Rebellious Little Bumpkin’s Blog of Shadows

Hey witchy friends and divination enthusiasts! Since I recently made a post on some tips for choosing a Tarot deck, I thought I’d include a post about deck interviews too. If you’re unfamiliar with deck interviews or maybe you’ve just never done one yourself, these are some tips that explain a little bit about the process. You can find plenty of deck interview spreads online or on Instagram, but please feel free to make up your own!

For me, my set up is usually as follows:

Card 1: Who are you? or What is your personality?

Card 2: What do I need to know about you?

Card 3: What are your strengths? (You can draw multiple cards for this).

Card 4: What are your weaknesses? (You can also do multiples for this one).

Card 5: Who am I to you? or What is my personality to you?

Card 6: What are you here to teach me/help me with/etc.?

Card 7: How can I best work with you?

You’re welcome to use this if you’d like but it’s only one example! As always, do whatever feels best to you. You can make your deck interview as long or as short as you like or ask whatever questions you feel necessary.

Oh heckin yes I do My amazon wishlist is literally like six pages long… ALL BOOKS

WARNING: This Is Going To Be Extremely Long!

First though I want to note that while I 100% understand your feelings about the Wicca stuff (being a very NOT Wiccan Witch), not all books that are Wicca leaning are bad! I’ve gotten loads of useful information from books that tended to be a little new agey. That’s where being objective comes in! With ANY book, you should take it with a grain of salt, and some with a whole shaker. But it’s up to you to pay attention to misinformation and conflation, and to know how to do research to prove or disprove that something in a book you read is true or not. Does that make sense?? 

Anywho, a couple of books that are still kind of “Wicca-y” but great:

Grimoire of the Green Witch

The Goodly Spellbook (This one is an INCREDIBLY AWESOME REFERENCE)

The Modern Guide To Witchcraft (Written By Skye Alexander who seems to mass produce books, so need some good fact checking here)

The Modern Witchcraft SpellBook (Written By Skye Alexander who seems to mass produce books, so need some good fact checking here)

The Witches Broom (LOTS OF SALT but good basic history)

The Witches Athame (LOTS OF SALT but good basic history)

The Witches Mirror (LOTS OF SALT but good basic history)

Cottage Witchery (This author is pretty good about keeping away but there’s still some slips)

Practical Protection Magick (This author is pretty good about keeping away but there’s still some slips)

The Big Book of Practical Spells (Written by Judika Illes, who did the Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells; it’s a good book, but there’s too much Cultural appropriation for my taste. Tread Lightly, and bring that shaker I was talking about)

Those are all books from my personal collection that I would recommend! Now as for the Non-Wicca Books, Let’s dive in! Not all of these have I read or owned, and they are in no particular order. You’ll notice most of them relate to “Traditional Witchcraft” or West Country, because that is where my practice is focused. 

The Tradition of Household Spirits: Ancestral Lore and Practices 

The High Magic of Talismans and Amulets: Tradition and Craft

Cornish Charms and Cures

To Fly by Night: An anthology of Hedgewitchery

Treading the Mill: Practical Craft Working in Modern Traditional Witchcraft

Popular Magic: Cunning-folk in English History

The Black Arts: A Concise History of Witchcraft, Demonology, Astrology, and Other Mystical Practices Throughout the Ages

Grimorium Verum

The Devil’s Dozen: Thirteen Craft Rites of the Old One

The Witching Herbs: 13 Essential Plants and Herbs for Your Magical Garden

Defences Against the Witches’ Craft - Anti-cursing Charms from English Folk Magick, Traditional Witchcraft and the Grimoire Traditions

Nummits and Crummits: Devonshire Customs, Characteristics, and Folk-lore

Encyclopedia of Folk Medicine: Old World and New World Traditions

The Art of Black Mirror Scrying

Enchantment: The Witches’ Art of Manipulation by Gesture, Gaze and Glamour

CHILDREN OF CAIN: A Study of Modern Traditional Witchcraft.

The Pillars of Tubal Cain

Witch’s Workbook

The Left Hand: The Cabal Grimoire of Walking in Darkness

Profane Seals: A Compendium of Vile Sigil Magick - Volume I

Eye of the Oracle: The Cabal Grimoire of Psychic Magick

The Book of Smokeless Fire

Azoetia: A Grimoire of the Sabbatic Craft

Between the Living & the Dead: A Perspective on Witches & Seers in the Early Modern Age

The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

The Horn of Evenwood: A Grimoire of Sorcerous Operations, Charms, and Devices of Witchery

The Cunning Man’s Handbook: The Practice of English Folk Magic, 1550-1900

Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath

The Book of Oberon: A Sourcebook of Elizabethan Magic

The Grimoire of Arthur Gauntlet (PB)

Witchcraft: A Handbook of Magic Spells and Potions

Cecil Williamsons Book of Witchcraft: A Grimoire of the Museum of Witchcraft

Under the Witching Tree: A Folk Grimoire of Tree Lore and Practicum

Veneficium: Magic, Witchcraft and the Poison Path

Witchcraft For Tomorrow

Pharmako Gnosis: Plant Teachers and the Poison Path

The Witches’ Ointment: The Secret History of Psychedelic Magic

The Visions of Isobel Gowdie

The Taper That Lights The Way: Robert Cochrane’s Letters Revealed) 

The Call of The Horned Piper

A Deed Without a Name

Heritage Witchcraft (This one is kind of useless unless you’re taking his Classes)

Letters from the Devil’s Forest: An Anthology of Writings on Traditional Witchcraft, Spiritual Ecology and Provenance Traditionalism

The Devil’s Plantation: East Anglian Lore, Witchcraft & Folk-Magic

Liber Nox: A Traditional Witch’s Gramarye

Thirteen Pathways of Occult Herbalism

Traditional Witches’ Formulary and Potion-making Guide: Recipes for Magical Oils, Powders and Other Potions

The Black Toad

Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways

PHEW!

That was a lot! Okay anon I hope this gives you a good starting place! 

Hello! The first thing to consider is the mundane. Cracked glass likely means the heat wasn’t evenly distributed:

Candles in glass shouldn’t be burned all the way to the bottom, the wax helps distribute the heat. The candle should be blown out while there’s still a layer of wax in the bottom (recommendations are typically 1cm to 0.5 inches).

Traveling wicks can be another culprit; as the wax melts, the wicks can shift from center. This is more likely to happen as the candle gets lower. When it happens, the flame is focused on one part of the glass which can lead to cracking. Be sure to recenter your wick after blowing out the candle and letting it dry in the proper place (when applicable).

Be sure to read the labels on your candles! Most include safety instructions and burn times (both how long you can safely burn at one time, which also may have been your culprit and how long the candle itself lasts).

When spells call for the candle to burn all the way out, I use small taper candles—I know people use birthday candles too. I prefer these because they’re small, safe to burn until the flame goes out (if you have something fireproof holding them), and they burn fairly quickly which means I’m able to focus on them and ensure everything is going well until the spell is finished.

As for the magical implications and what it means for your spell (if you feel certain that the glass cracking was due to other forces beyond the mundane), it really depends on what the spell was for. There are also a variety of interpretations, you were the one casting the spell so you’ll have the best idea of what fits.

Was the spell to achieve something? You may face some difficulty and have to put more effort in than you thought. There may be something interfering and slowing your progress.

Was the spell to release something? I’d take something bursting—especially the focal point of the spell—to be a promising sign that it’s working.

It can either be interpreted as a sign that it’s working (breaking something undesirable such as burdens, limitations, negative energy, etc) or as a sign that the spell didn’t work, the thing you’re casting it for isn’t meant to be, or that you’re going to face some challenges to achieve it.

I’d also recommend googling “cracked candle meanings”, there are a lot (of conflicting) views out there and you might stumble upon one that feels right. I’ve found reading other peoples opinions and experiences a great way to solidify my beliefs. Some things make me think or reconsider, and others make me laugh to myself and go “nope, that’s not how it is for me”.

Next steps are based on what you feel the cracked glass meant. The spell could be finished, it could need some reinforcing (some people will light a second candle to finish the spell), or it could be that the spell isn’t working for some reason, I’d personally use some divination to figure out what’s going on and what I need to get sorted out.

i’ve recently come off of hiatus and i’ve realised my dash is kind of dead! i’d love to follow some accounts and connect once more with this wonderful community <3

please reblog or like if you are - 

pagan (esp. norse)

a tarot reader

a witchcraft blog

post a lot of spells, correspondences, etc

a little about me - i’m a 21 year old norse pagan from the midlands, UK. i specialise in tarot/divination and i run my own little business!

Me personally? I can’t do safe. I can’t do nice. I can’t do pastel or love-and-light. I can’t do the holy menstrual cycle. I can’t do peaceful forgiveness. I can’t do the dance of endlessly doubting and double-checking myself to make sure I’m truly Harming None.

My spells aren’t always kind. My wards aren’t friendly. My philosophies aren’t remotely pacifist. As a good friend once said, I walk this world with dirt in my nails and a brick in my hand. And that’s okay.

The next full moon is on July 4th.

This is not a trend. The work isn’t finished.

If you can’t gather with your coven right now, there are always online seancés & readings *:·ﾟ✧ 

“I am protected from that which would do me harm.” Feel free to use and alter as you may need.

Draw sigils on clothespins or binder clips. You can now easily clip it to an outfit before you use it, the back of a curtain, the underside of your bed, wherever.

Learn how to macrame. Seriously, it's so useful for trying crystals to things

Lightly scratch a rune or simple sigil into your lip balm for an added boost.

Wanna symbolically launch a lantern into the sky but know it'll just end up litter? Unfold a teabag and empty it of tea, stand it up, and light the bottom on fire. Look it up, it's super cool, and it'll burn up so no litter involved.

Use index cards to organize plant/crystal correspondences. Index card boxes are additionally small and easy to hide.

Get some plain label stickers, like the kind you'd stick on an envelope after writing your address on it. Boom bam, an easy way to tag something with a sigil

Homemade soap! Almost every craft fair you'll ever go to will have someone selling soap, and generally pretty cheap! I've got a goat milk and honey bar that gives me correspondences energies, and most places will sell messed up balls of soap for 2 bucks or so! All of them have correspondences and can give your shower a charge for the low price of supporting community businesses!

If you can't sew, twig and/or vine poppets are very much a thing.

Get a loose tea strainer. Make yourself tea from plants around you. Dandelions make fantastic tea (make sure the area you gather from isn't sprayed!) Imo, the most useful thing a witch can own is a loose tea strainer, it's good for any type of brew.

Envelope spells. I CANNOT stress this enough. Sigil the envelope, fill, and dispose of however you need to. Paper is biodegradable, easy to sigil and seal, and you can make your own envelopes a bajillion different ways.

Spool spells. Find an empty spool. Do your knot magic with the string you use. Use the string to bind a small sprig of each herb you use to the spool. Glue the end down. Sigil or seal the top. Tada! Cute, easy to hide spell. Pictured below is a spool spell of mine. I superglued an acorn cap and quartz chip to the top instead of sigiling, but you get the jist.

If you're any good at embroidery (or even if you're not) Norse runes are literally the easiest thing you could possibly sew onto something.

Speaking of runes, stick them on literally anything. Someone asks, say it's the Norse rune for [insert thing] and no one will question it or give a fuck. My extremely christian transphobic mom bought me, a trans man, a tiwaz patch (the rune for masculinity) because I said it was the rune for strength. She did not suspect it was a trans thing or a witchcraft thing.

Use the witches foot! It's a Lowkey symbol for witches everywhere, and easy to explain away as "just a cool pattern" because it's so simple and ridiculously hard to google if you don't know the name of it.

If you're a witch into astrology, get into the non witchy, stargazing part of astrology and let your parents know. They will consider nothing suspicious about you knowing zodiacs, constellations, and moon phases because you're just "into stargazing".

Make your grimoire a school notebook. Keep it with your school stuff. Nothing is less suspicious than a notebook in your backpack. Writing in it is just "doing homework".

Listen to Ren Faire music. Nothing feels witchier than blasting violin and bagpipes whilst a woman sings about telling men to fuck off or a dude sings about a witch cursing his whole village.

Set aside a pocket knife to do all your witch shit with. Clean it regularly. A good pocket knife can get you any plant matter you need, and can help you out when you're fucking around out in the woods

Plain rocks are useful! Look up correspondences and uses for limestone, river rocks, smooth black stones, gravel, etc. Any rock you fish out of a water source will likely have the properties of that water source!

Go to garage sales and thrift shops. LOOK THROUGH THE BOOK SECTION. Not only can you find witchy books, bu, more importantly, you can find old beat up books! Find a good reference book or two that won't be missed and cut those fuckers up! Use the pictures to decorate your grimoire. I had an old reference book for plants and now all of my plant index cards have cut out pictures on them from that book. My pages for moon phases have some sick moon watercolor pictures on them.

Travel bottles are your friend. Use them for herb and water storage- those spray bottles are SUPER useful for spritzing your room with moon/rain/ocean water.

Witchy Art Prints by Darkhysteriaco

Reading up on sea witch spells and seeing people suggest putting offerings in bottles and letting the sea carry then away.

This upsets me.

What???????

No, that’s not how it works. We aren’t plants. Plants make their own food. Don’t assume things about nature, do your research.

Most plants create their own sugar and if you give them more they can die. People use sugar as a weed killer. A shit ton of the food and drink we consume today has sugar in it. Even sugar free shit has a different form of sugar in it. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/moving-sugars-plants