#i have friends who r like. into magic stuff but none of them read tarot

[partenopae]

i really wish i had friends who are into tarot too, i’m still a v green beginner and i would love to talk about it with someone who reads tarot too rip

[alegzandryan]

Prepping for a Ritual

So since I am doing these things as we speak I thought I would go through some ritual things that I find useful, for anyone that feels overwhelmed or unprepared for ritual work. I know tumblr and tiktok have pushed a lot of easy jar spells on us, but there really is something more to a ritual setting, even a simple one. And as it goes without saying, this is my personal idea of a guide and everyone is entitled to their own opinion and practice.

Get your supplies ready the day before the ritual. ESPECIALLY if you are going outside/somewhere outside your home. Collect all the things you will need and put them together. This will give you a day to remember all the things you forgot before it's time, instead of in the middle of your ritual

Choose what you are going to wear the day before, too. Some people take aesthetic very seriously but others dont. Either way, give some thought to what you are wearing. Is that crystal necklace good for what you are doing? Are those pants comfortable enough to sit for 30 minutes in? Comfortability is just as important as presentation for ritual, so dont wear that corset that hurts you after 15 minutes. You will need to focus on more important things.

Foot wear is also super underrated. Are you hiking 10 minutes into the forest to find a ritual spot? Wear boots. Are you in your house and want to go barefoot? Make absolutely sure you are not going to step on a ritual tool and make yourself bleed, or curse to some gods about the existence of legos in the middle of your ritual

Make some stuff for a cleansing/power bath. I usually assemble ingredients and things day before, then go to bed, and do a quick ritual bath before the actual ritual. Steep a hair rinse or charm a fancy body wash before hand so you dont have to focus on that spell, too.

Do a tarot reading/your preferred divination, before bed the day before you do a ritual. It can be quick or extensive, it doesnt matter. But it can be good to get some guidance before you are gearing up for a spell or ritual, and have some time to think about it before you are minutes away from it.

Prepare food and water, once again especially if you are going outside. Rituals can take a lot out of you depending on what you are doing, and food and drink are very easy and quick ways to help ground yourself if you are shaky or need help coming back to a relaxed state. If you are struggling, boiling pasta or microwaving stuff is the last thing on your mind, or maybe even your ability. So have some fruit snacks or granola bars or cookies or something-- easy to take and easy to eat-- with you. Trust me, this is more important than a lot of people realize. It's a good after-ritual practice and one you should be ready for

Think about your intent and purpose. Set aside some time day-before to do this, maybe 30 min to 1 hr I would say. Maybe make an entry in your BOS if you are the journaling type. This serves 2 functions: one is to charge your intent before the spell. It will give you more oomph and precision in your spell casting, or more prepared behavior if you are speaking to gods. Think about what you want to ask them, what you want them to know, how much respect you should give them, or what they may ask of you. What are you willing to do for them, and what are you not?

The second function is that it gives you time to back out of something. Not all spells are meant to be cast, and especially not if you are in a high emotion before it. Give yourself a day to prepare, an hour to think over, why am I doing this? SHOULD I be doing this even? There is nothing wrong with changing your mind. Doing things impulsively in magic isn't typically beneficial to the caster most of the time. Think through potential consequences, too. How could it back fire? How could it go right but in the wrong way? Is there a better way to get what you want? Can you add a caveat, or a time limit on the spell? Are you using parts of a closed practice and not really thought about it before now?

If you are doing spell work in the out-of-your-house-space-land, even if it is just like, in your appartment parking lot, the park down the street or even your own backyard, make sure someone somewhere knows about it. I know not everyone is out of the broom closet, but even if you just have to tell your friends you are stargazing or something, make sure SOMEONE knows and has a check in time for you. There are creeps and terrible people everywhere, and not to spook anybody, but doing magic can often attract animals or any assortment of beings who want to watch/investigate you. I have been given a heart attack by a baby antelope at dawn before. I have also been given a heart attack by a forest spirit asking wtf I was doing there. I know it doesnt exactly feel witchy to have your cellphone crammed in your waistband, but trust me, better safe than sorry. Be it humans or otherwise, doing magic in the dark in total secret is just not realistic to your safety. Take someone with you and have them wait in the car or around the corner if you can. Once again, make sure someone, somewhere, has a set time to call or come get you in, incase you get kidnapped or fae-napped. Your wellbeing is a much higher priority than any magic spell.

Also familiarize yourself with nearby wildlife. Even if you are in the city, check out what raccoon eyes look like in flashlight, or maybe if your suburb is prone to stray cats or dogs. Check out a rabies registry as well, so you know what kind of risk you are looking at around such animals. Rabid animals are actually more prone to being unafraid of human contact and will readily let a person touch them. Do NOT interact with wild animals. No, they are not a sign or a gift from your god. Most animals are curious about magic in general, but that doesnt make them not wild. Do not interact. If you are in a less populated space, you should also check out what kind of wild life is native to your area and how dangerous they are. Deer will startle themselves into you like getting hit by a BMW and bears and cougars can be active day or night, as well as Bobcats, snakes, or coyotes. Check out your local wildlife center for advice on how to handle what lives in your area

(Last outdoors advice, I promise) also check out what kind of myths and legends existed on the land you are on, ESPECIALLY if you live in north america. Knowing who's land you are on should be important to your practice anyway, and knowing what kind of creatures may be out there may save you some distress later. Indigenous cultures should be respected, and their tales can tell you what's around your area. And I dont care where the hell you live, if you hear whistling in the darkness/forests, it is one of several things coming to get you and none of them are good. Get gone and DONT whistle back. Or at all. No whistling guys. Bad.

For indoor rituals, make sure you wont be disturbed. Much like meditation, rituals are very dependent on focus and intent. Interruptions can mess with your outcome.

More indoor advice, checkout your lighting and ventilation well before you do your ritual. For instance, my altar is in a walk in closet-- there is no way in hell I am burning 4 candles and an incense in that room. I would have to do it in my living room or bedroom where there are windows, or find a way to eliminate the candles. Is the room dark enough to fit your ritual? Is it light enough that you can read your notes? (also make notes/write up a copy of the spell, it helps so much) Make sure you have enough light to see what you are doing properly.

I am a big advocate of "do not over cleanse your life, stop over cleansing" however, if that is something you do a lot of, make sure all your tools and whatnot are cleansed and prepared day before. You can shave a 2hr ritual down to 30 min if you get all of your prep work done day before, which is nice. And it once again gives you time to say "shit I forgot that one thing I need to cleanse" an hour later and still not interrupt your ritual because it is day before.

If you are an of-legal-age type person and doing some drug/alcohol part of your magic, make double sure you have food, water, and a buddy system. You may not need a designated driver if you aren't going out of your house, but you still need a designated sober person to make sure you dont like, astral travel out of your body and get replaced with a pod person, or get hurt trying to cast a circle with a ritual knife while high. Know your limits well before you use them in ritual and, I cannot emphasize this enough, have a friend to keep you under scrutiny incase something goes wrong and you need help.

If you are having the OTHER kind of must-be-of-age type of ritual, be sure your partner is well informed. Maybe have a dress rehearsal so you are both on the same page about mechanics and consent. Speed run through the general timing and motions, and talk about what each of you expect to get out of the ritual. Is it for bonding? Or are you using the energy to try to charge something? Is it for fertility? Are you both good to have ritualized sex (I know that seems like an obvious question, but you would be surprised by how many partners clam up about sexual things to try to not disappoint their partner). If you are a witch and your partner is not, be sure they know what to expect, and that they 100% want to do it even though it's not necessarily their practice and not just to be a people pleaser. If you havent done anything like this before either, tell them that, too. Honestly is 100% required here

And lastly, keep your cool. It's easy to get over excited or over anxious about this kind of thing, but honestly with a little prep time you have a high change of doing awesome. And even if you dont? That's okay too. Everyone makes mistakes, we all learn from those mistakes, and every single experience you acquire will level you up until you are the best at being you. Do what feels right, trust your gut, do some reading, and keep calm and witchy on.

[betsyandmaxwellandduchessohmy]

concepts: dadsona is one of the dads that joseph did away with in the cult ending. imagine the absolute FREAKOUT when he opens the door to find dadsona beaming at him with a plate of brownies, laughing. (Good thing we had good medical insurance, right?) But dadsona's hands are so cold. They talk at length, but never seem to stop for breath. no blinking, either. (1/2)

(2/2) and every goddamn night, joseph can see them, standing out in the street and watching his bedroom window. just watching, ever-polite. he visits their grave the next day, and it's still there. dead, but not gone. very very angry at you, joseph. So Very, Very Angry. (SORRY IF YOU DONT LIKE HORROR JUST THOUGHT IT WAS NEATO)

((ARE YOU KIDDING THIS IS NEATO BURRITO! I don’t know how good my response will be since, for all my interest in horror, I actually don’t write horror a lot. I kinda rushed through the end of this so I could post something this week, so sorry if that's a little obvious

I’m kinda on the fence about the cult ending as a whole, because the developers already messed with Joseph’s character enough by not allowing him a truly happy ending, and it just feels like the icing on the cake of that whole shitshow. But, part of me also kinda likes it? I can’t explain why. I think any story with a More Than Meets The Eye element, I kinda like a little. And I like horror! I understand that this wasn’t the most appropriate place for it, but I like it! So! CULT ENDING WARNING FOR PEOPLE WHO DON”T LIKE/DON”T WANT TO SEE CULT ENDING STUFF

This one really got away from me, and it came out way more Amanda-centric than I think Nonny intended, but I love the idea of Amanda practicing any kind of witchcraft. I just wish dadsona had been alive to have a talk with her about practicing dark magic responsibly.))

~~~

Amanda didn’t question it much, when the book showed up on the doorstep while she was cleaning up the house. She almost tossed it out - It was an ancient thing, the edges of the pages in tatters, the title on the leather spine almost completely lost to age. But out of curiosity, after glancing around briefly and finding no one in sight to have left it, she brought it inside.

She sat in the half-packed living room, intending to look through the fragile pages for some note to give her an explanation, and then set it aside and leave it be. She wasn’t in the mood for pranks and if this was Emma R.’s idea of a funny joke now, she was going to kill her.

A page near the back of the book was marked with a lump of dried root, and Amanda felt her throat close up a little when she read the title at the top of the page.

Returning The Wrongfully Taken

She inhaled sharply, resisting the urge to toss the book as though it had burned her, the way her instincts told her to.

Instead, she tentatively picked up the root, setting it aside as she read through the ingredients. And the ritual. And the incantation. The root, she figured, was probably the mentioned aconite. It was the only ingredient she didn’t at least have a vague idea about. It was all very complicated, but at the same time, she couldn’t bring herself to care. She’d played witches with Emma when she was little, and had started taking an interest in wicca a few years ago without really pursuing it, but this seemed like the kind of book the Wicked Witch might’ve had on her shelf. And that actually made her hopeful, in a tentative, scary kind of way, that it was real.

She didn’t know what the book meant by Wrongfully Taken. A quick glance through the table of contents said there were other necromancy spells for people who died before their time - even one specifically for people lost to the sea. But whoever had left this on her doorstep had marked “Wrongfully Taken”, and given her one of the ingredients that wasn’t found in any of the other dead-raising spells. Were they mistaken, or was she missing something?

In any case, she decided she had to try. What did she have to lose, anyway? A few bucks on ingredients and one night of her summer.

She would give up a lot more, if there was even a scrap of a chance that she could see her dad again.

~

Almost every family in the Cul-De-Sac had offered to let her come stay with them until she went off to college. Robert offered condolences, and Joseph told her to come by the church any time when he brought a plate of cookies by a few days after the funeral, but she understood neither of them were really in a position to take her in, even just briefly. She didn’t want to impose on anyone, but she just… couldn’t live in that house by herself, even if she could afford it. And none of her old friends seemed interested in offering.

In the end, she’d accepted Lucien and mister Bloodmarch’s offer. Damien knew a lot about plants, which was useful, and she felt a little less awkward about the whole thing since she was living with someone closer to her age who didn’t currently hate her.

And missus Christiansen came to visit quite often, which surprised her a little. She hadn’t known Mary and Damien were friends. Good friends, too, considering the way she just let herself in. It was always a little unsettling when Amanda came downstairs after all day in her (Temporary, Still-Packed) room and found her in the sitting room.

Much like today.

Lucien had called her from the door on his way in, saying she'd gotten a package (more of her ingredients, she was sure,) and she came down to find Mary sitting in the red room, drinking tea like she lived there.

“Hey there, Amanda,” she greeted casually, taking a sip out of Damien’s delicate teacups. Amanda had used them a few times, but she tried not to because she was terrified of breaking them.

“Hey, missus Christiansen,” she replied, giving her a friendly smile before turning toward the kitchen. “Lucien? Where’d you put that-” the package dropped into her hands. “Thank you.”

Lucien gave her a nod and a smile, passing her on his way up the stairs and left her awkwardly standing on the landing.

“What’d you get, kiddo?”

Amanda felt a lump in her throat as she turned from the stairs to Mary. Damien and Lucien mostly left her to herself. Offered themselves up if it seemed like she needed an ear, but letting her grieve alone when she needed. So they hadn’t really asked about her packages, or why she asked the questions she did. Maybe that was why, after a beat, she decided to share.

“Oh, you know. Dittany, copal incense, myrrh oil,” she hummed casually, giving a shrug as she pulled the tape off the box. It looked like this one also contained the death’s head hawkmoth she’d gotten from an online specialty store that worked with a butterfly sanctuary. She figured she could give it to Damien once she was done with it. Mary gave a hum of interest and Amanda paused, catching a whiff from her cup.

“What’re you drinking?"

“Elderflower tea. With a little chervil and mugwort. Little something a friend of mine cooked up, thought I’d bring some over for Dames. You wanna try?” she asked, lifting the pot. Pausing a moment, Amanda gave a small nod, taking a seat across from her and setting her package aside as Mary poured her a cup and held it out. There were still flecks of ingredients floating in her cup - she knew people did that, but it struck her as odd for some reason.

“Never took you for a tea drinker, missus Christiansen,” Amanda hummed thoughtfully taking the cup as carefully as humanly possible.

“I’m not really. But I’ve been told it’s in bad form to have wine before noon,” she returned, leaning back and taking a sip through her smile. “And call me Mary, kiddo. I’m not the stickler for formality that Damien is.”

Amanda managed a chuckle at that, taking a sip and feeling… strangely comfortable, for the first time in a while. She hummed in satisfaction, leaning back a bit herself.

“This is really good,” she hummed without really realizing she’d spoken. Mary smiled, and suddenly looked very tired.

“I’ll pass along the compliment,” she stated, setting her cup aside. “My friend’s a real hippie type. Apparently this stuff is supposed to heighten your connection to the spiritual plane,” she added, her tone a little intentionally dramatic. Amanda nearly spit out her tea, but she managed to maintain composure and swallow like a normal person.

“Oh. Really?” she asked carefully,

“Oh, yeah, she’s really into all that stuff. Tarot and lunar cycles and all. Not really my thing, but hey, tea’s good,” she hummed. Amanda paused a moment, taking another long sip from her cup, almost forgetting how delicate the porcelain in her hands was. This all seemed… a bit too convenient. Mary had a friend who was into what sounded an awful lot like witchcraft. Mary brought over tea that was supposed to help someone connect to the spirit world. Mary lived right next to her old house and would certainly not look out of place leaving something on her grieving neighbor’s doorstep. Amanda swallowed hard.

“Mis- Mary, I-”

“I’m home!” Damien called from the door, moving through the house with a dramatic flourish that made his cloak whirl.

“Welcome back, Sweetpea,” Mary called. Amanda swallowed her words, forcing a smile when she felt Damien place a hand on her shoulder, clearly glad to see her out of her room. Mary stood to hug him and Amanda finished her tea, standing carefully to go rinse out her cup.

On her way toward the kitchen, she glanced back, and managed to catch the meaningful look Mary shot her. She gave her a nod, and the older woman seemed to relax just a touch further into Damien’s arms. Swallowing hard, Amanda turned and retreated. She had work to do.

~

Amanda felt drained, but satisfied. She’d followed the instructions to the letter. She’d performed the ritual exactly as the book had said, and now she knelt before her father’s grave, quietly counting the weeds that had started growing on the turned earth. The book said the spirit might take a few minutes to manifest, so she wasn’t going to get nervous about whether or not it had worked yet.

She hadn’t gotten another chance to talk to Mary, which was regrettable, but otherwise didn’t bother her much. She couldn’t tell if it was just bad luck or if Mary was actively avoiding her, but she chose to believe it was the former. Still, she could’ve used some help with all this. Even if Mary actually didn’t know, she would’ve liked to meet this mysterious ‘friend’.

She shook off the thought and crossed her legs, picking up a thermos full of the tea Mary had given her - Well, given Damien. Semantics. It wasn’t bad, just weird. The moon was full and bright, casting white light on her as she turned to lean on the headstone and took a swig of the earthy, almost bitter mix.

“You gonna share?”

Amanda gasped, nearly dropping the thermos as she looked up at the voice.

“Dad!”

She threw herself at you, and you grunted when she pushed you to the ground, landing firmly on top of you, arms around your shoulders. Groaning, you hugged back, smiling as you looked down and ruffled her hair.

“Alright. Let me up, sweet pea. Dead or not, being crushed isn’t great for the old man bones,” you hummed, coughing for emphasis. Amanda laughed through her tears, kissing your cheek and sitting up.

“God, I’m sorry, I just..” She leaned in as you sat up, wrapping her arms around you and burying her face in your chest. Your clothes felt wet and salty, but she chalked it up to her tears and didn’t question it. “I’ve missed you.”

Your smile softened and you tucked your daughter close, resting your chin on her hair.

“I missed you too, Panda,” you murmured, kissing her hair. Clearing her throat, she sat back again, wiping her eyes with the sleeves of her jacket.

“Okay, first things first. I need to know. The spell I used, it implies that you were taken, not that you just died. What- did something happen? Before the boat sank? After? I just. I need to understand.”

You paused a moment, expression going cold as you remembered. Flashes of ropes. Of warm water getting quickly colder as you sank. A dark cave rank with the stink of rotten earth.

“Joseph,” you murmured, though it came out more like a growl.

“Mister Christiansen got out alright. The coast guard picked him up and-”

“Of course he got out. He’s the one that sank the boat,” you murmur, something dark coming over your look. Amanda froze up a little at it, zombies and vengeful spirits catching in her head for a moment. She shook them out and reached up, placing a hand on your face.

“Dad?”

You sigh, placing your hand over hers. The darkness faded and she let out a tiny sigh of relief.

“It’s… A long story, Manda Panda. I don’t think I understand most of it myself, but…"

“Dad. Tell me.”

So you did.

~

Joseph blinked in surprise at the knock on the door, setting aside his book and pushing to his feet. He wasn’t expecting anyone. Maybe someone from the church? It was fundraiser season, too, he recalled, the mere thought of cheap-tasting chocolate bars making his expression sour briefly.

Clearing his throat, he straightened his clothes and put on a charming grin before reaching for the door knob.

“Hey there! How can I.. help…”

“Hey there, Joe! Been a hot minute, huh? It’s good to see you!” you greeted jovially, quietly relishing the way the color drained from his face.

“Oh. Um. Yeah! It. It sure has,” he nodded, eyes flickering from your smiling face to the plate of brownies you held, to the clothes you wore - just slightly damp, the same ones you were wearing-

“These are for you, by the way. Make sure you get one before the kids get to ‘em, kay? Made ‘em with hot fudge,” you grinned. Even with the cheerful curl of your mouth, Joseph could see something in your eyes. Something not quite right. They were the same shape, same color, but… brighter. Too bright. Just on the near side of glowing. You were still talking, something about his kids and the recipe you used and health insurance. You went on and on, and never took pause long enough to breathe, nevermind get a word in. So he feigned listening until you finally stopped. It took him awhile to realize that you were waiting for an answer to a question.

“Oh, I, uh,”

“Joseph? You alright, man?”

Joseph looked past you, spotting Mat out on the sidewalk, giving him a smile that betrayed concern.

“Oh, I’m alright, Mat. Just enjoying the morning air,” he assured, cheerful as ever. You raised an arm to wave, but Mat was already moving on, not even acknowledging your presence. Turning back to Joseph, you kept smiling, still unblinking, placing the plate of brownies in his hands before he had time to realize he was taking them.

“He’s a real sweetheart, that Mat,” you hummed thoughtfully, cocking your head slightly at Joseph in a way that made a shiver shoot down his back. “But most of the people around here are good folks. If anyone did anything to hurt any of them- why, I might just have to kill them over it!”

You laughed, even as Joseph suddenly felt very cold. Words like that should not make someone like him shrivel and retreat, but under normal circumstances, you were mortal, which you clearly weren’t anymore because he’d felt the life drain from you and how was it you were even standing here?

“Heh, sorry if I spooked you with that one. Amanda’s been getting me on the “Fatalistic Humor” game her generation’s got going on. Figure it’ll give me an edge with her friends,” you added with a shrug. “Anyway, I gotta get going, but I’ll see you around, yeah?”

You started away from the house, still smiling over your shoulder, waving at him. He paused a moment before the feeling came back into his legs and he stepped inside, closing the door with a sour expression and dumping the plate into the trash.

“Like home you will.”

~

The thing was, he didn’t stop seeing you.

You were in the window at the Coffee Spoon. Crossing the street downtown. Ducking into shops to escape the rain or the heat. And no matter where he saw you, you always met his gaze. Always with that same cheerful grin and those dead, cold eyes. He’d thought himself impervious to intimidation up until this point, when he started panicking in front of his neighbors. They didn’t suspect anything though - save Robert, perhaps - just thought he was a man wracked with guilt over the death of another neighbor. He actually said your name once, when he saw you over the fence during a barbecue, and Brian had reassured him that it was just his eyes playing tricks on him.

No one else had seen you.

He could go into a shop you had just left, describe you to everyone in there, and none of them would have seen you.

Not that he did that. That would make him look like a crazy person.

But it was unsettling. You shouldn’t be here. Even with the level of ability humans had, necromancy alone shouldn’t have been able to bring your soul back from where he’d stuck it. But here you were. Everywhere. He couldn’t go more than a few hours without seeing you, unless he stayed inside all day with the curtains drawn.

Even when he did just that, the nights were worse.

His dreams were plagued with you. They could start innocent, even sweet, before devolving into a horror show, his own tactics and methods turned against him in a way that made him sick. And when he woke, he automatically looked to the window - the only dim source of light from the streetlamps outside. And there you stood, still smiling with cold, dead eyes.

He had guided evil this far. This should not be enough to turn the tables on him. But here he was, more and more scared of a dead man.

How the mighty fall.