know thyself

On recognizing stealth & covert racism & white supremacy in witchcraft spaces Racist Stereotypes About Magic What you mean to say: Karma Edition Depth and Cultural Appropriation in Witchcraft Racism, Spirituality, and Witchblr Making Magic More Inclusive Accidental Appropriation Closed Traditions Aren't a Monolith. Chakras - What they really are CHAKRAS (are not what you think they are) Recognizing the difference between real history and pseudohistory We are the Granddaughters of the Farmers who Composted their Eggshells

Rosemary - memory, anxiety, sleep, cleansing, purifying, learning, healing, love, lust, protection, wisdom, mental power

Turmeric - healing, strength, vitality, purification, abundance, joy, prosperity

allspice - healing, energy, love, luck

pepper - courage, protection

sage - health, immortality, longevity, protection against negativity, protection, purification, wisdom, wishes, anxiety

bay - divination, good fortune, healing, anxiety, money, prosperity, peace, protection, happiness, purification, love, tranquility

oregano - peace, love

parsley - protection, power, strength, lust, purification, prosperity

garlic - protection against evil eye

cinnamon - aphrodisiac, passion, love, luck, prosperity, success, spiritual vibrations, energy, purification, healing, protection

cayenne - healing, removing blockages, protection, strength, motivation, courage

clover - fidelity, protection, love, money, success, animal protection, luck

pine - health, healing

nutmeg - money, prosperity, good luck, protection, psychic abilities, happiness, love, health

cloves - healing, love, friendship, cleansing, protection, abundance

thyme - health, courage, eliminates nightmares, attracts loyalty, affection, psychic abilities

ginger - energy, speeding things up, love, prosperity, success, power, healing

mint - avoid jealousy, dreams, protecting, prosperity, joy, fertility, purification, love, success, lust, travel, money, luck

chamomile - love, healing, stress-relief, calming, sleep

lavender - purification, concentration, love, healing, sleep, dreams

jasmine - divination, innovation, attraction, dreams, love, beauty

mugwort - psychic powers, protection, lust, fertility, prophetic dreams, divination, relaxing, tranquility, banishing, consecration

peach blossoms - luck, prosperity, romance, love, passion, affection, harmony, peace, health, longevity

peony - protection from hexes, luck, prosperity, business success, attracts fairies

rose - divine love, self-love, friendship, healing, domestic happiness, lasting relationships, closeness with nature, divination, tranquility, harmony, psychic ability, spirituality, protection, luck

lemon grass - openness, communication, clear mind, love, luck, libido, psychic abilities, calming

chrysanthemum - longevity, mental clarity, optimism, protection, solving mysteries, soothing grief

pink Himalayan salt - purification, grounding, abundance, prosperity, self-love, cleaning, growth, protection, peace, calming

palo santo - cleansing, positivity, good fortune, creativity, love

sweet orange - optimism, charisma, confidence, restoring aura, attracting love, fertility, abundance

bergamot - protection, purification, calming

ylang ylang - sexual attraction, persuasiveness, peace, love, anxiety and depression relief, fairy magic

geranium - prosperity, happiness, healthy pregnancy and fertility

eucalyptus - purifying, cleansing, good health, protection, negativity

sandalwood - calming, anxiety, purification, protection, healing

anise - peace, tranquility, awakening of psychic awareness, luck, spiritual connection, psychic and magic power

jojoba - healing, protection, purification, grounding, meditation, love

frankincense - cleansing, energy, uplifting, inner peace, balance

peppermint - mental clarity, prophetic visions, success, prosperity,

cedarwood - love, growth, longevity, psychic powers, healing, money

tea tree - cleansing, protection, uplifting, energy, memory, love

vanilla - sex, calming, good luck, love, empowerment, happiness, growth

Rabbit Gazing At The Moon :: by Huang Quan (16th century).

In addition to finding out where in Africa her ancestors were abducted into slavery, Mary Moran discovered the meaning of the Mende song: a processional hymn for the final farewell to the spirit, it was sung in Senehun Ngola by women as they prepared the body of a loved one for burial.

Up late and having silly little thoughts. Began replying to another post but started talking a lot about death and didn't want to be weird on someone else's post.

I think that magical cleansing is supposed to be that thing that can remove energy from prior events.

I think that's a part of the very profound magic of consecration. To make something magic is (in the way I work, at least) to end its prior life and rebirth that object into a new trajectory - a new path of fate. You close the door on what it used to be and, as a witch, choose a new fate for it.

And I think inasmuch as witches meddle with fate, that's what cleansing is too.

Not fate as in, the iron-clad railroad tracks of destiny. If those even exist.

I guess when I say fate I mean, trajectory. The path something is on. The metaphysical dust and pollen that marks where the object once came from, that a witch can sniff out as plain as day.

I think that sometimes, cleansing shouldn't be considered to be the metaphysical version of scrubbing something with soap and water. I think that cleansing is sometimes best framed as psychopompic; that the witch is ushering in a gentle, sweet death for the old life of that object, and rebirthing the object into a new life that is innocent and pure.

The cleansing isn't one of scooping up and tossing out crude "energies," but of cleansing that object of its own past, it's old future, and giving it a new present and a new path to walk.

In a sense, cleansing can also be healing and releasing. Perhaps for a witch, thrifting an object is an observation of death craft: stopping at purgatory and finding an object ready to be reborn again.

And I don't think any of this is very hard to achieve. I think that by virtue of being a witch, you can do it. I think you can cleanse this way just by words, or with a little incense, or with fresh water. It isn't that there must be some special fate-meddling spell;

I think you've just got to know what it is you're doing. That you can say to yourself, yes - with a thirty second charm, with a rhyming couplet and a stick of incense, I have the power to meddle with fate. I'm allowed to choose what I think is best for this object, and what I choose will be woven into that grand tapestry. And - snip the thread, weave something new.

I know that the most common rhetoric is that intent powers the spell, but I also think that it's possible to overthink and psych yourself out. Like I know that a lot of people who have told me that their first spell worked really well, followed by somewhat of a lull as they studied more.

And it's like art, I think. Like yeah, you can study for years about the theory but you can still get gunshy when it comes to putting pencil to paper. But you're a little kid and you're given paint pots and a sheet of paper and you just get to go at it with your fingers and toes and you make... something. Is it art? By technical definition, yes. Are you proud of it? Hell yeah, I made this part with my foot.

And I think... I think that my most successful spells are the ones where I didnt pay attention to the rules (such as there are rules in spellcrafting) and just kind of did my own thing, measured with my heart.

The Abayifo [Ashanti mythology; Ghanaian mythology]

Witchcraft was feared and hated among the Ashanti people, who live in Ghana. An Abayifo is a kind of witch who practises black magic. They were always female but male sorcerers also existed, these were called Bonsam and they were far less common than Abayifos. An Abayifo looks like a regular woman but often has at least some hair on her face. They have the ability to shapeshift into a large variety of animals, including owls, parrots, fireflies, lions, hyenas, vultures, flies, elephants, snakes and so on. Sometimes they wore a belt made from snakes around their waist. Witches are associated with Sasabonsam, a mythical creature who became associated with the devil after Christianization of the local folktales.

They are known to attack people and suck blood and because of this, they are often associated with vampires in modern retellings. But they are not undead. All witches knew one another and were in league with each other. They had their own society with separate functions such as executioners and court officials. In fact, if you are an Abayifo you could recognize other witches by the red smoke that rises from their heads, which is invisible to normal people. 

Abayifos were feared and had the ability to curse a woman so that she could never have a child again. At night, these people would walk around the village naked, carrying a magical talisman called an atufa. During the night, their skin would glow and you could see a humanoid figure of light in the darkness. When they came upon the house of a suitable victim, they would turn around and press their buttocks against the wall of the house. Their talisman would then connect to the body of the victim. I am uncertain whether this is a magically warped connection, or the object would physically elongate to connect the victim to the witch, but the Abayifo would then suck blood through their talisman. The next morning, the victim would be ill and would die soon, usually on the same day. Before doing this, however, the witch would try to obtain a small part of their chosen victim. This was usually a tuft of hair or a fingernail, but it could also be an inorganic object such as a bead.

When walking around at night, Abayifos have some sort of connection with the spider webs around the village, which are spun around the doors of houses. When a door opens, the witch can feel the vibration through the webs and is immediately alarmed. This way, they can avoid detection.

A child cannot become an Abayifo, they have to be adults. There is also a significant restriction on the powers of an Abayifo: their magic only works on people of their own clan. In addition, there is a saying among the Ashanti people that an Abayifo, no matter how fierce she is, eats on her side of a river but cannot cross the stream. I am uncertain whether this is a metaphor or intended to be taken literally, meaning that a witch is unable to cross running water.

An Abayifo usually owns a large pot, called a bayi kukuo, and owning such an item was often enough to prove that somebody was a witch. For this reason, witches would hide these pots, often in enchanted hollow rocks that opened when the Abayifo spoke the words “take this pot and keep it safe for me”.

It is forbidden to shed the blood of an Abayifo. If it was necessary to kill one, she should be strangled rather than stabbed or cut. But it didn’t always come to a lethal struggle: there are stories of women who admitted to being an Abayifo and were marked on the palm of their hand with a firebrand. They were allowed to live but were banished from their village. In addition, the people would send a message to neighbouring settlements that a witch has been marked and that she should not be allowed entry into a village. In practice, this was usually a death sentence. Another method of execution was to force the accused witch to drink a special poison. If she managed to recover after swallowing the poison and throw it back up, she was free of suspicion. When this happened, the one who accused her of being a witch had to pay a huge fine, which was often enough to ruin their family.