Ashton, they/them. Early 30s, white, v queer, dragon therian, long covid, scientist. Science and magic coexist on a continuum, balanced skepticism is healthy, and anti-racism and decolonization are key.
Hi, I'm Ashton, your friendly neighborhood witch-dragon!
Tl;dr about me:
Stuff that's not in the bio: I like talking shop with people. I bring all the wide variety of experiences I've had with me to all my interactions.
Policies:
N@zis, TERFs are not welcome here and that's the bare minimum.
I do my damndest to be anti-racist and resist colonialism.
Queer people are celebrated here no matter how little your label is recognized by the community or society at large.
I do my best to embrace whimsy and reasonable skepticism equally.
About this blog:
This is my witchcraft blog. I am mostly a listener and a lurker. If I followed you it's because I like what you have to say :)
I sometimes reblog stuff that gives me ideas. On the rare occasion I'll share about my own craft or workings.
About my craft:
No single word meaningfully sums up my work. I do "dragon magic" in the same way that anything a queer person wears is queer clothing. That is, I don't do "dragon magic," I'm the dragon what does magic.
I tend toward animist. I like to walk among and commune with trees. I use divination as a way to reflect and set foci for a given period of time. I primarily use found objects and little trinkets for magic. I like rocks. My energy is electric blue.
Longer About Me:
I love love love to work with my hands and do all sorts of crafts. It's probably fair to say there are more crafts I've tried than crafts I've not tried. I like music and physics and woodworking and fiber arts and paper collage and jewelrymaking and leatherwork and-- lots of stuff. I flex easily between projects and tend to have lots of things going simultaneously.
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I started doing this but struggled really hard on what to associate my tea leaves with. For context: I drink mostly looseleaf and I steep my teas for as many repeats as I can reasonably get flavor from since the taste changes from steep to steep.
And then it hit me: since these leaves are so used, so loved... the ground and dried version of them should invoke the memory of good things past- reflection, gratefulness, etc.
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Has anyone considered this, I'm sure they have, but a little space for your inner child on the altar with trinkets your inner child would like and their own candle with favorite colors at the time. And I don't mean in the means of worship, of course, but an exercise of healing and being like: hey, I see you, always have seen you, I hear you, and you were a kid.
I've thought about it recently because my traumas come from childhood and I've often kind of ignored that side of myself. She's shown up in tiny ways recently with my Strawberry Shortcake obsession. But I don't know, I think this idea came from my internal thought process with Apollo, on healing and where that starts.
The world is oftentimes such an ugly place, but sometimes it can be so beautiful.
Like, when two choirs, one from Croatia and the other from Zimbabwe, met on the opposite sides of a Lisbon subway station and both sang to each other.
I unfortunately do not know what the Zimbabwe children choir sang to them (although it was so beautiful), but the Croatian klapa Kastav sang 'Kuća puna naroda' (a house full of people).
And let my reward be a house full of people,
my life, give me a voice, so I can embrace you with songs.
I'm a big fan of working with the land, and one of the easiest ways to do so is by gathering your own plants. This is also free! No having to stop at an occult/metaphysical shop to pick up that random plant you forgot you needed. I will be making individual posts on different plants that can be foraged in my own bioregion, but first we should go over a few tips and housekeeping notes about foraging and witchcraft.
⸙༄𓆤𓆩𓆪❁𓇢𓆸🏵
Contents:
Natural Isn't Always Safe
Laws and Foraging
Invasive vs. Native vs. Naturalized
Animistic Foraging
Conclusion
⸙༄𓆤𓆩𓆪❁𓇢𓆸🏵
Natural Isn't Always Safe
First thing I want to get out of the way is that not everything you find outside is going to be safe to put in your body or even touch. On top of that, not everything that is safe for someone else is going to be safe for you. We each have different bodies and how we react to something will not always be the same. When you first start foraging, it's important to have a guide book that will tell you of any safety measures to take when dealing with a plant. Some will interact with medications in ways that are not healthy, some have fluid that can make your skin photosensitive, and some... some people are just allergic to.
When it comes to medications, you can find contraindications (when not to ingest something) with a quick google search of "[plant name] contraindications." Generally this will give you a safe answer, however always check with your doctor if you are unsure. Better to pay for a consultation than a hospital visit.
Some risks come from the environment that the plant grew in. If you are foraging near train tracks or buildings that could leach lead into the soil, the plants will pick that up as well. Contaminated soil and pesticides sprayed onto the plants can also lead to health risks. Be very mindful of where you are foraging.
Some plants that are safe will also have toxic look-alikes. A famous look-alike is wild carrot and poison hemlock (thank you Oregon Trail video game). Unless you know what characteristics you are looking for, it's very easy to confuse the two plants. One is a delicious snack, while the other is highly toxic (the poison hemlock), to the point of causing muscle death and kidney failure. This isn't to scare you away from foraging. Only to drive home the importance of making sure you know what you are gathering.
*credit to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture
⸙༄𓆤𓆩𓆪❁𓇢𓆸🏵
Laws and Foraging
I am a resident of the United States so these will be more geared towards that country. It would be to your benefit to look into the foraging laws of your own country/state anyway, as it can still differ. The majority of states in America prohibit foraging on public lands, which makes it really hard for those who don't own their own property. If you live in Alaska and Hawaii, however, congratulations your local government allows it. Even among those states that do allow it, there can be designated areas where it's not allowed such as a nature preserve. Breaking these laws tends to come with a hefty fine and possible jail time, if caught. Though these laws are hard to find with a quick google search, especially for a specific area.
The laws in the United States prohibiting foraging are generally colonial, imperial, classist, and racist (surprise, surprise). Foraging was protected by law well into the 1800s (except for Native Americans who were pushed off their ancestral hunting and gathering grounds), even when doing so on another person's private property. After the Civil War, many newly-freed African-Americans would sell their foraged and hunted goods for an income, while also using the practice to become self-sufficient. The southern plantation owners needed this system to go away so they could chain what used to be their "property" to their old line of enslaved work. Starting with criminal trespass laws. Eventually anti-foraging laws spread to the average white rural American. Outside elites began to believe that the "backwards" people of the countryside, who made a subsistence living off the practice of foraging, fishing and hunting, could not be trusted with the stewardship of the land; using "conservation" as a way to "protect" it from the people who lived there (Linnekin, "Food Law Gone Wild: The Law of Foraging" p.1008-1014).
I do believe we need to protect our resources and lands. However, foraging can be regulated, not outright outlawed as it is. Learning about the plants and animals that live around us and can help us in our lives, leads us to learn more deeply about their role in the environment and just WHY we should protect them...
All this to say, look into your local foraging laws (and how local law enforcement actually enforces them, if they do at all) and then you can decide if you want to follow them or not. At your own risk.
⸙༄𓆤𓆩𓆪❁𓇢𓆸🏵
Invasive vs. Native vs. Naturalized
There is a lot of talk in foraging communities about invasives vs. natives. Sometimes even bringing in naturalized plants. So let's talk a little bit about what these words mean in ecology and how this may effect your foraging habits.
Invasive and naturalized plants have one thing in common; they are both transplanted outside their natural ecosystem. A plant that is invasive in one place, can be naturalized in another. What matters is the impact the plant has on the ecosystem it has been transplanted into.
Invasive = plants or animals that harm regional ecosystems.
Naturalized = plants that have successfully established and reproduced in a new environment, integrating into their new home without inflicting ecological harm.
To make things a bit more complicated, let's introduce the 10% rule. According to the Huron River Watershed Council, "the '10% rule' postulates that of all species introduced to a region outside of their native range, only 10% will survive to reproduce in their adopted environment. This 10% of non-native survivors are often called 'naturalized' plants. Of that 10%, another 10% (or 1% of the original non-native transplants) may thrive to such an extent that they dominant their new home, out competing their native neighbors. These prolific competitors are known as invasive species."
So what makes a native plant? The US Forest Service defines a native plant as "plants [that] are indigenous terrestrial and aquatic species that have evolved and occur naturally in a particular region, ecosystem, and habitat. Species native to North America are generally recognized as those occurring on the continent prior to European settlement."
Some native species can be endangered due to habitat loss from agriculture and/or competing invasive species. It's good to have a list (many state DNR (Department of Natural Resources) will have a list available on their website) printed so you know which ones should be cultivated in your garden if you wish to work with them. Avoiding these and working with invasive species can help with conservation efforts as well. Native species can still be worked with in the wild if they are not endangered.
⸙༄𓆤𓆩𓆪❁𓇢𓆸🏵
Animistic Foraging
You'll often see witches giving advice about asking the plants permission before harvesting. This is from the belief that the plant has a spirit, an animistic belief. Asking permission to harvest isn't the only way we can forage mindfully and with respect to the plant. The way that I do this is by following the Honorable Harvest set out by Robin Wall Kimmerer (a Potawatomi botanist, and the director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry) in her book "Braiding Sweetgrass."
Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so you may take care of them.
Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life.
Ask permission before taking and abide by the answer.
Never take the first, never take the last.
Take only what you need.
Take only what is given.
Never take more than half. Leave some for others.
Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken.
Share.
Give thanks for what you have been given.
Give a gift in reciprocity for what you have been given.
Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.
The first rule really helps you to follow the rest of them. Know the plant. Walk by it several times, offer water even if you aren't taking something, say hello. These plants are our neighbors and when we harvest we are asking for their help.
⸙༄𓆤𓆩𓆪❁𓇢𓆸🏵
Conclusion
Each plant will have it's own method of harvest to minimize the harm done to it. Some you have to pull the whole thing up, but there are ways to repopulate it. It's so individual that I couldn't add it to this post. Hopefully what's written here can help you keep a few things in mind when going out and learning about your local flora.
Foraging can be a great way to connect with your land and learn about it. Getting your hands dirty and making you feel as if you are a part of the landscape. Hopefully the first couple of sections didn't scare you off. Get a couple of good guidebooks for your region (the local library is a good place to start) and you're good to get out there and start identifying plants you want to work with!
Saw this video (love Alexa Nicole) and thought it added a good summary of what I’ve been feeling lately about foraging. Relates really nicely to this post.
I'll add that building up your local biosphere is both a good idea and might be more accessible than you think! Making your backyard (general, not literal) more balanced ecologically will encourage birds and bugs and new plants, all of which will increase the abundance of that which you want to forage. "All thriving is mutual," as Robin Wall Kimmerer put it in her book, The Serviceberry.
Here's just a few ideas off the top of my head from a lifetime (since childhood) of being involved in wildlife conservation efforts. You can:
- pull invasive plants
- over-harvest edible invasives
- plant native species
- LEAVE THE LEAVES
- do your research
I'm also in the USA so all my suggestions are based on that life experience.
Managing invasives
First off, do your research for anything you want to plant. Is it an invasive? If your sister gave it to you saying it grows aggressively, you might find that it is... in fact... invasive. If you wanna dig deeper, you can look into the role of different native species that - though native - can be aggressive and harmful if not balanced with other plants.
Now. If you want to pull invasives, there's lots of ways to do it! Look into your local State Extension Office (it probably runs your state 4-H programs, the Master Gardener programs, and much more). They will likely have resources on volunteer projects that you can join to cut or pull invasives with a group led by an expert. This is a great way to learn! If you can't find resources on their website, give them a call (i know, *shudder*, but it's worth it).
It's important to wear proper PPE and know When and How to dig up your invasives for best effect. Keep in mind that invasives are hard to get rid of; any such effort is likely to be a labor of love for many years. It's worth it, though, I think, both ecologically and from the pride you get out of long term progress.
Adding native plants
Buckle up, it's time to go to your local native plant sale! Not sure how to find one? Talk to your local parks service or local library. They'll point you in the right direction. If there's no native plant sale near you, you can look up what plants are native and grow well in your level of shade/sun/moisture and purchase some online or look around your neighborhood and talk to your neighbors about splitting their plants if they have healthy native ones!
LEAVE THE LEAVES
https://youtube.com/shorts/d0yBwoyl2aY
Okay but seriously, death is an important part of the cycle of life for the land. I'll keep it to leaves for now though - Fallen leaves provide habitat for fireflies and other helpful buggies. They decompose into dirt. Sure they look messy, but you'll have a greener yard for it.
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Studies show that engaging in ritualized behavior significantly improves outcomes on measures of grief and feelings of control, even when the person participating in the ritual has little or no belief in the ritual’s power. Just a reminder for no one in particular.
Research has revealed that, while rituals are universal across human cultures, the content and actions of those rituals vary widely even when they have the same intended purpose. This suggests that it is not the actions that matter, but that you are taking any action at all and naming it ritual. It can be an elaborate ritual with dozens of moving parts and participants, or it can be as simple as lighting a candle alone with the intent to remember someone.
Sad update everyone, Tama recently passed away… An estimated 3,000 people, including railway officials, attended Tama the cat’s funeral on Sunday, days after she died of heart failure aged 16. [x]
For those who haven’t read articles about it, the local shrine elevated her to a god. She’s now the Eternal Stationmaster and patron god of the station.
Nitama, already now a mature cat (born 2010), has a protege named Yontama (fourth Tama, b. 2016). There is no information available for either the physical befellment or tragic self-disgrace which has removed Santama from contention.
okay but actually what happened to santama (or sun-tama-tama, which is her name because it’s a pun on santama) was that she was basically sent to train for the position in okayama and they liked her so much they refused to send her back
“Sun-tama-tama” (a pun off of “Santama”, lit. “third Tama”) was a calico cat sent for training in Okayama. Sun-tama-tama was considered as a candidate for Tama’s successor, but the Okayama Public Relations representative who had been caring for Sun-tama-tama refused to give the cat up writing, “I will not let go of this child, she will stay in Okayama.” [25]
As of September 2018, Sun-tama-tama is working as the stationmaster in Naka-ku, Okayama and appears occasionally on Tama’s Twitter account.
The shrine of Tama Daimyōjin (Great gracious deity Tama), next to the Kishi station where she worked.
Nitama presenting her yearly offerings to Tama Daimyōjin on the anniversary of Tama’s Death, June 23 (The offerings are presented by the company president, as Nitama is a cat and thus can’t hold the offerings herself) (Not pictured, but also present, Yontama)
So, fun fact- the manga Noragami has an arc where the main character, Yato (a minor kami/God that is down on his luck but trying to make it big time) goes to a council/conference for all the Gods in Japan.
And they are announcing the winner of the “up and coming god” award, and of course, Yato thinks it’s him.
Some tag users were saying they wish people would ask them about their practice, and we could use a little spring joy. So here's a little ask game for all of the tag members and all of the other witches out there. Send emojis to ask questions, or send a question of your own. Remember to keep the game going by sending asks to the person you reblogged from.
🌿 What is your "witchcraft origin story"?
🍃 What were your first magical influences vs your influences now?
🧭 If your personal practice had its own unique craft/tradition name, what would it be?
🪶 What specific tradition(s) (if any) do you follow? If you're more eclectic, explain how you put it all together,
🕯️ What does a day-in-the-life look like in your practice?
🧰 What type of workings do you do most frequently?
🌙 What tools do you use the most?
🕊️ What animals and land features do you most often use in your practice and how?
🧠 Do you prefer to do divination with tools or with the inner sense? What are your preferred methods?
🔄 What’s something you believe about magic that’s changed over time?
✨Are you a mundane before magic, mundane beside magic, or magic first type of practitioner?
🌧️ What has been your greatest challenge within your practice?
📚 What magical books are you currently reading / did you last read?
🌱 What is something you are learning, exploring or improving in your magical craft?
💖 What about your practice brings you the most joy?
Bonus:
Send 🔮 for a simple divination reading
Send ❓ along with a custom question not included here
A little milky quartz type rock showed up in our front yard garden right by our front stoop. It almost looks intentionally placed, but I confirmed with the spouse that she didn't put it there.
So! I shall get to know our new rock friend and ask it to help take care of our home, if it is willing.
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