Just a Witch Working on her Craft

I am so bored of sorcery being treated as a chore to get you what you need,

and then people keep pointing out how you don't need the things witchcraft can give you,

and then everyone feels guilty for not doing enough chores.

A lot of witches will tell new witches (baby witches) that they should start by learning and using protection magic. However, I've started to see a lot of witches say that protection magic is not as important as other witches claim it to be. Saying that they don't have anyone coming after them or an enemy in real life to warrant a spell of protection.

I think this may also be due to how I've not personally come across anyone really explaining why a witch may want to use protection magic all the time.

Now, it is true that there's no need to be paranoid all the time and have protection up 24/7. But here's a list where you may use it, find it useful, or haven't thought protection magic could be included.

An actual person -- This one is obvious, you have an enemy in real life or on the internet and you need protection magic to protect you from their curses.

A malevolant spirit -- They can come from your windows, mirrors (including tv screens, computer screens, and other reflective surfaces maybe), they seep through floor cracks, hanging onto your coats from outside, etc. Just like how you'd use garden gloves to avoid dirt up your nails being trapped there. Protection magic is just like putting on those gloves.

An energy -- Say you have a neighbour who's arguing with someone. They're yelling and screaming and it can be heard through the apartment walls. That negative energy is seeping into your home and your energy. So it may be worth protecting your home and energy from that sour neighbour's energy. (ever been scolded by your mother and your mood is sour? it's kind of like the same here.)

Your own spell -- Now a self-love spell is probably not something you should protect yourself from. But let's say you're doing a curse. It would be a smart idea to make sure you're protected before beginning such a spell. Much like how you'd wear an apron to protect your clothes from stains when cooking food. You may not always spill your food when cooking, but damn it is it annoying when you do and the stain won't wash off. It's the same with a spell.

Unintentionally -- Sometimes things can happen that's out of our control and it's a good idea to be a little prepared. A black cat suddenly running across the street? Bad luck. Someone got jealous when you told them something good? Evil Eye. Think of it as going to the store with an extra bag for your groceries. You may not need it, but isn't it handy when you at one point do need it?

Protection magic doesn't have to be elaborate or grand or be convoluted. Protection magic is powerful but also extremely simple. All you need is a horseshoe above the door, a little talisman in your pocket, a sigil for your car, etc.

New Moon: September 2nd

First Quarter: September 11th

Full moon: September 17th

Last Quarter: September 24th

Sabbats: Mabon- September 22nd

September Harvest Moon

Also known as: Autumn Moon, Child Moon, Corn Harvest Moon, Falling Leaves Moon, Haligmonath, Leaves Turning Moon, Mating Moon, Moon of Brown Leaves, Moon When Dear Paw the Earth, Rutting Moon, Singing Moon, Wine Moon, Witumanoth & Yellow Leaf Moon

Element: Earth

Zodiac: Virgo & Libra

Nature spirts: Trooping Faeries

Deities: Brigid, Ceres, Chang-e, Demeter, Freya, Isis, Depths & Vesta

Animals: Jackal & snake

Birds: Ibis & sparrow

Trees: Bay, hawthorn, hazel & larch

Herbs: Copal, fennel, rye, skullcap, valerian, wheat & witch hazel

Flowers: Lily & narcissus

Scents: Bergamot, gardenia, mastic & storax

Stones: Bloodstone,carnelian, cat's eye, chrysolite, citrine, iolite, lapis lazuli, olivine, peridot, sapphire, spinel(blue), tourmaline(blue) & zircon

Colors: Browns, dark blue, Earth tones, green & yellow

Issues, intentions & powers: Confidence, the home, manifestation & protection

Energy: Balance of light & dark, cleaning & straightening of all kinds, dietary matters, employment, health, intellectual pursuits, prosperity, psychism, rest, spirituality, success & work environment

The full Moon that happens nearest to the fall equinox (September 22nd or 23rd) always takes on the name “Harvest Moon.” Unlike other full Moons, this full Moon rises at nearly the same time—around sunset—for several evenings in a row, giving farmers several extra evenings of moonlight & allowing them to finish their harvests before the frosts of fall arrive. 

• While September’s full Moon is usually known as the Harvest Moon, if October’s full Moon happens to occur closer to the equinox than September’s, it takes on the name “Harvest Moon” instead. In this case, September’s full Moon would be referred to as the Corn Moon.

This time of year—late summer into early fall—corresponds with the time of harvesting corn in much of the northern United States. For this reason, a number of Native American peoples traditionally used some variation of the name “Corn Moon” to refer to the Moon of either August or September. 

Mabon

Known as: Autumn Equinox, Cornucopia, Witch's Thanksgiving & Alban Elved

Season: Autumn

Element: Air

Symbols: Acorns, apples, autumn leaves, balance, berries, corn, cornucopia( Horn of Plenty), dried seeds, equality, gourds, grains, grapes, ivy, pine cones, pomegranates, vines, wheat, white roses & wine

Colors: Blue, brown, dark red, deep gold, gold, indigo, leaf green, maroon, orange, red, russet. Violet & yellow

Oils/Incense: Apple, apple blossom, benzoin, black pepper, hay/straw, myrrh, passion flower, patchouli, pine, red poppy & sage

Animals: Dog & Wolf

Birds: Goose, hawk, swallow & swan

Stones: Agate, amethyst, carnelian, lapis lazuli, sapphire, yellow Agate & yellow topaz

Food: Apples, blackberries, blackberry wine, breads, carrots, cider, corn, cornbread, grapes, heather wine, nuts, onions, pomegranates, potatoes, squash, vegetables, wheat & wine

Herbs/Plants: Benzoin, bramble, corn, ferns, grains, hops, ivy, milkweed, myrrh, sage sassafras, Salomon's seal, thistle, tobacco & wheat

Flowers:  Aster, heather, honeysuckle, marigold, mums, passion flower, rose

Trees: Aspen, cedar, cypress, hazel, locust, maple, myrtle oak & pine

Goddesses: Danu, Epona, Inanna, Ishtar, Modron, Morgan, The Morrigan, Muses, Pomona, Persephone, Sin, Sophia & Sura

Gods:  Bacchus, Dionysus, Dumuzi, Esus, The Green Man, Hermes, Mannanan, Thor & Thoth

Issues, Intentions & Powers: Accomplishment, agriculture, balance, goals, gratitude & grounding

Spellwork: Balance, harmony, protection, prosperity, security & self-confidence

Activities:

•Scatter offerings in a harvested fields & Offer libations to trees

• Decorate your home and/or altar space for fall

• Bake bread

• Perform a ritual to restore balance and harmony to your life

• Cleanse your home of negative energies

• Pick apples

• Collect fall themed things from nature like acorns, changing leaves, pine cones, ect)

• Have a dinner or feast with your family and/or friends

• Set intentions for the upcoming year

• Purge what is no longer serving you & commit to healthy changes

•Take a walk in the woods

• Enjoy a pumpkin spice latte

• Donate to your local food bank

• Gather dried herbs, plants, seeds & pods

• Learn something new

• Make wine

• Fill a cornucopia

• Brew an apple cinnamon simmer pot

• Create an outdoor Mabon altar

•Adorn burial sites with leaves, acorns, & pinecones to honor those who have passed over & visit their graves

The name Mabon comes from the Welsh/Brythonic God Mabon Ap Modron, who's name means "Divine/great Son", However,there is evidence that the name was adopted in the 1970s for the Autumn Equinox & has nothing to do with this celebration or this time of year.

• Though many cultures see the second harvest (after the first harvest Lughnasadh) & Equinox as a time for giving thanks before the name Mabon was given because this time of year is traditionally when farmers know how well their summer crops did & how well fed their animals have become. This determines whether you & your family would have enough food for the winter.That is why people used to give thanks around this time, thanks for their crops, animals & food

Some believe it celebrates the autumn equinox when Nature is preparing for the winter months. Night & day are of equal legth  & the God's energy & strength are nearly gone. The Goddess begins to mourn the loss she knows is coming, but knows he will return when he is reborn at Yule.

Related festivals:

• Sukkot- Is a Torah-commanded holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelites were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. Originally a harvest festival celebrating the autumn harvest, Sukkot’s modern observance is characterized by festive meals in a sukkah, a temporary wood-covered hut, celebrating the Exodus from Egypt.

• Mid-Autumn festival- September 17th

Is also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival. It is a traditional festival celebrated in Chinese culture, similar holidays are celebrated by other cultures in East & Southeast Asia. It is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture; its popularity is on par with that of Chinese New Year. The history of the Mid-Autumn Festival dates back over 3,000 years.  On this day, it is believed that the Moon is at its brightest and fullest size, coinciding with harvest time in the middle of Autumn.

During the festival, lanterns of all size and shapes – which symbolize beacons that light people's path to prosperity & good fortune – are carried & displayed. Mooncakes, a rich pastry typically filled with sweet-bean, egg yolk, meat or lotus-seed paste, are traditionally eaten during this festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is based on the legend of Chang'e, the Moon goddess in Chinese mythology.

• Thanksgiving- This is a secular holiday which is similar to the cell of Mabon; A day to give thanks for the food & blessings of the previous year. The American Thanksgiving is the last Thursday of November while the Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated in October

• The Oschophoria- Were a set of ancient Greek festival rites held in Athens during the month Pyanepsion (autumn) in honor of Dionysus. The festival may have had both agricultural and initiatory functions.

-Amidst much singing of special songs, two young men dressed in women's clothes would bear branches with grape-clusters attached from Dionysus to the sanctuary of Athena Skiras & a footrace followed in which select ephebes competed.

Ancient sources connect the festival and its rituals to the Athenian hero-king Theseus & specifically to his return from his Cretan adventure. According to that myth, the Cretan princess Ariadne, whom Theseus had abandoned on the island of Naxos while voyaging home, was rescued by an admiring Dionysus; thus the Oschophoria may have honored Ariadne as well. A section of the ancient calendar frieze incorporated into the Byzantine Panagia Gorgoepikoos church in Athens, corresponding to the month Pyanopsion (alternate spelling), has been identified as an illustration of this festival's procession.

Sources:

Farmersalmanac .com

Llewellyn's Complete Book of Correspondences by Sandra Kines

Wikipedia

A Witch's Book of Correspondences by Viktorija Briggs

Encyclopedia britannica

Acacia: purity, air, and used in initiations, psychic workings, and protection.

Alder: resurrection, rebirth, and fire.

Almond: divination, clairvoyance, wisdom, money, loans, business.

Apple: healing, prosperity, love, peace, happiness and perpetual youth.

Apricot: love

Ash: healing, protection and sea magic

Aspen: Used for phyllomancy (divination by leaf rustling) and for protection.

Birch: new beginnings and births, protection, fertility, purifications and blessings.

Cedar: purification, prosperity, and longevity, spirituality, self control.

Coconut: purity, chastity, healing

Cypress: easing losses, healing, past life workings, and protection. Represents earth.

Elder: healing, love, protection, and prosperity.

Elm: female powers, protection.

Eucalyptus: healing

Fig: fertility, strength, energy, health

Fir: youth, vitality, prosperity magic.

Hawthorn: female sexuality, cleansing, marriage, love and protection.

Hazel: fertility, divination, marriage, protection, reconciliation.

Holly: protection

Juniper: protection, cleansing

Lemon: divination, healing, chastity, neutrality

Linden: Used for prophesies and protection.

Maple: Used for love and divination.

Oak: Used for healing, strength, protection, masculinity and for fertility magic. Represents fire.

Mulberry: knowledge, divination, wisdom, the will

Olive: peace, fruitfulness, security, money, marriage, fidelity

Orange: love, marriage

Palm: Used for male fertility, strength, and virility.

Pine: Symbolizes immortality and represents earth. Pine cones represent fertility. Used for purification, health, fortune, fertility, and prosperity.

Rowan: Used for protection, healing, and strength. Represents fire.

Willow: Represents water. Used in moon, wishing magic, healing, protection, enchantments, and easy delivery of babies.

Apple: spirit work, offerings, love, healing, beauty, wisdom, harvest

Apricot: love, self love

Avocado: beauty, love, lust, fertility, spell work

Banana: wealth, luck, spirituality, religion, masculinity

Blueberry: protection, banishment, curses

Blackberry: protection, fertility, femininity, funerals, afterlife, moving on

Cantaloupe: spell work, protection, grounding, energy work

Cherry: lust, love, fertility

Clementine: childhood, dreams

Coconut: protection, cleansing, femininity

Cranberry: holidays, blood magic, spirit work

Date: fertility, luck, money

Dragon fruit: lust, passion, spell work

Durian: curses, cleansing, protection

Fig: happiness, divination, love

Grapefruit: cleansing

Grape: money, spell work, fertility, offerings

Guava: love, self love, lust

Honeydew: cleansing, energy, love

Jackfruit: divination, spell work, happiness

Kiwifruit: health, love, lust, happiness

Kumquat: luck, health, money

Lemon: cleansing, purification, protection, curse breaking

Lime: cleansing, protection, love

Lychee: love, self love, femininity, beauty

Mango: love, lust, fertility

Nectarine: love, self love, spell work

Orange: cleansing, protection, divination

Papaya: curse breaking, banishing, spirit work, love

Passion fruit: lust, love, passion

Peach: fertility, love, happiness, spirit work

Pear: offerings, happiness, luck, money, confidence

Persimmon: healing, love, luck, protection

Pineapple: protection, health, offerings, money, luck

Plantain: fertility, masculinity, lust, passion

Plum: love, healing, offerings

Pomegranate: offerings, blood magic, fertility, divination, spell work

Prune: cleansing, protection

Raspberry: love, dreams, health

Strawberry: love, wishes, dreams, happiness

Starfruit: lunar/solar magic, spell work, cleansing

Tangerine: solar magic, strength, energy work

Tomato: protection, cleansing, love, passion

Watermelon: healing, femininity, lust, love, spirit work, cleansing

I did this one night as a joke while my friend and I were out smoking last weekend but it ended up working very well, my quartz bowl may have helped amplified it though. This works best if you have a small piece like a bowl, pipe, or bubbler.

Pack your piece and hold it out in front of you and hold the lighter below it.

Flick your lighter on and draw a pentagram above the flame using your piece then say the following

“May this dank weed thin the vale between us and aid in our connection. So it it said so mote it be”

Non-toxic means it won’t hurt if you /ingest/ a little. It doesn’t mean anything in regards to /Burning/ and then /inhaling/ the vapours and smoke! 

If you want to add sigil magic to your smoke, there’s So Many better ways to go about it.

✨Write or carve the sigil into whatever you’re going to use to light your joint. On your lighter, or carve it into a (natural wax, lead-free wicked) candle.

✨ Write it on a piece of paper, then tie your hemp wick around it, use the wick to light your joint, and then, (in a fire-proof container) let it continue to burn down to the paper with the sigil on it. 

✨Write a sigil on your paper tip, on the inside, where it won’t get hot enough to vaporize.Though I’d still stay far away from inks here, and stick to pencil, or better yet, a natural ink like fruit juice, coffee, wine etc. 

✨trace the sigil into your ground herbs before rolling

the numerical degree theory

ᯓ ❥ i don’t want to take credits for this because i’m sure someone has thought of it before, but i feel like i am the first to post about it a lot. the theory is that numerology is actually connected to our astrology degrees

ᯓ ❥ if you’re not familiar with numerology you can view my numerology key for help

notes about this theory

· you must check the degree and correspond the planets energy to the numerical energy. for example venus is the planet of beauty so when in a beauty numerical degree it can indicate someone’s considered very beautiful to a lot of people/that they have societal beauty

· the non reduced and reduced energy both matter. for example 28 reduced is 1 (2+8=10->1+0=1) so having 28 degrees in your chart indicates having 1 numerical energy (leadership, masculinity, confidence, aggression, etc). however, 28 unreduced in numerology is a wealth number, so 28 degrees in your chart can also indicate wealth

some examples of this theory

· 1°/10°/19°/28° in your chart (especially placed in the sun or mars) can make someone a great leader because in numerology 1 is the number of leadership

· 5°/14°/23° in your chart can indicate being considered beautiful to a lot of people/a beauty symbol since 5 in numerology is the number of beauty/attractiveness. especially when placed in the big 6 though. 9°/18°/27° can also because this is another beauty number representing extreme beauty. you’ll see many models and beauty symbols like marilyn monroe and madison beer with these degrees in their chart

· 6°/15°/24° in a chart can make someone a homebody. especially when placed in the moon since the moon is associated with comfortability and 6 in numerology is the number of home

· 7°/16°/25° in a chart can indicate someone’s very intelligent. especially when placed in mercury, jupiter, or uranus since those are the planets associated with intelligence/genius and 7 in numerology is the number of intelligence. it’s also the number of the spiritual teacher, so these people can be very smart spiritually as well

· 11°/20°/29° in someone’s chart can indicate someone being an old soul and being very spiritual or spiritually connected. they often have great intuition and psychic abilities. especially when placed in the moon or neptune

I wonder if there is any taurus moon here who can relate me on this topic, so here I am writing...

Taurus placements sometimes are called lazy or labelled as unproductive. Although this is surely stereotypical of astrology commenters I think it is true. It is true to a point where I find myself holding my emotional state stable to not to deal with uncomfy feelings like saddness or resentment. It is not like I can't configure it or I am unable to be confronted by the reason of this feeling. It is just causing a delay in progression of a negative (or a positive feeling like love!) - let me say a feeling that is unsettling whether it is negative or positive - on purpose. This is very funny to me because there were times where I was finally acknowledgeing my feelings but the timing wasn't right, not surprisingly and unfortunately :-) I am writing this with a smiley face at the end of the sentence but this actually caused me pain irl LOL. I process my emotions very slowly or I don't purposefully want to recognize the state I am in emotionally if they won't be efficient at the time. If "right person wrong time" can be personified, I would be it. There were lots of times where I lost many friends or people who loved me in my life because I was too slow to recognize my own feelings towards them and seeing their worth. I wonder, does this happen to any other taurus moon fellows?

Let me hear about your experience with having a taurus moon