#witchy thoughts

[divinatorydoll]

herbs for the summer solstice: 🌞

i’ve been wanting to write more about alchemy and herbalism, but i also wanted to connect it to astrology !! so today i’ll be talking about a few solar herbs and how they can be used to celebrate litha:

juniper: burn the leaves as a form of smoke cleansing, use the berries in your cooking

marigold: plant one in your garden or keep on potted near your front door

chamomile: use a candle or lotion with chamomile in it. you can also drink chamomile tea

saffron: offer some on your altar or use it in your cooking

rosemary: sprinkle some in a line outside your front and back doors to protect your space. use the essential oil as you clean surfaces

sunflower: decorate the house with these or feed your local birds with some sunflower seeds

bay leaves: write a wish down on a bay leaf and burn it

st. john’s wort: hang some near a window or put a little bit in a candle to anoint it

A FEW POINTERS:

perform the ritual during a sun hour

bathe the herbs in sunlight before using them

make sure the herbs have been dried

burn the herbs or involve fire in your ritual

wear gold jewelry or yellow clothing while you do your spellwork

use yellow paper or yellow ink for your spell petition(s)

book a reading !!

my linktree

[mushroom-creacher]

Man we should bring back temples for every God we can think of

I think my life would be a lot easier if I could just sneak over to a temple every now and then and give some offerings to certain gods

I just think that'd be neat

[motherwytch]

Welcome to my shiny new blog. I’m your host, @motherwytch, also known as @mommybookwyrm in most other spaces. I’m starting this blog because I wanted a dedicated place to share all of my witchy musings.

So, a little about myself. I’m a 38 year old asexual married cis woman, mother to one nine year old budding crystal girlie, and one feline furbaby. I also have a generalized anxiety disorder and depression diagnosis. We share an apartment with my neurodivergent sister and her wife in a smallish southeastern Massachusetts city.

I’ve been practicing witchcraft for two decades now, and it has gone through several re-hauls before settling on the current incarnation which I have been happily working with and growing for the last two or three years.

I’m a solitary eclectic witch who leans heavily on kitchen witchery, tarot cards, and crystal magic, as well as many engaged buddhism practices. I do not in any form practice Wicca, though it is where I started and I have the utmost respect for those who practice it, it just wasn’t for me.

I think that covers just about all of the basics. I’ll be sharing my own witchy tips and beliefs, magical recipes here and there, and ways that I’ve found to use my practice to help manage my mental health, as well as any other witchy musings I think of.

Until the next time,

Blessed Be

[aesethewitch]

I'm of the magical opinion that you (read: I) shouldn't directly interfere with other people's choices. Little influences to improve someone's behavior toward you is one thing. A luck spell to make your resume stick out and appeal, a glamor to make yourself more attractive, a small blessing in the cafe line to improve the atmosphere and give someone a Bangin' Coffee -- that's one thing. But drastic measures to change someone's whole life on their behalf without their knowledge? Snaring love spells, digging into people's personal lives? I dunno. I can see why you'd do it, and I won't really judge since I get it, but I wouldn't go that far.

"But Aese," I hear you say, "you do baneful workings! Isn't that interfering with other people's choices and lives in a drastic way??"

Well, here's the thing. My rule is to respect others' agency. That includes their capacity to receive consequences for their actions.

If they want to fuck around, who am I to keep them from finding out?

[ladyastrelle]

[crazycatsiren]

Pop culture witchcraft thought of the day: I wonder if Pusheen would like to be a spirit companion? 🤔

[breelandwalker]

Something I was thinking about the other day, and I'm curious to see if it resonates for anyone else.

We see it all the time - newer witches aligning themselves with the victims of witch trials, with the incorrect perception that these were somehow secret pagans struggling against a mighty Christian foe, taking on that persecution and claiming that struggle as their own, even though they have little to nothing in common with 15th-century heretics.

Now, I know some of this has to do with religious trauma and rebellion and being fed bad information by social / modern media and not having gotten to the point of being able to deconstruct personal prejudices, but still I have to wonder....is this also a way of expressing frustration?

I know it was true of me when I was in my teens and twenties. I was beginning to understand for the first time in my life just how big the world was and just how little agency I had in it. It was maddening to see the wheels and know that I was powerless to stop myself from becoming part of the mechanism. I was ostracized for reasons that made no sense to me and I couldn't understand why. I reached for anything and everything that I could name as a Foe, just to give myself something tangible and identifiable to struggle against, because battering against the brick walls of school and church and outside expectations was easier and less painful than my own existential crisis. I buried myself in occult books and paranormal lore and searched desperately for something that would give me some way of escaping my perceived fate as a boring adult, trapped into the same cycles as my parents and chained to a life that I was raised to expect but increasingly realizing that I didn't want.

And for a while, claiming a struggle that wasn't really mine was part of that. (Until I discovered the very real struggles that WERE mine to claim and threw myself in a more productive direction.)

And I have to wonder if it's the same for some witches today, the ones who throw themselves at pyres long-extinguished and claim kinship with imagined martyrs of old. Perhaps that's the only thing they can point to and say, "That's what my pain feels like. I can't find another way to describe it. I am an innocent caught in wheels too big to see, just like they were. I'm not being oppressed in an immediately visible way, but I feel it just the same, so I'll fight back against an obvious foe. It may not do anything or even be based in reality, but at least I'm not doing nothing. I don't know if this spark of hope, this tiny thread of power, is real, but it's the only one I have."

[norel-ravenclaw]

Learning a new language is sort of the ultimate witch experience.

You hear ancient words that were unintelligible to you your whole life, and suddenly you understand one, two, a phrase.

These markings that may have been nothing more than a distant concept, belonging to others, is suddenly in your command.

Opening your mouth can now summon understanding from strangers that were separated from you before.

Ideas and objects can be whispered to yourself in a new name you’d never imagined.

Invisible lines can be crossed, new cultures and connections welcomed, new books and stories - a whole new world is yours to explore.

So, from someone who has crossed the threshold, if you’re waiting for a sign - a reason - here it is.

Learn that language and discover the magic that accompanies it.

[themoonfall]

Art Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/thecabinarmoire

Mercari Shop: https://www.mercari.com/u/776117986?sv=0

[m00nfl0w3rk1tty]

Feeling very drawn to Persephone, Hades, Hekate right now, and the deities and entities associated with crossing over and the realm of ghosts/deceased human spirits. Feeling the urge to do more research on non-Hellenic deities (particularly Celtic ones- as an umbrella term for deities from that area, since that’s where a lot of my ancestors are from and I’ve always felt drawn to those paths) and entities associated with these sorts of things as well.

[divinatorydoll]

herbs for the fall equinox: 🍂

mabon is one of the eight wiccan sabbats that are observed annually, aligning with the autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere !! this holiday celebrates the second harvest of the year, and many people use this time to thank the earth for its bountifulness

here are a few herbs you can use to celebrate mabon this year:

apples: associated with fertility, longevity, and abundance, apples are strongly tied to mabon !! try baking with them or place a few apple seeds on your altar

cedar: put a few drops of cedarwood oil into a diffuser or use cedar bark when burning spell petitions

calendula: planet this beautiful annual flower in your garden or brew the petals into a nice tea

blue sage: this herb is popularly burned for its protective properties, but you could also leave a sprig or two on your windowsill

corn: make a meal for yourself and others that includes this on the plate !! you could also feed the kernels to squirrels, deer, etc.

grapes: this is another fruit connected to wealth and fertility. hang the stems in a sachet nearby your bed to promote pregnancy, better dreams, and more income

book a reading !!

my linktree

[riotwritten]

Thoughts on Rest

Many people in "witch spaces" such as TikTok, Twitter, etc. Will say "It's winter, a time for rest and recovery" but then shame when people take a break from their craft. Winter can be harsh or calm, listen to your body and mind. If you need just a day of rest, do it. If you need a week of recovery, do it. If you need to take a month off from witchcraft feel free, no one should be judged for taking a breather. So go on and do what you need to. Without rest or breaks you can't move forward. Try to focus on yourself, make some tea, water the plants, cozy up with a pet or a book, and definitely take care of your needs first.

[naturebrujo]

I don’t understand how non Jews will be like “Lilith is based off of the Mesopotamian goddesses so that means that I can work with her” because for one, Lilith is exclusively Jewish and though she was inspired by other deities that people were worshiping around the time, she is still Jewish. Respect that. And two, since she’s based off of Mesopotamian goddess, go work with those goddesses instead? Why work with a spirit from a closed religion?

[marshwitchtarot]

Set up your altar in a basket, so you can take it with you!

[thecheshirerat]

Has anyone written a beginner witchcraft book that pranks you into critical thinking?

Like, I’m imagining an introduction that’s everything you’d expect. Magic is a tool for self-empowerment and ritual has changed the lives of many etc etc etc- but there’s a postscript to it that says something like “listen. You don’t need to know any of what I’m going to tell you to be practitioner. But if you’re going to interact with this community, you need critical thinking. So let’s play a game. One of these chapters is total bullshit backed by zero research and stated as fact despite the reality being it’s all my UPG. Your goal is to figure out which.” But each chapter seems like it’s juuuuust personal enough/over-general enough/cheesy enough/upg stated as fact that you check the sources (all provided) walk it through skeptically, etc etc etc but the thing is EVERY chapter has a little bit of BS woven in, leaving you confused and annoyed, probably. At the end it simply tells you “this is the true challenge. It’s not enough to identify one text that’s total bullshit and avoid that. It’s about identifying the little bits of BS that sneak into everything,”

(Also someone else write this I don’t have fricking time)

[eclectic-ways]

Not gonna lie, this is not an easy mindset to embrace if you had been through A LOT and still are in life. I’m almost there though.

Even if one might have been a victim in some cases, it’s best to deny and revert that for the sake of manifesting your psyche and the great things you yet to accomplish.