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breelandwalker · 2 years ago

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hi! i was reading that post on things that need to stop in witchy/spiritual spaces and i was wondering what you meant by the burning times (spelled tymez)? i truly have no idea what this is and sometimes humor goes over my head. thanks!

Oh, my WHEELHOUSE! -claps on the Witchstorian hat-

The Burning Times is a revisionist bit of historical fiction passed around and promoted by the modern witchcraft and pagan communities. It refers to a very real period in European history in the 15th-17th centuries when witch hunts and witch trials were happening frequently, many ending in the hanging or burning of the accused. The revisionist myth seeks to turn these innocents into martyrs, labeling them as members of a secret underground pagan cult that survived the Christianization of Europe and were later hunted by the Church for their attempts to keep a pre-Christian nature-based religion alive. Estimates put forth by some community figures, most notably Gerald Gardner, total the supposed number of slain witches as close to nine million.

In reality, while these trials certainly happened, the accused witches were almost entirely marginalized or disenfranchised persons, targets of vicious gossip and hearsay, or victims of political and ecclesiastical machinations beyond their control. Some were on the wrong side of disagreements between Church factions. Others were Jews, Muslims, or Roma persecuted by a prejudiced and easily frightened populace. And by that point in history, it is safe to say that while pre-Christian trappings certainly remained part of various seasonal festivals and popular superstitions, none of the people accused, arrested, or executed in witch trials were actually pagans.

Nor would they have labeled themselves as witches, despite what our modern standards may make of their practices and beliefs about the world they lived in. It's important to remember that "witch," up until the early 20th century was universally regarded as a derogatory term rather than an empowering one. It is still a derogatory and even dangerous thing to be called in many parts of the world today, despite efforts to reclaim it by the modern witchcraft movement.

(It should be noted that accused persons who confessed to being witches often did so under duress or torture, and it should go without saying that this does not constitute any kind of objective truth.)

Furthermore, the figure of Nine Million Witches is factually impossible in historic terms. With the continent already ravaged by war, famine, plague, and political upset during the 200 or so years that make up the so-called Burning Times, a loss of nine million people from witch trials alone (nearly all of them women, if Gardner is to be believed) would have completely decimated the population of Europe. The Black Death alone killed at least a third of the population less than a century before the first spate of these trials began and the continent wouldn't recover for another 150 years. Simply put, even with the most dedicated and zealous of witch hunters on the case, there wouldn't have been enough people to burn.

The actual number of witch trial victims is closer to about 100,000 all told. That's just what we can prove on paper. And even that made a huge impact. The real figures are enough of a tragedy on their own. No embellishment needed.

The Burning Times was adopted as both a pagan and a feminist buzzword for the patriarchal crimes of the Church, and a documentary film (riddled with factual errors) premiered in 1990 which spread the story to a wider audience and cemented the presence of the myth in the second wave of the New Age and witchcraft reconstructionist movements.

There have been many revelatory texts written by both pagan and secular scholars over the years which debunk the idea of the Burning Times, but it's so firmly entrenched, particularly in popular books by the likes of Buckland and Ravenwolf, that you still see it crop up from time to time. It's one of the things we often have to unteach newer witches and pagans, especially the ones who have an axe to grind.

When we say, "Oh they probably still believe in the Burning Times," with a bit of an eyeroll or a knowing look, it often signifies in a gently derivative way that the person is question is either new to the conversation and has not yet been disabused of certain outdated notions, or that they're clinging to those notions with a tenacity of cognitive dissonance too strong to be countered by common sense.

If you'd like more information on witch trials, I did a very long episode on the history of witchcraft and the law on Hex Positive back in September of 2021, tracing the evolution of witchcraft-related laws and notable trials from the Code of Hammurabi to the late 20th century. The Burning Times myth makes an inevitable appearance during the discussion.

Hope this cleared things up for you! 😁

#kerrigor #witchblr #witch trials #history #history of witchcraft #Hex Positive #Bree answers your inquiries

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hiddenintheveil · 2 years ago

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I am treating this site like I am a raccoon and all your posts are shinies. Reblogging is taking the shiniest shinies and putting them in my cave.

I'm Veil or Elm; I use any pronouns except nounself neopronouns or it/its.

Pronouns page

I am a follower of the biblical Lord Jesus Christ, though I do not post about it often (if at all).

DNI: TERFs/radfems; fans of the minecraft youtuber Dream; anyone who practices wicca/witchcraft/paganism; anyone unwilling to abandon their prejudice against a minority (that is, bigots); and anyone over 18 attracted to and willing to act on those attractions towards minors.

If you tell anyone to die, kill themself, or go to Hell, get off my blog. I don't do that here. It's a boundary set by both my religion and common decency.

Ummm I don't know how to Interact With People so ig if you want to be friends you'll have to reach out. I'm open to making friends, but people are scary ^.^

If you want to ask me random questions but cant think of any, here's a list of them that i always have an answer (usually a different answer) to!

The Life Series (Third Life, Last life, Double Life, Limited Life, and Secret Life), Hermitcraft, and the concept album/comics series Danger Days: True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys are my current most prevalent interests. Generation Loss and the DSMP also hold a special place in my heart (especially benchtrio and any pair therein).

I don't care about shipping discourse, and I often reblog things that contain shipping from a variety of fandoms without tagging for them.

#spokesman of the veil is the tag for when i actually do say stuff;

check out #PRETTY ART, there's a lot of cool art by many amazing artists! I love art with eyestrain colors, but I try to mark any particularly painfully colored art with #colors! . If you need something tagged better, PLEASE ask.

If you're looking for something interesting to read, on the other hand, check out my sideblog @monsters-lesbians-and-magic! it's a collection of (mostly) original stories that have come across my dash.

#Elm art is where I put art I myself make. There's not much there, but feel free to check it out. This also includes the fanbinding projects I do!

I tag for finding, not necessarily filtering. That said, I have one tag for filtering:

#neither here nor there is my tag for Bad Day Posting. #letters to emily is for Worse Day Posting- i.e., when i only feel brave enough to talk in tags and three-quarter thoughts. They're posts of me screaming to the void.

If it would make you more comfortable to have me tag a trigger or fandom or something so you can filter it, feel free to ask!

Banners /blinkies under cut:

#finally making a pinned #spokesman of the veil #Elm art #PRETTY ART #like this post if you read it pls!#also if you read this far you're contractually obligated to send/recommend me a piece of eyestrain art /j #ask game #reblogging to watch later #save for later #binding pray for disaster

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kerblackthorn · 4 years ago

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Unmasking the Master-Mistress of Magic

I am the prophet of the Mastriss, the seer in the Darkness. I sought a path: I looked to religion, to science, and to the innumerable paths within Paganism, Hinduism, the occult, and Wicca, but none could hold, none could contain fully my heart nor express the language of my soul. I pilgrimaged to India and Europe, became certified in yogic instruction, I took many plants hoping to finally rend the Veil and see the Truth. Intuitively, I always knew that Truth is One although our languages and cultures are many. Truth is absolute although our experiences are as countless as the stars. As variable in sound as the way each child develops their speech. We do not invalidate one another but expand our breadth and depth of knowledge for this beautiful wondrous Kosmos through one another.

I shall seek to express in such variable human skills the Truth of our existence. I shall try to explain how to experience this Truth, that anyone who reads my words would make connections and find their own words. That when you speak to the spirits, they would speak back and be heard. I want to do this because I love you, although I do not yet know you. All of this World is my kin, and so you who read my words are my brothers and sisters, my aunties and uncles. I was discouraged and deluded, full of doubt and fear, but when I found the footsteps of the Trickster in every culture, the fingerprints of that profoundly simple dual-natured Mastriss experientially everywhere I sought the reality of things, all of my burdens were shed. Now, I wander around with a head as empty as a child and eyes as open as a madman. I come and go from my body as a mouse from their hole.

Having drunk from the breasts of the Mighty Goat, I smile at the Wind, talk to the Tree-People, and sometimes cry when I pluck a Plant. All of my needs and desires are taken care of, and I have no fear of any future need or desire to go unmet. My spirit-mate walks beside me and I see Her smile and hear Her voice all throughout my days. One day, when the Dark Angel comes for me, that demon that once terrified me but whose mighty name I know now and call, I will go along hand-in-hand with a smile as friends on our merry way to those well-known Lands I often dream of.

If you would set out upon this path, you must make every effort to break open your mind. The mind will always doubt, always delude, and always unnecessarily entangle you. Therefore, go to war with the mind: empty it, destroy its barriers, and achieve madness for yourself. The boons of Dionysus and the panic of Pan are your friends on this path, and the comforts of Aphrodite are your secure fixing point. Make Venusian love your great guiding principle and no evil will overtake your soul. As this war of the mind is undertaken, you must work to change your mind to its very core when it comes to 3 human beliefs whose presence is the greatest reason that unnatural religions continue to prevail in this world and the body clings so tightly to the soul that people have forgotten how to dream and how to sojourn out of the bonds of the daily self.

The first is the basically gnostic worldview which has been so ingrained through it's Christianization and the subsequent spread of Christianity. Gnosticism teaches us that the world is spiritual over physical, mind over matter, principles over practice… this is the first great trick which the Mastriss uses to test us. You must see past this preoccupation with compartmentalizing. Break open the dam of your spirit and let it flow out over your life! Embrace the truth of animism. Until science began to overtake religion in the 19th century it is clear from the journals of clergymen that even the Christian Church embraced this worldview until it had been supplanted by a science which was entirely incomplete, which could not comprehend the things which modern minds have found: the truths of quantum physics, the language of trees and water, and the true nature of consciousness were all matters of religion then, and when microscopes did not reveal these miniature worlds, the old world dismissed all the majesty of mystical religion. The reality is that mysticism was and always will be far ahead of science. Embrace animism, return to the primal.

The second trick we must overcome from the Mastriss is that of nature's triumph over nurture. We have fought with nature for so long, becoming, as anthropologists assert, cooked and "overdone". But now an eldritch call is going out in this last age of humankind, a voice that tells us we must return to the primal, the primitive, the raw, or else we will perish. This latest viral threat is just a taste of what the spirits will unleash unless we can succeed. A true religion must therefore be primal, entirely banded to the natural world and the survival of the Earth. A religion which neglects the eternal nature of the Earth as the World Tree itself, containing the 3 worlds within Her, will bring about an organic age of peace, balance, and harmony without needing laws and courts and tariffs and the imbalanced malarkey of the patriarchy to succeed. Earth-centric spirituality is fundamental.

The third and final trick we must overcome is the myth of humanity's separateness. Now, this is rough ground to till due to the preoccupation people have today with avoiding something called "cultural appropriation". And in one aspect, this preoccupation is something very positive: syncretism can quickly turn into a cycle of devouring, digesting, and regurgitation which leaves people with something so different and new that the original culture is lost. However, there is also a deeply ingrained principle in us all that Truth is absolute, even if it is not capable of being explained in absolutes. No one would seek out religion and pour over books and demand experiences if they were not wanting to know the true nature of existence and the laws and spirits behind the Kosmos. That doesn't mean that the language and system they learn is absolute, but that they are experiencing the reality of things. It's like meeting a person for the first time with your best friend: you both may discuss the same event and make up entirely different judgments about this newcomer.

Syncretism is, however, very helpful, as the process of seeking synchronicity with spirits and experiences and books allows one to develop a system of fact checking oneself and developing a road map toward broader horizons through knowledge one has not yet experienced. When viewed through the lens of animism, this process becomes even simpler. There is a strong chance that when viewed through the lens of animism some of the spirits that seem related from other cultures are, at times, angels of the primary deity who dwells within the same natural phenomenon. Angels are simply messengers, reflections of the spirit-gods they serve… the 7 primary Olympic Spirits who correspond to the 7 planets have hosts of angels that serve below them. Every one of the 72 Elohim encountered by Solomon has so-called "legions" of angels below them. I use angel here in the older and proper Grecian context which accords the etymology of the word.

I fall back on Helleno-Roman texts and worship a lot, alongside grimoire texts. I do this simply because it is so well preserved and so well ingrained in the Western corpus. Moreover, the “Papyri Graecae Magicae” and the “Orphic Hymns”, two veritable treasure troves of mystical wisdom handed down to us, veritable scripture for me, are culturally Hellenic. Jesus' draws on beliefs around Ouranon, Olympus, and Hades constantly in his teachings, teachings which most of us are somewhat familiar with. And the names of the Gods of All are contained in the PGM and Orpheus’ songs; that said, most of us have 4 seasons, so relying solely on Hellenic Reconstructionism does not necessarily make sense. It is absolutely divine that such a culture rooted in animism survived for us today, and it is so easy to understand their recordings due to the omnipresence of the Christian Church in the West, but not all of the personality of the True Religion has been contained therein. Moreover, celebrating the overlap and gaps filled in by other cultural beliefs is a beautiful treat: something the Orphics did to a lesser degree and the mageia of Alexandria did at length, and so is true even to the spirit of these origins.

Furthermore, relying solely on the ancient Hellenic religion does not make sense for a witch because Hellenismos was not predicated on the survival of witchcraft, seeking to outlaw and destroy it really, and the philosophy behind ancient Greek religion revolved around the worship of the 12 Olympians. The True Gods, the Old Gods, had been displaced and locked away to greater and lesser degress. Hecate, Hades, Persephone, Cybele, Helios, Selene, even Eros and Pan were mostly propitiated out of dire necessity. The mageia of Alexandria remembered Their true names, however, as well as the worship appropriate to Them and Their existence at the Root of All Things. In Rome, the peasantry are recorded handing down the story of Diana and Lucifer (the latter of whom is Eosporos before Roman naming came into effect) in “Aradia: the Gospel of the Witches”. This should be a sacred text for any true witch for in it we have the story of how the True Gods came and how They mean to come back, as well as Their natures and the relationship witches are invited to have with Them.

How then do we bring back the Old Gods as They choose, no longer boxing Them or packaging Them, but rather letting Them rule with Their own personalities? Quite vehemently, magic on the level of the miraculous, brothers and sisters. The story of Aradia is the story of how, when one has been granted a boon by Hecate-Diana, you should tell everyone how great She is and tell others how to pray to Her for their own benefit. Same as the story of how Isis won the secret name of Ra… you don't need to attack people with your faith as the Christians do, but to tell everyone how great your life has become as a result of Hecate, Eosporos, and Hades work in your life. If you are wont to, call Them Morrigan, Dagda, and Cernunnos, or Freya, Odin, and Thor. As long as the secret names from the PGM and the grimoires are intact and you know that you are talking to the God of Death, the Goddess of Fate, and the Mastriss of Storms you'll get far.

And on that note, I'd like to share some of the miracles I've seen Them work for me and those I love through me. 5 years ago, when I went to look for a home, I couldn't even qualify for a measly $450k loan, barely scraping up to the $300k level. In my home state, this means all I could afford were places that had been destroyed by the previous tenets, and the only bank loan I could qualify for required the home to be perfect… I had two kids and was very afraid what this meant for my future. I now have a $450k rental and I live in a $1.5M home in the woods. I let the Mastriss take the wheel of my life: I started working a little harder and accepting job offers and life offers that came in, and the Mastriss took care of me. This gave me the time and freedom to actually start pursuing my true passion, which is worshipping the Elder Gods, preaching and writing about Them, and practicing the Craft of the Witches.

When my middle son was very little, 1 year old, his older sister accidentally slammed his thumb in the door at a hotel in Disneyworld Orlando. It was a heavy, metal door and his little thumb was as flat as a pancake and oozing blood. I asked the Mastriss to heal him as we drove to the ER, using an old Germanic charm I have picked up. By the time we arrived, he was asleep. By the time we checked in, the thumb had stopped bleeding. By the time we got seen, it looked normal and he was already using it. They laughed at the resiliency of children, but a doctor visiting Disney had already seen the thumb and said that the bones looked smashed to pieces from the door, which had closed shut without any space in the frame at all. I had found him trying to yank his little thumb free from the steel frame, and it was not budging. And yet, 2 hours later, here was his thumb looking and feeling as well as ever. It didn't even swell up.

I have lived in the woods for more than half my life, and when I was young, I saw the Mastriss standing at the edge of the woods in the moonlight. The creature-form was mesmerizing and terrifying, with the haunches and mouth of a goat but the torso of a breasted humanoid. The Mastriss had piercing dark eyes that saw into my soul and the moonlight draped the Beast’s form like a cloak; my mother froze looking at the Beast beside me, standing at the woods edge. She was angry with me when the Beast left, saying that this was all my fault due to my "dabbling". Later, when my little sister and I were wandering in the same woods, I accidentally kicked a mountain lion who was sleeping in the underbrush. Startled, the lion roared and took off and then, to our terror, began running back at breakneck speed. When the lion was back within sight, I yelled, "I have seen the Master of these woods! I have seen the Master of all the woods! And not one evil can befall Them! Help me, Master Goat! Send Your angel!" And the lion stopped in its tracks, lowered its body, and slunk back gently into the grass.

If anything in your life is concerning you for any reason, no matter how big or small, try the Mastriss out. Put the Goat Angel to the test. Don't be afraid, because the Mastriss will appear to you as you need, and often appears as a little blue child to those who would fear Their Bestial Form, as to those Hindus who call Them little baby Krishna and those grimoires who call Them Lucifer or the King of the Fae respectively. In reality, the Mastriss is neither male nor female, but third-gendered. The One Who stands at the Gate to the Otherworld, Scirlin, Janus, Papa Legba: all masks that the Mastriss of Misrule wears, disguises and spirits that serve Them. Pray at the Threshold of your home, the edge of the Woods, on a Bridge, at the edge of the Ocean: "Mastriss of the Winds and Storms, Goat Angel Who tussles the tops of the trees, Adonai Sabaoth Who leads the Deathless Hosts through the windswept realm, I ask You to come into my life and order it how You see fit. Child and earthly consort of our Dark Mother, Brimo, let Your name be blessed by my tongue. Light up my life, Mastriss Lumiel, and let Your breast be my sweet succor. In the name of Your Chief Angel, Heliou Amene."

#witchcraft #animism #mastriss #western folk #lucifer #lumiel #brimo #pgm #greek magical papyri #hellenism #witch

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mustafa-el-fats · 4 years ago

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Ancient Wisdom Revealed: 5 Hidden Magical Knowledge That Can Transform Your Life

We are usually amazed when we discover hidden knowledge related to mysticism, magic, and witchcraft. Not only does this ancient knowledge enlighten us but it can also help us understand the very essence of our being. However, most of the times valuable magical information and insight are hidden right before our very eyes. We simply need to know where to look.

“Secrets have a way of making themselves felt, even before you know there’s a secret.” – Jean Ferris

It’s true that this is World which has never actually cut off from the Old Ways. In fact, so many things we still do, reflect on the Old Religion and our Witchy Ways. Therefore, we decided to publish an article, on all weird things that actually got Pagan Origin or even Witchy! This is going to be really really fun!

Magical Knowledge Hidden in Plain Sight

“It is hidden but always present.” – Laozi

The list is endless. We could keep going on and on about it but we chose 5 facts which make more sense to almost anyone.

1. Why do we Wink to signal about secret knowledge?

A Winker actually signals the Winkee that they share or s/he is about to share some secret knowledge. It’s not obvious why or what it is, but this is a sign to immediately question reality. This is an awakening call. If you really think about it, it’s already pretty weird.

Wink & the one eye of Odin

Odin is the mighty and wise father of Norse Religion. God of Wisdom, Healing and Victory he is beloved in all germanic traditions. He is famous for his thirst for Wisdom and magical knowledge. According to one story, Odin was traveling again in his quest to expand his awareness. One day he ventured to Mimir’s Well, located beneath the world tree Yggdrasil. The Guardian spirit of this well, whose wisdom and magical knowledge for the Realms was unprecedented, greeted Odin. Odin asked for some water.

I know where Othin’s eye is hidden, Deep in the wide-famed well of Mimir; Mead from the pledge of Othin each morn Does Mimir drink: would you know yet more?

The mystical creature knew exactly what Odin was asking and he tried to make it as hard as possible. Thus he demanded his eye. Odin was asking for true and absolute wisdom and the price seemed fair for the Guardian. However, Odin gave it instantly and the Guardian gave the God of Wisdom what he was asking.

Hidden Magical Knowledge of Wink

In many ancient depictions, and due to the fact that Odin has one eye, he seems like he’s winking. This is where the ‘wink’ came from. As Odin lost his eye for hidden truth, we reenact his divine sacrifice by winking, to signal someone for secret knowledge.

“The only secrets are the secrets that keep themselves.” – George Bernard Shaw

2. Why do we give the ‘middle finger’ to insult someone?

Greeks understood the power of sex & sexuality, thus sexuality was part of each God’s powers. Thus, the ‘Phallus’ aka the erect penis, was a symbol of great potential, a power which could fight every demon, reverse bad luck to golden opportunities and create a new and successful beginning in everyone’s life.

Middle finger represents a phallus – a magical symbol

Indeed, the middle finger represents an erect penis. The middle finger also is known as “digitus impudicus” or “the impudent finger”. Saint Isidore of Seville explains in his Etymologies that the third finger is called impudent because it often expresses vexation, insult. But why?

“A graceful taunt is worth a thousand insults.” – Louis Nizer

This rude gesture actually dates back to ancient Greece. This was a sacred and magical gesture – something like a Mudra. Greeks used it to instantly counter any negative activity and dark arts that targeted them. Just like the statues of Phallus in crossroads and anywhere, they did it to repel dark magic.

Therefore, by ‘giving the middle finger and insulting’ the receiver we actually attempt to bind his/her power against us.

3. Why are Days Seven?

Have you wondered? Why aren’t the days of week 5 or 10 or 12? Why 7? Is there special power in it? Well YES!

Seven are the Days, Seven are the ‘Planets’ of ancient Witches

In the ancient World, astrologers and mages worked with the energy of the ‘7 Planets’. These 7 celestial bodies – which are not all planets – embody the diverse magical forces and energies from which everything is born into creation. Each ‘planet’ has a distinct vibration that can be directed and channeled in every magical work.

Each of the seven Days of the Week represents each of the ‘Planet’ of Astrologers and Witches which of course correspond to one God.

Monday is the Moon’s Day, day of Artemis / Diana – Goddess of the Moon

Tuesday is Tyr’s / Ares / Mars’s Day – God of War

Wednesday is Woden’s / Hermes’s / Mercury’s Day – God of Communication and Knowledge

Thursday is Thor’s / Zeus’s / Jupiter’s Day – all God of Lightning although Zeus is also King of Gods

Friday is Freya’s / Aphrodite’s / Venus’s Day – Goddess of Beauty and Love

Saturday is Saturn’s / Krono’s Day – old God of Time

Sunday is Sun’s / Apollo’s Day – God of the Sun

4. Why do we make Tattoos?

A tattoo is an ancient form of art appearing in different ancient cultures throughout history. Our modern word ‘tattoo’ comes from the Tahitian word tatau which means “to mark something”. Does this remind you of something? Maybe the Witch Marks?

“Tattoos are like stories — they’re symbolic of the important moments in your life.” – Pamela Anderson

Tattoos are in fact Witch Marks

Tattoos are similar to the Marks of the Witches. It’s a sacrifice we make to our bodies in order to connect deeper with what the symbol we chose represents. An eternal mark on our mortal bodies which can also pass through our incarnations. So please, before you decide which tattoo to do on your body, choose wisely the meaning and symbolism!

5. Why do we wear our wedding ring on our ‘ring finger’?

Haven’t you always wondered? Why do we choose to put our Wedding Rings on the ‘Ring Finger’? Well, as you can understand, the name of the finger itself actually implies its participation in Wedding Rituals.

Why a Golden Ring on Ring Finger?

This part of Wedding Rituals actually dates back in ancient years. First of all, the Ring symbolizes the Wholeness and Unity. It’s the perfect shape of Alchemists and it’s linked with Ouroboros – the symbol of eternity.

Now, why on Ring Finger? This finger is associated with the Sun and Apollo, the god of all blessings. When we ‘activate’ this finger we actually activate the power of the Sun and Apollo in us. As every ‘Planet’ is associated with one Metal, the Sun and Apollo are associated with Gold. Thus, to properly activate the Ring Finger we need to wear a Golden Ring on it. Check more on how to wear Rings to pursue your purposes here!

Therefore, in Wedding Rings, we conjure the blessings of Apollo and the Sun, the bring timeless happiness.

“Secrets are made to be found out with time.” – Charles Sanford

Esoteric wisdom can help you transform your life and the lives of your loved ones. Once you know how to access and decode such ancient knowledge, you can get a better understanding of different religions, practices and spiritual self. Now that you have gained some valuable insight, use this hidden ancient magical wisdom to build a happier and more purposeful life.

Post originally published on Magical Recipes Online

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Magical Recipes Online

Magical Recipes Online consists of a core team of 4 people who have dedicated their lives to bring Magic to a wider audience, to teach and to be taught, to help everyone in our World tap to the Great Source of All Things and bring happiness and love into their lives. We are everyday ordinary people who have lead extraordinary lives. We have heard our call to Magic from a young age but followed different directions.

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How to Decode Emotions In Text Messages: 6 Effective Ways To Get Started

“How do you decode emotions in text messages?”

Text messages can often be very confusing. It can be especially challenging to understand emotions when we communicate through text messages. With the lack of facial expressions and body language, we can often misinterpret the intended message and tone resulting in disastrous misunderstandings. So how can we read emotions in texts? Let’s find out.

“What is a moderate interpretation of the text? Halfway between what it really means and what you’d like it to mean?” – Antonin Scalia

It’s easy when people say they are angry or sad or excited, or if they tack an emoji to the end of a text. But when they don’t? Given that even face-to-face communication can be confusing, it should not surprise us that truncated, dashed-off text messages can result in disastrous misunderstandings.

In the age of technology, we not only need to decode in-person interactions, but we also need to decode textual transmissions.

How do we know what a person is feeling when we can’t see their faces or body language?

Here are six tips to help you better decode emotions in text messages, or at least prevent yourself from jumping to conclusions based on scant evidence.

1. Assume good intentions

In general, text messages are short. We have very little information to work with. A smiley face or series of exclamation points can help assure us that the text is meant to express positive emotion, but texts do not always include these extra emotion indicators. Our friends’ busy schedules lead to abrupt messages, and our partner’s playful sarcasm isn’t always read as playful.

Keep in mind that texts are a difficult medium for communicating emotion. We have no facial expressions or tone of voice, or conversation to give us more information. If the text doesn’t say, “I’m angry,” then don’t assume that the texter is angry. We are better off reading texts with the assumption that the texter has good intentions. Otherwise, we may end up in lots of unnecessary arguments.

“Texting is a fundamentally sneaky form of communication, which we should despise, but it is such a boon we don’t care. We are all sneaks now.” – Lynne Truss

2. Cultivate awareness of unconscious biases

In my research, I have had to train numerous teams of emotion coders. But even trained coders who meet weekly to discuss discrepancies don’t agree on which emotion (or how much emotion) is being expressed. People just do not see emotions in the same way. We have unconscious biases that lead us to draw different conclusions based on the same information.

For example, every time I lead a coding team I am reminded that males and females often differ in how they interpret others’ emotions. If Bob writes: “My wife missed our 10-year anniversary,” men may think Bob is angry, while women may think Bob is sad.

I don’t presume to know exactly why this is, but I can say confidently that our emotion-detection skills are affected by characteristics about us. When it comes to detecting emotion in texts, try to remember that our unconscious biases affect our interpretations. The emotions we detect may be reflective of things about us just as much as they are reflective of the information in the text.

3. Explore the emotional undertones of the words themselves

The words people use often have emotional undertones. Think about some common words—words like love, hate, wonderful, hard, work, explore, or kitten.

If a text reads, “I love this wonderful kitten,” we can easily conclude that it is expressing positive emotions. If a text reads, “I hate this hard work,” that seems pretty negative. But, if a text reads, “This wonderful kitten is hard work,” what emotion do we think is being expressed?

One approach to detecting emotions when they appear to be mixed is to use the “bag-of-words” method. This just means that we look at each word separately. How positive are the words “kitten” and “wonderful”? And how negative are the words “hard” and “work”? By looking at how positive and negative each word is, we may be able to figure out the predominant emotion the texter is trying to express. Give this bag-of-words method a try when you are having a hard time figuring out the emotion in a text.

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tipsycad147 · 5 years ago

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Weird Pagan words: An annotated list

Posted by Michelle Gruben on Aug 07, 2017

Like any other subculture, Pagans have our own special vocabulary. Many of them just aren't found in Wicca 101 books or infographics. Fortunately, I write down unfamiliar words and Google them later so you don’t have to.

This glossary covers some of the more obscure words and phrases in the Pagan lexicon. The ones that might leave you scratching your head if you’d never heard them before (or never before in a Pagan context).

This is certainly not an exhaustive list of Pagan and magickal terminology—just a quick rundown of some of the weirdest Pagan words and phrases zipping around out there.

Adept – A person who—through study, practice, or natural gifts—is extremely proficient at a magickal system. A master. Adepts are rumoured to actually exist, but anyone who claims to be one probably isn’t.

Aspect – A form, facet, or persona of a deity. As a verb, “to aspect” means to channel or invoke the deity into oneself.

Asperge – To purify a space by sprinkling water. Often performed before ritual. The bundle of herbs used for this purpose is called an asperger.

Athame – A ritual knife. In traditional Wicca, the athame has a double-edged blade and a black handle. Generally speaking, the athame is used only for magick—never to cut objects. Most witches say “A-thum-may” (with a short “a” as in “cat”). But you might also hear “AW-thum-may” or even “aw-THAYM.”

It’s obnoxious to correct someone’s pronunciation of “athame,” especially since the actual origins of the word are obscure. (Read: Gerald Gardner probably made it up.) Don’t be bullied. Pick your favourite pronunciation and use it.

Balefire – A sacred fire, especially one in which offerings or magickal items are burned. Balefires are kindled during the festivals of Beltane and Samhain. For practical reasons, a balefire usually happens outdoors, but even a small cauldron fire can serve as a balefire.

Besom – A ritual broom. Witches don’t fly on their besoms, but they do use them for energetic (and physical) clean-up.

Blot – A term meaning “sacrifice” in Norse Paganism. Pronounced “bloat,” a blot is a communal gathering to honour the Gods. In olden times, a blot revolved around the slaughter of a large animal whose body would feed the holy feast. At a modern blot, you’re unlikely to see an animal sacrifice. You will see a lot of eating, libations, and readings of Norse legends and religious poems. (See Sumbel.)

Book of Shadows – A Witch’s or coven’s magickal diary. The Book of Shadows includes rituals and teachings, records of spellwork, and anything else that is important to the Witch’s practice. The term comes from Gerald Gardner, and refers to a time and place when such a book would need to be carefully hidden.

Boline – A small knife that Wiccans use for cutting herbs and other ritual items. Gerald Gardner describes it as a “white handled knife.” The spelling varies. It can be pronounced “BO-leen,” “BO-lin,” or “BULL-en.”

Broom closet – A person who is not public about his/her Pagan beliefs is said to be “in the broom closet,” e.g., “He’s still in the broom closet at work.” Formed by analogy with the LGBT slang “in the closet.”

Burning Times – A collective name given to the Bad Old Days of the Reformation, Inquisition, etc., when Witches were burned alive by fanatics.

Cafeteria Pagan – A pejorative name for an eclectic Pagan. A cafeteria Pagan is someone who picks their spiritual beliefs and practices from whatever “looks good,” without devoting serious study to any of the traditions they borrow from. The concept of cafeteria Paganism is related to concerns about cultural appropriation and dilettantism. (See also Fluffy bunny.)

Cakes and ale – A communal offering of food and beverage, most often performed at the close of a Wiccan circle. The ritual honours the gifts of the Earth and the presence of the Lord and Lady. The actual ingredients of the offering will vary according to the season and the preferences of the celebrants. Sometimes Wiccan refer to the ritual as “cakes and ale” even if the altar holds sangria and chocolate chip cookies.

Casting the circle – A Wiccan practice of creating sacred space. The first step in many rituals, casting the circle carves out a separate space for magick to occur.

Cense – To cleanse or bless with incense. Ritual space and ritual participants are often prepared by censing. The vessel used for censing is called a censer.

Charge – To imbue with energy. People, things, and places can be charged. Ritually charging objects is an important component of many spells. “Clearing” or “grounding” the energy reverses the effects of charging.

Coven – A group of Witches who meet regularly. Contrary to popular belief, a coven need not contain thirteen members. The word initially referred to any gathering, but now connotes witchcraft and secrecy. It comes from the same Latin root as “convene.”

There are as many types of covens as there are families. Some are open and welcoming, some are tiny and secretive. Wiccans are the most likely to call their groups coven, but other Witches use the word, too. Lots of covens have fanciful names, like “Order of the Briarwood” or “DraggynsMyst Coven.”

Covenstead – A covenstead is a place where a coven regularly meets. It is the home of the coven on the physical plane. Since most Pagan groups don’t have temple space of their own, the covenstead could be a bit of parkland, someone’s living room, or the backyard of a liberal church.

Cowan – An old derogatory term for a non-Wiccan or non-Pagan. In the post-Potter era, it’s been almost universally replaced by “muggle.”

The Craft - Witchcraft, especially hereditary witchcraft. The Path of the Wise, the Old Ways, the Hidden Arts, etc. A perfectly good phrase that was all but ruined by a cheesy 1996 movie.

Craft name – A name adopted for spiritual/magickal puposes. A Craft name may come to you in a moment of inspiration, or be conferred upon you by a teacher. Some Witches take their names from an honoured deity, plant, or animal.

Croning – The process of becoming a Crone, or wise elder. Some Pagans have Croning celebrations for women who have attained the third phase of life. (The male equivalent is “Saging.”)

Dedicant – A person who has been studying with (but not yet initiated in) a magickal coven or lodge. Dedicants learn about the group’s beliefs and practices before committing to membership. In Wicca, the dedicatory period traditionally lasts a year and a day—after which the candidate may decide whether to seek full initiation.

Some covens have formal dedication ceremonies and attendance requirements for dedicants. Others just encourage newbies to hang around for a bit and see what it’s all about. The titles Neophyte and Probationer are also used to refer to the stage(s) prior to initiation.

Deosil – Clockwise. Deosil movement is often used when casting the circle or raising energy. (“Sunwise” means the same thing.)

Drawing down – “Drawing Down the Moon” or “Drawing Down the Sun” is a possessory invocation of the Goddess or God, respectively. Drawing Down the Moon means invoking the Goddess into the body of the High Priestess of coven. (In traditional Wicca, the High Priest performs the invocation.) The rite was referenced by Margot Adler in a famous book by the same name.

Now that Pagan groups are tending to become less gender-rigid (yay), it’s not uncommon to hear “drawing down” refer to any possessory deity work. A person in a state of possessory trance is said to be “drawn down.”

Eclectic – A person who draws their spiritual practices and beliefs from diverse sources, without adherence to one tradition. Adjective or noun. (Unscientific estimate: 95% of Pagans self-identify as eclectic.)

Elder – An aged person, often a leader within the Pagan community. A Crone or Sage. A Second- or Third-Degree coven member is sometimes called an Elder regardless of age.

Esbat – A coven meeting outside of one of the eight Sabbats. Typically, this is Full Moon observance—though there are covens that hold their Esbats during the New Moon. There are normally 13 Esbats in a calendar year. The word was brought into popular usage by Margaret Murray’s 1921 book, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe.

Esbats are a time to perform spells and psychic training, while Sabbats are generally more celebratory. Besides being an opportunity to have a Lunar ritual, Esbats are a time for covens to meet socially and take care of coven business. Solitary Witches observe the Esbats as a time for personal magick and communion with the Moon. (See Sabbat.)

Familiar – An animal who acts as a helper to the Witch during magickal work. Some Witches use the term more generally to refer to a companion animal or pet. The word “familiar” may also refer to familiar spirits—disembodied beings that the Witch contacts as a part of their magickal work.

Fluffy bunny – A phrase coined in early online Pagan communities to distinguish New Age-y, love-and-light Pagans from self-styled “serious” practitioners. Fluffy bunnies avoid in-depth study and flee from anything dark or challenging. You will rarely meet someone who self-identifies as a fluffy bunny—the term is nearly always meant as an insult. (See also Cafeteria Pagan).

Great Rite – Symbolic or actual sexual act performed as part of a ritual. It represents the Hieros Gamos, the sacred marriage of the Goddess and God.

Handfasting – A Pagan ceremony of marriage, or alternately, betrothal. Handfasting is a rite that may be connected to or separate from civil (legal) marriage. For a handfasting to be legal in most places, it needs to be performed by an ordained clergy member. (Handparting is the Pagan ritual equivalent of divorce.)

High Magick – A general term for ceremonial and ritual magic of a lofty sort. High Magick is concerned with spiritual progress, communion with Gods and higher beings, and uncovering the secrets of the Universe. (See Low Magic.)

Hive – To “hive” (or “hive off”) is to form a new coven from one or more of a coven’s current members. The word refers to the way in which young queen bees must leave the colony to form their own colonies. Wiccans may hive off after attaining their Third Degree within a coven.

Hiving off allows a former student to transition into a leadership role with minimal disruption to the existing group’s structure. The new coven is called a sister coven of the old one.

Kindred – In Norse Heathenism, a community that meets for worship and mutual support. A Heathen kindred is a kind of extended family. Kindreds may be formal or informal. Its members may be related by blood or by choice. Some non-Heathen Witches also use the word “kindred” (or “family”) to describe brothers and sisters of the Craft.

Left-hand path – Refers to various magickal paths including destructive magick, self-serving magick, or non-obedience to God. (If someone describes themselves as a left-hander or on a left-hand path, you might want to ask them what they mean.)

Lineage – An unbroken chain of students and teachers within a magickal tradition. It is common to claim a lineage stretching back to some well-known figure.

Low Magick – More commonly referred to as witchcraft. “Low Magick” encompasses such practices as spell-casting, ritual healing, hex-breaking, divination, and good luck charms. (See High Magick.)

Magick/Magik/Majik – Alternate spellings used to distinguish occult pursuits from stage magic. “Magick” is often attributed to Aleister Crowley and is the most common variation. (Though it will always trip up spell-check and some people find it hopelessly precious.)

Maiden – Wiccan term for the young Goddess, the first aspect of the Triple Goddess. Also used to refer to the junior female member in a coven who serves as an assistant to the High Priestess. (The High Priest’s equivalent helper is called the Summoner.)

Once-born – A young soul. Many Pagans judge themselves to be “old souls,” so the term is usually derogatory.

Otherkin – A subculture of people who believe themselves to be partially non-human. Otherkin include Fae, Elves, Werewolves, Vampires, Dragons, and so on. There is some overlap between Otherkin and Pagan/magickal communities.

PST (Pagan Standard Time) – An imaginary time zone invented to explain endemic Pagan lateness.

Quarter call – An evocation of one of the four elements, or quarters. Calling the quarters is a component in most circle-casting rituals. One person may call all four quarters, or the task may be divided between four or more ritualists. A quarter call is the first bit of public magick that many people ever perform.

Reconstructionist – A Pagan who attempts to re-create ancient spiritual practices from historical information.

Rede – An archaic word for advice or counsel. The Wiccan Rede is, “An it harm none, do as ye will.” Wiccans just call it “the Rede.” The “Complete Wiccan Rede” or “Long Rede” is a 26-line poem attributed to Lady Gwen Thompson..

Sabbat – One of the major Wiccan/Pagan seasonal holy days. There are eight Sabbats based on the Celtic agricultural calendar. They are further divided into four Quarters (Yule, Ostara, Litha, Mabon) and four Cross-quarters (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas).

Second-Degree fever – An unfortunate disease often contracted by initiates who have just attained their Second Degree and feel all giddy with power. Symptoms include bragging, posturing, acting like a know-it-all.

Skyclad – Wiccan term for ritual nudity. Some Pagan groups prefer to perform rituals skyclad.

Smudge – To ritual cleanse someone, something, or someplace with smoke. Various fragrant herbs can be used for smudging. The best-known smudging herb is White Sage—but some Pagans prefer not to use it, out of concerns about co-opting a Native American spiritual practice. (The word itself is from Old English smogen, meaning smoke).

Solitary – A Witch who practices alone, without a coven or group. (Used as an adjective or noun.)

Sumbel – In Norse Paganism, a communal ritual of celebration. At a sumbel, the horn is passed, toasts are made, and oaths are made before the Gods. A sumbel is a joyful affair that is nonetheless performed within sacred space. (See Blot.)

Tradition – The Pagan equivalent of a religious denomination. A collection of beliefs, methods, and rituals passed down through a group. Most living Pagan belief systems have various traditions, called “trads” for short.

Uncle Al – Affectionate nickname for Aleister Crowley, British occultist whose work influenced contemporary witchcraft and Paganism.

UPG (Unverified Personal Gnosis) – A legacy of early internet forums, “UPG” is an acronym that describes information that is experienced by one person and presented as fact within a spiritual community. Some examples are dreams, visions, and channeled communications. Discussions about the Gods, afterlife, and the Otherworlds are full of UPG and UPG-haters. (Ed. note: “UPG” is not a very nice thing to say to someone who has just shared a significant spiritual experience with you.)

Wiccaning – The Wiccan rite of blessing an infant or child. There is no standard Wiccaning ritual—most involve welcoming the child into the world and asking the Lord and Lady to watch over him or her. Probably formed by analogy with “christening.”

Widdershins – Counter-clockwise movement. Normally used in banishing rituals or to un-cast the circle.

Working – A magickal undertaking, especially a long, intense, or complex one. Spellcasting, channeling, and evocation…they are all types of workings. (Even though they can also be fun!)

I'll be adding more weird Pagan words as I meet and talk to more weird Pagans. Happy magick-ing!

https://www.groveandgrotto.com/blogs/articles/weird-pagan-words-an-annotated-list

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hennyjolzen · 5 years ago

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by PAM GROSSMAN May 30, 2019

Pam Grossman is the author of Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power.

Witches have always walked among us, populating societies and storyscapes across the globe for thousands of years. From Circe to Hermione, from Morgan le Fay to Marie Laveau, the witch has long existed in the tales we tell about ladies with strange powers that can harm or heal. And although people of all genders have been considered witches, it is a word that is now usually associated with women.

Throughout most of history, she has been someone to fear, an uncanny Other who threatens our safety or manipulates reality for her own mercurial purposes. She’s a pariah, a persona non grata, a bogeywoman to defeat and discard. Though she has often been deemed a destructive entity, in actuality a witchy woman has historically been far more susceptible to attack than an inflictor of violence herself. As with other “terrifying” outsiders, she occupies a paradoxical role in cultural consciousness as both vicious aggressor and vulnerable prey.

Over the past 150 years or so, however, the witch has done another magic trick, by turning from a fright into a figure of inspiration. She is now as likely to be the heroine of your favorite TV show as she is its villain. She might show up in the form of your Wiccan coworker, or the beloved musician who gives off a sorceress vibe in videos or onstage.

There is also a chance that she is you, and that “witch” is an identity you have taken upon yourself for any number of reasons — heartfelt or flippant, public or private.

Today, more women than ever are choosing the way of the witch, whether literally or symbolically. They’re floating down catwalks and sidewalks in gauzy black clothing and adorning themselves with Pinterest-worthy pentagrams and crystals. They’re filling up movie theaters to watch witchy films, and gathering in back rooms and backyards to do rituals, consult tarot cards and set life-altering intentions. They’re marching in the streets with HEX THE PATRIARCHY placards and casting spells each month to try to constrain the commander-in-chief. Year after year, articles keep proclaiming, “It’s the Season of the Witch!” as journalists try to wrap their heads around the mushrooming witch “trend.”

And all of this begs the question: Why?

Why do witches matter? Why are they seemingly everywhere right now? What, exactly, are they? (And why the hell won’t they go away?)

I get asked such things over and over, and you would think that after a lifetime of studying and writing about witches, as well as hosting a witch-themed podcast and being a practitioner of witchcraft myself, my answers would be succinct.

In fact, I find that the more I work with the witch, the more complex she becomes. Hers is a slippery spirit: try to pin her down, and she’ll only recede further into the deep, dark wood.

I do know this for sure though: show me your witches, and I’ll show you your feelings about women. The fact that the resurgence of feminism and the popularity of the witch are ascending at the same time is no coincidence: the two are reflections of each other.

That said, this current Witch Wave is nothing new. I was a teen in the 1990s, the decade that brought us such pop-occulture as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed and The Craft, not to mention riot grrrls and third-wave feminists who taught me that female power could come in a variety of colors and sexualities. I learned that women could lead a revolution while wearing lipstick and combat boots — and sometimes even a cloak.

But my own witchly awakening came at an even earlier age.

Morganville, New Jersey, where I was raised, was a solidly suburban town, but it retained enough natural land features back then to still feel a little bit scruffy in spots. We had a small patch of woods in our backyard that abutted a horse farm, and the two were separated by a wisp of running water that we could cross via a plank of wood. In one corner of the yard, a giant puddle would form whenever it rained, surrounded by a border of ferns. My older sister, Emily, and I called this spot our Magical Place. That it would vanish and then reappear only added to its mystery. It was a portal to the unknown.

These woods are where I first remember doing magic — entering that state of deep play where imaginative action becomes reality. I would spend hours out there, creating rituals with rocks and sticks, drawing secret symbols in the dirt, losing all track of time. It was a space that felt holy and wild, yet still strangely safe.

As we age, we’re supposed to stop filling our heads with such “nonsense.” Unicorns are to be traded in for Barbie dolls (though both are mythical creatures, to be sure). We lose our tooth fairies, walk away from our wizards. Dragons get slain on the altar of youth.

Most kids grow out of their “magic phase.” I grew further into mine.

My grandma Trudy was a librarian at the West Long Branch Library, which meant I got to spend many an afternoon lurking between the 001.9 and 135 Dewey decimal–sections, reading about Bigfoot and dream interpretation and Nostradamus. I spent countless hours in my room, learning about witches and goddesses, and I loved anything by authors like George MacDonald, Roald Dahl, and Michael Ende — writers fluent in the language of enchantment. Books were my broomstick. They allowed me to fly to other realms where anything was possible.

Though fictional witches were my first guides, I soon discovered that magic was something real people could do. I started frequenting new age shops and experimenting with mass-market paperback spell books from the mall. I was raised Jewish but found myself attracted to belief systems that felt more individualized and mystical and that fully honored the feminine. Eventually I found my way to modern Paganism, a self-directed spiritual path that sustains me to this day. I’m not unique in this trajectory of pivoting away from organized religion and toward something more personal: as of September 2017, more than a quarter of U.S. adults — 27% — now say that they think of themselves as spiritual but not religious, according to Pew Research Center.

Now, I identify both as a witch and with the archetype of the witch overall, and I use the term fluidly. At any given time, I might use the word witch to signify my spiritual beliefs, my supernatural interests or my role as an unapologetically complex, dynamic female in a world that prefers its women to be smiling and still. I use it with equal parts sincerity and salt: with a bow to a rich and often painful history of worldwide witchcraft, and a wink to other members of our not-so-secret society of people who fight from the fringes for the liberty to be our weirdest and most wondrous selves. Magic is made in the margins.

To be clear: you don’t have to practice witchcraft or any other alternative form of spirituality to awaken your own inner witch. You may feel attracted to her symbolism, her style or her stories but are not about to rush out to buy a cauldron or go sing songs to the sky. Maybe you’re more of a nasty woman than a devotee of the Goddess. That’s perfectly fine: the witch belongs to you too.

I remain more convinced than ever that the concept of the witch endures because she transcends literalism and because she has so many dark and sparkling things to teach us. Many people get fixated on the “truth” of the witch, and numerous fine history books attempt to tackle the topic from the angle of so-called factuality. Did people actually believe in magic? They most certainly did and still do. Were the thousands of victims who were killed in the 16th- and 17th-century witch hunts actually witches themselves? Most likely not. Are witches real? Why, yes, you’re reading the words of one. All of these things are true.

But whether or not there were actually women and men who practiced witchcraft in Rome or Lancashire or Salem, say, is less interesting to me than the fact that the idea of witches has remained so evocative and influential and so, well, bewitching in the first place.

In other words, the fact and the fiction of the witch are inextricably linked. Each informs the other and always has. I’m fascinated by how one archetype can encompass so many different facets. The witch is a notorious shape-shifter, and she comes in many guises:

A hag in a pointy hat, cackling madly as she boils a pot of bones.

A scarlet-lipped seductress slipping a potion into the drink of her unsuspecting paramour.

A cross-dressing French revolutionary who hears the voices of angels and saints.

A perfectly coifed suburban housewife, twitching her nose to change her circumstances at will, despite her husband’s protests.

A woman dancing in New York City’s Central Park with her coven to mark the change of the seasons or a new lunar phase.

The witch has a green face and a fleet of flying monkeys. She wears scarves and leather and lace.

She lives in Africa; on the island of Aeaea; in a tower; in a chicken-leg hut; in Peoria, Illinois.

She lurks in the forests of fairy tales, in the gilded frames of paintings, in the plotlines of sitcoms and YA novels, and between the bars of ghostly blues songs.

She is solitary.

She comes in threes.

She’s a member of a coven.

Sometimes she’s a he.

She is stunning, she is hideous, she is insidious, she is ubiquitous.

She is our downfall. She is our deliverance.

Our witches say as much about us as they do about anything else — for better and for worse.

More than anything, though, the witch is a shining and shadowy symbol of female power and a force for subverting the status quo. No matter what form she takes, she remains an electric source of magical agitation that we can all plug into whenever we need a high-voltage charge.

She is also a vessel that contains our conflicting feelings about female power: our fear of it, our desire for it and our hope that it can — and will — grow stronger, despite the flames that are thrown at it.

Whether the witch is depicted as villainous or valorous, she is always a figure of freedom — both its loss and its gain. She is perhaps the only female archetype who is an independent operator. Virgins, whores, daughters, mothers, wives — each of these is defined by whom she is sleeping with or not, the care that she is giving or that is given to her, or some sort of symbiotic debt that she must eventually pay.

The witch owes nothing. That is what makes her dangerous. And that is what makes her divine.

Witches have power on their own terms. They have agency. They create. They praise. They commune with the spiritual realm, freely and free of any mediator.

They metamorphose, and they make things happen. They are change agents whose primary purpose is to transform the world as it is into the world they would like it to be.

This is also why being called a witch and calling oneself a witch are usually two vastly different experiences. In the first case, it’s often an act of degradation, an attack against a perceived threat.

The second is an act of reclamation, an expression of autonomy and pride. Both of these aspects of the archetype are important to keep in mind. They may seem like contradictions, but there is much to glean from their interplay.

The witch is the ultimate feminist icon because she is a fully rounded symbol of female oppression and liberation. She shows us how to tap into our own might and magic, despite the many who try to strip us of our power.

We need her now more than ever.

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elegantshapeshifter · 7 years ago

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Even if (almost) all the accused witches were innocent, witch trials are still valid sources

Am I a Murrayite? No. I did a post explaining why the approach I’m referring to is non-Murrayite, it’s called “A pagan-animistic witchcraft history after Margaret Murray” and you can read it here: https://elegantshapeshifter.tumblr.com/post/170696469766/a-pagan-animistic-witchcraft-history-after However, the core idea of Margaret Murray was that all the accused witches were real witches. I say the the exact opposite.

In fact we can say that in *no* trial - included those in which the same defendant turn herself in as a witch in front of inquisitors or judges - we can prove that an accused witch was a real witch.

.: The trials as glimpses of folklore :.

But what we can prove is that the trials - ALL the trials - had the ideas discussed in the courtroom taken from somewhere, right?

Clearly the ideas of the accused witch are qualified as parts of the folklore.

Therefore we have two possibilities for the accused: - or she is an authentic witch (so... no problem, right?) - or she is an innocent person that reports folk legends.

Even the Church, the inquisition, the judges with their trials and their sermons influenced the popular beliefs, and so even if the accused echoed the words and the ideas of the judges, that source (the judges) can still be classified as part of the folklore (either before the trial with the priests’ sermons or after the trial with the bystanders that attended during the delivery of the judgment and then spread the ideas that were spoken).

If we admit that some witch existed outside the trials, we can imagine that there was a sort of heredity in family, with friends, etc. but in order to accomodate the critics, let’s say that no witch ever let in inheritance their tradition.

For the same reason, even if it’s possible that between all those accused witches a real witch could be there, in order to accomodate the critics, let’s say that no accused witch ever was a real witch. They were all innocents.

Ok, done. And now? Now what’s left? The folklore of the time. In fact, through the trials we can tap into the folklore of the time. Trials reveal parts of folklore, and therefore trials are a good source for the knowledge of the folklore.

.: The emulation :.

So... witches existed only in folk legends and not really? Even supposing that initially that was the case, there is the phenomenon of emulation. That is, somebody could have taken inspiration from the folklore in order to emulate these beliefs in real life.

Probably the emulation required several steps, for example it is possible that: 1) there was a vast majority of the population who believed in legends about witches; 2) there were certain people who let food offerings to these legends' characters; 3) there was a minority of people who dreamt these legends; 4) there was an even more restricted minority of people who believed that their dreams about witchcraft meant something and that they were actual witches; 5) there was a minority of minority of minority of people who emulated in physical reality the Sabbath they dreamed.

This idea was put forward by prof. Sabina Magliocco, who writes in her article “Who Was Aradia? The History and Development of a Legend”:

"Ostension is Degh and Vazonyi’s term for the enactment of legends. [...] Ostension always derives from a pre-existing legend: the legend precedes the existence of its enactment. [...] Hypothetically, legends about spiritual journeys to dance with the fairies and receive healing can easily be transformed by creative individuals into healing rituals with food offerings to the fairies and ecstatic dancing to special music. What if some women, inspired by utopian legends of the Society of Diana/ Herodias, decided to try to replicate such a society in medieval Europe? Though we have no proof such a society ever existed, it is not inconceivable that a few inspired individuals might have decided to dramatize, once or repeatedly, the gatherings described in legends. The use of the term giuoco (“game”) by Sibillia and Pierina suggests the playful, prankish character of ostension. A “game” based on legends of Diana/ Herodias and the fairies would probably have been secret and limited to the friends and associates of the creative instigators, who might well have been folk healers. One or more women might even have played the role of Diana or Herodias, presiding over the gathering and giving advice. Feasting, drinking and dancing might have taken place, and the women may have exchanged advice on matters of healing and divination."

Furthermore Magliocco specifies that: “However, it is important to remember that even if a group decided to enact aspects of the legend of Diana/Herodias, it would not have been a revival of pre-Christian paganism, but an attempt to act out certain ritual aspects described in the legends. Moreover, the more magical aspects from the trial reports - night flights on the backs of animals, ever-replenishing banquets, resurrection of dead livestock - could not have been achieved through ostension. We need to consider these as fantastical legend motifs, reports of experiences from trances or dreams, or both.”

I, therefore, don’t believe that the statements of the accused are sources because they were all true witches (Murrayite hypothesis), but they are sources because they record the folklore of the time and so they tell us what possible emulations somebody has or could have carried out.

.: The torture and the discrepancy :.

"But many trials were performed under torture, so they don't count!"

Even under torture if you were saying things that were in contrast with the expectations of the judges or the inquisitors, then obviously you were not (totally) adapting to their pressures, you were not (totally) reporting (only) their ideas, but also previous elements. So, in order to understand if a confession contained real elements of pre-Christian origin or not, this is the method: if the confession is exactly like what inquisitors or judges imagined Witchcraft was (i.e. the Devil, the blasphemy, etc.), the accused was probably repeating what the inquisitors or judges were expecting from her. However, if the story told during the confession wasn’t aligned with what the inquisitors thought, it was probably previous to their influences. So, for example, if the judges wanted to know about the Devil, and then the accused talked about the Fairy Queen and/or King, or about Madonna Horiente, or about Herodias, or Diana, it wasn’t a simple repetition of the fantasies of the inquisitors or the judges, it was *something else*.

It is in this way that even trials that were performed under torture count and are valid and useful for rediscovering the names of pre-Christian Spirits that were still alive in the folklore of the time and possibly objects of veneration in the emulations of folklore.

This is the method that the famous historian Carlo Ginzburg used. In fact, in we can read from his book “Threads and Traces: True False Fictive” that:

“Between “the image underlying the interrogations of the judges and the actual testimony of the accused,” there was, I explained, a “discrepancy,” a “gap” which “permits us to reach a genuinely popular stratum of beliefs which was later deformed and then expunged by the superimposition of the schema of the educated classes”“.

This gap, this discrepancy, therefore, allow us to accept even trials in which the torture was used. In those trials we simply look if there was such gap, and we look only at the elements that arise from that discrepancy.

.: Satanic Witchcraft vs Pagan-Animistic Witchcraft :.

However, the fact that we can understand which trials bring pre-Christian elements doesn’t mean that only those trials were emulated, that only the beliefs that arose from those trials were emulated.

All the beliefs had the same probability of being emulated.

Even when the judges or the inquisitors pressured the defendant and the accused slavishly repeated their fantasies, this created folklore. Why? Because after the trial, when the sentence was pronounced before the population, the population assimilated those beliefs.

Thus, as previous ideas led to the emulation of a Pagan-Animistic Witchcraft (Animistic because, as I said in previous posts, former pagan Gods became Spirits in a Christian-dominated society), the new ideas produced by the influence of the Church or the judges led to emulate a Satanic Witchcraft.

Between these two possibilities (Pagan-Animistic Witchcraft and Satanic Witchcraft), we also have a third one: When the accused is using the name of the Devil to hide another being, a pre-Christian or non-Christian Spirit (for example in Basque Country Akerbeltz, the local demon which is at the head of the Sabbath, comes from the Goddess Mari; while in Great Britain the Devil is often the spouse of the Queen of Elphame, therefore is the King of Elphame in disguise).

This last hypothesis, however, does not coincide with the Murrayite idea of an "Horned God": demonization didn't happen for a single cult throughout Europe, but could cover practically any pre-Christian Spirit, including female spirits (for example Mari in Basque Country) and not just male spirits.

So, the idea that the Devil is actually a God in disguise and the same God in all Europe is false: he is not a single male horned God that the priests have "mistaken" for the devil, it is the demonization that the priests were working towards *any* non-Christian Spirit. Therefore, to believe that in Spain as in Scotland as in Italy the character that often could be hidden behind the Devil was the same is totally wrong. Whenever the term "Devil" hides a pre-Christian Entity, this Entity is almost always a different one. Therefore we have many Devils for every Nation and region that hide different Gods and Spirit, not a single Devil that hides only one Entity.

However, excluding this third possibility, we can say that there were two kinds of emulators: Animistic-Pagan emulators and Satanist emulators.

The existence of these two types of emulators (although Cohn limits himself to the emulation in dreams) is shown by Norman Cohn in his book "Europe's Inner Demons", where he writes:

“It is clear that already in the Middle Ages some women believed themselves to wander about at night on cannibalistic errands, while others believed themselves to wander about, on more benign errands, under the leadership of a supernatural queen. Later, after the great witch-hunt had begun, some women genuinely believed that they attended the sabbat and took part in its demonic orgies: not all the confessions, even at that time, are to be attributed to torture or fear of torture.”

All that we have said so far can therefore make us understand why witch trials are an excellent source for better understanding of both the folklore of the time and the possible emulation of it, even if we admit that almost all of those accused of witchcraft were not really witches.

#Reconstructionism #reconstructionist traditional witchcraft #traditional witchcraft #tradcraft #trad craft #recon tradcraft #recon trad craft #Carlo Ginzburg #Norman Cohn #Sabina Magliocco #Margaret Murray

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wisdomfish · 6 years ago

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The Dark Side of Christmas

“But there was a third element that must not be ignored and one which that religion forever refuses to ignore, in any revel or reconciliation. There was present in the primary scenes of the drama that Enemy that had rotted the legends with lust and frozen the theories into atheism, but which answered the direct challenge with something of that more direct method which we have seen in the conscious cult of the demons. In the description of that demon-worship, of the devouring detestation of innocence shown in the works of its witchcraft and the most inhuman of its human sacrifice, I have said less of its indirect and secret penetration of the saner paganism; the soaking of mythological imagination with sex; the rise of imperial pride into insanity. But both the indirect and the direct influence make themselves felt in the drama of Bethlehem. A ruler under the Roman suzerainty, probably equipped and surrounded with the Roman ornament and order though himself of eastern blood, seems in that hour to have felt stirring within him the spirit of strange things. We all know the story of how Herod, alarmed at some rumor of a mysterious rival, remembered the wild gesture of the capricious despots of Asia and ordered a massacre of suspects of the new generation of the populace. Everyone knows the story; but not everyone has perhaps noted its place in the story of the strange religions of men. Not everybody has seen the significance even of its very contrast with the Corinthian columns and Roman pavement of that conquered and superficially civilized world. Only, as the purpose in his dark spirit began to show and shine in the eyes of the Admen, a seer might perhaps have seen something like a great gray ghost that looked over his shoulder; have seen behind him filling the dome of night and hovering for the last time over history that vast and fearful face that was Moloch of the Carthaginians; awaiting his last tribute from a ruler of the races of Shem. The demons also, in that first festival of Christmas, feasted after their own fashion.

Unless we understand the presence of that enemy, we shall not only miss the point of Christianity, but even miss the point of Christmas. Christmas for us in Christendom has become one thing, and in one sense even a simple thing. But like all the truths of that tradition, it is in another sense a very complex thing. Its unique note is the simultaneous striking of many notes; of humility, of gaiety, of gratitude, of mystical fear, but also of vigilance and of drama. It is not only an occasion for the peacemakers any more than for the merry makers; it is not only a Hindu peace conference any more than it is only a Scandinavian winter feast. There is something defiant in it also; something that makes the abrupt bells at midnight sound like the great guns of a battle that has just been won. All this indescribable thing that we call the Christmas atmosphere only bangs in the air as something like a lingering fragrance or fading vapor from the exultant, explosion of that one hour in the Judean hills nearly two thousand years ago. But the savor is still unmistakable, and it is something too subtle or too solitary to be covered by our use of the word peace. By the very nature of the story the rejoicings in the cavern were rejoicings in a fortress or an outlaws den; properly understood it' is not unduly flippant to say they were rejoicing in a dug-out. It is not only true that such a subterranean chamber was a hiding-place from enemies; and that the enemies were already scouring the stony plain that lay above it like a sky. It is not only that the very horse-hoofs of Herod might in that sense have passed like thunder over the sunken head of Christ. It is also that there is in that image a true idea of an outpost, of a piercing through the rock and an entrance into an enemy territory. There is in this buried divinity an idea of undermining the world; of shaking the towers and palaces from below; even as Herod the great king felt that earthquake under him and swayed with his swaying palace.”

~ G.K. Chesterton

#christmas #demon worship #satanism #atheism #massacre of the innocents

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phynxrizng · 6 years ago

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HEKATE AND AUGUST, CELEBRATING THE HARVEST, THE STORMS, WITCHCRAFT, KEYS, AND CHILDREN

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Get newsletters and updates Toggle navigation PAGAN Hekate and August: Celebrating The Harvest, Storms, Witchcraft, Keys, and Children

JULY 30, 2018 BY CYNDI BRANNEN

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There is a multitude of Hekatean celebrations during August. We can celebrate her connections with the harvest, witches, storms, keys, and children during this month. Here’s a summary of each of them with suggestions for practices and rituals.

Hekate and the First Harvest

“But, again, the moon is Hecate, the symbol of her varying phases and of her power dependent on the phases. Wherefore her power appears in three forms, having as symbol of the new moon the figure in the white robe and golden sandals, and torches lighted: the basket, which she bears when she has mounted high, is the symbol of the cultivation of the crops, which she makes to grow up according to the increase of her light: and again the symbol of the full moon is the goddess of the brazen sandals.”

– Praeparatio Evangelico

There are many goddesses who are primarily associated with agriculture, such as Demeter (I’m writing an article about her for the Fall Equinox). However, Hekate is not dissociated from crops either in history or in modern practice. I’ve included the above quote from an early anti-pagan treatise as an example of the many passages in the ancient texts connecting Hekate to crops and harvests. I’m a bit obsessed with all the delicious tidbits for practice in Eusibius’ text. It’s public domain, so check it out if you are so inclined. Here’s another example connecting Hekate to the harvest:

And upon those who work the bright, storm-tossed sea and pray to Hecate and the loud sounding Earth-shaker, the illustrious goddess easily bestows a big haul of fish, and easily she takes it away once it has been seen, if she so wishes in her spirit. – Hesiod’s Theogeny

This quote, to me, reflects Hekate and the First Harvest: she bestows it and can also prevent it or destroy it. This quote connects to the other celebrations this month (more on that later).

Honoring Hekate on The First Harvest Correspondences/Offerings: Local produce, especially grain and garlic, roses and other local flowers. Honey and/or beeswax candles have been associated with Hekate since the early days of her cult.

NOTE: There is no ancient epithet specific to Hekate and the harvest. Ekdotis means bestower which could certainly be appropriate as an honorific to her in conjunction with personal prosperity and the bounty of the land. The earlier quote from Hesiod could be recited and The Orphic Hymn to Hekate is especially apropos for harvest rituals.

Meal: Local produce and fresh fish if possible, prepared with plants from her ancient garden such as sage, saffron, bay laurel, and garlic. Olive oil is the appropriate fat.

Practice: Consider adding a daily gratitude practice to your Witches’ Hour of Power starting at the beginning of August. I’ve written a First Harvest article with practice tips and a ritual that can you find here. Another thing I will do is honor Hekate as the World Soul since it is her fiery energy of creation that is so abundant this time of the year. You can read one version of this ritual here, just adapt it to the First Harvest. This is an excerpt:

Mighty Hekate, Soul of the World, Like Your serpent, I am an agent of creation. As the dragon, I breathe Your fire with my words. My fears turn to ash through Your sacred alchemy.

Mighty Hekate, Soul of the World, May You be woven into my very being. Your colors of black, white and red Becoming my essential fire.

Hekate and Storms Hekate’s Night is observed on August 13. It’s also celebrated as Night of Hekate as Goddess of Witches (below). The quote above from Hesiod firmly connects her with the harvest and storms. These two aspects reflect Hekate’s powers of creation and destruction, both necessary part of the life cycle, including our own.

I’ve always associated Hekate with storms because I erroneously interpreted her epithet of Brimo as connected to the weather. Since I made this mistake years ago, Hekate has become associated with storms and with this night by many others. I also discovered Hesiod’s take on Hekate which is so similar to my own. After dark on August 13, I recommend that you pay your respects to Hekate as the Storm Bringer. You can perform a simple ritual that honors Her for seeing you through the storms of life and seek her guidance for the future ones. If this date happens to be close to the day of Hekate as Guardian of the Children, you can perform a two-fold ritual. In 2018, this night happens to fall close to the Dark Moon, the time when many modern Hekateans honor her as part of their monthly activities, so the events can easily be combined.

Honoring Hekate as Brimo I wrote about Hekate as Brimo, her stormy side, that may inspire you for practice and ritual ideas. You can read it here. This is an excerpt:

Hail Hekate Brimo, Hail Hekate The Fierce, Hail Hekate The Terrifying. May I be prepared for the storms of life, May I honor You through my actions, May I learn from your gifts. Guide me through life’s storms.

Hekate as the Witches’ Goddess The Night of Hekate is also interpreted as a celebration of Hekate as the Goddess of Witchcraft by some modern traditions and practitioners. Since the Deipnon is near the 13th in 2018, it’s suitable to perform a ritual specific to this aspect of Hekate.

Honoring Hekate as Goddess of Witchcraft I suggest making a list of all of your witchy abilities and offering gratitude to Hekate for them. Witch it up all the way with a chthonic (Under World) altar, loads of black and midnight wandering along sea cliffs with your coven or friends while carrying torches. The torches are very important. One time we almost ended up making ourselves oceanic offerings. My Witches’ Prayer to Hekate may inspire you. Feel free to use it as you will. Save it in your Book of Shadows if you like. The full text can be found here.

Mighty Hekate, Queen of the Witches, You have bestowed upon me the power of the Witch. Through the gifts of Your sacred keys, I am the walker between the worlds, The spinner of the web of fate, The knower of Your secrets, The student of Your mysteries, The giver of Your healing. – from “A Witch’s Prayer to Hekate”

You can also connect to her two most famous witches, Medea and Kirke. Click on their names to read my review of their stories, correspondences and suggestions for practice.

Hekate as Keeper of the Keys All summer long, I celebrate Hekate as Keeper of the Keys of all creation and also as the symbolic key holder for all the gates and crossroads in my life. Not that she isn’t Kleidoukhos the rest of the year, but there is something about the bounty in the land during this season that reminds me of her in this capacity. I wrote more about this in my article on Hekate and the Summer Solstice.

Honoring Hekate as Kleidoukhos The three previous celebrations all honor different but connected aspects of Hekate. One way to combine them is by honoring her as Kleidoukhos, Universal Key Holder and Gatekeeper. Since Hekate as associated most strongly with the number three, a ritual involving a key each for harvests, storms and witchery would be fantastic. I am hosting an event on the Keeping Her Keys Facebook page for everyone interested in celebrating her in this way. The idea is to select roles of Hekate that you feel most closely connected with rather than any prescribed set of ones. I wanted to celebrate the diversity of the ways us Hekateans experience her rather than having a rigid format. Find the event here. Read the Ritual of Hekate of The Nine Keys here.

Hekate as Guardian of Children “There were three dates set aside to honor Hekate as Kourotrophos, Guardian of Children. Those dates correspond to specific phases of the moon cycle. While the ancient calendar is a bit tricky to interpret using our modern one, the dates can be estimated. The days were held on the 27th day of the January-February moon cycle, the third day of June-July moon cycle and the 16th day of August-September moon cycle. You can work with Hekate as the Guardian of Children on any of these dates. A suitable ritual that includes thanking Hekate for the children in your life and seeking her blessing over them is appropriate. In the Wheel of the Year, Hekate as Kourotrophos is honored during the August-September moon cycle with a ritual, although you can work with Hekate in this capacity any time you feel led.” – from Keeping Her Keys: An Introduction to Hekate’s Modern Witchcraft available for pre-order.

Honoring Hekate as Kourotrophos Practice and Ritual: I have an entire article dedicated to Hekate as Guardian of Children, including a ritual: http://admin.patheos.com/blogs/keepingherkeys/2018/06/hekate-guardian-of-the-children-ritual-of-blessing-protection-and-rescue/

I always do a special ritual for my sons, their classmates and all children the day they return to school which is conveniently around the same time as the ancient dates for this festival.

Celebrate The Bounty of Hekate, the Land and Your Life I am a big fan of August, but I say that about every month. Personally, the beginning of August this year marks the 10th anniversary of the first time I led a big Hekatean ritual. You can read the story here and perhaps incorporate the evocation of Hekate that was first performed that evening. The current version can be found here. It warms my witch’s heart to hear how others have used this in their own workings. However you celebrate Hekate, the land and your own life this month, I wish you bounty in all things.

Join Us All month we are celebrating Hekate in The Witches’ Realm, including my study group on Modern Hekatean Witchcraft, events and more. You can apply to join on the main Keeping Her Keys Facebook page.

TAGGED WITH: AUGUST BRIMO CHILDREN ...MORE by Taboola Sponsored Links You May Like Considering an SUV? These Are the 10 Most Fuel Efficient Kelley Blue Book Vet Brings Home Baby Deer With A Missing Leg Only To Discover That He's Not Everything He Seems Honest To Paws Here’s Why Guys Are Obsessed With This Underwear… The Weekly Brief | Mack Weldon

ABOUT CYNDI Cyndi Brannen is a witch and spiritual teacher living the coastal life in rural Nova Scotia. She is a trained energetic healer, psychic and herbalist. Merging together her training in shamanism, Tarot, past life work, meditation and her twenty year career as a psychologist, she teaches and writes about better living through witchcraft. She founded Open Circle about a decade ago which now offers online courses, including The Sacred Seven: A Course in Applied Modern Witchcraft. She has written the forthcoming Keeping Her Keys: An Introduction to Hekate’s Modern Witchcraft. Hekate’s Modern Witchcraft: The First Key is a year-and-a-day course that will start November 1. More info at keepingherkeys.com You can read more about the author here. PREVIOUS POST

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breelandwalker · 2 years ago

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I posted 3,884 times in 2022

That's 2,435 more posts than 2021!

501 posts created (13%)

3,383 posts reblogged (87%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@breelandwalker

@crazycatsiren

@any59

@hexpositive

@jasper-pagan-witch

I tagged 1,510 of my posts in 2022

#witchblr - 421 posts

#witchcraft - 354 posts

#bree answers your inquiries - 315 posts

#witchy things - 186 posts

#pagan - 152 posts

#advice for beginner witches - 140 posts

#emergency kitten folder - 122 posts

#baby witch - 107 posts

#witch tips - 77 posts

#bree in real life - 76 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#and yes - i do in fact have to be a bitch about it. because i'm sick of getting hatemail every year for pointing out the historical record.

My Top Posts in 2022:

When people want to lean on you for mental and emotional support and you're like, no I am a wobbly stick who is barely standing as it is, if you lean on me I will break.

You are allowed to protect your own mental heath, even if it means disappointing someone. Boundaries are good and healthy things to have and don't ever let anyone tell you different.

1,550 notes - Posted June 24, 2022

Oh, my WHEELHOUSE! -claps on the Witchstorian hat-

Hope this cleared things up for you! 😁

1,551 notes - Posted July 13, 2022

Witchcraft Exercises

Just a quick compilation of the posts I've made about exercises to help improve your craft. These can be used as journaling prompts, inspiration for activities, or as methods for pulling yourself out of a slump and recharging your witchy inspiration.

Witchcraft Exercise - Quantifying Your Craft

Witchcraft Exercise - Dig Through The Ditches

Witchcraft Exercise - The Book of Lessons

Witchcraft Exercise - Home Brews

Prompt - Music to Witch By

Most of these are also available in the May 2021 bonus episode of Hex Positive (check your favorite podcatcher).

Happy Witching!

1,579 notes - Posted June 28, 2022

General Advice for Beginner Witches

A brief masterpost of some of my advice posts for beginner witches and the episodes of my podcast dealing with the same. (There is UPG here, particularly where marked, as I base a good deal of my advice on my own experience and observations of other witches.)

Hex Positive Podcast Episodes

Hex Positive, Ep. 04 - Advice for Beginner Witches (July 2020)

Hex Positive, Eps. 6-7 - Come In For A Spell 1 & 2 (Sept 2020)

Hex Positive, Ep. 12 - Witching From The Broom Closet (Jan 2021)

Hex Positive, Ep. 24 - Warding A Witchy Home (Dec 2021)

Hex Positive, Ep. 27 - When Inspo Takes A Holiday (March 2022)

General Tips & Advice

I Feel Like I Might Be A Witch...But I Don't Know

I Have Mental Health Issues - Can I Still Be A Witch?

Can I Still Be A Witch And Use Magic If I Take Medication?

How Do I Teach Myself To Believe In Magic?

How Does Magic Work? (upg ahoy)

Will I Be Possessed Or Haunted If I Try Witchcraft?

What Are Some Things I Can Do To Get Started?

How Can I Start My Practice If I Don't Have Tools Or Books?

How Do I Organize My Study Materials?

How Do I Contact A Deity?

How Do I Worship My Deity If I Can't Have An Altar?

Tips On Working With Deities And Spirits (here be upg)

My Intuitive Spark Feels Low - How Do I Get It Back?

I'm In A Slump - How Do I Get Out Of It?

I've Reached A Stopping Point - What Do I Do Next?

My Candle Is Flickering - Does It Mean Something Bad?

How Do I Make A Magic Circle For Spellcasting?

What Happens If I Get Interrupted While Casting A Spell?

Do I Need To Maintain Positive Vibes For My Spells To Work?

What Should I Do If I REALLY Want To Hex Someone?

How Do I Know / What Do I Do If I've Been Hexed?

See the full post

2,162 notes - Posted August 16, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Fairy Tale Spells by Bree NicGarran

Fairy tales have always been with us. Apart from teaching moral lessons and practical cautions, they remain a source of wonder and inspiration that persists even in a modern age dominated by technology.

There is magic in these tales as well - spells and charms that aid the worthy and conquer obstacles, heal the ailing and bring wealth to the poor, thwart the wicked and exact terrible revenge, or grant someone their hearts' desire and make their dearest wishes come true.

I have created over a hundred such spells, inspired by the tales recorded by the Brothers Grimm and the folklore collected by Andrew Lang. One volume was published back in 2017 and another is forthcoming. If you're curious (and maybe a little bit daring), here are some previews of the spells to be found in the pages of The Sisters Grimmoire.

After all, who couldn’t use a bit of Happily Ever After?

The Sisters Grimmoire, Vol. I

A Bellyful of Stones - A curse to punish the greedy.

Roughskin - To protect and disguise oneself from those who mean to harm you.

Table of Plenty - To obtain needed money or provisions.

The Red Flower - For removing enchantment.

The Sorrow Pot - To relieve your sorrows and bring justice for a grievance.

The Wall of Thorns - To protect one’s home and property.

The Sisters Grimmoire, Vol. II (forthcoming)

Make Sure You Lock Up - To set your household wards when you lock your front door.

The Ferryman's Curse - To curse another with the problems that plague your own life.

The Shining Web - To repel trouble from the home.

You can find more spells from The Sisters Grimmoire, Vol. I and potion and powder recipes from Pestlework by checking out the mid-month minisodes of Hex Positive, available on your favorite podcast platform.

All of my titles can be found on Amazon or ordered from the Willow Wings Witch Shop. (If you'd like to see them in your local witch shop, feel free to give the proprietor my contact information!)

If you're enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar! 😊

2,610 notes - Posted January 6, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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devosdevine · 7 years ago

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I’m a Witch.

Witch.

Why use that word? Mostly, because it's true.

Also, because it's an incredibly important word.

As Madeline Miller explains in her brilliant Guardian article, From Circe to Clinton: why powerful women are cast as witches, the word witch "reflect[s] our ideas about women back to ourselves." This lone syllable is a palimpsest of information about women's history: forms of feminine power, fear of feminine power, and the independence of women who hold power.

I learned I was a witch at age 11. Unfortunately, not by owl.

When I was 9, my progressive Episcopal school hired a remarkably conservative pastor. He taught my third grade Bible class that women were inferior members of the Christian faith. Convinced of my equality, I fought him openly. When the class reached Corinthians, I was exiled to the hallway.

Fortunately, I also spent that year studying Scandinavian history and mythology. I thus realized that pre-Christian spiritual alternatives existed, but the old gods still seemed distant, found only in fairy tales and books of ancient history.

Two years later, I stumbled on a curious volume at a used book fair. It was pink, with an picture of a beautiful woman on the cover and a compelling title: The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries. I took it home and devoured it in one sitting.

Running into my mother's bedroom, waving the book like a flag, I hollered, "Mom! I understand now! I'M A WITCH! Everything makes sense!" I was deliriously happy.

My mother lowered her newspaper and said levelly, "OK. But you can't ever say that to anyone else. They won't understand."

If you've met me, you know I'm a rules-follower. (Well, except when my Bible teacher tells me to accept my subservience.) I didn't speak the word "witch" to anyone else for nearly ten years.

Yet, I was a lucky wee witch: I had little supervision, an allowance, subway tokens, and all of New York City at my disposal. I bought a tarot deck at a comic book shop, made a wand from a branch found in Central Park, taught myself to meditate, and spent hours on the floor of Barnes and Noble devouring feminist classics and occult texts.

I paid scant attention to pop cultural depictions of witchcraft. It seemed a bit dangerous: would my curiosity indicate that I was, indeed, a witch? Also, I didn't want to get my information from Willow. I wanted real magic.

When I reached Duke University, I found a trove of resources in the Divinity Library, which was often empty and had a forgotten copy machine in the basement. I studied there, Xeroxing whole chapters from Doreen Valiente's works after I finished my homework.

I also found mentors: a married pair of witches raising their young daughter in the craft. They took me in, filled the many gaps in my knowledge, taught me how to perform rituals with proper tools and other witches, and coached me through many challenges. But they practiced in secret, because North Carolina wasn't a safe place to be a witch in the 1990s. So I practiced in secret, too.

Until I met my husband. Nominally Christian, he was remarkably sanguine about my beliefs and befuddled by my secrecy. We spoke Methodist vows at our wedding, but did so bathed in sunshine and surrounded by flowers, bees, and butterflies, so that I could feel the presence of the divine.

I stuck a toe out of the broom closet after my daughter's birth. As her primary role model, secrecy and sneaking around seemed like a terrible precedent to set. We decided to become an interfaith family: our daughter was baptized, but also included in my observances. Today, we celebrate all pagan holidays and some Christian holidays. Openly.

Yet, I didn't really leave the broom closet until we moved to Asheville, where I found allies, resources, and wise teachers including Byron Ballard, Becky Beyer, Sarah Chappell, Maia Toll, Jodi Rhoden, and Katie Vie. When I stopped hiding, I found my tribe.

So, what do I believe now?

Animism

I am an animist, which means that I perceive all natural things - rocks, plants, trees - as in some way alive. I also believe in divine immanence - an organizing force in the universe that is both holy and present in all natural things. I believe we can perceive divine order in the patterns of sacred geometry - pentagrams, spirals, stars, whorls, the Fibonacci sequence. (Here, let Donald Duck explain!) Thus, I believe nature is to be cherished, protected, and venerated.

Views about classic theological questions - the soul, the afterlife - vary widely among animists. Personally, I think our bodies and consciousness return to nature, but I really don't know what that means. I doubt my mind is capable of understanding it.

Paganism

Paganism is a polytheistic religious practice. I believe it is difficult for the human mind to approach the divine without some organizing principles. Gods, goddesses, myths, and stories help us conceive of the divine in a concrete way. Forming a relationship with one of these manifestations is a way to venerate the divine in the material world.

Views about classic theological questions vary as widely as you might expect among pagans. We have a "family goddess" and organize our veneration around her symbolism and incarnation.

Witchcraft

Witchcraft is a practice, not a religion. Thus, one can be pagan and a witch, pagan but not a witch, and a witch but not a pagan. I happen to be both. There are too many strands of witchcraft to list here.

Witchcraft, as I define it, is the practice of magic.

I think of magic as the conscious direction of intention on the material world. My practices are informed by Reclaiming, Norse, and Dianic Wiccan practices. (But I no longer use materials created by trans-exclusionary authors.) I'm also starting to learn about Appalachian folk magic, since I'm surrounded by it. However, I also think of magic and science as a spectrum: magic can be defined as a collection of observed (and still somewhat fuzzy) knowledge that has been passed down along generations but not incorporated into the laws and rules of "science." I read Sagan and Einstein along with spell books.

My daily spiritual practices include meditation; reading tarot; caring for our land; invoking, spending time in the presence of, and making offerings to our family's matron goddess; working on our family altar; casting spells; and taking classes in herbalism, mysticism, or history. Special spiritual practices are reserved for holidays known as sabbats and esbats.

Sabbats are the eight holy days observed by many Euro-American pagans and witches. They represent spokes on the Wheel of the Year. These are holidays for our family, and we have special traditions associated with each. Many are revivals of pre-Christian festival days, and fall close to popular holidays. Samhain is one of the holiest days of the year, often referred to as "The Witches' New Year." Yule is a lot like Christmas, so our family observes a full week of wintry celebrations. Imbolc is the return of the sun, a better version of Groundhog Day. Ostara is very similar to Easter. Beltane is May Day, and my daughter's school actually celebrates a version of it with costumes, maypole dancing, treats, and games. Summer Solstice, or Litha, is a time for staying up with the sun, catching fireflies, drinking champagne in the grass, and making strawberry shortcakes. Lammas is the first harvest festival; we visit local farms, make bread, and learn about food systems. Mabon, or Autumn Equinox, is the big harvest festival, and I see it as the kickoff of the "season of the witch," when everyone is getting ready for Halloween and I can luxuriate in feeling normal for a month! We carve pumpkins, pick apples, and decorate like love children of the Addams and the Griswolds.

Esbats are rituals held at the Full Moon and New Moon. These are special times for holding rituals and casting spells, so I set up a small ritual for my daughter wherein I teach her some new skill like grounding or casting a circle. Then I do my own rituals and spellwork after she's in bed.

My decision to leave the broom closet was informed by (1) a new sense of safety, because witchcraft is extremely popular right now, but also (2) a new sense of responsibility, because of the misogyny unearthed in the 2016 election.

Clearly, the election itself was informed by a persistent hatred of powerful women. "Witch" played a strong role in misogynistic descriptions and depictions of Hillary Clinton. For younger women, especially witches like myself, this was alternately infuriating and thrilling. It was both a denigration of us as individuals and a recognition of our political power.

As Kristen Sollee has explained, “Witches have always been politically radical, in my opinion, but it seems that even more American witches are these days because the internet allows for a new kind of organizing on a larger scale." After the election, activist witches began to organize, often via the internet or in spaces created by feminist entrepreneurs. W.I.T.C.H's many outposts. Intersectional feminist events at Hauswitch, Catland, Ritualcravt. (And many more I'm surely leaving out.)

Women who were witches - and women who weren't - began to see themselves reflected in the activism of witchcraft.

Then Donald Trump co-opted the term "witch hunt." It rang hollow. As Josephine Livingston said:

On the one side, we have the young woman. Her natal chart is fully indexed; she can read tarot. She knows that Planned Parenthood guards her liberty. Her interest in witchhood is bound up with her political conscience, gender identity, and sense of humor. On the other, the President of the United States. His witchhood is, by contrast, a simple claim: that enemies hunt him for no good reason.

Like Livingston, I believe that "the only sorcery effective against him is solidarity: more magic, more craft, more witches."

If you can hex, do it.

If you can work to regenerate the earth, do it.

If you can bind, do it.

If you have the power of persuasion, use it.

But above all...

If you're a witch, use the word.

It's a powerful word. It rings with history, beauty, pain, and magic. We could all use a little more magic right now, by which I simply mean a little more intention in our relations with the material world, and a little more faith that our intentions matter.

Then, as Miller asks, "perhaps we can at last celebrate female strength, recognising that witches – and women – are not going away."

“We are the granddaughters of the witches you could not burn.” It’s not a biological claim. It’s a tribal cry of belonging. A recognition of my powerful foremothers, the women who were called “witch”: Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, Anne Boleyn, the herbalists, the alewives, the midwives, Hillary.

I’m a witch.

#witch #witchcraft #witches #politics #feminism #pagan #paganism #animism #animist

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mayhemxmugglesxmagic · 4 years ago

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Headcanon – Draco/Alchemy/ Elemental Magic

Note: Some of this headcanon is was inspired by a conversation with the lovely @holmesdepot, and their amazing headcanon. Credit where credit is due!

Alchemy: General/History

-- Based on this.

Alchemy is a branch of magic and an ancient science concerned with the study of the composition, structure and magical properties of the four basic elements, as well as the transmutation of substances; it is thus intimately connected with Potion-making, chemistry and transformative magic. Alchemy also concerns philosophy -- one interpretation of alchemical literature, which is known to be dominated by mystical and metaphysical speculation, were that the study of Alchemy was symbolic of a spiritual journey, leading the alchemist from ignorance, or base metal, to enlightenment or gold. While Muggles for the most part largely dismiss it as an outdated forerunner of modern chemistry, there are some wizards who actively study and practice it in modern day, and who have held it to be some of the most difficult magic known

Alchemy has been a field of study since antiquity. As the time went on, the lack of common words for chemical concepts and processes, as well as the need for secrecy (presumably to avoid Muggle persecution though it may have also had something to do with cultural feelings towards Alchemy and the growing cultural divide between elemental instinctual magic and more institutionalized conduit based magic) led alchemists to borrow the terms and symbols of biblical and pagan mythology, astrology, and other esoteric fields. This marked a progress in alchemical research, as it allowed the exchange of ideas between alchemists without outside meddling. However, this also ended up making the plainest chemical recipe read like an abstruse magic incantation, probably confusing the learning and spreading of alchemy as a science.

The best known goals of the alchemists were the transformation of common metals into Gold or Silver, the creation of a Panacea (a remedy that would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely), and the discovery of a universal solvent. Two of the three primary alchemical goals were achieved by the famed French alchemist Nicolas Flamel sometime in or after the 14th century, with his creation of the Philosopher's Stone and, by extension, the Elixir of Life. Flamel went on to live to the 1990s and to six centuries old, til the destruction of the Stone.

Alchemy: The Elements (Basic)

-- Based on this:

What we know --

EARTH: In alchemy, earth was believed to be primarily dry, and secondarily cold, (as per Aristotle). Beyond those classical attributes, the chemical substance salt, was associated with earth. Earth can represent physical movements and sensations, and it’s associated with the colors green and brown, and the humor black bile. Earth is associated with matter, foundation, manifestation, money, incorporating, employment, touch, empathy, understanding, fertility, security, safety, home, prosperity, and business. Represents stability and physical endurance.

AIR: Aristotle stated that air represented heat and wetness (the wetness is from water vapor, which was thought to be part of air). The air symbol in alchemy can also represent a life-giving force, and it is associated with the colors white and blue. Hippocrates associated air with blood. Air is associated with thought, creativity, knowledge, mental activity, study, speech, intellect, ideas, communication, hearing, travel, messages, eloquence, freedom, discovery, revealing hidden things, and secrets. Represents intelligence and the arts.

FIRE: In alchemy, fire represents emotions such as passion, love, anger, and hate, which are sometimes referred to as “fiery” emotions. Aristotle labeled it as hot and dry, and it is represented by the colors red and orange, as well as the humor yellow bile. Fire is associated with energy, spirituality, passions, light, vitality, health, goals, desires, destiny, sexuality, purification, and sight. Represents courage and daring.

WATER: Aristotle labeled water as cold and wet, and Hippocrates connected it to the body humor phlegm. Additionally, it’s associated with intuition as well as the color blue, and is often linked to the alchemy symbol of mercury (as both are seen as feminine symbols). The Greek philosopher Thales believed water was the first substance created in the world. Water is associated with feelings, happiness, pleasure, love, children, friendship, marriage, family, ancestors, veils, home, taste, dreams, sleep, divination, purification, cleansings, healing, psychic and intuition, and the sub-conscious. Represents emotions and intuition.

(I’ll go into more detail on specific metals, etc later)

Alchemy: Hogwarts

-- Based on this:

What were know --

The sixth-year Potions curriculum at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry covers alchemy and, as such, Libatius Borage's Advanced Potion-Making includes a brief historical and scientific overview of alchemy. According to Horace Slughorn, the preparation of an antidote for a blended poison following Golpalott's Third Law incurs in an almost alchemical process. However, Alchemy itself is an elective subject offered at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and only when there is sufficient demand from sixth and seventh-year students only.

What this could mean --

Ministry regulations on Alchemy and the study of elemental magic due to the unpredictability of it have made learning Alchemy in depth is highly discouraged. As such even when there is an acceptable amount of students who wish to take the course it does not go forward. There are fears of individuals who are able to harness the elements in magic, specifically the element associated with their magical core. It is powerful but unstable in most peoples hands -- and alchemy is a stepping stone toward the understanding of that.

Alchemy: Draco’s research

Draco isn’t interested in eternal life, or a cure for all illness. He’s interested in harnessing the properties of the here and now -- making the most of the time given to him, and the transformative potential of life itself. That's why he's so intrigued by Felix Felicis. While commonly understood to be a luck potion that’s not exactly what it is. It’s a complex potion that aligns the users magical core with the elements and their properties in perfect harmony. People have described being on Felix Felicis as just knowing -- everything goes right. This is because it heightens the users instincts, and their magic pushes them to trust themselves, guides them in the right direction. The potion is little more than an add blocker for the wizards brain -- it removes doubt and creates a direct line from the users magical core to the universe around them.

Most wizards in the modern day have trouble tapping into this part of themselves due to an over reliance on wands, incantations, potions, etc, as well as being told that there is a right way and a wrong way to do magic. But Felix Felicis removes the barrier that’s been built by cultural reliance on things like wands and the idea of proper magic.

Through his research Draco learns of old magic -- magic based on elements and wordless/wandless casting from a time when wizards and witches instinctually knew how to cast and harness the energies around them. Their magic was directly related to their physical and emotional states as well as the stars (birth charts) they were born under. However, this often made magic unstable and unpredictable to those who did not understand or were not powerful enough to user their own magic safely. As such under the guise of creating proper magic -- wands and other tools were slowly normalized while the old ways died out or were removed.

Alchemy came about in the UK during the cultural shift from this more instinctual wandless magic to the strict conduit and incantation based magic of modern wizarding Europe. Alchemy was a way for those who remembered a time when magic was more element based and instinctual to try and make sense of the properties within their magic -- Why does lead interact the way it does with the human spleen? Why is my magic more powerful if I cast while holding tin on a Thursday, but my sisters isn’t? etc. If they could make sense of it, if the could quantitate it then they could harness the elements to do their bidding and justify further research into the link between the elements, the stars, etc, and magic. In modern times however, many witches and wizards find this field of study obsolete or foolish -- much like the way they view divination.

Birth charts, Alchemy, and Old magic: Draco

A wizards or witches birth chart dictates the elements their magic relates to so for example a wizard born under a fire star sign (Seamus such an Aries Finnegan) would find spells using fire, heat, etc easier to use and more powerful than a witch or wizard who was born under a water sign. The witch or wizards dominate star sign also can narrow down the type of accidental magic they may perform as children.

Back to Draco as an example (I’ll post Draco’s birth chart later) Draco’s dominate element is Earth with 37.04% of his birth chart falling under a planet associated with the element of Earth. (It’s important and interesting to note Water (29.63%) and Air (29.63%) are very close while Fire is almost nonexistent (3.7%) And the fact he almost died in a fiendfyre becomes very understandable). As such much of Draco’s accidental magic as a child would be Earth based, such as small manifestations and summonings (a toy he wanted suddenly appearing, or flowers blooming all over his room), or small circles of protection surrounding him when he felt uncertain or afraid.

This also means that things associated with Earth are things that can help him cast stronger and more intuitive spells. That is if he’s able to connect with the elemental core of his magic, and over come the societal and cultural norm of using a conduit. Things associated with Earth are also things he’d find easier to use, and would be more potent in potions and alchemic transmutation for him. For example potions using salt (Associated with Earth) brewed by Draco would be more potent than if they were brewed by someone whose dominate element was fire.

However, due to the close nature of the elements in his brith chart, its safe to say that most magic concerning earth, water, and air Draco would be rather good at instinctually, but wouldn’t be as strong as someone who had a single dominate element. Percentages matter.

#hc: Alchemy and Arsenic (Draco)#[outofmagic: This post got a bit out of hand]#[outofmagic: not sure if it makes sense or if I've just rambled but still here it is]#world building: Alchemy and Arsenic (Draco)#holmesdepot #[A bit like what we were talking about]

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tipsycad147 · 3 years ago

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Weird Pagan words: An annotated list

by Michelle Gruben

This is certainly not an exhaustive list of Pagan and magickal terminology—just a quick rundown of some of the weirdest Pagan words and phrases zipping around out there.

Adept – A person who—through study, practice, or natural gifts—is extremely proficient at a magickal system. A master. Adepts are rumored to actually exist, but anyone who claims to be one probably isn’t.

Aspect – A form, facet, or persona of a deity. As a verb, “to aspect” means to channel or invoke the deity into oneself.

Asperge – To purify a space by sprinkling water. Often performed before ritual. The bundle of herbs used for this purpose is called an asperger.

Besom – A ritual broom. Witches don’t fly on their besoms, but they do use them for energetic (and physical) clean-up.

Blot – A term meaning “sacrifice” in Norse Paganism. Pronounced “bloat,” a blot is a communal gathering to honor the Gods. In olden times, a blot revolved around the slaughter of a large animal whose body would feed the holy feast. At a modern blot, you’re unlikely to see an animal sacrifice. You will see a lot of eating, libations, and readings of Norse legends and religious poems. (See Sumbel.)

Burning Times – A collective name given to the Bad Old Days of the Reformation, Inquisition, etc., when Witches were burned alive by fanatics.

Cakes and ale – A communal offering of food and beverage, most often performed at the close of a Wiccan circle. The ritual honors the gifts of the Earth and the presence of the Lord and Lady. The actual ingredients of the offering will vary according to the season and the preferences of the celebrants. Sometimes Wiccan refer to the ritual as “cakes and ale” even if the altar holds sangria and chocolate chip cookies.