#asksecularwitch

It makes a crackle sound.

You were right.

[sits here for a solid five minutes trying to figure out what the heck I was right about]

The Bullshit-Free Witchcraft Podcast: 20. A Dabbler's Week

We’ve talked before about how dabbling in witchcraft is not just perfectly acceptable, but should be encouraged. It leaves the question open though — just how does one dabble? With that in mind, and at the suggestion of Tumblr user AskSecularWitch, I’ve gone through and created a “Dabbler’s Week” — a week of activities that someone could do to get a taste of what my form of witchcraft is like.

So yeah. That’s the episode.

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My Dabbler’s Week Tumblr Post

AskSecularWitch’s Original Dabbler’s Week

Approximate-Ritual’s Dabbler’s Week

UpTheWitchyPunx’s Dabbler’s Week — which has been expanded into a full issue of their zine.

And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon.

Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “The Pattern,” “So I Said It,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn)

fierceawakening: tlbodine: earlgraytay : the1stpersonever: cannibalcoalition: the1stpersonever: cannibalcoalition: asksecularwitch: some-dumb-american: asksecularwitch: Ever since people pointed…

Honestly I wasn’t talking about anime/manga or slash communities at all. Hate to bring up the parts of 2006 everyone erased from their memory, but, well....you remember Twi-Moms? 

Most of the time Twi-Moms were not interested in a slash-y reading of Twilight. They were self-inserting as Bella and interested in either Edward or Jacob. And they would say and do stuff ranging from the cutesy (”teehee, I’m running away with Jacob on his motorcycle, don’t tell my husband ;)” ) to (again, in private) the wildly obscene. You remember the sparkly dildos you put ice in so they’d be ~cold~ like ~Edward~? 

It had nothing to do with anti-Asian racism; there was definitely a fuckton of anti-Native racism over on Team Jacob, but Team Edward was just as bad (if not worse). In this particular corner of Twi-fandom, it had nothing to do with homophobia, either- at least, not in the sense of ‘I want these two pretty boys to kiss’. It was 100% grown women being horny on main for (fictional) teenage boys.   

And, like the rest of Twilight fandom, they got shat on to hell and back. But it wasn’t because they were saying shit that would seem hella predatory coming from a cis man. Sure, there was some of that there, but mostly the mockery came from the fact that these were grown women- some of whom had, gasp, children!- who were publicly talking about their (obviously not uncommon) sexual desires. The mockery at them wasn’t “these women are creepy (and therefore dangerous)”, it was “these women are creepy (and therefore pathetic)”.

I know that in the grand scheme of things more men creepily sexualize women than women creepily sexualize men. I get that. But in this kind of Disk Horse, there’s always this undertone of.... “women don’t do this, women are better than this, no woman would ever write the equivalent of ‘breasted boobily’ and it looks ridiculous when you try, men are [sometimes ‘men are allowed to be’] raging horndogs, Scorn Them.” 

And that kind of shit made it so I was scared to transition, even after leaving the Mormon church, even after losing my family of origin and a good chunk of my former identity over coming out- because I was scared that if I transitioned I’d become a bad person. I’d become a horrible skeevy rapey bastard who pushed everyone’s boundaries and didn’t notice or care. Because That’s What Men Are.

 Since feminism is the only game in town if you want trans liberation, a lot of young and/or eggmode trans guys spend a lot of time in feminist places where they get surrounded by this kind of Disk Horse. There are other vulnerable guys in the same place that I was then who are feeling the same kind of fear and it’s totally and completely unnecessary for any of us to feel that way. 

I get that that’s a personal problem and y’all need to vent about creepy guys being creepy. Really, I get it. But it pisses me right the fuck off when that kind of Disk Horse starts to cross the line between “men do this shit and it’s scuzzy” and “women would NEVER”. (Or its close cousin, “women who do this are ONLY motivated by other Bad Influences in society like homophobia, it’s not inherently part of Womanhood, but it is inherently part of Manhood.”) 

This question and response should be framed

I was honestly upset that they didn’t want to know what coffee was like.

I say “Research proposal” because this isn’t so much going to be what I’d ACTUALLY use as a guide, it’s just the STRUCTURE I’d use to write the guide, and why I chose what I did. For a little background on what the hell is going on, see @asksecularwitch‘s post here.

Monday - Spellwork

What: A simple candle-and-petition-paper spell. Dabbler chooses what they want, but with the instruction that it is straightforward, specific, and tangible. The Drake-Meme format would be: “I want to increase my wealth” ✋ - “I want ten bucks in the coming week” 👈 The spell is written out exactly as performed, really hand-holdy, Do This, Then This, Next This, Finally This.

Why: Look, if I were brand new and gonna pick a “dabble in witchcraft for a week” thing, I’d want to start out doing some effin’ witchcraft. So we’ll start with casting a spell. It’s written super hand-holdy because at the beginning, you really just want some step-by-step instructions on what to do. Also a week is a good time frame to give a spell, and casting it at the beginning gives it a chance to manifest by the end of the week. And FURTHERMORE, it’s a surprise tool that will help us later...

Tuesday - Cleansing a Space

What: Dabbler picks out a space to cleanse, told that the space they choose will be made into a sacred space tomorrow. They will play music of their choosing (with a few suggestions to get them started, just so nobody’s floundering, aka “relaxing yoga music, or something loud and peppy, your favorite childhood song, a meme song that makes you laugh, etc.”) while they also mundanely clean the space.

Why: Cleansing is one of those Cornerstone Witchy Things that everyone talks about offhandedly, like “cleanse your space after this spell”, and giving the Dabbler a simple way of doing that is a good first tool to have in their bag. Music is freely available, and it’s customizable, and playing music while doing a mundane cleaning associates the Magical Cleaning with the Mundane Cleaning in their mind, so they get a sense of “clean vibes” as related to “clean space”. Sidenote: the space can be a shelf, a box, a corner of the room, whatever. Might have some notes in there about other things they can add to their cleansing, like the usual magical washes or sprays, lighting a candle, or whatever. Nothing too complicated at this point, though, we’re still taking baby steps.

Wednesday - Creating a Sacred Space

What: The Dabbler picks out items they already have on hand to create a sacred space in the area that was cleansed the day before (the shelf, box, corner, whatever). Sacred here meaning “Set apart; special”, not necessarily “holy; religious”. Dabbler is encouraged to decorate and arrange things until they feel it has the proper vibe.

Why: This is to encourage the Dabbler to think about the mundane things around their own home, and how those things can be magical just by Deciding That They Are. The idea is not necessarily to create an Altar, though it can also work as practice for that should the Dabbler later choose to have one. In my own practice, I don’t have a permanent Sacred Space, because it doesn’t really fit what I do or how I live. But I tried making some when I first started, and I think it was an important learning point. Now, when I feel that I DO need a sacred space, I’m able to whip one up with whatever is around, and I think that’s a great skill to have. It’s helpful to know and feel what “Sacred” or “Special” feels like to the individual, what it takes for you to really vibe with a space or setting. My spaces are more about reining in my hyperactive brain and creating a boundary for it to focus on, not about creating a holy circle of ground, but I know what that distinction feels like BECAUSE of the times I dabbled in creating sacred spaces. This is when your brain gets to learn what It’s Witchin’ Time feels like.

Thursday - Herbal Correspondences

What: The Dabbler goes to their own kitchen or garden and picks out three spices, herbs, and/or flowers (that they 100% know what they are). At this point, it isn’t necessary to actually gather them, just to write down what is easily accessible at that moment. They then check out the Wikipedia article on their chosen herbs, and build their own correspondence list from that article.

Why: “Whoa whoa whoa, Jes, why are you suggesting Wikipedia??” Oh easy. Because it’s accessible, it’s free, and it’s not witchy. Wikipedia gets a bad rap as a resource for a variety of reasons, but for what it does, it does well. It’s an encyclopedia, so it is by nature a surfacey resource. That’s okay. That’s all we need right now. Instead of googling magical correspondences of cinnamon and finding 1000+ lists that all copied from a copy of a copy of a copy of Crowley and then not knowing WHY that thing has that correspondence, the Dabbler is going to learn to make their own by starting a (very basic) relationship with that herb. Example: I was trying to research magical correspondences of base oils, but everything I found was one-word answers, most of which was “fertility”. Which was... entirely not helpful. So I set out to make my own. Specific example: I looked into castor oil (according to “magickal” sources, it’s correspondence is simply “protection”), but my mundane research taught me that it’s been used for hydraulic and brake fluids, used in food preservation, sold as a laxative, and historically has been used as torture and humiliation (with the laxative effect, I’m sure you can figure out exactly how). Well NOW we’re getting somewhere, because now I associate it with “getting things moving”, whether in a negative or positive way. Having the Dabbler learn to do mundane research like this helps strengthen their relationship with what they use, teaches them that they can research their own materials without needing another Witch (or an Amazon Lisa) to do it for them, and teaches them that they can use what they have on hand rather than consulting a magical list of things they don’t have and wondering where the hell they’re supposed to buy white willow bark.

Friday - Divination

What: The Dabbler will gather small trinkets that they already have and collect them in a box or bag. They then ask questions (possibly with the aid of a list of suggested questions?) and draw a trinket (or cast a couple, if they’re feeling adventurous!) and interpret.

Why: I love Tarot as much as the next witch, but it’s not always practical for the starting witch. And in my experience, I can be dragged just as hard by my trinkets as I can by my traditional tarot decks. Gathering trinkets is (again, as you’re starting to see a theme, I hope) a way to use what is already on hand. And after the Wikipedia exercise from the previous day, the Dabbler should have a little bit of practice in thinking about associations. The action figure their nephew left at their house can mean “lost” but it can also mean “found”, or it’s Spiderman and means “responsibility” or Wonder Woman means “truth”, etc.

Saturday - Crafting a Charm

What: The Dabbler will create a simple charm (most likely a protective one, but I’m not married to the idea). They’ll use their own skills to hand make something tangible, however simple it may be. Could be crafting a keychain using their beading skills, or embroidering a small design onto their jeans pocket, or as simple as wrapping a colored thread around a ring they wear. Whatever it is, it will be a thing that they make with their hands.

Why: We’re falling away from the railroad guidelines at this point in the week, and encouraging the Dabbler to start thinking on their own about what they can do. There’s still suggestions so they don’t get totally lost, but it’s far less hand-holdy than the first spell of the week. With two whole exercises about thinking through associations of things, hopefully they can start to come to conclusions on their own (”You know, I think I’ll hang a safety pin from the keychain, because that just Feels Right to me” or “This string should be blue, because that’s the color of my protective gloves at work”). And the second purpose of the charm is... it’s a tangible thing. It’s a souvenir. If at the end of the week the Dabbler decides that they had fun but witchcraft isn’t for them, cool. But maybe three years down the line, they find that keychain they made during Witch Camp Week, and they think “Oh hey, I remember doing that...” and perhaps it comes to them at exactly the time they need it and they decide to pick it up again. (Or they find it and go “lol that wasn’t for me” and chuck it in the trash. Failure is always an option!)

Sunday - Spellwork Redux

What: Get in losers, we’re casting the same spell again. Well, not the SAME spell, but the same sort. That candle spell from the beginning of the week? The Dabbler will now repeat it with similar purpose. BUT, this time they are to modify the spell somehow. Even less guidelines here now. Maybe they want to perform the spell in their sacred space. Maybe they want to cleanse before performing it. Maybe they want to sprinkle some herbs on the candle, or steep some herbs in hot water and use a brush to write on the paper. Whatever they do is theirs to decide.

Why: EXPERIMENTATION. Really, how often do any of us see a cool spell and then perform it EXACTLY AS WRITTEN? I don’t know about you, but I always always always have to modify it somehow, whether it’s to fit what I have, fit my paradigm, or just because personalization is important in my craft. Redoing the spell with a little bit of tweaking means the Dabbler gets to close off the week with a little more of that Witches Casting Spells stuff that they probably expected, but with a chance to see how they can change it now, how they can make it more suited to them, or how they think it might work better. Maybe it will work better. Maybe it will be worse. Either way is a result.

Conclusion - or the TL;DR

SEC. SECCCC WHAT IS THIS SHIT. @asksecularwitch

On the one hand, wtf, the spell clearly says seven days and this is definitely day 12, so let’s not get too excited here.

On the other hand, in 29 years of being in this family, we have NEVER. ONCE. HAD. PEACH. COBBLER. IN. THE. HOUSE.