The Witch's kitchen

(context: im a lifelong pagan, and my parents have been pagans since like the 80s-90s, my dads ex wife was a lifelong and ex wifes mom was a high priestess.)

paganism now is not what paganism was when I grew up. Back then the elders could tell you something and you could more or less believe it. Unfortunately, my religion is now a trend, and we must treat it as if everyone is trying to sell you something, because they are. Most importantly:

Nothing in magic or witchcraft will ever fix something for you. You always have to do some of it yourself.

For example, if you cast a money spell you could find yourself in a new fancy job, but you have to WORK for the money. Magic can only open doors, you have to walk through them.

As well, literally everyone is trying to sell you something now. You dont need those “diy witch kits” on etsy. You dont need a million herbs and candles and statues. If thats what YOU want, and what connects YOU to your practice, by all means!! But my whole life, and every witch in my life? We mainly get our shit from dollar tree. My dads alter is kept in an altoids tin, my boyfriends alter was on his end table for the longest time, and ive always had a dedicated table for my own. The only thing you need to start practicing is intuition. The candles and wands and rocks are all just extra to boost your casting. Now are there etsy witches selling spells? Of course! And thats not bad! Using your craft to make money isn’t bad, as long as you aren’t being a price gouging capitalist about it. I saw one woman on tiktok advertising consultation for tarot readings at $100. Ive never even HEARD of a consultation for a tarot reading.

Also be wary of people in spiritual psychosis. “Watchful spirits” aren’t real. The divine feminine and divine masculine exist in EVERYONE, irregardless of sex or gender.

You know, I never understood this shit. And I know so many witches who started in witchcraft through wicca. Thank fuck I escaped that perfumed trap. I started normal. I started in sweat, in silence, in the stench of wet earth after a storm that ripped out telephone poles. I started tasting iron in my mouth without having bitten anything.

Wicca is extremely romanticized. Overseas, in the US and Europe, it's a monster of an audience. An empire of pink candles and incense. And I ask myself: does no one see the structural stupidity of being Wiccan? — "Oh, but you're being religiously intolerant". I don't give a fuck.

Witchcraft was never about religion. Witchcraft is philosophy. Witchcraft is the pure, brutal, irreducible state of nature in its primordial form, the one that devours its young, that rots fruit on the branch, that makes the river rise and take houses without asking permission.

Wicca is the religion of false witches. Spoiled little brats. Elitists. People who are afraid of dirt, afraid of darkness, afraid of their own navel when it starts to smell like rot. Wicca is a religion created by a white man, gerald gardner, an English gentleman in a suit and tie who decided to wrap the shadow in bubble wrap and sell it as spiritual self-help. He took a philosophy that was always wild, instinctive, deeply feminine and marginal and turned it into a New Age system for good little girls who ask the moon for permission.

Worse: he smuggled in parts of christianity. Threefold law. "An it harm none, do what ye will". "What you send out comes back three times". Fuck, that's Calvin in a flowy skirt and a gilded athame. That's not witchcraft. That's Christianity with a lavender spritz.

Witchcraft isn't that cute little movie thing with a sepia filter and cheap empowerment dialogue. Witchcraft belongs to the outcasts. Witchcraft isn't for rich people who can't handle a single day with that energy inside their heads, because that energy gnaws on your teeth, clings to your nightmares, speaks in languages they didn't teach you in college.

Witchcraft is dark because nature is dark. Nature is intense. Nature is pain. Nature is blood giving birth, it's a carcass rotting, it's fungus growing inside the eye of a dead deer. And all of it is sacred, not despite the rot, but because of it.

Wicca is the opposite. Wicca taints everything with talk of light, of evolution, of peace. Wicca takes the abyss and puts a crocheted curtain in front of it. And calls it a temple.

I don't want a temple. I want the open sewer. I want to shove my hand into the sludge, feel the worms squirming between my fingers, and discover that there, in that wet, pulsing filth, there is also divinity.

Witchcraft doesn't need your purity. It needs your courage to stink.

I am going to have a meal with her cooked as ceremonially as possible to help this poor thing to feel loved and welcome into my life as she has always been.

As I am the sole alter eating meat there will be in the next recipe. You can use mushrooms as an alternative. As for alcohol, you can use vegetable broth and amidon for your roux!

The recipe:

- 1 Red onion (connections with chthonic dieties and forces, helps with spirit work)

- Carrots to your liking (same ; helping to mend relationships)

Into the pot! Make sure it is oiled and seasoned. Let it simmer

for the wine sauce (you can add a heavy broth as a replacement)

- garlic (1 clove)

- flour

- salted butter

For the beef (use mushroom for veggie diet)

- any beef will do

- black pepper (warding off negative energy)

I also made spinach on the side because it's a me treat.

Also ! Putting dried tomato in the mix for flavour, basil and cumin for protection.

I am going to have a meal with her cooked as ceremonially as possible to help this poor thing to feel loved and welcome into my life as she has always been.

As I am the sole alter eating meat there will be in the next recipe. You can use mushrooms as an alternative. As for alcohol, you can use vegetable broth and amidon for your roux!

The recipe:

- 1 Red onion (connections with chthonic dieties and forces, helps with spirit work)

- Carrots to your liking (same ; helping to mend relationships)

Into the pot! Make sure it is oiled and seasoned. Let it simmer

for the wine sauce (you can add a heavy broth as a replacement)

- garlic (1 clove)

- flour

- salted butter

For the beef (use mushroom for veggie diet)

- any beef will do

- black pepper (warding off negative energy)

I also made spinach on the side because it's a me treat.

Also ! Putting dried tomato in the mix for flavour, basil and cumin for protection.

Thank You Magical Dandelion

So I decided to drink my dandelion hibiscus tea last night. I made it cuz dandelions are good for divination, but I stirred in some positivity and luck with the honey 🍯.

Early the next morning, I woke up. I don't remember what I was dreaming about or anything, but I woke up and had to use the bathroom something CRAZY!

I get towards the bathroom and I hear water, but it's not coming from the bathroom! The kitchen sink filter hose had busted loose! The floor was covered in water!

I tried to turn the knob under the sink but I didn't have my glasses on and really had to pee!

I grabbed a bowl, placed it under the sink, headed to the bathroom, then ran to get the Wizard of The Mundane!

We spent the next few hours vacuuming up the basement, sopping up water, vacuuming carpets, checking basement appliances etc....

Now it's time to wash up and get ready for work...

Thank you, pee-a-bed, for the early warning system!

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I recently received my results for my ancestry DNA test. One of the main reasons is because I wanted to be able have a tie to ancestrial work. My family on my mother's side was told we are indigenous, but that isn't enough information to go on. Even if I knew what tribe exactly etc, it is still closed practice and I have no one to teach me.

The information I received shows my ancient ancestors were mainly in Nigeria and Camaroon which means they most likely practiced Yoruba or Vudoun. In order to practice and work with the Orisha (the Yoruba "deities"), I would have to be initiated, which I cannot be. I have instead chosen to devote a part of my life to recognizing them (though they may not recognize and work with me in return due to me not being initiated).

The Orisha I found that stood out to me are Orunmila, Osanyin, Yemoja, and Oya.

Orunmila is the Orisha of knowledge, wisdom, divination and prophecy.

Osanyin is the Orisha of herbs, healing, magic and protection.

Yemoja is the Orisha of motherhood, water, moon and creation.

Oya is the Orisha of winds, change, revolution, and death/rebirth.

These are areas of my current practice that I feel drawn to. Does this mean I practice the Yoruba religion? No, I can't perform the rites or rituals of Yoruba religions, but I can incorporate those attributes of the Orisha into my life as a connection to my ancestors who did practice.

The first thing I did was to learn about the practices in the Yoruba religion online and in books (waiting for the books I requested to reach my library). I is great to read how connected to the energy of the earth and universe this practice is. That is how I found the Orisha that I gravitated toward.

Now I understand that all of this is more than likely on the surface. Like how a person might gravitate towards a celebrity, but that celebrity doesn't even know they exist. The person buys merchandise with the celebrity's face on it and quotes things they say, but ultimately it's for them as a person because there really is no connection to the ACTUAL celebrity. -- I get that --

When I get excited about things, I like to create. So after researching, I created divination cards with the Orisha I liked. These are for me. Unless I am ever initiated, I would not sell them for others to use without the understanding that I am not a practicing Yoruba initiate. The cards, though they have representations of the Orisha, really channel my own energy and connection with the elements/lunar energy.

I will not write about them on my @stardustnsorcery blog since this is personal subject and that blog is a business blog.