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Astrology merely provides a picture of your potential and indicates the archetypes you are likely to strive towards, but in no way it establishes who or what you are or will be. Anyone who believes they can predict the future by observing the stars or a deck of cards is just misinformed and gullible.

This is your occasional reminder that stars, planets, seasons, and signs DON’T define you, your personality, strengths, or weaknesses; and the FACT is you can be whoever you want to be and do whatever you want to do.

Fuck astrology. Don’t limit yourself.

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good light, bad altar

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Here’s your occasional reminder to feed your spirits and ancestors. Leave out food, drink, and offering and build those relationships up. Care for them and they will care for you in return. 

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Hey I saw your previous post . I know nothing about witchcraft but I follow a kind and really experienced lady diana here in tumblr and even her general tips and reading have helped me . I think you might know her 'Servant of the fates' . Again I know nothing about witchcraft , I just wanted to help . Take care of yourself .

Thank you! I'll take a look 😊

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✨My pages on casting runes in my book of shadows/grimoire✨

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A Brief Word about Familiars

I received a question yesterday asking for books on familiars. I found I could only recommend one - a high-quality, dry, academic text that costs about $40. So I tried to find posts about familiars here on Tumblr.

I wish I hadn’t. I was like…

But then I took a moment and decided to write a little blurb to set the story straight.

So let me start by saying that this is not the core of my practice. I have a familiar spirit. I will not talk about Him at length here for reasons you can probably gather. We do stuff together. Not that much stuff together, over all. But I know a few things about familiars so let’s do this.

Despite the popular conception here on Tumblr, familiars are not pets. That is, they are not physical animals you can buy at an animal shelter or a pet store. Your cat is not a familiar. Your dog is not a familiar. Your chinchilla/snake/tarantula/lizard/whatever is not a familiar.

A familiar is a nonhuman spirit acquired by a witch. It may take the guise of a human, an animal, or an otherworldly being. Though it may occasionally resemble an animal, it is not, strictly speaking, an animal. Gaining a familiar was often part of the initiation process. When it was not part of initiation, obtaining a familiar sometimes mirrored the initation process in that it was often done through a major spirit (i.e. the Devil) or through another witch.

In times gone by, having a familiar spirit was one of the criteria for being a witch. According to the Witchcraft Act of 1604, possessing or communing with a familiar spirit was a crime punishable by death. It was one of the major markers of witch-dom.

During the New England Witch Hysteria, sightings of familiar spirits were used as evidence against the accused parties. Tituba, in her confession, claimed that the witches of Salem used a variety of familiar spirits to cause harm to others. These spirits included black dogs and foxes, as well as a hog and most notably, a yellow bird. During the trials, the afflicted girls of Salem Village claimed to see a yellow bird that bit and attacked them. Tituba also claimed that the accused Sarah Osbourne possessed a creature unlike anything seen on this earth. Her familiar spirit had a woman’s head and wings.

In the early modern period, these spirits would have been given to witches by the Devil as part of their pact with him. Modern witches working in the traditional paradigm who wish to acquire familiars would be wise to seek his wisdom on the subject.

Familiar spirits were said to pass along family lines, too, as was magical capability in general. It was fairly common, in Salem and abroad, for the family members of witches to be accused of witchcraft themselves, namely the daughters and husbands of accused witches. A witch, according to the belief of the day, could gift her familiar spirit to her daughter or to another family member. This is another way to obtain a familiar spirit.

Most of the witches I have spoken to have obtained their familiars through others. Emma Wilby describes another way witches obtained familiars - sometimes they just pop up. A witch will be traveling through the country or will be in a moment of great need and a familiar will appear to help them.

So what do familiars do and why would you want one?

A familiar can act as a witch’s servant. If you wish to harm someone, you may send your familiar (perhaps in the guise of an animal) to attack them. Been attacked by a crow? Hounded by a black dog? Scratched by a strange cat? Could be a familiar. This prevents the witch from getting her hands dirty. If the witch appears as a spectre, sitting on someone’s chest, it is immediately obvious who is causing the attack. If a witch sends a yellow bird to bite her victims, there is room for doubt.

Familiars, being spiritual beings themselves, possess a magic all their own. They can lend their assistance to magical works. Like any other spirit, they can put their power into a spell. Without going deep into the subject, some familiars are more, well, familiar with certain kinds of magic than others. They possess both knowledge and power.

According to Emma Wilby, the use of familiar spirits is linked to the reminents of shamanic practice in early modern Europe. If we accept the idea that witches “flew” via shamanic journeying, the popular image of the witch flying with her cat-familiar makes sense. The familiar spirit can protect and guide the witch through the spirit world. Being a spirit itself, this is terrain the familiar spirit knows. The familiar spirit is not just a helper, but also a teacher.

Familiars can do pretty neat things, too. Despite its flaws, the popular series “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” shows this fairly well. When Sabrina is in trouble, her familiar spirit, Salem, protects her. A familiar spirit can also act as a witch’s protector. They can devour curses and ward the home.

Familiars do require upkeep and regular offerings. Historically, these offerings would have been blood. When initiated, witches were given witches’ marks. These sometimes acted as teats from which spirits could draw blood from the witch. Blood (of any kind) is a good offering. In modern times, a bit of wine or milk often suffices.

One kind of familiar I do not wish to discuss here (because this post is already waaaay longer than I intended) is the plant familiar. Plants (especially mandrakes) can work like familiars. Do a Google dive. You’ll find something.

So that’s the tea on familiars. In summation,

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“I Can Manage My Anxiety”

Wear this on yourself over your heart if possible or meditate with this sigil briefly in the morning before starting your day

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reminder:

tarot cards have set meanings, yes, but each deck has different depictions that change the meaning slightly (colors, images, directions, etc. can change the way it is interpreted), and your intuition should influence the reading. your first interpretation of the cards is what your gut is telling you. trust it. there are many ways to interpret any set of cards you draw, so listen to that little voice in your head. it knows best.

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This is the only tiktok you'll ever need, I've made about 13 of these and I'm not stopping anytime soon

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psa: if your magical “tool kit” doesn’t also include critical thinking skills and common sense, it’s useless.

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Jar for Attracting Romance

This jar is intended to attract love and romance. 

Himalayan Pink Salt

Dried Orange Rind

Dried Rosemary

1 Dried Red Rose

Layer the ingredients with the rose facing outward. Change out every 3-6 months. 

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Fellow travelers, I'll resume using the blog from time to time but the divination service will be on pause for a while...

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Powder to Repell an unwanted Lover

This banishment powder will send away an unwanted lover or suitor. Dust it on your body when going out or sprinkle it around your doorways and windows.

The rind of a orange, burnt and ground to ash

Black salt, ground to a powder

Dried rose petals, burnt to ash

To target a specific person:  Write their name on a slip of paper. Burn it to ash. Combine into the mixture.

Repeat as necessary.

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Confessions of a death witch on Samhain

I believed in it, too - the veil is thin, they said.  You need to do it this way, they said.  

And then I celebrated Obon in the middle of August with my Japanese-American covenmate.  And trust me, the ancestors came and they drank and they ate.  

It doesn’t matter when you talk to your ancestors.  It doesn’t matter when you feed your ancestors.  They will comes - they like food.  They like drink.  They (most likely) like you a lot.

Do it when you have the time.  When it feels right.  

Not when somebody has told you is a cross-quarter day…because it isn’t.  Astrological Samhain isn’t until the 7th of November this year because THAT is the half-way point between the equinox and the solstice.

If All Hallow’s Eve feels good to you, do it.  It feels good to me because I’m an OG goth kid from the ‘90s.   But I have felt just as connected on a sweltering August day on the fucking beach with my coven so you know, its all about creating that space - not when you do it.   

Side note: as the last of traditional harvest holidays, Samhain was definitely dedicated to dying but likely not to the ancestral dead.  The last harvest - so you’d harvested your grains, you’d harvested your Fall produce…now you needed to harvest the excess animals that you won’t be able to feed during the long Winter.   Because context is everything.

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The Blue Moon 🌚 31st October 2020 🎃

Taken on my telescope 🔭 🌙✨

Verbenalune.com✨

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a page on the internet: sound can cleanse spaces as well as any other method

me, blasting MCR while i put salt by the door to the backyard and spritz my entire room with cleansing spray: this room is about to have SUCH good vibes

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Talk to your house

Your house is a sentient being with it’s own spirit and soul. Some people identify this spirit as their household deities or friendly house spirits. But some people have altogether forgotten how important the spirit of their house is. Talk to your house. Houses that have been ignored tend to be dull, tired and susceptible to hauntings and negative energies.  So talk to your house, listen to its aches and pains, say hello. Tell it that you come in peace, tell it that you are there to listen to it speak. Be grateful to your house. And watch the energies of your home transform themselves into joy.