crystal mania

Hey there! 

Real quick: We made a couple of tiny tweaks to streamline posting in our mobile apps.

The first position in your mini media picker is now your catch-all camera button to add a brand new photo, video, or GIF. Speaking of GIFs,  create your own GIF using any video in your camera roll by tapping “GIF.” Select up to three seconds from your video, speed it up, slow it down, or play it in reverse.  A little less clutter, a lot more functionality.

Once you’re ready to publish, tap that “Post” button (well, duh) or long-press it to unleash a colorful cascade of options to queue, schedule, save as a draft, or post privately like it’s a special little secret only for you and you alone. 

*Disclaimer: You do not need to label yourself as a “type” of witch. If you don’t identify with any of these or don’t want to use any of these labels that does not make you any less of a witch.

Baby/Beginner Witch: Just started practicing witchcraft.

Bone Witch: Works with and specializes in bones.

Ceremonial Witch: Does their witchcraft through set ceremonies. Uses structured rituals for their magic.

Christian Witch: A witch that practices Christianity.

Closet Witch: A witch practicing in secret (said to be in “the broom closet”).

Cosmic Witch: A witch that works with celestial bodies (stars, planets, astrology). They often time spells based on the position of the planets and use astrology for divination.

Cottage Witch: A witch whose practice involves a lot of work around the house such as spells in cooking, cleaning, a home garden, or home protection.

Coven Witch: A witch that works in a coven and might cast group spells with them.

Crystal Witch: A witch that specializes in crystals.

Death Witch: Works with the dead (ancestors/spirits).

Divination Witch: A witch that specializes in divination (Ex: tarot, pendulum, scrying, charm casting, runes, tasseography)

Eclectic Witch: A witch that does not fit into one of these categories. They use things from multiple paths in their practice (ex: a witch that works with the dead but also loves the sea and astral projection).

Elemental Witch: A witch that works with the elements (fire, air, earth, water, and spirit (sometimes only the first four and sometimes even more than these).

Green Witch: Works with plants, nature, gardens, and herbs. They include a lot of herbs and natural things in their spells, often keep gardens or plants if they can, and always respect nature.

Hearth Witch: A witch that works in the home, often practicing home magick, or doing spells at their home’s hearth. Similar to the cottage or kitchen witch.

Hedge Witch: Uses herbalism, home magick, and meditation as the focuses of their practice. Astral projects or meditates deeply to see over the “hedge” into the astral. They usually work alone.

Hereditary Witch: They come from a family of witches and were raised with their practice.

Kitchen Witch: A witch that practices their magic in the kitchen, often in the form of foods and drinks. They cast spells through what they make in the kitchen.

Lunar Witch: Works with the power of the moon.

Pagan Witch: A witch that practices paganism.

Pop Culture Witch: A witch that incorporates pop culture in their practice. Ex: using Pokémon inspired spells or using movie quotes or popular songs as incantations.

Religious Witch: A witch that practices a religion and incorporates it into their craft.

Sea Witch: A witch that works with the sea or sea deities. Might live near the water but they don’t have to.

Secular Witch: A witch that does not practice a religion.

Solar Witch: Works with the power of the sun.

Solitary Witch: A witch that practices alone. They do not practice in a coven.

Spoonie Witch: A witch that practices low-energy witchcraft due to a chronic illness, mental illness, disability, etc.

Storm/Weather Witch: A witch that works with weather and storms, often timing spells to correspond with the weather and using rain or snow waters in spells.

Swamp Witch: A witch that works with a swamp and the nature in it. Often lives near a swamp.

Tech Witch: Does a lot of their spell work with or on technology. May have an online altar, or keep sigils behind their phone case, etc.

🌱Earth spirits are just about the easiest ones to make contact with. Their forms tend to be less subtle than those of many fairies,and they generally stick to one place- so if you feel a location is haunted by these beings, it will always be haunted. Wherever anything grows, there will be a fairy to attend to it.

🌱 Earth fairies love gardens,and will gather round you while you are planting and watering. At the end of a hot day they exult when you get out the hose or watering can, and will dance among the refreshed flowers with glee. Often they do not like you weeding,though,so make sure you always do this with respect. Leave a patch of your garden to grow wild, for the fairies love this and it creates a space for all the plants that are unwelcome elsewhere- just because humans do not like them, this does not mean they do not have a valuable place in the scheme of things.

🧚 Method 🧚

To draw close to the gnomes,settle quietly in your garden or in a park,woodland, field, or hillside- close to a barrow-mound may be the most powerful place of all. Gnomes of the deep earth may be experienced in a cave or hollow,whereas others may be more of the flower- or tree-fairy types. Let your bare feet and hands make contact with the earth,mud or stone. Beat a soft rhythm on a drum,if you wish.

Be very still, relaxed,and quiet. Try not to see anything,because that will put you in the wrong frame of mind. Just be there, and be observant- these spirits do not show themselves in the ways you might expect, and seeing them can seem almost ordinary.

Be aware of any little movements out of the corner of your eye, for that is where spirits are often first perceived. An animal running in the undergrowth may also be a shy gnome in disguise. Look out for the face of the Green Man among the leaves, and watch flowers, for they can also be sweet faces, nodding and smiling.

To show they have drawn close to you, gnomes will often give you a tangible gift,such as a coin or a piece of jewelry. If you find this on your path,treasure it, for it is very lucky.

Reading Pendulums

So, pendulums are a form of divination which many seem to shy away from as they cannot make them work. I won’t claim to know exactly what everyone means by that, because I’ve never really had that problem, but pendulums do take some reasoning with.

Pendulums can work through a variety of sources, again, that’s something you’ll need to ask your own pendulum for yourself, but one thing which applies to all pendulums is that they work via energy. Pendulums will use energy, from you and/or deities or spirits or however your pendulum works, and use this to divine answers. That’s an important note because if you don’t know how your pendulum is working, it may not be able to work to it’s full potential!

The first thing you need to establish is how your pendulum says yes and no because no two pendulums are the same. Simply ask! Do so twice over to really get the idea, then ask test questions. Here’s how my session with a new pendulum usually starts:

Which direction is yes

Which direction is no

Just to clarify, please swing yes

And swing no

So is my middle name G* (will swing yes)

And my dad’s name is F* (will swing no)

Am I X (yes question)

And Y (no question)

Doing a little session like this gives you the chance to see how your pendulum swings. If you use pendulum boards, this won’t be as applicable because it’ll respond via a board, but it’s still good to get an idea of how your pendulum moves freestyle.

One thing you’ll notice right off the bat is the change in direction is not abrupt. After asking a question, wait a few seconds, and you may notice your pendulum begins to swing a circle, before settling in a new direction. A circle can be “Maybe” to some pendulums, or “Can’t answer” and so on, but if it doesn’t settle on a circular motion, it is gaining momentum to swing a new direction.

I quickly made these gifs to give everyone an idea of how your pendulum may move. They’re a bit shaky because nothing was supporting my arm in these, haha!

For my pendulum, the gifs left to right show: yes, changing answer, no

(Full video for example)

In some parts of the gifs, you can see my arm shake a bit. Slight tremors and shakes doesn’t mean you can’t use pendulums, we all get them in some form! If your hand jolts, shakes, or moves, simply steady yourself again (re-ask your question) and wait on a clear answer.

Which brings me onto a big point: wait for an answer. Sometimes my pendulum is swinging a 180 degree answer at me, other times it’s practically non-moving, and some times it just means you need to wait for the energy to move it. You can also take the strength of an answer as part of the answer: mild, certain, strong.

And that basically sums up how to read a pendulum! It’s a lot of asking and checking. You can also make pendulum boards for answers which can’t be answered with just yes or no. Such board ideas include:

Number board

Letter board

Astrology wheel

Seasons wheel

Months wheel

Past, present, future triangle

The next thing is why you’re reading a pendulum. What is it you can ask a pendulum? Well, again, some don’t want to answer certain questions. You know when someone says their pendulum doesn’t like test questions? Just like that, some pendulums won’t be happy to answer certain things. Death questions, fatalistic questions, and invasive questions usually fall into that category. But there’s still so much more to ask! Some ideas include:

What species is your X past life

How many past lives have you had

Is Y a good decision

Will Z happen by H

Whatever your question may be, a pendulum can probably answer it in some way shape or form. Which brings me onto another thing: how can you use a pendulum? Plenty of ways! Here’s some methods I often find myself using:

Interrogative Pendulum

If I think I’ve been lied to or someone is trying to haze me, I grab my pendulum (and perhaps a friend also in that situation with a pendulum), I write out many questions around the topic, and I ask them all. Many will be very similar questions or slightly different wording, so that I can get as close to the truth as possible. This works best with another person also doing so, because when your answers align you know its more valid, and if they don’t, you can work out why. An example of a session may go like this:

Is E hiding something

Has E omitted the truth

Has E told 100% of the truth

Is E telling the truth about B

Is B fully accurate

Is B actually X

Is B actually Y

Is B affected by Z

And so on. Take your situation and tear it into multiple tiny chunks, then ask all your questions. Write down each answer, then once you’re done, you should have a better idea of the full story.

Estimation Pendulum

This is just using a pendulum to arrive at a number. I do this in past life readings. First, I intuitively feel a number, or I am told or see a number or an idea. Let’s say it’s how many lives you’ve had. I then do big grouped numbers, e.g. “Has D had more than 50 lives?” no, and from there I go down “40?” no, “30?” no, “20?” yes. Now I know it is over 20 but below 30. Then, try “more than 25?” no. “Has he had 24 lives?” yes. You get the idea. Big to small, finding the number by shortening the ranges as you get better answers.

Intuitive Direction

This one is very fun to do when you want a new and unique way to pull tarot or oracle cards, pick crystals, or almost anything. Let’s say it’s tarot. Lay out as many cards as you please on your surface, hold your pendulum over them, ask your question, and move your hand with its direction. It’s pulling left? Move your hand left. Follow it’s pull until it circles over a card. Simple, that’s the card answering your question! It’s nothing too serious, just like a physical intuition guide for those who may trust their own intuition a little less. I like to use this method when I’m having doubtful days.

There’s plenty of other wonderful ideas on how to use pendulums out there, like drawing out signs or letters, or carrying them into spiritually charged areas to sense spirit energy. However you wish to use your pendulum, however your pendulum works, there’s steps you can take to help center yourself and find answers more accurately or clearly:

Carry your pendulum around or put it under your pillow to help strengthen your connection

Talk to it as you ask your questions, just as you may do a friend

Take mild answers and ask questions which can clarify off of it, until you’re happy you understand the answer

Meditate and ground before a pendulum session

Draw tarot cards alongside each answer for more clarity

Spend time understanding your pendulum by writing about it in your grimoire

Be open because your energy affects your pendulum

Aaaaand that sums up my advice on reading pendulums! Your answers may not always be strong, but as long as you understand how your pendulum is working and what you can ask, your journey with it should be long and thought provoking.

Keep in mind that there are countless ways to make a sigil, and some ways work better for other people! This is just an easy way to do it, especially if you’re new to sigil making. :)

First, start off with a positive affirmation (for example: “I am a strong, intelligent person”.) Do not use negatives, so instead of writing “I will not be harmed” you could write “I am safe from harm”.

Then, remove the vowels from your affirmation: “I am a strong, intelligent person” > “mstrngntllgntprsn” Then remove any repeating letters: “mstrnglp”

Then you will assign each of these letters to a number. I use this chart:

So it would look like this: “41295737″

Then, pick a shape! Circles are the easiest to use, but any shape works. I find that the shapes i use for sigils change depending on the sigil I’m making!

Once you’ve drawn your shape, assign numbers (1-9) around the outside of the shape in random order:

Then you can basically trace lines between the numbers!! I like to add funky shapes or extra lines (often in my sigils i have an extra line running down the center). Make it beautiful! Make it your own!

Here’s what i came up with: The lighter teal is the actual lines between the numbers, and the darker blue are decorations/extra lines i added in.

if there’s a line that alternates between two numbers, i usually put small circles on either ends of the line! This is preference though.

Here’s the finished product:

- you need to charge and activate your sigil for it to work. you can charge it by putting it in the sunlight, putting it in the moonlight, plants, putting it under your pillow, crystals, and countless other ways!

- you can activate it by burning it, tearing it up and throwing it into the wind, forgetting about it, carving/drawing it onto something, and countless other ways!