forget me not

"So long as your blood and oath hold true, yet so shall my blood and oath be true to you... I am the King of Spirits, and you are the Queen of Mortals. As you shall stand witness for all Mortal Flesh, so shall I stand witness for all Immortal Spirits."

Each Plant has folklore that affects how it's used in magic. Learning about this can help in strengthening your knowledge of the plant and the various aspects in which it can be called.

Each Plant has a negative and a positive. Roses can easily bring love and destroy it. Oak can provide protection but also be a wrathful protector and destroy others. Each of these aspects will require different offerings to strengthen them.

A basic spirit food can be made from grains such as rice, oats, barley and so on. This spirit food can be given as a general alongside other offerings like alcohol, smoke, milk and so on.

Plants, due to their autonomy, can reject you. You're not entitled to their help automatically. Don't make the mistake of thinking so, as some plants may take this as arrogance and hubris.

Some plants have a darker affinity straight off the bat. For example, Cypress is funerary, it brings melancholy and remembrance of the Holy Dead. It can be used in soaps to prepare for necromantic rites or used to asperge places where the dead are to be summoned.

House plants can be prayed to, libated and worshipped to provide protection, strength and peace to the home. Some plants are better suited for this. I often don't like bringing martial plants into the home as I feel they can inspire arguments if not taken care of.

Only offer blood to your patron plant, if even.

Apples can be used in glamors and beauty spells. She appreciates offerings of perfume.

Plants can be affected by where they are gathered. Plants grown by a graveyard will have a notably different energy than those grown near crossroads and churches.

Avoid using metal in gathering plants, especially iron though iron may help with martial plants. If needed, use copper to strengthen the flow of energy or your hands.

As of this morning I was reluctantly looking for jobs because I love my job and don't want to leave it, but see: $10k raise problem solver.

As of noon today this was no longer an issue, because my boss called me with the news that I was getting a $10K merit raise.

I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. This is roughly $200 extra per paycheck. Enough to pay off debt faster, rebuild my savings, and spend a weekend a month in Milwaukee getting obscenely laid. The sex I'm going to have on $200 extra per paycheck. You can't even.

Hi dears, I would like to share my post about creating a bond between communities that see the horrible scenario we have in this world. We would like to let other witches around the world know that they are not alone and that we can help feed and protect our dearest places, animals and spirits from what is happening. In Italy every few weeks we will create a ritualistic moment equal for everyone where we will practice in unison. Here is my ideal:

What are protections and wards? 

Protections and wards can be pretty much anything; you can make protection jars using herbs, you can use crystals as protections, you can even do protections with just energy! There will be some simple examples of protections listed later on in this post.

Why do protections at all? What if I don’t believe in trickster spirits? 

Even if you don’t necessarily believe in trickster spirits, protections are still important. Negative energy still exists, and protecting yourself and your space from that negative energy may make it easier to deal with negativity around you in your daily life. 

What is the difference between protections and warding? 

Protections are a generalized term that describes using energy and intentions to protect yourself and your space. Warding specifically talks about using ordinary objects, setting intentions on them (possibly doing other things like blessing them or consecrating them) to turn them into protections.

Below is going to be a small list of some ideas for protections and wards, both for the home and for yourself. This list is not exhaustive, and there are many different ways to make protections and wards. 

Protection jars

Veiling 

Protection jewelry

Handmade protections

Protection satchels 

Crystals 

Energetic protections

Protection oil (please make sure that any essential oil or oil-based products are safe for the skin and pets if you are going to be using this). 

Protection candles (you can use color and scent magic for this as well!)

Protective sigils

Some of the methods listed, such as veiliing, protection jewelry, and crystals are a bit more ‘beginner friendly’. Please make sure you’re doing your research and setting clear intentions with any protections you’re making! 

Here is a short list of some easy, generally accessible herbs you can use in protection jars and satchels. 

Sage (please remember to only use white sage is you are part of that closed practice)

Lavender

Cinnamon

Rosemary

Bay

Salt

Pepper

Garlic 

What is veiling/how do I veil? 

Veiling is a tradition that has a lot of history behind it; essentially, veiling is the practice of wearing some type of headwear in order to protect your own energies from outside influence. You can veil in many different ways. Wearing a headscarf of some kind is a good way to veil, but you can also veil using hats, scrunchies/hair-ties, and even simple energy can be used to veil. For me, I have put an energetic veil on my head before while washing my hair in the shower!

Is there a right/wrong way to use/do protections? 

There is not really a right or wrong way to do or use protections; you can use protections however you like to protect your own energy and your space! For me personally, the majority of my protections are not physical objects, I purely use energy and visuals for my protections. A lot of my protections are also baneful in nature. 

Can I make protections to make someone not think of me/ignore me? 

Yes, you can! For protections like these, I recommend illusion magic or protections specifically made to hide you from them. Veiling is a good option in this scenario! 

How do I know I need to redo my protections? 

This can get a bit tricky to discern; I highly recommend using some form of divination to figure out if you need to re-do protections. I also recommend generally keeping up with your protections as part of a weekly/bi-weekly routine. As discussed in my previous post about cleansing, working in protections while you’re doing mundane tasks such as cleaning can be a good way to do this. 

As far as discerning when you need to redo protections, this will get a little complicated, so bear with me. First and foremost, please try to distinguish the mundane vs magical causes for things. While things like getting sick, feeling suddenly run down all the time, or having a bout of bad luck can SOMETIMES be indications of negative energy around you and the need to cleanse and redo protections, this is not always the case. Sometimes, life just sucks. This is again why I recommend doing divination as a way to discern if the cause is mundane or magical. I will be going more into divination methods in a later post. 

How do I make protection jewelry? 

Again, there can be a few ways to do this. I firstly recommend cleansing the jewelry you are wanting to turn into a protection. Please make sure you’re being safe when doing this (make sure you check and see if the jewelry can safely be submerged in water, get salt on it, etc).

Next, you can consecrate the jewelry in a few ways. You can use protection oil to consecrate the jewelry (please make sure that your jewelry will not corrode or anything with oil). You can also ask your deities/spirit guides to bless the jewelry for you and put their protective energies on it. You can also soak the jewelry in water and herbs (again, make sure that the jewelry is safe to go in water). 

How do I make protective sigils?

Sigils are a very fun, easy way to make protections (as well as doing other types of spellwork). You can find sigil online, however I do recommend making them on your own. There are also programs you can find online that will help you generate sigils. You can also make them up on your own, go based on associations (like you could draw a candle, and have that be a protective sigil for instance). 

I do not. Here's why. Warning, long post.

OfWoodAndBone not only abandoned me, they're an oathbreaker. They lied to me and watched me get tormented in a discord server and said nothing. They promised me when they deleted their blog that if we ever ended up in an online space again, they would reach out to me. It was our last message to each other before they were gone. Yet when I was being put through hell for calling out cult-like and bullying behavior, OWB chose the person in that server who continuously shit on me, encouraged the group bullying and harassment, and even had a whole drama channel dedicated to not only following, but manufacturing drama on this website. This was during the Prim drama, and this server was literally following her every physical move, updating themselves about her physical whereabouts. This was next level bullying and harassment. OfWoodAndBone wasn't just a mentor, they were a friend. Right up until I learned they were there seeing all of this and not only not standing up and saying something, but watching me get torn down for daring to do so.

But you know what? I got their knowledge. I got their spells. My entire craft was made better, more potent, and more visceral, because I knew how to play the game and use my cunning to get in with someone who had something I wanted. I played to their ego. I told them how they were the only person whose magic resonated with me. I told them how incredibly wise they were, and how when I read their content, I felt empowered. Then, New Years 2016, under a snow in Seattle, I messaged OWB and asked them to guide me.

I got what some people were fucking begging for, and it made some people extremely jealous. I guess Kai enjoyed the feeling of being coveted like that, though, and when they found their people I was out like last week's leftovers. I was left out in the cold because I was autistic and didn't fit in. I was looked down on because I was struggling with my mental health and didn't have access to the resources I needed. I was discarded because I wasn't okay with the drama and the lies.

Since then, I've gone to Europe and learned from witches in Spain, the UK, and Portugal. I've learned languages and obtained secrets about cultural witchcraft experiences we in the US don't fully grasp because magic is so heavily mocked here. I've leaned on my magic and my ancestors to get me through falling negative $300 in my bank account in Edinburgh and bouncing back, to get a volunteer position in Faro, to keep me safe in London, and to help me learn more quickly in Spain. I've seen Diana's face in the moon over a lake in Dundee and reflecting off the ocean in Albufeira. I've blessed myself with the waters of the Ionian Sea and met the King of Waters and Earthquakes.

I've survived off my tarot skills, begun building a clientele, and became the youngest master of ceremonies a coven in Colorado ever ordained. I have learned new methods of connection, divination, and magic with smoked herbs and whispered words on a night's wind. OfWoodAndBone taught me for a few years, until they lost their way and allowed themselves to become a part of the problem within the community. Now, my witchcraft has only traces of what they taught, with the rest gained through my own hard work, experimentation, and communion with the Other. The witch I am today is the witch I always dreamed I would one day become, and while OWB played a role, that part of my craft is done.

So why put it on my profile? Because I earned it. Because I worked for it. Because even though I don't care for them anymore, I had to endure a whole ass betrayal at the hands of a personal friend, months of harassment on this website and off, and years of wondering what I had done to them to deserve being so hurt by them. And because I came out on the other side wiser, more capable, and stronger than I was before.

They say the best revenge is a life well-lived, and certainly mine has improved, but revenge isn't want I want. Because honestly I don't care anymore. I will likely never hear from them again, and even if I did, I wouldn't have anything to say to them. But while I'm traveling, volunteering, and learning, I hope they're not doing well. Or at least, not as well as me.