the prismo archives.

On one side of one sheet of paper, write out your boundaries with the spirit world.

Examples include:

I do not consent to any "spiritual lessons" which have not been explicitly discussed with me.

I am not "up for grabs" by random deities passing by. There is no relationship unless I consent to it. I work with the following deities...

I do not require any additional suffering, and I do not consent to it; life is hard enough, thank you very much.

If you want to "help," maybe get me more money. If you want to hurt, may I recommend one of our country's billionaires?

My spiritual goals are x, y, and z.

I came to this reality to X, and not to Y.

Add any terms you like, just stick to one page, and keep it legible.

Quality is an oppressive and unnecessary standard. Quantity is the good shit. Just keep writing.

Quality over quantity is backwards bullshit when it comes to developing a skill. Quantity is how to develop the skill. Quality is a nebulous future emergent property that may or may not come to pass, but you don't gotta worry about that yet.

For agitation when you focus on your breath:

Check and see if you're actually physically comfortable; sometimes tuning into the breath means you become aware of more physical discomfort.

Remember agitation is a totally normal feeling to have come up in meditation and it doesn't mean you're doing it wrong necessarily. Watch it for a bit to see it changes on it's own.

Metta or compassion can help soften aversion/agitation; I like dedicating the time I sit to the well-being of others - it's a good deed that helps others. Using "I wish myself/someone else/all beings well" as a thought to come back to is another one I use.

For boredom:

Let yourself be bored, it's fine if your mind is wandering. It's the bringing your attention back that is the important part. By doing that you strengthen your ability to redirect your mind in the direction you'd like to go. If your mind is wandering off a lot that's perfect for that training.

Seeing your mind wander off is a great way to see that you're not your mind, that the mind changes on it's own. Sometimes that can bring about related realizations that can be quite peaceful. Regardless, the observing is fruitful.

For sleepiness:

You might just need more sleep. If so it's fine to go to sleep. Try again some other time.

Noting meditations - "I am noticing that I'm thinking about x" "I am noticing tension in y" - can be more active and energetic than pure awareness methods; noticing changes that happen without you necessarily causing them is A+

Walking meditation rocks; you can focus on the feeling on the bottom of your feet or your breath or counting steps to ten and then starting over.

Basically, unpleasant feelings don't necessarily mean you're doing it wrong. Yeah it can be blissful, but there's a lot of good to be had in the other states that can come up too. Self compassion makes a lot of it easier to figure out.

Cyber witchery sometimes feels like a swimming pool or an ocean depending on how deep I go.

Types of cyber witchcraft that I’ve encountered:

- Ludomancy: Gaming witchcraft, capable of turning video games into altars and grimoires. Also adept at creating their own cheat codes for quick spellcasting irl

- Cybermancy: Internet based spellwork, digital media, social media, image collecting, research. Also could be used as an umbrella term for the practice.

- Audiomancy: Sound based sorcery, music production, playlist potions, listening to audio based media as conduit.

- Wordcraft: A part of my own personal practice that is the writer’s craft within the digital world. They are often skilled at learning new languages and also can come up with some pretty wicked spells and even a pseudocode language or two.

- Photomancy: Photographic art witchcraft aimed at using computers and cameras as conduits for creating magical art. Likely carries around an enchanted smartphone or camera.

- Mediamancy: this one is also a bit of an umbrella term, mainly because so much can be gleaned from media. These are the tv watchers, the twitch viewers and the instagram witches who turn their love of media in all its forms into a conduit for their magic.

- Spell Engineers: these are the software developers of the cyber witchcraft world. They’re the ones that will come up with entire scripts and have clever workarounds for almost anything you could imagine. Likely they carry around a separate portable device for on the go spell coding. Even more than the wordcrafters, these are digital witches and mages who can write scripts for almost anything.

- Technomancy: while it is an umbrella term, Technomancy has its uses as these are the Artificers, the tinkerers, the ones with too many cords and devices in their workspaces. Technomancy is all about the hardware. Basically they’re the tech geeks.

- Digital diviners: these are the seers and oracles of cyber witchcraft. Likely with digital tarot decks, runes, and even a few less known methods known only by them. They’re the ones that see the world as one giant omen to be unraveled.

A note on Cyber witchcraft: there is almost an endless list of types of cyber witchcraft. Truthfully, there’s also a ton of overlap because we as witches tend to want to be as well rounded as possible to be of the most use to those around us. I, myself, practice at least 5 or 6 of these types in a never ending cycle of wherever my AuADHD decides to pull my attention.

🛠️⚙️- Hephaestus -⚙️🛠️

This is from personal practice, I encourage people to look into epithets and associations to find what works for them, these are just what works for me or information I use regularly in my own practice or have noted down in my grimoire.

Epithets: Klytos - Renowed/Famed/Glorious. || Klytomêtis - Famed for skill/Crafts. || Klytotekhnês - Famed worker (for Crafts) || Polyphrôn - Ingenious/Inventive. || Polymêtis - Resourceful/Of many crafts. || Khalkeus - Bronze-smith/Copper-smith.

Colours: Red, orange, black, gold, grey silver, bronze.

Symbols: Anvil, hammer, pair of tongs, the forge.

Stones/metals: Bronze, steel, hematite, bassalt, sunstone, red beryl, magnetite, bismuth, fire opal, orange calcite, emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, moonstones, jasper, agate, carnelian, azurite, obsidian, pyrite, sandstone.

Animals: Donkeys, guard dogs, cranes, quails.

Food/Drink: Bread, wine, olive oil, soups, cooked fat, coffee, water, jerky, cooked meat, sandwiches,Agroterê homecooked meals - especially if well spiced.

Perfumes/incenses: Frankincense, manna (from the ash tree), dragon's blood, pine, musk, sandalwood, smokey/charcoal scents.

Plants: Vervain, poppy, nettle, aloe, hibiscus, hibiscus, oak tree, daisy, galbanum.

Misc: Charcoal/coal, bronze trinkets, handmade jewelry/pottery/sculptures or other creations, screws and nails.

1. the basics

to start with, lets look at some common terms. i’d define them as follows:

wards = long-term protection on spaces (altar, room, etc) - they’re generally seen as permanent despite needing energetic top ups.

shields = temporary personal protection (veiling, amulets, visualization) - you can also shield someone else, either directly or remotely.

cleansing = an act that resets energy to neutral - can be a space, yourself, or an object.

banishing = essentially telling energy or an entity to fuck off (in varying degrees of hostility). i tend to be more nice than mean, especially if that entity is important or likes to hold a grudge.

these concepts get blurred sometimes, and that's fine. most people use them in overlapping ways - it’s just useful for this post (and this blog) to have a list of definitions.

2. why protection work was hard for me at first, and what i do now

i've always found protection work difficult to keep up long-term. i really struggle with doing big rituals consistently (probably the ADHD). i don't have the energy for it. for ages, my protection either just... didn't exist, or it happened in the moment - shielding when something felt off, visualising energy forming around me, stuff like that. the idea of putting wards up every full moon or doing protective cleansings every sunday made me feel exhausted just thinking about it. the energy it took, the way it felt like a chore didn’t feel right, and had me really questioning if witchcraft was for me. i believe that the more energy you give something, the more energy it has - but the more i complicate things, the harder it gets for me, and the less my magick feels like an extension of myself

[wip]

I do not personally endorse all these sources, read skeptically and cross-reference at your discretion. These are, however, all sources I personally use, with varying levels of trust.

Herbaria, Herbals, Botanical Books, etc

EARLY MODERN-CONTEMPORARY

New Flora of the British Isles - Clive A. Stace

The Englishman's Flora - George Grigson

Das Buch der Natur - Konrad Megenbergen

Culpeper's Complete Herbal

MEDIEVAL-RENAISSANCE

Het Biënboec van Thomas van Cantimpré en zijn exempelen [Old Dutch] - Wouter Antonie van der Vet

Jacob van Maerlant's Naturen Bloeme

Hildegard Von Bingen's Physica - Priscilla Throop

Pristina Medicamenta: Ancient and Medieval Medical Botany - Jerry Stannard

Florum, et coronariarum odoratarumque nonnullarum herbarum historia - Rembert Dodoens

Nauwkeurige beschrijving der aardgewassen [Old Dutch] - Abraham Munting

Images in color of the botanical/naturalist art of Abraham Munting

Phytognomonica

Rembert Dodoens' Cruijdeboeck

The Grand Albert

CLASSICAL

Theophrastus' Enquiry into Plants | I through V | VI onward

Pliny's Natural History | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

The Ebers Papyrus

The Medical Features of the Ebers Papyrus - Carl H. von Klein

The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides

Herbal Magic, Using Herbs, Herb Folklore, Flower Language

The Black Toad - Gemma Gary

County Folk-lore - GB Folklore Society

Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland

Scottish Folk-lore and Folk Life - Donald MacKenzie

The Anglo-Saxon Charms - Felix Grendon

Compendium of Ritual and Symbolic Plants in Europe - M. Cleene | Dutch Edition

Anglo-Saxon Magic - Gofrid Storms

Northern mythology : comprising the principal popular traditions and superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany, and The Netherlands | 2 | 3

La mythologie des plantes; ou, Les légendes du règne végétal - Angelo de Gubernatis

The Language and Sentiment of Flowers - Anonymous

The Language and Sentiment of Flowers - L.V.

The Illustrated Language of Flowers - Anna Christian Burke

Flora symbolica; or, The language and sentiment of flowers - John H. Ingram

The Natural History of the Bible - H.B. Tristram

Handwörterbuch Des Deutschen Aberglaubens - Baechtold-Staubl, Hoffman-Krayer

Antiker aberglaube in modernen ausstrahlungen - dr. Eduard Stemplinger

Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstämme - Wilhelm Mannhardt

The Folk-Lore of Plants - T.F. Thiselton Dyer (read skeptically)

Practical Magic And the Literary Archaeology of the Pagan Past in Two Anglo-Saxon Charms - Jang

Madness, Medication—and Self-Induced Hallucination? Elleborus (and Woody Nightshade) in Anglo-Saxon England, 700–900 - Hall

Elleborus in Anglo-Saxon England, 900–1100: Tunsingwyrt and Wodewistle - Hall

Folk-healing, Fairies and Witchcraft: The Trial of Stein Maltman, Stirling 1628 - Hall

Online Libraries

Native American Ethnobotany Database

Alaska Native Knowledge Base

The Medieval Garden Enclosed

Monumental Trees

Trees for Life

Ecoliterature, Natural History, Cultural History

Gathering Moss - Robin Wall Kimmerer

Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer

Annihilation - Jeff VanderMeer

Witches! Please do me a favor and fill out this survey for my Senior Seminar class.

I'm currently an anthropology student at Cleveland State University doing a survey on witchcraft trends over the past twenty years. If you have been practicing witchcraft (close to) 5 years or more, I would really appreciate it if you would please fill out this survey!

Please help out a fellow Witch!

I've been practicing witchcraft on and off since 2005. I first started with a single book and then later learned a lot of the basics from a mentor, a Wiccan 2nd Degree Priestess. I moved on from Wicca into general Eclectic Witchcraft, and over the years have gone through many changes in my practice and beliefs. I'm looking to see how other people's practices have changed as well.

I know a lot of mutuals and witches I used to follow are gone, but I'll tag a few: @aerieherbal @grayladyofthewell @graycloak @stsathyre @windvexer

Folk tradition: The common beliefs, practices, customs and other cultural elements of an ethnic or social group that are rooted in the past, but are persisting into the present due to means such as arts and crafts, songs and music, dance, foods, drama, storytelling and certain forms of oral communication. [-GEMET: the General Multilingual Environmental Thesaurus].

The life of a creative-writing teacher is a strange one, often requiring you to take on formal and aesthetic questions that otherwise would be of little utility or interest to you. I have no desire or intention to ever write fiction in the first person. I do not know what it is like to sit down and try to write ten or fifteen or two-hundred pages of fictional narration in the voice of I. Writing first-person fiction is as alien to me as attempting to do a Simone Biles floor or beam exercise in front of a panel of Olympic judges. There is a greater chance of my recreating Kim Yuna’s (vastly underscored) Free Program during the Sochi Olympic Games in its entirety than my sitting down to write a piece of first-person fiction.

To me, writing fiction in first-person constitutes weirdo behavior.

But people do it—some well, some poorly—and because I teach creative writing in the twenty-first century, I am often forced to ponder the first-person point of view from a technical perspective. To be clear, the word forced is crucial because otherwise, I would not think of first-person fiction at all. But I am forced, and so I have been thinking of first-person fictional narration, particularly as it relates to what we call “interiority” or “interior narration.”

Like dear fucking lord does my guy fucking hear himself. he says in the first paragraph "Writing first-person fiction is as alien to me as attempting to do a Simone Biles floor or beam exercise in front of a panel of Olympic judges." (a shitty, incoherent mess of a simile BTFW) and then goes on to rant for the whole thing about how he knows the objectively correct way to write first person without bringing up a single specific example. God forbid the dude has to put up with reading styles he doesn't like, and beginner, amateur, inexpertly crafted writing as a fucking CREATIVE WRITING TEACHER.