Sylva Helene

S U N N A

Light-bringer Life-giver Dawn on the horizon

visual deficit (including colourbindness; colourblind individuals often have difficulty identifying threats in action games because they don’t stand out from the background for them)

repetitive strain injury in the hands, wrists or forearms (common for anyone who performs manual labour for a living)

arthritis and other degenerative joint conditions (both those due to age and those comorbid with many autoimmune disorders)

dyslexia (a common symptom of even mild dyslexia is the inadvertent mirroring of sensory-motor responses under pressure, e.g., moving your hand left when you meant to move it right - which is a big problem for action games!)

sensory processing disorders (delayed reaction to visual stimulus is a common symptom)

spatial processing disorders (see above)

chronic pain

propensity for motion sickness

these r the channels i use

basically organisation has my schedule and any random stuff thats happening or i gotta do

media is where i drop a youtube video, episode of a show, or fic im reading with the time of where i am in the video that i need to close so i can focus

plus it doubles as a catalog of stuff to do when I’m bored!

then document is links to things i need open to do work or any slideshow links i get for school

i just got home and saw a message from a mutual i’ve never talked to, about a birthday gift. DONT CLICK ON THE LINK. i haven’t so i don’t know what it does, but i’ve heard it logs you out and sends you to a fake tumblr to take your information. it’s a hack. and it fucks up your computer/laptop/phone/device.

this is what the message looks like, and if you click the link, it sends it to every single one of your mutuals (or possibly ALL THE PEOPLE THAT FOLLOW YOU)

WHOEVER IS MAKING THESE VIRUSES, ARE MAKING NEW ONES THAT SEEM MORE REALISTIC. THEY ARENT USING CAPITALIZATION ANYMORE SO IT LOOKS MORE “REAL” BUT I SWEAR TO YOU ITS FALSE

These spam bots are really trying hard to spread this virus around. Let people know you got this message so they can be safe and change their password and run an anti-virus. 

So I started reading Penczak’s Temple of Shamanic Witchcraft in order to see what was up. I already knew he was pretty low on the “Understanding Cultural Boundaries” scale, and was expecting to score out more advice than I would take in, but even early on in the book I was stopped by what he said. 

After he became “…a little bored with witchcraft [and]…needed to explore other forms of mysticism, including shamanism” (pg. xvii), he “…found himself studying the rituals and lore of the Native American tribes.” Although he “…love[d] and respect[ed] them, Native American traditions didn’t touch [him] the way witchcraft did, so [he] kept looking”. (pg xviii). 

Although this was a throwaway passage in an introduction, it kind of stuck with me. Witchcraft, the New Age era, and Neo-Paganism often butts heads against Native traditions in the least complementary (if you can call thievery “uncomplimentary”) way. I had always sort of wondered why- after all, most of how the New Age and Neo-Paganism movement in the US had started was derived in the slapped-together European tradition brought over from the witchcraft imported from Britain. So why were Native and Asiatic religions such prominent cultural inspirations for the longest time? 

I wonder, almost, if it was a need for depth. 

Let’s talk about showers. Showers are a fantastic way of ridding the body of old, negative energies. Here are some tips that I use to have a mindful shower with manifestation.

1. Every drop of water is a drop of new, clean energy. When the water hits your skin imagine it as little lights shining over you, replacing the old energy. Visualize it. Feel the light coming over your body.

2. We use brooms to sweep away unwanted things, right? Let’s use our loofa, wash rag, sponge, etc. to wash away our fears, sadness, and other conflicts. Be sure to wash the cleansing item itself after use.

Some people are legitimately allergic to thd proteins in certain meats and can’t even eat anything cooked in the same pan as X meat product/s.

As an epidemiologist I can list a few of the more annoying longer explanations that no one wants to have to explain to every person who ever offers them food:

- You drank water contaminated with giardia, which gave you 3 weeks of diarrhea followed by 3 years of lactose intolerance

- You were bitten by a Lone Star Tick and developed an allergy to beef and pork because the Lone Star Tick is a bastard

- You are Jewish and the meat isn’t kosher, but you don’t want to say that because antisemitism is A Thing and you don’t want to get bombarded with questions about the Middle East while you’re hungry

- You are Muslim and the meat isn’t halal, but you don’t want to say that because Islamophobia is A Thing and you don’t want to get bombarded with questions about the Middle East while you’re hungry

- You are on a restricted diet for medical reasons and don’t want to get bombarded with questions about your medical history while you’re hungry

- You are on a restricted diet for reasons that *are nobody’s business* and don’t want to get pulled into Potentially Triggering Diet Talk while you’re hungry.

Hi! I’m Sylvia Helene, an artist, activist and Wiccan from Northern Germany.

I have been actively practicing witchcraft since the beginning of 2018. I am also a founding member of a five-person coven. My blog is all about my journey into Wicca, focusing on the thoughts formed and knowledge acquired in the process, which I share in hopes of helping and inspiring others in the witchcraft community.

The names I chose for any witchcraft-related endeavours - Sylvia (“from the forest”) and Helene (“ray of sun” or “bright moon”) - make a lot of sense for me since I adore nature and the universe and practice a lot of green and celestial witchcraft. Apart from that, I am interested in astrology, divination (mostly tarot) and kitchen/art witchcraft. I also use witchcraft and spirituality as a tool to self-reflect, improve and grow.

I am nonbinary and go by she/her and they/them pronouns. I also identify as bisexual. Apart from LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, I place great importance on environmental protection, racial equality, decolonisation and disability rights. I am also 100% pro-science (shame that that is something that needs to be said) and advocate against using witchcraft as a substitute for any type of science-backed medicine.

There are more issues I could go into here, but I’ll keep things brief: If you are a Nazi, TERF, MAP, anti-vaxxer or anything similar, you are not welcome here.

To learn more about me, see my rambling tag for my random thoughts, as well as my own posts tag to view my other original posts. You’ll find stuff I put in my book of shadows in my grimoire tag. And finally, because we all need to question and rethink more, you‘ll find informative critical posts on issues of witchcraft culture (cultural appropriation, pseudoscience, ...) in my critical witchcraft tag. They‘re all added to this post.

Also, please never hesitate to send me an ask or message - I love getting to know new people!

You don’t need to consume charcoal for literally ANY dietary or health-related reason unless you’ve been poisoned. It doesn’t detox or cleanse or purify anything in your system, but it WILL negate any medication you’re taking, along with blocking nutrients from the food you eat.