#Comparing it to the Holy Spirit made the 'energy' stuff make more sense to me. I have experienced that positively through the Shekhinah

[bijoumikhawal]

The pilgrims considered themselves as part of a world made of energy, a living force that permeated everything. Inside this world, everything and everyone had a specific energy field, also identified as an aura. In this context, the physical body was seen as the visible part of a much bigger energetic body that surrounded the person. Things happening to and around a person were often interpreted as the outer manifestation of some information that was already present in the form of energy within her energetic body.

If Antònia, for instance, was verbally attacked by a stranger on the road, this could be interpreted as the result of the presence of aggressive energy in Antònia’s energy field. The aggressive energy stored in the stranger’s energy field had resonated with that of Antònia, and had caused the former to act on this aggression. If Antònia wanted to avoid further trouble she would need to release this aggressive energy. As pilgrims like Antònia pointed out to me, once you made the decision to join the pilgrimage it was important to prepare for it, to get attuned to it. If you failed to do so or if there was something inside of you resisting the pilgrimage experience it would come out...

As we will see energy discourse was a central element of the pilgrims’ spirituality. The constant reference to energy allowed them to describe the world in a language they perceived as radically different from the Catholic one. Whereas Catholic dogmas (e.g., the power of the Holy Spirit) had to be accepted through an act of faith, according to the pilgrims the existence of energy could be experienced directly through the body and without the need for intermediaries such as priests.

59-61, Looking for Mary Magdalene by Anna Fedele

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #123: Gawain

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re making Buster Gorilla himself, Gawain! Big man, big sword, big fires. Let’s go.

Check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Next up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOZuxwVk7TU

Race and Background

Take a wild guess. Go on, I dare you.

Gawain’s a Variant Human, giving him +1 Strength and Charisma as well as proficiency with Investigation. His interlude was entirely about tracking down the people who stole his stuff, he’s got a knack for it. He also gets the Magic Initiate feat, giving you two cantrips and first level spell from the Sorcerer spell list and bumping your Charisma up by one. You get to cast Absorb Elements once per long rest for free, but we’re really here for Green-Flame Blade. Your Galatine is an AoE effect, so we can’t replicate it with normal smites like Lancelot. You also get the Light cantrip. Make your sword shiny, go nuts.

Like every other Knight of the Round you’re a Knight of the Order, giving you Persuasion and Religion proficiency because you have to know what the grail is if you want to hunt for it.

Ability Scores

Your nickname’s “Buster Gorilla”, your Strength is going to be pretty high. Aside from that you’re a pretty easy guy to like, so that’s Charisma covered. After that is Constitution, you’re pretty tough. When the sun’s out, at least. Your Wisdom certainly isn’t bad, it’s good enough to get you a sweet job as a guard in Camelot. Your Dexterity is a bit low, you’re kind of a giant brick that gets thrown around than a dancer. Finally, drop Intelligence. You’re called an airhead in your own biography, which is harsh, but fair.

Class Levels

1. Paladin 1: Continuing Gawain’s hotstreak of 0 surprises, this class! You get a Divine Sense to detect extraplanar creatures nearby. You can also Lay on Hands for a bit of healing

You get proficiency in Wisdom and Charisma saves and two paladin skills. Athletics adds to your meathead aesthetic and Insight makes tracking down those material thieves a bit easier.

2. Paladin 2: You’ve got a great sword, so grab Great Weapon Fighting for a better average of damage by letting you re-roll 1s and 2s on your damage with two-handed weapons. It’s not huge for a regular sword, but you can burn spell slots for Divine Smite, adding a bunch of radiant damage dice to your attack. Speaking of which, you can cast and prepare Spells using your Charisma now.

Normally this is where we’d talk about what spells suit you best, but you’re pretty much the generic holy knight, so there isn’t really a stand out option until level three. Searing Smite‘s good if you want another way to use Galatine though.

3. Paladin 3: Swearing to be by Arthur’s side makes you an Oath of the Crown paladin, granting you immunity to disease thanks to your Divine Health, and two flavors of Channel Divinity, a feature you can use once per short rest. Champion Challenge spends a bonus action to force creatures near you who fail a wisdom save (dc 8 plus your proficiency plus your charisma modifer) to stay within 30′ of you. You could also Turn the Tide as a bonus action, healing bloodied creatures nearby. As a third option, you can Harness Divine Power, turning your channel divinity use into a spell slot.

As a final crown goody, you can keep Command and Compelled Duel on your prepared spell list for free to really swing the power of the law around.

4. Paladin 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up that Strength. Gotta get those buster cards busted.

5. Paladin 5: Fifth level paladins get an Extra Attack each action, and you also get second level spells like your freebies Warding Bond and Zone of Truth. Warding bond will be especially fun in a level or two. Give someone else resistance to damage, give yourself resistance to damage, tank for days, fun for the whole family.

6. Barbarian 1: First level barbarians can Rage, giving you extra attack damage, advantage on strength saves and checks, and physical damage resistance. The downside is you can’t cast or concentrate on spells while raging, and more importantly, you can’t wear heavy armor to use this. Also, rages only last for like a minute, not the three hours your Numeral of the Saint normally lasts. If it helps any, you also get Unarmored Defense, giving you a base AC of 10 plus your dexterity modifier plus your constitution modifier. It’s not a good AC, but it’s better than being naked normally would be.

7. Barbarian 2: Second level barbarians get a Reckless Attacks, giving you advantage on all your attacks for a turn in exchange for enemies having advantage when they hit you. Ideally you’ll have fried them all to a crisp before they get the chance, but it’s a risk you’ll have to keep in mind. You also get a Danger Sense, giving you advantage on dexterity saves for things you can see coming. That should help make up for the base stats a bit.

8. Barbarian 3: Now that you’re a Storm Herald, you can make a Storm Aura when you rage. Storm heralds get a bunch of options, but we’re here for the Desert aura, dealing a touch of fire damage to everything nearby for an area of effect flame burst. It’s only 2 damage per burst, but it’s a bonus action. Just smite and use this at the same time, it’ll be fine.

9. Barbarian 4: Odd numbers make me cry, so use this ASI to become more Resilient. This bumps your Constitution up by one, and you gain proficiency in constitution saves. This also increases your HP by 9, because constitution modifiers affect health retroactively.

10. Paladin 6: Going back to the paladin side of things for a bit, you get an Aura of Protection that adds your charisma modifier to all saves made by friendly creatures in its range.

11. Paladin 7: Seventh level Crown paladins can use their Divine Allegiance to take the damage any creature within five feet of you would take as a reaction. Just a note, this damage can’t be reduced. I’m not entirely sure how that plays out with rage, but it’s probably not good for you.

12. Paladin 8: To help out with the whole “surviving being the party tank” thing, use this ASI to bump up your Constitution for more HP.

13. Paladin 9: Our final paladin level nets you some third level spells for even bigger smites and fancier spells. You can cast Spirit Guardians for a holy trap, or Aura of Vitality to heal creatures as a bonus action. But of course, that’s not the real reason we went this far. We’re here to grab Daylight, for the flavor. Even better, daylight doesn’t use concentration, so using daylight to help you rage at night is mechanically supported!

14. Barbarian 5: The extra attack you get this level isn’t that useful, but you also get Fast Movement, giving you an extra 10 feet of speed. Yaaay.

Oh wait, your storm aura also gets a bit stronger! Three damage instead of two!

15. Barbarian 6: Sixth level storm heralds awaken their Storm Soul, giving you resistance to fire damage, immunity to extreme heat (very useful in the desert), and you can set items on fire as an action. Technically swords aren’t flammable, but I’d allow it for the intimidation factor.

16. Barbarian 7: Your Feral Instinct gives you advantage on initiative rolls, and you can ignore being surprised by raging. Maybe now you won’t always be going last.

17. Barbarian 8: We’ve held off long enough. Use your last ASI to maximize your Strength for extra swording power.

18. Barbarian 9: Ninth level barbarians get Brutal Criticals, giving you an additional die of damage when you hit with a 20. Every little bit helps!

19. Barbarian 10: Your savage flames mix with your protective nature, making you a Shielding Storm, giving creatures in your storm aura resistance to fire damage, which is nice since they’re going to be taking a lot of it.

20. Barbarian 11: Your capstone level allows you to go into a Relentless Rage. While raging, going to 0 hp won’t knock you out right away. If you make a DC 10 constitution save, you drop to 1 hp instead. Each time you roll that save between short rests, the DC goes up by 5. Looks like that scarf you got from the Green Knight is finally coming in handy!

(I know the green sash doesn’t actually protect you from damage, but I wasn’t going to be able to fit “only gets super powers between 9am and 12pm into the build, and you’re only famous for so many things. At least you’re not as bad off as Artemis.)

Pros:

Your fiery soul makes you great at taking on flame-based enemies. Most of your damage comes from radiant energy, but you have plenty of defense against fire attacks, making you a good counter for red dragons and elementals.

With almost 200 hp, rage defenses, healing, and the ability to die up to five times and not stay down, you can be pretty tough to keep down for long. That also makes your entire party a little bit tougher, thanks to your ability to eat their damage for them.

You can pump out pretty consistent damage thanks to your great sword, smites, and fighting style. You’re not as flashy as Lancelot, but you have a pretty good shot at outlasting him.

Cons:

While mixing Barbarian levels in does make you tougher, it also has plenty of drawbacks. Stripping away your heavy armor is a big one, as it makes you dependent on your dexterity for your armor class. There’s also the problem that you’d want to stick close to squishier party members to protect them, at the same time exposing them to you constantly exploding.

Like a lot of the knights of the round, you have issues when it comes to ranged attacks. Anything that wanders too close won’t be an issue, but you might have problems if you end up fighting Tristan. That’s ridiculous though. Knights of the Round? Fighting each other? Never gonna happen.

Compared to other knights, your AC is relatively low. Considering you’re already taking other people’s hits for them, being easy to hit yourself isn’t great. Also, your paladin abilities can probably eat through your rage, which seriously weakens your tanking abilities.

[davids-cartoon-corkboard]

Do you think that if Shredder!Raph will occur in rottmnt, the aftermath might result in Raph inheriting some of Shredder’s rage even after saved? Maybe that is how the crew is going to implement Raph’s trademark temper throughout previous generations and maybe even make him have to step down due to it, making Leo the new leader?

Short answer: “Inheriting the rage of a centuries-old demon" is a dope-ass idea, so if you’re a writer I would definitely encourage you to use that in your own stuff. But I think that if Raph’s temper worsens throughout the show, it should be because of his own character development and not a magical effect. However, a Shredder!Raph scenario could contribute to said worsening temper by inflicting emotional/psychological damage instead. :)

Long answer ahoy!

Looking at “Many Unhappy Returns” from the Shredder’s perspective makes it very clear why he does what he does. Like, he’s been dead for five hundred years, and then something went wrong with his resurrection. He’s waking up with no idea where he is or what’s going on and oh shit those guys are pointing weapons at him, that’s a threat!

Note that he doesn’t even bolt for them immediately, he does a warning stomp and screech (back off!) before starting to approach.

Those other guys are yelling, that’s also a threat,

and they’re closer so he’s gonna attack them first, actually. (None of the Foot wind up even comically injured, suggesting that flailing them around was an intimidation tactic rather than genuine Murderous Intent.)

And then the first group attacks, so of course he’s going to retaliate.

And then suddenly he’s somewhere else, with other threats (the animatronics), and then the first group that attacked him is back, so he’s gonna fight them again.

And these jerks just keep following him? He’s not going to ignore that. And WOW that’s a lot of bright lights and loud noises, which are also threats, what the fuck is going on?!

And then this tiny human girl chucks a giant metal box at him, holy SHIT?! Sure, the Shredder is a dangerous antagonist, but at this point I wouldn’t call him a “bad guy”, he’s literally just responding to what’s happening to him.

In summary, the Shredder was stressed tf out because he didn’t know where he was or what was happening, he retaliated against perceived threats, and quite possibly wouldn’t have attacked the turtles in the first place if they hadn’t just rushed in without understanding the situation.

Gosh, doesn’t that sound familiar?

So yeah, I’m waiting for Rise to give us that good good Shredder!Raph content.

As for the possibility of Leo taking over afterwards... no, but also yes, sort of? On the one hand, we know that Leo does have leadership capabilities, and it would be a waste for the narrative to not explore that. On the other hand, Rise has broken from the status quo in many ways, and it would also be a waste for the show to do a complete 180 and return to Leo Being The Leader™.

Consider how the “leader” role has influenced Leo in past iterations: his perfectionism wears on him and his brothers, any failure tanks his self-esteem, he feels isolated from the rest due to taking on such a large share of responsibility, being an authority figure grinds everyone’s gears, etc. It’s just bad for his mental health.

No doubt all this responsibility will also wear on Rise!Raph as the story progresses and the stakes get higher. It will be bad for him as well. But if Raph steps down, Leo will once again suffer from the weight of this role. So if neither option is quite correct, if neither brother can shoulder the burden of leadership alone, then the solution is just... for neither of them to shoulder the burden of leadership alone. Sure, Raph will probably remain leader in title and in spirit, but Leo taking on a sort of “deputy” role makes sense from a strategic standpoint, and would be good for his character development.

Here’s how I think it could go down:

The Shredder!Raph scenario will be different from the Shredder!Draxum scenario. The Shredder was starved for mystic energy the first time around, so he immediately chewed Draxum up and spit him out. But Raph could be compared more to a battery than a meal; it will take a while for the Shredder to drain him. And at this point the Shredder could be back in “evil samurai” mode, and thus will understand the value of holding Raph hostage.

Y’all who have followed my blog for a bit know about my “Raph is a system” theory; that when he was little, he got separated from his family and pursued by some cryptid hunter. This trauma formed Savage Raph, who is able to handle “being lost/alone/threatened” when Host Raph cannot. “Pizza Puffs” didn’t give us a lot of info about who I’m calling “Red Raph”, but he made his presence known when Host Raph was sort of... "emotionally alone”? In that his brothers were dying a little bit and too stoned to care.

So if Raph is trapped inside a living cage, scared and helpless and hurt and exhausted, his family unable to help him... he’s not going to be able to handle it.

Or, rather, Host Raph isn’t going to be able to handle it.

These two can, though.

I’m imagining a scene in the mindscape where the Shredder says something like “Your pathetic family cannot bear to strike you down, and so there is nothing that can stand in m- wait, why are there three of you OW FUCK-” Red and Savage will mentally kick his ass long enough for the other turtles to rip off a chunk of the armor so Leo can portal it into another dimension or something. Shredder gets K.O.’d since he’s not whole anymore, and the battle is won.

Since the armor didn’t drain Raph as severely as it did Draxum, he won’t become as weak as Draxum did. However, it will still take him some time to recover. Raph trusts Leo in serious moments as of “Many Unhappy Returns”, and he already took charge when Raph wasn’t available back in “Man vs. Sewer”. So Raph will be like, “Hey Leo, can you handle the Mad Dogs for a bit? Just long enough for me to get back on my feet.” And Leo will be like, “Sure bro, I’ve got this.”

He does not, in fact, “got this”. Leo’s ego has caused trouble before (”Shell in a Cell”, “Minotaur Maze”), and being in charge will no doubt go to his head. This has the potential for both comedy and seriousness, leading to wacky mishaps and genuine danger. Being the leader is hard work and it’s not always fun, but someone has to do it and Leo will have to put the others before himself for it to get done. Once Leo realizes this, he could bond with Raph by asking for his advice on leadership. Sometimes Leo will follow the advice and sometimes he won’t, sometimes that will work out and sometimes it won’t, laying the foundation for the idea that there are situations where it will be better for one or the other to lead, rather than having one lead all the time. But that will only happen for a few episodes, because Raph will heal quickly and he’ll be the leader again and everything will be fine!

Everything will not, in fact, be fine. Raph is the strongest in the family, the tank, the one who can take a hit so the smaller ones don’t have to... the idea of being hurt, of being weak, scares him because his family is also in danger if he’s unwell. So I don’t think he’ll acknowledge to anyone, not even himself, that getting possessed hurt him emotionally as well as physically. And when a wound isn’t acknowledged, it doesn’t get tended to, and when a wound isn’t tended to, it gets worse.

That he’s a system will add another layer of complexity to this. The Shredder!Raph incident would make all the alters aware of each other via mindscape shenanigans, but it would also leave them with the fear of not being in control, so I think they’ll come in conflict with each other for a bit. They’ll argue with themselves, switch, and lose time more often, enough that it impedes their ability to function and the other characters start to notice something is wrong.

Host Raph will convince himself that Everything Is Fine and try to get things “back to normal”, which probably means he’s just straight-up not going to acknowledge that he's a system. He’ll rationalize that he’s always “gotten weird” from time to time, so it’s nothing to think too hard about... right?

Savage Raph will be on high alert because they just survived a near-death (a near soul-destroying) experience. He’ll probably take the front and go overboard fighting some villains that Host Raph could have ordinarily fought on his own. It might also take a while to convince Savage Raph that these “sewer monsters” who keep following him around really don’t mean him any harm.

Red Raph will get snappy (pardon the pun) about the more social aspect of “not being in control”; that Host Raph asked Leo to be in charge and then Leo started being an egotistical dumbass. And when Leo does make the right decisions, Donnie and Mikey might side with him over Raph, and that will also grind his gears.

Mix all that together and you have a recipe for a capital b Breakdown.

So yeah, I can definitely see how the Shredder!Raph incident and its aftermath would worsen all three of their tempers, trauma will fuck up your emotions real bad. Perhaps Host Raph loses faith in himself and tries to step down and get Leo to replace him as leader... only for Leo to be like “Bro I cannot do this full time I will one hundred percent have my own Breakdown if that happens.”

The life lessons here are that Leo learns to offer support by sometimes taking the leader role; not to benefit his own ego, but because he wants to help Raph. And Raph learns to accept support by letting Leo be in charge sometimes; not because he’s weak or incapable, but because he can’t always be a Staunch Immovable Rock and he needs to let himself rest by trusting Leo.

And then the Raphs can work on communicating, cooperating, letting their allies know about them, digging into their trauma, etc. now that they have some breathing room.

(Do you think the Hidden City has therapists? Steven Universe and Mao Mao both have therapists can we BLEASE get one for Raph.)

[captain-azoren]

Legend of Korra books 3 & 4

Finished rewatching books 3 and 4 of Korra. Here on my thoughts on them and the series as a whole after seeing it again after so many years.

I think books 3 and 4 are pretty solid. Aside from a few flaws, I think 3 is the overall best with the best pacing. I think a big issue with book 2 was that it was trying and failing to juggle a very big cast and multiple subplots that made it feel like a mess. That’s not an issue with 3 or 4, where every character has a relevant purpose and plot threads come together more naturally. 

4 does this a little bit worse as I think the plot kind of starts and stops a couple of times, but it’s not terrible. Kuvira’s build up as a villain is very shaky when compared to Amon and Zaheer, but still better than Unalaq’s arc going down the drain. It really does seem like the worst parts of her villainy are told and not shown (those being the reeducation camps and slave labor). I think they could have shown at least one of these camps instead of just seeing the escapees that Varrick and Bolin meet.

I still think the Red Lotus are the best antagonists in LoK just for having the best arc overall. They had Amon’s intrigue, stayed consistent in their motivations like Kuvira, and they have the most dimensions overall just from the little bits of interaction we see of them. What’s more, they didn’t disappoint me in the end.

The Colossus I didn’t mind or find out of place. It just doesn’t bother me when the show has had Koizilla and giant drills in AtLA. I can understand how the mechanics of it work as well. I didn’t feel like my suspension of disbelief was broken considering everything else. I think fans who dislike it are more bothered by it breaking the setting further away from fantasy and into sci-fi.One question though, why does a spirit energy canon need a rifled barrel?

Mako is a much better character in 3 and 4 because he’s finally allowed to be someone other than a love interest. His interactions with Bolin can be really fun and it’s kind of a shame how often they’re separated. I also noticed on a rewatch that he does make a good detective, having good perception and coming up with ideas. It’s better than the pro-bender he started out as and probably his best strength. 

I think I actually like Mako now whereas before he was the most forgettable, and I think he deserves some looking into. A lot of the hate comes from him being put into really tough spots where he just can’t win. Mako goes from being extremely aloof to being a loyal but beleaguered straight man to the group.

Raiko I feel similarly to Mako. I think he’s another guy who keeps getting put into tough spots with no easy solution. He doesn’t really deserve hate either, and honestly probably made the best decisions he could as a president (I know from experience how bad they can be...) Him being hated and voted out in the comics seem like Bryke was over correcting, something they seem to do a lot.

Suyin I have mixed feelings on. She really does seem like someone Bryke really wanted fans to like and agree with, but they shilled her a bit too much and at the expense of Lin. Su’s apology to Lin at the end of their dispute felt kind of half-hearted, and despite being justified, the whole thing is framed as Lin being the one in the wrong, stuck in the past, unable to move on after Su had changed. We don’t see Su change though, and Su keeps acting like what she did wasn’t that big a deal, so it falls flat.

What’s more, Su continues being a big presence into book 4, and I think I have to agree with Kuvira that Su should have at least done something to help the EK out. It really does make Su come off as kind of a cowardly hypocrite who’s so afraid of looking like a dictator that she doesn’t even try to help. She doesn’t want to be treated like royalty or an authoritarian, but if you look at Zaofu the place is already set up like a small kingdom, with the Beifongs being the divine bloodline descended from Toph, the strongest bender to ever live. Su is a queen in all but name, and if she was so afraid of looking like a dictator she could have just given up the power like Kuvira was supposed to have done. Su just rubs me the wrong way from start to finish, and it’s partly because the show doesn’t challenge her or make her change. It just expects us to see her as being right, and she just isn’t.

Bolin being a lava bender I remember being really excited for, because it was something I predicted when I first saw it years ago. I don’t have a problem with how he discovered it. It’s not the best way I’d like see someone discover a new power, but I think it’s better than when Korra finally got airbending (though that didn’t bother me too much either). It just kind of made sense to me and finally gave something else to stand out besides comic relief.

The air kids got better in 3 and 4 too. Meelo got less annoying, Jinora was more fleshed out, and I actually really like Ikki in book 4.

Now Korra and Asami. I think Korra is maybe at her most static in book 3, but her arc in book 4 is the most interesting as she had to build herself back up. I don’t agree with some of the things that are just told to the viewer, like how she needed to learn from her enemies. At the finale Korra says she had to suffer to learn compassion, but it’s not like Korra wasn’t a compassionate person already. Korra’s arc seemed more centered on dealing with trauma and finding her purpose in a world that seemed hellbent on telling her she wasn’t needed. I don’t know if that was some kind of meta commentary, but it does work.

I do like Korra’s overall development from where she was in book 1. If I had to put it into words, I think her story is about trying to fulfill a role that she’s been groomed for her whole life, trying to live up to expectations, pushed into doing what others want her to do, failing those things, then finding the strength and resolve to achieve success on her own terms, even if it’s not what everyone wants. Korra gradually learns to stop being a tool for world leaders to use to keep order or power. It’s not always done well, but it’s there.

It’s nice to see her and Asami be friends after the love triangle stuff. It’s kind of surprising, but they didn’t really interact all that much in the first two books all things considered. Asami doesn’t change a whole lot throughout the series, but her reconnecting with her dad at the end felt satisfying.

I’ll be honest, I never really saw Korrasami happening and didn’t view much of their interactions as being romantic in nature. I think only the letter writing and their reunion seems a little shippy, but not very obvious. That said, I can buy the two of them finally realizing they might be attracted to each other at the finale, as a beginning to their relationship. The real problem is that shippers and even Bryke overhyped this moment up as it being ENDGAME rather than treating it as what is was, a spark of attraction. Korra and Asami aren’t in love yet, they’re just going on their first official date.

I do like them being together though. It seems a lot healthier than other potential relationships, and let’s be real here; Asami NEEDED something to make her happy because holy shit has she be through a lot by the end of the series. Dumped by Mako twice, almost lost her company and lost her dad after she forgave him. Give the poor rich girl a break.

So, final thoughts on the series as a whole; it’s not as good as AtLA, but that’s mostly on the execution. LoK was messy and had issues, but it did eventually smooth things out after a lot of course correcting. There are things I don’t like, but not enough for me to write it off, and it has plenty of strengths that make it deserving of a watch if you keep an open mind. 

I remember ThunderCats 2011 getting a lot of flak too, and that’s one of my favorite shows ever despite its glaring flaws, so I really can’t work up the energy to trash LoK. I know plenty of people can connect to it even if I don’t, at least not fully, and I honestly do believe that overall LoK’s strengths outweigh its flaws, even if it can be inconsistent and unpolished.

LoK may take place in the same world as AtLA, but it is a very fundamentally different series, and beyond a few very core basics of storytelling I think it’s a little unfair to compare the two. It’s not the masterpiece it could have been, but at the end I still enjoyed it. I might have more thoughts later, but these are what I have for now.

[gardensprit]

Basics of Witchcraft

in case it isn’t clear, this is a shallow, broad overview of a beginner’s guide to witchcraft! if you’re just starting out, this is the place to be. this is a pretty long post, so i’m putting it under a read more!

here is a link to sun’s witch academy database, where you can find more in depth posts on many of the topics discussed here! (a work in progress)

a letter to witches; take everything i say with a grain of salt. i am not the Ultimate Expert on all things witchcraft!! things that are important to me might not be to you, and we’ll probably see things differently. that’s okay! your path is your own. do your own research as well, and always check what you find against other sources as well as your own knowledge. be smart and use common sense. ultimately, YOU decide what you believe! (keeping in mind that some things in witchcraft are common knowledge/should not be disputed. this mostly is pointed at cultural appropriation. that doesn’t mean that they aren’t disputed, but they shouldn’t be.) have fun, and love yourself! ~ sun

a note: if you don’t understand something i’m talking about in this post, chances are it will be explained more in depth in another post from the database, or even farther down on this post! just be patient <333

who can be a witch?

you. you can be a witch.

in fact, simply by saying “i want to be a witch,” that’s it. you are a witch.

the moment you say, “i don’t wanna be a witch any more,” you’re good! you don’t have to be a witch if you don’t want to.

it doesn’t matter if you don’t practice that often. it doesn’t matter if you have to keep it secret from your family, because they disapprove or would think you’re “crazy.” it doesn’t matter if you’re a boy, or if you’re gay or transgender. it doesn’t matter if you’re black, asian, latinx, indigenous, or anything else. it doesn’t matter if you’re christian, buddhist, atheist, jewish, or anything else! you are you, and you are a witch. so continue! onward and upward!

what is magic?

magic, in my opinion, is like energy. i won’t get too deep into my personal view of the world on this post, but that’s what i believe. and witches use different methods to tap into that energy and manipulate it. magic can help you focus better or recover from an illness faster. it can help you get better sleep or learn more about yourself through astrology. it can’t, however, make you fly, turn invisible, or defy any basic laws of science. in my mind, magic works alongside science. they’re most definitely different things, but science can’t break the laws of magic any more than magic can break the laws of science.

what are the laws of magic?

no clue.

so let’s go!

starting out

there are a few things you should do when just beginning to look into witchcraft. firstly, research! learn about different topics and what interests you most. if you aren’t sure, just try a few things and see if you like them. don’t stress too much, if you decide you don’t like a certain path you can always change it! secondly, learn how to protect yourself. witchcraft can be dangerous. it shouldn’t be something to worry about unless you’re purposefully sticking your nose into dangerous places, but you should still know how to keep yourself protected just in case. learn how to ward and shield yourself, your space, and anything else you want to keep safe. finally, experiment! ultimately you need to jump into the deep end, try a spell or two! the purpose of researching and learning protection before this is so that you’re diving in with some floaty devices and someone watching to make sure you don’t drown. but if all you ever do is research, you’ll never get anywhere. now i can help you get started out with research and protection! experimenting will be up to you ;)

track your progress

a common question asked by new and even intermediate witches is: how do i know when i’m no longer a beginner?

honestly, it’s up to you. if you feel that you’ve truly left the beginner stage and become an intermediate, or even an expert, only you can really decide that. however, there are some helpful indicators that might point you towards the right experience level. remember, everyone learns at a different pace!

this post was made by my amazingly talented spirit worker friend fox. it’s written for spirit work, but it shouldn’t be too hard to apply it to witchcraft! (keep in mind the warning at the top - this is a loose guide and you could have a different perception of things!

vocabulary

(basic definitions! check the database post to find more in depth explanations as they are completed.)

intent - what you want your magical energy and power to do/accomplish.

warding - a method of protection; can be physical, energetic, or astral

cleansing - a method of ridding yourself, an object, or a space of negative, harmful, and bad energy (useful when you’re feeling sick, gross, or bogged down)

grounding - a method of connecting yourself to the energy and the world around you; a method of rooting yourself in the physical present. (useful after meditation and when you feel disconnected/distracted)

centering - focusing all of your core energy into the very center of yourself, and releasing any excess or negative energy (useful for calming or focusing)

meditation - allowing yourself to simply exist and take in the world around you. your focus should not be on anything happening in your life other than what you feel, hear, sense in that very moment. can be used to achieve deeper trances.

programming - channeling your intent into an object: i.e., programming which direction a pendulum should swing to indicate a specific response

charging - filling an item (or yourself!) with magical power/energy

shielding - a method of protection specific to you and your body

correspondences - things that you associate other things with; for example, salt being associated with protection. correspondences can often be slightly different or even completely unique when compared to another person’s correspondences for an item, and there are often more than one for any given item. just because correspondences are different doesn’t mean they’re wrong - it just means that you use the energy in different ways/for different things

simple magic

there are some things that are easier to start with. depending on your interests, i would suggest practicing some of the vocabulary (the ones that are actions, anyhow) and looking for little ways to integrate magic into your life. what you do kind of depends on what you want to accomplish! but some of the easiest magical stuffs to start with include:

making sigils

using crystals/gemstones

knot spells

basic pendulum divination

shufflemancy

paying attention to nature and energy around you (like lunar cycles)

astrology 101 (more advanced astrology is super complex)

lighting candles and incense

short and easy incantations

start/work on a grimoire!

moving forward

once you’ve begun exploring a little more, you’ll probably want to learn about just how many different kinds of witchcraft there are. holy moly, there are a lot. even the list i include here isn’t all of them: this is a bare bones sketch of some of the most common and well known. i believe i’ll be making a separate post going over more of them :)

general ways to use magic: spells/charms, curses, amulets, sachets, sigils, etc

types of magics/crafts: arts/crafts, astrology, cosmic, divination, dream, elemental/sea, green/garden, hearth/kitchen/cottage, lunar, music, pop culture, solar, storm/weather, tech/science, urban*

types of witches: solitary, coven, eclectic, hereditary/traditional, wiccan**

* i didn’t include hedge witchcraft on this list as i believe it to be similar to spirit work, which is an entire other topic of itself. however, i intend to research hedge craft more in order to learn whether there are key differences that would call for me to move it back onto the list.

** wicca is technically a religion, and would go in the religion section, but such a large population of witches are wiccan that i believed it would fit here.

wicca and witchcraft

there is a common misconception in the witchcraft community that wicca=witchcraft and that to be a witch is to be wiccan. this is not true! i don’t think even most witches are wiccan. wicca is a religion, a set of beliefs, that can work alongside witchcraft. you can be wiccan if you want, or not - just understand that not all witches follow the same beliefs that wiccans do. some people have a hard time understanding that.

fun stuffs!

there are a lot of different things you can use in witchcraft! witchcraft doesn’t require physical tools, but some people prefer them. likewise, your tools don’t have to be super fancy and cost 500 dollars. you can use cheaper alternatives or even replacements! ingredients for spells especially are really easy to work around: you can use this thing called a taglock, which is like some other object that is meant to represent the object you wanted in the spell. a taglock can even be a piece of paper with the name of an object written on it! but i’m getting a little off topic.

BOS/ Grimoire (a book/collection of knowledge you like! lots of people even have a digital grimoire, like a blog on tumblr.)

Altar (a place to dedicate things to deities or spirits, or a place to do spells)

Herbs (Mortar and Pestle) (used in spells and have certain correspondences)

Crystals (used for their energy and in spells! have certain correspondences)

Wand (used as a focus for energy - totally not necessary!)

Athame (it’s like a knife. if you get one, please be careful and DON’T use it to harm yourself.)

Poppets (typically used to represent a person in a spell that you want to affect them. similar idea to a voodoo doll ((but don’t use a voodoo doll, voodoo is a closed practice!)) and is often used in curses.)

Candles/Incense (have correspondences with their scents and colors)

Broom/Paintbrush (paintbrush can be used as a mini broom! used to represent keeping your space clean. use it to cleanse!)

Cauldron (used for potions and elixirs. be careful, don’t drink anything you make that isn’t safe. clean your cauldron extensively.)

Bells (traditionally used to keep away unwanted spirits!)

Essential Oil (correspondences for their scents!)

getting deeper: cultural appropriation

so now that you’ve looked at some different types of simple magic and have an idea of where you might want to go from there, let’s talk about cultural appropriation. don’t try to work with spirits or practices from a closed culture. please. just… don’t. learn terminology that is okay for you to use, and learn what isn’t - like native american smudging, for example. i believe chakras and third eye are also terms you should avoid; use things like energy points and mind’s eye instead. if someone from a closed culture tells you to stop using their stuff, listen to them. please. admit your mistake and move on. there are so many paths in the world, you don’t need to follow this closed one no matter how strongly you feel called to it. just don’t do it. respect the culture.

speaking as a white person, it is not your place, or my place, to decide whether or not cultures are closed.

speaking as a white person who has spoken to people who practice closed cultures, it is unspeakably disrespectful to ignore the wishes of those within closed cultures.

not only is it disrespectful, it is dangerous. some spirits and beings from closed cultures will kill any outsiders who attempt to interact with them. i know this because i have spoken to people with experience. i’m begging you, listen to me. consider this thoroughly before you act. please understand. you were not born into this culture. if they say it isn’t yours, it isn’t.

there are so many options for you. YOU DO NOT NEED TO PRACTICE FROM A CLOSED CULTURE. IT IS NOT NECESSARY. IT IS DISRESPECTFUL AND IGNORANT. find another option. please.

of course, i understand if you appropriate by honest mistake - not knowing that a culture was closed. however, once you learn your mistake please respect the culture and move on. you made a mistake. it’s okay! it’s not the end of the world! in fact, the rest of the world is out there, waiting for you to explore it.

speaking of, let’s get exploring.

love,

sun.