#CarRomance

[in-tenebris-et-in-solitudine]

Me and Who?

[yourlocalchaoswitch]

i burned a candle for apollo and in typical apollo fashion

he gave me dicks.

[haveyouplayedthisirlgame-poll]

Carrom is a tabletop/board game where players flic disks, attempting to knock them to the pockets at the board's corners. It has many variants.

[novaae]

Have I ever shared the HC that people just stop playing board games with Bumi because he always wins and acts like a smug bitch afterwards?

[s3plan]

from Kamratposten nr 13, 2013

[booksandwitchery]

Weird Scrying Session - Journal Excerpt

9 November, 2023 (Evening):

I've just had another go at scrying and I think it was a good learning experience, though nothing went as planned. I will attempt to elaborate.

First, I did something brave and I don't know precisely why it was brave, just that it was. I decided to use the larger candles--the cream colored votives, not the tealights. And for me, this was kind of scary because for some reason breaking out the votives (which I've never used before for my practice) means something definitive. It almost feels like I left someone else behind--I left behind a more timid version of myself, who doesn't use the votives because they are exponentially more expensive than the tealights, because bigger candles mean bigger magic, and I'm not there yet. It feels really unsafe here on the other side, in the reality that I lit the votives for magical purposes. It feels like my entire body is resisting this mode of self in relation to the world. But I lit those damned votives anyway, and now I can't go back. But I digress.

Next--I lit too many candles. Easy lesson there. One votive was all I needed for hydromancy in my black scrying bowl. Gosh, the votives are much brighter than the tealights.

Third, I'd decided to use water that I'd darkened with my fountain pen ink, or perhaps I took the ink from my mom's supply. It was being stored in a brown apothecary bottle that I'd labelled "Dragon's Breath" for decoration. Since I'd poured the water into the scrying bowl by candlelight, I couldn't really see how the ink had settled into the water. I had a preconceived idea of the way the water and ink would interact, and so I saw that the lighter shapes in the water were bits of ink reflecting in the candlelight. I saw a brown bear playing a flute, a witch conjuring a bunny rabbit--nothing that really spoke to me. After I was finished, I turned the lights on and discovered that I'd been perceiving the state of things inversely: The lighter shapes were not clumps of ink moving across the water, they were the bottom of the scrying bowl. The darker shapes were the ink particles, which had bunched up in grains that resembled potting soil. I'd been discerning negative space as the independent variable, as the moving material taking shape.

I don't know how else to say this--it is evidence of perception and its disconnect from physical reality--that so much of our lived experience is directly impacted by perception, which is often much different than what is objectively real.

So you might say that this hydromancy session was a complete flop, because I didn't see any compelling images in the water. But I will take lessons in any form the universe decides to offer up; I do not retain any prejudices there.

Lastly: I highly prefer pouring candle wax on the water for divination. I tried this after turning the lights back off as a second thought, and it works beautifully. Apparently the melted wax on water technique is called "carromancy," and technically I don't think this is a method of scrying (it does not rely on a reflective surface).

It's been an interesting night over here. Talk about finding magic in the mundane.

[violet-hearth]

Reflecting On My Craft 3 Years Later ...

Between 2019-2021 I was incredibly active among witchcraft spaces especially on tumblr as a folk practitioner. Since then I stopped posting, deleted the page and focussed focussed on my degree and activism, not being able to find the energy or space to share any other parts of myself online. I took a break from larger, less day-to-day practices, I am chronically ill with phobia disorders and high anxiety that can make my days stressful and conserving energy was important to me for a time. 

Three years later and I feel like I’ve grown so much having had this break. I’m slowly easing myself back into larger parts of my practice and connecting aspects of myself I thought could not connect with folk magic into my witchcraft. Being queer and disabled, sometimes there is a feeling of disconnect or a strong, desperate clinging onto religion and spirituality, but I’m learning that I can make a path for myself that is modern, accessible, and still connected to traditions. Folk practices and magic are traditions but they’re also living traditions, they adapt to changes in land and in times. 

A book that has helped me in bound is Queering Your Craft by Cassandra Snow. Whilst it only really touches on foundational practices, I found comfort in the way Cassandra talks about redefining and queering concepts to make them more accessible to us. They are also a disabled, gender queer activist and it’s now a book I reopen time and time again when I feel a little lost or scared. 

So, what has changed? 

I am still working a lot with plants but with a stronger tie to art and sympathetic magic 

Using magic and herbalism more for my anxiety, usually this is through just carving space to be more gentle with myself 

Hearth magic is now a focus, I am big on hospitality, kitchen magic, creating a sacred space within my home and my neighbourhood. This has taken over pretty much my whole practice, this is where the sympathetic and art magic has tied in. I love using oils and incense to set the mood and vibe of my space before a guest comes in, I use drinks and food to layer these intentions and vibes, I bring gifts to friends’ house of foods and teas and infused alcohols and body butters I make at home, I make them soup when they’re sick and sleep spell bags when they need rest 

Queering my practices, moving away from a strict ‘this is how things MUST be done’ to understanding what each ingredient is for, why it is used and finding these meanings in other household items. My nana uses vinegar for everything when cleaning, I can just add a little of my current cleaning solutions and it will do the same job for example

Divination is new to me! I used to exclusively go off the sky for working out the weather, this isn’t divination as such but some of it is superstition and some of it is probably based in science and tarot. I love tarot but I want to try something new, so have begun to study carromancy and dipping my toes into it 

Queering my craft

This is where things get a little less traditional. I’ve begun to modernise practices in a way I know will upset people. I don’t work with familial ancestors as such, but I venerate and remember cultural ancestors - in this case pioneers of queer rights, queer martyrs, I light candles on anniversaries of deaths and have a dedicated windowsill where I keep queer books and want to further honour the activists who came before me. 

I also use queer symbolism a lot more especially for love, self-love, protection, or anything specifically to do with my queerness or the queer community local to me. Lube has been interesting to work with, hanky code colour symbolism before I go clubbing, charming carabiners, embroidering my strap harness etc. Beyond the practicality of this in my life as an urban-based queer person, it’s just fun. So much art and chanting and singing and dance and fashion can be tied into urban practices that still honour community, culture and tradition. Nothing is stopping me from having both a queered protection spell and a more traditional amulet. It has given me a deeper appreciation of the multitudes we hold as people, the many communities we can be a part of and the many faces we wear throughout our day. 

What Next?

I want to use this blog just to occasionally share things, I’m probably not going to share any cultural practices since a lot of them are just ‘shit my family does that is in my dna now’, but I feel comfortable talking about the more modern practices I do, some of the recipes and basic formulas I have and created, and the occasional post about my journey into practices I am only just beginning. 

My main focus however will be on queering the home, queer hearth practices and carving out spaces for ourselves spiritually and physically. 

I cannot wait to share more x 

[moominkowa666]

get me back here rn

[cosmicrhetoric]

last night i was so sick of my skin i was like thats IT im DONE im going to the drugstore and buying what my famously clear skinned mother used in the 90s. woke up this morning to find out it made me break out 🤡

[thepoolapk22]

[inertia-m]

hat-trick while playing carrom today, this is my win of the day.

[yourlocalchaoswitch]

Fellow witches, any advice?

I lit a candle for Artemis, and when I went to go check on it, I noticed what looked like horns in the wax. Immediately I felt called to blow it out, so I did, and began inspecting the wax

In addition to the horns, I also saw a very distinct frog (I'll attach pictures of the wax). I'm stumped at what these could possibly mean together.

any ideas?

[dard-ae-disco]

Sari duniya se jeet ke main aaya hoon idhar Tere aage hi main haara kiya tune kya asar

(me when me when)

[kartlk]

A bold day

The morn was frigid, yet aglow with the lustrous rays of the sun, while the dulcet twittering of birds intertwined with the blue hues of the horizon. Seated in the communal space, my thoughts were preoccupied with the notion of creating an artwork for my Tumblr page, though it would only be witnessed by a scant two followers. An unremarkable day, with merely a hint of aesthetic musings, I began capturing the moments with my camera. Commencing with a snapshot of my guitar, snugly situated beside me on the bean bag, reminiscing memories of a bygone era, I followed it up with an image of a carrom board, reminiscent of my childhood and the fond memories of playing the game with my grandmother. Lastly, a picture of me striving to conceal myself in my shadow, as shadows always imbue a mysterious and enigmatic aura.

[sameeroak]

कॅरमकर

पुणेकर, नागपूरकर सरखे, कर जोडावे अशे अजुन एक कर निर्माण झाले आधुनिक जगत..कॅरमकर….

कॅरमकर वैहला तुम्हाला कॅरम चंगाला येतो हैची जरोरात नाही, पण घरी कॅरम असला बरं... समोरचा कडे घरी कॅरम नाही ह्याची खात्री करूंच मग त्यला आपला घरी कॅरम खेळायला बोलायचं…

कॅरम अधी मांडून थेऊ नाय…तो कॅरम आपल्या मित्रालाच काढावला लावणे , मग कॅरम चा सोंगाट्या, स्ट्रायकर, पावडर एका मोठय़ा दब्यात तुने काढावे …असा मोठा डबा सोमरचें फक्‍ता खाऊ साथी किव्हा लाडू साठी बघितला असतो ….

कॅरम सुरे होणाच्या आधीच समोरचा थोडा घाबर तो , १. एक पॉईंट सर …

मग कॅरम साठी बोरिक पावडर काढावी… आपल्या हाताला आणि कॅरम ला खूप चोपावी … सोमार्चला पावडर चा दाब देणे.. त्यांनी बहुत पावडर फक्त तोंडाला लावलया किव्हा चपाती बनवायला बघितली असते.. तो ओशाळत पावडर घेतो आणि हाताला थोडी लावून शिमगा करतो … २. दुसरा पॉईंट सर….

मग डब्यातून तीन चार प्रकारचे स्ट्रायकर काढावे … ते कशे वेगेळे आहेत हे समजावणे आणि समोरच्याला देणे , तो बेचारा सगळ्या स्ट्राईकर्स ला हात लावतो आणि ओशाळून एक सिलेक्ट करतो .. ३ .तिसरा पॉईंट सर ….

कॅरम सुरु होणाच्या आधीच ३ पॉईंट सर.. आता काय पठ्या कॅरम खेळणार …

कॅरम सेट करावा आणि सामोच्याला फोडायला सांगावे , तो बिचारा आधीच अर्धा खचलेला , हात कपात कपात स्ट्रायकर ने फोडतो … ऑफकोर्स एक हे सोंगटी जात नाही.. नो प्रॉब्लेम .. गुड ब्रेक म्हून आपण खेळाया सुरू करावे ….

प्रथम चान्सस मध्ये झास्ट सोंगट्या घेऊ नये , नाहीतर समोरचा पळून जाईल …

आपल्या सोंगट्या जात नाहीत भागून, समोरच्याची हिंमत वाढते … तो जरा स्थिर हात ने एम घेतो

मग आपला हुकूम एक्का टाकणे … थंब नोट allowed

समोरच्याला हजार वोटल्स चा झटका लागतो

कैरोम नवं शिकाचा favorite शॉट म्हणजे थंब .. तो बिचारा सगळ्या सोंगट्या आपल्या कडे नेऊन थंब शॉट ने मरणाचा प्लॅन करत असतो.. तोच शॉट बॅन केला के, तो बेचारा कारचा हेडलीघाटस समोर घाबरल्या सस्य सारखा होतो - ४. चौथा पॉईंट सर

मग त्याला दोन तीन गेम्स मध्ये हरवणे .. अजून खेळणार का विचारणे , तो बिचारा शर्मशरमी बोलतो , नको बायको वाट बघत आहे….आता निघतो …

सेंड ऑफ कर्णाचा पूर्वी त्याला चहा पाणी जरूर देणे अँड नेटिक्स game लवकर खेळू म्हणावे ….

तो मित्र तुमचा घरी फुढीची चार वर्षय आला नाही तर आपला कॅरमकर होणंच जाज्वल्य अभिमान बाळगणे ..

[thewildwitchkeziah]

Divining in Darkness: Winter Divination Customs

by Keziah

Winter. The word evokes a sense of chill, of cold, crisp air, and of dark, long, quiet nights. Darkness is often seen as a symbol of confusion or unfamiliarity, of uncertainty, of not knowing the way forward, but darkness can, indeed, be a powerful ally in the art of divination. Darkness can be the backdrop for some of the oldest and most varied forms of divination still known to us, and it can also be a tool itself, a key player in our divinatory practices. Two such realms of divination that rely on darkness in their own ways will be explored in this piece, two schools of divination that are perfect to welcome into our winter practices and traditions.

FIRE DIVINATION

As a backdrop, darkness serves its purpose in divination in many ways. For those who look to use fire as a divinatory tool, it is in the depths of darkness that fire is most useful to us, to ward off the chill of winter, as well as to brighten the space we inhabit.

Divination by fire is called pyromancy – from the Greek πῦρ / pyr (meaning ‘fire’) and μαντεία / manteia (meaning ‘to divine by’ or ‘divination by means of’). Fire is held as sacred in many cultures, partly due to the importance of fire as a means of survival throughout history. Fire is seen as a powerful element, a conduit of pure and strengthening energy, and, in many cultures, a symbol of life or a symbol of a god or gods. It finds a vital role in many religious and magical rituals – from the use of candles to the use of bonfires and pyres. Just as there are many ways to use fire in ritual, there are just as many ways to use fire in divination.

Pyromancy is a great method of divination to include in your winter practice, and there are some amazingly simple ways to do so!

Basic Pyromancy

Pyromancy in its most basic form is the act of divination by the observance of flame. One way to do this is also called fire scrying – when one stares into flame to see what symbols or images appear to them there. This can be either a physical event, in that the shape, symbol, letter, etc. appeared in the dancing flames; but it can also be a symbol or image that is mentally received, that forms in the subconscious or psychic mind whilst one is focused on their scrying.

Fire scrying can be done with just candleflame or with a larger fire, such as in a fireplace or campfire.

Another easy way to divine by fire is by using the sounds of fire instead of scrying for images. With a fireplace or campfire, one can divine by the sounds of the pops that the burning wood makes. Some practitioners will speak questions to the flames either aloud or in their minds, taking the pops sounding off after the question as their answer. One can assign meaning to these sounds – for example, one pop means yes, a series of pops or crackling means no, and silence means that the answer is inconclusive.

Using Candles

Observing the behavior of a candle flame is a wonderful way to use fire in divination. Some methods can be as simple as speaking or thinking questions to the flame and then watching the flame for a response. One interprets as they will – perhaps a still, sturdy flame indicates a negative response while a wildly flickering flame indicates a positive, or vice versa. The ways these responses are interpreted is purely personal and up to each individual reader, and different behaviors the flame may exhibit have different associations across varying cultures.

Another method of using candles in divination is ceromancy (alternative spelled carromancy) – divining by use of candle wax. There are many ways to perform ceromancy. One of the simplest forms is to light a candle and let the wax drip down, observing the wax as it melts.

Does it accumulate more in one area than another? Does the accumulation form a distinct shape or symbol? Does the wax instead melt smoothly, burning into a puddle at the base of the candle? Does the wax drip steadily?

Study the wax and interpret it as you will, as interpretations vary from culture to culture, creed to creed. For example, in some practices, piles or mounds of accumulated wax are said to signify a strong, sturdy footing one stands on, while in others these mounds may instead symbolize a roadblock or obstacle in one’s way.

A well-known method of ceromancy calls for heating wax until it melts and then pouring the melted wax into cold water. The cold water will solidify the melted wax once more, and the ribbons of wax will form shapes or symbols in the water. These shapes, along with the movements of the wax in the water, can be used to divine.

A variation of this method calls for holding a lit candle sideways over a bowl of cold water, so that the melting wax drips directly into the cold water. Observe the behavior of the wax as it falls into the water, as it solidifies, and it drifts or sinks into the bowl below. What can you see in the wax and its movements? What do the shapes it forms mean to you? What does the behavior of the wax say to you?

Using Smoke

Another form of divination connected to fire or to burning is capnomancy – divination by smoke. Capnomancy can be performed with any smoke but is commonly done with the smoke of a campfire or pyre, the smoke of a candle (either an extinguished candle or by the smoke around a particularly active flame), or the smoke from incense (which is called libanomancy).

One reads the ribbons of smoke. Perhaps symbols or images or letters appear in their curls, or maybe the behavior of the smoke speaks to you.

Some methods interpret the posture of the smoke – curling smoke being read as a bad omen and straight, upright smoke being read as a good omen.

Other methods interpret the thickness and volume of the smoke – a strong, thick pillar of smoke and a lot of smokiness is said to be a good omen, with a weak plume and little smoke being a bad omen.

With libanomancy (the burning of incense for divinatory purposes), certain incenses are preferred over others. To name just a few –

Frankincense has long been used for divinatory purposes through the ages and across many cultures and religions.

Cinnamon is a powerful multi-tool when it comes to witchcraft, and its connection to divinatory skill is but one benefit this powerful herbal ally provides. It is believed that cinnamon can strengthen one’s psychic skill, promoting psychic and subconscious awareness and awakening the psychic within. It can also be used in protection magic, money and prosperity spells, love spells, cleansing work, and healing spells, and is known for its association with good fortune and fertility, thereby being a handy tool to utilize in any divining surrounding questions of love, financial matters, and health.

Hibiscus can be used in incense for divination, especially for divination pertaining to dreams or spirit communication.

Likewise, jasmine incense is good for divining via communication with spirits and ancestors, as well as divination for further clarity in the realm of our dreams.

Camphor incense is not only associated with strengthening one’s gifts for prophecy, but also for cleansing a space and one’s energy, which is ideal for divination.

SCRYING

As a tool itself, darkness is essential in many forms of divination, though perhaps in none more so than scrying, which often relies on darkness as a focal point to steady ourselves, to open our minds, and to clear our minds of any unnecessary clutter that stands in the way of deeply productive divinatory practice.

Scrying is an ancient and beloved divinatory method which involves gazing into a surface or area (often a reflective surface or into darkness in a room, sometimes at the sky or even at the backs of one’s eyelids) and opening oneself to receive visions or images implanted upon the subconscious or psychic self. This is often done via entering a trance or meditative state, though some scryers find they need not fully induce a trance state to receive images or messages. Scrying, like fire divination, is a great method to include in our winter practice because of how available darkness is to us during this time of year.

Using Dark Windows

Many scryers like to use dark, reflective surfaces to scry in. This can be a black bowl filled with water, a pane of glass against a black background or with black paint upon the backside of the glass, or any other dark, reflective surface. Using windows at night, particularly if you live in an area where there is not much light interference from streetlamps or neighbors or the headlights of passing cars, can be a very accessible method of scrying, though this method can also be easily disrupted by situational circumstance outside of one’s control.

That being said, should the darkness of your window remain undisturbed, it absolutely can be a tool for scrying. With the nights of winter longer and darker than the rest of the year, winter is the perfect time to give this method of scrying a go.

Using Ice

For those of us who live in areas where winter means ice, ice scrying is an accessible and fun seasonal method of divination. Though, you don’t have to use ice that has occurred naturally, and we’ll go into an easy at-home method of ice scrying in just a moment.

Now, how to ice scry. As said before, scryers often like to use reflective surfaces. Sometimes, ice isn’t reflective. In fact, usually ice is reflective when either there is only a thin layer of ice atop a body of water that hasn’t yet frozen underneath, or when ice is beginning to melt, leaving a thin layer of water atop ice. So, either of these circumstances provides a great, natural scrying surface. However, for those who don’t necessarily need an extremely reflective surface, ice can still be an especially useful scrying tool.

Water is a powerful, natural ally in divination and witchcraft. Often associated with spirit work, spirit realms, spirit communication, with change and growth, with slow, stalwart strength, and with adaptability, water can be used a great deal in divination, an art with which its spirit and energy often aligns. Ice being water in a frozen state gives us an opportunity to utilize water’s energies in new ways.

Water scrying is quite common. Ice scrying less so. But that doesn’t mean that it is necessarily any less effective. In fact, some scryers may find it easier for them to enter the state of mind they need for scrying using ice – something still and solid – instead of water.

For an easy at-home ice scrying session, try filling a bowl with water and freezing it just enough so that at least the very top layer is ice. Then, you can use your bowl of icy water in a dark room with one or two candles lit nearby. The dim light of the candles helps provide a shine atop the partly frozen bowl of icy water. Sit before the bowl, staring into its dark, icy surface, and do whatever feels right to you to enter the state of mind you need for scrying, whatever best enables you to receive visions, messages, and images.

Both divining by fire and divining by scrying are a great way to broaden and deepen our connection with the winter season, as well as being a way to help link our practices to the seasons and the natural cycles of time. For those of you who choose to take up any of these methods of pyromancy or scrying, I wish you the very best in your endeavors. Happy winter!