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Areas of Research for the Intermediate Witch

When you’ve covered all the basics, the next step is to pick some topics and study them in-depth. Take notes, whether they are online or by hand, and find creative ways to incorporate what you’ve learned into your practice. With depth of knowledge comes depth of understanding, and that will make you a stronger witch. Here are some ideas/topics to get started:

Mesopotamian magic (especially the role of astrology in Mesopotamia)

Go through each of the Sabbats and write down a summary of how they came about. What is their history, purpose and associated mythology?

Hermeticism and its influence on Western magic

The first recorded spells and incantations (hint: they were in ancient Sumer)

Who was Zoroaster?

John Dee and Enochian magic

Freemasonry

The Golden Dawn

The Salem Witch Trials, and how they affected legislation on, and public perception of, witchcraft

Carl Gustav Jung and his work on the connections between psychology and alchemy

Crystal elixirs

Shadow work

Mythology from a variety of cultures - you’re probably familiar with Zeus and Ra, but how much do you know about Ranginui and Papatuanuku? Knowing a variety of mythologies, whether you follow them or not, can help you better understand the deities you work with.

Other religions! It’s the same as mythologies - the more you know, the better.

Buddhist philosophy

Reiki

The fae

Botany - if you can, try to research the plants in your region, and devise correspondences for plants you can find in your local area based on their physical or medicinal properties. Just make sure to be mindful of local/native cultures if there are any.

Make a dream journal, and write down whatever you can remember about your dreams (don’t worry if it’s hard at first, the more you write them down the better you’ll get at remembering). Research possible dream meanings of any dreams that stand out to you!

Astrology, if you’re not already familiar with it. Astrology originated in ancient Mesopotamia as one of the first forms of divination, and as a result is the basis of a lot of magic today.

The natural world. The metaphysical is important but perhaps more so is the world to which it is attached. I’d recommend watching nature documentaries for this one.

Cover all your bases. If there’s a witchcraft 101 area that you never fully learned, now’s the time. Things like grounding, centering, circle casting, meditation, warding, visualisation… these are all important foundations that you need before you can try to build on your knowledge.

Agrippa

[the-spiritual-tarot]

Dream Journal

I haven’t been committed to logging my dreams in the last few weeks. I think its because they don’t feel prophetic/psychic and have kinda felt like just ‘normal’ dreams.

This morning I had a really strange dream. I was in a beach city, I guess it was kind of like Atlantic city... like a big party town near a beach. the city was huge, with highways and hotels. I remember that I was lost and kind of wandering around. I was sober, like maybe I had been partying early in the day and sobered up. Everyone else I saw was drunk and had no idea what was going on. I got on a city bus, and there were two girls I went to high school with who were on the bus. We were outside of a hotel and the bus is super dirty. The girls I know are drunk and laying around on the bus I realize we are driving and dont know where the bus is taking us. I struggled to remember where I lived, and I remembered it was kind of far on the outside of the city, and that the neighborhood was like portsmouth or something like that. I yell to the driver and tell him where I want to go. I don’t really remember much of the end of the dream other than driving around the city in the bus, and finding all sorts of nasty trash in the bus.... (like old food etc.) So strange and pointless. I remember the street sign saying portsmouth and I remember seeing the inside of the bus.  

I had another dream Saturday morning, I woke up early and fell back asleep. I don’t remember what happened, I just remember hearing beautiful music, a song. And I started crying in my sleep and woke up weeping.

[the-spiritual-tarot]

General Tarot Reading | Libra Full Moon April 2020

Little late, but I did a video on my channel. Just a general reading for the full moon. 

Enjoy my unmakeup-ed face.

[the-spiritual-tarot]

original post by Hannah @the-spiritual-tarot

Doing Vs. Being: Owning Your Spirituality

I have been pondering the idea of “being” a witch a lot lately. How is being a witch different than “doing” witchcraft? Some people might think it’s the same… but really, a person can be one or the other, or both. A lot of people start dabbling in witchcraft before taking on the title “witch.” It’s something they grow into, doing it before choosing to ‘be.’

But this isn’t typical for other religious titles. For instance, many Catholics are  born into a Catholic family and don’t really have a choice. You get baptized (the ‘doing’ - also, usually without your consent) and it isn’t until adulthood that you get to choose to continue being Catholic. That title came to you when you were born, and you did nothing to get it. 

Let’s take a look at another religion. Judaism is interesting because it is both a culture and a religion. So there’s a spectrum of how people who identify as Jewish hold space for this label. For some, the religious aspect goes without saying - it is inherent with who they are, how they identify with their family, and it dictates how they live their lives. But for those who have let their religious practice fall by the wayside, being Jewish is due more to the fact that it is part of their ancestry than how they interact with God. 

From these two examples (there’s really a multitude more) I think we can agree that both cultural and religious labels are usually adopted by people regardless of how closely they feel a connection to their God. I think its more about the people - their family, their community. The label is what holds them together and binds them as a religious family. When you’re Catholic, other church members don’t ask you to prove your Catholic-ness, or prove your devotion to God. Really, you just have to show up to church. Yes, there are sacraments which are meant to solidify devotion in some way, but there is no test of how genuine one really feels inside - one such test would be impossible.

As someone who was raised Catholic, I know that as long as you show up, represent the church to others, and *give money* – you’re one of them. They don’t make level of personal devotion to God/Jesus a focal point, I think because they don’t see it as anyone else’s business. So I think if you ask most practicing Catholics, “Hey, what is your relationship with Jesus?” They will give you a pretty bland answer. “Oh I go to church, I pray, etc.” Not many have significant, intimate relationships with God or Spirit. And that is ok. I am not judging! I just want to point out that it really isn’t the focus of the Church. Most people in traditional Christian religions are not pushed to develop their spiritual bond with God beyond the one hour a week at church. And so, that is what they are happy with! Minimal effort, the promise of salvation. A small price to pay for everlasting life.

I know I am touching on a lot of sensitive topics, and I don’t want to detract from what I set out to explain. Basically, I’ve been thinking about traditional religions and how being Catholic is simply accepting a belief system. Why then, have I struggled so much with accepting the label WITCH? I accept the belief system (although this is a general blanket statement because there are so many subsets) and I have practiced and tried to learn witchcraft. What else is there to do?

Still, I struggle with accepting it for myself. By accepting the title ‘witch,’ do I have to know the answers to other questions? Like…. What I am loyal to? Who am I aligning myself with? What does this mean for my belief system? Is there a social responsibility that coincides with it? What will I have to give up?

And yet - I know I have witch in my blood. In my past lives - shaman, healer, monk - these energies feel familiar and I know they are true to me. It seems that when a label is your choice, you have a much bigger responsibility to take care in how you adopt it. Most labels or titles are given to us by society and not by choice. When it becomes a personal decision, I feel like there is a greater personal understanding that goes along with it. Choosing to align with being a witch/pagan/wiccan, etc. is choosing to identify with a marginalize group, who is still often misunderstood and even vilified. Maybe that’s what makes it feel so important and sacred. Being a witch isn’t meant for everyone. It takes bravery and strength and conviction. I won’t pretend I’m not afraid of telling my family and coworkers I am a witch. I fear their judgement and not being given a chance to explain. 

Plus, there is the pressure we as witches put on ourselves. Because there’s a complete lack of standardization, there’s no set definition of what makes us witches. I think a lot of witches struggle with feeling like they are not good enough. Not practicing enough. Not being witchy enough. And that’s just simply the wrong attitude! We are witches, because we accept the belief system. We accept the lifestyle. It is who we are. That is really what I’ve been wanting to shine a light on. You can “be” a witch without changing anything about your looks, your clothes, your aesthetic. Being a witch is a state of mind, a vibration. Many of us are born witches, even if we adopt the title later in life. 

Because most solitary witches don’t have a baptism or a way to signify the marker of the *day* they became a witch, it can be really tough to accept this part of yourself. I still feel like I’m dipping my toes in the water, even though as I writing this, I’m surrounded by my witchcraft books, tarot cards, and crystals. What else do I need to make me accept who I really am? Clearly it’s nothing material. I could have all the witchcraft books in the world - it doesn’t make me a witch. The more I think about it, I think I became a witch the first day I chose to integrate my spiritual life into my everyday existence. When I chose to learn more about my own spirituality, to grow my intuition and develop my spiritual practice, I became a witch. I grew into that vibration and I think it has changed me. 

I know I will still struggle with this day to day. I struggle with feeling like I am not enough, and that I don’t know enough. But writing this has helped me realize that I am a witch by simply holding space for my beliefs. My belief that there’s something beyond just one God. And that all religions hold some truth, like a giant puzzle that needs to be put together to be understood completely. That none of them are wrong, but none of them are completely right either. And for my childhood belief that everything has a spirit, including animals. My knowing, as a child, that I had done other things, had memories of other lifetimes, and that I could talk to animals. And my discovery as an adult that my intuition has always been my guide, and holds truth more than any religious doctrine. Being a witch is trusting in myself, and is my decision to choose ‘me’ over the voice of the masses. To choose what I believe is right over what has been forced upon me, constricting me, blinding me. Choosing to see and speak for myself. 

I will be a witch every day that I wake up and hold space for my beliefs. Regardless of the spells and crystals and herbs. As long as I hold space for myself first, my intuition and my spirit.

[the-spiritual-tarot]

The Beginning of a Journey: Working with Deity, Pt.1

4.6.2020

Hello magical friends. 

It is almost the full moon in Libra, and I can’t help feeling like something big, magical and important is supposed to happen. We still have one day, so I guess we will see. 

I’m having trouble deciding where to begin on this post. My hope is to tell the beginning of a journey I now know that I am on. It’s really long, so it will most likely be broken up into parts. I will link the other parts below if that is the case. 

My hope is to chronicle my journey into working with deity. I have been exploring this path, dipping my toes into the water, for some time now. But I have struggled so much with finding my path…. honestly finding ANY path. I guess my hope is to make sense of this winding road, make note of some of the road markers… and hopefully learn something along the way. 

I have been searching for deities that I can really connect to for a long time. Nothing has fit quite right. when I started my quest, per say, I was drawn to the greek and norse pantheon… but i think that might have been because thats what I was exposed to. And even though none of them really ‘stuck’ I did have a few memorable encounters with Odin, Diana, Hestia, and even Hecate. 

Hecate, let’s discuss. I know she has things to teach me. As I write this, I am realizing that she may have be guiding me when I started this journey 5 years ago. I didn’t know who she was back then, but now looking back, there were signs. I was a baby empath spinning out of control. Having too much fun, being reckless, both with my money and my energy. I was a bleeding heart. When I finally picked up tarot and began learning about being empathic, so many things just fell into place. The world made sense again. When I started reading tarot, the high priestess would come up in my readings alllllll the time. ALL the time! She was my guide. I took it to mean that she was my teacher, patiently teaching me the secrets of meditation, of using my intuition. I love the high priestess. She started me on this journey. 

Around the same time, I got my first tattoo. I loved the moon and wanted it as my first tattoo. I literally searched moon symbol in pinterest and picked out a simple outline of the phases of the moon. however, I didn’t like how the symbols faced one direction, so I asked my tattoo artist to change the symbols so that the crescents faced outward…. (see where I am going with this?) unbeknownst to me at the time, I got the symbol for the triple moon tattooed, and I only realized later that it was hecate’s symbol. 

The last experience was literally a dream. This happened a bit after the tattoo, when I was thinking about looking for a matron/patron deity. I hadn’t done much research, except for a few meditations and maybe skimming some books.  In the dream, nothing happened, I just remember seeing a woman and she had 3 faces. It is so hard to describe. because it was like….. three people, but seeing the reflections. So one person in front of you, and then instead of a shadow, you see her facing out in another direction, like you’re looking at a reflection in a mirror. Dream wasn’t scary. just an appearance. Again, I didn’t know who she was. I researched later and discovered mentions of the triple goddess. But it wasn’t until much later that I realized how significant these experiences actually are. 

Long story short, I think I finally understand that Hecate was there to guide me when I needed her…. I don’t really feel her presence as much any more, and I do feel guided to find new deities to work with. However, I think she will come forward in my life when I am ready. Honestly, I don’t think I am ready for her now - the irony is that I am kind of intimidated, after learning more about her, I honestly have a little fear. Maybe I shouldn’t… since she really has been here with me all along. I am realizing now that I should make an altar or small space for her, because even if she isn’t my main deity, I would like to thank her for the guidance and help she has given me thus far. 

I didn’t mean for this to turn into a Hecate appreciation post, but I guess that’s what it was meant to be! I am going to continue writing about my winding journey with deity in my following posts, so keep reading! 

original post by Hannah @the-spiritual-tarot​

[the-spiritual-tarot]

Labradorite

photo via crystal muse 

Its amazing how writing can relieve your mind. I slept so much better after writing about my recent nightmares. All of my anxiety seemed to go away once I had fully released it. 

There’s a lesson here…. things seem so much scarier when you’re obsessing over them. talking and/or writing really is therapeutic. there’s something about sharing your thoughts that takes the power away from what ever fear you’re holding on to. just something to remember. 

I also slept with my labradorite crystal last night. its a smooth palm stone, big and heavy, and one of my favorite crystals. I realized after writing about my nightmares (and wondering why my sleep has been so disturbed) that i haven’t been sleeping with my usual crystals for the last week. i did a deep clean of my room before the full moon and I had moved them all, with the intention of creating new grids and setting new intentions. I haven’t felt clear guidance on what i should focus on and so the crystals haven’t been on my bedside table. I can see now what comfort and energetic protection they provide me when I sleep. I have known for a while that they are totally necessary for me to have good quality, restful sleep, but sometimes its good to be reminded that they are really working for you. 

With my labradorite with me, i still had dreams, but they were not violent and honestly i don’t remember the details. I woke up this morning feeling a lot better and just rested. 

I am going to do a separate post about crystals for dreams/sleeping… 

photo via vanir-nebulae

I thought I would share my thoughts on Labradorite: 

Its one of my favorites because its gentle, grounding, but still activates the higher chakras. This means (in my own personal experience) that it aids you in your sleep/meditations, but doesn’t leave you feeling ungrounded. Since I naturally am always dissociating from my body…. I’m very spacey and tend to drift off ALL the time, i don’t like a lot of high vibe crystals because they make me feel light headed and woozy… help me get to the astral? bitch I’m there all the time!! haha - anyways, my point is that everyone needs different crystals for different things, and it just depends on your natural tendencies. I have such a hard time staying grounded, so light colored crystals - especially clear quartz, which is an ‘Amplifier’ makes me super anxious. I have actually never really had good experience with clear quartz, even though its one of the most common crystals. Weird, I know!

Back to our friend Labby. Labradorite feels magical. Many times the stone has mirrorlike prisms of color inside, which makes it a great stone to crystal gaze with. I personally like it under my pillow at night, to hold while meditating or reading tarot, or to just carry in my pocket. It has a calming energy. 

photo via 90377 

Since I have the stone sitting on my chest, I think I might just channel it and ask what its gifts are. This is coming directly from the spirit of my crystal, and is my interpretation… so it might vary from the traditional meanings of the stone:

A Message from Labradorite: “its job is to uplift, uplift your spirits. it enhances your natural gifts, especially when dealing with the spirit realm. It helps you notice tension in your body. it helps when activating energy and interpreting dreams. can help when walking through the dream world and in shamanism. it is very in tune with your body and can aid in healing. Supports all the chakras, great for learning about balance. Aquarius’s stone.” its energy tends to move in a circle, and when meditating you might feel or see light spinning. I also have been getting a lot of pictures of water and references to bodies of water. 

Thanks for reading

original post by Hannah @the-spiritual-tarot​

[the-spiritual-tarot]

Dream Journal #2

I typed out these dreams in my phone - I actually have a few YEARS worth of dreams saved into my phone that I might start posting on here.

3.29.2020

I have been waking up early and then falling back asleep and having these long insane dreams….

I dreamt I was back in highschool, I think I was new so I didn’t really recognize anyone. The dream starts and we are outside the school in this neighborhood. The school is big and old. Connected to a really fancy old garden, kind of like what you would see at a castle. long winding paths, mazes, fountains. Like a palace garden. We are supposed to walk to a rally or something. As I’m walking with this huge group of students. I get lost in the shuffle. I don’t have my shoes and I run back into the school to try to find them. I wander around looking for my locker and that’s when all the crazy stuff starts. (I am already losing the details, so i might miss some stuff.) But basically I’m with a group of girls when I first see the monsters. We are walking outside through this neighborhood and I notice these bushes  In peoples front yards. Imagine a blow up figure like they have for halloween, but it seems to be overgrown with vines. I notice the figures, hiding under all the tree branches and vines, are watching us. NO ONE ELSE with me can see them!! It’s like everyone’s yard is just overgrown with vines and the things under the vines are moving. They start following us and attacking. Some of them are kind of like giant spiders. Others are closer to dinosaurs? like the ones with wings and a pointed head. This happens and then I’m back at school. I think we just run up these huge steps and into the building. We are in the hallways of the school and it looks pretty typical, lockers and tons of kids. There are guys there that are horrible and trying to pick on the girls. We are in the hallways and bathrooms. The weird thing is that I didn’t recognize ANYONE. Everyone is like bullying each other or just being bad in general. The kids were all bad!! 2 girls pass me and I swear they have alcohol in a mouthwash bottle, and they were drunk and trying to sneak out. I am in a bathroom and these boys come in and start attacking the girls in there, harassing them and pushing them. When the boys get violent I literally decide to turn into Sabrina (haha!!) I go nuts on them, full out levitation, eyes white, and their necks just twist and they drop. It’s awesome.

So after that I think I’m able to use my powers on the monsters. I meet the 2 girls who are drinking the vodka out of a breath freshener container. We are trying to sneak out of the school and a teacher almost catches us. He looks like the teacher from vampire diaries - confusing lol. I definitely thought he was hot. We are right at the doors to the school and hes about to stop us. We sneak into a side room and try to hide under a desk but there’s just no where to go. The teacher finds us and I tell him I don’t need to take his class because we’ve seen the monsters for ourselves and we need to get out of there. He shows us two pictures that are like outlined drawings of the monsters. I honestly have no clue what the one is called, except that I had just seen it outside. Its kind of a spider like thing. Then the girl I’m with knows all the details about it, the name and everything. Then he shows us these eel kid of things and I tell him we had an experience with them 2 years ago and he was there- so he knows we know what they are. (which is so confusing….what?!)

Ok so we leave. Back in this wooded neighborhood. I’m with a small group.  We are running from these monsters. We get to this fence at the top of the hill and it’s clear we are stuck. the group wants to turn back but we would have to backtrack so far. I tell them no and that we will just hop the chainlink fence or something. we get to the fence, there’s some trees and then the high metal fencing and those lights, the ones that they use in military bases to observe what’s going on. I know to get back we have to go through to the gate. (that’s the short way) or turn back.  When we look Inside the fence - its a massacre. People literally killed and bleeding and laying in groups on the grass. a few are still barely alive. My friends are freaking out but we can’t turn back. I tell them that since the monsters attacked already they are probably gone. Most of the people are dead. A few are still alive on the ground.  we go through the fence. its kind of like a path… It’s outside but the fence has formed a kind of cattle shoot. so theres chain fence on either side and we have to take the path down the hill. We walk past all the people on the ground.. the scene gets even weirder.. soon it’s like just piles of clothes on the ground?? I keep finding band tshirts and such on the ground and I pick them up and start collecting them in my arms. it almost looks like merch from a concert or festival. as we follow the path down there’s almost like carnival stands. it’s like we were lead into the back entrance of a carnival and I was picking up the tshirts left behind.

I pick up the shirts and I’m carrying them in my arms as we make our way down.The path leads to a building. There are people walking into a movie theater and then 2 double doors. I walk through and realize it’s a trap. I don’t think I’m back in the school. It’s almost like a movie theater or mall?? Someone grabs the shirts from my hands and realizes where we came from. They shout and someone shoots me with a tiny pin that starts to paralyze me. The do it to my friends. As I try to fight but can’t I see that these people - who look like humans are not. These people are actually dragons, and they filter people behind the theater to eat them. I try to use my powers but can’t. I feel so betrayed that these people are really monsters. I ask how they can kill all those people and they say that they bring them back to life in the theater after. Then the dream kind of breaks down as they tell me that the people who died will be able to remember everything, unless they chose not to.

until I come up with a catchy closer, thanks for reading. 

original post by hannah, @the-spiritual-tarot

[the-spiritual-tarot]

Dream Journal #1

4.2.2020

I have had some really horrible, insane dreams over the last week. 

I want to preface this with a few things….. I do have psychic dreams, sometimes - but not often, I don’t think. I also try to not watch a lot of horribly violent stuff, at all. I watch some scifi/witchy stuff, because COME ON! I love it! But nothing that you would consider horror. So violent stuff is not typically floating around in my conscious mind. OK so that being said, I have had some really twisted and crazy dreams in the last week and I just can’t shake them. I don’t know what they meant. And they were so random and disturbing…. if you don’t like reading about violent things, please don’t read the rest.

The first one was last night. I honestly don’t know if I will be able to bring myself to write it down. It was so horrible. and in a way I don’t want to give it anymore power. But this is what I remember… I was in a very strange place, somewhere I had never been before. It looked kind of like a school, but like it was back in the 1950s…. maybe earlier, the 1930s? not sure. It just had that like WWII look about it, vintage in kind of a cool way. the school had these high ceilings and dark hallways. there were tons of people and a big community pool (inside). around the pool were deck chairs and life saver rings (i think thats what gave me the vintage vibe). I really can’t remember the first part of the dream now… but i remember being there and kind of wandering around lost, just looking around and observing but not doing much. There were all these kids in the pool.. playing this game and chasing each other. Most kids were school age or teenagers. I don’t know what happened at first but as I watch this one kid (young, probably around 10… bright blonde hair, skinny, wearing only a bathing suit.) who is leading the game, these 2 others wrap this rope or chain around his neck and as he swims away…. well basically it just kills him. the weirdest part is that he seemed to be in on it, like it wasn’t actually hurting him. They then proceed to play something like volleyball with …..it. yes. i am like running around the edge of the pool trying to get away from what is going on, which only seems to delight these children (creatures, demons, who knows).. everyone is splashed with blood and they are just like throwing the head at me, i see it roll away as I curl up and try to take cover… that is when i realize this is some kind of joke to them. something happens. they get in trouble or whatever and have to get out of the water, and i understand that their intention to cover everyone in blood is to make it impossible to know who the guilty person really was. I don’t remember much else other than the others really weren’t phased by the blood or brutality and seemed to enjoy torturing me with this exchange… and then i woke up and was pretty much horrified.

This post is long so the other 2 dreams will go in the next post. 

[the-spiritual-tarot]

Some musings....

I realized it is impossible to start writing without acknowledging the elephant in the room. It’s April 2020, and the world has come screeching to an “almost’ halt. The corona virus has had us (in the US) at home for about 3 weeks, and in other countries its been much longer than that. 

It might seem like I decided to return to my abandoned Tumblr page out of quarantine boredom, but really this timing is kind of synchronistic. I have been feeling the call to write, well, really just a call to share more about witchcraft and my own journey for some time now. And I have been struggling for months to find a platform that suited me - should i invest in building my own website? just post more on IG? Facebook? or start a blog?? I’ve been really drawn to the blog except I am so terrible at committing to things that I didn’t want to go through all the trouble just to fail at maintaining it after a week. And then i remembered I have this tumblr page ready made! 

Funny how when everything shuts down, things seem to speed up and come in to focus even more. I feel like we are all being faced with the things that make us most uncomfortable right now. Maybe its money… or being at home with family…. or maybe its you’re daily habits or something in your routine that you know you should change but just haven’t.

If being in quarantine is making you feel discomfort, what is that telling you? I feel discomfort right now - I’m still working from home and realizing how much an office chair makes a difference. My back kills…. I don’t know what I am going to do if I am working like this for the next month or more. 

But that’s not what we’re here to talk about. My hope is to just share thoughts and musings, any psychic readings I get, etc. Thanks for reading!

Hannah

The spiritual tarot reader

[the-spiritual-tarot]

Doing Vs. Being: Owning Your Spirituality

I have been pondering the idea of “being” a witch a lot lately. How is being a witch different than “doing” witchcraft? Some people might think it’s the same... but really, a person can be one or the other, or both. A lot of people start dabbling in witchcraft before taking on the title “witch.” It’s something they grow into, doing it before choosing to ‘be.’

But this isn’t typical for other religious titles. For instance, many Catholics are  born into a Catholic family and don’t really have a choice. You get baptized (the ‘doing’ - also, usually without your consent) and it isn’t until adulthood that you get to choose to continue being Catholic. That title came to you when you were born, and you did nothing to get it. 

Let’s take a look at another religion. Judaism is interesting because it is both a culture and a religion. So there’s a spectrum of how people who identify as Jewish hold space for this label. For some, the religious aspect goes without saying - it is inherent with who they are, how they identify with their family, and it dictates how they live their lives. But for those who have let their religious practice fall by the wayside, being Jewish is due more to the fact that it is part of their ancestry than how they interact with God. 

From these two examples (there’s really a multitude more) I think we can agree that both cultural and religious labels are usually adopted by people regardless of how closely they feel a connection to their God. I think its more about the people - their family, their community. The label is what holds them together and binds them as a religious family. When you’re Catholic, other church members don’t ask you to prove your Catholic-ness, or prove your devotion to God. Really, you just have to show up to church. Yes, there are sacraments which are meant to solidify devotion in some way, but there is no test of how genuine one really feels inside - one such test would be impossible.

As someone who was raised Catholic, I know that as long as you show up, represent the church to others, and *give money* -- you’re one of them. They don’t make level of personal devotion to God/Jesus a focal point, I think because they don’t see it as anyone else’s business. So I think if you ask most practicing Catholics, “Hey, what is your relationship with Jesus?” They will give you a pretty bland answer. “Oh I go to church, I pray, etc.” Not many have significant, intimate relationships with God or Spirit. And that is ok. I am not judging! I just want to point out that it really isn’t the focus of the Church. Most people in traditional Christian religions are not pushed to develop their spiritual bond with God beyond the one hour a week at church. And so, that is what they are happy with! Minimal effort, the promise of salvation. A small price to pay for everlasting life.

I know I am touching on a lot of sensitive topics, and I don’t want to detract from what I set out to explain. Basically, I’ve been thinking about traditional religions and how being Catholic is simply accepting a belief system. Why then, have I struggled so much with accepting the label WITCH? I accept the belief system (although this is a general blanket statement because there are so many subsets) and I have practiced and tried to learn witchcraft. What else is there to do?

Still, I struggle with accepting it for myself. By accepting the title ‘witch,’ do I have to know the answers to other questions? Like.... What I am loyal to? Who am I aligning myself with? What does this mean for my belief system? Is there a social responsibility that coincides with it? What will I have to give up?

And yet - I know I have witch in my blood. In my past lives - shaman, healer, monk - these energies feel familiar and I know they are true to me. It seems that when a label is your choice, you have a much bigger responsibility to take care in how you adopt it. Most labels or titles are given to us by society and not by choice. When it becomes a personal decision, I feel like there is a greater personal understanding that goes along with it. Choosing to align with being a witch/pagan/wiccan, etc. is choosing to identify with a marginalize group, who is still often misunderstood and even vilified. Maybe that’s what makes it feel so important and sacred. Being a witch isn’t meant for everyone. It takes bravery and strength and conviction. I won’t pretend I’m not afraid of telling my family and coworkers I am a witch. I fear their judgement and not being given a chance to explain. 

Plus, there is the pressure we as witches put on ourselves. Because there’s a complete lack of standardization, there’s no set definition of what makes us witches. I think a lot of witches struggle with feeling like they are not good enough. Not practicing enough. Not being witchy enough. And that’s just simply the wrong attitude! We are witches, because we accept the belief system. We accept the lifestyle. It is who we are. That is really what I’ve been wanting to shine a light on. You can “be” a witch without changing anything about your looks, your clothes, your aesthetic. Being a witch is a state of mind, a vibration. Many of us are born witches, even if we adopt the title later in life. 

Because most solitary witches don’t have a baptism or a way to signify the marker of the *day* they became a witch, it can be really tough to accept this part of yourself. I still feel like I’m dipping my toes in the water, even though as I writing this, I’m surrounded by my witchcraft books, tarot cards, and crystals. What else do I need to make me accept who I really am? Clearly it’s nothing material. I could have all the witchcraft books in the world - it doesn’t make me a witch. The more I think about it, I think I became a witch the first day I chose to integrate my spiritual life into my everyday existence. When I chose to learn more about my own spirituality, to grow my intuition and develop my spiritual practice, I became a witch. I grew into that vibration and I think it has changed me. 

I know I will still struggle with this day to day. I struggle with feeling like I am not enough, and that I don’t know enough. But writing this has helped me realize that I am a witch by simply holding space for my beliefs. My belief that there’s something beyond just one God. And that all religions hold some truth, like a giant puzzle that needs to be put together to be understood completely. That none of them are wrong, but none of them are completely right either. And for my childhood belief that everything has a spirit, including animals. My knowing, as a child, that I had done other things, had memories of other lifetimes, and that I could talk to animals. And my discovery as an adult that my intuition has always been my guide, and holds truth more than any religious doctrine. Being a witch is trusting in myself, and is my decision to choose ‘me’ over the voice of the masses. To choose what I believe is right over what has been forced upon me, constricting me, blinding me. Choosing to see and speak for myself. 

I will be a witch every day that I wake up and hold space for my beliefs. Regardless of the spells and crystals and herbs. As long as I hold space for myself first, my intuition and my spirit.

[the-spiritual-tarot]

Historical Witchcraft 101: The Compilation

My historical witchcraft series is (for now) finally over! Thanks everyone to all the support I got, I’m really glad you seemed to enjoy those posts as much as I enjoyed making them. Feel free to message me about things you’d like to see from me in the future!

For ease of reference, I thought I’d compile all the posts here:

Witch Bottles

Witch Ladders

The Toad Bone

Poppets

Hag Riding

Familiar Spirits

The Witches’ Sabbat

Flying Ointment

Shapeshifting

[the-spiritual-tarot]

An Absent Healing Spell For Every Purpose

You will need: 

A large piece of uncut, unpolished calcite in any color, rose quartz, or amethyst; alternatively, you can use a crystal sphere or pyramid

A pink or lilac - or rose-scented candle

Timing:

Twilight

The Spell:

Light the candle so that the crystal glows. Call the person or animal or name the place to be healed.

Say, “Pain and sorrow, sickness and distress, be transformed and blessed by the power of this crystal and this flame.”

Place the crystal on the table, holding your hands over it but not quite touching it. Repeat the words softly and mesmerically.

When the power buzzes through your fingers, hold your hands vertically, palms outward, waist height, and say the words again. Ask any favorite archangel to help you.

Return the hand you do not write with to the crystal and with the other hand push toward the healing target.

When you feel the power diminishing, change hands until your feel the power of the crystal slowing down and your energies ebbing. The healing is now complete.

Wash the crystal in running water and leave it to dry naturally.

“1001 Spells: The Complete Book of Spells for Every Purpose,” by Cassandra Eason

[the-spiritual-tarot]

𝕾𝖆𝖇𝖇𝖆𝖙𝖘

The sabbats are holidays celebrated throughout the year on solstices, equinoxes, and the midpoints between them. These sabbats form the Wheel of the year.

There is a controversy surrounding the dates of these holidays, as people celebrate them all over the earth, not only in the northen hemisphere but in the southern too. 

One viewpoint is that the Sabbats should be celebrated as they were originally created to be… in other words, Samhain is October 31st, regardless of where you live. In the Southern Hemisphere, even though you are just gearing up to summer on October 31st, this perspective says that you celebrate the cleansing and releasing, the honouring of the dead just as you would if you lived in the Northern Hemisphere. The other viewpoint (the one I personally agree with) is that you should celebrate when you feel like the season corresponds with the holiday, in other words, your craft, your rules. So if you live in the southern hemisphere, you have the choice.

I’ll be writing the dates for each holiday starting with the northen hemisphere and then the dates that many people celebrate them in the southern hemisphere

🌲𝐘𝐔𝐋𝐄

{December 21st//June 21st}

Yule focuses on rebirth and renewal as the sun makes its way back to the earth. It’s all about new beginnings, reflection and embracing warmth. Much like Christmas, many celebrate with a feast, gift giving, being cosy and appreciating the good.

↟Nature: cedar, frankincense, myrrh, mistletoe, pine, birch, ivy.

↟Foods//flavours: ginger, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, wintergreen, apple, dried fruit.

↟Stones: citrine, ruby, garnet, alexandrite, green tourmaline.

↟Activities: decorate your altar with incense associated with Yule, burn ash wood for prosperity, bake using Yule flavours like ginger or cinnamon, make wreathes to hang around the house, spend time with loved ones.

🕯️𝐈𝐌𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐂

{February 1st//August 1st}

Imbolc focuses on celebrating the nature that is preparing to grow and renewal, also known as “candlemas” and the “Feast of Pan”.

↟Nature: basil, blackberry, heather, celandine, iris, wisteria, vanilla, bay, yellow and white flowers.

↟Foods//flavours: pumpkin and sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, peppers, onions, spices, and herbal teas.

↟Stones: amethyst, bloodstone, garnet, ruby, onyx.

↟Activities: decorate with candles and sun decorations, go hiking, have a bonfire, bake foods with poppy seeds, and burn any leftover winter herbs.

🌼𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐀

{March 21st//September 21st}

Ostara focuses on manifesting creativity and love. As the days become longer, energy becomes stronger.

↟Nature: ash, alder, daffodil, honeysuckle, narcissus, primrose, violet, jasmine.

↟Foods//flavours: olives, maple syrup, honey, edible flowers, chocolate, pine nuts, nettle or lavender tea, local fruits and vegetables.

↟Stones: amethyst, rose quartz, moonstone.

↟Activities: gardening and planting seeds, bake breads with olives or honey for example, start new projects, talk to plants, do some painting, decorate with wildflowers.

🌰𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐄

{May 1st//November 1st}

Beltane focuses on fertility, love and abundance. Also known as “may day”, on this sabbat many celebrate with dancing, bonfires and many high energy activities, including enjoying themselves sexually with a partner or even conceiving children.

↟Nature: frankincense, lilac, ivy, marigold, woods, rose, thyme, mint, yarrow.

↟Foods//flavours: oats, leafy greens, fruits, breads, honey.

↟Stones: malachite, amber, fire opal, red jasper.

↟Activities: dance, decorate with florals and symbols of the sea, go to the beach, go hiking, have a bonfire, feast on fruits, vegetables and grains, laugh and let your hair down. And if you’re trying to conceive or simply would like to have sex, Beltane is a wonderful time to do so.

🦋𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐀

{June 21st//December 21st}

Litha focuses on growth and celebrating the longest day of the year and the sun, before the shorter days begin.

↟Nature: fern, yarrow, sage, rose, oak, mugwort, lavender, chamomile, myrrh, pine.

↟Foods//flavours: herbed bread, honey, sunflower seeds, iced herbal tea, lemon, vanilla.

↟Stones: lapis lazuli, amethyst, malachite, tiger’s eye.

↟Activities: make or buy a sun catcher, surround yourself with warm tones, watch the sunrise and sunset, make sun water, spend time outdoors, make use of herbs.

🌾𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐒//𝐋𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐇

{August 2nd//February 2nd}

Lammas, or lughnasadh focuses on celebrating the first of the three harvesting sabbats and taking time to really feel the positivity in different aspects of life.

↟Nature: cornstalks, heather, acacia flowers, hollyhock, oak leaves, wheat, myrtle, spices.

↟Food//flavours: grainy bread, corn, potatoes, nuts, blackberries, wine.

↟Stones: amber, agate, citrine, clear quartz, obsidian, tiger’s eye.

↟Activities: bake bread, make corn dolls, visit a sunflower field, spend time in nature, acknowledged what you are grateful for, journal.

🍁𝐌𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐍

{September 21st//March 21st}

Mabon focuses on honouring the change of the seasons, balance and peace.

↟Nature: sage, pine, marigold, thistle, acorns, milkweed, oak leaves, myrrh.

↟Food//flavours: cinnamon, nuts, beans, dark fruits, pies, soup, butterscotch.

↟Stones: citrine, carnelian, clear quartz, sapphire, yellow agate.

↟Activities: collect pine cones, donate food and old clothes, meditate, dry herbs, spend time with loved ones, speak to the nature around you.

🎃𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐍

{October 31st-November 1st//April 30th-May 1st}

Samhain focuses on celebrating life, and honouring those who are no longer with us.

↟Nature: heather, sage, pumpkins, straw, flax, patchouli, myrrh.

↟Foods//flavours: apples, cider, pumpkin, pies, soups, stews, potatoes, ginger.

↟Stones: amber, black obsidian, fossils, onyx, sandstone, bloodstones.

↟Activities: honour the deceased, spend time with family, make a hearty comforting meal, make or buy a scarecrow, spend time practicing divination.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐚𝐭

↟Do a tarot reading relevant to that sabbat.

↟Spend time in the moonlight, charging your crystals and tarot cards, as well as meditating.

↟Bake something using at least one traditional food of that sabbat to share with others.

↟Sage cleanse your living space and any of your magickal items.

↟Write down how you’re feeling and how you’d like to feel in the weeks to come.

[the-spiritual-tarot]

50  witchy things to do in quarantine:

cleanse your house thoroughly

banish any unwanted energies

put some time into making solid wards

rearrange/cleanse your altar space and tools

take inventory of your supplies

make new batches of sun and moon waters (and any salts, tinctures, etc. you like to keep on hand)

start a dream journal now that you have the time

find a witchy article or book on somewhere like JSTOR and learn something new (and tell other witches about it)

try kitchen witchcraft if you haven’t already

create a new sigil or charm to display in your house

bless or add a glamor to an item in your home (ex. adding a glamour to a centerpiece so the food always looks good or to the welcome mat so people don’t notice the messes so much)

send a blessing to those who are helping (and donations, if you can)

or perhaps jinx, hex, curse, or bind those doing harm

set aside time each day to meditate– it’s the perfect time to start such a habit!

leave an offering to or commune with a spirit or deity you have not in a while due to time constraints

try a type of magic you are interested in, but struggle with

practice with your divination tools to get better at them

update your grimoire with things you’ve been meaning to write down

make a crystal grid of your own

make your own pendulum and board

make your own oracle deck

using the items you already have, make a new powder, oil, or tincture for an intent you have often

make a sigil and set it as your phone background

paint your phone case with a sigil, a symbol, or a color coordinated with your intention (use acrylic and then coat it in mod podge!)

create a new talisman

write a hymn or incantation

create a playlist to listen to during witchy things

buy a service from a local witch if you can afford to– many are in need of money right now, especially

draw, paint, or sculpt a deity you worship and add it to your altar

use notecards to write down and categorize things you have for each basic intention (ex. write down all of the herbs, crystals, etc. you have for love, for money, etc. so you never have to sit and think hard on what you can use– it’s a quick-reference for yourself)

write down your favorite spells or ones that you want to try

in your school or work space, add a sigil or charm for productivity, focus, or stress-relief

make a new sachet for sleep

contact a witch friend and facetime them to meditate together or do readings for each other. it’s important to stay in touch!

make shoebox, on-the-go, or pocket altars so when quarantine is over you’ll keep your practice up in daily life

write yourself affirmation cards or letters to open in a month/year/whenever you like

make your own runes

enchant a piece of clothing or jewelry for stress-relief or motivation

learn more about your own natal chart

transfer the info you look for in your grimoire most often to make a quick-reference book of the most important pages for yourself

learn about the plants and trees around your house and their properties

sit in your yard for a little while and enjoy nature and it’s sounds

open your curtains and blinds and windows to let in a little fresh air and sun into the house

start journaling– being in-tune with yourself will improve you as a witch

write letters or send care packages to witchy friends with things like bay leaves, sigils, and kind notes

on your next grocery run, grab some seeds or plants and plant whatever is in season where you are. try something that can grow in your windowsill, if you’re new! this is a way to have sustainable ingredients for your witchcraft that has no pesticides and is cultivated with your energy.

alternatively, get flower seeds and plant them around your home. this will also give you a reason to step outside to tend to them from time to time.

learn a new song or hymn and perform it as an offering to your deity of choice

make a list of this year’s dates of full and new moons, transits, and holidays and mark them in your calendar or put them in the notes of your phone

take the time to monitor your own energy and take care of yourself <3

[the-spiritual-tarot]

I think it’s so funny how most Libra moodboards are primarily pink.. it’s the go to color... and yet, as a Libra sun (Libra stellium) I will never complain. Never get sick of pink. It really is us. 

Libra sun Leo moon Cancer rising Libra venus requested by @fastro

[the-spiritual-tarot]

The Beginning of a Journey: Working with Deity, Pt.1

4.6.2020

Hello magical friends. 

It is almost the full moon in Libra, and I can’t help feeling like something big, magical and important is supposed to happen. We still have one day, so I guess we will see. 

I’m having trouble deciding where to begin on this post. My hope is to tell the beginning of a journey I now know that I am on. It’s really long, so it will most likely be broken up into parts. I will link the other parts below if that is the case. 

My hope is to chronicle my journey into working with deity. I have been exploring this path, dipping my toes into the water, for some time now. But I have struggled so much with finding my path.... honestly finding ANY path. I guess my hope is to make sense of this winding road, make note of some of the road markers... and hopefully learn something along the way. 

I have been searching for deities that I can really connect to for a long time. Nothing has fit quite right. when I started my quest, per say, I was drawn to the greek and norse pantheon... but i think that might have been because thats what I was exposed to. And even though none of them really ‘stuck’ I did have a few memorable encounters with Odin, Diana, Hestia, and even Hecate. 

Hecate, let’s discuss. I know she has things to teach me. As I write this, I am realizing that she may have be guiding me when I started this journey 5 years ago. I didn’t know who she was back then, but now looking back, there were signs. I was a baby empath spinning out of control. Having too much fun, being reckless, both with my money and my energy. I was a bleeding heart. When I finally picked up tarot and began learning about being empathic, so many things just fell into place. The world made sense again. When I started reading tarot, the high priestess would come up in my readings alllllll the time. ALL the time! She was my guide. I took it to mean that she was my teacher, patiently teaching me the secrets of meditation, of using my intuition. I love the high priestess. She started me on this journey. 

Around the same time, I got my first tattoo. I loved the moon and wanted it as my first tattoo. I literally searched moon symbol in pinterest and picked out a simple outline of the phases of the moon. however, I didn’t like how the symbols faced one direction, so I asked my tattoo artist to change the symbols so that the crescents faced outward.... (see where I am going with this?) unbeknownst to me at the time, I got the symbol for the triple moon tattooed, and I only realized later that it was hecate’s symbol. 

The last experience was literally a dream. This happened a bit after the tattoo, when I was thinking about looking for a matron/patron deity. I hadn’t done much research, except for a few meditations and maybe skimming some books.  In the dream, nothing happened, I just remember seeing a woman and she had 3 faces. It is so hard to describe. because it was like..... three people, but seeing the reflections. So one person in front of you, and then instead of a shadow, you see her facing out in another direction, like you’re looking at a reflection in a mirror. Dream wasn’t scary. just an appearance. Again, I didn’t know who she was. I researched later and discovered mentions of the triple goddess. But it wasn’t until much later that I realized how significant these experiences actually are. 

Long story short, I think I finally understand that Hecate was there to guide me when I needed her.... I don’t really feel her presence as much any more, and I do feel guided to find new deities to work with. However, I think she will come forward in my life when I am ready. Honestly, I don’t think I am ready for her now - the irony is that I am kind of intimidated, after learning more about her, I honestly have a little fear. Maybe I shouldn’t... since she really has been here with me all along. I am realizing now that I should make an altar or small space for her, because even if she isn’t my main deity, I would like to thank her for the guidance and help she has given me thus far. 

I didn’t mean for this to turn into a Hecate appreciation post, but I guess that’s what it was meant to be! I am going to continue writing about my winding journey with deity in my following posts, so keep reading! 

original post by Hannah @the-spiritual-tarot​

[the-spiritual-tarot]

A beautiful explanation of the full super moon in Libra, 4.7.2020