the-raining-witch

[the-raining-witch]

Rethinking "masculine" and "feminine" in Western magic

We all see it all the time. This plant has masculine energy. This crystal enhances feminine power. This ritual balances masculine and feminine forces. But what does any of that really mean?

After all, a plant does not have a gender. A crystal does not have a gender. Elements, planets, and celestial bodies do not have genders. So why is everything broken down into gendered categories in modern occult spaces?

The short answer: "Masculine" and "feminine" are shorthand terms that were developed by medieval alchemists, but modern occultists have lost that original context, leading to one-dimensional and reductive use of these terms.

The long answer: This model comes to us from Hermeticism by way of medieval alchemists. In the Hermetic model, the universe (or Prima Materia or Source or whatever) is a single whole divided into polarities -- sets of equal but opposite forces.

Here's a quote from the book Real Alchemy by Robert Allen Bartlett that I think explains this well:

"One of the earliest observations of Nature was that everything has its opposite -- day/night, male/female, hot/cold, wet/dry. The One divides into active and passive modes, with the active energy constituting the energies of life, and the passive one of the energy of matter.”

This idea was ridiculously widespread in the Middle Ages. To give just one example, Western traditional medicine (i.e., before modern medicine) was based on balancing the four humours by balancing opposite forces. So if you have inflammation, which is a hot and wet condition, you would treat it with herbal remedies that are cold and dry.

Early Hermeticists and alchemists classified different natural forces as either active or passive. Heat is active, cold is passive. Light is active, dark is passive. Fire (the force of transformation in alchemy) is active, while water (the universal solvent in alchemy) is passive. You get the idea.

Because of gender stereotypes in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, activeness eventually became associated with masculinity, and passiveness eventually became associated with femininity. You can still see this in old medical texts: Male bodies are hot and wet, but female bodies are cold and dry, so the medieval doctor should choose his treatment accordingly.

This has more to do with medieval European issues around gender than with nature or magic. My point here is that the gender stuff isn't literal: the Hermeticists did not literally believe that the planet Venus is female or that iron is male. Gendered terms were used as a shorthand to name opposites.

And even within medieval alchemical sources, gender is a spectrum! Let's take the elements as an example:

According to Bartlett, fire is the most active (“masculine”) element, while air is active but less active than fire. Water and earth are both considered passive (“feminine”) elements, but water is less passive/feminine than earth.

So, to recap: Hermetics believe in a perfect whole divided into polar opposites. Alchemists, doctors, and ceremonial magicians love this idea and run with it. Masculine/feminine is just one of many ways to describe these opposite forces. You could just as easily use active/passive to mean the same thing. And even in medieval times, each of these pairs of opposites was understood as a spectrum, with most energies falling somewhere between the two extremes.

The problem is that we've been playing a centuries-long game of telephone. Victorian occultists who were referencing Renaissance grimoires and still working in a vaguely Hermetic framework write in their books that, for example, roses have feminine qualities. A Wiccan author writing in the 1980s comes across this during their research and includes it in their book, but now it's one step further removed from that context. Several other authors repeat the claim that rose is feminine, all citing that one book from the '80s. Flash forward to 2025, and this claim is so removed from the original context that some witches genuinely believe rose is A Girl Flower because of some intangible Girlness inherent to the plant.

What does this mean for modern witches? Honestly, I think that kind of depends on the witch.

If you find working with masculine/feminine classifications helpful, I don't necessarily think you need to throw out that model. Just make sure you understand the background of these terms and remember that masculine/feminine in a magical sense is not the same as masculine/feminine in a gender sense. Maybe read up on Hermeticism, alchemy, and the other medieval and Renaissance occult systems that originated this model. Also, think about how using gendered terms in your practice is connected to your relationship with gender. How are you making space for nonbinary and agender energies and identities?

If you want to work with pairs of opposites but get weirded out by all the gender stuff, why not use a different polarity like active/passive or hot/cold to classify things instead? (This is how I classify herbs in my Southern Folk Magic practice.)

And if you don't particularly care about working with opposites in your practice, feel free to ignore this whole thing. There's no rule saying you have to label things this way.

[the-raining-witch]

they call me the bug whisperer. because i whisper to bugs

[the-raining-witch]

Hey so I still see people utterly baffled by how religious fundies (still a majority in America and moreso its senate) react on certain issues so uhhh is it actually not common knowledge what the antichrist is all about? You guys know his defining characteristic is ending war, right? That he’s foretold to unite the world under his leadership by preaching global peace and solving basically every single problem in the world? So you know when you try to talk to these people about equality and togetherness they literally believe that’s what makes you an agent of the devil right???

[the-raining-witch]

i've been reading a lot of books about urban naturalism recently, and the one big thing they all talk about is how you HAVE to stop seeing nature as something that happens somewhere else. nature is not just charismatic megafauna and state parks and mountain ranges. nature is that abandoned lot that's growing native milkweed in it. nature is the murder of crows that lives in your block. nature is the moss growing on your roof and the dandelions growing in the sidewalk cracks and the song birds at your neighbor's birdfeeder. and you should care about it! you should notice it! that's YOUR nature!

[the-raining-witch]

northern hemisphere babes we made it to the longest night of the year. we made it. for the next 6 months, every day will give us a little more daylight than the last. let's go. take my hand. climb out of the darkness with me

[the-raining-witch]

Hey, the ACLU is getting people to send letters to your Reps to have Congress pass the No Kings Act.

This act would make constitutional amendments to ensure that even sitting presidents are held liable for their actions. That NOBODY is above the law.

Their goal is 150k messages sent and at the time of writing this they're about 2.1k off from that goal!

ACLU gives you a prefilled message that you can edit to send to make the process easier, and will send it out for you.

This only takes a few minutes!

[the-raining-witch]

i don't care if it's nazis, mormons, or a bunch of misguided autistic people. if anyone ever tries to tell you your soul is from another planet and you're actually part of the class of impressive people that secretly did everything cool in the world but is now extinct and lives on through your broken genome, you RUN. YOU WILL RUN AWAY. YOU WILL SPRINT FULL SPEED AWAY FROM THAT.

[the-raining-witch]

hey does anyone know this symbol? I can't remember where I saw it

[the-raining-witch]

been 4 years, I still sometimes tell bugs trying to fly through windows how to leave the room. It works surprisingly often tbh

chilling at home today and a fly was buzzing around bothering me. I whispered at it to please stop and it did. I then whispered that I could help it go outside if it would come here. legit a few minutes later it flew over right in front of me on the table, let itself get scooped up in my hands, and then I put it outside. I did this same thing a few months ago with a bee (told it it couldn't get out via a window, told it where the door was, and it went)

now I 100% understand that this is overwhelmingly likely a coincidence because what on earth would this even mean... but im really enjoying it lol. I am the bug whisperer

[the-raining-witch]

M8, Southern Cliff

[the-raining-witch]

gave my friend a little magic trinket today with very specific instructions, then spent an hour re-reading the instructions over and over again to make sure i coveyed them correctly

let's just pretend i was charging the spell some more via the world's worst repetitive chant and I wasn't just worried i would forget something lol. that's how magic works right? right?

[the-raining-witch]

) <- super parenthesis. reblog to close all parentheticals you opened and forgot to close in your life and return to equilibrium

[the-raining-witch]

Do you have any idea why folks single out Wicca/Wiccans specifically when it comes to discussions about cultural appropriation in witchcraft spaces?

Simple: For most of the modern witchcraft movement, Wicca has been the dominant voice in the room.

It wasn't helped by Wiccans for the longest time treating Witchcraft and Wicca as synonyms (they obviously aren't -- Wicca is just one type of Witchcraft). So the cultural appropriation in the modern witchcraft movement got blamed on Wiccans because those were the visible members of the movement.

Now that non-Wiccan witchcraft is becoming more popular, a bunch of people who are new to witchcraft got told that "Wiccans culturally appropriate" without really looking into what or how. They repeat it uncritically, while not understanding that it's not a Wicca specific problem (and that Wicca itself is not the cause of the appropriation -- entitled white people are).

Meanwhile, those same things Wiccans get blamed for get done across the modern witchcraft movement.

It is what it is.

[the-raining-witch]

the gods are not humans. they don't live in a place, or speak in a certain language. They are spirits and, by nature of being a god, not limited by concepts like distance or time. They are all omnipresent should they wish

If you feel no connection to them (or if they are uninterested in you for not being part of their culture) that's fine. it makes sense to feel disconnected from cultural entities you have no reference to. but it's no effected by place, language, or any physical concerns like that

I'm sort of conflicted with the polytheism aspect of modern witchcraft. I love the ideas of the Greek and Norse pantheons and various gods of specific things from various cultures... I just don't feel like I can truly connect with any of them? Like I'm not particularly religious and I also live in northern Canada so I feel like all the gods from other countries and cultures aren't really like... For Me

Like how can Aphrodite find me when she is in Greece and I am in Northern Canada?

Do they understand English? Should I learn the God's native language?

Should my family heritage determine the deities I reach out to?

Like, this isn't even a "are these religions closed?" Question, but more of a "how and why would a God connect to some random person in a country on the other side of the world from them?" Type question.

Should I try to reach out to someone, just to see who might answer?

If anyone has any resources, tips, or advice, please let me know.

[the-raining-witch]

I think something people tend to forget about folk magic is prior to the internet, for many people, it wasn't about learning how to do everything. Like, some people specialized in divination and omens. Some people specialized in laying and breaking hexes. Some people specialized in healing. You'd pick who you went to based on your current situation.

I think practitioners should embrace that more: not expecting ourselves to learn how to do everything. Today's magic and witchy communities put so much pressure on learning how to do everything for yourself, but personally I think that kills the beauty of community. It's perfectly fine to narrow your interests and go to those you trust for something you aren't sure how to do yourself.

[the-raining-witch]

@socalgal

[the-raining-witch]