Magical Embers

Examples of beautiful pisanki awarded in 2017 edition of ‘Górnośląskie Kroszonki’ contest organized in Bytom, Poland.

TLDR on the bottom. TW for ablelist peers and mentions of mental health issues.

So, this semester I have a group project. It's my final class before I graduate in May this year. My group leader started to act ablelist towards me- calling my mental health issues and emergency surgery and PTSD and post-op depression "personal problems" even though I had letters from my Psychiatrist written to my professor to explain that I am struggling with day-to-day life so to excuse late assignments. My group leader criticized me for doing a "bad job" on a report I was expected to turn in Monday and said I was "sassing" her when I tried to explain that I literally just had surgery on Thursday before and came home Friday night.

I put up with it, trying to get my part of the work done alone, because when I tried to reach out for help in the group chat, I was ignored. And then after class one day, she insisted I get all my late work done in two days, which I tried to tell her it was my soft deadline and that four days was my hard deadline, since I needed to be kinder to myself due to my health becoming worse. She said no, two days and that was final. "We all have our personal problems."

I came up to a fellow student I know fairly well to ask what I should do in this kind of situation, knowing he also had disabilities. He immediately convinced me to talk to my professor. He helped me through that, and the professor promised to talk to my group leader the next day.

Cue a week later. I get an email from my professor, telling me he wanted a one-on-one meeting. My anxiety surged. Oh no...am I in trouble? Did my group leader lie and tell him I was being ridiculous?

But I was wrong. He told me he was so worried when he had heard how horrible I was referring to myself during our conversation the week before. That without mentioning my name, he talked to the university counselors for advice. I reassured him I have a therapist and psychiatrist working with me, and that my negative self-talk is a work in progress.

The point is guys, this is how all professors should react to alarming symptoms of mental health. My professor did everything right. He contacted professionals of the university without saying my name at first, immediately had a private meeting with me, and now is helping me by working with me on due dates and making sure my group members treat me fairly.

Once again guys, it's important to fight for the right to be treated fairly. You have a right to be treated like a human being and get the accommodations you need.

TLDR; My professor saw alarming mental health symptoms, and acted respectfully with professionals and is working with me to make sure I succeed. He is a great example of what should be expected.

Look, I'm disabled so I know how frustrating it can be when your body is just not up to the ritual you spent a lot of time planning and tweaking. Or perhaps you are simply a busy person who needs quick, easy workings you can fit into your day.

Here are some suggestions:

Color Magick (Color coordinating outfits is a fun way to do this)

Spell Bottles

Jewelry Enchantment/Charging

Breath Work

Candle Magick

Knot Magick (Try weaving a braided cord or bracelet to wear)

Sound Cleansing/healing

Sigils

Petitions

Manifestation Boxes

Verbal Incantations & Blessings

Affirmations

Anointing (Can be done with a perfume oil blessed by you)

10 minutes meditation

Simple Divination (Tarot/Oracle, Runes, Pendulum)

5 minutes of mindfulness (Take 5 minutes to breathe, think about where you are and appreciate any good happening)

Mending Magick (A little magick in each stitch)

Daily Glamour (To go along with any self-care or beauty ritual)

Working with spirits is a fun experience in my opinion, but definitely comes with a risk. You’re meeting someone new, and there are “good” entities and “bad” entities and entities in between, just like with anything. Working with spirits requires some preparation, and may be easier for some and very difficult for others. I personally had to train quite a long time to get to where I am and I am still learning a lot even today.

Preparation Stage

1. Warding

Knowing how to ward is so important in witchcraft in general, and this is definitely no exception. Please make sure to have strong wards around yourself and your mind. A spirit with bad intentions can definitely hurt you or possess you against your will if you are not careful.

Note: Ward against all spirits, even the ones you trust. You deserve your own space and there are going to be times when you want to be alone. This is so important.

2. Learn about yourself

This may sound strange but you need to know who you are before working with spirits. This way, you can tell the difference between when you feel them around or your own energy, and the same with trying to hear/see them vs. your own thoughts.

To do this, meditate as much as possible. If you can end up meditating at least a few minutes every single day, that’s awesome. Focus your meditations at first on quieting your mind and focusing on a single random object in your mind. Visualize it and observe the details. How it smells, feels, tastes, sounds. Usually I do this with an apple. Something simple. Once you feel like you can do this comfortably, then begin exploring your current emotions. Identify as many as you can. You can dig deeper if you would like, trying to see what underlying emotions you carry that can cloud your readings, both telepathy and divination. Explore your energy- what color does it look like to YOU, not what others have told you? Everyone sees things differently, so you need to see how you see.

I could go into more detail about this but that will have to be a whole other post. This is such a big part of spirit work and your own journey that I cannot stress it enough. The more you know yourself, the easier it will be in a lot of your workings in witchcraft.

3. Trust yourself, be confident

Doubts and fears cloud readings, both physical and mental. Your intuition will become clouded if you do not trust yourself. It is good in my opinion to have a little doubt and to not be too confident, but it is a delicate balance. It’s hard to explain how much is too much, so the one way I can put it is allowing the first thought be your instinct. The thoughts that come automatically tend to be the instinctive ones.

4. Learn what is instinct, and what is yours

This is important as well. I briefly mentioned it in the previous point. A good idea to practice this is begin with divination- for example, tarot cards have basic meanings, but also should be interpreted with intuition as well. Learn to listen to that intuition in your divination and not only will it help you with listening and identifying spirits, but also will help you with your divination techniques. Definitely an awesome double whammy! Don’t forget, tarot is NOT the only way to talk with spirits!

5. Learn how to banish

Just in case you come across a spirit who wants to hurt you or will not leave you alone even if you ask it to, you need to learn how to banish it. There are many ways you can perform a banishing- it highly depends on your own abilities and what is easiest for you. Some people have a lot more power in words, while others need to make a spray with herbs and oils. I highly suggest doing some research on banishing and find what works best for you.

6. Find a communication method

Once again, everyone is different. Some work better with pendulums (I personally don’t like using them), while others use tarot or another method. Getting to the point of seeing and hearing a spirit takes a while for some people, and that’s ok. It took me almost four years to get to the point where I can comfortably see and hear spirits with my third eye.

For anyone, I highly suggest using some sort of divination method to read what spirits are telling you. Pendulum, runes, and tarot are most common. Keep in mind, when you use these for spirit communication, you will need to avoid putting your own energy into them so the reading doesn’t get mixed up or end up reading you instead. Practice reading other people first to help with this.

Spirit Stage

So now about spirits. Once again, remember, spirits have their souls. They have emotions. They make choices. They have personalities. This means they are capable of both helping and harming you. I don’t really believe in “good” and “evil” since it is relative to everyone’s beliefs. Instead, I believe that every spirit is capable of positive and malicious intent. Please remember this: Spirits can hurt you. But also, don’t judge a book by its cover. Just be cautious.

How do I get in contact with a spirit?

I would suggest starting with a deity you trust and feel close to. Deities have an energy that can be easier to read, and you may already have a relationship with this deity. You can also reach out to spirits in an area that you feel is safe.

First of all, with any entity, you should remain respectful and treat them like you would any person you meet for the first time. Introduce yourself (out loud or projecting gently through your mind is fine) and ask if they would like to introduce themselves. Use your divination method to help receive answers.

Trust your intuition. If you feel unsafe, say goodbye and ward up more. Banish them if they won’t leave you alone.  Give yourself a good cleanse as soon as you can.

But also, trust your intuition in how the spirit feels as well. If you sense they are uncomfortable, apologize and back off. Some spirits are shyer than others- others may not feel like interacting.

Don’t feel frustrated if your first few tries are unsuccessful, it happens! This is one of the most difficult skills to get in my opinion, and can take a while to master.

I also highly suggest having a look at this pretty good thoughtform post

Disclaimer: All my spirit work advice is from personal experience and what I have been taught by mentors. Everyone has different experiences and this is only what I suggest.

When it comes to spirit work, one of the most common questions I have seen is, “Who do I contact when starting out?” Personally, I divide spirits into four different categories: Human, Species, Nature, and Deities.

Deities

Yes, you read right. Deities are a type of spirit. However, they do have more energy and power, and therefore they tend to be a little easier to contact. Many times, I will recommend that when someone first starts out in spirit work, if you already have a deity you connect with, try working on communication with your deity/ies. This tends to be a “safer” route, as deities are less likely to manipulate or attack you with malice without being triggered in some way. Another reason is that deities have a larger amount of energy and power, so they can be easier to sense and hear. They have an easier time manipulating divination tools for communication. Finally, as you already will have a bond with the deity, the bonds you have will only strengthen and make it even easier for communication.

Nature

In my experience, most anything that is alive will have some sort of spirit. All animals and plants, perhaps even fungi. I have found most rivers and lakes and other bodies of water will have a sort of spirit as well. Certain natural landmarks like mountains. These spirits are a little more on the neutral side. You can communicate as you would with any other spirit, but a bond with the land they are on is needed. To do this, offerings and time spent is what I recommend. Always show respect. Recycle/throw away trash you find left around. Helping the land and the nature in question tends to appease nature spirits and have a bond form with them. Once the bond forms, they will be more willing to speak with you.

Human

Human spirits can be trickier, as many times they are “stuck” to wander the earth and are not ready to pass on. Humans also can be anywhere on the greyscale of “good” and “evil”. They can manipulate and show malice. They can simply be upset with their situation and lash out. They can call for help. There are so many different personalities just as you would find with a physical, live human. Always take this into account, and get to know them carefully.

Species

When I say species, this is where I mean the “mythological creatures.” Just like humans, all demons, vampires, werewolves, fae, and so forth have a greyscale of “good” and “evil”. I have seen “good” demons. I have seen “evil” angels. But those terms are moot in my opinion. They all have personalities, goals, passions, and so forth. Now, certain species will seem to be more malicious due to their moralities being different than with humans. This specifically pertains to demons and fae most commonly. It is always something to keep in mind, that they will have different rules in their societies, therefore some things may seem malicious to us but not to them. And some things can seem malicious to them that are okay with us. Point being, with every species you encounter, read up on mythology, keep an open mind, and definitely be careful. Species are the trickiest because of this, and I recommend being fairly confident in your abilities before reaching out to them, or work with an expert.

BEWARE: LONG BUT INFORMATIVE POST

Opening the third eye is a pretty exciting prospect, especially for budding practitioners. This “eye” helps us “see” with our intuition the energies around us that aren’t quite always physically felt. But “seeing” is kind of a misnomer, in my opinion. The third eye, in fact, can allow us to see, hear, touch, and even sometimes smell and taste what is going on in “astral”, the common term for the plane outside of the physical realm.

But how does one begin to “open this eye”?

There are many different methods, but one thing I strongly believe in is that the third eye should be “opened” and trained like a muscle. Don’t rush it, and increase training in small increments at a time. A lot of times I have seen someone’s third eye be forced open too quickly, leading to it “snapping shut” so intensely that opening it again is incredibly difficult; this is kind of like when you pull a muscle or damage it from overwork, and as a result have to keep off of it for a long while until it heals and then go through physical therapy to bring it back to normal before strengthening it again.

Meditation will be something a lot of people will recommend. I understand that this is a very broad statement, since meditation comes in so many different forms. So, here is a specific exercise regimen I recommend:

For 5-15 minutes, put as much focus as you can on a single plant. Recommended is a houseplant or one on your property, but going out in the wild and finding one to sit in front of is fine. Spend this time describing, either in your head, in writing, or out loud, the physical traits of this plant. Explore your physical senses (of course, please do not eat or sniff or touch plants that may be hazardous to your health.) and take these details into account. Journal them if you feel the need to. After the physical is described, start to question to yourself how this plant “feels” to you- If you were to give its aura a color, what would it be? What emotion do you think it has in the moment? What does it want in that moment? Trust those gut feelings, journal them. Maybe even document it with a photo.

Each time you do this (I recommend no more than once a day, with breaks every few days at first) pick a different plant. Once you start feeling comfortable, venture out to plants in locations you don’t frequent extremely often. Once you feel comfortable reading plants, move on to animals, from less complex and familiar to wild ones (stay safe please, watching in a zoo is a good idea for wild ones).

Finally, move on to people, with their permission, of course. I would say the most complex readings are on people and objects, since objects tend to have energy traces with some of their own energy at their core.

Try your best to take your time and trust your body. If you feel headaches coming on when doing this exercise, stop immediately and let your third eye rest for a day or two. Headaches while trying to read energy can be the first sign of overworking your third eye.

Sorry for the long post, but I wish you all the luck!

Haven’t tidied their altars in forever? They understand.

Don’t have the motivation to give them offerings? They get it.

You haven’t left bed for a long time? They still care about you.

Aren’t devoting time to them lately? They don’t mind

Forgot an offering? That’s alright. They forgive you.

Fucked something up? They’re not going to ditch you for your mistakes.

Decide to take a break from deity work? Totally cool, they’ll still be here for you.

Rice in witchcraft is known for it's properties of Prosperity, Wealth, Protection, and Fertility. You can add rice to your spell jars, placing it around your house, or to carrying it with you.

Other uses for Rice:

Burying stones and other items to cleanse and charge them

To represent the Air Element

Using rice in your food to bring your intentions to those who eat it.

Use as a base for money bowls to attract wealth in your life

Keeping rice near your door to ward off negative energy

Poinsettia

Scientific Name: (Euphorbia Pulcherrima) Common Names: Poinsettia, Crown of the Andes, Flor de Pascua, Christmas Star, Christmas Flower, Winter Rose, Noche Buena, Pascua, Easter Flower, and Mexican Flame Leaf.

Americans only discovered cultivation methods for Poinsettias as late as the eighteenth century. Currently, the United States alone have discovered over a hundred different varieties. Every year in North and South America, hundred of thousands of Poinsettias are cultivated all year long to sell during a roughly two-month period of late-year holiday celebrations. Because of this, Poinsettias have been officially appointed as planet’s most economically imported plant.

Correspondences:

Element: Fire. Planet: The Sun. Gender: Masculine. Energies: Honor, Hearth and Home, Compassion, Inspiration, Community, and Endurance.

Biological:

Clade: Tracheophyte. Clade: Angiosperm. Clade: Eudicots. Clade: Rosids. Order: Malpighiales. Family: Euphorbiaceae. Genus: Euphorbia.

Agricultural:

Edibility: Mildly toxic, induces vomiting. Natural Habitat: Dry tropical forests. Illumination: Partial Sun. Water: When top soil is dry, cut back in winter. Temperature: Prefers shelter, arou 70 degrees. Mediums: Fertile, well-drained soil. Seasons: Spring through Summer. Maintenance: Cut leaves back every spring, repot during summer time. However, be careful for they are very susceptible to fungal and bacterial diseases.

Folklore and Traditions:

Many twenty century based practitioners love utilizing this beautiful plant in their space during the occurrence of Yuletide for its bright, red leaves bringing inspiration, empowerment, and warmth and is thus ideal for color magic.

The ancient Aztecs were among the first to cultivate the Poinsettia plant, believing it to have healing properties for the eyes. (It does not; Poinsettia is actually very toxic!)

The association with Christmas and the Poinsettia comes from a legend sourcing back to sixteenth century Mexico, where legend tells of a youngling who was unable to provide lavish gifts for their churches nativity, making her feel sad on her family’s beautiful time of celebration. However, by the guidance of an Angel, they foraged some weeds from a roadside and adorned them aside their Church’s Altar. From these alleged weeds, bloomed beautiful crimson flowers, henceforth becoming poinsettias.

Their star resembling bract leaf shaped pattern is believed to embody the Star of Bethlehem, and the familiar deep red their leaves are associated with the blood sacrifice of Jesus’s crucifixion.