#Spotify divination is always sketch at best

[coffee-at-annies]

Asked Spotify what the vibes were for the pens and this played right as Sid scored so hopefully that’s good

[quesselfships]

FO February day one-Reverse Self Ship

FO: Hannibal Lecter

Rating: T for some tough themes

Warnings: TW for eating disorder talk, C-PTSD, suicidal thoughts

Links to the songs (1) (2)

Word count: 1056

 Summary: Dr. Hannibal Lecter (NOT a cannibal in this iteration) is recommended a book by Jack Crawford, expected to sweep the literature awards due to its frank discussion of mental illness. And Hannibal gets a little more than he bargained for.

Dinner was, as always, divine. Jack didn’t even realize he’d like Aspic, but anything Hannibal made with that magic touch of his was incredible. He sipped at the brandy the doctor had offered as they sat in what Jack could only describe as a sitting room (God, how Victorian and pretentious but it worked on Hannibal…) talking.

“How is your wife doing?” Hannibal asked. He knew she had recently started chemotherapy and had been approved for a study at Johns Hopkins. Hannibal insisted he had nothing to do with that, of course.

“Well, the study begins in two weeks, and she’s done all the intake. She actually has a book recommendation for you.” Jack took a sip of the brandy. “It’s called Black Cat on White Sheets by Dawson Schmitt. It’s going to win all the fiction awards, so they say. It’s about a young woman struggling with mental illness. Apparently, it’s well researched and the author really gets PTSD and the hardships that come with that.”

“Well, do tell Bella I will add it to my reading list.”

 Once Jack had left, and Hannibal had cleaned up and changed into his comfortable, casual clothes, he sat down with his tablet, launched his e-book app, and purchased Black Cat on White Sheets.

Driving 60 km was a lot tougher when the only thing going through your head was, if you just crashed this car then you wouldn’t have to see your father. Which was, of course, ridiculous. But the thought had been crossing her mind since Saturday. It was now Friday and while she had managed to not slice open her wrists, the scabs on her upper arms proved she hadn’t managed to not squeeze at the little skin bumps that had cropped up. Her breast was covered in them too, worse than her arm. She pushed that out of her head and flipped the song she was listening to about 30 times before settling on a heavy metal cover of a Disney song:

She’s been staring at the edge of the water 'Long as she can remember, never really knowing why She wished she could be the perfect daughter But she comes back to the water, no matter how hard she tries

The song did little to soothe the thoughts, the repetitive, obsessive, I didn’t ask to be born, why is he so obsessed with money, he chose to have a child. I would have asked to not be born…he understood the risk of having a sick child.

She laughed coldly; her father didn’t think she was sick. It had been years, three or four therapists, and medication, Lea couldn’t be suffering from PTSD anymore.

Of course, this was the same man who thought she just had “symptoms of PTSD” and not actually had PTSD. And to this day Lea still didn’t understand how that had worked. Her mom had symptoms of cancer, and thus was diagnosed. His new wife has symptoms of arthritis, and was also diagnosed. That’s kind of how a diagnosis works.

He hadn’t realized how long he had been reading until his tablet flashed the low battery warning and he glanced at the clock.

 Poor girl, he thought to himself. He wished he could treat her, counsel her through these awful things. He suspected she had an eating disorder as well, though the author hadn’t said it outright. It made him sad, for food was one of his biggest pleasures, and not many doctors knew how to treat atypical anorexia. In fact, Hannibal wasn’t too sure how he could treat that. She lived in a poorer area of town, mental illness having broken a second fridge in her apartment and she was terrified to get it fixed. She simply didn’t eat when she didn’t have money, which was often. Her new job was starting soon through.

Hannibal laughed at himself, talking about her like she was real. With a grin on his face, he slipped into bed. He didn’t dream of her, and woke up a little disappointed.

 Between clients he searched the internet about her. The book had a small, but prolific fanbase. There were playlists on Spotify, but only one that Hannibal thought was right for Lea. It had the songs from the book, as well as other ones he felt fit her.

As he was listening to a twisted, gothic cover of American Girl, he was sketching her. Her sad eyes behind thick plastic glasses, a gorgeous tichel draping down her back. The black and purple dress she loved.

 He was a grown man, mooning over a fictional girl. But he couldn’t help it.

 He thought of that final scene in the old movie Secretary, carrying her to his home, placing her into the bath and lovingly washing her hair (which alone was a more intimate act, for she didn’t uncover her hair for just anyone), dressing her in soft, plush nightgowns. He would feed her three meals a day, whatever she liked best, just to get her to eat. They could slowly expand her palette. He knew she was allergic to banana, and beef didn’t agree with her, but she was less picky than her abusive mother had thought.

She would want for nothing. He certainly had the income to support her and her two cats, she wouldn’t have to work unless she wanted to. And while he wasn’t a particularly violent man, Hannibal found himself dreaming about butchering her father, feeding her cats the meat, perfectly seasoned and fortified for a housecats diet.

He found himself thinking about showering her with gifts, with fancy dinners, to the shops she loved. Once was even local to him, in Baltimore. And the fact she wasn’t there, watching TV with her legs curled up under her when he got home from work hurt. It made his heart ache unlike he had felt before. He realized how lonely it was, to cook for himself, to not have someone there every day to share it. He loved his king-sized bed but now it felt empty.

He found himself googling theories on alternative universes, on fictional worlds being real, somewhere out there. A paper written by a PhD student at CalTech, with a proposal to study them.

He sent the student a simple email: “I want to contribute funding to your research.”

[rosegoldwitchcraft]

“I’m new to witchcraft, where should I start?”

Witchcraft is incredibly flexible, so there isn’t any defined area where you need to begin -- you can start anywhere you like! There are so many different areas of witchcraft, so simply find something that interests you and start learning about it (which is so much easier in the age of the internet!). My biggest recommendation would be to use various sources, and to remember that nothing is required in witchcraft -- you don’t need to read tarot, celebrate sabbats, own a huge crystal collection, etc...these are all just different ways of practicing the craft, and it’s up to you to decide what witchcraft means to you personally! 

I’ve listed a few popular “categories” of witchcraft below and some easy, affordable ways to begin experimenting and practicing within those areas! Of course this list is by no means complete, but I hope it gives you some ideas and inspiration! 💖

🔮 Divination

Tarot is one of the most famous forms of divination, and there’s lots of ways to start practicing! If you want to buy a physical deck, there are many affordable options, such as this Rider-Waite deck in a tin that I bought when I was first starting out. You could also try using a digital tarot deck or app; the Golden Thread Tarot app is a personal favorite of mine, and it’s free! If you’re feeling especially creative, you could even experiment with making your own tarot deck. And when you’re ready to start learning the meanings of the different cards, here’s a post I wrote with some general tips and advice, and here’s a list of my favorite websites to learn how to read tarot cards.

Many forms of divination are very easy to “DIY.” You could create your own set of runes using pebbles, pieces of wood, heavy paper, etc. I actually made myself a set of penny runes inspired by this post...it took me about 30 minutes and less than 30 cents! A pendulum could simply be a pendant necklace you already own, or even a string with a rock attached. A pendulum board is optional, but doesn’t need to be fancy either -- it can easily be quickly sketched out on a piece of computer paper if you wish! And while scrying is often associated with crystal balls, a more affordable option is to practice with a dark room, a mirror, and a candle!

Finally, there are many simple forms of divination that require no special tools at all! Bibliomancy only requires a book, and is simply the practice of divining from a randomly chosen passage. Traditionally this was often done with a bible, but any book will work! And while tech witchcraft isn’t for everyone, shufflemancy can be a fun version of divination that only requires some form of music player, such as Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, etc. As you may have guessed, in shufflemancy you put your music player on shuffle, and divine based off the lyrics, title, etc. of the song that plays!

💫 Astrology

Astrology is a fascinating subject, but don’t be discouraged by how vast and complex it is! Like tarot, there is no need to learn everything at once. Start with what interests you, learn at your own pace, and I recommend taking notes on what you learn -- it’s a lot to keep track of! Thankfully, there are tons of resources out there for learning about astrology.There are many daily horoscope apps and websites out there, so try some out and see what you like. There’s also a beautiful app called SkyView that uses your phone’s camera to help you identify constellations.

When you want to get into the slightly more complex details of astrology, cafeastrology.com is one of my favorite sites. They offer features like free birth charts and basic interpretations, so I think it’s definitely worth a visit! Astrology.com and tarot.com/astrology also offer some great resources for learning the basics about sun signs, planets, houses, and elements.  

🌿 Nature and Gardening

Gardening is a classic method of practicing witchcraft. I’m sure everybody is familiar with the popular image of a witch brewing a potion in a cauldron, adding fantastical ingredients such as bat’s wings and newt’s eyes. Supposedly these are actually code names for common plants (in this case bat’s wings = holly and newt’s eyes = mustard seeds), so that those who found the recipes would give up after being unable to collect these ingredients! Here’s a lengthy list of all these code names, as well as some correspondences for most common plants. I also highly recommend checking out this tumblr post by sylvaetria that’s full of information about growing and drying herbs, correspondences, and safety!

If gardening isn’t your thing, simply being in nature can be just as magical! Taking a moment to appreciate the small details of a bird’s song, the intricacy of the leaves on a tree, or the vibrant colors of a flower is a wonderful way to recognize the beauty and magic that surrounds us on a daily basis...too often we just forget it’s there. 

🥘 Kitchen Witchcraft

Cooking has so much potential for witchcraft -- it often involves working with the elements of fire and water, and you’ll find that nearly every ingredient has a magical correspondence (and if there’s not a commonly accepted one, you may find it on your own)! All it takes is intent to make this daily activity into a ritual. Here’s a fairly comprehensive list of correspondences for reference.

Kitchen witchcraft doesn’t have to involve elaborate dishes! Make your daily cup of coffee meaningful based on the flavorings you add, and if you’re a tea drinker check out this post of the magical/health benefits of different types of tea. Or (if you’re of legal drinking age) check out this list of wine correspondences!

📜 Spells

For those looking for spells, here’s a few of my recommendations! Orriculum has a lovely collection, including some that are great for beginners and some fun pop culture spells! Sylvaetria has an enormous, wondefully organized masterlist of spells for every purpose. Finally, on witchy-woman you’ll find lots of spells and spell jars! And don’t forget about sigils -- they are a great way of channeling intent, and are especially great for beginners or secret witches. My two favorite resources are sigilathenaeum and strangesigils.

Don’t worry if you don’t have every ingredient a spell calls for -- after all, the most powerful element of any spell is intent. Feel free to substitute when needed! For example, a white candle can stand in for any color, a clear quartz for any crystal, rosemary for any herb, etc. You could also use tarot cards, sigils, or other symbols with the right correspondences to charge the spell with the energy of the missing ingredient!

🍂 Sabbats

There are eight sabbats throughout the year; Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, Mabon and Samhain. Many beginner witches are hesitant to celebrate the sabbats because they think you need to be apart of a coven to do so...but this is definitely not the case! You can celebrate the sabbats on your own, and do as much or as little as you like. Here’s a post with some ideas for decorating your altar and celebrating the sabbats for solitary witches. A youtuber named Harmony Nice has also made some helpful videos about each sabbat with some history and celebration ideas, so you might want to watch those for some inspiration too!

🕯️ Candles and Crystals

First of all, there are no “required” supplies for witches...you can work with whatever you have! But if you are interested in working with some supplies, here are my personal suggestions.

Candles are a great option, because you can almost always find them at the dollar store or elsewhere for pretty cheap! Certain colors and scents have different correspondences, but a plain white candle can be substituted for any other one. There’s endless magic you can do with candles; scrying, meditation, spellwork, carving sigils into the wax, etc.

Crystals can be expensive, and depending on where you live can be hard to find. I’ve found some crystals for decent prices at local metaphysical shops and craft fairs, but if you don’t have those options you could try purchasing some online (though I highly recommend finding a source with legitimate reviews so you are sure you are getting a genuine, quality product). I think it’s best to purchase a crystal you feel drawn to, but some of my “starter” crystal suggestions would be clear quartz (which can stand in for any other crystal), amethyst, and rose quartz!

Even though this post ended up being super long (sorry!), I’ve barely scratched the surface of what you can explore in witchcraft! Once again, my main bit of advice would be to look into what interests you, gather information from multiple sources, and use what works for you. Because there’s so much information associated with witchcraft, I also recommend keeping track of what you’ve learned, and I plan on making a post soon about how to start your own book of shadows/grimoire for just this purpose!

You can find my other posts in this series of “Advice for New Witches” here. I truly hope you’ve found some of this helpful -- feel free to reach out if you have any questions, and best of luck on your journey! 💖