#fruitsofcraft

Do you keep a Book of Shadows or grimoire? What form does it take, and why?

What has been your experience with divination? Do you think it is accurate?

I work mostly with tarot, but have also dabbled in runes and pendulum reading. But I much prefer tarot to the others; it just makes the most sense to me. Love me some archetypes.

I'm not sure what is meant by "accurate" because I don't think the cards are really meant to ~predict~ hard and fast truths about the future, or uncover some deep and mysterious secret. It's a tool for reflection above anything else, whether for you're reading for yourself or someone else. Sometimes the wisdom smacks you across the face a lil bit... and sometimes the message doesn't quite ring true. It's not the fault of the cards and it doesn't mean the practice is "inaccurate," per se--sometimes the cards (or divination in general) just isn't the right tool for the job.

What are your views on paranormal phenomena besides witchcraft? How do you feel about things like ghosts, hauntings, and ESP?

I am a skeptic to an extent. I think a lot of people enjoy scaring themselves, or credit ghosts or paranormal phenomena too quickly even when there's a reasonable explanation.

That said, I absolutely believe that there are things that happen sometimes that are outside reasonable explanation. I think ghosts/hauntings are a plausible explanation for some of these things. I also think it's possible that there are fractures or overlapping moments in time that bleed into our present reality.

What has been your experience with the magical community thus far? What was good about it, and what was bad?

Maybe it's a function of my own social anxiety, but my experience with the magical community online has been mostly positive, while my IRL experience has been very mixed.

Sure, I've come across some pretty terrible takes on witchblr, but with a little bit of discernment and use of the block button, it's pretty easy to cultivate your own experience on this hellsite.

Now... real life people... that's a whole different beast. I want to preface this by saying that my best friend is a witch and a natural exception to all of this... but holy cow is it hard to make witchy connections in real life!!!

I once had a conversation with my therapist about how hard it is to make queer friends as an adult (this is related, I promise) because at that point its only like 10% of who you are, and the other 90% is your career, your hobbies, your weird interests. But if you go to lgbtq-centric events, you meet all these young/newly-realized gsm folks who are SO excited about their newfound identity and they want to talk about that and only that all day every day. It's not a bad thing and their passion is beautiful tbh, but like... shit gets exhausting, lol.

I think finding fellow witches that you vibe with is really similar to that experience. Plus, there's also the obstacle of those new, loud, excited witches being in need of a mentor--which is ok the first time or two but eventually gets really tiring. Also in witchcraft circles you'll find the "seasoned" witches who are super ready to tell you how they think you should practice, which is equally tiring.

Is there any aspect of the Craft that you considered but ultimately didn’t pursue? Why or why not?

I think, like a lot of others, I studied Wicca when I first started learning about the craft, but decided pretty early-on that it wasn't for me. I moved on to Druidry after that, mostly because I have some Celtic roots in my family tree. But at that time it seemed difficult to find resources, and I wasn't really in a position to join the local Grove. Eventually my interest in that path just waned.

I was interested in astral projection, lucid dreaming, and etc. for a little while but ultimately found that it wasn't great for my overall psyche, since I had occasional problems with dissociation even before i exacerbated it with witchcraft. Definitely just wasn't a great fit for me.

I've mentioned before that I studied reiki with a reiki master. I never considered it part of my Craft directly, but it's tangentially related enough that I feel it's worth mentioning. With all due respect for the practice, something just felt off about it in the context that I learned it. There were tiers of advancement, and you attained each tier not based on your skill or experience level, but just based on how much you were willing to pay. Combined with the fact that I'm not Japanese and have no ties to that culture, it didn't seem right to continue.

What is your primary magical focus right now? What are your favorite subjects that you’ve studied in the past?

I actually haven't done much spellwork recently, and I'm not currently digging deeply into any specific kind of magic.

That said, I have always had a deep interest in potions, teas, tinctures, etc--basically anything that can be done in my kitchen--so a lot of my study & practice has evolved around that. (Y'all have probably seen my photodumps of sabbat feasts.) Most recently, I've done a couple anti-anxiety teas on hard nights and a cute lil harmony brew for my anniversary with my darling. I've mostly been taking a step back, nurturing my plants (for future spellwork), and keeping a happy magical home.

Has practicing witchcraft changed your view on how the Universe works? Why or why not?

In some respects, yes.

I feel like this ties so closely with yesterday's prompt about the "big questions." There will always be things I don't understand about how the Universe works, and part of growing up has been learning to be okay with not knowing. (I'm not sure if that's the Craft or just maturity.)

That said, though, witchcraft offers a personal autonomy that most other paths would call Impossible in our Universe. Being a witch means believing its possible to divine answers from a deck of cards, to draw love or money toward you, to bind another person from doing harm. If I had followed another path, I probably wouldn't think the Universe was capable of allowing those things.

What are your views about the “big questions” in life, like why we’re here, where we’re going, and where we come from? Have they changed since beginning your magical practice?

My views on such things are pretty agnostic for a pagan witch, probably. I know that I don't know the answers to the "big questions," and that I ultimately never will. I think maybe I was seeking those answers when I turned to the craft, but instead of finding them, I grew more comfortable with not having them.

There's still a slice of me that really craves those answers, and that slice is also attached to the idea of past lives and reincarnation. There's something comforting about the idea of doing life over until you evolve and get it right. But the larger, more cynical part of me knows that it's most likely just a kind and merciful delusion.