Little Opal

When I first started reading tarot I had all these reservations and newbie mistakes that I sometimes made for YEARS. Don’t be like me, learn how to read tarot, be confident and understand that the good comes with the bad. And you’ll be an expert tarot reader in no time. 

Tarot is a tool for YOUR intuition - I don’t know why, but this really didn’t resonate with me right away. I would second guess, re-read, and not use my intuition when interpreting  the cards. In the end that cause some really inaccurate readings then if I would have just used tarot as a tool to grow my own intuition and spiritual feeling. 

Don’t stress read - I know I know we all do it. Madly shuffle the cards then start pulling whenever things start to go array. Let me be the first to tell you that is not an accurate reading. That is just you stressing out pulling cards in a fury that will only lead to more stress. 

Take time to meditate and clear your mind beforehand - Don’t come into a reading with a cloudy head. If you really want to get a good read, spend a few minutes clearing your mind before you shuffle your deck. 

There are no bad readings - I repeat, there are no bad readings. Even horrible tower falling outcomes are just the start to something new and better. If you do get an outcome from a tarot spread that is less than favorable breath and take it one day at a time. 

There are also no bad tarot cards - Just like there are no bad readings, there are no bad cards. Endings are just beginnings in reverse. So even if your BFF is stabbing you in the back with the 5 of Swords, don’t worry it’s just your spirits getting rid of them for you. 

Get to know your decks beforehand - Each deck sometimes has a little personality. Spend some time with them, know them, see how they read for you before you jump in with all the important stuff. 

Meditate with cards you feel drawn towards - Do you really vibe with the High Priestess? Or maybe it’s The Hermit for you. These cards could be your archetype. Pull them out, meditate, feel their answers and seek guidance from them. 

Take breaks from reading - I am a huge advocate from taking a break from tarot. Sometimes you need to change it up, put it down or just step away for a few days or a year. Whatever it is take time away if and whenever you feel the need to. 

Use tarot as a tool for manifesting - Ask questions, lots and lots of questions about different outcomes. If you don’t like the outcome, change your question or change your mind and ask again. Once you get the desired results stick to it. 

Don’t read for free, but practice - I see so many new tarot readers reading for free online. Don’t do it! Your time is precious and if someone wants a free reading, they can lean it themselves. 

Don’t skip knowing your shadow self in a reading - One of the best things you can do is learn exactly who you are, and you can’t do that without knowing all the parts of yourself you’ve rejected. Use the tarot to get to know yourself in the shadows too. 

The cards never lie - Never. Ever. 

Reshuffling won’t bypass a reading you didn’t like - Don’t get yourself trapped into ‘clarity’ cards. That’s shuffling and asking the same question again and again for clarity, or until you get the answer to the question you want. Sure ask for clarity ONCE when you don’t really understand, but don’t ask again and again just to see what you want. 

Don’t wait to start tarot - If you feel called to read tarot, start now! You don’t have to wait for someone to gift you a deck (who started that bad rumor anyway?!) 

Confidence is key - This also took me a long time to ‘get’. Read with confidence. You are a badass witch. You have stepped outside to do so much spiritual growth, why would your card reading reflect any different? 

the first full moon of 2021, Sophie's moon

Whatever you were dreaming about previously comes to an abrupt stop, and a change in vibrational frequency occurs after the spirit appears.

The dream becomes more lucid, and you are able to act consciously and communicate effectively with the spirit. 

Your sensory perceptions become clearer.

The dream’s scenery reverts back to your room, and you see the spirit inside your room or beside your bed.

After the spirit has given you an important message, you wake up between 3-4 AM. 

You will instantly be able to recognise the spirit, often telepathically hearing it’s name.

Upon waking up, you are able to recount the dream in great detail.

The dream is accompanied by the spirit’s symbolism, especially if it is a deity.

You meet the spirit through a door or gateway - the astral threshold. 

There are a lot of things pagans value. Most of them are the same universal values everyone appreciates, like kindness, personal responsibility, and community. One that seems to be unique to paganism, at least among Western religions, is reciprocity.

Reciprocity means a mutual positive exchange. It means rewarding kindness and respect with more of the same. It means that all parties involved in a relationship benefit from the relationship in some way.

This is similar to, but not quite the same as, fairness. When you strive for fairness, or justice, or any other similar concept, everyone gets what they deserve based on their actions. If you act like a jerk, you lose favor or get excluded from the group.

Reciprocity is a similar concept, but it has the added connotation of working toward positive relationships. When the word “reciprocity” is used in social psychology or in politics, it almost always refers to an exchange that benefits both parties. This desire for mutual benefit is a big part of pagan philosophy, especially in how pagans interact with their gods.

Pagans don’t worship their gods just because the gods exist, or because they feel a moral obligation to. Pagan worship is a relationship — and like any relationship, it is based on reciprocity.

You probably already practice reciprocity in your interpersonal relationships without even realizing it. If you want someone to be your friend you treat them well, pay attention to their needs, and respect their autonomy. In exchange, you get quality time with a person you like, a fulfilling emotional connection, and help when you need it.

Building relationships with pagan gods works much the same way. The focus is on the connection, rather than on what the gods can do for you or vice versa.

That’s not to say that pagans are casual about their worship of the gods. The gods are ancient, wise, and incredibly powerful, and all of that deserves respect. Pagans approach their gods with a sense of awe and humility, just like practitioners of any other religion. The difference lies in the belief among pagans that the gods also benefit from relationships with humans. We need the gods but, likewise, the gods need worshipers.

This is part of the reason offerings form the backbone of most pagan worship. Offerings “feed” the gods, giving them a metaphyiscal boost. (I’ve heard some pagans call them “energy snacks.”) These small gifts are a great, friendly way to get a god’s attention. After all, who doesn’t like presents?

It’s important to remember that offerings aren’t just payment for divine favors. Many pagans (myself included) have fallen into the trap of only making offerings or saying prayers when they need something from the gods. That’s no way to maintain a healthy relationship! We all have friends who only contact us when they need a favor — and most of us are annoyed and fed up with these people. Why would we assume that the gods are any different?

Reciprocity doesn’t just mean making an offering before you ask for something. It’s an ongoing commitment to a healthy, mutually beneficial relationship. Regular offerings and prayers are a great way to outwardly demonstrate this commitment.

How often “regular” offerings are depends on the pagan. Some pagans offer to their gods every day. Others only make offerings on major holidays or festivals. Once you begin working with deities, you’ll get a feel for how often you need to offer to your gods.

In general, it’s polite to make an offering when you first introduce yourself to a god or goddess. Don’t ask for anything at this point — think of the offering as a “getting to know you” gift. From there, continue making regular offerings for as long as you work closely with that god. You should also make an offering any time you ask for a big blessing or favor. (More on offerings in a future post.)

Offerings are an important part of practicing reciprocity, but they aren’t the only part. Reciprocity also requires you to uphold shared values.

For example, if you have a friend who can’t stand liars, and they find out you’ve been lying to them, you probably won’t stay friends for long. Likewise, if you want to keep a good relationship with a god, you need to value the things they value and live in a way they can approve of.

If you abhor violence and confrontation, it may be difficult for you to maintain reciprocal relationships with warlike deities like Ishtar or the Morrigan. On the other hand, if you are the kind of person who thrives on confrontation, a relationship with these deities may be natural for you. This is why I cannot stress enough how important it is to choose gods who share your core values. Like any relationship, you need some common ground to build a strong foundation.

(When we talk about specific pagan paths in future posts, we’ll talk more about their gods and what those gods ask of their followers. We’ll also talk about the difference between a religion that challenges your assumptions and a religion that violates your core values.)

This may seem complicated, but here’s the basics: reciprocity means that both parties benefit from a relationship. If you take one thing from this post, let it be this: pagan worship is a mutually beneficial partnership, not one-sided servitude.

Resources:

Wicca for Beginners by Thea Sabin

The Way of Fire and Ice by Ryan Smith

Where the Hawthorn Grows by Morgan Daimler

Temple of the Cosmos by Jeremy Naydler

☪️ Simple Good Luck Charm Bag ☪️

Simple good luck charm you can carry with you!

Needed:

small bag or pouch

bay leaf

clove

rosemary

permanent marker

sandalwood incense

🍀Start by lighting the incense and cleansing the area.

🍀Take your bay leaf and draw the above good luck sigil on top of it (use whatever method you feel is necessary to charge the sigil).

🍀Place the herbs and the bay leaf in the pouch and focus your intentions.

🍀Hold the bag above the sandalwood incense to cleanse and charge.

I often use crystals when practising dream work and find them very powerful when used in meditation or under my pillow while I sleep. They can also be used in sachets, elixirs or to hold when recalling dreams.

Rainbow Moonstone- induces lucid dreams, astral travel, activates spiritual awareness.

Labradorite- stone of mysticism, astral travel, enhances clairvoyance, protects aura, past life recall and accessing Akashic records.

Lepidolite- induces prophetic dreams and lucid dreaming, dream recall and improves psychic ability.

Sodilite- prevents nightmares (make grid under bed), opens third eye

Lapis Lazuli- induces dreams of past lives, vivid dreaming and opens third eye.

Blue Kyanite- enhances psychic ability, spiritual awakening, lucid dreaming and astral projection.

Amethyst- induces prophetic dreams, lucid dreams and astral travel. Keep one near your bed to prevent nightmares, cleanse and charge regularly. 

Obsidian- very protective, prevents nightmares and helps one channel their higher selves.

Blue Calcite- calming, helps with anxiety induced insomnia, clairvoyance and induces prophetic dreams.  

Celestite-connects to higher, angelic and celestial realms, clairvoyance and connect with spirit guides.

Selenite- protects from nightmares and negative astral beings, connects to angelic realms and improves psychic ability.

Moldavite-high vibration *be careful when working with it because it is very powerful*, connects to higher realms, spiritual awakening, lucid dreaming and astral travel.

ok luvlies here is my Anti-Depression Self Love Candle recipe for all my fellow mentally ill witches on my blog💗

Things you need (all precharged and cleansed where needed)

a white or pink (love) candlestick

blue dripping wax (health and healing)

black dripping wax (protection)

dried eucalyptus leaves (healing)

dried rose petals (self love)

4 cloves (healing and naturally painkilling)

salt (protection and purifying)

coffee grounds (magic amplifying)

rose eo (self love)

eucalyptus eo (healing)

left over herbs and two sprigs of fresh eucalyptus

a small basin to hold the candle

(i know this seems like a lot of ingredients but u can tailor this to what you have and need)

Steps

throw the dried eucalyptus leaves, rose petals, cloves, salt, and coffee in a motar and powder them as fine as you can with a pestle. focus on the intention behind each ingredient as you do this, what will these herbs help you with? (i guess you can also food process these? but since i don’t have a food processor i did this by hand and this step took me a little while lol)

leave your powdered herb mix to the side, if you want to draw sigils on your candlestick, now is the time to do so. i used my ‘i am loving’ sigil on mine.

now annoint your precleansed candle with the eucalyptus and rose essential oils. i used 2 drops of eucalyptus and 4 of rose because the eucalyptus is such a strong scent i didn’t want the rose to be overpowered. you want the candle super oily so your herbs will stick to it’s sides.

over some parchment or newspaper, begin pressing your powders onto your anointed candle. if some falls off that’s ok, you can sprinkle it over the candle when the candles almost finished and your not handling it so much.

melt the wax on the base of your candle using a lighter or match and, working quickly, press the candle to your basin to secure it. doing this now instead of as the last step makes it so much easier to drip the wax over your candles without rubbing off the herbs.

now it’s time to drip the wax over your candle, just do this until you feel satisfied that you can see the colour and it looks cute.

after you’ve finished step 6 the candle itself is finished! just fill the basin with leftover herbs and herb powder. i threw some salt and rose buds on top of mine too.

stick the eucalyptus sprigs in the herb bath and you’re completely done!

to finish i just lit mine and left it near my windowsill to charge under the sunlight with two rose quartz and a tree agate.

i hope you guys are feeling better soon and if you like these posts lmk and i’ll make more!