Shadow work and observing the Sabbats were also a huge learning opportunity for me.

People always say "do your shadow work" and it took me forever to realize they mean working on yourself. Facing your inner demons. Accepting your faults and working to correct those you can. Accepting yourself for who you are and learning to love yourself and be happy with who you are.

Researching the Sabbats and how the many cultures celebrate and honor them gave me another way to research and learn and then work that new knowledge into my craft. People jump over a fire during Beltane. Why? There is a good research topic for you. Yellow flowers, why are they important in the spring? Why are apples associated with fertility. What kinds of activities are engaged in for Samhain? Why?

And along the way of these activities and researching, you will find yourself learning things that can help you elsewhere. Like learning about the color green and its importance at Beltane will later help you in health and fertility spells.

I think I started actually performing spells about 1/4 of my way through all this research. Once I had a good enough basis to understand the materials I was working with and knew my energy and magic enough to feel comfortable and confident in my workings.

I still perform lots of research regularly, but have reached a comfort zone in my Craft where I don't do big things every day, or even every week, but I work my craft in in little ways, sometimes even unconsciously. I have found I am happy, comfortable, confident and at peace with my self and the life I live. And a stable and reliable Craft is a great addition to that peace, if not outright the building blocks for it in my case.

My inbox is open if anyone has questions. Wants to chat. Wants a new witchy friend. Etc. As a Polyamorous, Pansexual, Christian Druidic Mother and Wife who is 420 friendly...... I am an open book with nothing to hide and virtually no judgement left in my brain. I don't care who you are. Do no harm, take no shit and we will be a-okay :)

Merry Part and Blessed Be

[sierracelesteh]

Lilith Sigil Ashtray I made, only 1 left! $20 🖤

https://linktr.ee/celestialsou.l

[importantangeldefendor]

Just read chapter 3.6 of pale

Verona is a catgirl icon

Bre is acting reasonably but also what the FUCK goddammit. Think it's interesting how she doesn't want to *kill* the ritual, just make it better .

fuck practioners for enslaving others though

"We have to keep the cult death game or else how will people feed themselves?"

Verona entire monolog hits home and that hurts, Cherrypop continues to fight with snowdrop for best girl

[rosesforhekate101]

I know an Eighteenth - the final charm of Hávamál

Intent: Union of male and femalePrimary: A rune which represents the practitioner Secondary: To be discovered by the practitioner Old NorseTranslation – Patricia TerryÞat kann ek it átjánda er ek æva kennik mey né manns konualt er betra er einn um kannþat fylgir ljóða lokumnema þeiri einni er mik armi verreða mín systir séI know an eighteenth which I never tell a maiden or any man’s wife the…

[anxiously-sidequesting]

Big shout-out to the ocs and lore that depicts physical/appearance changes due to high concentration and uses of magic btw that shit is so cool. Whether your wizard's hair turns blue or straight up grows an extra arm due to the excessive amount of powerful magic they use everyday I eat that shit up. Bonus points if it's a rare/newly discovered condition or if your wizard is just straight up unrecognizable from arc 1 to arc 4. Bonus bonus points if the wizard gains a disability from it and has to learn to adapt to their new condition

[cloudselkie]

Reminder that if you think people with autism and/or ADHD aren't capable of practicing witchcraft or magic of any kind, you're an ableist and can not so kindly fuck out of the magical community.

[elegantstreetout-hideout]

Juri's unused designs

[pigeonflavouredcake]

Miscellaneous Laws and Philosophies

This is another grimoire extract featuring a compiled list of philosophies, paradoxes, laws of life and physics.

Some of these might be particularly helpful to your practice if you wish to apply them, for example the philosophy of similarity or Newton's laws of motion. Or perhaps you’re like me and just find them interesting to list -some of these, I will admit, I chose to include for a bit of a giggle.

-Absurdism: The philosophical theory that life is absurd with no meaning or higher purpose and can not be understood by reason.

-Acton’s Dictum: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

-Backwards Law: The harder you try the less likely you are to succeed. In psychology, this is also called the ironic process theory.

-Brandolini's Law: The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than the amount it took to produce it.

-Buttered Cat Paradox: Cats always land on their feet. Buttered toast always lands butter side down. If you tape a slice of buttered toast to a cat what will happen when you drop them?

-Catch-22: A situation in which someone is in need of something that can only be had by not being in need of it.

-Clarke's Laws:

The Old Scientist: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, they are almost certainly right. When they say that something is impossible they are very probably wrong.

Possibility: The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little ways past them into the impossible.

Magic: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

-Finagle's Law: An addition to Murphy’s law “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong” will at the worst possible moment.

-Gibson's Law: For every PhD there is an equal and opposite PhD.

-Hanlon’s Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Or, do not invoke conspiracy as explanation when ignorance and incompetence will suffice, as conspiracy implies intelligence.

-Hedonism: A group of philosophical theories centred around pursuing and defining pleasure, referring to both large activities like sex or recreational drugs and small activities like reading a good book or watching a sunset.

-Humphrey’s Law: Conscious attention to a task normally performed automatically can hinder its performance.

-Ironic Process Theory: The psychological process whereby an individual’s deliberate attempts to suppress certain thoughts makes those thoughts more persistent.

-Lem’s Law: No one reads; if someone does read, they do not understand, if they do understand, they immediately forget.

-Muphry’s Law: If you write anything criticising, editing, or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written (the name is a purposeful misspelling of Murphy's law).

-Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

-Newton’s Flaming Laser Sword: What cannot be settled by experiment is not worth debating.

-Newton’s Laws of Motion:

Law of Inertia: Objects will stay in rest or in motion unless an outside force causes a change.

F = ma: Force = mass x acceleration meaning the acceleration of an object depends on the object's mass and the force acting upon it.

Action and Reaction: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction meaning when two objects meet each other they apply force to one another that are equal in magnitude but in the opposite direction.

-Nihilism: Based on the rejection of religious and moral principles and the belief that life is meaningless. Many people see nihilism as depressing and nihilistic people as miserable and annoying, that may be true for some but nihilism also provides the freedom to create and express yourself without social boundaries. There are two types of nihilists: those who say “life is meaningless so why bother?” and those who say “life is meaningless so why not?”.

-Occam's Razor: The philosophical principle that the simplest explanation is usually the best one. When presented with two competing hypotheses that have the same prediction, one should choose the hypothesis with the least variables and assumptions.

-Papert’s Principle: Some of the most crucial steps in mental growth are based not simply on acquiring news skills, but on acquiring new administrative ways to use what one already knows.

-Paradox of Hedonism: When one pursues happiness itself, one is miserable; but, when one pursues something else, one achieves happiness.

-Philosophy of Similarity: Based on the degree of resemblance objects have to one another using their shared properties. This is built on recognising certain patterns like colour or taste and then comparing them to others.

-Rothbard’s Law: Everyone specialises in their own area of weakness.

-Sagan Standard: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

-Solipsism: The philosophical view that the self or the mind is the only thing that is known to exist and anything outside of that is unsure and undefined.

-Stein's Law: If something can not go on forever, it will stop. If a trend can not go on forever, there is no need to make it stop, much less make it stop immediately; it will stop of its own accord.

[amothersmagik]

Blessed Imbolc!!

[sierracelesteh]

a picture i took during my money spell jar ritual 🖤

https://etsy.me/3OswXlw

[importantangeldefendor]

Just finished pale 4.9!

- Snowdrop is NOT spoiled she is simply given the treats she deserves. That's all of them

- Avery family wasn't initially supportive of her hockey dreams? That's sorta wierd but they overcame that- is this foreshadowing for how her ledbian-ness is gonna go?

- I'm with Lucy these paths sound like bad news

- Verona ):

- oh Damm the spooky creepypasta guy didn't show up, alright looks like the girls Main problem is going to be that they have to fight 3 fully grown adults who can't be sworn into leaving them alone

- Verona ):

[cringefailfagcat]

my uni wants me to be a tryhard sooooo bad. like bitch if u want me to be 'undergraduate of the year' maybe follow up on that request for therapy i submitted two months ago teehee ^-^

[that-cunning-witch]

It's been forever since I've posted anything, so give me your suggestions!

What should I write/post about? Tell me your suggestions by either replying, reblogging, or sending me an ask :^)

[spiral-emoji]

shoutout to the time my nurse practitioner literally just assumed I had OCD based on everything she knows about me and I only found outs when she listed it as a diagnosis on a doctors note she wrote for me so anyway i might have OCD and if I do this is the best origin story