Bubble And Brew

It’s okay to stutter, to look at the descriptions. It’s alright if you have to look up the meaning of this tarot card or that herb. It’s normal to trip over the words of your first long incantation or just your own feet while dancing.

I just have this bad feeling that so many baby witches are embarrassed about the way their first spells and potions go.

So many seem to lose the courage to do their Craft because they can’t get the spells to sound beautiful or because they think they are to clumsy to do this ritual.

Let me tell you something.

Everything comes with time. The practice, the knowledge, the intuition, the grace.

Oh dear ones especially the Grace! It’s all patience.

Like learning a new recipe, at first it’s just chaos: you and a sizable portion of the kitchen are covered in flour. Nothing seems to work the first time you try it. You’re trying to hold the recipe steady with your elbow so you can read how many eggs you need again and how mutch salt goes WHere!? It’s awful and the results are mediocre at best.

But each time you try again, dare again, you get better. Until one day the recipe is just a distant reminder and everything you do is muscle memory.

We know what this kind of grace looks like from watching our grandmothers cook or knit. From watching our sisters braid hair and our mothers dance.

It’s beautiful and it’s born entirely from patience and practice.

So don’t worry about your failures. Really I mean it, please don’t. As long as you learn from them they were worth making. So go out there and dare to fail, to fall, to have flaws.

And take this to heart: “If you stumble make it part of your dance.”

Drip three drops of olive oil on the surface of water in a bowl.

Observe the drops. If the drops remain distinct from each other, there is no evil eye. If they run together, there is. 

Dispose of the oil and water.

Remove the evil eye accordingly.

So you just decided that you want to read tarot, and perhaps invest in your very first deck. Here are some tips that I found useful when I was just starting out with reading tarot cards! 

Uses for tarot cards:

Divination

Spirit Communication

Deity Communication

Spellwork

Choosing a deck:

Choosing a tarot deck for the first time can be somewhat overwhelming. There are thousands of decks out there, with varying art styles and card sizes. 

I chose my first deck solely because it came with a guidebook and because the art style was similar to that of the traditional Rider-Waite (the art style wasn’t too gaudy, and the cards were clearly labeled). 

I would suggest choosing a deck whose cards list the suit, number, and name on the card, just to make things easier for you. 

Another thing to consider is size - there’s a “standard” size for tarot cards, but some authors stick to playing card size, and some make theirs quite large. I have small hands, so the larger sized cards would be uncomfortable for me to use and shuffle. Keep that in mind. 

I would also suggest that if your first deck doesn’t come with its own guidebook to invest in one. 

A lot of readers will choose the deck that calls out to them the most, or one that they click with. You can go that route, or simply choose the one you like the most based on aesthetics. It’s somewhat difficult to gauge the energy that the deck is putting out if you’re like me and prefer to order online, but if you can get to a bookstore or metaphysical shop to pick out your first deck, spend some time with them and pick the one that resonates with you. 

Tips:

Cleanse your deck before you use it for the first time - this helps get rid of any lingering energy that may be left by anyone else who touched it before you obtained it. You may choose to cleanse your deck between readings, or whenever you feel as though your readings aren’t making sense, though these things are not mandatory. 

Charge your deck - some readers do this and some do not, but I have personally found that actively charging my deck with an outside source of energy helps gives me an extra boost and reduces the amount of personal energy I have to put into doing readings. Selenite is both a cleansing and charging stone and can be set on top of your deck to do both of those things simultaneously. 

Draw a card a day for personal readings, and record your findings in a tarot journal - this will not only help you learn the meanings of the cards, but also to bond with your new deck. 

Not into journaling or writing? Create an Excel or Word document to record your personal experiences and findings. This can also be useful for jotting down card meanings (ctrl + f is a lot easier than digging through a book IMO). 

Practice readings with your friends or significant other. This will help you decipher card meanings and learn to read intuitively. When we are personally looking for answers, we tend to come up with any reason why the cards are relevant to our own lives, but performing readings for others will really show how accurate the cards are.

Seek answers from the guidebook that your deck came with, if it came with one. There’s nothing wrong with looking up the meanings of cards, especially if you’re just starting out. If it didn’t come with a guidebook, I would suggest biddytarot online for learning card meanings, or even the Galaxy Tarot app for your phone, which also includes card meanings and is a great way to read tarot on the go.

Come up with personal associations for the cards that relate to your every day life. For example, the Death card popping up in a reading can be startling at first, but it doesn’t necessarily mean physical death: in most cases, it can relate to rebirth or transformation. The same applies for cards that signify fertility or birth - this may simply allude to new beginnings. Figure out how the cards relate to you, personally. 

Don’t overwhelm yourself with lengthy spreads like the Celtic Cross - stick with short spreads that only involve a few cards and work your way up to bigger spreads. 

Readings are not set in stone, they are meant to be used for guidance. That being said, you and you alone have the power to change the outcome of any reading you do. Tarot readings are not the “be all end all” for life events. 

Once you have an idea of what the cards signify, you can use them for other things such as spirit and deity communication or spellwork! 

Common Myths about Tarot:

You must receive your tarot deck as a gift

You must keep your tarot deck in a [black] silk bag

You have to be a witch to read tarot

You must be psychic to read tarot

You shouldn’t read tarot while you’re pregnant

Don’t let others touch or look at your tarot cards

Tarot cards are evil

Tarot cards are “the Devil’s work”

You can’t read tarot for yourself

The Death card means you or a loved one are going to die

WARNING: I am a sarcastic butthole and it shows through out this hot mess of a post. This is some random craft junk I have learned in my days of practicing witchcraft

Witch craft is not magic.

I don’t care what you have heard. Witchcraft is not magic. It can not turn your eyes different colors. It can not make you into a animal. You will not be able to control the weather or summon wind with your fingers. Ghosts will not do as you say. This is not Harry Potter. Case closed

Intent over tools

Do you think it’s gonna matter if you use a butter knife as an athame? Or you have to sub a white candle for another color because you don’t have the funds to buy that color? Or you had to leave out an ingredient because you don’t have it or you’re allergic? No, it’s not. Witchcraft (to me) is about mind over matter. If you are making an effort for your God/god/goddess/deity/elf/fae/etc it isn’t gonna matter what or how you got there, but the intent you had getting there

Cursing and hexing is up to you and your beliefs

Totally up to you if you believe that this is okay or not. However, if you don’t like this, do not go and tell someone else it’s wrong. If they ask you how you feel you can tell them it’s not your thing. If you do like this, do not go and tell someone else it’s fine and try to get them to accept it. If they ask you about it, you can tell them that you are into it

You do not have to have an alter

It’s up to you and your practice. And if you can where you are etc. If you want one and can not have one, draw one or, my favorite, Set up a pinterest board for your god/goddess/fae/elf/deity etc. and save things that you thing relate to them.

It’s not about fancy stuff

This goes back to intent over tools, as long as you are comfortable with what you are doing and using, do it and use it. I use salsa and yogurt containers, coffee filters taped together, M&M tubes, and envelopes to keep crap in. I use a 99¢ Wal-Mart bandanna to do spells on that I got from Girl Scout camp and it has rainbow peace signs all over it. Do I care? Nope. Does anyone else care or will they judge you? Nope. we are all in the same boat here.

Hand making things is way too underrated  

I LOVE hand making things. Whether you are good or bad at it, it is a good way to save money, and personalize it just for you. Example: I made tarot cards out of printer paper that I cut out and wrote the card name, and definition of what it means (to me) and I love them. Pencil wand? Yas queen. DIY cauldron out of play-dough? Frick me u p daddy.

DONT EAT/SMOKE/DRINK SOMETHING YOU HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT

You’d think I would have to include this bUT Some things are okay to consume. Sometimes if taking a certain medicine you can’t consume that. Sometimes you are allergic to one thing, and in turn you will be allergic to that thing too. Sometimes you are pregnant and it’S HIGHLY DANGEROUS TO CONSUME THINGS WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT IT DOES

Never ignore professional medical advice and help in favor of witchcraft methods.

Case c l o s e d

Spirit workers

Not nice spirits can attach to people who have depression and anxiety more so than people who don’t

There are good and bad spirits. if one makes you feel comfomy, do not feel bad for asking it to leave/getting rid of it

Don’t ask your tarot cards every time you have a question

This happens a lot. Especially when you get a new deck and it’s so new and shiny and you can’t w a i t to get your grubby little hands on it and do crap >:D but you don’t want to get into the habbit of “ohgoshgollybatman I have to go to the store, okay let’s see if I’ll get hit by a car… oh and do I really need the applejuice..”  or “do I REALLY need this plant..” bc the answer to that is always yes duh

Divination is not for predicting the future

Now stay with me, it is for guiding you in the future. It can not tell you what day you are going to die, who you are going to marry, etc 

The future is not written in stone

Let’s sayyyyy you do a simple past, present, and future reading with tarot, and you get a bad reading for the future, it doesn’t matter. That is how it is going right now, now you can see what you need to change etc 

You dont need a fancy journal for a grimore or book of shawdows

Heckadoodle I use a binder and notebook paper so I can move stuff around. I just write with a pencil and pen, and color with dollar store crayons or collered pencils.  Now, you may be thinking, “Oh but, it’s a nice binder right?” Lemme stop you right there. It is falling apart, needs to be ducktaped, has a picture of my doggo inside and I’ve used it for school for abouutt.. 7 years? Summin’ it up: It don’t gotta be fancy

If you forget to blow out candles set a timer on your phone

I do this all the freaking time and I’ll leave a candle out, and then here comes mother. Closet underage witches know the struggle. Trying to explain why you have a burning candle left in your room. Or if you are adult and have to adult after a spell or whatever and leave the house and come back to the candle just sittin’ there. Burning away. (my mom did this once and it caught her table on fire) Timer. Yep.

You don’t have to know a certain language 

This is more focused to me bc i am nerd but okie dokie I know Latin from school, therefore I mix it into my spells (like some on @witchy-recipes-and-things) and provide a translation. I don’t want anyone to think you have to have a certain language for your craft.

How to Ouija

Tbh this is too long already so if you want another post on it tell me and I’ll make one and link it

Sigils can be drawn everywhere

In your phone case, in your wallet, in a shoe, under fingernail polish, under seats, wherever whatever-I can also elaborate more on this

TAROT IS PRONOUNCED “TARO”

CONSENT IS KEY

When doing love spells, consent from the other person is a must. 

You can be a christian, athiest, pagan, whatever, and still do witchcraft

It is about the craft, not religion 

Witchcraft is not a religion, Wicca is

And you do not have to be Wiccan to partake in Witchcraft

Sage doesn’t have to be in cone shape to burn it

I put rubbed sage meant for cooking on a metal plate and torch the sucker Shane Dawson style but with one of the long lighters, then run around my house in my underware screaming “MAY THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPEL YOU BITCH” in Latin

When cleansing 

OPEN.THE.WINDOWS.WHEN.DEALING.WITH.SMOKE Trust your witch mother who is allergic to everything and is an asthmatic, open the windows and doors. Also, as the smoke leaves you room through the windows or whatever, the spirits/bad vibes/etc leave with it

You don’t have to believe everything you read

Witchcraft is how YOU feel about things. No matter how other people feel about things

You can have your own corresponces for things

Like I think cinnamon is hot, deals with the sun, direction south, used for healing love etc., but it can be totally different for you

Divination doers do not have to be witches and witches do not have to be divination doers

S T U D Y

Can not stress this enough. This is the best thing to do even if you can not practice your craft where you are atm. knowledge is power.

So here is a list I’ve complied :D (yes I’ve made all of these, I was too bored to ask people’s permission to add things, sue me) (All of the spells are all religion inclusive)

Learn you star sign with detail Edible Flower List Witch Tools Tarot Meanings Cheat Sheet

Good First Spell-Calming Tea Spell DIY Charcoal Pencil Get Shit Done Bottle Spell to Sleep Sea in a Bottle Protection and Calm Bottle Find a Item You Lot