witchcrafty

"Offensive" is sometimes a tough word to apply but I would definitely call it "tiring cultural appropriation."

Disclaimer: Artwork belongs to their respective owners.

Trigger warnings: blood (duh), needles and cutting, mentions of suicide (anti-suicide message) and violence, cancer, blood diseases, etc.

Blood Magick is evil, right? It’s one of THE grand taboos for witches that don’t consider themselves Bad Witches ©

You’re wrong.

In fact, you’re not only wrong, but you are missing out on some of THE most benign and altruist spells you could perform that will up your karmic balance several notches (see number 3 below). I don’t really believe in karma but point stands because it’s always good to help a stranger.

I hardly think there are many ways to be a gooder (? witch than through blood magick.

Plus look at that, being a blood mage is freaking badass

Let’s quickly clarify a few things before we start:

Blood magick consists, basically, of any sort of esoteric practice that involves your own blood or someone else’s.

If you come to shame blood mages here I WILL curse you with constipation or diarrhea and you won’t know which until it happens.

I don’t condone nor encourage cutting. If you’re depressed, suicidal, or addicted to self harm, please find professional help. I’ve been there. Trust me, you can get better.

Working with blood is DANGEROUS. Dried blood is AS DANGEROUS AS FRESH BLOOD. ALWAYS TREAT IT AS IF IT WAS INFECTED BLOOD EVEN IF IT’S YOUR OWN. USE YOUR FREAKING SAFETY EQUIPMENT AND STERILIZE YOUR SHIT, YOU DUMB AVOCADOS.

You can’t use your blood to represent another. It WON’T work no matter how much you try it. The only exception is your blood related direct family and here it’s quite the poor substitute. Although, spoiler alert, there’s a little exception to this rule. Your blood is, however, the most powerful representation of yourself you could use in any spell.

Blood cursing can fuck you up. Thread carefully and don’t mess with that shit if you’re a noob.

Blood willingly given is very different from blood forcefully taken. Don’t EVER try to involve robbed blood in spells that go against the owner’s free will. It WILL screw you over in ways you can’t even fathom. Blood has ways to defend itself.

Same way, dead blood doesn’t behave the same as living blood. Thus why animal blood obtained from your local butcher tends to be less potent, although still effective.

If you kill an animal to take its blood and don’t thank its spirit and/or make the best out of the rest, I will curse you with something far more serious than diarrhea, trust me.

Never, NEVER, NEVER! try to take blood from anywhere but your lip or the tips of your fingers unless you’re trained to draw blood. You can (AND VERY PROBABLY WILL) bleed out if you screw up. I’m not even kidding, people, I have first aid training. The smallest cut in the wrong place or under the wrong circumstances can cost you your life. 

If you’re thinking of committing ritual suicide by slicing your wrists or otherwise bleeding out, please don’t. Really, please don’t. Your life and blood could be put to much better uses. Once more: seek professional help.

If you’re gonna be drawing blood, I highly recommend you don’t take aspirins or any other vasodilatings close to the time of your extraction or ritual. Also avoid doing blood rituals while menstruating or anemic. If you carry any blood diseases, make sure to dispose responsibly of the elements used in the spell or sterilize them thoroughly. Get checked up regularly.

Other witches will tell you blood can be used as any other ingredient/correspondence in a ritual, just like adding rosemary or cloves! Personally I don’t agree. The same way you carefully pick the right herbs, either at the store or growing them, you should be aware of the limitations of your blood. If you’ve been going through a passing ailment, your blood will be less powerful than it can actually be (like withering herbs instead of fresh ones or broken crystals instead of whole ones). This is a very open criteria, to make your blood more potent you can exercise, eat healthy, have sex, get an endorphins rush etc. Just remember you will be literally spilling your blood for this, better make it as strong as possible!

Now let’s begin

Blood magick is very versatile, as much as crystal magick or herbal magick, so it all depends on your intent and how you handle this powerful raw energy. I’m only going to cover BENIGN blood magick in a couple of ways I’ve seen haven’t been addressed much or at all by other witches, since there are tons of resources for blood mages, so we can skip most of the typical uses and focus on less heard stuff.

1) Blood magick without extracting blood

Yep. No, I’m not crazy. Well, actually I might be but this doesn’t invalidate my point.

You can perform blood magick without taking a single drop of blood from anyone’s body. And this is very good for benign blood mages.

There are basically three ways of doing this:

- Waiting for the blood to come out naturally (through a fateful cut that just happens, menstruation, etc.)

-Working with your own body heat. Holding crystals and warming them up is as good as bathing them in your blood, after all, that’s what’s making them warm!

- Working with the blood inside the body. This is SPECIALLY good for spells cast over ourselves or healing magick. Hand impositions, crystal healing, chakra alignment, whatever. ALWAYS take into consideration the blood flow and use it to transport energy across the body. It’s an inner river, make the best of it and never swim against it’s current or you could harm the person.

2) Blood magick and meditation

Sit in silence. Close your eyes. Breathe steadily and slowly.

Feel that?

Your body swaying back and forth almost imperceptibly?

That’s your beating heart. Your heart LITERALLY moves your body when you’re sitting still.

Focus on that, that’s YOUR rhythm, that’s your soul’s tempo.

Related to point 1. Your heartbeat can be one of the most powerful tools to aid meditation. USE IT.

3) EXTREMELY POWERFUL BLOOD BLESSINGS: TANGIBLY AND TRULY SAVING LIVES THROUGH BLOOD MAGICK

Now this is the reason I’m writing this post.

I’ve never in my life performed a spell for myself. All of my magical practices have been targeted to someone else. So I’ve got some experience in altruistic magick.

And guys…

BLESSED BLOOD DONATIONS.

I personally donate blood at least twice a year since I’m 0+ so my blood can benefit anyone no matter their blood type. It’s a little ritual my mom and I have. We’re also organ and tissue donation advocates and are registered as bone marrow donors in our local children’s hospital.

If you’re not sure about blood donation because the syringes freak you out, try platelet donation!

Platelets are mostly destined towards cancer patients on chemo. The needles are a LOT smaller than in regular blood donation, and the process can a while.

You know what you can do in the meanwhile if you’re not interested in the awesome movies they play?

MEDITATE. 

Meditate and let all your energy flow through you. Perform a strength and purification ritual before the donation, let it get to others through your gift of blood.

HEAL through it. If you’re a witch healer, PLEASE use your blood in this manner. Lives could depend on it, and it could be you, IT COULD AND WILL BE YOU, that makes the difference.

I always try to donate as often as possible, and platelets donation has become my preferred method because unlike regular blood donation that shouldn’t take place more than once or twice a year, PLATELETS CAN BE DONATED EVERY FOURTEEN DAYS AND CAN BE THE EQUIVALENT TO EIGHTEEN REGULAR BLOOD DONATIONS.

As I said, I’ve never performed witchcraft for myself, but don’t think I’m calling myself some martyr witch. I just don’t NEED to.

When I started donating blood and platelets for my local children’s hospital’s leukemia center, I was suddenly blessed with the BIGGEST streak of good luck you could possibly imagine and it has repeated without miss since I started when I turned 18. From finding $700 innocently lying on the floor to making new friends that would later end up changing and indirectly saving my life, I was just on a roll and it repeats without a miss after donating blood. It lasts for about a week after donating.

And I think this comes from the relief and gratitude of the people you’re helping.

I’m a big fan of charities for a similar reason. Your life WILL be blessed if you bless someone else’s.

So, bless others through your blood, which is the closest physical manifestation there is of your raw soul.

How to do this?

As I said before, strength and purification rituals before the donation are really helpful. Pro tip: carry the strength card in your wallet or pocket while you’re getting your blood extracted.

The night before as you begin your fast, draw sigils on your skin using lotion, water or other things. I DON’T RECOMMEND USING INK. Some inks -even non toxic- can be absorbed by the skin and transferred through blood to the other person and it is still debated if it could cause complications. (This is not the reason people with tattoos that are less than a year old can’t donate, this is to prevent crossed contamination).

I personally use this sigil:

“Good health and happiness”

You can also bless the water you drink (and, seriously, drink as much of the stuff as you can, it’ll make it easier for the nurse to find your veins) or use (DRINKABLE!) moon or sun water. ESPECIALLY sun water. People that require blood transfusions sometimes have spent a long time away from sunshine.

Charge yourself with non-toxic crystals (always, guys, not just for this).

If you believe in spirits or deities, ask them to enter your body and let you borrow their strength to pass onto another (depending on what deities you believe in, don’t be an ass and pass your evil little fuckers along to other people, I told you I’ll curse you with constipation).

Before the donation, exercise, eat something yummy (out of fast time), watch a comedy movie, take a nice nap, enjoy your hobbies, laugh a lot, kiss somebody, joke a lot, have (PROTECTED!) sex. Pass those endorphins along, bring joy and happiness to the recipient of the blood. There’s debate on how long the endorpins last, so doing this within 4-5 hours before donating is recommended.

I always try to donate to someone I can follow up with (in case they need more platelets in the future). Keep them in your thoughts, cast healing spells in their name (you don’t need something from them to represent them now because your own blood is in their body! YOUR BLOOD IS THEIR BLOOD NOW! You can use it!).

Every time I donate, I feel myself grow stronger. The process is a bit depleting and requires rest afterwards, but guys

Your soul becomes mingled with other people’s

It spreads out and becomes larger, wider, the reach grows and grows

You wouldn’t believe the powerful magick behind blood rituals such as this. It’s wildly agreed that blood magick is the strongest kind regardless of the witch, but guys, this?

It’s something else altogether.

Now I started blood magic more recently and I found some useful things that will help keep me safe and other people!

Single use lancets! These are used by diabetics to test their blood and are safe to use on your fingers!

This box of 100 was around $2 at Walmart.

Bandaids, keep yourself safe after exposing a wound. This was also around $2 at Walmart.

Hydrogen peroxide

Clean the skin with it to keep yourself from anything nasty getting in the cut!

This is a list of terms used when describing the way a particular herb affects the body. Herbals can be confusing to read sometimes so I’ve put everything in one place here 🌿

Abortifacient: induces abortion

Adaptogen: helps the body processes return to normal when stressed

Adjuvant: modifies the effect of another substance

Adrenergic: acts like adrenaline or describes how adrenalin affects the body

Alterative: restores the body’s functions to normal

Analgesic/Anodyne: a pain killer

Anthelmintic/Antihelmintic: destroys/repels/expels intestinal worms

Antibacterial: inhibits bacterial growth

Antibilious: helps the body to remove excess bile

Anticatarrhal: helps the body reduce excess mucous and phlegm

Anticholinergic: a cholinergic blocking agent

Anticoagulant: slows or prevents clotting of blood

Antidote: counteracts or neutralizes a poison

Antiemetic: reduces the feeling of nausea, can help to prevent vomiting

Anti-inflammatory: helps reduce inflammation

Antilithic: prevents formation and aids removal of stones in the urinary system

Antimicrobial: helps the body destroy or resist pathogenic micro-organisms

Antimitotic: prevents division of cells

Antineoplastic: inhibits or destroys tumours

Antioxidant: eliminates hydroxyl free radicals

Antipyretic: prevents or reduces fever

Antirheumatic: relieves or protects against rheumatism

Antiscorbutic: prevents or cures scurvy

Antisudorific: stops or reduces perspiration

Antiseptic: prevents growth of microorganisms

Antispasmodic: prevents/eases spasms or convulsions

Antitussive: reduces or relieves coughing

Aperiant: laxative

Aphrodisiac: stimulates the sex drive and sometimes sexual ability

Aromatic: an organic compound containing benzene, or, of herbs, having a fragrant/spicy smell

Astringent: contracts tissue and reduces the function of said tissue, affecting haemorrhages, secretions, diarrhoea, bleeding etc.

Bitter: herbs that promote the appetite

Cardioactive: affects the heart

Cardiotonic: increases function of heart muscle

Carminative: relieves flatulence and colic

Cathartic: purges the bowels

Cholagogue: stimulates the release of bile from the gall bladder, sometimes acts as a laxative

Choleretic: stimulates the production of bile in the liver

Counter-irritant: causes inflammation of the skin, used for temporary relief from deep irritations

Demulcent: soothes/protects inflamed or painful surfaces

Depurative: removes impurities from the blood

Diaphoretic: increases perspiration to aid the body in removing toxins

Diuretic: increases the flow of urine, aids in removing toxins via the urinary tract

Emetic: induces vomiting

Emmenagogue: stimulates and normalizes the menstrual flow

Emollient: used internally to ease inflammation or externally to soften skin

Escharotic: a substance that sloughs off dead skin, corrosive

Expectorant: helps the body to expel mucous

Febrifuge: prevents/reduces fevers

Galactogogue: increases or induces lactation

Hallucinogen: affects the senses, produces a wide range of reactions often including hallucinations

Hepatic: strengthens and tones the liver as well as stimulating the flow of bile

Hypnotic: induce sleeps

Hypotensive: lowers blood pressure

Laxative: promotes evacuation of the bowels

Lymphagogue: promotes/increases lymph flow

Miotic: contracts the pupils

Mydriatic: dilates the pupils

Narcotic: in small doses promotes sleep and reduces pain, but can cause poisoning with comas or convulsions

Nervine: strengthens the nervous system, eases anxiety and stress

Oxytocic: stimulates uterine contractions

Parasiticide: kills and removes parasites

Pectoral: used to treat respiratory complaints

Placebo: an inactive substance that is believed by the patient to be a cure

Prophylatic: prevents disease

Psychotropic: affects the mind

Purgative: produces very strong laxative effects and watery evacuations

Reagent: involved in a chemical reaction

Retardant: delays or slows down a chemical reactant

Rubefacient: stimulates circulation locally when applied to the skin

Sedative: calms the nervous system

Sialagogue: stimulates the secretion of saliva

Spasmolytic: relieves spasmodic pains

Sternutatory: causes sneezing

Stimulant: enlivens the physiological functions of the body

Stomachic: promotes digestion and strengthens the stomach

Styptic: stops bleeding by contracting the tissue

Sudorific: induces sweating

Tonic: strengthens and tones either specific organs or the whole body through nutritional stimulation

Vasoconstrictor: constricts blood vessels

Vasodilator: dilates blood vessels

8 vegetables that you can regrow again and again.

Scallions

You can regrow scallions by leaving an inch attached to the roots and place them in a small glass with a little water in a well-lit room.

Garlic

When garlic begins to sprout, you can put them in a glass with a little water and grow garlic sprouts. The sprouts have a mild flavor than garlic and can be added to salads, pasta and other dishes.

Bok Choy

Bok choy can be regrown by placing the root end in water in a well-lit area. In 1-2 weeks , you can transplant it to a pot with soil and grow a full new head.

Carrots

Put carrot tops in a dish with a little water. Set the dish in a well-lit room or a window sill.  You’ll have carrot tops to use in salads. 

Basil

Put clippings from basil with 3 to 4-inch stems in a glass of water and place it in direct sunlight. When the roots are about 2 inches long, plant them in pots to and in time it will grow a full basil plant.

Celery

Cut off the base of the celery and place it in a saucer or shallow bowl of warm water in the sun. Leaves will begin to thicken and grow in the middle of the base, then transfer the celery to soil. 

Romaine Lettuce

Put romaine lettuce stumps in a ½ inch of water. Re-water to keep water level at ½ inch. After a few days, roots and new leaves will appear and you can transplant it into soil.

Cilantro

But then I got my grubby little paws on it, and I immediately stopped fertilizing, spraying, and bagging up grass clippings and leaves. I ripped up sod and put in flowers and vegetables. I put down nice thick blankets of mulch around the flowers and vegetables. 

When I first was sweating my way through stripping sod, I saw a grand total of 1 worm and 0 ladybugs. The ground was compacted into something that would bend shovel blades. 

Now, six years later, I can’t dig a planting hole without turning up fourteen earthworms, and there are so many ladybugs here. Not the invasive asian lady beetles; native ladybugs. They winter over in the mulch and in the brush pile. I see thousands of them. 

The soil is soft and rich. There are birds that come to eat, and bees of many sorts.

Collecting fallen pinecones, leaves, seeds, weird rocks, sun bleached sticks/branches. Vulture culture of animal remains is a lovely aesthetic but it can get costly!

Visiting memorials and graveyards for walks and meditation.

Watching death positive and education YouTube and docs on streaming services.

Reading local obituaries or local headstones and keeping a memento mori journal.

Creating an ancestor shrine with objects you already have and pictures/artwork printed from a computer. Add a couple items from a thrift shop or dollar store if you are able but not required.

Spirit work! That is always free!

Volunteer at a hospice or nursing home.

Light candles for souls that have passed; whether you know them or heard about them in the news.

Read up on your local Wills & Probate procedures or see if there is a local group offering a free workshop.

Visit natural history museums or art museums and practice energy sensing or just absorb the history and stories of the pieces.

Create a simple decorated candle/painted craft/box/space for The Forgotten Dead. Give regular simple offerings (water is a good one).

Talk to (trusted) friends and family about death and end of life desires.

Write a story or poem relating to death.

I would truly love to think it’s at the top of our to do lists to be good people. I would love to think that and also see it put into place. We can pray to our gods for others, we can (consensually) do a kind spell or sigil for them too, and it’s all well and good. But what can we do for the environment? I got you covered, let’s take a look at my many ideas on how you can be a conscious witch for nature’s sake!

But, Ariel, don’t you usually use a million links in your posts? This is true, but I’m writing this based on everything my amazing teacher taught me back in my Environmental Science class in college. Except without all the big science words because I didn’t do great at that part, however, I did great at solutions and human theory, which is exactly what we want here. So, I encourage you so much to be inspired by this and look for more sources online! Never stop reading on what you can do to help the environment!

And without further ado, this is a quick stop of A-level Environmental Science by someone who cannot for the life of them remember terminology, woo!

Devote An Activity

Whether this be an organised beach clean up, picking up trash on a footpath, helping a charity store or a petition sign up, or any other environmental activity, devote it to your deity/ies! Just some examples would be going to a beach clean up and praying or just speaking in your mind to, say, Poseidon about how you honour him with this action.

Side note, it’s also a good meditative practice as you clean something up or fulfil a list/sheet.

Pick Organic

You guys thought this was just about shopping, didn’t you? Well, it isn’t, but I do want to say that if you can buy organic you should consider it because it means no artificial chemicals and fertilisers have touched the food. Farmers have to leave previously chemically-touched land to rinse itself and be scientifically declared ‘natural’ again before using it for organics, so when you buy organic, it’s a sign to farmers that it’s worth their time and money!

But no, this is about how you can make sure your plants are organic. Put down the chemical pest control and pick up your phone to research! Something as simple as a two foot board can keep out carrot flies, or planting marigolds and keeping coin or egg shell barriers can stop slugs. There’s alternatives and they’re usually fun to learn about, interesting to undertake, cheaper for your wallet, and better on your little plants and environmental microcosm you have going on there.

Plant Cloning

So plant cloning can be easy or difficult depending on the species at hand, but for the most part all you do is take a cutting, snip it diagonally, and put it in water until it sprouts roots and can be planted. This is called micropropagation, but it’s also some pretty awesome green witchery if you ask me!

You can do this for your herbs so you don’t have to buy more, which is good for your purse, but I also thought that if you consider yourself a good gardener with abundant native wildflowers nearby, or some in your garden, why not try your hand at cloning one? Native wildflowers are the absolute best thing for your native pollinators (did you know some wasp and fly species are also pollinators? It’s not just bees!) Not only that but also native plants are a really good thing to encourage right now because in our current era we’re seeing the negative effects of invasive species. Rhodendrons are a famous invasive plant around the world because it just grows… All year… All the time… Swallowing anything in its path. It also happens with fauna species: Harlequin ladybirds, cane toads, west african giant killer snails (which I’m sure wasn’t the actual name, or was it?), european rabbits, and so on and so forth. Now, we can’t fix the fauna part, but we can do our own little bit for the flora part. Also, if you manage to grow wildflowers, you’ve beat my environmental science professor because he could never get them to survive in his garden, so props to you!

Create Habitats

This is a really great one you probably see people do all the time but never considered to be witchy. Buy birdboxes (or make some!), set up bee-friendly hives (have you see the nests you can get? Google!), but also consider actually leaving dead wood around. I can see the confusion you have right now, but here’s the thing: a fallen tree is an ecosystem for all manners of insects. It creates another level of ecosystem within the bigger environment. For instance, if you go to a nature reserve, ever notice they don’t cut the trees down at the same times? Forgive me, Richard (my enviro teacher), for I have sinned and forgotten the name of the method, but it’s done because it creates different types of environment. Where the trees are pollarded and light hits the floor, flowers may grow and that encourages certain types of fauna. Where the trees create a canopy overhead and the ground is left to be darker and cooler, it again attracts different species. In this same way, a fallen tree is great for certain species. Give it a little research and see what you could attract by leaving that log out a little longer!

Act Consciously

I’m not even kidding with you: trampling is actually a really serious issue with environmental protection and reserves. It straight up makes it onto the Legal Quantative Sheet Thing that people have to fill out when trying to assess if the plans for the land are going to be a gain or loss. It’s why you see designated footpaths and raised walkboards in SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) and various other areas of designated protection. It’s really important we think more about how our visit reflects the visit of many. To throw some Kantian Ethics in here, using one of the three maxims, we should think universally. This means we should assume when we do an action, it permits everyone else in the world to do it and they have also done it. When you walk off the boards which are clearly labelled not to, so does everyone else. When you litter, so does everyone else. Honestly Kant’s maxims are a really good way to encourage yourself to be a more ethical person. Just don’t read too much into his whole ethical theory. It’ll hurt your brain. Anyway! Here’s things to try to be more conscious of actively doing:

Pick up litter

Stay on designated paths

Use walkboards when provided

Step around flora where possible

If it says keep your dog on a lead it’ll be because of the wildlife there - usually for safety both ways - so do so until you get to the lead-free zone

Visit the visitors centre to learn more about helping the site or what native plants they have

Don’t practice activities banned in the area, as in fires or driving, because it’s probably because the environment can’t take it

Just don’t invade nature’s space, friendsssss

Donate A Little

Sometimes, nature runs low on funds. If you’ve got £2 for the charity bin to help your local reserve build a visitors centre, why not chip in? Visitors centres allow for education of the public and also visiting school groups. It’s places like that that teach you information like this.

Pray

Simple one here, folks. In between the prayers to deities and thanks and wants or whatever you happen to pray for, pray for the environment. Yours or globally. Also pray for general world atrocities, but that’s another post.

Compost

Literally everything made of some natural material is compostable somehow if you do your research on what conditions and so on, but at the very least all your vegetable peels and fruit slices can be left to one side to decompose into dead organic matter. Dead organic matter is like gold to plants because its natural nutrients which seep back into the soil which originated from the earth anyway! You get to decrease what you send to landfill whilst also giving a little home brewed offering to your plant babies.

Reuse and Recycle

Collect your candle wax to fashion into new candles, collect the ash when you burn things to put into your soil, when you’re done working with magic water, pour it into your plants, turn an old shirt into a braided witches ladder, and so on and so on. There is magic in putting time into fashioning a disused item into something entirely new, or in giving away what you no longer need. I’m going to start calling this The Phoenix Rule and it’s going to be my new witch code as of now (15th June 2019, you read it here first, folks). This is about doing what you can to grow from your own ashes or plant something good out of something old.

Paper? Leaves

Do you find yourself using a silly amount of brand new paper for sigils or intent in spells? Start collecting leaves (or old newspapers and things!) and use these instead of brand new paper. In fact, you could match the folklore of the plant to your spell and sigil. Bay leaves for accomplishing dreams, oak leaves for wisdom and knowledge, there is endless possibilities. Start picking up those fallen leaves! They’re free and they’re not using lots of water and chemicals to make them. Okay water, but water from the sky and ground that isn’t excessively farmed and pumped from nature for the paper bleaching industry.

And I think that’s where I’ll stop for now, but this is definitely not the end of all the things you could do to incorporate environmentalism into your witchcraft. And also, since it wouldn’t be written by me without them, I found some articles to get you started on researching this all further if (hopefully) the eco flame burns on in you~

None of them are witchy because when you Google ‘Environmental Witchcraft’ it’s all some very angry blog posts about who even knows what. Zealots in one. Such strange people. Anyway:

Organic Gardening Tips

82 Tips for Sustainable Gardening

10 Organic Gardening Tips

10 Reasons People Buy Organic

23 Ways to Reuse Plastic Bottles

51 Ways to Reuse your Waste

Why Is It Important to Preserve Nature

Composting Tips

How to Reuse your Candle Wax

How to Reuse your Candle Jars and Wax

Creating a Wildlife Friendly Garden

Creating Habitats in your Garden

How to Grow a Wildflower Garden

As a Black witch, it first made me relieved to see so many people in the community band together for Black Lives Matter. Over the past 5 years as a member of the Witchblr community, I have been subjected to numerous acts of racist microaggressions and attacks ranging from slurs being thrown at me, death threats, insults to my cultural practices because they’re different from European witchcraft and folk magic, attempted doxxing, and more because I was outspoken about anti-racist action. And that doesn’t include the many accounts of racism and bigotry that I witnessed secondhand. So seeing the community come together to support BLM made me hopeful that there would be a cultural shift within the community. 

But, as time went on, the amount of support for BLM that I saw in the tags slowly began to dwindle as if the movement had some hidden expiration date for allies, as if all the work was done after the mass spells performed on the eclipse.

The work is far from over, witchblr. We still need to protest, sign petitions, donate, and do our part to end police brutality, defund/disband the police and abolish prisons, and address the systemic racism that exists in all facets of society.

To look “locally,” the same problems in our community still exist. And while we alone cannot eradicate racism from the whole of society, we can absolutely prevent its spread on witchblr and in other spiritual/occult communities. 

Being an ally means more than posting a black square on your Instagram page or changing your profile picture to “heathens against racism.” Being an ally means actively being anti-racist and doing your part to ensure the community is truly inclusive and safe for people of color.

So, how can we begin to address the problem of racism in the spiritual communities both online and offline? Here are a few tips. I’ve focused largely on how white allies can address racism as it impacts Black practitioners, as I can only speak from my own experience as a Black person. Other people of color of all races are welcome to add onto this.

Stop supporting cultural appropriation. I don’t care if they’re your favorite blogger, your favorite diviner, your favorite occult supply store, etc, but if they’re posting about hoodoo sweetening/honey jars and they’re not Black, it’s time to block and unfollow. If they claim they speak for the Orisha or the Lwa and they aren’t initiated, it’s time to block and unfollow. If you don’t respect our cultural practices, you don’t really respect us.

Educate yourself on non-European practices. Did you know that there are more ATRs than just Lucumi, Vodou, and hoodoo? Can you explain the difference between Voodoo/Vodou and hoodoo? What is the difference between hoodoo and witchcraft? If you can’t answer these questions, time to do some reading! Educating yourself prevents you from appropriating or saying/spreading ignorant misinformation.

Stop supporting spiritual/occult organizations that act as performative allies and/or refuse to explicitly support practitioners of color. That means covens, fraternal organizations, Discord servers, pagan temples, conventions, and other spiritual organizations (large and small.) Don’t donate to these groups and don’t attend these groups or their events.

Amplify the voices of Black practitioners. How many Black spiritual/occult authors, diviners, bloggers, podcasters, astrologers, priest/priestesses, and/or vloggers can you name? How many African or Black philosophers can you name? Our voices and contributions to religion, spirituality, and the occult matter. Listen to us.

Deplatform racists. If you are a moderator or leader of a spiritual/occult community, delete/ban/kick out anyone who expresses racist or bigoted ideologies. Defending racists under the guise of “freedom of speech” just allows them to spread their hate and potentially harm or traumatize POC. Even if you’re not in a position of power, refuse to engage with bigots to prevent their message from spreading. Don’t reblog their posts, watch their videos, buy their products, etc. If you can, spread receipts of their racist acts instead.

Stop speaking over practitioners of color. If we say that something is racist/appropriation/insensitive, listen to us instead of arguing in an attempt to “save face.” We all make mistakes. Just own up to it and do what you can to fix the situation. Attacking us just because we demand equal respect is an act of racism in and of itself.

Support Black-owned businesses. Instead of buying your herbs from Amazon, go to a botanica. Get readings or other metaphysical services from Black diviners. We deserve to be compensated for our labor. It’s the least you can do considering a large chunk of modern folk magic is inspired by, influenced by, or straight up stolen from Black spiritual practices.

De-center yourself from the conversation. Cool, you’re an empath or a “sensitive”, but venting all day about how much pain you’re in is honestly insulting. And, if you want to rant about all the racist things your family has done, maybe go to one of your other white friends instead of forcing us to listen to you repeat their racist garbage.

Acknowledge your own biases and privileges. There are tons of resources out there on white privilege, white fragility, and unconscious forms of racism. Educate yourself.

Keep up the work outside of witchblr and spiritual communities. Keep donating, keep signing petitions, and keep using your platform for anti-racist action.

Here’s a masterpost to help prevent nightmares, how to interpret them and how to deal with them.

Prevention:  

Crystals: Agate, Amethyst, Angel Phantom Quartz, Black Tourmaline, Chrysoprase, Dream Quartz, Emerald, Fluorite, Lepidolite, Malachite, Smoky Quartz, any crystals that are black

Herbs: Anise, Ash, Bracken, Cayenne, Cedar, Flax, Garlic, *Hyacinth, *Kanna, Lady’s Slipper, Lemon Balm, *Mistletoe, *Morning Glory, Mullein, Mustard Seed, Purslane, Rosemary, Sage, Salt, Siberian Ginseng, *Skullcap, *Tobacco, Vervain, Wood Betony

*Herbs that can be or are toxic to ingest or burn, do research before handling these herbs

Incense: Cedar, Chamomile, Rosemary, Sage

Animals: Spiders (spiderwebs)

Metals: Silver

Simple Tips:

Make chamomile tea with moon water/gem elixir and drink before bed

Keep your bedding and pillows washed and clean

Cleanse your room before going to sleep

Take a bath or shower before bed to relax and cleanse yourself

Keep a bowl of salt near your bed

Sleep with crystals beneath your pillow or near your bed

Fill a bag or sachet with herbs to keep under your pillow or hang above your bed

Sleep with a stuffed animal or blanket that you feel comforted by

Try not to snack too close to bed time, indigestion can lead to nightmares

Stretch before bed

Do breathing exercises or meditate before bedtime

Crack your window slightly to bring in fresh air while you sleep

Avoid nicotine, alcohol or caffeine too close to bed

Listening to calming ambient sounds can help

Dealing with Nightmares

Nightmares can be very stressful and terrifying. Everyone has them and sometimes they are caused by your own subconscious thoughts and worries. 

Keep a notebook or dream journal with a pen near your bed. When you wake up from a nightmare, even if you are distressed, try to write down your emotions, thoughts and what you can remember about the nightmare down.

Come morning research the symbolism of the things that happened and appeared in your nightmare. Also consider what they may mean personally to you. Do you have any memories or experiences that relate to what happened in your dream?

Look it all over after you finished your research. What picture does it paint? Is something from your waking life affecting you? Stresses? Arguments? Relationship problems? If so perhaps it is time you try to resolve these problems.

After waking up from a nightmare you can still feel rather distressed. 

Take deep breaths, as scary and distressing as it is, it is still just a dream

Get some water

Stretch or walk around if you can, get the jitters and shakes out 

Cleanse your room if you can, spray some moon water about or bring in some salt, help remove the negativity you just felt

Read a book, it can help relax you again and make you feel sleepy, especially after such a stressful experience

After you wrote down what you remember from your nightmare, don’t dwell on it right now. You can worry about it later, for now find other things to do if you are not interested in going back to sleep

Listen to calming music or sounds

Watch calming images or videos if needed such as rain falling, ocean waves, changing clouds, looping gifs, etc

If someone is around and there to listen, you can talk it out with them. It can really help calm you

Drink some chamomile tea, it really helps

Wash your face

Cuddle, pet or speak with a pet

Hold your favorite stuffed animal or blanket for comfort

Make a crystal grid of calming stones and negativity removal stones 

If you do not plan on going back to sleep or if it is already morning, take a shower or bath

If you do not plan on going back to sleep, light some white and black candles to cleanse yourself and space of the negative energy brought by the nightmare. Do this with caution, make sure you are not too tired to do this. Fires are not fun or safe 

Calming Crystals: Amber, Amethyst, Astrophyllite, Blue Lace Agate, Calcite, Celestite, Danburite, Desert Rose, Dioptase, Dolomite, Dravite, Fire Agate, Fluorite, Galena, Goldstone, Hematite, Howlite, Infinite Stone, Magnesite, Milky Quartz, Pietersite, Rhodonite, Sodalite, Sugilite, Tiger’s Eye, Vauxite

Cleansing Crystals: Amber, Ametrine, Aquamarine, Calcite, Chlorite, Fluorite, Gyrolite, Blue Tourmaline, Milky Quartz, Salt, Serpentine, Sunstone, and Turquoise

Calming Herbs: Basil, Chamomile, Hops, Lavender, Lemon Balm, Passion Flower, Rosemary, Siberian Ginseng, St. John’s Wort

Cleansing Herbs: Anise, Bay, Birch, Boodroot, Cedar, Chamomile, Fennel, Horseradish, Hyssop, Iris, Lavender, Lemon, Lemon Verbena, Mimosa, Parsley, Peppermint, Rosemary, Sage, Sagebrush, Shallot, Thyme, Tobacco, Turmeric, Vervain, Yucca

Research herbs to ensure they are safe before using them

Nightmare Prevention Spells:

Ghost Nebula Protection in Dreams Spell

IC 2118 Spell for Peaceful Dreams

*Nightmare Repellent

Nightmare Warding Stuffed Animal Spell

Sleep Protection Spell Jar

*Simple Nightmare Ward

aries: wild as hell, very honest and can come off as bitchy because of it. a good time honestly. exaggerates their stories like hell but u know what it’s hilarious

taurus: really good advice even if it’s not what u want to hear. actually a good sense of humor but if they’re bored w you they’ll be v passive aggressive

gemini: super smart n not afraid to let you know it lmao. lots of funny stories and will be upfront with you if need be. naturally kind

cancer: incredibly easy to talk to about your problems, even if they don’t have great advice they’re good listeners. sweethearts!

leo: CHARMING BITCHES, can come off as absurdly cocky/sure of themselves. will talk your ear off but you’ll feel grateful honestly

virgo: usually down to earth as hell but have a wild side if they like you enough to show it. really dorky humor typically

libra: really funny and good at talking w people. masters of making up bullshit facts. so annoying in arguments because they’ll make you feel like a dumbass but still such good friends

scorpio: can seem negative. incredibly intuitive like they’re the BEST at reading people and their emotions. actually incredibly smart and won’t always show it but when they do you’ll be amazed about what they know

sagittarius: such good storytellers, super funny as well! again very very blunt with their honesty. enthusiastic and impatient

capricorn: can seem boring at first but there’s so much under the surface. practical and so dorky with flirting it’s adorable

aquarius: one of my favorite mercury signs because of how fun and interesting they are to talk to. incredibly smart too especially with the specific things they are interested in they are such good researchers

Aries:

Taurus:

Gemini:

Cancer:

Leo:

Virgo: 

Libra:

Scorpio:

Sagittarius:

Capricorn:

Aquarius:

Pisces:

Aries

Taurus

Gemini 

Cancer 

Leo

Virgo

Libra

Scorpio 

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

Pisces

aries: i need to know if your character is a top or a bottom

taurus: i’ve prepared this powerpoint. don’t say anything. i know i promised a spreadsheet, and i’m sorry.

gemini: i didn’t even try to kill you on purpose this time

cancer: today we’re all lawful stupid

leo: new drinking game. take shots of the soda you like the least

virgo: excuse you, who allowed you to have a social life?

libra: today i’m gonna glue all of you fuckers to the ceiling

scorpio: describe your character in 3 emojis

sagittarius: fuck, did i accidentally give you a catchphrase?

capricorn: homebrew? more like homobrew

aquarius: …why do our sessions always involve urine

Aries- Shots fired

Taurus- I will never not reblog this

Gemini- Why is no one talking about this?????

Cancer- I’ve only seen this in screenshots

Leo- *repeating sentence of above commenter but bolded and in italics*

Virgo- A little louder for the people in the back

Libra- It got better

Scorpio- If I ever don’t reblog this assume I’m dead

Sagittarius- Spread this like wildfire

Capricorn- LISTEN UP MOTHERFUCKERS I’M GONNA LEARN YOU A THING

Aquarius- Friendly reminder that…

Pisces- This^^^^^^