#witch speaks

[cpunkwitch]

It actually kinda really saddens me to see people only mention pots and never anemia and now I understand both why people tried to suggest we had pots on our shower post and how important our pots vs anemia info post is really going to be

No one actually understands or knows as much about anemia on here as they do pots so by comparison pots seems like the more important one to bring up (I know I'm not wording that correctly or the way I want to convey it but that's the best I got rn)

Anemia has just as many risks as pots esp with temperature, but I only ever see people bring up pots when it comes to heat and anemia when it comes to dizziness

From that alone it sounds like people really only have a simplified understanding of the basic symptoms of both if not just anemia

I'd really like to see anemia talked about more especially having a severe case myself

[solynacea]

Games Played in 2024

PART 1: HOME SAFETY HOTLINE

Steam Tags: 1990's, Horror, Interactive Fiction, Point & Click Approx. Playtime: 4.4 Hours General Impression: Mixed Recommend: Maybe

Home Safety Hotline was released on January 16, 2024 by indie developer and publisher Night Signal Entertainment. The premise is simple: you, the player, are a responder for the Home Safety Hotline, a company that deals with home hazards ranging from the normal to the fantastical. In the developer's own words, it was heavily inspired by analogue horror series such as Local 58 TV and Gemini Home Entertainment.

[Spoilers below the cut.]

The gameplay of this game is defined by a simple loop. Log on to your terminal, check your emails, watch any new videos that have appeared on your desktop, and then launch the HSH program. Once you have clocked in for your shift, you will take a number of calls from customers; each call acts as a riddle, and you must find the answer hidden in one of the Home Hazard entries within the database. There are two endings to the game, but we'll get to those later.

To start, it's clear that a lot of love and attention went into crafting each of the entries in the database. In the artbook unlocked by clearing the game, the developer showcases early concepts and talks about their design process, mentioning specifically how they would spend so much time painting creatures only to have the details blurred and lost due to the high compression needed to replicate a 1990's-era computer display. Each entry, from the mundane like House Flies to the mystical like the Dorcha, showcase a love for storycrafting and an attention to detail that's incredible.

It's also clear, even without the developer's own admission, that this game is heavily inspired by analogue horror, particularly Gemini Home Entertainment. The videos that unlock through the game all have the same distinct feeling of Gemini Home Entertainment. This is in no-small part due to them falling under the same general "categories": commercials interrupted by mysterious announcements, old educational videos with an unsettling twist, and hiking advertisements that warn about something lurking in the dark. From the analogue overlays to the soundtrack, these videos pay an homage to Gemini Home Entertainment while managing to be entirely original, a remarkable feat.

However, the developer's attention to detail—and there's quite a bit of detail, given just how many database entries the player will have unlocked by the end—highlights the core issue with the game, and one that many players have highlighted when leaving reviews:

The story itself is lackluster, with endings that feel abrupt and unrewarding.

As a disclaimer, I myself truly enjoyed working through the riddles presented by each caller and delving through the database for all of the little bits of lore I could find. Finding mentions of the ones who dwell above and below the soil in entries for creatures like moles and bats, feeling the resignation about the fate met by those stalked by the Dorcha, and listening to callers who had only made their situations worse by ignoring previous advice was fantastic. I truly felt like a beleaguered call-center employee dealing with things I didn't quite understand, guided only by an enigmatic and at times annoyingly cheerful supervisor.

That's why, when I cleared the game with a high enough accuracy and managed to pass the final day without answering a call incorrectly, I was disappointed by the ending I was presented with.

As stated previously, there are two endings to this game, both based on the player's ability to correctly answer the "riddles" of each day.

The good ending is obtained by maintaining at least 60% or higher each day and correctly answering each of Sunday's riddles. This requires the player to have at least skimmed each of the database's entries, as the database begins to corrupt on later days and is entirely inaccessible on the last.

Note: You might be able to bypass the 60% requirement for Monday-Saturday if you complete Sunday correctly, but I was only able to get the good ending by doing both.

In the good ending, the player is guided beneath the earth and out to the other side, where they are greeted by their supervisor, Carol, now in her true form as a fae entity. She greets the player and tells them not to be afraid before bequeathing them a simple crown and proclaiming them the new Junior Supervisor of Home Safety Hotline. As the credits roll, a myriad of fae folk emerge from the trees and begin singing in celebration of the player's promotion.

The bad ending is obtained incorrectly answering each of Sunday's riddles. It's actually quite easy to get this ending: simply select an incorrect response to every call you receive and Carol will, with great disappointment (and possibly resentment), turn you into a mouse.

Both endings utilize real footage, though it is also compressed to remain within the game's aesthetic.

Of the two, the bad ending is perhaps the most fully fleshed out within the game itself. From the first day, the player is greeted with almost unintelligible emails from a former employee littered with spelling mistakes caused, as you later find out, by him being a mouse forced to hop across the keyboard to type. This former employee invites the player to the safety of their hole and warns them of the danger before disappearing after the office acquires Whiskers the cat. A reoccurring prank caller is interrupted and begins squeaking after Carol "deals with him." There is also a video about a new, incredibly intelligent breed of mouse with strange-colored eyes whose noises translate to a plea for help.

The good ending, on the other hand, has very little set-up aside from the coupons that the player can earn by completing each day with at least 90% accuracy. On a replay, it's clear that these coupons are for the acquisition of items that a fae might find useful, and eagle-eyed players might realize that the Glamour Stone necklace awarded for Saturday is the same that Carol has been wearing from the start. There is also Carol's slow slide into using more archaic speech and mentions of the player being watched and evaluated for some purpose. However, when compared to the bad ending (particularly, if you decided to aim for low accuracy on all days, the actual consequences of your failure being reinforced by follow-up calls), the good ending feels tacked on.

Part of this can be explained by the creator's own comments on the matter. In the artbook, they state that while the game was being playtested before release, numerous people complained that the good ending felt weak when compared to the bad ending. The coupons were added in as a last minute attempt to flesh it out, but it's obvious that the bad end—even if never outright stated as such—is the one that players are expected to acquire.

In summary: Home Safety Hotline is an interesting dive into the blending of analogue and digital horror, created by someone passionate about both analogue horror and fae folklore. It has its pitfalls, but is ultimately short enough that these pitfalls are easily overlooked in favor of the aesthetic and truly impressive world-building. I would recommend this to anyone who likes analogue horror with the caveat that the endings are overlooked and treated as add-ons rather than part of the core experience.

[witchie-writings]

Pssst... if you follow me for my Bayverse!Megatron writings, please feel free to request more Bayverse!Transformer characters, I really like writing for them (really want to write about Barricade...)

[aspiringxfires]

I was cast out of Heaven, human, you know nothing of pain. I will visit such suffering on this Earth that pain will be a beautiful dream you once had. Your children’s skin will blacken and their eyes will roast in their skulls and they will still be screaming even as the flames lick their way up their tiny throats and out of their charred, ruined mouths, and they will still be screaming, screaming for their God to save them and He will not come

aka I was possessed!uhv gerard for halloween.

[aesethewitch]

When I was a kid, we moved into a house that had a huge lilac tree out front. It was mostly rotten, and it needed to be taken down before it fell. It took a while, but eventually, it was gone.

Mostly. A couple years later, little lilac babies popped out of the ground in its place. My mom was determined to get rid of them, because she'd planted a beautiful flower garden there, and the lilac trees would overshadow and kill the whole garden. I insisted on saving at least a few saplings. She said fine, but I had to dig them out and put them in pots myself.

So, I did. I spent days digging little lilac bushes out of the ground and putting them into pots. Some couldn't be saved, but some could. When all was said and done, I had five brand-new lilac saplings. Seven or eight years old, and it was my absolute pride and joy.

Three died due to sun scorching, severe drought that no amount of watering could save, and perhaps just being moved from their place in the ground. But two survived, and I was awfully proud of them! I'd go out and talk to them every single day. I watered them by hand and made sure they were fertilized properly. I learned all about their favored environments, and I was determined to make sure they lived.

One of my mom's friends saw what I was doing with the lilacs. She asked if she could have one to put in her backyard, and I agreed on the condition that she take very, very good care of it.

It's now fucking enormous. I'm talking ten feet tall and bursting with beautiful purple flowers every spring. My mom still gets updates each year as they start to bloom, which she forwards to me. And all I can think is, "That's my friend! Thriving some twenty years on, there it is."

The other tree nearly died, too. It lived in a pot for far, far too long. I wanted to plant it somewhere in my parents' yard, but my mom was reluctant. Eventually, we agreed to put it in the far back garden. It grew okay for many years, despite the shade, but in all these years, it's never bloomed.

Last year, the massive tree casting massive shadows over the lilac and the garden cracked in half and fell. It tumbled into the garden, crushing part of the nearby shed and destroying a few plants beneath it.

It missed my lilac by inches.

The clean-up is long done. The rest of the tree has been cut down, and my lilac has full sunlight for the first time in fifteen years. It won't bloom this year, I know. But it's got new shoots up. It's taller than ever. I spent half an hour a few weeks ago praising it for surviving all this time, dreaming about its future and telling it how I believe it'll become the tall beauty it's always been meant to be.

I think next year, I'll see flowers.

[bog-witch-aesthetic]

thinking of making my next dnd character a wizard bog frog 🤔🤔

[divinebunnii]

the witch in the woods said we should makeout and maybe touch a little

[smokestarrules]

that moment when the second episode of the series foreshadows the last. 

[spinaholi]

“spies, tongue, curse” needs to be the name of fig’s sophomore album where she takes a hard turn into a dark folksy sound with samples of a bunch of vulture screams

[pagan-posting]

Listen. Abandoning the idea of what a proper pagan is was the most rewarding experience. Your intuition is stronger than you think.

This isn't a science. You don't have to treat it like one. Go with your heart, go with your intuition. It will help you grow more than you've ever dreamed of.

[thegraveyardwitch]

Petition for the Greek Temples to be rebuilt, so that I can pray to the gods in all their glory

[cpunkwitch]

I haven't seen the cute girl in the wheelchair since the spotlight party a while back and I don't remember her Instagram </3

[destroyscythe-heck]

Happy “try to figure out why we’re suddenly getting a huge spike in new users from Japan and Korea” day to the tumblr staff

[witchie-writings]

Would you write for any autobots? (Bumblebee, Optimus, etc?) or is it just decepticons? I love it either way!

I can write for the Autobots too! Pretty much any Cybertronian from the Bayverse movies (except 5, I've never seen it nor do I plan to) I'm able to write for. ^^ It doesn't have to be just the Bayverse movies either, though. I'm able to write for TFP, TFA, maybe a little bit of Beast Wars, Knightverse (would love to see some Shatter and Dropkick asks!), and maybe something else if I'm familiar with the series.

For the Bayverse movies, it will greatly help me out if you specify which movie you would like me to write for! I consider Transformers 2007 through Dark of the Moon to be different from Transformers: AOE, so the HCs I come up with will be different between the two parts. <3

[frogchiro]

gentle bites and kisses on the womb tattoo i’m

Forest witch!Reader who can't do shit around the rowdy pack of werewolves :((

They would always be around you, whether in wolf or human forms and while it's not a technically bad thing in itself, the problems are Soap and Gaz :((

While Price and Simon are much bigger sure, and have a lot more strength but they are older, mature and not as clingy as their young packmates :((

Soap and Gaz who follow you around all the time while you gather herbs or berries, mushrooms and such, always next to you, but their favorite activity is to nose around your lower belly where your precious womb tattoo is :((

They liie to lick and kiss it, the occassional gentle nip to the delicate skin sometimes results in them getting snarled at by Simon and Price when they get too excited and bite a bit too hard but you don't blame your boys since they didn't do anything.

If they're in their wolf forms they love to drape thwmselves around you and nose and dilligently lick at your lower tummy in hopes of sniffing out a tiny change in your scent that would signal you being pregnant with their babies :((

[aesethewitch]

Ambient Spells

The idea of the ambient spell isn’t so uncommon. My use of the word “ambient” may throw you for a bit of a loop. An ambient spell is any spell that permeates a space in an unobtrusive way. They affect the area surrounding their vessel and require little to no maintenance or upkeep. They’re long-term workings that require varying levels of effort to put together and cast. Depending on what exactly you need, they can be as simple as setting out a bowl of salt or as complex as crafting a home decor piece from scratch.

I always recommend making ambient spells that are self-fueling. I often refer to them also as “set it and forget it” spells. They’re the crockpot of spellwork — work up front for a slow burn output.

Chances are that you’re already aware of or even know how to create ambient spells. Any spell that affects the vibe of a room, for example, would count as an ambient spell. Lighting incense specifically to invite in positive energy counts. A ward that sucks up baneful magic and transforms it into blessings also counts. The primary idea of an ambient spell is that it’s making a change to your environment in the background. It’s the cool breeze in summertime, the subtle piano at a fancy restaurant, the scent of fresh-baked cookies fading as the day goes by. Positive, but not overt.

When to Use (or Not Use) an Ambient Spell

By their nature, ambient spells are fairly general workings. They can be quite powerful, of course, just like any other spell. The thing to keep in mind is that they’re not ideal for targeted magic.

For example, I wouldn’t create an ambient spell to banish someone from my life. I might make an ambient spell to make an area unwelcoming to them, or to anyone who would do me harm. The unwelcoming vibe might discourage them from coming around, sure. But it may not work outside of the area the spell lives in; and it may not get rid of them for good.

Similarly, an ambient spell might make a good general ward for keeping out loud, unwelcome spirits, but it wouldn’t specifically cast out the one particular spirit who’s been causing problems. It might discourage their behavior, but it wouldn’t necessarily get rid of them. A concentrated, single-use banishing spell would work significantly better for that purpose. Afterwards, an ambient spell can keep the area clear of that spirit’s influence.

I also wouldn’t use an ambient spell to draw in specific success. General success or money, absolutely — whatever wants to come my way is welcome, via a basic money bowl set up next to my wallet. But if I specifically want a promotion or a particular amount of money, I’m not going to leave that to the ambient money spell. I would craft a spell specifically for what I’m looking for.

When deciding what kind of spell to cast, keep this idea in mind. An ambient spell is best for behind-the-scenes results that happen without your concentrated effort. When you want something specific, a more targeted spell will work better nine times out of ten.

Creating an Ambient Spell

It’s possible to create an ambient spell with nothing but energy work. However, I often find that these fade quickly and don’t lend themselves well to self-fueling. They tend to need more active upkeep than I prefer for a spell that’s meant to be set and let go. I recommend choosing an appropriate vessel of some kind to contain the spell to help it last longer.

How do you decide what’s an appropriate vessel, though? And how do you set one up? How do you make a spell self-fueling? Let’s start from the top and go in order.

Identify the Purpose

Decide what the spell will do. This is going to define the components and the way you’re going to cast the spell. In my experience, ambient spells work best when they’re given a single purpose. For example, I wouldn’t make a spell that’s a ward and a cleanser and a spirit welcome mat. It dilutes the purpose. Choose a single, clear motive for the spell.

Choose a Vessel

Now that you know what your spell will do, it’s time to decide what it’s going to look like. The vessel you choose should reflect the spell’s purpose in some way.

An open bowl works well for absorbing energy. Why? It’s open. The face of it is open to the room, ready to take in whatever kind of energy you assign to its contents.

A closed jar, on the other hand, would be good for repelling. It’s closed off and sealed — a one-way road going out of the jar and into the room to clear it.

A wreath hung at the door could serve a lot of purposes, depending on what it’s made with. I would use a wreath as an agent of transformation or as an energy emitter to release a certain energy into the space.

A stone makes a solid vessel for protection or grounding. I have one on my working altar to help keep me in the moment and create a good environment for working magic.

When you’re choosing your spell vessel, keep in mind how visible you want it to be. Certain vessels are going to naturally be more obvious than others. A wreath, for example, is hard to miss — but it also just looks like nice home decor. A jar full of herbs and things would be more obviously a spell, but they can be small and easily hidden.

I have both obvious and hidden ambient spells peppered around my home for varying purposes. If you’re keeping your practice a secret, you’ll likely want to keep your spells more obscure or hidden. But if you aren’t, and you can make the choice of whether you want the spell to be in plain sight or not, consider the effect you want the spell to have.

If you want the spell to absorb bad vibes, baneful magics, the evil eye, or other negativity, a hidden spell might serve you well. Hiding the vessel somewhere means that whoever’s casting against you may not expect the resistance. On the other hand, if you want a vessel that allows friendly spirits to visit you during the holidays, a beautiful centerpiece on your dining table that’s charmed with spirit-friendly magic might serve the purpose.

Choose an Energy Source

Ambient spells need to draw energy from somewhere. Think of it like a battery. The ingredients you put into the spell may provide a temporary charge, but if you want the spell to be long-term, it needs an input. How will your spell recharge itself?

If you want the spell to be shorter-term, only a few days or so, then you can skip this step. But if you want an ambient spell to last a while, like a ward or vibe-adjuster, you’ll need to think about this carefully.

Like when choosing the vessel, the energy source should match the purpose of the spell. For example, I have a simple room refresher spell set on a table that’s central to my home. The purpose of it is to take anxiety and negative thoughts to turn them into positivity. I set it up so that the act of walking past the bowl swirls the air around it, and therefore also the energy around it. That kinetic energy fuels the bowl’s magic and keeps it going. I don’t have to actively recharge the bowl or its contents, because we walk past it constantly.

Another example would be an ambient spell to help you do the dishes. (Whether that’s remembering to do them or finding the motivation for it is up to you.) The fuel for the spell could be the act of walking into or past the kitchen, running water elsewhere in the home, or even cooking or eating.

The energy source could also be something like lighting a candle next to or over the vessel on a schedule, if you prefer. This would add an upkeep step, of course, and wouldn’t be my first choice. The only ambient spell I do this with is my money bowl, and that’s because it’s tuned to be able to shift focus from day to day depending on what exactly I need (commissions versus tips versus discounts, etc.).

Setting Up an Ambient Spell

Decide where you want to place your spell’s vessel ahead of time. If you have pets or kids, make sure you put whatever it is out of their reach. If the vessel is something like an uncovered bowl, you’ll want to be sure that it isn’t going to get knocked over. Similarly, if it’s made of glass, you don’t want it to fall and shatter. If your vessel needs to be hidden somehow, determine where you’ll keep it. It would be smart to make note of where the spell is and what it looks like in your grimoire or spell notebook just so that if you forget about it, you can identify it later on down the road.

After you know where you want to put it, it’s time to choose ingredients and fill your vessel. The components you decide on should, obviously, match your goals.

Casting an ambient spell is much the same as casting a regular spell. The only thing to keep in mind is that an ambient spell has a sort of prolonged release.

Upkeep and Care of an Ambient Spell

For the most part, ambient spells should require little to no upkeep. With that said, you should still do routine check-ups on them. I include them in my regular rounds when I check on my wards and various protections, but you could do yours whenever it makes the most sense to you.

Depending on how you decided to fuel your spell, you may need to do a bit of feeding. Whether that’s lighting a new candle, refilling a cup of water, mixing around a pile of herbs, or giving the vessel a little shake, do so anytime it feels like the spell’s energy is flagging. It may take some practice in sensing energy to know exactly when a spell needs refueling. This is partly why I suggest creating a schedule to check in on the spell; ambient spells are a great type to practice sensing spell energy, since they’re typically long-lasting and may wax or wane depending on the day.

If your spell is fully self-fueling and it doesn’t seem to be working anymore (or at all, even from the start), it’s time to take it apart. Discard disposable components according to your practice’s tenets. Cleanse the rest for future use. I would suggest washing your spell vessel alongside magical cleansing.

A Ready-to-Use Example

Here’s an extremely simple example of an ambient spell I use in my home to keep the main living area light, fresh, and conducive to getting work done. Since both my partner and I work from home, it’s important that our areas have an aura of focus.

Materials:

- A small bowl, preferably green or brown - Enough salt to fill the bowl halfway - A few pinches of dried rosemary

Instructions:

1. Ensure the bowl is clean and dry. Pour salt into the bowl until it’s halfway full. 2. Sprinkle dried rosemary into the salt and stir. 3. Instruct the spell, in whatever way makes sense to you, to exude focused but calm energy into the space. 4. Place the bowl in an area that is frequently trafficked. 5. Leave the bowl in place until it no longer provides a fresh, focused energy to the space. Dispose of the contents, clean the bowl, and reset the spell.

Notes: - This spell is powered by movement specifically, because both my partner and I work from home, and we pace when we’re having a hard time focusing. The spell draws in the energy from our pacing and the frustration we’re putting out to fuel itself. It then transforms and releases the energy as calm, focus, and productivity. - I suggest a green or brown bowl because this spell is meant to work for our jobs. Green for success, brown for grounding. Personally, my bowl has both colors. - When instructing the spell, you can speak to the bowl, write a petition, do an incantation, or whatever else you like. This is the most personal part of the spell, and it’s what makes the thing Go. It’s up to you to decide how it’s going to work.

Final Thoughts

I would hesitate to call ambient spells “low energy” spellwork. While they can be low-energy-friendly in the long run, and they can be extremely simple to set up (such as the one I described above), they aren’t always. Ambient spells do require an up-front energy cost. Even so, I find them very rewarding and useful.

Folks who visit my home often comment that it’s an inviting, friendly, good-natured space where they can leave their worries and anxieties behind. That’s on purpose. I’ve got ambient spells in place that eat up anxiety and spit out positivity. I’ve got ones that repel hexes and are charged by sunlight. All of these spells are long-lasting and well worth the effort it took to create them.

I hope this little guide is useful to you! If you’ve got questions, feel free to send me an ask. I’m happy to ramble about ambient spells or other types of magic as much as you’d like.

And if you did enjoy this post, consider dropping a couple dollars in my tip jar! Supporters of all types (tips, commissions, shop purchases, and memberships) get early access to posts like this, sometimes up to two weeks early, and every bit helps me keep the lights on.