A sea loving witch

Ant: Strength, industry, community, power

Bee: Messages, communication, life, family, teamwork, luck, love, hidden wisdom

Butterfly: Beauty, grace, transformation, change, growth, death, spirit work

Caterpillar: Transformation, transition, change, youth, preparation, new paths and possibilities

Cricket: Luck, blessings, abundance, happiness, joy, music, meditation

Dragonfly: Truth, change, wisdom, learning, air and water, ancestors, energy, swiftness

Earthworm: Growth, fertility, life, death, the Underworld

Firefly: Guidance, illumination, love, passion, inner self, self discovery, freedom, spirits and ancestors, the moon

Fly: Travel, flight, impulse

Grasshopper: Freedom, spontaneity, the Fool, air

Ladybug: Wishes, good luck, dreams, blessings, happiness, youth, femininity

Moth: The truth, wonder, fate, passion, the Moon, night time, light, fire

Praying Mantis: Direction, finding your way, new paths, beginnings, stillness, peace, fulfillment, spiritual perception, patience

Scarab: Reincarnation, rebirth, creation, immortality, astral travel

Scorpion: Survival, intuition, battle, competition, protection, baneful magick

Snail: Luck, divination, birth, peace, protection

Spider: Creativity, the arts, control, dream work, mysticism, life, creation, good fortune, fate, destiny

Wasp: Warning, strength, independence, adaptation, baneful magick, curses

Woolly Bears: Weather magick, weather divination/prediction

Sometimes you'll encounter a hard "NO" and there won't be a way to turn it into a yes.

Sometimes you'll be very interested in a specific practice or method, you try it, and it just never really clicks the way you want it to.

Sometimes you'll click with a practice and can't find a community around it, or dislike who you do find.

Sometimes there aren't easy-digestible online resources for that thing you're curious about, and the only way to learn more is really digging to find old, dense books and scholarly papers.

Sometimes there's barely any information online and you'll have to do research "around" the subject and fill in the blanks yourself.

Sometimes you'll do a huge ritual and just not feel it like you'd hoped, or you don't get the results you wanted.

...supposedly.

Believing a closed deity or entity has "reached out" to you is not an excuse; if they were closed to you before, they still are.

But you can't speak on their behalf or control them!

Correct, good thing that's not what we're doing here. People calling out this kind of thing out aren't concerned about the deity, they're concerned about the people. The issue at hand is how offensive, disrespectful, or even actively harmful the cultural appropriation would be.

Also, sometimes depending on the tradition you actually CAN, more or less.

But THEY reached out to ME!

For starters, there's a good chance they actually didn't. Many closed figures are criminaly misrepresented in mainstream culture, so it's possible you're diagnosing off of a bastardized stereotype rather than genuine sources. Sometimes stuff can only be diagnosed by certain members of that culture, meaning you'd need to go through the proper channels anyway to even confirm stuff. Besides, what could they want with somebody who has no cultural connection or understanding of them?

As for that dream you had, not every dream (even vivid ones) needs to be taken literally. Once I vividly dreamed I was cop, that doesn't mean it was a sign from the Universe to start licking boots.

But what if they really DID reach out? What do I do?

Who says you have to do anything? You don't have to accept every invitation/request you receive. Remember- we can't ever prove deities exist, but we can prove other human beings exist. We always like to condemn using one's faith to harm others, and that includes putting your personal wants over the voices of marginalized people.

I really think it needs addressing, though!

Find a trusted, reliable member of that tradition to speak with. In some cases, they might be able to help you diagnose things properly navigate something respectfully if needed. Nobody is obligated to help you, so be sure to compensate them for their time and labor!!

Sometimes the only answer is a hard no, in which case let yourself have a good cry (that's fair!) and move on. Sometimes, conversion or initiation is necessary. If that feels like more effort than it's worth, then the whole thing was probably never for you anyway. (Why just half-ass it, y'know?)

The experience felt very powerful. What do I do with that if it's closed?

Like "you just need to believe hard enough" is not a healthy thing to be teaching people? Especially when paired with the implication "your actual actions/choices mean little?"

Not to mention "intent is all that matters" does SO MUCH to disregard cultural practices. People wouldn't fight and die to protect these traditions from being stamped out if intent was all that mattered.

What's the point of all the crystals and herbs in the world if you don't know and understand WHY you're using them.

“Recognize Good Opportunities As They Arise”

This can be used on yourself by carrying it on yourself Drawing it on yourself Sleeping every night on a pillow with this sigil on it or inside it Burning it to ash and sprinkling those ashes into your shoes before going out for the day

or

Those of you following me that are under the age of 18, please keep in mind I cannot/will not provide you any religious counsel as it's against the law in my home country and it's also unnecessary stress I don't want currently. If you have questions my ask box will be open but whether or not I answer is entirely my decision, my goal isn't to teach magic to everyone but rather to share what I have so that others may teach themselves or learn a thing or two to advance their practice.

there are 8 different results all with positive descriptions!