the witch next door

Some Advice for Getting Started:

*Start with things that interest you!* 

I know i get terribly bored very quickly (gemini curse lmao) so i find that if i dive into stuff i’m interested in learning about, that it will tend to hold my attention longer and help me get back into the swing of things! So in my example one of my first things i researched when i was starting out was about Crystals and their properties/uses in magic! From there i was able to use that as a sort of base jumping off point for my magical practice! And if you find something you were learning about doesn’t seem like it fits you/your style/ your practice then drop it and move on to the next thing! 

*Ask Questions!*

No Questions Are Stupid Questions No Questions Are Stupid Questions No Questions Are Stupid Questions!!!! Questions mean you care enough to try and learn more about something! I’m pretty much always here and will try my best to answer as best as i am able And if I can’t i will do my best to help direct you to someone more knowledgeable!

*TAKE YOUR TIME!*

This one is important because most of the time i feel like i see baby/beginner witches try really REALLY hard to “reach the same level” as other witches as quickly as possible when in reality that just hurts THEIR path in the long run. Your path is your own, take it at your own pace. Enjoy the little bumps along the way and find the “Roses of your Path” (the things that make you want to stop and appreciate them: the satisfaction of calling your first Storm, the chill of the night air when you set out your first Full Moon Water, the spark when you find that one crystal.) Enjoy it. Enjoy your path, Enjoy your Craft. 

*Use the Things you Already Own!*

Another thing i see beginners getting hung up on (myself included, i was/am extremely guilty of this lol) is wanting to go out and buy a ton of supplies. try looking around your house for things that can be re purposed. Old Spaghetti Sauce Jars can be cleaned and used as spell jars, deity altars/shrines, or ingredient storage! Take pictures from old magazines and make a collage Altar on paper! Use a composition notebook as your Book Of Shadows! Your old broken glasses case can be used as a case for your portable altar! Dig around and see if there are extra candles you haven’t used in a while! Wash out and save those eggshells from your cooking to use as spell ingredients! It takes some creative thinking but you can reclaim pretty much anything for your craft!

*Look for Bargains!*For one thing prices can be outrageous for actual craft materials: like Crystals and Gems? Truly truly truly outrageous. So keep your eyes peeled for bargains and deals! Some of the best places to look for things on the cheap would be Dollar Stores, Flea Markets, Thrift Shops, Garage/Estate Sales! Most of the time in those places you can try haggling to get things at a cheaper price (or get more for less.) It really just depends on the place but you can find the most interesting assortments of things! Keep your eyes peeled in your general day to day life as well see if there are sales at your local grocery store for seed packets, seasonal items/holiday items (look for the sales afterwords to really save haha) The internet is a great place to look, i know Ebay has sellers who sell raw crystals/ crystal chunks by the pound. There’s also places to buy spices in bulk too . *Don’t Compare Your Path to Others!*Your Path is Your Path, Their Path is Their Path. Being online and part of the witchy community in tumblr means that there are a lot of ideas being shared from people’s paths and their views on how they think magic should be practiced. What works for them might not work for you and vice versa. Only YOU can decide what is best for you and your path. and on that note:*Figure Out What YOU Want Out of Your Path!*When you get some time, sit down and write out all the things you want to get from your path and think critically about how you want magic to work in your daily life. Do you want it to be Super Formal or more casual? perhaps a mix of the two?  Test the waters! Try things once and if you don’t like it then you know and can move on to the things that work better for your lifestyle/craft/path!Some examples from my list that i can think of right now would be:-Better knowledge of Crystals/ Crystal remedies and their healing properties-Daily research -aka tumblr--Appreciating Nature more (Whenever i go on walks with my dog i try to pick up some litter if/when i see it)-Daily Deity appreciation  -aka deity aesthetic reblogs to @theemeraldgod & Pintrest-

Helpful Links for Beginners:Sww Master List of Tags- Here’s my main hub of things that i tag feel free to look and see if something interests you!Altars/ Altar set up Advice- My long winded post about what to put on your Altar.My Beginner Tag// My Beginner 101 Tag- There are two tags because they have similar information, the 101 tag is for more ‘Hey I just started today what do I need to know’

Anyways thanks for sending this in! I’ve been meaning to make one of these for a while and this finally gave me the excuse ^^

-not feeling the need to constantly correct others

-knowing when and how to offer a dissenting viewpoint

-being content to disagree without engaging in debate

-fact-checking information before passing it along or incorporating it into your practice

-questioning your assumptions and decolonizing your thinking

-understanding that no two practices are the same and that the experiences and opinions of others do not need to govern your path

-understanding that practices not your own or contrary to your own can still be valid

-being able to describe your current beliefs without putting down others or defaulting to discussions about religious trauma

-focusing on comprehension, learning, and exploration rather than consumption

-understanding that "witch" is a gender neutral term and that anyone can be a witch if they choose to

-understanding that safety is more important than visibility

-understanding that magical practice does not have to be constant

-Developing personal beliefs and practices that may align with existing traditions but may not match them precisely

-Developing a reliable bullshit detector and employing it regularly

-Diminished desire for constant validation from outside sources as to whether you're "doing it right"

-diminished desire to overshare or aestheticize your practices, instead focusing on what works for you rather than what looks pretty enough for social media

-diminished desire to Do All The Things At Once and instead focusing on the areas where you are comfortable / interested and taking things at a reasonable pace

-being aware of the problems in the community and doing your best to not contribute to them

-being aware of the New Age pipeline and staying out of it as much as possible

-embracing science and history and common sense alongside magical learning and spiritual beliefs (if you have them)

There are lots of others, but these are some of the ones I've noted in my own journey. Just some things to consider.

Some of my favorite spell jars

 Eyes on You, Blackout, Negativity absorption jar

Here’s my Eyes on You and my Blackout spell jars before I dedicated them.

I also affixed a cheap chime candle holder on the top for ease of use. I just toss things in here and fire it up at will. Something needs my attention, throw it in the jar! need other people to watch someone so they don’t get away with shit? Throw it in the jar! Someone has a rad project that needs more support? Toss it in the jar! Someone needs some love and attention? toss it in the jar!

The blackout spell jar pretty much works in the opposite way. Its just spray painted black. Want someone to leave you alone? Place a representation of you OR them in the jar. Got some negative thought? place them in the jar! Got a secret that is hard to keep? Put it in the jar!

This is my finished miniature oracle deck! It’s made purely from sigils, and that was a very purposeful decision. I wanted something small and easily referenced; just one card to pull every morning to see what the day will bring, or if pulled upside down, what it will be missing. It can tell me what sigil to wear that day or what to be on the lookout for. So it’s nothing fancy, just a fun idea I had and went for it.

Sigilwork is by far my favourite way to do magick other than kitchen witchcraft and it brings me a lot of joy. I didn’t use any of my personal sigils on these cards just because I wanted something I could throw together within the last two days, but in the future I plan to remake this deck or make a normal sized one complete with all personalised sigils.

I absolutely love art and I always have so that will be a joy to do. and if any of y’all have been considering making your own oracle decks or means of divination, I say go for it! I had a great time and I feel like I’ve made something that i’ll get some true use out of and something that i’m proud of.

But yeah! I just wanted to share it and since I didn’t use any of my personal sigils, i’m not afraid to share the full pictures of each card. the backs are nothing special, just some swirls to represent each card’s energy. Let me know what you think and I might be occasionally sharing what card I pull each day.

Blessed be!!

A folk grimoire of destagnation.

Those of us with European parents are undoubtedly familiar with the feeling of coming home from some trip, where your parents urge you to run through the house and open all the windows: "air out the house!" You speed around, kicking up dust, moving the air, slowly washing away the strange feeling of stillness that has contaminated your home. Air out the house. "Don't catch the draft," your parent yells up the stairs at you. The draft, of course, is never explicitly acknowledged to contain some ill-wishing spirit that will give you the flu, but everybody knows it does. And the same can be said for that stagnant air in the house, the silence permeating the walls.

May your spells manifest exactly as you would like them

May your spell ingredients be affordable and easy to find

May your herbs dry properly

May your intuition be clear and trustworthy

May your space be clean and open

May you find the energy to accomplish all your witchy goals

May your grimoire pages be organized, and may they be beautiful

Lavender buds-Intuition,Relaxation,Peace

Rose hips-Beauty,Self Love,Friendship

Jezebel root-Seduction,Attraction,Lust

Bay leaves-Manifestation,Magic,Power

Star Anise-Luck,Money,Fame

Cinnamon-Abundance,Sex,Money

Chamomile-Tranqulity,Beauty,Love

Damiana-Control,Sexual Domination,Headwork

Licorice root-Charm,Love,Persuasion

Catnip-Sensuality,Attraction,Siren energy

Lemon balm-Calming,Joy,Creativity

Hibiscus-Relationships,Love,Passion

Bruxólica

This piece is a tribute to the witches of Florianópolis, a place also known as the “Island of Magic”. In some stories, fishermen recounted that witches danced inside their fishing nets.

Watercolor, pencils and ink on A4 paper.

Artwork made for the ‘Fables of Time’ exhibition by Poetic Tiger Gallery. Original available for sale.

Pssst! You know you can use the Greek names of the Greek gods, right? I'm not talking about ancient Greek. I'm talking about contemporary, spoken Greek. You know the names still exist in Greek. Right....?

Not only the ancient names for figures and terms have remained exactly the same for the most part, but also they're not worse, disrespectful, or "less formal". They are literally the Greek names of the gods/heroes/creatures/terminology today.

You don't have to address these figures the way our people did more than two thousand years ago. Millions of living Greeks today still speak the names of the Greek gods. In the Greek language.

I understand that the versions you use can depend on the resources available to you. And it's fine if you only know the ancient ones, or you only want to use those. But I'd like to make you aware that you don't have to be stuck in 300 BCE linguistically.

Not even the Greek language itself is stuck in 300 BCE! In fact, by 299 BCE, our language had already slightly changed from the year prior, and it continues to do so every year for... well, for a few thousand years at this point.

Ancient names make sense when one uses them in academic contexts, in the study of ancient Greek society and religion. But this religion and culture don't exist in a vacuum inside your history books. This linguistic stagnation in everyday life, though, is part of the centuries-long Western European / American obsession with seeing the Greek culture and language like something divorced from the real world.

There's no particular justification that demands you use the ancient versions in modern informal settings. On the contrary, why not address the Greek gods in the current form of the Greek language?

But, like OP said, foreigners using the ancient versions is not considered an offense. Sometimes this is what's most accessible. And of course, one can have other words for the names of the Greek gods in their language. It would be ridiculous to hold such a thing against them.

Apollo is both the life giving warmth and the sun and scorching desert sun. Apollo protects us but he also strikes us down.

A lot of Apollo's darker epithets fascinate me. He is a healer but also the bringer of disease. He is the protector of youth (particularly of young men) and when young men die suddenly he is said to be the cause.

He has associations with death and the dead; he is not a psychopomp but he is more associated with the rituals of the dead. Making sure the dead get burial rites or protecting the deceased's bodies.

He is also called wolf-god. When you think of wolves what do you think of? You think of a wolf pack most likely. Loyalty, family, protection.

But think of how fierce wolves are; how farmers fear them. I see Apollo embodying both that loyalty and protection but also that fierce, primal fear that wolves incite in people.