#subtle witchcraft

I had a conversation with someone recently about practicing witchcraft while living under the roof of strict religious parents, and I would like to impart some of my thoughts on the subject in the case that anyone needs it.

Ello! I’m Sage/Moonlit, and I’m a practicing witch of almost four years now. I’m a Hellenic polytheist & pagan, and my practice primarily revolves around divination, minor spellwork, and my matron deity: Lady Aphrodite!

If you’re curious about Hellenic polytheism, I also have a helpol account specifically with resources and posts on that very subject! My goal is to compile things for others so they can learn things without having to struggle for reliable resources like I did when learning.

The rest of this post is just resources I’ve found extremely helpful, so welcome, and enjoy!

Happy Lughnasadh / Lammas to everyone! The first harvest celebration of the year is finally upon us.

Since my last post about this holiday was so popular, I decided to add a few more suggestions for how to celebrate to the list:

🌾 Head into the garden - Now is the perfect day for an extended loop around the garden to check on how everything is progressing. Grab a basket and harvest anything ripe to incorporate into your food or turn into a spot of color in the form of a flower arrangement. Bringing the bounty of your garden into your home is the perfect way to celebrate all that you have been given this year.

🍞 Prepare food for storage - Make a pie filling and freeze it, put some pickles away in the fridge, or can a few pints of green beans. What better way to celebrate the first harvest than by preserving it so that it may be savored during the long dark of winter. While preparing your food, take some time to think about what you want to bring with you into the next season. Leave what you don’t need behind you and carry the bounty of your life forward. 

🌾 Design a sigil for abundance - In honor of the season of abundance, create a sigil you can use wherever and however you please to encourage more abundance into your life. Draw it into your budgeting notebook, paint it onto your skin with moisturizer before a big day, or maybe stitch it into the outfit you plan to wear to an interview, for the first day of your new job, or at the start of the school year. Let the energy of today be your inspiration!

No witch knows every single thing, even witches who have been practicing for years or decades could forget something simple or something complex.

There is no shame in asking for help or admitting you don’t understand something, if you have questions for witches who have been practicing for longer than you they most likely will be willing to try to help out as long as you are polite.

You don’t need a million crystals, you don’t even need ten crystals. Crystals are not an essential part of every single witch’s practice.

You don’t need a tarot deck, the most common alternative is just a regular pack of playing cards but I’m pretty sure I’ve heard of people using uno or some other type of cards.

You can use a tarot cheat sheet, you will not understand every card meaning by reading through some tumblr or website explanation once, you can save those sources and keep them. Use them when you do readings, it will be easier to remember eventually.

Another thing about tarot cheat sheets is that you can make your own, write it in a grimoire or somewhere on your phone, put it in your own words so you have a better understanding, and remember it is mostly about interpretation.

You do not need to be practicing spells, especially not complex ones, right away. The best thing to is research!! You will hear this so much because it helps!

And if you do start practicing spells a lot of witches advise you to start with protection spells. There is a reason for that.

Okay I kinda got sidetracked a bit sorry, back to the show-

There’s no need for materials upon materials, you don’t need everything, use your resources and surroundings, they work just as well, sometimes better because there are connections.

Candles don’t necessarily need to be used, I know a lot of people don’t like candles or fire. A simple alternative could be wax melts with a lightbulb if you are sealing a spell jar, and if it’s colour magick you can use many different things to represent what you want (think beads, string, something written in marker, etc)

Also a lot of people don’t like candles because they’re too big or something along those lines, birthday candles are great for situations like that.

Moon cheat sheets can also be used, I like to use apps to track the moon and the phases.

There’s also astrology apps for you to look into and use how you please.

You don’t need a grimoire, a spell book, or a book of shadows right away, and you definitely do not need it to be an actual book, many witches like to use their phones.

You don’t need to have a huge celebration for sabbats at all, I personally don’t go super all out for things but I do tend to take this time to look into what the specific sabbat at the time is about and potentially follow some traditions from it. Really common things that people do for pretty much all sabbats are talk to spirit guides, clean up and start fresh, or do some baking/cooking.

There is no need for a diety or anything like that right away, don’t force yourself to try to connect with anyone or anything who doesn’t want to connect with you or you don’t want to connect with. There is no need to rush anything, please take your time to consider and think about yourself.

Baby witches please don’t attempt to curse anyone just yet, please educate yourself or seek guidance from a longer practicing witch.

Also just please stay away from the fae or most spirits in general, you need to understand certain things to be safe.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: education is the key! Use your resources and learn about witches and our practice properly, if you don’t you could cause potential harm and it is also extremely disrespectful.

I hope this is helpful in some way, sorry it’s kind of a long post I started to ramble. If there are any questions or you have anything to add on please do!

A quick and subtle way to practice your craft is by using glamours; there’s many ways to use glamours, and this one’s my personal favorite.

Get yourself a translucent face powder that has a hint of glitter; my personal favorite is Bare Minerals Clear Radiance face color. Using a big fluffy brush, brush the powder all over your face and think about how you want people to see you; think adjectives such as beautiful, independent, powerful, etc. I personally like verbally projecting the words I want people to see me as but you can do it however you like. This step is typically best applied after you have finished the rest of your makeup or at the end of whatever beauty routine you do before going anywhere :)