divine witch

I’m gonna say it again, I made a google doc full of online resources for new witches! 

“I don’t feel connected to my cards/I feel like it’s not working”

If you’re having difficulty feeling connected to your cards, one tip is to try creating a “container” for when you’re working with tarot. This will help shut out the noise, distractions and physical world and allow you to bring peace, mindfulness, connection, and focus to the tarot reading.

What is a Container?

A container in this context is a practice/ritual (often found in trauma therapy) that allows a person to create a symbolic container for storing certain feelings, events, memories, sensations, etc. It has various uses and benefits.

Creating A Container

There are a few different ways to create a container. The main method I suggest for tarot reading can be thought of as bookends or sandwiches. To create a container for tarot reading, try incorporating other short practices for the beginning and end of the session. These can include:

Closing your eyes and talking to the universe

-beginning: channeling the universe; end: thanking the universe & reflecting

Setting up and breaking down your workspace

-beginning: lay down a cloth, burn incense, etc. ; end: breakdown your workspace and put everything away together in a specified box or space

Journaling before & after

-beginning: date, time, any topics/questions you have; end: sign your name or a quote relating to the reading or sign off phrase

Bookend mantras

-beginning: “I call upon those forces/spirits that are bigger than me to guide me” ; end: “I thank you force/spirits for your time and guidance”

There are of course plenty of other ways to create your container and I encourage you to explore the various ways to discover what does and doesn’t work for you. Feel free to add and share your methods here with others too!

Am I the only one who didn't know that my iPhone can identify plants for me now?

Here's what to do: take a good, clear photograph of the plant you want to identify. Click on your photo and then the little "i" button underneath it. From there, click on the plant icon that says Look up-Plant.

Easy peasy.

I did this with all of the plant photos that I had on my phone in easy scroll reach and it gave correct identifications on all of them.

I know there's a lot of new witches joining us, welcome!

An important note: tags work differently here! They are not for visibility, or to grow your follower count, or anything like that. They're for filtering content and finding specific information.

This means that if you post something about, say, your divination reading, and you tag it with every type of witch on the planet (green witch, crystal witch, sea witch, etc), you're clogging the tags and you will be reported for spam!!

I'll fully admit that the term itself just... bugs me. I don't like it. It pisses me off. It hits the "I'm sick and tired of seeing people, especially people raised as women, infantilize themselves" nerve. beginner witches should feel empowered to take accountability for themselves. Not hide behind a term.

Here's the thing: you are not a baby. Babies need constant care, they have no way of taking care of themselves. They're helpless. They shit their pants. Calling yourself a baby can create an expectation that you're totally helpless and you need to be led by some parental figure that will help you find your true power.

The labels you give yourself have a lot of power in the way you see who you are. It's one of the reasons that labels in the queer community are such a big thing. They can be helpful, but at a certain point, when language inevitably fails, they no longer accurately describe you and it becomes time to stop giving them so much weight.

Side note: the internet has a weird obsession with labels and sorting people into boxes and it's really influenced a lot of discourse and how people see themselves. For a while I didn't work with any witchcraft other than "green witchcraft" because I considered myself a green witch and that was that. I had a similar journey with queerness and how I label myself.

I realize I'm arguing semantics but in witchcraft, semantics can be really important. Even if two words are a synonym the cultural connotations of a word can make a big difference.

talk to your plants. it may feel silly at first, but even just saying something nice every day has been proven to have a positive impact on both you and your plants. i also advise telling them why you're doing things like transplants to help them adjust to the shock.

if you can, prioritize working with plants native to your area. this is makes them easier to find, easier to grow, and it's much better for the environment.

look into companion plants! for example, basil is commonly used in both witchcraft and cooking and it's a great companion plant to tomatoes, which are always handy to have. tomato sauce as a protection spell, anyone?

do research on plant varieties. even the most seasoned tend to overlook this. different varieties of the same plant can have wildly different needs and you may be accidentally neglecting a variety much better suited to your area and your uses.

take a look at your local nurseries before jumping to shop for seeds or supplies online.