Magic Is Just Science We Don’t Understand Yet

This is for anyone who self-identifies as a witch. This poll is about assumptions or social pressure about the role of creative spellcrafting in witchcraft.

"Spells" can also broadly refer to magical techniques meant to have an effect on yourself or the world.

This refers to how you practice a large majority of the time; vote with your heart.

I read a bunch of people for unnecessarily cleansing their decks but didn’t actually provide any alternatives! So I wanted to describe some of the ways I troubleshoot my tarot decks. Please, please, please feel free to add on.

Sleep on it. Literally. My favorite way of working through some wonky readings is to sleep with my deck under my pillow. I like to do it for 3 nights but you can really go as long as you want. You may have some pretty crazy dreams, but I like to think that means it’s working.

Change things up. If you’re dealing with repetitive answers, change how you approach it. Whether that means changing your spread, your question, your shuffling technique or a secret fourth thing.

Put the bitch down. I have found that doing readings too often can muddle them together (well, I’ve had trouble with reading for myself too frequently. Multiple people in a day is fine, but draining). Taking a break of even just a couple days can make all the difference.

Make an offering. Your tarot deck has a spirit too! Appreciate what it does for you and give it a gift. It could be a symbolic offering, like food, alcohol or some incense, or a new case to live in.

Give it a recharge. It might be acting funky because it’s tapped out. Use whichever is your preferred charging method. I like moonlight and sunlight (ironically, they are also cleansing methods, but it’s all about intention at that point).

Ask it what’s up. If you ask your deck why it’s acting out, it may just tell you what’s going on. Maybe it wants one of the other solutions, maybe it wants something else.

As a follow-up to this post.

This follow-up in particular is very path-based, but my practice isn't horribly unique and so maybe it's a useful rumination for others. (Very TradCraft flavored, do with it as you like)

All of the ideas in the first post are based on the assumption that the spirits you've contacted are patient, insightful, knowledgeable, honest, and willing to work with you to help you accurately receive their messages.

In many cases that just isn't true at all! So what if you're pretty sure you're having valid experiences - but you can't get past a plateau of seemingly shallow encounters where nothing much is gained?

Here are my thoughts, troubleshooting FAQ style:

Even when helpful spirits are called, they need time to get to know you

Spirits are not omnipotent, they need to get their information much in the same way we do: via observation, experience, and exchange.

When meeting new spirits you haven't had a chance to build a strong relationship with, if you get answers that seem kind of obvious and expected to you, there's a chance that the spirit:

Hasn't had time to think about it

Doesn't have enough context to give you any additional insight

Doesn't feel like they owe you a lot of their energy to help you out

If a spirit just met you for the first time, or you've had a few short meditation sessions where almost no information is shared, how are they supposed to know you well enough to give personalized guidance?

I believe people are particularly susceptible to this when they're working with a rotating roster of spirits that are supposed to be the good spirits of their practice, but never end up building a close relationship with any of them.

If you think this may be a problem for you, see if there's an opportunity to delve into a close relationship with one spirit who can act as your helper and guide to establish deeper relationships with important allies.

The spirit actually does not know

A helpful spirit may be called for, but an unhelpful spirit may appear for any number of reasons, such as:

The practitioner put no magical technology in place (primarily wards) to limit who is actually able to respond to the call

The intended spirits arrived, but the practitioner wrongly assumed they would have helpful information

The helpful spirit did arrive, but they don't have the information on hand: they have to go get it and bring it back to you

In such a case, depending on the benevolence of the spirit and how much they care about you, answers to your questions can range widely from not answering at all, giving you generic advice, telling you what you want to hear, or outright deceiving you (perhaps either as a lark, or because they sense offerings may be coughed up).

In this sense, cookie-cutter or "I just heard what I expected to hear" messages can be a result of the spirit not having anything deeper to say. It might not matter how much context you share; they just don't know how to help you (or they don't want to help you).

If you're not making space in the meeting to hash out the logistics (did the right spirit arrive, can they actually help and under what circumstances, etc), then in my opinion it's unrealistic to expect the spirit to stop the meeting and tell you information you never asked for. I mean, how is the spirit supposed to know they weren't who you really wanted to talk to?

If you open up encounters by immediately asking your discussion questions and you're getting a lot of generic answers, a solution might be to ensure there's space at the beginning of encounters to ensure that the spirit is actually equipped to help you and is willing to do so, and then confirm under what conditions that help will be provided.

You're asking generic questions

Downvote me if you must, but you can ask "how can I be a kinder person" to ChatGPT and get some solid output.

What's the point in asking that question to the spirits you know? Do you think they're going to say something ChatGPT won't?

Perhaps a hot take, but if you want specific answers that reveal something about the nature of the spirit, then you're going to have to be vulnerable and reveal your real problems, needs, and desires.

If you want help with problems, bring your problems to the table!

If you want generic, cookie-cutter answers, then ask generic, cookie-cutter questions.

If you want personalized guidance, ask questions about your specific circumstances. But I think also very importantly, ask the spirits what they would do.

I think a counter-problem to this is that it can really highlight when the spirit you've called has nothing to say. Just because spirits are powerful, wise, and knowledgeable doesn't mean they necessarily have an opinion on that, or special insight into that kind of situation.

The spirit does know/could help, but they know you're just screwing around

Have you ever asked for advice from a spirit, completely ignored the advice you received, and then went back a bit later and asked for the same advice?

(If we count tarot cards as being spirits then I think the percentage of witches that have done this can be rounded to 100!)

I believe that the spirits will eventually lose respect for mutual interactions when it's clear that the practitioner is just coming around to get their fortune cookie of the week and has no intention of actually ever letting the encounters impact their life.

I think it's a decent rule of thumb to not ask the spirits for advice unless you're prepared to actually sit down and confront the advice you're given.

I'm not saying all spirit messages should be accepted and integrated - far from it! But if it's not worthy of a good think, if the advice literally has zero impact on you at all - then what's the point?

Even if you sit down and say, "I've thought about it and I don't want to take that advice because [I'm not ready/I don't want to go in that direction/I disagree with the philosophy/I think it will go badly]," then at least that spirit interaction has helped you grow in some way or another. It was a stepping stone that got you to process an idea, at least!

But if you're taking spirit advice and it just fades into the background, you don't accept it or reject it, maybe it just kinds of sits on your shoulders with a vague aura of guilt that you'll get around to it, a background anxiety that you're not sure it was real contact so maybe it's best not to interact with the message at all...

Why should the spirits keep offering you genuine advice when they see it's going straight into the garbage can?

Magic is not nearly as complicated as most people think.

But.

If you don't know the rules, you can't understand how to break them.

And.

I went outside this morning and saw five white ravens, each one singing a melody that uplifted my soul.

Then I walked down the street and four different people told me I was very beautiful and each one offered to give me a piece of jewelry they were wearing.

I went to the corner store and the cashier told me he was saving some discount tequila for the perfect person and that based on the radiance of my aura, he knew I was the chosen one, so I got free tequila and also he gave me $100 and a scratcher, and I won $50.

That $150 was exactly as much money as I needed to buy a 4th dimensional megacrystal from the wizard shop that is only visible to beautiful, powerful people. And they had the one crystal I needed for my spell in stock, but that cashier said my karmic record was one of ultimate justification and that everything I believe is right, and so I could have the crystal for free.

Then I went to the library to see if they had an ancient book of untold power checked in, and not only was I able to check it out, but twelve hot librarians presented themselves to me and told me they were each available for casual dating or maybe some long term commitment, whichever I wanted. Although I was very flattered I did have to turn them down, since I was already busy riding my own dick.

Then the scene turned dark and became inverse. The angels became demons but they were not rising above me, but bowing at my feet as their true god. The Four Horseman rode between them, parting the sea of my abyssal kingdom and each Horseman delivered unto me a gift; one was the withering of the magic of my enemies, one was the skulls of my enemies, one was the subjugation of my enemies, and one was to make my enemies engage in emotional warfare with each other so that the love of their friendship was like the most bitter curse of their enemies.

The wax did end up cooling down like that and you can see 100% of the scene, but I can't take a photo of it to prove how good I am at magic because the sheer magical intensity is destroying my camera, like trying to photograph radiation.

Hi Rowan! Thank you for the question

Blood: What price do you believe magic demands, if any?

That is a tough one. I believe magic is part of the energy that flows through everything. A practitioner of magic can sense and perhaps see these "strands" of the weave, and through magic, manipulate them.

behold the GIF!

[Alt Title Text: A Slightly Deeper Ask Game for Practitioners of Folk Magic, Traditional Magic, and Spirit Work]

A @hagstoneandtoadsbone ask game for those who practice centers on folk magic, traditional magic/traditional witchcraft, folklore, cunning practice, and spirit work. Reblog to participate and invite your followers to send you a keyword to ask you questions. Don't forget to send and ask to the person you're reblogging from to keep it going.

Nettle: What are your plant allies, and how did you form your relationship with them?

Lantern: What was a spirit encounter that profoundly impacted your practice or worldview?

Fur: What forms/shapes do your familiars take, and how do they make themselves known to you?

Grove: Where is your favorite place to work with the land and why?

Formula: What would the “recipe” for your practice look like? (Tradition, intuition, land work, ancestor work, scholarship, etc.)

Fog: What relationship do you keep with the spirits of the dead and how do you maintain it?

Hearth: What folklore, regional practice, or historical tradition most shaped your craft?

Iron: What is a magical no-no you personally refuse to break?

Vessel: What physical object in your toolset feels truly inhabited by spirit?

Cobweb: What is something about witchcraft/magic that you had to unlearn the hard way?

Salt: What is your most-used ingredient, tool, or materia, and why?

Owl: What is an omen you received that turned out to be insanely accurate?

Ember: What is a spell, rite, or working you wish you could go back and relive?

Tallow: What offering has gotten the strongest response from spirits?

Heirloom: What part of your practice feels inherited, even if nobody taught it to you directly?

Black Cat: What are some boundaries that exist between you and your familiars or spirits?

Thread: What do you see as the thread that ties all the pieces of your your practice together philosophically or spiritually?

Offering: What aspect of your practice demands the most sacrifice from you?

Stone: What landscape feels the most spiritually charged to you? Forests, rivers, graveyards, crossroads, deserts, coastlines?

Ballad: What is a text, myth, ballad, or folktale feels spiritually “true” to you?

Ward: What protections do you maintain even when you aren’t actively practicing?

Foundation: What core foundations does your practice stand on? (Animism, reciprocity, devotion, rebellion, healing, sorcery, etc.)

Hearthkeeping: What mundane chore or act secretly feels magical to you?

Serpent: What spirit, deity, saint, or force do you approach with the most caution?

Storm: What natural phenomenon feels most spiritually significant to you? Fog, thunder, tides, drought, wildfire, etc.?

Petition: What role does prayer, petition, or devotion play in your work?

Crossroads: Does your practice belong to a specific place, or has it adapted wherever you go?

Transformation: What part of your practice has changed the most over time?

Mask: What misconceptions about traditional witchcraft or folk magic frustrate you the most?

Broom: What does your hearth mean to your practice?

Blood: What price do you believe magic demands, if any?

Hush: What is a ritual or practice you only do in secrecy?