#wicca calender

[bl4ckbunnie]

[greenpanda-basicfakewitch]

Book Of Shadows Index

I see a ton of Witchtoks/people who only give a basic summary of what to research along with a ton of books and I'm more of a bullet point girl. So... Here we go.

A book of shadows was coined by Alaisar Crowley, alongside garnder who was the founder of Wica, then changed to Wicca later on [I will go in depth in history with links/sources and more detail on another post]

So here's the index for a book of shadows, full of all things you the individual want to learn include in your practice and like Pirates of the Caribean, take it more as guidlines and you're free to decide what you like/don't like.

So Include a Book Of shadows Blessing in the begging of your book [or digital document] And a BOS is like a diary, only you can see it or your coven.

____________________________________________________________

Beginner Studies; Introduction to Witchcraft. I.e: What is Paganism, Wicca, Witchcraft? What is the difference? Wicca History: Origins in your country of origin. Salem, etc. Covens and Hierchies and Solitary witches. Basic rundown, you have your first, second, third degree. Like an employee, a suvervisor and a manager. Managers are in charge of their own store, like a third degree can create their own coven.

Lore: Tree of life, Triple goddess, Horned God, Morgan le fey and other mythical lore and research depending on which one your aligned with. Like Norse, Greek, Celtic, Viking, Roman, or any other types. Wiccan Rede, rules of Wicca power of three times three. Etc.

Symbols: Look up certain symbols, or sigils, runes, thats commonly used in Wicca/Paganism or your preffered craft. Cast a circle: Most begin a spell and cast a protection circle before you begin your spell. Pentacle [Star with circle] Pentragram [No circle] *Include the Spirit, fire, earth, water, air. Evil eye. [usually used as protection AGAINST the evil eye]

Witch Tools: Witch tools you use, or place on your altar. Like an Athame, cualdron, wand, etc Tools of Divination: Pendulum, spirit board, tarot, angel cards, scrying mirror, playing cards, etc Additional tools: Candles. Crystals. Elements Herbs Chakras/Meditation Lucid Dreaming Astral projection Milk baths

______________________________________________________________

Year Calender/Sabbets Month Calender Day Calender: Like Moday is MOON. Sunday is SUN, Saturday is Saturn etc. Deities Celtic/ Roman/Norse Other gods to research. etc Astrology.

Star Sign, Moon sign, Sun Sign, other planetary signs. Planet Retrograde, Mercury retrograde, mars, venus etc Moon Phases. Like hunters moon, pink moon etc.

Animals as omens [Careful with this one, as it links to other occult/cultures/religions and best not to appropriate and lead to indiginous tribes or others. But not all animals as omens is a sign, usually it links to the Fea as animals are fea and fea are animals and other religions like kitsune, tanaki, are shapeshifters or known as spirits in other cultures]

______________________________________________________________

Spells Moon Water Witch bag/bottle Broomsticks Seashell collecting [A practice looked down on now for enviormental effects, but I have bottles/jars of shells I've collected when I was six so I've kept them and included them as I have some] Witch Outfits [this is just my personal interest, it ties in with the history a little] Symbolism of the Hat [Like a Candle] Witch Nudity Haute Couture Bohemian/Grunge goth fashion Media/Pop culture:

Books or movies that have had witch consultants or other ties to witchcraft/wicca etc. Such as practical magic, the Craft and maybe even Neil Gaimans works such as the ocean at the end of the lane. Coraline that had mentions of a dowsing rod, and rock with a hole in the center to find lost things. Music:

Listening to music can also set da mood, so I will compile playlists and songs that made me feel witchy. Anything else to include feel free to ask or reblog :D

*ALSO IMPORTANT! CLOSED/OPEN Practice! Wicca as it is is open, you can buy a wicca book/watch withtok who have you whatever whatever! But a closed practice? Thats a religion or something you CANNOT access too UNLESS you are invited in, or iniated into that group! Indeginous tribes/jewish traditions/hoodoo/voodoo/ etc. A closed practice is a closed door. You cant access that by yourself. Which is why White sage cant be used, theres many alternatives and other incenses/sages to burn. Not the one thats sacred/endangered and used speicifially in indeginous tribes. They've already had enough taken away from them what do witches need white sage for in this current enviromental crisis? so yeah...

Additional last note: I will also include passages alongside the books I have by cunningham and others with the book as well as the passage and page/chapter and try to include web links in any future post I make.

Bear in my mind and I will TRY to be as accurate as I can, but I will make mistakes and end up posting some things thats misinformed even when I post links. But I will try my best to fix any mistakes if I can.

Blessed be.

[error-area]

something i could keep in my room

[muslimhazelwitch]

Moon Calender '21

[wiccancollection]

Ostara - Spring Equinox -  Alban Eilir

Ostara is derived from a reconstruction produced by linguist Jacob Grimm of an Old High German form of the Old English goddess name Ēostre, Ostara marks the vernal equinox in some modern Pagan traditions.

Known as Alban Eilir, meaning Light of the Earth, to modern Druid traditions, this holiday is the second of three spring celebrations (the midpoint between Imbolc and Beltane), during which light and darkness are again in balance, with light on the rise. It is a time of new beginnings and of life emerging further from the grips of winter.

Ostara Grounding Ceremony: 

1 . Collect a jar of rain water. As well as gathering a couple seeds.

2. Go into your garden and plant the seeds. 

3. Walk to a clear patch of grass, and stand at that point with bare feet.

4. Plant your bare feet firmly and feel the energy of springs cleansing flowing through the earth to you. 

5. Pour the Rain water over your feet, or you can also wash your feet in a basin of the water. Let it wash away the old you and make way for your fresh start.

6. As you nurture the seeds and watch them grow, you must also nurture yourself and notice your own growth as a new person. 

Ostara House Ceremony:

Open windows and curtains, to let in the fresh air and new sun. 

Fill the home with fresh flowers and floral scents. 

Plant herbs and other fresh scented plants. 

Take this time to get rid of the old, if possible by donating. 

Take time to organize wither it be physically or mentally. 

Ostara Activity:

Bake fresh pastries.

Make floral teas.

Press flowers, maybe give some as a gift as well. 

Grow some cress and other herbs in egg shells, to bless your food. 

Ostara is coming fast, hopefully some of these ideas will be helpful. Blessed Ostara - Spring Equinox -  Alban Eilir to all. 

[thepowerofwitches-blog]

Imbolc

Hey witches! Everybody drop one thing your doing for imbolc in the replies below let's have fun and see what everyone's got going on!!

Pen

[nickihorror]

Here's the Luna Moth Witches Wheel of the Year 😍😍😍 . SHOP LINK IN BIO . #pagancalendar #wheeloftheyear #witcheswheel #paganart #paganartist #portlandartist #portlandoregon #etsygifts #witchygifts #witchythings #witchesofig #witchesofinstagram #pagansofinstagram #wicca #wiccan #pagan #calender #lunamoth #mothart (at Portland, Oregon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNYwdrpHcvx/?igshid=2czax968pdne

[ladyluna1]

Masterlist For Novice Witches

Please note this list is always under maintenance and may be added too frequently. It began development late January of 2022. For those just starting their journey or discerning so to speak if it’s right for them, your best starting point is learning the history and what Witchcraft is. Also, it is important to note that many would consider a new witch in the novice period for 2 years. This varies widely based on how much study and effort one can put into it. 

What is Witchcraft (history,etc.)?

Witchcraft History by Meredith Tokac

Pagenism,Wicca,And Witchcraft-What’s The Difference? by Scarlet Ravenswood

Witchcraft,Wicca+Pagenism║The Differences by HearthWitch

What is Witchcraft? by WitchyTips

What Is A Witch? by Hex Positive Witchcraft

How to Become a Witch║Witchcraft by HearthWitch

Different Types of Witchcraft by Meredith Tokac

What Kind of Witch Are You? by The Green Witch

 Research Basics by Meredith Tokac

Garden of Ash & Bone FAQ the basics of witchcraft

2022 Witch Calender (by breelandwalker)

Magickal Days of the Week║Witchcraft 101 by HearthWitch

Guides/Tips

Beginner Witch Tips from thesigilwitch

Advice for Beginner Witches by Hex Positive podcast

serpantandthreads masterlist

Baby Witch Bootcamp by samwisethewitch

Tarot Mistakes by witchesbe-like

Tips For Beginners and Closeted Witches By Jessica Grey

Starting Witchcraft ║ What I Wish I Knew by HearthWitch

A Witch Reacts║Beginner Witch TikTok's by HearthWitch

15 Tips for Beginner Witches ║ Witchcraft 101 by HearthWitch

Spellwork,etc. 

Protection Magick by The Witch of Wonderlust

Happiness Spell by togamii 

Guided Meditation for Self Love by Lavendaire

Return To Sender Spell/Chant by Charlene Lizette

Ultimate Protection Magic Masterpost by a walking library Parts 1 and 2

Helpful Websites

sacredwicca Book of Shadows

witchpedia

freewitchspells

thewitchtokcollective

Meredith Tokac’s Pinterest

Helpful Books

The Crooked Path an Introduction to Traditional Witchcraft By:Kelden

[the-fox-jawed-witch]

Witchcraft App Reviews

Wicca- Calendar, spells, plants and guide.

🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮

The app actually looks really beautiful and it does look like it's been well put together. This is a free app and with those comes ads, unavoidable, but I get it.

Opening the app there are several sections you can click on and they go into different descriptions based on what you clicked on. My review will go from Left to Right and Left down to Right down.

Wicca: when clicked on it gives the history and also talks a bit about the practitioners. This is where it kinda goes downhill in my opinion, the app describes Wiccans as "White Witches". As talked about previously, the terms " white" and "black" are used to describe good magic and baneful magic is racist and should be replaced with either light/dark or good/baneful magic.

This section also describes something called "The 13 Commandments", which must be a new new age thing because I've never seen this or heard if this.

Moon: Now, this section I like a lot. Not only does this section show what moon phase it currently is but it shows the brightness, what time the moon will be at its highest point and it shows what zodiac the moon is in.

There is also a section under this for "Today's Tips" that gives some helpful tips on what kind of spells to perform/not perform, and also some tips on what not to do physically.

There's a section called "Today's Energy" where it talks about how the moon in the zodiac it's in can affect people and how we should make the most out of the current moon phase.

And finally, there's a section called "Lunar Calendar" that simply shows the calender and each phase and zodiac the moon will be in.

Wheel of the Year: It gives us the next festival with how many days remain until said festival, it also gives us a brief explanation of what the festival is all about.

Under that is a section for each festival on the wheel and when clicked on will give a brief explanation of that festival.

Spells: Clicking on this section you'll get a list of spell categories and clicking on a category will lead you to a list of spells. Choosing a spell will then lead you to a "how-to" guide.

Under this is a "Candle Colors and Magic" section which I believe is really helpful.

Really the only thing I can find wrong with this section is the first category, "Love and Passion". Love spells are considered taboo in some paths of witchcraft and should not be performed unless you have the other person's permission.

Herbology: a nonalphabetized list of plants and herbs that once clicked on will give the properties, uses (not all plants have a uses section), and precautions.

After everything is listed it does give a warning to consult a professional before use of any plant. Which I find very helpful!

Meditation: This section is to help one meditate by using background sounds and audio. You can select a song that you think will help you meditate as well as a background noise.

Crystals and Gemstones: Like the "Herbology" section this gives a list of crystals and when you tap on a specific crystal it will give the properties and a bit of description on what the crystal does.

Book of Shadows: This section is exactly what it sounds like, a section that you can use as a book of shadows in scroll form.

All in all this app does seem to be incredibly helpful, at least in my opinion. Besides the racist bit in the Wiccan section and the love spells in the spells section I give this app 8.5/10 I am definitely keeping this app on my phone.

This app can be found on Android but I'm unsure of other devices.

[burntanus]

Sal and Larry with a wiccan s/o

Sal fisher

When you first told Sal you were wiccan, he was a little worried.

He's only heard about wicca in movies, so he has a very small idea of what it is.

"Isn't that were you worship demons???"

After explaining to him that no, wiccans do not worship demons and that wicca is a religion surrounded by peace and acceptance, he'll calm down.

Whenever he sees you practicing magic, or charging your crystals, he'll sit next to you and quietly observe.

One time he watched as you casted a protection spell on a crystal necklace and as soon as you gave it to him he felt at peace.

He might actually start dabbling in magic himself

He doesn't know what he's doing, help him.

"Babe, what's in this jar here?"

"Sage and moon water."

"Sal, why would you mix sage and moon water??"

One time you had to stop him from accidently hexing someone because he tried following a spell he found online.

He asks you to cleanse Larry's apartment while he has him distracted, which works, but Larry starts sneezing up a storm when he comes back due to the strong sent of lavender and sage.

He introduces you to Meghan and she absolutely loves you.

Whenever he goes up there by himself she asks "where's the nice lady/man at?"

Honestly he just adores having a witchy/warlocky partner.

Larry Johnson

Unlike Sal, Larry has a pretty good understanding on what wicca is and the beliefs around it so when you tell him he's pretty chill about it.

Always asks to borrow your crystals

Regularly takes you on dates to magick shops

Mainly because he loves to see how excited you get when you find something you've been looking for.

Buys you a jar specifically for your moon water.

Has put moon water in a bong before.

Has a calender marking each full moon so he can remind you to charge your crystals and to manifest.

Please cleanse his home, the boy needs it.

He goes to you whenever the spirits of the apartments won't leave him alone.

Laughs whenever he catches you telling those "Edgy motherfuckers" to "leave your man alone."

Tries to put a hex on Travis, only to get scolded by you when you find out.

"What part of do no harm do you not understand?"

"Karma wasn't working fast enough."

He protects you when Travis finds out that you're into magick

Nearly beats the shit out of him when he told you that you were going to rot in hell for your sins

All in all, he really loves you, and your magick.

[greenpanda-basicfakewitch]

Welcome to my Witchy Blog!

Here are some links to the pages or speicific post of any speicific thing your looking for :D [I'll post the links once I have them]

About me -> Read!

P.s: I am working on a fictional story, most media I enjoy had influence from real witches/research into Wicca/Paganism. All posts here are for self-gain, research purposes only. So take ALL my posts with a grain of salt. And put a circle around yourself ;P

Index: Introduction: Book of Shadows/Grimoire | Wiccan Rede | Baby witch first steps.  Symbols For Protection-many Others. Pagan/Wiccan/Witch |  what's the diff? | The Founder Fathers of Howarts- I mean Wicca as we know it. [Link to their misdeeds] More in depth about the problems of Wicca [Might need to make a seperate page into cultural appropriation of Wicca. Wicca/Witch History | Do/Don'ts of Wicca: Appropriation List.   Coven Hierarchies. Left Hand Path. Widdershins |

Lore:

Tree of Life |  Triple Goddess  | Horned God  |  Morgan Le fey |  After Life: Return to the Cauldron | The THREE Cauldrons | After Life: SummerLands | Tree People | Shadow people | Triquetra/Relation to Triple Goddess | Lambton Worm Myth

Witch Tools:

Cast a circle/Pentacle [Protection circle before you cast] Elements | Consecrate your Tools. | Altar  | Cauldron  |  Chalice  | Athame | Wand | Boline |  Witch's Bell |Besom/Broom | Witch's Ladder |  

Additional Witches Tools:

Candles|  Crystals  - Cleansing VS Charging | Flowers | Herbs |

Divination Tools:

Ouija | Seance | Pendulum | Runes | Scrying Mirror | Dowsing Rod | "Hag Stones."/Wishbone/jack o lantern | Tarot | Angel numbers | Oracle Cards | Call/invoking a spirit |

Calender

Year Calendar\Wheel of the year Weeks |  Astrology | Retrograde | Moon Rituals | Moon Phases | Moon Phases through the year| Moon Water / Moon Bath | Moon Glyphs |

Spiritual

Deities |Christian hierchies|   Animals as omens/Familiars |  Chakra | Meditation | Milk Bath | Lucid Dreaming | Astral Projection |

Spells and others:

Witch Tips |  Spells |  Witch bag/bottle | Evil Eye | Seashells | Feathers | Witches Alphabet | Faerie Circle/Faerie ring |  Circle Bridge\Devil Bridge | HandFasting

Artistic expression in Wicca:

Using Arts and Crafts in Wicca Wiccan Fashion history | Wiccan Fashion Modern | Occult in Media | Occult in Literature | Occult in Anime |

The good the bad and the Ugly In Wicca

Since I'm a casual observer with no skin in the game, and prefer the media/artistic side of witchery in doing research for my own media ideas I don't want to make mistakes. So here is additional pages I was going to do last, but ugh Wicca should just be chucked in the bin, I've never felt more irritated and wanted to delete this whole blog by this research [and people online who assume everyone KNOWS this stuff and think whats common knowledge to them isn't new information to anybody else. Esp since its not someones social circle/not on the internet much and has my own life etc so thats annoying] And so- Here are going to be Page Links once it's done of-

Symbols in Wicca that are also affiliated with HATE Symbols Like nazisim. -> Problematic Symbols. Individuals in Wicca and their Problematic History. -> History Page. Closed Practices/speicific rituals that are closed -> Closed List. Why Lilith is Closed Explaination -> Source Divided Opinions: When two people are divided if something 'like Chakra' is problematic. I've seen a lot say it's okay- it's not okay etc. So I'll post the 'unsure' stuff here.

The problem with Sabbats -> Blog Post bear in mine OP made a mistake stating that British forced ireland into catholic conversion which wasn't true that was st patrick- the comments/reblogs explain it better. Wheel of the Year in depth information -> [Source]

Closed/Open Practices -> [Post]

Sourced Sites:

[Wiccan Websites here once I've posted all my ducks in a row before I shoot them] Everything Under The Moon -> Source

*Also I WILL Post on my blogs where I got the Info from. Such as sited/sourcing everything and if I took it online/pinterest/tumblr as well as books I've also sourced. I'll post the book/author chapter page etc. Source : Witch

[doubledoubletoilettrouble]

THE RABBLEWHEEL

I have been working more on my compass/wheel/calender/worldly philosophy symbol, and I am becoming increasingly satisfied.

I have a migraine so I am not going to go too far into my ideas and sources, but, I am trying to move away from Wicca and ideas of opposing dualities. I do not believe that Sun/Moon and Mother/Father are opposites, it turns out. It was itching in my brain.

Note to self: I might want to invert the colours of Creation/Hearth vs Self/Time.

Excited to start off my Official Calender w solstice. Also excited to turn this wheel into something that moves- with the ouroborous and triangle spinning together around the other axes widdershins.

(image description will be added when migraine subsides)

[witchynyx]

Southern Hemisphere Witchcraft: Seasons & Sabbats

With seasonal celebrations being an important part of most folks' practices (whether you follow the Wiccan/neopagan Wheel of the Year, observe just the solstices/equinoxes, or even stick with more mainstream religious and cultural holidays), living somewhere that doesn’t follow a Euro-centric seasonal model can make the question of “how do I approach these here??” a common stumbling block.

Having put a lot of thought into this question myself, and participated in a lot of discussions on the topic, I’m going to suggest getting at least some basic understanding of your areas seasonal (and possibly agricultural) patterns first, and then looking at how you might approach it.

Southern Hemisphere Seasons

One of the most obvious and well-known difference between the hemispheres, that even most folks living in the Northern half are aware of, is that our seasons occur at the opposite time of year.

Obviously this is an over-simplification, as seasonal patterns are affected by far more factors. This idea of “opposites” is also largely based on a Euro-centric seasonal model, which awkwardly sits over the calendar in some places, and in others - like the tropics - is almost entirely absurd.

I feel like it’s beneficial for most of us to try to learn about the actual natural weather patterns of our own areas. It might be pretty similar, and most of the differences are down to the different flora and fauna, or it might not divide into four distinct seasons at all. For Aussies: I’ve found Indigenous weather knowledge to be a useful place to start researching, because that’s going to give you much more reality-based information in a colonised country than modern science, which is still often interpreting data through a foreign lens.

It’s hard to try to adapt a system built around the patterns of another place to where you live, if you don’t really know what the patterns are here. Once you have some idea of the seasons, you can look more into what might be the best approach to celebrate them.

So When do I Celebrate the Sabbats?

Ok, so there are a number of different ways to approach this, depending on how quickly you want to make a decision and how much effort you want to put into said decision.

Approach #1: Follow the “Traditional” (European) Dates

An easy option, that requires zero real thought, is to just follow the dates as they’re celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere, as they’re presented in pretty well every witchy/Wiccan/Neopagan book you’re likely to get your hands on.

Pros:

Follow the dates in most books/resources;

Celebrate at the same time as the majority of the (international) community;

Sabbats will thematically match the European seasonal holidays that have made it into our secular calendar (Yule/Christmas, Samhain/Halloween, Ostara/Easter);

If you follow European pagan beliefs, particularly any that the Wiccan/neopagan wheel has borrowed traditions from, you’re celebrating those holidays at the same time as they were/are celebrated in that land;

Does your environment come alive in winter (when the NH are celebrating the height of vitality at Beltane and Midsummer) and die/go into hibernation over summer (when the NH are focusing on the quiet/hibernation of winter)? Because that might match up well!

Cons:

Celebrating Summer Solstice when it’s Winter Solstice where you are (and vice versa, and the same with the Equinoxes) can just be.. weird?

The imagery and symbolism is likely to be double-out: Not only do you have the disconnect, for example, of Yule/Christmas symbolism being heavy on foreign flora and fauna like pine trees, holly, and robins, but it can also cause some cognitive dissonance decorating with snowflakes and heavy roasts and mulled wine when it’s the height of summer and you can see heat rising off the road outside.

Approach #2: ‘Flip/Rotate’ the Wheel

Another easy option, and probably the most popular, is to just flip/rotate the Wheel of the Year so that the solar events (solstices and equinoxes) match up. This shifts the dates by 6 months, and “swaps” the Sabbats. It’s version that you’ll see in almost any book/resource you look at that acknowledges those of us in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Southern Hemisphere Wheel of the Year above by Jenwytch (2004) shows the flipped/rotated version, with the Sabbats on both images arranged synwyse (and thus anti-clockwise for the SH)

Pros:

Follow the Southern Hemisphere dates in most books/resources;

Celebrate at the same time as the majority of the Southern Hemisphere community;

Sabbats will thematically match the Eurocentric view of the seasons: You’re celebrating mid-winter at Winter Solstice, and midsummer at Summer Solstice;

Does your environment come alive in summer (when Beltane and Midsummer are celebrating the height of vitality) and die/go into hibernation over winter (when the focus of Yule is on silence and scarcity)? Because that sounds like a match!

Cons:

Celebrating opposite the international community can be alienating, especially when so many people/spaces don’t acknowledge that their experiences and practices aren’t universal;

If you follow any European pagan beliefs that the Wiccan/neopagan wheel has borrowed traditions from, you’re celebrating those holidays at the opposite time as they were/are celebrated in that land;

Sabbats will thematically oppose the European seasonal holidays that have made it into our secular calendar, and might make you extra-aware of how weird it is decorating for “autumn” Halloween themes at the height of spring and “spring” Easter themes when it’s autumn. How do you decorate for Halloween AND Beltane, or Christmas AND Midsummer? If you have children, how to you explain that dichotomy?

As listed above, this approach can leave folks pretty confused and frazzled as to how to reconcile celebrations with “energies” so different to what folks in the other half of the world are celebrating, or especially how to reconcile these celebrations with the European holidays in our calender. One of the things worth noting is that the planet is a constant state of balance: what’s happening in one place is a balance to that which is happening in another. The other thing to note is how the “opposing” celebrations relate to each other: eg Samhain and Beltane both have a focus on the ‘thinning of the veil between worlds’, with Samhain on its way into winter lending itself to a closeness with the dead, and Beltane at the height of spring holding a focus on the Fair Folk - one gives thanks for the bounty of harvest and the other to the bounty of life flourishing (which will later lead to the harvest), and both traditionally focusing on divination and relationships. They can easily be seen as different sides of the same coin.

Approach #3: ‘Flip/Rotate’ the Wheel and then Customise it

This is where the work starts to come in. Again, one of the more popular approaches is the flip the wheel (as above) and use that as a framework to customise your own Wheel of the Year.

Usually the names and dates will remain intact (although aligning with the timing of the astrological events might become more important than celebrating on the same calendar date each year), but then how much you stick with the ‘traditional’ vs how much you customise things is completely up to you. Maybe you keep the themes and mythologies but add in/swap out seasonally-appropriate local flora and fauna? Maybe you add in some extra days that are important to you as well, because they’re important to your religious path, or because they hold great personal significance to you. You really can take this where you like.

Pros:

Following the Southern Hemisphere dates from most books/resources, either exactly or close enough;

Celebrating the same things at the same time as most other folks in the Southern Hemisphere community, or pretty close to;

Great for forming a connection with your local seasons and environment;

Flexible and customisable: If something doesn’t gel, explore why, change things, try stuff;

Interactive and dynamic: Your relationship takes priority over the information written in a book, and being forever-changing rather than fixed can be interesting and engaging.

Cons:

You might never be “finished” building your wheel;

It takes active thought and involvement. Particularly if you’re new, this can be incredibly overwhelming;

If you follow pagan beliefs from elsewhere in the world (especially any of those that the Wiccan/neopagan wheel has borrowed traditions from), you’ll have to decide whether it makes more sense to celebrate events by the seasons or the calendar.

I think probably the easiest way to approach this is a little at a time. Start with just flipping the wheel, and as the wheel turns, work on your relationships with both the sabbats as they’re presented and the seasonal shifts happening around you. Maybe set one goal to focus on for each revolution: Get a feel for the ‘traditional’ wheel, get a feel for the seasons where you live and how they compare, notice what the local flora and fauna are doing, meditate on what colours/energies are prominent, learn about what your local agricultural cycles are doing and what food is in season. The fact that there’s no time limit on it means that you can just do a little at a time, and you can tweak it each time it rolls around.

One book which uses this approach is Dancing the Sacred Wheel (2012), by Adelaide witch/author Frances Billinghurst. Frances presents her approach to the Sabbats in this book, and it’s highly influenced by both the natural cycles around Adelaide, and her path as a Celtic Wiccan.

Approach #4: Create Your Own Wheel from Scratch!

The final approach is to completely throw the Wicca/neopagan wheel straight in the bin and build your own wheel/calendar from scratch. No guides and no preconceptions! Is that exciting? Terrifying? Maybe some of both?

Pros:

You’re starting from zero with no existing frameworks or ideas!

Ultimate freedom and flexibility;

Cons:

You’re starting from zero with no existing frameworks or ideas!

Enormous job: starting from zero with no framework or guide;

For a great example of this approach, check out Australian Druidry (2017) by Julie Brett, who takes this approach creating a Wheel of the Year for her area in Sydney (pictured).

My own Wheel of the Year is probably somewhere between approaches 3 & 4. I’m still working on it, but here’s where I’m at as of late 2020.

[calico-moonchild]

Moon Calender: March 2017 🌱⛅🍀⛆

[secretkingdomjellyfish]

Another day, another penny...

Here we are again. Life has become even harder with COVID doing the rounds and offing every poor sod and his granny. I actually thought I had already witnessed or experienced the worst of what humanity had to offer but no, life and society continued to surprise me. From the hypocritical ‘clap for our carers’ movement (The same people who clapped where the same people in the supermarket the next day sneezing on your eyeballs - two meter rule, people!!) to our world leaders and celebrities telling the world ‘we are all in it together’ whilst they lounged in their 20 room mansions. It was all a bit...shallow. Every month is like opening the world’s shittiest advent calender only rather than getting a nice little piece of chocolate behind each window, we get some new unseen horror unleashed on us.

Then came the BLM riots. Another black man was killed by corrupt cops who gave absolutely zero fucks about him or anyone else. People were, entirely and justifiably, angry and the protests began but then something else happened. I had already seen this phenomenon slowly creeping it’s way in with COVID making the rounds but I just put it down to me being bitter and angry at life, therefore my perception of people (I had already set the bar WAAAAAY low) was skewed.

I saw people take advantage of an entire society’s grief. I saw the vultures circle to loot and hate or to share their idiologies of hate and pain and recruit more angry, tired teenagers to do their twisted bidding.

I saw both extremes of the coin take advantage of the situation to spread that same hate and lash out at the other side. ‘Don’t look at us, look at what the other side are doing!’ I heard them cry. ‘The people protesting are just violent thugs, look at them causing all this damage, how else are the police meant to act?!’. ‘It’s not us, we are just so tired of the police taking advantage of us and I REALLY need these new Nikes’.

But then there were the people in the middle. The people who just wanted real change. The people who just wanted the hate, the pain and the injustice to stop. Those people marched and protested and wanted their voices heard. Who were seeing what I and many others were seeing and wanted to restore the balance. Unfortunately they were quickly drowned out by the screeching of the two extremes and it became a game of ‘who could sling the most mud to deflect from their own actions’.

To say I’m sickened is an understatement. I’m embarrassed and I’m ashamed. I’m ashamed to even call myself a human being. My heart is utterly breaking at how broken we really are, how much trauma has been ignored and how easily we are influenced by shiny, new things. How the media continually drives us, like the herd animals we are, to consume, to buy, to hate others that are different to us. To make us think that our little tribe, family, race are the best and everyone else is wrong.

Do me a favour. Find a story. Any major story and then go read/watch/listen to several different news outlets (on both sides of the coin - you know who they are) and see how they report it. I can assure you, it will be like watching a different story altogether. Don’t get me wrong, they all have the very basic facts but they simply cater to their audience. No wonder people think they are right, they are surrounded by others who think the same way. They feel a kinship in a really scary world. The leaders (not the real movements, not the real game changers) take with one had and point with the other.

Plato had it right with his cave anology. Those shadows that the people can see are just that. Shadows. Boogymen. Nothing more than smoke and mirrors. I get that the world is scary, I get that we don’t understand even a fraction of how the world works and I understand so SO well that it feels good to find others who think the same way as you and even if you ‘see the light’ and see the world for what it really is, there are few who will listen to you. Most of us took the blue pill because the truth is just too painful to bear.

However, a new pattern has emerged here. A much more dangerous way of thinking. We just don’t allow ourselves to be wrong, it physically hurts! Everything we do is so emotional today. Everyone just wants to think emotionally rather than taking all of three seconds to think about something logically and rationally.

Society is full of adult toddlers who have a tantrum when they are challenged. Rather than giving them our time, we should be giving them a sippy cup with chocolate milk and a nap. I get it, it feels bloody good to scream and be angry. To blame someone other than yourself or your leaders for the life you have lived. All those missed chances? Not your fault, not your parents or your leaders fault. It was those pesky (insert blameless minority here)

Now I can already hear many of you shouting ‘I hear you lamenting but I don’t hear you coming up with any answers’ but the solution is simple. The implementation is incredibly complex and difficult and (unfortunately I believe it is also impossible but I’m praying I’m wrong) will require everyone to do their part but the answer is so SO simple. Equality.

I don’t mean the bullshit ‘everyone should be treated the same’ that’s not equality. I’m saying EVERYONE should be given the same chances regardless of their race, gender, sexuality, sex, wealth. Instead, the world is incredibly unbalanced and unequal and I have strong feeling that mother nature is about to shift it back into balance because she is a bad bitch who is fed up with us just taking but not giving back.

In my teens I went through a phase (I can hear the sniggering in the back). I found wicca (I can now hear louder sniggering). Now this phase lasted about 6 months and generally involved me wearing a lot of black, buying some coloured candles and generally trying out some cool spells because I could now do motherfucking magic biatches! But, soon enough, it fissled out and I got bored and moved onto something else (mainly the grunge scene - they, just, like...got me, you know?). But, I took one of my very core beliefs away from it. As at the heart of this beautiful religion it was all about balance. Whatever you took, you had to give back and EVERYTHING came back threefold - you had pay the dammed ferryman (you always have to pay eventually and not always in the ways you expect) . So, you sent out good vibes? You got those good vibes magnified right back atcha! Kind of a witchy butterfly effect.

Furthermore (check me out with the academic phrasing..eh? eh?!) many of followers of Wicca believed that their main deity was simply like a multi faceted diamond with many faces and each aspect simply reflected a different religion, deity or belief system and that she was always with them no matter what deity they believed in. (disclaimer - It’s been a long time since I was involved in this so if I’m wrong, please accept my deepest and most sincere apologies) but, again, it kinda made sense to me at the time (and still does). When I first started, it was new, it was different and it gave me purpose but then the glamor kinda got scraped off and I actually had to do some hard work and, being a teenager, I was just not into that.

Now I know many of you are asking ‘what the hell has this got to do with the price of cheese’ but bear with me because the answer is, again, relatively simple.

It’s all about balance. We have taken but not given back for so long. As a society we think that being successful is hoarding as much wealth as possible, drinking champagne and eating caviar whenever we feel like it, occasionally giving a few quid to charity to show that ‘we’re in this together’ because that is what the media have us believe. That it’s the ULTIMATE goal to have your own private jet and generally just whittle your life away doing nothing but pamper yourself.

We think the only way to achieve this is to take it by force. To be ruthless and cutthroat and step on as many heads as we can to get to the top, right?! That’s always been the way it was done!

However, that might have worked for a while but, as a society we have kinda went full circle and are right back at the start - openly rejecting facts and evidence for emotion (well it feels better to believe in x therefore it must be x) and anecdotal evidence (if you crack an egg at the fulll moon whilst hopping on one foot, you will totally get rid of that cancer - it totally worked for a friend of a friend so it must be true).

Right now the world is a giant carnival game and we all know those carnival games are rigged as shit. Step right up, Steeeep right up! Come along, try your luck! Why you look like an amazingly (add appropriate adjective here) individual, I bet YOU could win - not like any of these other chumps. The whole thing is rigged in favour of the wealthy and powerful and, in all honesty, I completely understand. It’s in our very nature.

It’s been so insidiuous and we have been bombarded so much with this message that we now have an entire generation of very broken and exhausted individuals who think that surviving and living are the same thing. News flash. They’re not.

This is why we are in the situation we are in. We have simply been sleep walking and ignoring what is right in front of us. In order to move on, we need to accept some really hard truth and take a long, good look at who we are as both individuals and as a society. Honestly? I don’t think we are ready for that yet the other two options are to continue the way we are going and let mother nature do her thing or simply destroy ourselves in the process. We are quickly running out of options and I REALLY don’t want to be the guy who said ‘I told you so’.

Now before anyone starts with the whole ‘you’re so wrong because (insert appropriate defense here) just stop and think for three seconds. Let that knee jerk reaction go and give it time to sink in. Even read it again if you have the attention span to do so and then think. Is he really wrong? Maybe the truth just hurts.

TL;DR - society is really broken and there’s no easy fix.

#wtf #covid #blm #hardchoice #depression #anxiety #currentaffairs

[vvysteria-vvitch]

🌒Magick Phone Apps🌘

These are the apps I’ve found so far that have helped me in my craft. Both for android and iOS.

Android

Made by Labyrinthos. (They have so many good apps.)

☆ Seventh Sphere Lenormand

You can use this app for digital or physical Lenormand card readings.

Lenormand cards deal more with the practical things in life so when paired with tarot cards, you can get extremely in depth readings. This app is a wonderful guide for what it’s for.

No ads

Links to the Labyrinthos Store

☆ Crystals Light

A lovely guide to crystals with a lot of sorting features such as group by use, birthdays, and chakras. It even has a tab on cleansing!

There are some pop up ads though.

☆ Phases of the Moon

An app to help you keep track of the moons journey.

Based on your location, it tells you when the moon rises and falls, what phase it’s in, as well as the sign it’s currently in.

No ads.

☆ Rune

A very informative app for runes. It gives detailed means of each one, has divination methods, runic formulas, and some history.

There are banner ads.

☆ Wicca Calender

Not the most stab of apps, but it has a lot of nice features like:

•a wheel of the year that counts down to the next holiday •digital BoS personal and community.

•a glossary with a lot of terms

•moon phases though this one isn’t in depth at all.

There are some pop up ads.

☆ Labyrinthos

Same people that make Seventh Sphere Lenormand.

But this app focuses on lessons to help you learn tarot.

You can do digital reading and interpretations

Multiple choice quizzes on the meaning of the cards

And customize the decks you can learn with.

No ads but likes to advertise their store.

☆ Herbal Hut

Named “81 Herbs Healing and Magick” in the play store.

Simple interface, but gives some term meanings and uses and correspondences of a good amount of herbs.

Banner ads.

☆ Write in Runic

With this app, you can write anything and translate it to multiple runic alphabets. The free version comes with 7 alphabets. You can pay $5usd to buy the premium version and get more alphabets and remove ads.

☆ Plantery Times

Oh boi. If your into astrology, the cosmos, etc, this app has so much information and settings. Like I don’t think I could type it all out. Tells you the house that the planets are in at the current time, function and keywords for that planet, and times on when and when not to do something.

No ads.

☆ AstroMatrix

Tells you about:

•the moon

•has a retrograde calendar

•quote of the day

•daily personal numbers

•tarot card of the day

• planetary expressions

Has banner ads and some pop up ads

☆ Dream Interpretation

Just as is says. It covers a lot of things you could see in a dream and it’s pretty in depth as well.

And it’s in alphabetical order.

Has banner ads.

iPhone/iOS

♡ Herbal Magick

Best one I’ve found on iOS that tells you the correspondences. Has a large variety, tells you things each herb can be used for, and has alternate names for most of the herbs/plants.

It’s in alphabetical order but also has a search feature and a favorites tab.

It cost 99cents.

♡Wicca

Not the best interface.

Has a lot of spells, herbs, books, a calendar, a glossary, a journal feature, a few books.

Though the app is called Wicca, it’s not very centered around the religion aside from a God & Goddess Spell, the way a traditional Wiccan would set up an altar, and one of the books.

Has pop up ads.

♡Mandalas

Uses your devices location to create a custom mandala for that time and day. You can also make birth mandalas where is also gives you a lot info on your birth report.

♡Moon Calendar

Same person that makes Mandalas.

Has a lot of info on the moons current phase and on your birth report info. Has other features you can unlock for $2.99usd per year.

No ads

♡Mighty Timer

Not necessarily magick, but a wonder timer for all kinds of teas from known blends to personalized ones.

♡ #SelfCare

Beautiful ambient music with relaxing exercises to calm your mind. Takes things slow.

Features include:

•a “push away the clouds and reflect” exercise with simple info on the moonphases

•an altar where you can collect things in game and write down meanings, how you feel, why you like it, etc.

• a breathing exercise

•spelling/letter game

•petting a cat

• sorting laundry

• a massaging exercise

The room I game is also customizable.

No ads.

And feel free to share any apps you use! I love to find new ones to try out.

If you try these apps, let know how you like them :o hopefully they can help you as much as they have helped me.