Activist Witch 🔮 Ysha

As a Taurus Rising, I love money. So trust me when I say, you should never try to manifest money. You will fail.

Either the money you manifest won’t be enough, or it won’t last, or it will take a whole lot of time to arrive — time you don’t have.

The Universe loves giving abundance, but it doesn’t love material people. So in your mind, material things should always be just a means to an end.

I didn’t really manifest a huge salary. I manifested peace and comfort. That’s what I craved. That’s what I asked for. That’s what I visualized. Then the huge salary came and made that happen.

So don’t manifest a castle. Manifest a safe, beautiful home where you can welcome and feed your loved ones. Then the castle will come.

And don’t manifest funds for a college education. Manifest a carefree life where you wake up with a smile every day, never worrying about debt, paying the rent, or putting food on the table. Then the funds will come.

Manifest money and the Universe will only sneer at you. It will never work unless there is an underlying feeling. Something meaningful. Something deep. Something real.

The specifically human form of aggression, violence, is closely connected to the awareness of death, which is exclusively human. The economy of violence is ruled by a logic of accumulation. The more violence you exert, the more powerful you feel. Accumulated killing power [Tötungsgewalt] produces a feeling of growth, force, power [Macht] of invulnerability and immortality. The narcissistic enjoyment human beings take in sadistic violence is based on just this increase in power. Killing protects against death. By killing, you arrest death. An increase in killing power means a reduction in death. The nuclear arms race also mirrors this capitalist economy of violence. Accumulating killing capacity is imagined as a way of accumulating a survival capacity.

Step 1: Perform a 3-card spread.

Shuffle your cards for every question.

• Card 1 (at the top): Why did I dream about [insert dream element]? • Card 2 (on the left): What is my dream trying to tell me? • Card 3 (on the right, upright): What happens if I heed its advice? • Card 3 (on the right, reversed): What happens if I do not?

Step 2: Interpret your spread.

Read the cards using the meanings you know.

• Card 1: Five of Wands You dreamt about [having blood on your hands] because you are currently embroiled in a conflict. • Card 2: Knight of Swords Your dream is telling you that you must keep fighting. Stand up for what you believe in. • Card 3 (upright): The Chariot If you heed its advice, you will be the victor. You will come out of this conflict the winner. • Card 3 (reversed): The Chariot If you do not heed its advice, you will feel defeated. You will always see yourself as a failure.

You can also view this on my blog here.

Sometimes the right spell comes to you at the right time.

In this case, as is often the case for me as I practice cottage-style witchery, the “spell” was a perfect recipe: Fire Cider Bloody Marys. If you’ve been following along for a while, you may have caught on by now that I like to eat my magic – I feel that this method allows for quick integration of your spell components and intention with your energy (fueled, of course, by the fire of your own digestive tract!) Sometimes, I craft spells that are meant entirely to be consumed but more often than not, I create them as an additional level of energy to other workings that I am doing.

A note on kitchen magic: Like many types of magic, kitchen magic can have many layers. It is totally okay to look at this recipe, buy its ingredients, and make it – one and done. That’s just not how I do magic. I like to craft as many of the pieces of the spell as I can. This allows me to slowly infuse my intention into every step of the process. Here I will give guidelines for crafting your own fire cider and eastern white pine vodka but always adapt this to your own practice. A note on healing magic: This recipe is designed, as I have written it to be created to Protect Against or Banish mild illness. It is in no way a substitute for a doctor’s visit and shouldn’t be taken as medical advice.

It’s been a hard two years. (You know, you’ve been there – haven’t you?) Though I work from home, this past couple of months has been especially challenging for my partner who runs a frame shop and printing business that forces him to work closely with the general population. He’s seen everything from customers who show up in full charcoal respirators to those that come in visibly sick and coughing. Since he can’t not work (we are not, unfortunately, independently wealthy), we’ve come up with a series of “bad day protocols” – how we both respond when he thinks that he may have been exposed to somebody who appeared to be ill. The one that we’ve both found to be the most enjoyable is the shot of half fire cider and half whiskey that we each take together (drinking to our continued health and safety) after he has sanitized himself on a bad day. This is why, when we came across the idea that one might mix fire cider into a Bloody Mary, we knew that it was going to be a winner. We’re both cocktail fanatics and a fan of brunch, so the Bloody Mary is an absolute favorite drink in our household. The spicier the better, too – the best Bloody Marys that we have ever had (prior to this anyway!) have all been in the South. We bicker back and forth – he favors the bacon Bloody Marys we had in a cute brunch place in Charleston (I have sadly lost its name to time) and I favor the jalapeno Bloody Marys that we had at The Olde Pink House in Savannah. We both also tend to prefer a Bloody Mary prepared with gin rather than the traditional vodka for a bit more flavor.

Once we’d tried the recipe and agreed that it was, in fact, a HUGE success; I immediately got to the witching. In my opinion, all it takes is a bit of kitchen witch knowledge and some general ingenuity to turn a solid drink into a magic potion. (The secret is in the stirring or the shaking) For my fire cider blood mary, the magical associations were obvious: vodka or gin are generally used for protection as is tomato juice, and all of the ingredients used to make a solid fire cider are amazing for banishment. I decided to add in one extra special secret ingredient, my eastern white pine vodka infusion to further the protective energy. Sure enough, the sweet notes of the sap and the lower earthy tones of the pine needles were the exact right thing to bring a very solid cocktail to one that was absolutely over the top.

Eastern White Pine Vodka

I’ve written about my discovery of the wonder that is Eastern White Pine vodka before. It is so simple to make and is absolutely divine! You just gather some pine needles and the woody ends off of an eastern white pine tree, fill a jar and cover with vodka, and let sit for a week. Yes – it is really that easy! You don’t even need high-end vodka for this purpose – we use the store brand vodka from our local grocery store. The only thing to keep in mind is that if you are wild harvesting, the location of the plant matters. I would stay away from harvesting from a plant near a major roadway, cemetery, or other places where toxic chemicals may have seeped into the ground and been absorbed into the tree. Additionally, you want to avoid places that may be sprayed with pesticides

Luckily for us, our friends have a number of mature eastern white pines on their property that we can safely harvest from. It takes a relatively small amount of pine to fill even a half-gallon Ball jar, so the tree doesn’t even notice and, in any case, what lies low to the ground will be goat food if we don’t get to it first! (The perils of being a tree on a goat farm, I suppose). I have really enjoyed picking pine with the yearlings who I’ve known since the day that they were born last April.

Eastern White Pine, like all of the members of the pine family, has magical associations with Fertility, Abundance, Protection, and Road Opening. Make sure that you put your intention into your pine vodka as you are infusing it – you can do this by talking to your vodka every day as you shake it, with candle magic, sigils, or any other way that you normally work your intentions per your tradition.

Fire Cider

Fire cider, at its essence, is an oxymel created by using a bunch of immune-boosting ingredients. It is almost as easy to make as my Eastern White Pine vodka though it does involve a trip to the grocery store instead of to the goat farm (something that I find much less enjoyable if we’re being honest). It’s an old folk remedy of dubious parentage – some equate it to an updated version of the famed Four Thieves Vinegar and even its name has some controversy associated with it. That aside – when made properly – it is outstandingly good, will certainly “cure what ails you”, and is the perfect way to do a bit of longer-form kitchen magic.

I will talk about the associations for the ingredients that I used in my fire cider recipe, but please remember that magic-making (and cooking!) is a very personal experience – feel free to make this recipe your own! There are many recipes for fire cider online and you can certainly find one to your liking if this is not it. Just remember that for the purposes of this recipe (a fire cider bloody mary), you will want to keep your ingredients on the more savory end of the spectrum. Though tasty, a sweet fire cider would not work for our purposes! Like with the pine vodka, fire cider is a longer form infusion though in this case, we use apple cider vinegar as the base. Choose an apple cider vinegar with a SCOBY for the probiotic benefits it will provide. Here we used onion (protection, banishing), garlic (protection, banishing), dried jalapeno peppers (protection, banishing), horseradish (protection), turmeric (healing), ginger (protection, healing), lemongrass (protection, healing), lemon (cleansing, healing), shallots (protection, banishing), and a few sprigs of eastern white pine (protection). These yummy ingredients need to meld together in the fire cider for four to six weeks – remember to shake your mixture daily to infuse your intention into the mixture! With fire cider, I tend to pick either an intention to Banish Illness, Protect Against Illness, or both. Once your infusion is done, you add raw honey to taste. Store your fire cider in a cool, dry place and it will last indefinitely.

The Recipe

You’ll notice that I didn’t include a section for making your own tomato juice. This is because we haven’t perfected this yet – in fact, we are content to buy this part ourselves. Our current favorite is Mr. & Mrs. T’s Original Bloody Mary mix, that’s what I will use for this recipe. You can substitute V8, any other bloody mary mix you prefer, or go all the way out there and make your own tomato juice entirely. If you are using straight tomato juice, you may want to add lemon juice, Tobasco, and celery salt to your bloody mary – experiment until your drink is perfect for your tastes!

2 oz. Eastern White Pine Vodka

6 oz. Bloody Mary Mix

2 oz. Fire Cider

2-3 Dashes Angustora bitters

1-3 turns on pepper

Optional garnish: 2-3 olives, a spring of eastern white pine

Add the first four ingredients to a shaker with ice. Shake vigorously until the shaker is cold thinking about your intention to Protect Against or Banish Illness. Pour into the glass, top with cracked pepper for additional protection/banishment, olives on a cocktail skewer, and a sprig of eastern white pine. Makes one drink.

I mean it has a mind of its own. 

My house is mine. I designed the layout, I watched it get built, I decorated it. From the size of the front door to the paint color palette… from the fabric of the sofa to the style of the photo frames… everything was my decision. It’s as mine as mine gets.

So the moment I introduced myself to it, it started talking back.

We have a courtyard full of trees and plants, so there’s a healthy amount of bugs outside, which sometimes get in when the front door is open. I hate that. I hate that very much.

So I told my house to never let those intruders in. The next day, without having to spray anything, I saw several dead bugs on the floor. I swept them up. And never again did I see anything flying or crawling around the house.

Another time, I had a plumbing issue. My bidet wouldn’t stop running, and the bathtub wouldn’t drain completely. 

I told my house how much I hate having to let maintenance workers in, because they often leave a mess, which I have to spend hours sanitizing afterwards. I asked my house if it could help me avoid this somehow.

In just about five seconds, the bidet stopped running, and the bathtub fully drained.

Over the holidays, a relative came over for dinner. Having eaten so much, she felt sluggish and asked if she could sleep over. Now I don’t really like this relative. I included her in the guest list as an act of Christmas kindness, but sleeping over? That’s too much.

While I was thinking of how to reject her request, the power went out. And the moment she left the gate, the electricity came back on. I asked the neighbors about it later on, and they said their power was on the whole night.

Another time, I lost the remote control to my living room air conditioner. Which was impossible. It’s always in the same place, and I was alone that whole time.

While looking for it everywhere, I ended up opening a drawer I never use. In it I found white mold, which likely developed during the few months I lived abroad, leaving that part of the house susceptible to humidity. I’ve since taken care of the problem.

Right after I discovered the mold, I found the missing remote control right there on top of my coffee table. Where it always is. Where I couldn’t have missed it.

f you thought four chances to do Capricorn moon magic was good last year, I counter with this:

Counting the moon, a planet will pass over 00° Aries a whopping 25 times in 2025!

In the average year, a given degree in the horoscope may see three passes from the Sun, Moon, and Venus, who traverse the entire horoscope in a year, and ~12 passes by the moon. That's 15 touch points. Which still seems like a lot.

This year, the Sun moves through 00° Aries in March, Mercury and Venus retrograde over 00° Aries in February, and both Saturn and Neptune move into Aries before retrograding back into Pisces by the year's end. As well as 14 passes from the moon!

This is something that you can use (magically, of course).

00° Aries

00° Aries is arguably the most significant degree for one straightforward reason: it is the first degree of the horoscope wheel. Astrologically, the year begins at 00° Aries with our Spring Solstice and ends at 29° Pisces. 00° Aries carries all of the potential of springtime.

It is worth remembering that astrology is a study of seasons and the constant, repetitive changes of the year. Every spring is a new chance to grow and evolve like the plants that erupt from their slumber under the ground, but it is also an ending.

From a metaphorical standpoint, 29° Pisces represents the complete desolvation of the self that comes with death, and 00° Aries represents the moment of birth/the first breath/ego consciousness.

This will be especially important this year because the planets that move across 00° Aries will do so in forward and backward motion.

In forward motion, a planet entering 00° Aries indicates a new beginning, a new leaf, a new idea, and a new project.

In retrograde motion, a planet moving through 00° Aries indicates needing to backpedal or having to step a few steps backward. We may need to review, refine, and reassess.

We will experience twenty-one passes of 00° Aries in forward motion and four passes in backward motion, indicating that we are mainly in the birthing phases, but there will be some setbacks.

The Magic

Do you want to start something new? Are you willing to work for it - putting one foot in front of the other - every single day (or as often as you can) - until you accomplish your goals?

Then 00° Aries is the right degree for you.

I have written about the power of Number 1 for starting new things; this is degree #1 of sign #1.* Anything that you want to start can be augmented by 1 energy. Use sequences of ones in your magic: burn one candle with one herb and one oil (combined, three for manifestation). Alternatively, make a spell pouch with one petition paper, one crystal, and one herb (again, combine to create 3 for manifestation).

Aries is an active (cardinal) fire sign, so I would strongly suggest working with fire in some capacity if you can. If you genuinely cannot, bring in other Aries correspondences (listed below).

I will not tell you what spell to cast; that is up to you and your goals for your own life. I can tell you that casting a spell and then repetitively working this spell as the planets move over 00° this spring (and beyond) may yield incredible results and that I would never turn down an opportunity like this, especially since you get 25 chances to get it right.

Where does 00° Aries fall in your natal birth chart? What house is it in? Does it make any significant aspects to any of your personal planets or luminaries? Does it aspect your Ascendant, Descendant, or 10th house? Does it make an aspect to Jupiter, Saturn, or your lunar nodes? I wouldn't include the outer three planets (Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto) unless they sit exactly at 00° Aries or Libra, which might still be significant. This information may help you to understand how to craft your spell (or ritual, silly words, this is energy - I'm literally trying not to tell you how to use it) or WHEN to cast it.

*I understand that this might be confusing because it is degree "00" and not 1 because astrology is based around geometry, so there must be a 0 degree to indicate a conjunction

The Dates

All Dates are in EST/EDT

2/4 - Venus enters Aries 3/3 - Mercury enters Aries 3/20 - Sun enters Aries 3/27 - Venus exits Aries 3/29 - Solar Eclipse 09° Aries, Mercury exits Aries 3/30 - Neptune enters Aries 4/16 - Mercury enters Aries 4/30 - Venus enters Aries 5/24 - Saturn enters Aries 9/1 - Saturn exits Aries 9/21 - Solar Eclipse 29° Virgo 10/22 - Neptune exits Aries

Moon at 00° Aries (check the hour for your timezone): 1/5, 2/1, 3/1, 3/28, 4/25, 5/22, 6/16, 7/16, 8/12, 9/8, 10/06, 11/2, 11/29, 12/27

I've included our two solar eclipses on this list because March's conjuncts this point (and Mercury at 00° Aries on that day), and September's tightly opposes it (within one degree). Both days can amplify eclipse magic of all kinds (another layer to this puzzle), but many people prefer to avoid doing magic during an eclipse due to its unpredictability. I've written about harnessing eclipse energy for magic here.

In reference to that, our March solar eclipse is a new/new energy eclipse, while our September eclipse is a new-old energy eclipse.

Ways to Work These Dates:

Pick the planet (Sun, Mercury, Venus) that most aligns with your goals and cast your spell on the day that planet first enters Aries

Work with Mercury or Venus's retrograde cycles to gnaw through a particularly tough problem that is keeping you stuck

Plant a spell on the Spring Equinox that will be harvested on the Autumnal Equinox

Cast a spell on the eclipsed Aries new moon that will culminate with the Aries full moon 10/08

Cast a long-term spell on the eclipsed Aries new moon and re-up its energy on the eclipsed Virgo new moon

Consider casting your spell during the hour of the transit, or, if that is not possible, cast it during the hour of the planet moving into Aries

If you don't know what dates to choose - I am offering $20 Election Consults through my Kofi - contact me with a good explanation of what type of magic you want to do, and I will give you (of t

Correspondences

Aries Fire, Cardinal, Masculine Ruling Planet: Mars House: 1 Tarot Cards: The Magician (by number), the Emporer (traditional) Herbs: Cinnamon, Dragon's Blood, Frankincense, Garlic, Ginger, Holly, Horseradish, Marjoram, Nettle, Pepper, Thistle 00° Aries, 1st Decan Ruler: Mars, Subruler: Mars Tarot Card: 2 of Wands (traditional), the Fool (by Number)

Mars Domicile/Houses: Aries/1, Scorpio/8 Exile: Libra, Taurus Exaltation: Capricorn Fall: Cancer Day of the Week: Tuesday Energies: victory, aggression, achievement, action, assertiveness, strength Colors: Scarlet, Red, Vermillion, Orange Number: 5 Metal: Iron Stones: Garnet, Ruby, Carnelian, Bloodstone Herbs: Asafoetida, Basil, Broom, Briony, Cactus, Cayenne, Dragon's Blood, Galangal, Garlic, Gentian, Ginger, Hawthorn, Horseradish, Honeysuckle, Mustard, Nettle, Peppercorn, Red Sandalwood, Rue, Tabacco, Wormwood Tarot Card: The Tower

References: Tarot and Astrology by Corrine Kenner The Herbal Alchemist's Handbook By Karen Harrison

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As always, I hope I have given you some magical ideas to help you align with the astrological transits unique to this year. If you like my work, you can tip me on Kofi or purchase an astrological report written just for you.

That much stands.

But what if you need to end something? What if you need to redo something or take a deep look at what has already happened?

Then 29° Pisces is the degree for you. Note here that if you wish to end something, you might want to work with 29° Pisces in the forward direct.

If you want to rework something, you might want to work with 29° Pisces as the abovementioned planets enter it in retrograde motion.

Correspondences

My mid coeli sits exactly at 01 Aries.

I joke that I make videos and most of my career has bene making content because my moon is in Aries in my 10th house

I have a feeling reading this post that, contrary to the limiting belief that career/success belong only to Thursdays and jupiterian dignities, I have a feeling this 00/01 Aries might be a decent time for me to do magic on that direction? Am I crazy?