#personal practice

She told me the reason I get trapped in these toxic friend cycles and can never find the female bestie I’m searching for is because the hole I’m trying to fill is Me Shaped.

The energy I’m searching for is my own. The feminine energy I’ve been repressing/ignoring for the last like decade. 😅😅

That’s what I need to focus on. Once I fully accept and love myself the rest will fall into alignment. I need to call back my power and self from those who have stifled it. Myself included!

Oh no! Lmao this is difficult 😂

So...I'm kinda old. The books and primers I began with, the ones that are my favorites? They're old. And I haven't read a starter 101 book in a very long time.

These are a few I feel sort of comfortable tossing out, but you'll have to keep in mind that several of them are quite old, with out of date history, or other issues. However, if you're looking for books on how to begin practicing:

Paul Huson - Mastering Witchcraft

Doreen Valiente - Witchcraft for Tomorrow, Where Witchcraft Lives

Roger J. Horne - Folk Witchcraft, A Broom at Midnight

Aidan Wachter - Six Ways, Weaving Fate

Jason Miller - Real Sorcery, The Elements of Spellcrafting, Consorting with Spirits

Draja Mickaharic - A Century of Spells, Spiritual Cleansing

And these are just a few books on Witchcraft, there are so many out there now. Good books, bad books... but if you can walk away from a book with some new useful piece of tech, then I call it a win. And things are going to change over time as you find something to really dig into and get invested in. For example, if I were to list some of the books that have completely shaped my practice, it would go something like this:

Tain Bo Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley)

Cath Maige Tuired (Battle of Magh Tuireadh)

Dindsenchas (Lore of Places)

Labor Gabala Erenn

Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland - W. G. Wood Martin

Carmina Gadelica - Alexander Carmichael

The Denham Tracts - Michael Aislabie Denham

The Fairy Tradition in Britain - Lewis Spence

Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland - Lady Augusta Gregory

Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms & Superstitions of Ireland - Lady Wilde

Gaelic Incantations, Charms, and Blessings of the Hebrides - William MacKenzie

Irish Witchcraft & Demonology - John D. Seymour

The Darker Superstitions of Scotland - Graham Dalyell

Folklore of Scottish Lochs & Springs - James M. MacKinlay

The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies - Robert Kirk

The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries - Walter Evans-Wentz

Celtic Curses - Bernard Mees

Celtic Cosmology - Jacqueline Borsje

The Celtic Evil Eye and Related Mythological Motifs in Medieval Ireland - Jacqueline Borsje

Elf Queens and Holy Friars - Richard Firth Green

Elves in Anglo Saxon England - Alaric Hall

Cunningfolk and Familiar Spirits - Emma Wilby

Scottish Fairy Belief - Lizanne Henderson

Visions of Isobel Gowdie - Emma Wilby

Between the Living and the Dead - Eva Pocs

Fairies, Demons, & Nature Spirits: Small Gods at the Margins of Christendom - Michael T. Ostling

The Sacred Isle: Belief and Religion in Pre-Christian Ireland - Daithi O Hogain

Irish Superstitions - Daithi O Hogain

Healing Threads - Mary Beith

The Festival of Lughnasa - Máire MacNeill

Locating Irish Folklore - Diarmuid O Giollain

A Handbook of Irish Folklore - Sean O Suilleabhain

The Silver Bough - F. Maire McNeill

New Perspectives on Irish Folklore - Estudios Irlandeses

Myth, Legend, & Romance - Daithi O Hogain

The Festival of Brigit - Séamas Ó Catháin

The Encyclopedia of Psychoative Plants - Christian Rätsch

The Encyclopedia of Aphrodisiacs - Christian Rätsch

The Witch's Garden - Harold A. Hansen

Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West - Michael Moore

Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West - Michael Moore

Pharmako/Poeia, Pharmako/Dynamis, Pharmako/Gnosis - Dale Pendell

Magical and Ritual Use of Herbs - Richard Alan Miller

The Witching Herbs - Harold Roth

... and that's not even close to comprehensive. I've read more shit than I will ever remember. And that's not counting the years I've clocked on Google Scholar, duchas.ie, academia.edu, jstor.com, the Palgrave Witchcraft & Magic series, etc etc...

But you'll notice that most of these books aren't specifically about witchcraft. In fact, most of them are folklore and superstitions, but they contain a wealth of information when it comes to magic and witchcraft, as well as building your own seasonal ritual cycle.

So today, with the basin of water filled and the candles lit, I called on my spirit only to notice that as their presence started to fill the room, I was moving without really intending to.

As soon as I noticed it, I made myself stop only to be given the firm instruction not to interfere. So I laughed and went along with it and after a few moments, I could feel the tension loosening to the point that my neck cracked loudly twice.

Aaaaaand I feel great now 😌

Im one selfish motherfuk

Philosophy is heavily influenced by Contractualism, Egosim, Virtue Ethics complex

Not sure how else to put it, ill have to look into it more

This is what happens when you vent to deities that can actually do something to help

I'm currently going through My fragmented notes from My healing Journey, or at least the parts that I have done already. I'm having to salvage My notes for them because the original audio recordings ended up becoming corrupted and I had to scrap them. Anyway, I'm going through My notes, pondering what certain events mean, while I'm listening to Music. Lift a Sail by Yellowcard keeps coming up, especially when I'm focusing on things involving Freyja, so I'm thinking that She's choosing to claim this song for Herself in a way, at least when it comes to communicating with Me. This is an interesting choice, as I only listen to "modern" Rock and Metal on an occasional basis, prefering to focus on "Classic" Rock and Metal most of the time. I still like Yellowcard, however, and Lift a Sail is My favorite song from My favorite Album of Their's. So it's a good choice, I suppose.