Dionysus Devotee

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What is a glamour?

Stemming from the old Scots word, a “glamour” (always spelt with the British “ou”, as we are referring to the spell not the trait) is a kind of magickal spell or enchantment that a person casts upon an object, a person, or themselves to confuse, bewitch or obscure the senses of other observers. For instance, a pickpocket may use glamours as a means of assisting in the avoidance of detection, and a secret Witch may use a glamour to hide their spell supplies. Glamours are also one of the primary spells that the Fae Folk use to hide their presence, and also to make mischief and cause harm to intrusive or blundering humans who offend them. 

Why have I never heard of this before?!

Probably because it’s not very flashy and, by its very nature, it’s centred around concealment. Glamours are very powerful, very useful spells, but they don’t involve love or money or luck or happiness and so they tend to be overlooked by most novice or self-taught Witches. They’re also quite hard to perfect, and so many more experienced Witches give up before they have mastered them.

They are simultaneously very simple spells to perform, but very difficult to perfect, as they require significant effort of Will and a lot of practice but if you achieve a true glamour it can be one of the most powerful spells in any Witch’s arsenal. It’s also worth noting, however, that glamours do not conceal things from machines. Machines like metal detectors, security cameras and proximity detectors don’t have minds, and as such they cannot be fooled by magick that affects the mind and how the brain perceives senses. They also work poorly on animals, especially cats. Do not try to fool a cat with a glamour. Dogs are often confused by glamours, but generally see through them with time, and snakes and lizards are completely immune as far as I can tell (since their minds are not concerned with things that glamours affect).

OK, but how do I cast a glamour?

The first step is, as with all spells, to decide to do it. Decide “I am going to cast a glamour”. Know it in your soul, know that what you will do is magick, it is a glamour, and that it’s purpose is to hide yourself. Glamours on yourself are generally the easiest to start with, because they are the easiest kind with which to tell when something needs improving. 

Secondly, you must visualise strongly - and I mean REALLY strongly, let it consume your being - the purpose of the glamour. Fill yourself with the knowledge how how it will work, what it will do, how it will work. If you are looking for a glamour of imperception, whereby you attempt to make yourself hard to see by convincing the minds of people around you that you are utterly uninteresting and forgettable, fill yourself with that. Let to complete and utter truth of that ring through your head; 

“I am forgettable, I’m not even here. You don’t remember me, I’m utterly boring, I’m just another part of the background. Everything about me is empty and dull. There is nothing here”

And similar such truths. Let your Willpower make them true, let their truth fill the world around you through the strength of your visualisation.

Thirdly, sustain it. This is the hardest step, but a glamour will only last for as long as it is sustained and remembered. If you are visualising a glamour on something that moves or changes (such as yourself) this can involve literally constant reinforcement - never ever stop thinking those reinforcing statements and pouring all your Willpower into them. For objects that are more static, for instance a chest containing spell supplies, this can simply involve a period of refreshment every evening whereby you place your hands upon it and refresh the enchantment you’ve placed upon the chest, reminding it of how completely ignorable and boring it is, reminding it that nobody will open it because nobody will care enough to try, that nobody will notice it because it’s so dull it’s not even there. 

That seems REALLY hard, is there a simpler way?

The short answer is, no. This is why glamours are often quite unpopular - despite their obvious power and usefulness, the sheer effort of Will that goes into the construction of a glamour, and the amount of practice you need to get really good, can scare off a lot of Witches from truly persisting. Those who need glamours are often the only ones who are really any good at them - the best glamour-caster I have ever known developed her skill during her life as a pickpocket, when she used glamours to avoid getting caught. The simple fact that she has no criminal record attests to their efficacy! But, it took her a very long time to get that good, and most Witches simply don’t care enough to try.

However, I urge you to do so! It’s such a rewarding skill, even if only so that you can be the undisputed champion of paintball and laser tag in your friend group because nobody ever sees you in the shadows. 

So there you are! The ancient, powerful, and mostly-overlooked art of glamours! I hope this helped all you lovely Witches!

What white people hear: never use sage ever, don’t ever buy it, don’t own it, don’t even look at it.

Look, y’all. There’s a couple of facets to my talk today.

1) Yes! You can buy sage! You really, truly can! Buy it from either native sellers (go to a powwow! Eat our food, buy our stuff, watch some dancing!) Or buy it from a seller who sources the sage from native people. Pick one. And no, buying it from 5 Below doesn’t count.

2) you CANNOT smudge. This isn’t just you “shouldn’t”— this is a YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF SMUDGING. Waving a sage stick around your doorways IS NOT SMUDGING. It is smoke clensing. Smudging, depending on the tradition and tribe, could easily have dancing and drums involved. You, as a white person, do not have the cultural BACKGROUND to even know how it works. At all. Period.

3) please, for FUCKS SAKE, stop making posts here on tumblr where you tell other white people about cultural appropriation and what they can and cannot do. Please stop, your license has been revoked because none of you bother to get the facts right. We native people are FULLY CAPABLE OF DOING IT OURSELVES. Consider instead: a) reblogging our posts where we talk about it! We’re here! We have made posts!! b) Making a post that states what we said and then LINKS BACK TO US. Screenshot with a link if you must. Stop centering your own voices in these conversations. You are already centered in everything, stop centering yourselves in a native space.

I’m tired of this nonsense, y’all.

You are not from a religion that smudges. If you are pagan, you are SMOKE CLEANSING.

Smudging is a sacred native ceremony and you are not doing the same thing. At all. Period. In a lot of tribes, you have to be medicine trained to do it. In some tribes, the people allowed to do it is even limited to certain families.

It’s that easy, y'all. See how easy it is? Say it with me: “I am not Native American. I cleanse with smoke. I do not smudge.”

And here’s the thing- it doesn’t reduce the validity of what I’m doing. Quite the opposite.

Kat’s Directional Spread

It’s still Tarot Tuesday for a few minutes for me, so I figured I’d post a new spread! Very similar to my last one but more for making a choice between paths or a decision rather than healing yourself.

Where am I now?

What is currently blocking my path?

What do I need to get around or over this obstacle?

What support is already around me?

Easter isn’t Pagan.

Ostara was a month ago.

That’s a relief of Lilith not Ishtar.

Ishtar has nothing to do with Easter.

No it isn’t actually said Easter.

Saying Easter is Pagan is erasure of Judaism and the Passover time.

Be a kind human.

Numerology 101

In my time running this blog, I haven’t seen a single post about numerology, maybe just because nobody knows it, or maybe because witches have a pathological fear of math. Either way, it’s a shame! The basics of numerology are painfully easy to grasp, and I would mark it down as one of the easiest divinitory systems I’ve tried to date. So let’s hit the basics!

We’ll jump right into it.

The Math

Actually, we need to work out the numbers we’re using first. While a person’s birthday is already very handily in a numeric form for you, their name is written up in pesky letters. But every letter has a corresponding numerological number, and by noting the number for each letter in a name, you’re able to calculate what you need.

Here’s a chart of the numbers, nice and easy and not necessary to memorize at all.

The numerological ‘alphabet’ if you will, only goes from the numbers 1-9. The letter ‘A’ marks 1, then J does again, then S. The more you work with numbers, the more you’ll come to just know what letters are associated with what, but even if you don’t, this chart is easy to replicate and even easier to find online.

The next part comes in writing out the numbers for a person’s name. You’ll want to keep this organized rather than messy, as  you’ll be using different parts of the numbers to calculate different things. I like to write out the names, then write the numbers for all the vowels above the name, then all the numbers for the consonants below the name. When you’ve done so, it should look something like this:

Some things to note:

Y is treated as a vowel when there are no other vowels in a syllable (Ex: Lynn, Carolyn)

W is treated as a vowel when preceded by a vowel and when it produces a single sound (Ex: Bradshaw, Matthew)

The birthday, again, is already in numeric format, so now all of your numbers just need to be added properly. Which brings us back to the scary part.

The Actual Math

Really, it’s nothing more than basic sums. If you can add, you can figure out your numbers. Hell, if you can’t add, you can have a calculator figure it out for you.

It is a little more involved than adding all the numbers you’ve so dutifully marked down and calling it a day, but let’s work through it first.

First, add all the numbers from the vowel section together. Then, add all the numbers from the consonant section together. If we go off the name I provided above, it should look something like this:

Congrats, the hardest bit of math is over!

“But Shay,” you say. “You said the numerological alphabet only consists of the numbers 1-9!”

And so I did. But I also said only the worst of the math was over. Next, we need to break down the numbers we got until they fall into that range. What you do for this is you take each numeral in the number and you add them together.

Let’s break it down. Looking at the vowel section, we’ve been left with the number 22. To get the numerological number, you take each numeral and add them together - here, that looks like 2 + 2 and leaves us with the number 4, perfectly within our range.

Our consonant number at the moment is 54, or 5 + 4, which adds up to 9. Again, in range. Should you get a number that’s still too big, keep breaking it down until it’s only one digit. For example, the number 98 becomes 17 (9 + 8), but then 17 becomes 8 (1 + 7) and is now within the acceptable range.

You’ve just calculated the Inner Dreams number and the Soul Urge number. And by adding those two together (and reducing as necessary) you will have the Destiny Path number. In this case, it’s 4 (The Soul Urge and Inner Dreams numbers 9 and 4 add up to 13, and 13 as 1 + 3 equals 4).

That’s three numbers down, one to go.

We’ve largely neglected the Life Path number, but all it really requires is the reduction method we just covered.

Take my birthday. April 27th, 1993, or in number terms, 04/27/1993. All you have to do is add all these numbers together, then once they’re nice and neat in one giant number, you simplify it as you learned. 04 + 27 + 1993 = 2024, which gives us a number to reduce. Even though it’s more than two digits, you handle it the same way. 2 + 0 + 2 + 4 adds up to 8, making a quick work of the reduction and giving us our Life Path number.

For you visual learners out there, it looks something like this:

Breaking it Down

So now, we have all four of our numbers! And with minimal tears shed. For the sake of having everything in one place, all of my numbers put together look something like this:

A number showing up more than once implies a strength of presence in that number - two or three times indicates that the traits associated with that number are strong, as do numbers that ‘resonate’, such as how 4 fits evenly into 8 or 3 fits evenly into 9. If there are too many repetitions of a number, expect to see more and more of the negative associations of those traits brought to light. Keep your eye out for these, as they will amplify one another.

Okay, but what does it all mean?

The Divination

There are four major numbers you go for when putting someone’s numbers together. The Life Path number, the Destiny Path number, the Soul Urge number, and the Inner Dreams number.

Life Path:

The life path number is the sum of the numbers in one’s birthday (date, month, and year). It relates to the path in life one will take and the traits one has at birth.

Destiny Path:

The destiny path number is the sum of all letters in one’s full name. It relates to the tasks one was meant to achieve in their lifetime.

Soul Urge:

The soul urge number is the sum of all vowels in a person’s name. It represents a person’s inner cravings, their likes and dislikes, and what they value most.

Inner Dreams:

The inner dreams number is the sum of all consonants in a person’s name. It represents secret dreams, inner desires, and fantasies.

And lastly, the meaning of the numbers themselves. This post is already long enough to the point where I’m not going to write up a paragraph about each and every number (they are all available and more if you look them up online), but I’ll give you a run-down for each.

1:

Positive Traits: Initiator, pioneering spirit, inventive ideas, strong leadership skills, independent Negative Traits: Overly assertive, aggressive, domineering, impulsive, egotistic, boastful

2:

Positive Traits: Cooperative, adaptable, considerate of others, sensitive, diplomatic, modest Negative Traits: Shy, timid, fearful, drowns in the details, easily depressed

3:

Positive Traits:

Self-expressive, inspired, happy, fun-loving, keen imagination

Negative Traits:

Scattered energies, self-centeredness, unfinished projects, lack of direction

4:

Positive Traits: Strong sense of order, highly practical, steady growth, fine management skills Negative Traits: Lack of imagination, stubborn, fixed opinions, argumentative, slow to act

5:

Positive Traits: Expansiveness, new visionary ideas, quick thinking, versatile, resourceful Negative Traits: Restless, discontent, edgy temperament, dissatisfaction, overhasty, impatient

6:

Positive Traits: Responsible, artistic, nurturing, community-oriented, balanced, sympathetic Negative Traits: Self-righteous, obstinate, stubborn, meddlesome, egotistical, dominating

7:

Positive Traits: Methodical, analytical, intelligent, scientific, studious, solitary, perfectionist Negative Traits: Hidden motives, suspicious, overly reserved, isolated, inflexible

8:

Positive Traits: Good leader, strong sense of direction, sound judgement, decisive, commanding Negative Traits: Overly ambitious, oppressive, impatient, stressed, materialistic

9:

Positive Traits: Hearty friendliness, humanitarian instincts, giving, selfless, creative Negative Traits: Self-adulation, scattered interests, possessiveness, moodiness, carelessness 

So there you have it! Put the numbers you calculated to their associated meanings and work it out in your head, just like with tarot or other divinatory practices.

Just a few parting comments before I end this post.

In Summation

This is the setup for a slightly above basic numerological reading. The most basic that I ever use involves taking just the Life Path and Destiny path numbers. To take an even more complex spread, you could break down the person’s full name by each individual name, analyzing the vowels, consonants, and overall number for the first, middle, and last name individually, so that you can study what builds a person up into their full name and their path numbers. This gets very extensive very fast, and even with just the four above, you may end up doing three numbers per name plus the Life Path number. For your standard 3-name schema, this would involve ten numbers. Still manageable, but quite a lot.

On the topic of nicknames: generally, the rule in numerology is that you should use the name a person has held the longest. For example, Shay isn’t my birth name, but I’ve been called Shay for just over half of my lifetime. This is a good guideline, but please consider it only as a guideline. If someone has a name they do not wish to be called, respect them, and analyze the name they give you instead. An interesting thing to do - if the subject is comfortable - is to compare the birth name with the chosen name numerologically, and they can comment on advances that you have made through your life.

This is all I can think of at the moment! Go forth and numerolocize!

Lastly, I put together a blank template so you can practice on your own :D

here another list of translated words for your writing or your witchcraft :) thanks to everyone who helped me, especially all the ideas from @lelupa!

EMOTIONS / DIE EMOTIONEN

hope - Hoffnung

euphoria - Euphorie

passion - Leidenschaft

compassion - Mitgefühl

serenity - Gelassenheit

freedom - Freiheit

serendipity - Glücksfall

CREATIVITY / DIE KREATIVITÄT

poetry - Poesie / Dichtkunst

poet - Poet / Dichter

poem - Gedicht

poetic - poetisch/ dichterisch

writing - Schriftstück

writer - Autor / Schriftsteller

artsy - künstlerisch

art - Kunst

(to) paint - malen

(to) draw - zeichnen

drawing - Zeichnung

painting - Gemälde / Malerei

(to) photograph - fotografieren

fantasy - Phantasie

imagination - Imagination

surreal - surreal

(to) create - erschaffen / kreieren

whimsical - wunderlich / schrullig / skurril

FLOWERS / DIE BLUMEN

daisy - Gänseblümchen

baby’s breath - Schleierkraut

peony - Pfingstrose

carnation - Nelke

tulip - Tulpe

sunflower - Sonnenblume

daffodil - Narzisse

gerbera - Gerbera

orchid - Orchidee

iris - Iris

lilac - Flieder

gardenia - Gardenie

jasmine - Jasmin

magnolia - Magnolie

hyacinth - Hyazinthe

lily of the valley - Maiglöckchen

lily - Lilie

poppy - Mohnblume

violet - Veilchen

wildflowers - Wildblumen

petals - Blüten

thorns - Dornen

ANIMALS / DIE TIERE

wolf / wolves - Wolf / Wölfe

owl - Eule

bat - Fledermaus

cat - Katze

dog - Hund

bird - Vogel

fish - Fisch

bunny - Kaninchen

rabbit - Hase

bear - Bär

tiger - Tiger

lion - Löwe

leopard - Leopard

cheetah - Gepard

raccoon - Waschbär

otter - Otter

deer - Reh

butterfly - Schmetterling

moth - Motte

fox - Fuchs

raven - Rabe

frog - Frosch

horse - Pferd

NATURE / DIE NATUR

forest - Wald

woodland - Waldgebiet

earthy - erdig

flame - Flamme

bonfire - Lagerfeuer

wild - wild

mother - Mutter

nature - Natur

cosmos - Kosmos / Weltall

universe - Universum

stars - Sterne

moor - Moor / Sumpf

WITCHY / HEXENARTIG

enchanting - bezaubernd / zauberhaft

enchanted - verzaubert / verhext

supernatural - übernatürlich

ethereal - ätherisch / himmlisch

fairy - Fee

fairies - Feen

elf - Elfe

unicorn - Einhorn

wish - Wunsch

wise - weise

celestial - himmlisch

mythical - mystisch

magical - magisch

bewitch - verzaubern / verhexen

bewitched - verzaubert / verhext

spiritual - spirituell

spirit - Geist / Seele

soul - Seele

soulmate - Seelenverwandter

twin - Zwilling

empath - Empath

psychic - übernatürlich / übersinnlich

sigil - Sigille

seal - Siegel

wax - Wachs

To make the target purposely isolate themselves with their own arrogance.

“I’m better then all these people, no one deserves me, everyone is at fault but me, they deserve to be treated badly by me, everyone is an idiot/ugly/worthless but me”

This will be the rhetoric in their minds that will activate this curse. If they aren’t a narcissistic ass then this curse shouldn’t even affect them. If they look their nose down on people and treat people like dirt, then they have no one to blame but themselves.

You’ll need:

A Picture of the Person

Black Ribbon or Black Jar

Banishing Powder

Black Wax

Vinegar and Olive Oil Mixture

Get the persons picture and rub it down with the vinegar and olive oil. Rub the banishing powder all over their picture.

Picture them walking away, closing themselves in a room, ignoring people etc in your mind while you do this.

Wrap the picture in the black ribbon while reciting:

“If you think you’re too wonderful then get away. If you think you’re too mighty then don’t come to play. As long as you’re arrogant, keep yourself at bay. Your own company is the only way.”

Wrap the picture entirely if possible.

Or simply place the anointed picture in the jar and close the lid.

We want the picture to not be seen and to be covered in black. This will represent the person isolating themselves from others.

Drip the candle wax over the jar or picture to seal it.

To break the curse, break the wax seal.

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