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at best 'spirit' is an anthropological (and at that secular-eurocentric) term that has various meanings depending on context and user, but none of the commonplace meanings of the word 'spirit' are actually useful for us, because even then it narrows down nothing. on top of that, in a functional animistic worldview, the idea of 'spirits' doesn't exclude the physical and living, even though witchy folks don't seem to include them in their definition of them.

outside of european anthropology, there are a million ways to define the word 'spirit' and a million kinds of 'spirits' within any given definition. cultural beliefs don't have some overarching idea of intangible presences, but countless individual types of beings in the world and often some system of taxonomy or organization among those beings.

you are just an animal, you are not above subtracting from the land and negatively impacting individual creatures on it, the question is just whether you're doing it with your own hands or not. if you apologize to plants for harvesting from them, you should also be apologizing for every item you check out at the grocery store, every step you take on a patch of grass, every time you get in your car. would you expect a bear to apologize to you before mauling and eating you? do you kneel at the edge of your bed every night to beg for the forgiveness of every bug you stepped on that day?

if "humanity" wasn't in the possession of whatever you think sets it apart from the rest of the animal kingdom, if we all lived in complete 'accordance' with 'nature', every single thing we did would tug on the web of fate of the land we were on. every berry you eat, every plant you harvest, every shit you take. at no point has anyone apologized for any of that or expected apologies for any of that. and the comical thing is we still impact the land in most of the same ways, just in removed ways we don't recognize as such.

It’s a nice sentiment, I like the energy, I do. That said, I am actually descended from a “Salem Witch,” and my Ancestor, Mary Isham Towne, was not burnt at the stake, she was hanged by the neck until dead. We’re not savages y’know.

Furthermore, Mary Isham Towne was a churchgoing, god-fearing woman, who just so happened to be a widow who owned a piece of land that the local judge wanted to purchase, but which she refused to sell, and which he set out to acquire pretty much immediately after he sentenced her execution.

i want to create a resource for this so ...

reblog this if you are a magi ! ! of any kind and with any power . . . magical girls , boys , users , companions , demigods , concepts , anything of the sort are all fully welcomed .

let's get a reblog chain showing off the vastness of our lovely community and potentially meet new allies in our fights 🌌🌙

You cannot call yourself an ally to BIPOC while simultaneously treating BIPOC like shit.

How much time can you actually dedicate to your craft? How much do you *want* to?- It's easy to want to entrench yourself within all resources but that's how you get academic burnt out, set reasonable expectations and take your time with the texts you read. Comparatively, do not pursue massive ritualistic undertakings if you cannot give it the proper attention it requires. You can create an impressive warding complex that requires expensive ingredients & an elaborate 12 step program to refresh it, but ultimately, if your wallet is hemorrhaging itself and you cannot keep up with all your steps- this is not a good ritual for your lifestyle, you need to adapt it.

What do you need magic for?- I pursue the 'micro' purely from an utilitarian perspective. For me, I've been shaped by my time exploring the astral & other Worlds, and thus my craft has been developed for utility purposes. Other people though want bigger impact, larger crafts, others want to help restore their local land, or others are called to practice by spirits, ancestors, and gods. Ultimately, what you need your craft for should shape your methodologies and approaches to how this becomes a facet of your life. To me? Utility means emphasizing quick 'activation' times; Earthside I burn candles, incense, herbs, and paper talismans. I use a lot of ephemeral materials and skew towards fire-based castings because within my practice these are 'quick', both within drafting the set up and within the spell manifesting.

Don't buy into that kind of talk. If you're practicing witchcraft and you like to take pictures and post them or document your workings that's fine, but it's also fine if you're a practitioner who prefers not to take pictures, not to post about active workings, not to publicly detail every (or any) bit of witchery and magic you're performing.

And let's not forget that some traditions discourage sharing too much of your work or practice, some traditions are closed and their practitioners might not feel comfortable publicly documenting details of their craft that they may feel need protecting, and some practitioners simply hold personal beliefs and preferences against publicly posting their active workings, workspaces, etc.

a. i spent 16 years in orthodox day school, i guarantee i’ve learned a fuck ton of gemara.

“Ascending Jacob's Ladder: Jewish Views of Angels, Demons, and Evil Spirits” by Rabbi Ronald Isaacs

“A Treasury of Jewish Folklore” by Nathan Ausubel

“Divination, Magic, and Healing: The Book of Jewish Folklore” by Rabbi Ronald Isaacs

“Elijah’s Violin & Other Jewish Fairy Tales” by Howard Schwartz

“Gabriel’s Palace: Jewish Mystical Tales” by Howard Schwartz

“Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid” by Moshe Idel

“Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion” by Rabbi Joshua Trachtenberg

“Magic, Mysticism, and Hasidism: The Supernatural in Jewish Thought” by Gedalyah Nigal

“Mimekor Yisrael: Selected Jewish Classical Folktales” by Micha Berdyczewski

“Miriam's Tambourine: Jewish Folktales from Around the World” by Howard Schwartz

“Next Year in Jerusalem: 3000 Years of Jewish Stories” by Howard Schwartz

“Ritual Medical Lore of Sephardic Women: Sweetening the Spirits, Healing the Sick” by Isaac Lévy and Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt

“The Bride Who Argued With G-d: Tales From the Trea­sury of Jew­ish Folklore” by Hava Ben-Zvi

“The Diamond Tree: Jewish Tales from Around the World” by Howard Schwartz

“The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic & Mysticism” by Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis