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I love my tarot deck. I love my tarot deck. I love my fucking tarot deck.

I don't read that often anymore, but every time I am going through a big life shift, I pull out the deck and check in. And without fail, it always always ALWAYS pulls through when I need it, giving me clear answers and showing me where the right path is.

What's fantastic is my deck's mobile app matches my real deck's energy to an impressive degree. I can pull out my phone for a very quick "I'm still on the right path, right?" And it will say "yes, keep going." And I will keep going.

What else is fantastic is that my deck can, has, and will give me the answers I don't want. I was lined up with an opportunity that seemed like everything I wanted, but in my core I knew something felt off and when I asked my deck, it said no. Even more, it told me to just wait. Bide my time. Better things are coming. So I did. And they are. They're here at my fingertips and all I have to do is reach a little further and take them.

My deck will be honest with me, as honest as could exist. The love and support I feel when I check in about these events and changes in my life is overwhelming. I have many tarot decks, but I am not bonded to any of them like I am to this one. I feel like I have any answer at my fingertips and it feels incredible.

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People very much are responsible for figuring out what they accept as truth or not. It's not anyone else's job to make sure you don't do something stupid because you saw it on the internet. Much less a random Tumblr post for fucks sake. I could post that drinking gasoline is great for your liver 100 times a day and if someone goes and drinks gasoline, it's still their fault for not doing more research before putting something into their body. And for blindly believing some random hoe on Tumblr. Let's encourage people to think for themselves instead of chastising others for not pre-thinking for you.

@themahoganylibrary It’s just a pretty picture lol. Plant ID is important if you’re making the next Audobon book or posting on iNaturalist, not if you’re just sharing a photo on Tumblr. I never made any claims about edibility, no one is going to eat random berries because of a photo they saw online with nothing but a single name attached.

Also I don’t mind being corrected but there are polite ways to do it and from the beginning everyone was pretty passive aggressive. A simple “hey that’s actually (this plant)” goes a long way

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A Witch’s Ingredients: Sand

Sand is an abundant resource that can be found across the world including along the coasts, through deserts and even in many people’s yards and gardens. Sand is rather easy to obtain and natural making it ideal for witchcraft. Though some types of sand may be harder to obtain, and more costly, than others, let this post be a guide on how to utilize it for its magical properties.

Types of Sand & Their Correspondences

Beach/Coastal Sand: calming, grounding, cleansing, connecting to the sea, self-love, protection and warding, motivation, memory, spiritual clarity, purification of the heart, easing pain, physical and spiritual strength, can represent both the elements of earth and water

Ocean Sand (from the ocean floor/deep sea): primordial energy, banishing negative emotions and energy, grounding, mental clarity, psychic clarity and strengthening, divination, guidance, ancient wisdom and power, connections to the sea and primordial waters, birth, creation, can represent both the elements of earth and water

Desert Sand: curses and removing energy from others, weakening, draining, banishing, grounding, mental clarity, physical health, enduring hardships, “drying up” love and past emotions, healing heartbreak, burying the past, often related to burial ceremonies

Volcanic Sand: destruction, intense energy, strength, death, rebirth, banishing, secrets or hidden messages, warding, baneful magic, offensive magic, often represents both earth and fire at once

River Sand/Silt: fertility, procreation, movement, flowing energy, travels, change

Lake/Pond Sand: the present, calmness, serenity, inner focus, self-reflection and meditation

Swamp/Wetland Sand: mystery, secret keeping, silencing lies and rumors, binding, curses related to becoming lost or emotional heaviness, often represents both water and earth at once, often related to animal magic specifically those that live in swamp land

Unearthed/Buried Sand: grounding, hidden power, addressing past issues and mistakes, overcoming controversy, self-discovery, introspection, emotional healing, moving on from past scars

Biogenic Sand/Bone Sand/Shell Sand: healing, moving on emotionally, remembrance but letting go of the pain and loss, honoring those lost (often at or to the sea), close connections to necromancy

Black Sand: protection, warding, banishing, relates to necromancy and spirit work

Pink Sand: love, beauty, youth, harmony, adjusting to change, remembering the past and lost loved ones, rebirth, emotional and mental healing, forgiveness of self and others

Red Sand: strength, courage, valor, relates to fire rather than earth

Yellow Sand: divination, focus, improving memory and skills, mental health, grounding and centering, represents both earth and air elements sometimes both at once

White Sand: purity, cleansing, protection, wisdom, preparing for change, physical and emotional balance, harmonizes all aspects of oneself

Combinations of Sand and Other Ingredients

Sand and Soil: grounding, balance, cleansing, protection of loved ones and family

Sand and Salt: change, growing power, dreams, purification, warding, protection, longevity

Sand and Ash: remembrance, the past, divination

Sand and Clay: change, mental fortitude

Sand and Kelp/Seaweed: beauty, youth, birth, fertility, the ocean

The History

Not much history on the use of sand in magic from what I can find that is a reliable source, but I was able to find some bits about its use.

Sand has been used in connections to rituals for the dead and in burial practices in many different cultures to a varying degree. In some sand was used for burying the deceased such as very early Ancient Egypt for its mummification properties before better mummification methods were invented and utilized. Placing sand into graves or coffins of the deceased somethings as a means to connect them to their homelands if that person was traveling into foreign lands or countries. Some stories speak about mixing the ashes of the dead with sand to be kept in the home. Other stories tell of people mixes ashes from fires or the hearth with sand and casting it out into the sea for lost sailors who could not be brought home. 

Sand was also used historical in some types of spell jars and vessels. In some places sand was put into jars and bottles and given to sailors to keep them connected to home even when sailing. Others said carrying sand could protect one from being lost at sea or from disaster, likely where the history of sand being used for protection properties came from. It has also been used in witch’s bottles and for burying spells for varying purposes. Some cultures would bury offerings to deities into the sand of beaches or deserts.

Modern Use

Sand is still a common ingredient for many sea witches and worshipers of ocean related deities to utilize in their craft and in their altars. Deities commonly related to sand are Poseidon, Aphrodite, Psamathe, Thalassa, Aegir, Neptune and Veles. Sand is also often used in altars to represent either earth or water when representing the cardinal directions or the 4 elements. Some will use sand to represent both in cases of smaller altars.

Modernly, sand is often used in spell jars and bottles when used in spellwork or as a vessel to charge, cleanse and bury objects or tools such as crystals, poppets, amulets and trinkets. Sea witches or witches with accesses to large amount of sand will often use it for grounding and circle casting. Some will use it for runes and sigils as well.

Storing Sand

For those wishing to store and use collected sand ensure that there is nothing undesirable in it - garbage, sharp bits of glass, decomposing fish or animals, insects etc. Shift it thoroughly to ensure anything that could be potentially dangerous is removed and if needed properly disposed of. Once the sand has been shifted ensure it is dry before you seal it into anything.

Wet sand can house bacteria and mold - which can also smell quite foul when the container is opened again. You can use the sun to dry it or indoor heaters at a safe distance. Spread it out thin and flat to help ensure it is thoroughly dried if it is damp or wet.

Once dried the best way to store sand is inside of glass or ceramic vessels. Jars and bottles are the most ideal. Ensure that they are sealed tightly to ensure no spillage or condensation can get inside.

**this post was personally researched, compiled and directly from my personal grimoire. Please do not repost**

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[betwitchd]

The Lord at thy right hand shall wound even Kings in the day of His wrath.

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The Living Landscape;

“It is essentially the quality of the energy in the Land itself that determines the nature of the magic of a place. In East Anglia, this energy is known most often either as ‘Spirament,’ or simply as ‘Virtue.’ Necessarily, it will vary from place to place; the quality of the virtue in the wet, boggy lands of the west is not the same as that of the sandy heathlands of the eastern coastal regions. Nor is the energy of the rolling pastureland of the inland meadows and fields the same as that of the thick, clay soils of the central uplands. But, as they are all a part of the same geographical and energetic region, they all partake of the same essential quality of East Anglia, be it manifested in subtly different ways.”

—

The Devil’s Plantation:

East Anglian Lore, Witchcraft & Folk-Magic

by Nigel G. Pearson

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Planet Earth II (2016) Episode 03 “Jungles” Directed by Emma Napper

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o to meet with waking eyes the thing you doubted most

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Mushroom Crock

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Reading Reversals in 3 Steps with the 5 of Cups!

Reading reversals is hard! Let’s make it less hard. Here’s ye olde methode for interpreting reversals, with the 5 of Cups as my assistant.

Step One: Read the card upright. Even if you pull reversed, flip it back over and interpret it upright.

Step Two: Got the upright card loosely interpreted? Take note of any significant parts of the card. In the 5 of Cups, we have a cloaked person grieving over 3 spilled cups on the left, while 2 cups that are potentially still-full sit ignored off to the right. The person is clearly distraught over the loss of the contents of the 3 spilled cups. The black cloak implies an emotional loss. The imagery in the upright card implies that the person is completely consumed with the loss and has forgotten that there is still something salvageable if you change your perspective. The body language suggests shrugging off the possibility of better things because they’re not done being upset. Putting the spilled cups to the left implies an event in the past, where the 2 upright cups to the right imply fruits of the future. There is also a building, what appears to me as a house, above the 3 spilled cups and a bridge above the 2 upright cups. This could mean that what was lost from the spilled cups was related to the home, or has caused you to distance yourself from your home. You can interpret this very literally and take it as meaning that one will have to cross or build a bridge over an obstacle, like a river, to reach the other side and move on to better things.

Step Three: Flip the card back to the reversed position and watch the artwork. What changes? Compare the reversed card to the upright card and make a mental venn diagram of their similarities and differences. Look at the 5 of Cups reversed. The 3 spilled cups and the 2 upright cups have changed sides. Now, the 2 upright cups are in the past and the 3 spilled cups are in the future. I get a different vibe from the body language of the person in this position, like they want to turn around and tend to the 2 cups on the left. But…are the upright cups even upright anymore? In this position, they’re upside-down! Anything you put in those cups is going to pour right out. Maybe the 3 cups on their sides are the most worth salvaging in this case, because something may have remained inside of them since they aren’t completely tipped over. There’s also a river above them, with gravity pulling that water down and into the cups. All the person needs to do is set the cups upright again to fill them, and it might even be less work to fix the 3 cups that are almost tipped over than to completely turn around the 2 cups on the left. There is a bridge blocking the flow of water into those 2 cups, even if they were upright. In this position, everything is pretty disheveled, but there is water flowing from the home and down into the 3 cups on the right while a bridge blocks water from ever filling the 2 cups on the left. The person is better off putting their energy into turning the 3 cups upright, even though on the surface it appears to be harder than only turning over 2 cups. Even if turning over those 2 cups is easier, due to the bridge blocking the water, they’ll never fill. The 5 of Cups reversed is suggesting that even though everything appears lost, you can still save the situation if you take the hard road and flip over the 3 cups. After you take the first step to making things better (flipping over the cups so they can fill again!) you should allow your family and those close to you to help you fill the cups again.

See? Easy! The meanings here aren’t total opposites, in fact, with this card they have quite similar but still different meanings when upright and reversed. The upright card implies one is ignoring the path to make things better, and the reversed card implies one sees the path but is hesitant, and just needs to take the first step and then accept help from others. Apply this method to the reversals you pull and see what you can come up with!

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"Okay tarot, I have two questions tonight. I'll ask one at a time. First one,"

*deck flings King of Pentacles into my lap as soon as I try to shuffle*

"Hm alright. Well I'm going to do a traditional draw anyway to make myself feel better."

I shuffled for 5 minutes with two different methods, and pulled the King of Pentacles off the top.

Okay, okay, I get it. Yeesh.

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not to be native on main but like, it’s everyone’s responsibility to steward the land they’re on. like you’re required. if you’re in america the people who own the land aren’t around to steward it so pick up the slack. learn how people cultivated and cared for the land you’re on. if you’re an animist there’s really no excuse. man, i get disabilities and stuff (i’m disabled myself) but you gotta do something. get some native grasses and toss em into your yard. mow your grass a little higher. leave a little strip that’s completely untouched so native wildlife can take residence there. cultivate a relationship with the land you’re on, not only for magical reasons (and you WILL get magical benefits) but also because the earth is deserving of love and respect in itself. 

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“Dear, sweet Littlefoot… I’ll be with you, even if you can’t see me” “What do you you mean I can’t see you? I can always see you.”

“Littlefoot, let your heart guide you. It whispers…so listen closely.” Mother? Mother??

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Dracula (1992)

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Boot Hill Cemetery. Idaho City, ID

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