#oxfords witchy stuff

[oxfordcomma-alt]

Online Presences, the "AO3 Curse", and Spirituality - A Longpost

Many witchy and spiritual folks online use wards and protection spells on their physical spaces and selves.

But not their virtual counterparts. Now, hear me out.

In fanfic circles, there's a phenomenon lovingly referred to as "the AO3 curse", where an author has chronic bad luck rendering them unable to update their fics. I myself have horrendous luck, and happen to be a writer - although you're lucky if I can get an update out once a month.

Now, for most, the "curse" is an ironic stack of coincidences, a funny string of misfortunes - for most, it's a harmless joke about writers down on their luck.

However, as a deeply spiritual person, I believe there is something else at play.

(rest of the longpost/essay post under the cut)

Now, I'm not saying there's an evil miasma around AO3, or a malicious web dev putting curses into the code of the site.

And that's because, simply put, the "curse" doesn't work like a normal curse - because it isn't one.

When you post something online, especially something you worked hard on, like a beautiful art piece, or a new chapter of a fic - you are pouring energy and emotion into that work. In a sense, you are baring your soul for the world to see.

That leaves you wide open for negative energy (intentional or not).

You can have the best wards around your physical self and your space, but if you don't protect yourself online, you are going to leave yourself defenceless.

Intentionally or not, the internet is full of negative energies - hate comments, doomscrolling, trolls, scammers and scalpers, and even just people who don't like you or what you create. For many, it's a place to share their passions and their secrets in equal measure. In more ways than one, your online presence is an extension of yourself, and often, a deeper and more personal one.

And yet, even for witches and spiritual folk, it goes completely unguarded.

I believe this, not any actual curse, is the cause of writers' bad luck over on AO3, and many cybercitizens' misfortunes and woes.

It is vital to cleanse and ward - even banish - your online presence of negative energies.

Now, how do we do this?

The Internet isn't a physical space that you can put a salt circle around, or a physical person you can expel energy out of. But it's still simple to protect yourself.

You can:

Place warding sigils on your devices (for instance, a sticker on your laptop or router, or a slip of paper in the back of your phone case)

Use normal cleansing methods (smoke, sound, crystals, etc) around your device, with a selected account open (for instance, having your Tumblr profile up while doing a smoke cleanse around your computer)

If you can picture things, imagine a ball of cleansing and banishing energy, and release it out into your digital space

Use incantations or chant to rid your digital world of negativity

Incorporate sigils into profile pictures, text dividers, profile banners, or a watermark in your art

Use emojis like runes, and create spells in text fields (just make sure to dodge any problematic emoji combos)

Using these techniques, and just about anything else you can think of, you can protect your digital self, and avoid these quasi-curses through simple defence.

[weaselwitchin]

hello, me again on the witch blog

basically what inspired this analogy was gettin semilost in bailey woods (oxford ms) a few days ago & findin the creek that meanders through the forest was mostly dry. bed was damp but no water. & i stood there next to it lookin down at the way the water had moved the sand, & the rocks here & there, & thinkin about the nature of the creek flow

see growin up down here we get gulleywashers in the summer that pour so much rain the ground can't soak it in fast enough, & the rivers swell beyond the banks & push all kinda debris downstream. but it's only when the water recedes that you can pick around the edges & see what washed up. the place just north of tupelo where we hunt for fossil shark teeth is most accessible when the water level is way down. sure i'd prefer to take a swim any day, but in the dry seasons i don't stand where the river's not & weep. i just... find other things to do there

& i think that's very relevant to my practice? like, my witchy inclinations wax & wane as far as actual spellwork & such go. & in my dry seasons perhaps i can examine what makes up my foundation. there's moss & sticks & bugs & artifacts & all kinda stuff in a dry creek, i can still poke around & make observations. the water is only part of the whole picture, & i don't wanna miss out on the details

thanks for makin great theory-style posts. i like readin yr take on things, which helps me think more about my own take on things, & i think that's helpin me find a connection i worried i'd lost. just cause a creek goes dry from time to time don't mean it ain't ever gonna flow again, & in the meantime i can examine the sandy red clay bottom for fossils & neat rocks that would be hard to get to otherwise. preciate the perspective 😎👍

Spiritual geology during times of environmental decay is a beautiful thought.

[whenthequietbreaks]

I didn't even think about opening asks up cause I was just expecting people to reply if anyone even responded since I'm not exactly a big blog lmao but yes I am thank you

I was gonna post more detail on this before I went to sleep last night but my cat is extremely convincing about sleep time

Tbh this was entirely inspired by wanting Xie lian in modern ish clothes but with a big coat and witch hat :3 there's a post I reblogged yesterday where someone drew him like that I think I may have to tell them when I post lmao hmm

But anyway details may be subject to change and this isn't entirely thought out and probably has to much going on so far lmao

When I say modern with magic I do mean basically modern like with vehicles but some if not all of the engines run on some kind of magical shit. There's cell phone and stuff but I feel like I've seen something with magic paper airplanes for messaging that may be a thing cause I think it sounds cool

So far what I have is xianle was like a big ass college town vibe? And the king Fucked Up and managed to get the whole university shut down. I googled it and Oxford has over 16,000 employees so we can safely say a ton of people lost their jobs and hence the hate for their family.

I was thinking of having Wizard be like a title for important people compared to witches but then I thought of Xie lian with his bandages and stuff and thought it would be neat if the cursed shackles were magic tattoos to bind his ability to do Wizard Magic so maybe it's more like. Wizard magic uses your internal magic and Witch Magic is using the magic already in the world?

So then I got sidetracked thinking about one of them doing magic tattoos but I don't think I'll go that route

Little Hong'er meets Xie Lian and immediately decides he's going to try and skip grades and get a scholarship and stuff to try and go to university with Xie lian but three years later before he can everything went down and Xie Lian basically disappears for 8 years so that dream is crushed

Present day I was thinking they've both ended up in a different city, Xie Lian working in some cute little witchy shop and doing volunteer work on the side, it would be cute to have him work with kids like little Ban Yue and Pei Xiu.

I was thinking of having E'ming and Rouye as familiars since witch shit is happening. Could both be cats as a classic but then I was thinking about snake Rouye which is always kinda cool.. and I considered raven E'ming I saw in another art but ravens can kinda talk like parrots so I don't wanna write dialogue for him lmao

I considered some kind of casino for Hua Cheng but that seems like even more disconnected stuff. I thought about maybe a security company or something? But let's be honest he only cares about one man's security lmao but it could be like. Practice? If Xie lian volunteers I considered him owning the place Xie lian volunteers at? Maybe it's for underprivileged kids since he was one? Idk. There is always making him an artist but that feels a bit disconnected again and doesn't help much with his new goal of Protect Xie Lian From Everything. I need something that takes advantage of and builds power within the magic aspect of the world but again no idea what lmao

But yeah I am aware I've never written a long fic before and this is all over the place lmao 😅 I may add to this more later

Alright babes modern with magic au but it's witches and shit instead of Cultivation what the fuck is Hua chengs job?? I am Struggling send help 😭

[oxfordcomma-alt]

shamelessly reblogging this because its IMPORTANT

Online Presences, the "AO3 Curse", and Spirituality - A Longpost

Many witchy and spiritual folks online use wards and protection spells on their physical spaces and selves.

But not their virtual counterparts. Now, hear me out.

In fanfic circles, there's a phenomenon lovingly referred to as "the AO3 curse", where an author has chronic bad luck rendering them unable to update their fics. I myself have horrendous luck, and happen to be a writer - although you're lucky if I can get an update out once a month.

Now, for most, the "curse" is an ironic stack of coincidences, a funny string of misfortunes - for most, it's a harmless joke about writers down on their luck.

However, as a deeply spiritual person, I believe there is something else at play.

(rest of the longpost/essay post under the cut)

Now, I'm not saying there's an evil miasma around AO3, or a malicious web dev putting curses into the code of the site.

And that's because, simply put, the "curse" doesn't work like a normal curse - because it isn't one.

When you post something online, especially something you worked hard on, like a beautiful art piece, or a new chapter of a fic - you are pouring energy and emotion into that work. In a sense, you are baring your soul for the world to see.

That leaves you wide open for negative energy (intentional or not).

You can have the best wards around your physical self and your space, but if you don't protect yourself online, you are going to leave yourself defenceless.

Intentionally or not, the internet is full of negative energies - hate comments, doomscrolling, trolls, scammers and scalpers, and even just people who don't like you or what you create. For many, it's a place to share their passions and their secrets in equal measure. In more ways than one, your online presence is an extension of yourself, and often, a deeper and more personal one.

And yet, even for witches and spiritual folk, it goes completely unguarded.

I believe this, not any actual curse, is the cause of writers' bad luck over on AO3, and many cybercitizens' misfortunes and woes.

It is vital to cleanse and ward - even banish - your online presence of negative energies.

Now, how do we do this?

The Internet isn't a physical space that you can put a salt circle around, or a physical person you can expel energy out of. But it's still simple to protect yourself.

You can:

Place warding sigils on your devices (for instance, a sticker on your laptop or router, or a slip of paper in the back of your phone case)

Use normal cleansing methods (smoke, sound, crystals, etc) around your device, with a selected account open (for instance, having your Tumblr profile up while doing a smoke cleanse around your computer)

If you can picture things, imagine a ball of cleansing and banishing energy, and release it out into your digital space

Use incantations or chant to rid your digital world of negativity

Incorporate sigils into profile pictures, text dividers, profile banners, or a watermark in your art

Use emojis like runes, and create spells in text fields (just make sure to dodge any problematic emoji combos)

Using these techniques, and just about anything else you can think of, you can protect your digital self, and avoid these quasi-curses through simple defence.