#it was the witch's items in those spots

[cottoncandyfrizz]

so long to you, beloved traitor

[diz-eaze]

cw: yandere, obsessive scara, modern au, cyberstalking, first we silly but then we also serious.

modern au yandere! scara who would rig the youtube algorithm so that your homepage will always contain videos of him. he cyberstalks your watch activity to determine what type of videos you like the most so that he can mold himself based off of it. reaction channels, video essays, youtube streamers, shorts content, hours-long videos - it doesn't matter. as long as your eyes are on him, he can't bring himself to care about the means. it's a bit silly in retrospect but terrifying in execution. he absolutely can't stand the thought of you finding anyone other than himself interesting, it makes him want to throw up the breakfast he had earlier that day. but you ignore his videos without a second glance because, who even is this guy, isn't he from one of your lectures?

modern au yandere! scara will always inevitably throw his phone across the room whenever he comes across a compatibility slideshow post on tiktok. he's fighting his deepest darkest demons to not view the next slide because he doesn't need validation from random attention-hungry strangers from the internet. or at least, that's what he tells himself when he's already on slide 3 out of 11. the results end up telling him he's not compatible with you and it unironically ruins his day, so he goes to the comments to send actual death threats. his account is banned and now he's even more pissed because he has to go through the trouble of creating a new one so that he can continue stalking your reposts and delude himself into thinking it's him on your mind when said reposts are anything inherently romantic. in reality, you barely even know his name.

modern au yandere! scara who has a facebook dump account where he screams into the void about how badly he wants you. it's a private account with no friends, just a place for him to let out his deepest feelings. he also has a normal facebook account where he's mutuals with his blockmates in college, biological mom, adoptive mom, etc. but he can never gather the courage to add you on facebook. you've talked to him through dms before (he screenshotted the conversation, printed it out, hung it on the walls of his room) but never added him, so now he longingly stares at the "add friend" button on your profile all while feeling deep envy for the mutual friends listed. he'll be mutual friends with you one day, he promises to himself.

modern au yandere! scara who creates a linkedin account just so he can view your profile. as nepo baby, he has no need for LinkedIn but heavens be damned if he doesn't put in the minuscule effort of creating an account in exchange of learning even more about you. by extension, he learns the name of the company you're interning at, the name of your boss, your co-workers, your classmates from your college classes, and your dream company - all of which he meticulously files away for future uses.

modern au yandere! scara combs through thousands of online reviews on an online shopping app (amazon, aliexpress, etsy, shopee, ebay, etc.) just so he can find your personal review of the product, (he knows you left behind a review because he overheard you talking to your seatmate about it 30 minutes ago) and subsequently your account in which he can view your wishlists and past reviews. he then proceeds to buy every item on your wishlist which leads to a confused (and terrified) you when a large package arrives at your dorm a week later. of course, he knows where your dorm is located.

modern au yandere! scara who doesn't seek out the online services of tarot readers on tiktok lives or the love spells of etsy witches. rather, he goes out of his way to do his research and locate secluded spots around the city for those who provide irl readings and/or spells (it's more authentic this way! he reasons). he doesn't even avail the compatibility tarot reading nor does he bat an eyelash at the love potions stewed on the ground around him. no, what he's here for are curses. he's been begging any higher being for months now that your roommate will finally move out, but to no avail. which leads him to desperate measures of placing a bad luck curse on your leech of a roommate. he goes home that night with a skip in his step, just waiting for the curse to kick in.

modern au yandere! scara obsessively refreshes the private facebook group page (specifically made for finding roommates in your large university campus!) just waiting for you to post that you're in need of a new roommate. it's a nightly ritual for him at this point. he screams and jumps out of his gaming chair like he scored a national goal when you finally, finally post a roommate listing. he painstakingly waits a minute or two (it's actual torture, but he doesn't want to look too desperate!) before hitting you up in the comments and tries so hard to be nonchalant (he's literally gooning to the thought of breathing the same air as you soon) with a comment of, "hit me up."

modern au yandere! scara who wakes up at the ass crack of dawn, obsessively triple checks his luggage and moving boxes (making sure to carefully, gently pack his shrine of your items and anything related to you) before pacing around his room in repeated loops. he's on fire with nerves, he's so jittery but he's also soooo happy! this is literally what he's been dreaming of since he first laid eyes on you during freshman year (a slight lie, his actual dream is to marry you and keep you locked in a mansion - but baby steps!) and now it's becoming a reality! what's next!? will you two be mutuals on twitter?? oomfs? or... a croomf (crush oomf)?

modern au yandere! scara who is so grateful to live in the era of technology.

[professorsnape394]

Day 2: The Seeds of Love

Pairing: Severus Snape x OC

Rating: 🥰

Prompt: Garden

Summary: Severus looks forward to the day he stocks up on potions ingredients, and gets to see the new Herbology professor, of course.

A/N: Ngl struggled a little with this one so hopefully it turned out okay.

Warnings: mention of small cut.

Word Count: 1905

Credits to Gif Creator

May 1st 1993. The day Severus’ most anticipated had finally rolled around once more. The first of every month had always been the day the potions master replenished the stock in his ingredient’s cupboard, but in recent years it had quickly become his favourite day for a very different reason. While he never had a close relationship with Professor Sprout, Snape found himself taking a liking to the newest member of the Herbology department, Y/N.

Bubbly, energetic and endlessly optimistic, she was everything Severus was not, this however, had never deterred her from forming a friendship with the man. Severus found that people often shied away from talking to him, simply because they were intimated by him. He had almost convinced himself he preferred it that way. Until, of course, Y/N, took the time to get to know him, never once allowing her opinion of him to be influenced by the other staff members at Hogwarts.

She had integrity. Yet another addition to her list of attributes.

While Pamona had left Severus to help himself to her crops and plants, Y/N remained by his side while he went about his business, even going as far as to ask him in advance what ingredients he might need growing the following month to save him travelling into Hogsmeade.

“Severus.” She beamed. “Back so soon?”

“It doesn’t feel so quick to me.” He mumbled, embarrassed by how much he looked forward to this day. Of course, they saw each other at meal times and in the school halls but the first of the month remained a day for just the two of them.

“What can I get you this fine morning?”

Severus reached into his inner robe pocket, brandishing a hastily scrawled note intended for his eyes only. Before he even had a second to read the first word on the parchment it was whipped from his fingers and Y/N was already bounding down the length of the greenhouse.

Severus couldn’t help but admire the way her hips swung back and forth as she skipped away, it was something that piqued his interest more and more these days. He found himself always noting the movement of her lips as she spoke, the curve of her rear when she bent over a plant bed, the softness of her hands when they innocently brushed his.

“Alihotsy leaves. How many?”

“How much do you have?”

Y/N counted the red spotted leaves on the Hyena tree. “26.”

“I’ll take them all.”

“You’re lucky I like you so much, Severus. Pamona never would have allowed you to clear her out like this.”

“And that, my dear, is exactly why I come to you and not Pamona.”

Y/N blushed at his words, adding the leaves to her small wicker basket.

“And hear I thought we were friends, meanwhile you’ve just been using me for my gardening skills.” She pouted playfully, looking up through her eyelashes at the man nearly twice her height.

“What’s next?” He asked trying to distract himself from her doe-like eyes.

“Silverweed.”

“I’ll only need four of those, I still have some left over from last month.”

“Not a problem, what about Mandrake root are you needing any of that?”

Severus shook his head.

The pair made their way through several greenhouses gradually working his way down the list, Y/N adding each item to her little basket until it was bulging with plants of all different varieties.

“Well, if that’s everything…” The witch trailed off, handing Snape her basket.

“Thank you, Y/n. It’s been a joy as always.”

“So, see you next month?”

As it always did when their time came to an end, Severus’ heart raced and his mind buzzed trying to come up with a reason to extend his stay, only to come up empty once again.

“Next month.” He nodded.

The professor turned to leave with his new stock, feeling a little disheartened with himself.

“I’ve been experimenting!” Y/N suddenly blurted, catching her colleague by surprise.

“Sorry?” Snape raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

“I’ve been experimenting with some new plants; do you want to see them?” She elaborated.

A smile threated to break out across Severus’ features, but he managed to contain it to a small smirk.

“I’d love to.”

“Great!”

Practically vibrating with excitement, the herbology professor hopped towards Snape, grabbing him by the arm and leading him back into the depth of the greenhouses. “I’ve been trying out loads of new plants, but only a few of them have been working for me. Pamona said she’ll help me on my next round of knotgrass but I think it’ll take a while to perfect it. Oh, and did I mention the first years are potting their mandrakes tomorrow, how exciting is that! It’s always my favourite lesson to teach. Except when one student inevitably faints, but can I blame them I know I would have been the exact same when I was that age. Too curious for my own good my mother always used to say.”

Severus allowed Y/N to ramble on as she always did when she was excited about something, it was another reason why he loved spending time with her so much. She would talk for hours and he would listen intently, never boring of what she had to say. Similarly, Y/N never complained about how little Severus added to their conversation. She knew, despite how little he said, he was genuinely interested in what she had to say.

Y/N stopped in front of a sad looking plot of Gurdyroot, her face dropping at the sight of them.

“They should have been ready to pick today, looks like they’ll need uprooted instead. I’m still getting the hang of all the nuances, you know?”

“You’ll get there, it all comes with practice.”

“I know, I just wish it came as naturally to me as it does to Professor Sprout.”

“Hard work is more admirable than natural ability in my opinion.”

“It’s always baffled me, you know?”

“What?” Snapes eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

“Why you chose to come to me instead of her. You two had been working together for years, you don’t strike me as a man who breaks routine easily.”

“Let’s just say it was time for a change.” He commented. “Our working relationship had run its course.”

“Does that mean you’ll eventually trade me in for a younger model?” Y/N crossed her arms over her chest in defence, only half joking with her accusation.

“Never.” He smirked, though his eyes remained serious, boring into hers like he could never will himself to look away.

“Wait until you see my prized plant.” Y/N diverted, the intensity of Snape’s gaze becoming overwhelming. “Now these turned out beautifully.”

Severus stared down at the plant, recognising it immediately by its vibrant lavender florets and deep black berries. Belladonna. She was right, they had turned out perfectly. He doubted even Pamona Sprout could grow the plant quite so flawlessly.

Distracted in his thoughts of the woman’s craftsmanship, Severus failed to notice why exactly Y/N had now taken to dancing around the greenhouse, swatting at the air.

“Shoo. Shoo.” She repeated, flapping her hands around aimlessly.

“What exactly are you doing, Y/N?”

“Those damn bees are back.” She huffed. “They think the flowers have pollen in them, it doesn’t matter how much insecticide I spray they just keeping bac- Ouch.”

Y/N retracted her hand quickly, clutching her palm to her chest. The woman’s eyes went wide,  locking on to Severus’ in a panic.

“What was that, what happened?” He rushed.

“Nothing. I just cut my hand…I’ll be fine.”

“How did you cut it? Is it a bee sting or was it the plant?”

“A bee sting. It must have been, surely.”

“Are you absolutely positive?” His heart was really racing now. He was desperate to check out her wound, but didn’t want to overstep her boundaries.

Silence fell as Y/N merely shook her head in response, her eyes on the verge of tears.

“Show it to me.” Snape demanded, reaching for her arm.

Though the plant had only nicked her and her cut was relatively small, Severus knew better than to play it down.

“We need to go to my office. Now.”

“I’ll be fine Severus, it barely broke the skin, I’m sure it won’t affect me.”

“I’m not taking that chance.”

Deadly Nightshade, otherwise known as Belladonna, is toxic to the touch, once entered into your bloodstream however, the effects can be fatal. Severus could tell by the look on Y/N’s face this exact thought was crossing through her mind also. He’d be damned if he let anything happen to this woman on his watch. He had an antidote and he wasn’t about to start taking chances.

Erratically rummaging through his stores of ready-made potions, Severus finally selected a green coloured vial.

“Take this.” He ordered, handing the witch the vial.

“Thank you, Severus. What would I do without you.” She forced a laugh past the lump in her throat.

“Have the sense to wear some gloves, hopefully.”

“I’m so sorry, Severus. It was a foolish mistake, I know. I just get so forgetful sometimes, and when I’m around you…”

“Hush. And Drink.” He repeated, saving her from saying something she might regret in the heat of the moment. Severus took his seat next to her, subconsciously leaning into the warmth of her body. “Let me see your hand.”

The potions master uncapped a second bottle of liquid, pouring the contents onto his own hand before treating Y/N’s wound.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a cream infused with the essence of rue. It’ll target the poison right at the source.”

Severus rubbed a calloused thumb over her supple palm, meticulously massaging the cream into her skin. The pair became distracted by his movements, and the unfamiliar touch of the other’s hand.

“That feels good.” Y/N hummed.

“I’m glad.” Snape swallowed nervously, not daring to make eye contact with her.

“You didn’t have to go to all this bother, you know. I’m sure Madam Pomfrey would have had supplies for this sort of thing.”

“Madam Pomfrey gets her supplies from unreliable potioneers in Diagon Alley. Besides, I wouldn’t trust anyone else to do this properly.”

“You’re sweet to me, Severus.” The witch smiled. “I don’t imagine you’re this sweet to everyone.”

Snape’s movements faltered.

“We’re friends.” He clarified.

“Are we?” She stared up at him through those big full eyelashes, batting them in the way that made his heart flutter.

“Of course, we are.” He cleared his throat. “What else would we be?”

“Something more.”

The words escaped her mouth as a whisper, almost inaudible to the point where Severus was beginning to think she hadn’t said them at all.

“I like you, Severus. And I think you might like me.” She clarified.

Severus Snape couldn’t even begin to find the words to tell this woman how he felt about her. How much he admired and appreciated her. How he waited each month just to get to spend one morning with her. How he thinks she might even be the first woman he’s loved in a very long time.

Instead, he simply raised her hand to his mouth, planting a single delicate kiss on the tip of her knuckles.

“Well then.” She grinned, not needing any more of an explanation. Placing her hands on either side of his face Y/N planted a kiss squarely on Severus’ lips. “Let’s be something more.”

[tenofmuses]

Free Witchcraft Resources for Beginners

A couple months ago I made a post shouting out the fact that witchcraft doesn’t require any money to get started (or to be practiced, for that matter), and I had a few people ask me about what they can do that’s free, especially as a beginner, so I wrote up this post. I was lost and broke when I was getting started with my craft, and it was really difficult to find tips for beginners that weren’t just “buy these things!” I’m hoping this will be useful for people who are looking for a place to begin.

So. You’re interested in witchcraft and would like to find out more. Maybe you keep seeing those “crystals/herbs/books/etc. beginner witches should have” posts, and you’re frustrated, because you want to begin your practice, but don’t have the money for those supplies. I was once in that spot, and even now that I’m five years into my practice, I have rarely purchased any of the supplies witchtok deems to be fundamental. Here are some places you can begin instead. Let’s get started!

Info continues below.

Foundations

By foundations, I’m referring to things that aren’t explicitly witchcraft, but that I have found very beneficial within my own practice.

1. Before anything, I recommend asking yourself a simple question: why do I want to practice witchcraft, and what do I hope to get out of it? You may not know for sure yet, and your answer will likely change over time, but having some intentions going in can be helpful when you’re in the early stages of research. When I was starting out, I felt very overwhelmed by the amount of info out there, so if you have a bit of an idea of what you’re specifically interested in, that can be helpful to get you going.

2. Meditation: not all witches meditate, but a lot of the skills you develop through meditation can be helpful within witchcraft. You can try out secular meditation (apps like Balance and Headspace, as well as Insight Timer—the former has a mix of secular and spiritual meditations), or you can find a witchcraft-specific guided meditation on YouTube. For neurodivergent folks out there, I recommend looking into active meditation, which I’ve found to be quite beneficial for myself.

For me, it’s always important to remain grounded when I’m doing any spiritual practice, and meditation is a good skill you can work on to help with that. I also find that having a background in meditation can be really helpful later down the line when/if you are attempting visualization and/or astral projection, witch’s flight, and so forth.

3. Journaling: another thing that isn’t specifically witchcraft-related, but is an important skill to harness, on my opinion. To me, it’s crucial to be in touch with what I’m feeling (especially when it comes to doing spellwork), and journaling is one great way to do that. If you’re stuck and don’t know where to begin, look up witchcraft (or general) journal prompts on here or somewhere else. A lot of the ones that come up will be shadow work, which can be intense, so only do what feels comfortable for you.

I’d also like to note that automatic writing/drawing is an entirely free option if you’re interested in communing with spirits or deities. Essentially it involves getting into a trance-like state (usually in a dark room only lit by candlelight or similar—this is to avoid distractions) with a piece of paper and pen, and you write or draw everything that comes to your head without thinking about it. And then you go back and see what sort of messages you may be receiving. It’s a bit hard to explain and I’m not very experienced in it myself, but it’s something worth looking into if it sounds interesting to you!

4. Look at what you have, instead of what you don’t: a lot of beginner witch resources will list specific items that you should have, without really explaining why. And without that knowledge of how/why having an item is important, you might find your Must Have crystal sitting unused on a shelf somewhere. So instead of focusing on the items you want or feel like you should have, look at what you do have. Are there plants or herbs in your house/yard that you feel drawn to? Do you have a collection of cool rocks and stones? How do these items make you feel?

For me, a large part of my craft is my belief in Animism (the belief that all living things have innate spiritual qualities, like a soul, spirit, or specific energy) and this can play into the way you interact with the natural world if it’s a belief you also subscribe to. Try and feel the presence of a plant to see if it gives you any specific feeling. It does? Great! Now you have a correspondance for that plant. And it’s even better than the correspondances you’ll get in a book because it’s based on your own personal connection and intuition. That’s what is most important.

5. When in doubt, use your intuition. You might find a source that says cinnamon should be used for protection. Another will say it should be used for abundance spells. What matters the most is what you think about an herb/plant/stone/colour, or whatever else you may utilize. I recommend to start keeping a list of what you associate these things with. It can take awhile to build up a personalized list, but once you have one, it’ll be a lot more useful than what a correspondances book says to do.

6. Scour your pantry and get cooking: are you wanting to try out a spell but you haven’t bought the ingredients? Look in your pantry. You may be surprised by how many commonly used witchcraft herbs you find in there. And if you have been starting to associate certain herbs or spices with specific feelings or energies, that’s a great way to get started with creating your own spell.

You can do a spell in many ways, but when I was starting out, one of my favourite ways was to incorporate a certain herb or spice into food I made. Say you’re making a soup and maybe you want a bit of protection, so you add some ground pepper with the intention of that pepper protecting you as you stir it into the soup. Same goes for any other ingredient you’d like to use. A little intention goes a long way!

7. Dedicate your actions, time, or energy: if you’re interested at all in working with deities, ancestors, and other spirits but don’t have the time/space to build an altar—or maybe you aren’t sure how involved you want to be with this part of witchcraft—you can devote an action to the entity. This can be simple. For example, when I worked with Apollo, I would use taking my meds and vitamins as an act of devotion to him. This is an offering. And offerings can be anything you want them to be. They don’t have to be expensive or fancy!

It’s also important to note that you do not need to work with deities or spirits to be a witch. You don’t even have to believe in them. Many witches are atheists or don’t work with any deities at all. But for those who are interested, simple offerings can be a good place to start.

8. Practice energy work: in my view, energy work is the most important skill to learn for your craft, since so many things build off of it. And with energy work, you don’t need to spend any amount of money on it. All you need is yourself, your intuition, and anything else—I mean that quite literally, you can practice feeling the energy of other people, pets, trees, buildings, foods, socks, your favourite pen, and whatever else you think of!

Once you get to know the energy of the things around you, you can more effectively utilize them as tools within your practice (this builds off of the intuition point I made earlier).

For example, as a child I lived in a house that was surrounded by cedar trees. It was a place where I felt very safe. To this day, when I see or smell a cedar tree, I feel safe and protected. You can read this any way you’d like—to me it’s both a spiritual and psychological phenomenon—but this is one example of sensing energy.

As a witch, you can practice that skill and use it to get to know the tools you’d like to use within your own craft (the things that connect to you personally, not what you’re told you should connect with). This isn’t an easy skill by any means, so if it doesn’t come naturally to you, that’s perfectly okay!

For more on this subject, I recommend two books: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Kimmerer (more on animism in particular) and Psychic Witch by May Auryn (lots of exercises to practice working with and sensing energy).

Where to Go for Learning

After you’ve thought a bit about some of the above, or skipped it altogether if it doesn’t suit you, you’re probably wanting some good resources that will actually tell you how to do the witchcraft thing. But before that, I want to reiterate again that this is your practice, and you should only do what you are interested in. So take what you want and leave what you don’t.

I’m going to point you in three primary directions for learning good information: books, podcasts, and YouTube.

But first, I want to issue a massive disclaimer for the YouTube information (and some books, for that matter). You should not have one sole source for your information. Books that have bibliographies are always the most trustworthy sources. And even though I trust the information coming from the YouTubers I’ll mention—especially because I’ve read similar information in several witchcraft books—don’t take their word at face-value. Be critical of what you’re told. Believe what you believe. This is a skill you’ll learn over time. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but it will get easier to discern what’s good info vs. bad info, over time.

Before you get started, I highly recommend watching this helpful video by HearthWitch with info on how to vet your witchcraft sources: link.

Books

In my view, books are the Best source of information, period. Anyone can publish an article or video online, but not everyone can publish a book. So there tends to be a bit more reliable info in witchcraft books.

As far as knowing what book you should begin with, there are lots of lists out there for beginners, and I recommend just looking at one of those lists and picking what sounds interesting to you. Take what you like and leave what you don’t.

Most of the YouTubers I’ve listed below have videos recommending books for beginners.

If you’re interested in British folk witchcraft, I started out with Folk Witchcraft by Roger J. Horne and it was a brilliant beginners guide that I recommend to anyone who is interested in that branch of witchcraft.

As always, while you read witchcraft books, be critical of the information you are presented with. Unfortunately, lots of witchcraft books (especially the classic ones) can be rooted in concepts like bioessentialism, colonialism, and racism. My recommendation is to not take any author’s word as gospel and to use your critical thinking skills when reading witchcraft books.

Where I live, books are EXPENSIVE. And when you’re just starting out in your practice, you might not have the money or ability to go out and buy a book just yet. Maybe you’re still unsure if witchcraft is right for you. Or maybe you’re in the “broom closet.” Whatever the reason, here are some free places to find books.

1. The public library: a bit obvious, but a great resource to look at, because you never know what your library might have. Libraries are the best. And entirely free!

2. Library apps like Libby or Overdrive: especially helpful if you don’t want to bring home a physical witchcraft book, or if your branch doesn’t have any copies of what you’re looking for. You can also get some audiobooks on there.

3. Archive.org: aka the web archive. Entirely free and entirely legal, this works as an online library service where you can check out a book for a bit of time right from your computer. Sometimes you can download PDFs as well. I’ve found a lot of my favourite witchcraft books on there, so if you have a specific title in mind, search it there.

YouTube

First, as a bit of a caveat before recommending you to watch YouTube videos on witchcraft: in my view, books are the best source of information for any witch, as they are able to contain a large degree of nuanced and research-informed information. But books aren’t a simple solution for everyone, and I’ve learned a lot from informed YouTubers over the years (in fact, like many witches, I was first exposed to witchcraft via Harmony Nice on YouTube!).

I’m including a list here of witch YouTubers that I personally recommend because I have found that their content aligns with information I have read in books and other research-informed sources over the years, and because I find them to be generally reliable.

I want to note here that this list is rather biased, as I tend to watch witchcraft YouTubers whose practices mirror my own in some ways. So most of these practitioners have practices informed by European folk witchcraft, and are not very diverse as a result. If any practitioners have further recommendations to add on, especially for practitioners of colour and practices that are different from mine, please do so!

My recommendations:

ChaoticWitchAunt: folk witchcraft, specifically in the Italian tradition, some great beginner content, info on working with saints and spirits.

TheWitchOfWonderlust: death magic, spellwork, great beginner content, lots of excellent info on working with spirits.

HearthWitch: truly a well of information on British witchcraft, beginner videos on any topic you can think of, q&a livestreams, and there’s even a video on vetting witchcraft sources that I really recommend for beginners.

The Redheaded Witch: folk witchcraft and folklore, spirit and ancestor work, daily witchcraft ideas, some beginner videos.

TheGreenWitch: such an excellent resource for herbal/green witchcraft, videos on spellwork, ingredients, tools, and more.

Mintfaery: lots of beginner information, videos on working with the fae, nature witchcraft, and lots of fun witchy days in the life.

Ella Harrison: German folk witchcraft, great beginner resources, including some more niche traditional craft topics like witch’s ladders.

The Norse Witch: info on Norse witchcraft and Heathenry, Norse paganism, and some content about astrology.

simplywitched: lots of great everyday witchcraft content, pagan witchcraft, more vlog style.

Warrior Witch Nike: witchy book reviews, paganism, deity work, some astrology content.

Mhara Starling: the place to go for anyone interested in Welsh witchcraft and folk magic related to Wales.

Alwyn Oak: lots of witch’s guides, especially relating to sabbats (those popularized in Wicca), forest witchcraft, gorgeous videos.

Ivy The Occultist: chaos magick and lots of interviews with practitioners from a variety of paths/backgrounds.

Shadow Harvest: personal day in the life witchy content, some videos looking at working with dark goddesses and deity work in general.

Note: some of these YouTubers have written their own witchcraft books geared towards beginners, so if you enjoy their videos and want to learn more, check those out.

Podcasts

The Astrology Podcast: not specifically witchcraft, but if you want to learn about astrology in detail, this is an excellent place to begin. Link goes to YouTube.

Books and Broomsticks: all kinds of good info, especially pertaining to folk magic, witch guests invited on to share more about their own practice. Link goes to Spotify.

Southern Bramble: A Podcast of Crooked Ways: a variety of witchcraft related topics, interviews, and discussions, often revolving around folk magic and traditional craft—interviews show different traditions. Link goes to Spotify.

New World Witchery - The Search for American Traditional Witchcraft: what it says on the tin; various topics and conversations through an American traditional/folk magic lens by the author of the (amazing) book with the same name. Link goes to Spotify.

Salty Witches Podcast by Cat & Cauldron: traditional witchcraft through a modern lens, another podcast that has a wide variety of topics covered. Link goes to Spotify.

—

As always, if anyone has any additional (free!) resources to add onto these ones, please do so.

Good luck to all of the beginner witches who are embarking on their spiritual journeys, and I hope some of these tips have been helpful! :)

-Em

[imagineweasley]

Puppy Love: Part II

Sirius Black x Fem reader

summary: you and your friends are fascinated by animagi and one day, decide to take a risk and become one. it proves to be an interesting experience - one day you are wandering the forest when things take a turn and secrets are revealed...

read part 1 here! read part 3 here!

y/n: your name

y/h: your house

y/c: your color

word count: 1.7k

submit requests here! | masterlist

author's note: a valentines' day present to my valentines! here's part 2 of puppy love :) also - THIS ONE GOT SO LONG TOO! this part is a big slow but i had to cut it off somewhere and i'll try to get part 3 out sooner. buckle in!

@hellokitty-girl666

-

Y/n's POV

My task was simple. During Herbology, I'd sneak over to where Professor Sprout kept the mandrakes and sneak three leaves. Somehow, I had to get them without the bloody things screaming at the top of their lungs, so my plan was to find three fresh leaves that they might have already dropped, or else I'd have to go to plan B. I did not want to go to plan B.

We'd scoured Advanced Potion-Making the night before, reading the steps over and over again so that we could commit them to memory. Callie had wanted to write it down but Ellie and I vetoed that idea; if we got caught, one look at the list would reveal what we were doing.

Under the list of items and instructions, there was an extensive list of disclaimers:

DO NOT ATTEMPT UNLESS OVER THE AGE OF 17. DO NOT ATTEMPT UNLESS AT/SUPERVISED BY A WITCH OR WIZARD WITH ADVANCED MASTERY OF POTIONS. IF STEP 3 FAILS, WITCH OR WIZARD MAY HAVE PERMANENT WHISKERS.

We ignored those, especially the whiskers part. The others had their own tasks, of course. Callie would be collecting the dew from somewhere "neither sun nor human feet have touched," and her best guess so far was to go to the Forbidden Forest to collect them. One of us would have to go with her, of course, there was no way we'd let her go in there alone. Ellie on the other hand, would have to get a chrysalis of a death-head's hawk moth. We were stumped because what the hell is that? After some research, we realized we would not be able to obtain it ourselves, and would have to find some underground tactics. I had no idea how she would pull it off, but if anyone could, it was Ellie.

It was the next morning now, and Callie and I were headed to Herbology. "You ready?" Callie whispered to me while we hugged our books to our chests and tramped to the greenhouse.

"Ready." I kept my eyes forward, not wanting to attract attention to us.

When we arrived at the green house, we found a spot on the far end of the green house, where the mandrakes were tucked into a corner to reduce the risk of a clumsy student falling into them and causing a chorus of brain-splitting shrieks. Callie tood right in front of me, stepping on my foot.

"Ow! Callie get off!"

"Sorry!" She whispered, panic creeping into her voice, "I'm just trying to make sure no one sees you!"

"Alright students, gather around!" Madame Pomfrey marched into the greenhouse and motioned for people to come closer, "I hope you all have good reflexes, as today, we'll be studying the Devil's Snare." There were a few "oooh"s as the students gathered around the small cut of the vine and Professor sprout bent over it. I, on the other hand, saw this as the chance to snatch some leaves and backed away from the group as discreetly as possible towards the sleeping mandrakes. I whipped around to the pots for my target, heart thumping. I scanned each pot for what I needed, but it looked like the mandrakes were perfectly in order. Damn. Of course they were in perfect shape, there was no way Sprout would ever let them - hold on. A flash of green caught my eye, tucked behind one of the mandrakes. I leaned carefully over as to not disturb it, and saw two leaves. Bingo!

Very slowly, I reached my fingertips in between the plants and managed to grab the them. I breathed a small sigh of relief, but it wasn't over yet - I still needed one more.

I looked over my shoulder to see if I had been spotted, but all I saw were students' backs and Callie shooting nervous glances back at me. I shot her a look that said Turn! Around! and she huffed but listened. Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to the plants in front of me. I searched in the dirt once more for one, JUST ONE more leaf, but there wasn't any. I even scanned the ground below the table, but no luck. Disappointed, I returned to the group.

"... usually grow so large that they can trap large humans, and they try to trick you with these lovely flowers..." Professor Sprout was holding up the pot to show everyone the budding white flowers. I tried to pay attention but all the possibilities of plan B were reeling endlessly in my brain. In my peripheral I could see Callie shooting me nervous glances but I ignored her and stared as hard as I could at the plant, wishing it could strangle my thoughts.

-

We huddled in the corner of the library for a rundown of our progress.

"Alright girls, how did it go today?" Ellie blew a strand of hair that had fallen into her eyes out of the way. I sighed.

"Only two." I mumbled, and she looked slightly disappointed but seemed to push it aside. "Okay! That's two more than we had this morning!"

"Yeah, but now I'll have to do plan B." I had really been hoping that it would be a one-and-done situation.

"Y/n, you've got this!" Ellie touched my arm encouragingly, "I would help, but I have to go find Jessup Daniels tonight. I've heard whispers that he has a gift for sneaking things into school for people for a price, things that no one should be able to get their hands on except for the most shadowy wizards. No one knows how he gets them, but I figure out of everyone, he'd know where to get those chrysalises."

Callie and I nodded in agreement. "He looks like he'd know how to get things like that." I said under my breath and the girls stifled giggles, earning some very pointed looks from the students around us. "Plus, I know that James Potter has an invisibility cloak on him," Ellie patted her bag indicating she already had it stowed away, "I heard them talking very loudly about it. Those boys aren't so subtle are they?" Ellie rolled her eyes. She had the most contact with those boys than us, being in Gryffindor house too, so it made sense that she had gotten her hands on something like that.

Sirius's face flashed across my mind at hearing James's name. For a second, I saw his dark gray eyes scrunch up with laughter, I felt his fingers against mine. I imagined just what would have happened if I had let my hand linger... what it might have lead to... what else his fingers could do....

"Y/n. Y/n!" I heard Ellie calling me and shook myself back to reality. "Do you need to use the cloak tonight? Maybe we can stagger when we go to do -" I shook my head. "The greenhouse is only a little bit that way and it'll be dark, no one will see me." Ellie nodded in agreement.

Callie surprised us by saying she'd already gotten her hands on her dewdrops. She merely shrugged, saying, "I have a lot of practice in 'borrowing' things and the Potions cabinet is a sitting duck, what can I say?" I nodded, impressed.

My watch caught my eye. 8:30.

"Alright girls," I made a motion to get up, "I should start heading out. It'll be dark and it looks like it's starting to sprinkle out there." Tiny raindrops were dotting the window next to us. Ellie and Callie followed suit and nodded seriously.

"Godspeed." Callie saluted me with mock seriousness.

I saluted her back, then quickly gathered my schoolbag that I had brought with me to stuff the leaf in. My nerves had suddenly turned to excitement - I had never done anything more than getting messy drunk at common room parties, maybe smoking a joint here and there and raiding the kitchen. I had been such a rule-follower my whole life - suddenly, I was excited to get my hands dirty. Hiking my bag higher, I quickly left the library, but maybe I shouldn't have been so fast. I never noticed the gray eyes watching me.

-

Sirius's POV

It hadn't even been a day since my run-in with y/n when I spotted her at the library. She and her friends - I think their names are Calliope and Eleanor? - were in a huddle, whispering furiously. I let my eyes linger on y/n as I made my way over to the only open table behind her armchair.

I plopped my bag down on the table, internally groaning. I never came to the library of course, I have better things to do with my time, but I had gotten into a small scuffle with James in Potions because he wouldn't leave me alone about y/n and gotten myself 10 points from Gryffindor and a foot and a half on the properties of belladonna. Huffing, I yanked out my parchment and quill when the words invisibility cloak and y/n's voice caught my ear.

I could barely hear what she was saying, but if I strained, I could hear her whispering, "The greenhouse... it'll be dark..."

The greenhouse? What could she possibly need to do in the greenhouse? Not only that, but in the dark? From my years of admiring her from afar, I knew that y/n isn't one to be sneaking around after hours. I kept straining my ears to catch more of the conversation without being too obvious, but all I could hear was Callie talking about some potion. Then, they all got up and I ducked my head, mind racing with ideas of what they could possibly be planning. Callie saluted y/n, and y/n started walking out of the library. I ducked behind a shelf to watch her leave, mind still racing about what she could be doing. I returned to my table and Ellie and Callie had gone too.

"What in the bloody hell..." I sat for a moment staring at my empty parchment, trying to focus my mind on this stupid paper, but gave up. I jumped to my feet, stuffed my belongings into my bag, and decided to go back to Gryffindor tower.

There was no way I'd be able to get y/n off my mind.

[healingfairy000000001]

Straw hat witch minnie series

Why do you always give Y/N extra cash?

This was a question Luffy and Ussop often asked, why does she always seem to have more than them and she never ask for spending money when they reach an island, so where do all those ingredients, clothes, weird stuff come from?

"I already told you she never asks for extra cash you should learn from her!" nami gave them the usual answer.

"why not just ask her?" Robin suggested

"becaus-! Why didn't we ask her?" ussop turned to Luffy who gave him the same look.

The two ran away from Robin and Nami, Robin chuckled while Nami sighed at their stupidity, they were on an island and if Luffy was going to get distracted and not cause a scene then 'sorry Y/N'

"Y/NNNNNN where do you get money?" Luffy was the first at her door on going merry, she was carrying a huge box looking shaken by the sudden call

"TOO DIRECT!" scolded ussop

"I sell potions and scrolls, I thought Chooper told you guys?" chopper on the island felt a shiver run up his spine 'why do I feel like I forgot something?'  

"I see"

"to who, uncle gorge?" Ussop seemed interested

"It's easier to show you"

She handed Luffy and ussop Exctra boxes filled to the brim with potions glowing with various colours, some had powders, some were liquidy, and others were scrolls tied with a simple string.

The walk around town was simple Luffy kept asking when they get there while marking spots to go to with the money he has while ussop kept.

Y/N kept looking around smelling the air, looking like she knew the road and didn't at the same time starting to lose patience with Luffy's repeated questions and ussop story of how he had an army of 1000 men ready to fight witches.

Finally, she entered an ally way stopping in her tracks "We're here!" there was indeed nothing there.

"I think you've got the wrong alleyway"

"nope! All you need is a little.....help!" she said cheerfully stopping a bit and thinking of the right word before taking a step back into the wall and knocking a bit.

"It's me! adhir nafsek!" she yelled causing pink sparkly smoke to appear Luffy and Ussop stared in awe when the pink smoke disappeared a door and a store sign with a flower on it appeared

"Soooooo cool!" the two said in union steam coming out of their noses rushing to get in.

"don't touch anything you don't know it's affects!" Y/N warned walking in after them.

The store was indeed cosy with a lot of shelves carrying different ingredients, some had potions others had scrolls some naked walls had skulls, the smell of dried herbs and old oak wood gave the place a poetic feel, the cashier a man in a cloak stood behind his stand, watching never saying a thing, the place was truly different from uncle george wale.

Luffy and Ussop put the boxes down looking around the items, forgetting the warning they got before coming in, Y/N on the other hand carried one box to the cashier.

"so, what do you think?" she asked the cloaked man as he pulled out a few bottles examining them, while he did that she went to get the other box.

"top quality aren't they?" she had a wide smirk the man nodded slightly, Luffy somehow started paying attention, "Fire, wood and for sailors a wind school!" she bosted trusting her work.

"50k" the man finally spoke looking up from the examined bottle, "per box"

"200k"

"100k

"150k plus 50K for the scrolls, best in the market don't forget"

"fine"

Now Luffy and Ussop grabbed Y/N's shoulders from behind shaking her

"You made 400K bellies!"

Feeling pride she smiled "All alright you guys can take some, but I still need 70K for the new ingrediants"

[galedekarios]

what was i after all but a mortal plaything in sacred hands?

out of all the little glimpses into our companions' lives after the game events, i think i like this bit about shadowheart and gale, and the friendship they've seemingly retained after the game's events, the most:

Player: Tell me what you've been up to. Shadowheart: Wandering, mostly. The adventuring life is almost a tonic when you're not constantly threatened by brain monsters and cultists. I can finally see the world beyond the Cloister. Player: I thought you might crave a little peace and quiet, after all that happened. Shadowheart: Peace and quiet will still be there waiting once I've lived a little. Though don't get me wrong - I've got a little cottage with a garden and animals in mind already. Shadowheart: One of my first stops was the House of the Moon, in Waterdeep. It's the largest temple of Selûne in existence. Shadowheart: It seemed like the perfect spot to reflect on my parents, on where they came from - and where I came from too, I suppose. Shadowheart: Hard to imagine, isn't it? Me, of all people, in the lair of the 'Moon Witch' herself. Gods, your truest act of heroism was putting up with all that Sharran drivel I was spouting for so long. Player: Waterdeep you say? Did you bump into Gale? Shadowheart: We had tea on his balcony - Tara even deigned to sit on my lap for a while. You know, I think entire forests must have been felled to quench that man's thirst for books. Shadowheart: He seems to be doing well. In his element.

it's one of the few (if not the only) instance we have of companions keeping in touch with each other after the game ends and i love this for both for shadowheart and for gale.

both of their stories remind me of gale's early access line "what was i after all but a mortal plaything in sacred hands?" and i think they can understand and emphasise what the other went through before and during the game's events in ways the others simply cannot with the added layer of their abuser being a deity and their patron deity.

one taken from her family as a child, indoctrinated, weaponised and isolated, trying to take everything from her, but unable to erase the goodness of her heart. the other contacted by a god's chosen as a child, the very thing he loved for as long as he remembers governed and represented by her, the goddes who was first a mentor, then a teacher and finally a lover.

Shadowheart: Poor Gale. I hope he knows that a goddess abandoning him needn't be the end - I know from experience.

Gale: Poor Shadowheart. The gods are nothing if not vincdictive in their vengeance. devnote: Sympathetic - Gale feels the gods have also punished him

the idea of them helping each other, supporting each other to take another step towards healing old and new wounds through their shared understanding, is something i like a lot.

on a lighter note:

we know that gale values those he calls friends immensely and shadowheart does, despite her aloofness, crave connection, (re-)discovering who she is and what makes her her.

i like to imagine them sharing not only tea, but a glass of wine:

Gale: Sembian wine, Cormyrian ball, Waterdhavian conversation. It's the little things you miss while on the road. - Shadowheart: So Gale just consumes magical items like I do wine?

perhaps sharing the latest chapbook with her since he likely overheard wyll and shadowheart talking about 'the salty mermaid':

A chapbook was a short book which could contain about any content, from political opinions to crafting guides. In Waterdeep, chapbooks often contained memoirs or romantic stories. [x]

(thank you for reading my gale + shadowheart friendship propaganda post! 🖤)

[bad-traffic-smp-ideas]

Fate life: (idk about the name but i really like this idea) Each player starts with 4 lifes, Dark green, light green, yellow and red, only red names can kill. After Half an hour of session,, each player is given one of 24 role who will be appearing on their screen (like the "a wildcard is active text"), each role is unique (so you can't have two of the same in the same session) and will give a unique twist to the player who got it. no one knows what each of them does excepts Grian (except one but i'll get to it), but the twists are mostly very obvious. There are more cards than players so they slightly rotate each session Here are the 24 roles:

The Commonfolk - No special effect, just regular minecraft The Underdweller - When this role is revealed, you're instantly teleported to the the nether dimension, you start taking damage (similar to drowning) after staying longer than 20 minutes oustide of it, as constant fire resistance The Canary - The player model is changed into a yellow parrot, so smaller hitbox, the ability to fly but the health bar is halfed The Descent - Immediatly get their gravity shifted to another axis (probably the most obvious one, also the funniest, watch as the first player to get it flies into the sun) The Nightbound - Get burned by direct exposure to the sunlight, this is negated by putting an helmet on, but it's "technically" against the rules The Wanderer - Every 10 to 20 minutes, get teleported to a random spot on the map The Vanished - Constant invisibility, armor doesn't show up when put on, only the items you're holding can be seen. (basically a curse if you're yellow or above, but it's a blessing if you're red) The Butcher - Only meat will feel your hunger bar, eating anything else will deplete your hunger bar instead (including golden apples who won't work) The Seabound - You can only breath underwater, you start to suffocate while on the ground. This can be countered with the water breathing effect. The Lovebirds - Those cards are rolled in pair, the two players with it now share their health bar like in double life The Hoarder - The more objects in your inventory, the slower you are. at an empty inventory you're thrice as fast, an half-full inventory means normal speed, a full inventory means three time slower. only the ammount of spots filled matter, so bundles and big stacks of items are the way to go The Sightless - Entities more than 15 blocks away aren't rendered, Gamma is stuck at 0.25, You can now see cyan particles similar to those of the warden whenever a player/mob makes any noises The Prey - All mobs are now hostile to you The Seer - Every entity as a glowing effect from your perspective The Executioner - All damage you take are doubled for the rest of the session, however each damage you deal will heal you the same ammount The Goliath - You are now 1 pixel taller than 2 blocks, you're reach is extended by half a block, you also have 11 hearts instead of 10 The Voidborn - Water damages you by a rate of 1/2 a heart per second, shifting let you phase through blocks on the same y level The Drought - You have a thirst bar that depletes over time, it can be refilled by drinking water bottles, milk buckets and potions The Tethered - Those cards are rolled in pair, the further you are from the other Tethered the less hearts you have. You have 15 hearts if you're less than 5 blocks apart, it goes down by half a heart for every 5 blocks of distance, it cannot go under 5 hearts. you have a compass in your HUD that always points toward the other Tethered The Witch - Every Food Source give you a different potion effect The Plague - All grass, flowers, leaves and crops in a 7 block radius dies, you are immune to all negative potion effects. The Blizzard - Permanant frostwalker effect, you take fire damage by being closer than 4 blocks to fire sources The Hounds - Every 15 minutes, a wolf spawn around you, it is already tamed. All of your tamed wolves will do double damage this session, however you also receive half the damages they take. you cannot make the wolves sit down, you cannot tame more wolves during this session. The wolves still alive at the end of the session will stay for the next ones, but they will no longer do double damage or be linked to you. The Traitor - This is the only "role" everyone knows about, it's a boogeyman. the player rolling this card must kill another yellow or above before the end of the session or become a red name. (this one is great because i love boogeymen but also because it would force the one who gets it to fake having another card)

I came up with this while bored in class and really liked it so i may have taken way too much of my time refining it, yes it's basically life series with an origin-like mod but the "role motif" would be so amazingly used by the fandom (so much more tarot imagery will come up so fast), image the art, the fics!! So many motifs!!

ALL of the motifs!!!

[ad-caelestia]

i've spent a lot of time saying "here's what you could do" as a witch versus "here is what i actually do" as a witch, so let's go.

as much as i try to stir my coffee in one direction or another, it always ends up counter-clockwise - instead of seeing it as a mistake, i just work around it by thinking of it like, i'm banishing (counter-clockwise) negativity from my day versus attracting (clockwise) positivity.

i tend to use colors that align with planets versus other folkloric associations - instead of a green candle for money, i'll use a blue one because blue is associated with jupiter which is associated with wealth and good fortune. lucky for me, all the other planets have colors that align appropriately so i don't have to think about those as much (sun - gold, moon - silver, mercury - ehhhhh a mix of like, yellow/violet/indigo, venus - baby pink/mint, mars - red/rust, etc etc.).

i have a money bowl that i redo on the first of every month and i set a cinnamon stick above my front door for prosperity - i have a tiny little angel of a bunny whose health means more to me than the ritualistic act of blowing cinnamon into your home from outside the front door.

my "grimoire" or book of shadows or WHATEVER you wanna call it lives on my computer via onenote and is also scattered through many many notebooks i have collected over the years - if i'm being honest, i am way too picky about my handwriting and messing things up when i am writing in pen that i would just rather keep it somewhere i can type and alt+f to get where i need to go.

my main altar lives on a pretty gold and faux marble bookshelf but honestly, my whole house is my altar - there are sacred spaces at every corner if you know what to look for.

if i want something for my craft, i try to repurpose old things or thrift for them - you'd be amazed what you can do with some of the most basic things (i found my money bowl, which is a crystal dish, at the thrift store for 99 cents); the dollar 25 tree is also a good spot to shop for cheap trinkets.

much of my craft is muscle memory, which has come from YEARS of practice - if i'm cooking and need to use like, basil for example (luck, money, protection), i just kind of already know what it's "good for" and keep that in the front of my mind while i'm cooking so the intent doesn't get buried.

i really REALLY prefer to make my own stuff but that's not always feasible - i really thought the other day that i could just start making candles for myself and had to put that thought on HOLD because let's be real, i'm not doing all that. instead, i will continue to use all the chime candles i have collected over the years instead of immediately going out to find something new.

cleansing ritual who? every time i mop my floor or clean the baseboards or wipe down the counter, i'm cleansing my space. i very much believe that mundane cleaning can be equally as magical and therapeutic if the intent is there.

same thing with literally any other magical thing i do these days: i won't go digging for new items to serve me and my spellwork, i will just use what i already have.

doing spells when the opportunity presents itself versus days of planning - i got a new body wash the other day whose main ingredient and scent is rose so i figured i could use it for a glamour at some point; needed some cinnamon the other day for pancakes and stashed some away for use as a catalyst later on; stuck a bay leaf in my pasta sauce while cooking and made a little wish beforehand.

tethers. everywhere. this one's a bit personal for me but generally speaking, i like to tie energy to a physical object and store it for later use.

i have never buried anything in my yard for any reason - i usually just stick it in a box if the spell isn't finished, cleanse and reuse, or discard all together after thanking it for its assistance.

i swear i have a mean tarot deck and a nice one so i tend to be biased and choose accordingly. 🙃

i also have two pendulums i don't use and a set of blue goldstone runes that i have had for 8 years but don't touch anymore. let that be a gentle reminder that you don't have to do all the things, i promise.

anyway, those are some things about my craft ok bye

[porcelainseashore]

The Faceless One - Palla Grande "King Slayers" ft. Gael Romilly

Author's Note: I’m so excited that this is my first time writing for VtM and participating in an event! Here’s my entry for the Palla Grande "King Slayers" hosted by @tzimizce, which tells the story of how Gael, the daredevil, couldn’t resist getting into one of her own.

She wasn’t from around these parts. Her brothers and sisters had told tall tales about the infamous event the Sabbat held each year, captivated her with descriptions of their festivities—maybe rumors—rumors were common among her kind.

“Bullshit,” she had said, waving her hand dismissively, drunk on warm blood sloshing around in a squashed plastic cup. A dash of it spilled to the ground, watering the cracked soil and scarring it red. 

“You don’t believe us? Then see it for yourself,” they had chanted, eyes gleaming, sharpened teeth luminescent under the glow of the moonlit sky.

The compulsion in her ached, clawing through her ribcage, shredding it apart. Streams of ribbons scarlet on her bare hands. And she knew that she would tear out her undead eyes just for a glimpse into such revelry.

“I will,” she gritted out, tossing the empty cup into the dirt, another blemish upon the landscape they called theirs, at least for the night.

All Hallows Eve descended upon the city in all its wicked glory, reeking of cheap liquor on tacky costumes, and barbed wire in candy. Gael drove into the heart of it, finding a place where the misfits and wannabes hung out in droves. A perfect hunting ground for those who dared call themselves vampires.

In there, whispers upon whispers circulated among friends of friends of acquaintances of strangers, and she heard it all. She could be charming if she wanted to, especially when she wasn’t shivering like an addict looking for their next fix.

“It’s an exclusive party,” one of the group told her snottily. “They asked specifically for five of us.”

Us. Gael didn’t belong—not yet.

That was okay. She revealed her first card, just like the way her lips pulled taut against the flesh of her gums to reveal her teeth. For a split second, her pupils flashed diabolically.

“But I am part of your five,” she grinned.

They stammered, hemmed and hawed, unable to shy away from her gaze. It didn’t take long for them to oust the weakest of the group, offering Gael their spot instead. As they set off, there were cackles and chatter about being honored at a Blood Feast.

Poor new age witches, they never stood a chance. So naive, so easy to manipulate, she thought. And what of her now? She would let them be blood bags for some ostentatious display of power.

A silent witness.

“Mistress Lydia’s guests?” the bouncer at the door asked.

Gael’s heart pounded in her chest. Oh, how she had forgotten what it felt like to be alive! Even through mimicry—what she would continue to rely on for the rest of the evening.

“Here, put this on.”

She was handed a poppy flower to pin on her jacket. Touché. The flower of spilled blood and sacrifice. How blatant could the Sabbat be?

As she was ushered in, she took in the marvelous sights of wild excess and debauchery. The costumes, each more extravagant than the other. She would soon don her own, but for now, she played the role of a moronic tourist, piggybacking off someone else’s invitation.

Her keen eyes darted around, surveying the venue. The passageways and exits were triple checked. So were the doors leading to the pantries and cellars.

The bathrooms. Check.

Behind the bars. Check.

Backstage. Check. 

The gears began to turn in Gael’s head as she ticked each area of interest off like an item on her inventory list. Years of being a runner and drug mule for a particularly notorious coterie in the Northwest had left its mark and taken its toll. But maybe we’ll get to that later—or not.

As usual, she slipped away into the crowd, losing the flower as she blended in like a chameleon, shifting skins—smoothly, expertly, shedding her self in the layers, to appear as one nondescript form to another. She had to be careful to avoid any misstep. One wrong move, and she was done for. Although she had a thousand masks to wear, there were a thousand pairs of eyes, always watching, from the shadows, from the blind corners of her vision.

Cold sweat beaded on her forehead as a byproduct of the way in which she conducted her affairs—meticulous and calculating. Falling into pace, fear and trepidation gave way to thrill and excitement. She swore she could see the searing white adrenaline course through her veins, turning them milky and sticky. And her Beast was pleased.

Across the night, she was a human guest, a ghoul server, a band’s roadie all-in-one. She flitted between guises like switching dance partners—never bored, nor boring. Picking up on secret codes and gestures, weaving in and out of head counts, sometimes one more, sometimes one less, like that creepypasta she had read on 4chan… Anansi’s Goatman?

Doppelgänger, shapeshifter, but she was pretty damn sure that they were Ravnos—like her. 

Just before suspicion arose, she would change out again. Luck was on her side, for the time being. 

She watched wide-eyed as the grandiose performance of a sacrificial rite played out on stage, interspersed with images of Gehenna. The first of the mortals were slaughtered unknowingly among the sheep.

Power. Was this what Cainites felt at the height of their bloodlust?

Gael felt it too, similarly but different. She’d done it. None of her brothers and sisters saw, but she’d done it, and that was enough. 

Here she was, standing in a tank circled by sharks, unnoticed. Just another one of the many. Faceless, nameless, a nobody.

To be faceless was to retake power from having an identity—something to label, to judge, to align you with a sect or cause, under a banner. And for what?

To be unshackled of the ego—that was true power. 

She’d made it this far, but the hardest part yet was getting out. As far as she observed, the doors had been sealed shut long ago. Everything would be accounted for, dealt with, and cleaned up.

What would they do if they found her? Would they destroy her on the spot, or convert her to their church? Had they lulled her into a false sense of security, waiting for the right moment to strike?

Regardless, she would always remain fiercely independent, even in her final—

Dividers by @diableriedoll

[aesethewitch]

Advertisement Adversaries #3: "Monthly Check-In Spread"

Hello, and welcome to Advertisement Adversaries! I'm Aese, a witch of many years with a background in marketing/advertising and business writing/editing. This series aims to dissect unethical, unfair, deceptive, and just plain Not Good sales strategies found in the witchcraft community. We also cover legitimate sellers to highlight good marketing, listings, and business practices! The goal is to improve the legit witches' businesses and educate folks on scams, grifts, and marketing manipulations.

You can read more about this project here (Tumblr) or here (my website). You can also read this post on Ko-Fi or a better-formatted version on my website.

Each entry covers one listing from a seller's catalogue. I score the listing on a scale of one to five in six categories: Clarity, Transparency, Presence, Genuineness, Verifiability, and Morality. Legitimate sellers get an extra category of Attractiveness/Advice for Improvement.

Now, let's have a look at today's entry into this series:

Advertisement Details

Who is the advertiser -- or who do they claim to be? Who is their apparent primary audience? What are they selling? What's their tone? What's the vibe? What are the first impressions?

This entry is covering a seller I know for a fact is legitimate. We've chatted quite a bit, and they actually requested for me to dip into their listings for an ADversary post! So, while this seller is going to remain anonymous and the usual rules of "don't go find this person" apply, this is someone I've talked to and have gotten consent from for this project.

This seller is relatively new to the witchblr/tarotblr scene, but they're pretty active. Posts abound about their practice, tools, and various interests. I may or may not have spent a couple hours just scrolling in fascination. I have a soft spot for unique, home-grown practices that are unafraid to get a little weird with it, and this seller's blogs really hit the spot. I'm a fan.

For the purposes of this article, I'm focusing primarily on this person's divination blog, mostly because their Ko-Fi shop is all divinatory offerings. As an animist, all of their tools have names and distinct personalities which inform the readings provided with those tools. There's actually a whole post dedicated to the tools they have in their collection - and it's a considerable collection, indeed! "Avid" is certainly the right word. Lots to choose from, and it seems you can request specific tools for some types of readings.

In their pinned post, they cite that they've been practicing divination for about three years (as of this writing), working at it almost every day. It's a short amount of time in comparison to some readers around these parts, but dedicating to almost-daily readings for three years is impressive!

And it shows! All readings, even paid ones, are published publicly on a side blog dedicated to divinatory readings, tool reviews, and other divination-related posts. Their average readings are lengthy, providing ample detail and pictures of all cards (or other items, in the case of their charm sets) drawn for the readings.

The overall tone of their readings is kind, written for ease of access, and very friendly. This seller strikes me as approachable and knowledgeable. The types of readings they offer are unique enough to stand out while also being familiar enough to be comfortable.

I do think that their primary audience, based on the types of readings they offer, is going to be other practitioners and diviners. They tend to be very in-depth and specific, which isn't always appealing to a general audience. The only issue with this is that other diviners are very likely to do their own reading or ask for one from a friend than pay a sum for one. It's a tougher market, but a worthwhile one, as clients tend to be of a higher quality overall.

This seller uses Tumblr as their primary medium for receiving requests and giving readings, but they use Ko-Fi as a transactional hub. The listing we're focusing on is for a Monthly Check-In Spread:

I chose this one because it's the one I would consider the middle ground between their really unique readings and the "standard" readings you might find anywhere. Twenty cards is, if you didn't know, a shit load. For only $10.00, that's fifty cents per card - an absolute steal.

Now, there are no images for any of these listings. That's not necessarily a real negative, since all of these readings are published publicly on Tumblr. You can easily find examples of the same readings to see what you're getting. For this reading, it may not really be necessary to have an image of an example spread. But for the other unusual readings in the commissions listings, it might be helpful to have. Plus, it makes links to the listings more attractive, too.

First impressions for this listing and the shop are pretty positive, if bland. If I didn't know this seller personally, I might be a little put off by having to contact them before making a commission request. A lot of more casual clients are unlikely to want to do that, and you might miss out on sales because of it. That said, you do mitigate a lot of issues with people breaking rules, asking for things you can't do, and just generally being uncool. It's a trade-off, one that shouldn't be made lightly.

The primary selling points here are the uniqueness of the readings offered, the vast variety of tools available, and the personality of the reader. My first impression is that their newness is pretty obvious, but they have a lot of potential for greatness. I really hope their requests pick up (to still-comfortable levels, of course), because their style deserves the attention.

Now, let's get into our rating criteria!

Clarity

How clear is the language? Does it use a bunch of obscure terms or talk in circles? Is it obvious what the buyer will receive based on this listing alone?

Let's pull up that product description again, just to have it.

This, like all other listings here, is very straightforward. It says exactly what you're going to get: Twenty cards drawn and interpreted to predict the next four weeks ahead. I particularly appreciate that the description breaks it down a little further, saying you get the month overview, weekly breakdowns, and the blessing and burden for each week.

Each listing contains the directions to contact the seller before requesting a reading on Ko-Fi. The seller explained to me directly that this is to prevent rule breaking and to ensure they're able to perform the reading. I really get this, personally, since I also sell on Ko-Fi. There are fees from PayPal and Stripe (and Ko-Fi itself, if you're doing the contributor thing for extra features) that you won't get back if you do a refund. You essentially eat those fees, which sucks for even an established, very successful seller.

However, as mentioned above, I do think it's a turn-off for many potential clients. It's not the kind of thing to require lightly. This is, though, very much a personal choice. And I think it's explained here pretty clearly. The other thing about it is that I assumed this meant DMing on Tumblr, since it's DMing on Ko-Fi; but rereading their pinned post with a closer eye, I realize they want you to send an ask on Tumblr, not a DM. They don't read DMs. It's really important to make that distinction!

If I had to nitpick something for clarity about the service itself, I would say it's in how the twenty cards are allotted to the four weeks. Is it five cards drawn per week? Or is it a more holistic approach to the month as a whole? How are we dividing that up? Personally, I want just a little more detail so I understand exactly what I'm getting. However, I realize I'm pretty picky in that regard, and I genuinely think the way it's worded now is fine for the average client. The solution would be to reach out and ask, which is exactly what the seller wants, anyways.

One other thing I could nitpick is for clarity in how long the reading will take to complete. I assume it depends on the queue ahead of me, the complexity of the reading, how long it takes to go back and forth in our conversations... but I don't want to assume, I'd like to be told. An approximation is enough - something like, "I reply to DMs within one business day. Readings are usually complete within a week of payment confirmation." That way, someone doesn't get pissed when they don't get their reading within a day or two.

Overall, Clarity gets a somewhat critical 4/5 for me, with half a point off for each of the nitpicky things. Very solid.

Transparency

Is the seller honest about their refund/returns policy? Is it obvious where materials are being sourced? Is the seller being honest and clear about their credentials and/or qualifications?

As you progress through the Ko-Fi screens, we reach the Terms and Conditions blurb, which gives us our refunds policy:

This is a standard place to put refunds information. Not offering refunds once services are provided is also standard. On the one hand, sellers often have to eat the cost of transaction fees on refunds. And on the other, it prevents people from getting readings and then unfairly demanding refunds for no reason, scamming sellers out of their time and money.

Reiterating the message-first policy is pretty smart. It's not a common requirement, and putting it in two places (especially somewhere people have to check an "I Agree" box to move on) means the client is likelier to actually read it.

Now, there's one thing here that stands out to me: The mention that the reading will be published on Tumblr. This is repeated in their pinned post on their readings blog, which they require all prospective clients, whether free or paid, to read for a full run-down of rules. (Fairly standard, in my opinion; reading terms/rules before requesting any reading is polite.)

The first is that I wonder whether I'll get a personal copy of the reading. If I didn't have a Tumblr, how would I receive the reading? Even if their primary audience is on Tumblr, this limits their growth opportunities for the future. Sending a copy of the reading directly to the querent be more sustainable in the long-run.

The second is, what if I would rather have my reading be 100% private? Is that an option at all, or is it required that the reading be public? The pinned post states that I can be anonymous in the reading, so I assume I can't have the reading be totally private to just me. Which brings me back around to the question of whether the public post is going to be the only record of the reading, or if I'll also receive a personal version of it via email or something similar.

Either way, this would be, personally, a pretty big turn-off for the reading. I generally prefer to have my readings be private, and having a reading I've paid for be published for the public to see is something I wouldn't love. This isn't a big deal to everyone, but for personal matters or sensitive subjects, I could definitely see this preventing some folks from buying - even at such a steal of a price. If you didn't read the pinned post carefully enough (which I admittedly missed this, despite reading it three or four times for this article! I knew free readings were all published; it was the paid readings I didn't realize were published), and this is when you found out your reading would be put on Tumblr publicly... well, it'd certainly make me wish I knew before going through all the trouble of reaching out, chatting, and then almost paying. Of course, I doubt it would actually get that far - the conversation had would most likely discuss the publication terms, just to confirm them if nothing else.

However, on the good side, this seller is honest about how much experience they have, quoting the exact date they started doing divination right in their pinned post. They also state in the same pinned post that they're not perfect, and that sometimes, they might be wrong in their predictions. I really appreciate a reader who's humble enough to tell the truth like that. It gives big points to Transparency.

They also, in the same pinned post, list out various views they hold about divination and what you as a client ought to expect. It's a simple, effective code of conduct that displays their expectations for querents and for themselves. Solid.

So, Transparency is overall not bad. I'm giving this seller 4/5, with points off for the public/private questions and points added back in for the frankness.

Presence

Is the seller present anywhere other than their shop? Do they share anything about their process, method, or practice anywhere? Are they actually part of a community, or are they just selling something?

As previously mentioned, this seller is very active on Tumblr. I didn't see any other social media attached to their accounts, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Particularly because all of their blogs are chock-full of good stuff: information about their own practices, their tools, things they're excited about, things they're trying, readings from other people, their hobbies, their interests... Hell yeah, honestly.

This person has several side blogs, all for different subjects and focuses. They reblog a lot, but they're also involved in conversations and sharing their own thoughts.

This is someone who is very active in their communities. They're not interacting to make money, they're interacting because it's fun and they like it. Turning their divination practice into a source of income is an extension of that. I genuinely believe that if this seller didn't like divination, they wouldn't bother with it.

They share a ton about their tools and methods. Recently, they've been offering practice readings for free that are so cool. They're engaging with their audience just to engage, but it also provides an essential insight into the way their readings work. This seller answers questions about their readings and practices with an eagerness that shows me exactly how happy they are when doing all this.

All this to say, their Presence is an extremely solid 5/5. I think the only improvement to be made would be tagging their divination reading posts with more popular tags for greater visibility and growth. Keep doing what you're doing.

Genuineness

Are listing photos genuine? Are any images AI, or is any copy written by an AI? Is this a real person selling something, or is this a bot account?

So, there are no listing photos on any of the commission options. Again, this isn't necessarily bad, because this seller publishes all their readings publicly on Tumblr. You can do a quick scroll to see all their tools in action for the readings they've got on offer (plus more!).

All of the images found on the blog are 100% genuine. They're obviously unique, taken of the readings in progress. Nothing here is generated by a machine. The readings are consistent in style across all the posts, and none of the images are repeated. It would be tough to fake these readings, I think, because of the sheer number of tools they've got. There are so many moving parts, it would take more effort to bullshit the readings than do them for real!

I really can't overstate how lovely this seller is. Their interests inform their practices, and there's something very charming about that. It doesn't get much more genuine than someone doing good work just to do good work, for no other reason than they're good at it and it's fun. Once again, hell yeah.

Genuineness gets an obvious 5/5.

Verifiability

Is it obvious how a buyer will know their service is completed? Is it possible for the buyer to know? Are there any reviews verifying the quality/existence of the products or services? Are there negative reviews available?

Like we discussed before, all readings are provided publicly on the seller's Tumblr blog, so it's pretty obvious when the services are completed! I would assume that the client would receive a message letting them know when it's posted. And, based on the other readings published, the client is directly tagged unless they request to be anonymous. So there are a few ways to know.

The seller leaves reblogs on for the readings so that the querent can reblog it, and they include a note at the end requesting that no one but the querent reblog. It's in these reblogs that most feedback is given, but it's sometimes in the replies.

I took a couple hours to scroll and read through all the replies and reblogs to see what folks are saying. (I didn't take any screenshots for the querents' privacy, since the reviews talk about details found in the readings.) Reviews are overall positive, and I'm not surprised. The quality here is very, very high. So high, in fact, that I decided to take a shot at it with a reading for myself. I rarely request readings from other people, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the reading I was given was both highly accurate and useful. This reader comes recommended by other verified sources in the community, which is, in my opinion, the best kind of verification one can have.

There weren't any overtly negative reviews that I could find, but I think a key detail here is that this blog isn't overly active. It's still pretty new, all things considered, so traffic is more of a trickle than a flood, especially with the seller's recent break from performing readings for others. The feedback this seller has received is thorough, though, and there were bits of advice for improvement sprinkled here and there.

So, overall, Verifiability receives a somewhat biased 5/5. The fact that my own friends, who are themselves accomplished diviners, are able to verify this person's services is a huge boost.

Morality

Are they offering services related to health, mental health, legal services, or other dubious subjects? Are they knowingly targeting a vulnerable audience using buzzwords and inflammatory language? Is the listing sharing misinformation or encouraging belief in conspiracy theories? Does the listing contain debunkable information? Does the listing participate in bigotry, cultural appropriation, bioessentialism, or anything of that nature?

This seller's readings are entirely above-board. Their rules specifically state that they won't do divination for medical, legal, or financial advice. They also specifically say that they won't answer questions that cross lines of closed practices or that disrespects anyone else.

Their services are respectful from start to finish. I would dare to say it's part of their whole Brand.

Not only that, but based on the other blogs this person has, they're someone who is always learning. They very specifically Do Not do bigotry, which you'd think would be a low bar, but so many other sellers I've looked at in the last few months fail to clear it, so... y'know. Their pinned post also specifically asks for people to point out wrongdoing, misinformation, and problems in the content they post, which is a very green flag. Even if I hadn't had the pleasure of talking to this person directly, I'd still rate this person quite high here.

Anyways, by virtue of losing precisely no points in this category, Morality gets a 5/5.

Attractiveness & Pointers

(For legitimate sellers and self-submitted shops only.)

Is the shop/listing attractive? Does it stand out from other listings on the market? Does it establish the seller as unique, interesting, and otherwise worthy of my business? How could it be improved?

Hooray, I get to fill out this category for the first time! Note that there's no rating for this category; it's just an addition with general tips for improvement. It's important to know that these aren't rules, and there are a thousand ways to approach marketing stuff. Opinions, thoughts, ideas, etc. etc. etc.

The first thing I'll say is a repeat of something I said earlier: Images for the more obscure types of readings would probably be a good idea. Either a photo of an example spread or an image that describes the spread in some way attached to the listing is something to consider. Ko-Fi's format for images on commissions is... it's weird. I personally don't have images for my commissions because I hate the way they appear in the list, so I really do think this is a personal choice either way.

Something I've noticed in a few places are a handful of typos. In the reading posts themselves, the spelling and grammar are really good! It's in the listings and disclaimers that there are a couple issues, which I think may be due to inexperience and perhaps fluster with regards to the legality of it all. Let me pull up the Terms and Conditions screenshot for the spread:

It's just a little bit off. It works, to be sure, but the execution is a touch clumsy. In the last sentence of the first paragraph, Ko-Fi should be capitalized, capital-K and capital-F. And in the same paragraph, that last sentence is the strange one. Here's how I'd adjust it, personally:

"Please leave your Tumblr username in the request box so that I can reach you there if needed. If no Tumblr is provided, or if you don't have a Tumblr, I will use Ko-Fi to contact you."

In the final line, as well, I would either place an article of "The" in front of "finished" to make it read "The finished reading will be published..." or make "reading" plural so that it reads "Finished readings will be published..." As it is right now, it isn't 100% grammatically correct.

I'm going to nitpick here a little as well: There are so many disclaimers. Too many, one might say. Having the instructions to contact the seller on Tumblr (or Ko-Fi) before buying in multiple places makes sense, as that's an unusual thing to require. However, I think that having the "entertainment disclaimer" on the main page description, in every listing's description, and in the T&C is excessive, at least on Ko-fi. Narrowing it down to just the main page and Terms is plenty. This makes it significantly easier to update in the future.

Now, note that on a platform like Etsy, having the "entertainment disclaimer" in the product description is good practice. This is because Etsy is a marketplace, and people often aren't clicking through to see the shop description and every other listing. They're using the search bar with a particular term and then clicking on something that's eye-catching. If the disclaimer isn't easily found in the product description, they run the risk of legal troubles.

Ko-Fi isn't really that marketplace. In general, sellers are linking to their pages on social media to an existing audience. Also, I'm of the opinion that Ko-Fi's presentation of Terms and Conditions (and the customizability of them) is significantly better than Etsy's. The text is big and obvious with a box you check and a button you click to say "yes, I've read this, and I agree with it." So, I don't think it's 100% necessary on every single listing.

If I had to pick one more thing with room for improvement, it's discoverability. When I scroll through the most common tags people use for finding tarot readers and other diviners, this seller rarely appears. Why? Because their readings are tagged using their unique filing system (which is a good thing to have!)... and not much else. They tag with "tarot readings," but that's all. Their pinned post with all their information has one tag for their filing system and nothing else.

In talking to this person, they wish they got more requests. It seems to me that they're not really reaching their audience because they're not reaching. In order to be found, you have to be in the tags. To be in the tags, you have to post and tag accordingly. Having a pinned post is all well and good, and reblogging yourself is fine, but that won't make you appear at the top of the tags.

Constantly posting about readings being open can be annoying for the diviner and potential querents. Spam should be avoided. But never posting means never getting discovered! Intermittent posts stating that your readings are open, defining the types of readings you're doing briefly, linking to your pinned/guidelines post, and then adding notes and links for commissions are ideal. Essentially, whenever this person finds themselves going "hm, I wish I was getting requests right now," they should make a fresh post on the readings blog with tags for things like "#free tarot readings," "#free divination," and "#paid divination." It's the best way to get discovered, which is the only way to get requests, which is the only way to get paid.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: This seller has a lot of potential. They've got a solid style that comes through clearly in their readings. Over time, as they get more confident, I really do think they'll see a fair amount of success.

Oh, also, raise your prices. Ten dollars for twenty cards is nonsense, unless the entire reading - discussing with the querent, drawing the cards, laying them out, doing the interpretation, writing up the analysis, doing edits, and publishing - takes no more than one hour.

Think in terms of a livable wage: How many hours does a reading take? How much are you trying to make per hour? How much is fair to make per hour? If this reading takes one hour, you're making $10.00 per hour. Is that really fair, even to a novice? And even if you think it is, is it fair to someone more advanced? The time spent honing one's skills is worth compensating. And, for that matter, so is the investment in the tools being used. Consider their cost. If they were all gifts, perhaps it doesn't matter, but think about it. If you were using one tarot deck purchased for $60.00, how many readings would it require to break even on that investment? What about if you're factoring an hourly wage?

Remember: You're not just drawing cards. You're spending time and energy beyond the motions of the divination. The time spent communicating, training, and writing is also part of the service being provided.

Food for thought.

Average Score & Summary

The average of all six scores comes to a total of 4.6/5. Pretty damn good! It feels nice to rate someone so highly.

This seller and their shop have a ton of potential. I know I keep saying that, but it's because it's true! It's my number one takeaway.

Honestly, I think this shop is a really good example of someone who's uncertain but doing their best. They're already aware of their position as a diviner. It's a shockingly easy (and very tempting) thing to grift and lie and manipulate in this space. The fact that this seller is making efforts to be as transparent as possible and shares so much of their practice - holy shit, that list of tools, though! - means a ton.

In a magical services landscape choked with the smog of bullshit artists, frauds, and inflated egos, this seller is a breath of fresh air. I genuinely look forward to seeing their success.

Take notes, folks. This one's textbook.

Final Notes

Many sellers in this series anonymous for a reason. Please do not go find these people. Even if I'm exposing a blatant scam to warn people about it, do not harass anyone. Harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. When appropriate, I attempt to contact the seller(s) to discuss their ads and listings *or* report them where possible. Again, do not attempt to contact or bother the sellers, even if my coverage of them is negative.

If you spot an ad or a product listing in the wild that you want me to see or cover, send me a link, a screenshot, or the name of the shop. You can send it via ask or DM on Tumblr or to thewitchaese@gmail.com. Or, if you're a legitimate seller and want me to take a look at your listings (anonymous or not), shoot me a message or an email to chat about it! Examples of what to do are just as important as examples of what not to do, after all.

And, if you enjoy this series or my other work, please consider dropping a couple dollars in my tip jar! Writing is my full-time gig, and contributions help keep this boat afloat.

Thanks for reading!

[blood-drawn-by-love]

For those who are wondering where to go for community as obey-me’s’ downfall is on the horizon;

a bit of a dramatic title lol I propose my community: The Blood Drawn by Love fandom! (Rated 16+)

It is not a fully finished game like obey me, (yet) however it still has content (fanfic, fanart, insert ocs, official art, ect. Even some finished game OST’s!) and currently a small community, which if that is something your looking for we have it.

plus BDBL has overlapping themes as obey me so if you still need to fulfill that demon-boyfriend itch you’ve come to the right place.

read more for further elaboration:

TLDR/summary: You accidentally steal a spell book, transporting yourself into the underworld, ending up having to jump through hoops with the help of an abnormally kind.. demon? He doesn’t seem to like that title. Only to be wrapped up in another conquest that seems bigger than life itself, traveling through the realms and eventually facing Lucifer himself as he took notice of you and your teams deeds throughout the rings.

Shockingly enough obey me didn’t really inspire this game pretty much at all, just for the record.

Blood Drawn by Love is an adventure visual novel with dating sim elements and battle mechanics and so far 20+ characters to interact with. The MC is as neutral in identifying features (such as gender, race, and body type) as I could make them.

here is the discord server.

a significantly longer explanation of the plot:

You play a human who’s really down on their luck recently and while walking by a carnival you spot one of those fortune teller tents. Not having much else to do, you go and get your fortune told. Couldn’t hurt, right? At most you’d loose a few dollars.

It doesn’t look good so the ‘teller’ goes to set up a luck spell.

You end up bumping into a small shelf, causing a few items and a book to fall off of it, next thing you know the air is cold and your waking up somewhere you don’t recognize.

However luck finally beams upon you as your found by someone who looks just a little different than all the other scary creatures you’ve seen.

from than on you realize you’ve been transported to the underworld via the wrong potion falling on the open transport page of the tellers spell book, of whom is actually one of the strongest known witches who would be pissed to know you lost their book.

you both go and adventure the realms to find it, only to get roped up in another, much longer winded scheme of having to save each realm from their own sins personified. Who knew Satan would be a horse and not a red guy with horns and wings? You travel through each ring and learn their various cultures, species, and customs. You meet a lot of strange people but they don’t seem that bad, they’re quite charming in their own ways, even. by time your help is no longer needed you find yourself with a new found community, and potentially love. Would staying be so bad?

[cursecuelebre]

Witch/Tarot PSA: DO NOT BUY COUNTERFEIT DECKS.

What is a counterfeit deck?

These are “decks” are illegal manufacture of actual real tarot decks that are not created by the actual publishing houses or the artist or author. These were copy pasted terribly on small cheap card stock in plastic folded boxes rather than the regular boxes that the publishing company would use. These cards will not sometimes credit the author or artist, do not use the copyrighted company which is illegal and it will not come with a guidebook but a QR code on the back.

Why are they bad?

Yes buying regular and legit decks can be expensive in my country US it’s about $30 if the deck is brand new. Not that expensive but if you can’t spare $30 save your money or wait till they go on sale. Tarot is a luxury not a necessity remember that. When one buy these decks their money will not go to the artist or author or even publishing company but a Chinese factory most likely a sweatshop that are treating their workers terribly. I’d rather pay full priced for an artist and authors hardwork that they deserve knowing they put their blood, sweat, and tears for. Also creating these inauthentic decks harms the environment as well.

Keep in mind publishing houses like Llewelyn or Us Game systems are not big, their not penguin books or Harper Collins these are small publishing companies that need to have a percentage of the sales.

Author Ciro Marchetti known for his Glided Tarot said that he doesn’t want to continue his art career for tarot because of this reason, of his deck being illegal pirated and sold for a very cheap price that isn’t worth it because the quality is terrible and unethical. It affects the artists and authors mostly because their work is being produced by companies that they won’t get rightfully paid for.

Also here’s one of the most messed up thing I discovered, I love my small metaphysical shops and my family likes to explore all kinds of shops in my state of Connecticut. But when I go into a shop and I see those counterfeit decks now unlike Temu where they sell them for less than $10 these owners would sell them for full price. This is a scam because people who are unaware just brought a pirated item thinking it’s legit and actually produced by an actual publishing company when it’s a cheaply made deck and the pictures are terrible quality very pixelated. I get angry when I see these decks and I’m taking my business somewhere else.

There have been cases where people are selling AI versions of tarot decks for instance, The Dark Wood Tarot by Sasha Graham (wonderful deck highly recommend) the art was stolen and reused for a AI tarot deck that used the same name and everything. Beware of that and I know that isn’t a common but AI tarot exists so be careful especially on sites like Etsy, Etsy has a lot of AI decks, do your research and message the seller if possible at times the seller will even put in the bio of what it is their selling if it’s made from AI.

How to Prevent It

Spread awareness, US game systems made an excellent statement on counterfeit decks and telling customers how to spot them. If you see counterfeit decks in your metaphysical shop you can confront them if you want I know confrontations can be difficult especially for small businesses but again it’s important to bring it up even asking politely, “I noticed you have counterfeit decks and selling for full price why is that?” But if not take your business elsewhere maybe leave a review warning others about them. But I find it hard to believe that a lot of these shop owners don’t know what their doing when selling these decks, unless they’re very irresponsible or just don’t care about ethics of business or even laws of their business.

Cues when you are checking a counterfeit deck?

Does it have the artist’s and author’s name sometimes the person is both author and artist.

Does it come with a guidebook when the normal deck usually does. Some of these illegal decks will remove “guidebook” from the title and have a small QR Code on the back of these decks that’s your NUMBER ONE CLUE when you spot these decks THEY DO NOT HAVE GUIDEBOOKS BUT QR CODES FOR THE SAID GUIDEBOOK. THEIR VERY SMALL COMPARE TO THE AUTHENTIC DECKS.

Do they put the Publishing Company’s name for copyright? For instance those annoying US Game systems borders usually will have their copyright (within good reason to not let the cards to be ripped off that’s why you don’t see many us game system tarot rip offs). To spot the copyright title it’s on the box usually on the back, it will be small but it will have ©️ then the publishing company’s name.

Do you know of the tarot deck is a mini? Sometimes authors and publishers will republish regular decks for minis. Be sure the deck says mini or look up to see if the publishing company republished a tarot mini compare the decks if they match.

[yallthemwitches]

Final Jily/MWPP Head Canon Post (for now)

Some of which might see the light of day in my fic....who knows!

--In early 7th year when Lily was still not "officially" told about Remus, she used to sneak into James' bed and sleep there until he came back. It was the only time she would do so without permission (she slept there a lot generally but always with him already there), but she knew if she didn't seek him out herself, she wouldn't know if he came back safely or not. James of course wasn't angry about it and Sirius' loved to complain that he never found someone sleeping in his bed.

--Lily was a good singer and really loved to sing along to things or sing around the house. James, loving the Beatles, tried his hand at the guitar and turned out to play pretty decent. Lily loved it when he would make up songs on the spot (which were usually narrations of things happening at that moment.)

-- When Lily and James were publicly "official" they were inseparable and often showing more PDA than should have been accepted for the two head students. This only compounded Snape's hatred for James as everywhere he turned Lily and James were cuddling/snogging/kissing. ( A scene where Snape accidentally witnesses a bit more than snogging might occur in CitW--effectively causing a fight)

--I go back and forth on the now staple community canon that the Heads had their own separate dorms---but at the very least I think they had their own office and bathroom. Lily and James tag teamed making their office extremely decorated with movie/music posters ( Lily had a "Virgin Witch" film poster (1972)* which James loved so much and refused to take down despite McGonnagall not being very enthused by it) , books, a record player, quidditch stuff, and other items that generally interested them. They were widely considered the most "hip" head students in centuries by staff .

the poster:

--Peter was very perturbed by Lily's encroachment on his friend group. Not necessarily taking it to "Yoko" levels, but by the 7th year the marauders interests had shifted away from general merry prank-making and towards the war and ( in James' case) a future with Lily. In some ways Peter blamed Lily for the boys' new found political activism and didn't like the change in the dynamic.

--Turns out Lily loved James' hair despite years of complaining about it. During snogging/sex she would love to pull on it and have her hands through it. In public she would often run her hand through it or absently move bits of his hair out of his face. Seeing that she was so attracted to it, James' teased her endlessly about all the years of nagging she gave him and liked to tease that she was just jealous because she couldn't mess it up herself in those times.

--James stayed over at the Evans' twice:

The first time because Lily invited him over for Petunia's engagement party as moral support. Marge and Vernon's parents were present and upon seeing Lily and James he remarked how "he couldn't wait to see how she would find a way to muck the night up." James, who took that as a personal challenge, spent the evening bringing up the most uncomfortable conversations he could manage ("So Marge, what are your thoughts on Astrology? You look like a Gemini.") then set the home's fire sprinkler system off on purpose when Vernon and Marge were in the sitting room after expecting Lily and Petunia to wash up the dishes. Despite knowing full well what he was doing, Lily couldn't be mad about it and even accepted when James snuck back after saying goodbye so he could come sleep with her.

The second time, was her and James' engagement and things were much easier without the entire Dursley family there. James got to sleep there without secrecy and he was more than happy to rechristen Lily's childhood bed.

-- At Petunia's wedding, Lily was distraught by her sisters choice to leave her out of the wedding party. This only added to the dismal mood as the wedding was extremely boring with no music/dancing/ or general merriment and most people just mulled around.

Attempting to raise Lily's spirits, James charmed an idle record player to play the Beatles Twist and Shout in which he made Lily come dance with him. This caused other people ( who were desperate for something fun) to also start dancing and effectively started a real afterparty. Vernon was not happy, but secretly Petunia was happy to have a bit of liveliness...even if it came from Potter and her sister.

[revencntt]

WHEN? 2:22p

WHERE? Tideview University

WHO? @gabrielismss

Jameson is growing quite a fascination with one particular Brotherhood family. Who could blame him? Who doesn't love a good secret? Who doesn't love a messy family dynamic? Especially when it isn't your own. Every family is fucked up. Jameson knows this. There's just an extra little flavor to the Castillo-Fiori family affairs that Jameson eats up. He likes Gael. Always has. When Port Leiry was a memory and the road was what suited them both best, they were something like friends. Jameson didn't know what Gael was hiding. He peels back the layers of the family history through Gemma. Ah, Gemma. He's a sucker for a beautiful blonde with a sharp tongue. When her tongue wasn't slithering down his throat (and amongst other places), it went on and on about her twin brother Gabriel. Another piece to the fucked up puzzle that is the Castillo-Fiori family. Gemma painted him so perfect. So good. She speaks of her brother like he can do no wrong and Jameson wonders if that could be true. Gemma carries around a secret that not even she herself knows. One that would certainly put her head on a stick if daddy dearest were to find out. If Gemma is a witch, what does that mean for Gabriel? Jameson ought to mind his own business. That's what Dorian says, but Dorian isn't the bleeding heart like Jameson is. He's concerned. There are people out in the world who prey on young witches. Those who take advantage of their ignorance. Predators who make you fall in love with them, make you believe in them, and when all is said and done, they leave you buried in a shallow grave to waste away. God forbid that happen to Gemma and Gabriel. If Gabriel ends up being like Gemma, all Jameson wants to do is look out for him. Take him under his wing, like he plans to do with his sister. Keep a watchful eye. Act as a mentor. All Jameson wants to do is help. He goes looking for the hunter at Tideview University. Gemma's mentioned he goes to school here, but it's the bracelet she left at Jameson's apartment that guides him to her brother. The twins are so close, his essence lingers on nearly every item she owns. Jameson spots Gabriel in no time. He looks exactly like the photos on her instagram. Blonde and muscular. It looks like slaying creatures of the night keeps his body tight and fit. He finds an angle quickly. A wallet sits in Gabriel's back pocket, Jameson can see it from where he's sitting. Wouldn't it be a shame if it fell out? A simple wave of Jameson's hand and the wind picks up the wallet and plops it on the ground. Gabriel doesn't notice. Thank God Jameson is around to see it happen. He hops off the bench he's sitting on and darts to the lost valuable. "Hey!" Jameson calls out to Gabriel, picking up the pace to catch up with him. "Hey!" When he finally gets the attention of the hunter, Jameson extends the wallet towards him. "Did you drop this?" Playfully, before Gabriel can take it, Jameson retracts. "It's gonna cost you. I do have a Good Samaritan fee which is half of whatever's inside." A cheeky grin rises on his lips. "Half is fair, right? Technically, I could've taken the whole thing and walked the other way. You wouldn't have noticed until you were half way cross campus and I'd be long gone by then." Jameson laughs. "I'm just fucking with you." He hands him the wallet. "I'd never do something like that."

[wrightfamily]

3 & 12 & 20 & 26 for olruggio u know how it is (+ for the freebie if you want where do you think he falls on the light to heavy sleeper sliding scale)

oru... remember how i spent like half an hour or longer trying to find that one image of him last night.. anyway

character asks

Least favorite canon thing about this character?

ohhh man the only one i can think of is this. this is not my beloved olruggio. this is a ken doll or something.

What's a headcanon you have for this character?

ohhh this is tough to come up with on the spot... i think he likes wearing light/loose clothes because he had to wear heavier ones growing up in such a cold environment. also he has a pretty good internal clock but that doesn't mean he has perfect time management skills

Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

i don't think we really see him and alaira WHICH FEELS CRIMINAL i think they would get along really well but she would be so good at getting under his skin in a good nurtured friend way...

What's something the character has done you can't get over? Be it something funny, bad, good, serious, whatever?

i really love all the moments he does something kind for other people without asking for anything in return, like when he made those stones for qifrey and the girls under the guise of having them be test dummies, or when he made sure that one woman's own wishes were heard for her wedding instead of just her father's, whenever he sticks up for the girls (like reminding qifrey he needs to focus on looking after them or telling the knights that if they mistreat the girls theyre going home), or doing what he was able to do for that one kid that kept hearing things... also the fact that he invented the stones that made coco fall in love with magic to begin with, or that moment where he's super exhausted but instantly perks up when agott asks him to check out a magic item she made... i love this guy so much the incredible charitable forgiving fatassed breadwinner domestic goddess leftist housewife dilf....

and for the last one i think he was a heavy sleeper as a kid but when he got older he became a lighter one and its ruining his life. especially bc he has 4 young witches running about