Waxing Moon

BEKKATHYST WINTER 2018 GIVEAWAY

~This giveaway is in no way affiliated with Tumblr.~

Please read thoroughly before entering!

Hello lovely Tumblr folk! It’s that time again- I have a giveaway for you all. Last year ended great, so I thought we should start this year great! So I’m giving you the chance to win this large collection of items.

All these items came from my shop.

What you get:

$50 credit that can be applied to anything in my shop.

amethyst & calcite cluster 

labradorite palm stone

tumbled quartz 

fluorite bunny

rainbow moonstone necklace (handmade by me!) 

other tumbled stones

selenite wand

quartz wand 

obsidian sphere 

lapis lazuli sphere

labradorite heart 

selenite tower 

tiger’s eye cow carving 

giant druzy heart

amethyst hedgehog 

rainbow moonstone nuggets

chunks of labradorite 

This has a retail value of $215 in addition to the $50 shop credit!

Rules:

You must be 16 or older. (If under 18 you MUST have parent’s permission)

You don’t have to live in the US to join!

You must be following me, so you can get updates if anything about the giveaway changes.

Please check out my shop and if you’re interested, you can sign up for my email newsletter here. (Totally not necessary or required, it’s just an option!)

DO NOT tag this post as giveaway. That will risk the notes getting messed up, and this will be ruined for everyone.

Reblog this post to enter. Likes count, too. No giveaway or spam blogs. If you reblog on a side blog, let me know in the tags what the name of your blog is that you’re following me with.

Please don’t spam people with reblogs- limit 2 reblogs per day. Last time I had angry people messaging me because people were spamming it a bunch :s 

Each entry will be assigned a number and the winner will be chosen by a random number generator.

The giveaway ends Wednesday, February 28th at 6 pm Pacific time.

The winner will be messaged and must respond with their full name and address within 24 hours, or a new winner will be chosen.

It’s been some time since I’ve posted anything original, so I thought I’d create a tutorial for a potentially versatile craft that I learned several months ago. Beads made from rose petals are perfect for prayer beads, jewelry, charms, etc. I know that rose season is over for many of us (at least in the Northeastern US}, but it’s never too early to plan for next year. Just a warning: this is a very long and image-heavy post. 

Below is a list of things you will need to make your own beads from rose petals. I’ll explain everything after the break in order to spare the uninterested.

[ ITEMS NEEDED}

Rose Petals

Storage Container

Mortar and Pestle / Food Processor

Additives (See Step #3)

Water

Sewing Pins

Cardboard, or something you don’t mind getting stains on

Pot

Stove

String

Beading needle

Stirring implement

BEKKATHYST HALLOWEEN 2017 GIVEAWAY

~This giveaway is in no way affiliated with Tumblr.~

Please read thoroughly before entering!

Hello lovely Tumblr folk! It’s that time again- I have a giveaway for you all. I know I’m late for Halloween, but because I’m extending my Halloween jewelry collection through November, I’m giving one lucky person the chance to win a piece from this collection! 

I sell my jewelry in my shop.

What you get:

One custom necklace. You get to choose one design from my 2017 Darkest Autumn jewelry collection for me to recreate for you (as long as I have all the supplies on hand). I will send the winner a picture of each design for them to choose their favorite.

This has a retail value of $100 - $180 depending on which design you choose

Rules:

You must be 16 or older. (If under 18 you MUST have parent’s permission)

You don’t have to live in the US to join!

You must be following me, so you can get updates if anything about the giveaway changes.

Please check out my shop.

DO NOT tag this post as giveaway. That will risk the notes getting messed up, and this will be ruined for everyone.

Reblog this post to enter. Likes count, too. No giveaway or spam blogs. If you reblog on a side blog, let me know in the tags what the name of your blog is that you’re following me with.

Please don’t spam people with reblogs- you can reblog however many times you’d like, but please be courteous.

Each entry will be assigned a number and the winner will be chosen by a random number generator.

The giveaway ends Tuesday, November 21st at 6 pm Pacific time.

The winner will be messaged and must respond with their full name and address within 24 hours, or a new winner will be chosen.

I don’t understand this culture of “nobody’s craft is better than another’s.” In what world is this true? Are there no doctors better at their healing than others? Are there no sculptors who are better at their craft than their peers? Are there no scholars more learned than their colleagues? Does it not then stand to reason that some witches are indeed “better” at their craft than others. Is it possible for one to simply *feel* like a witch and adopt that title as a mark to claim some of the associated power? Certainly. And there are many who do little else than this. Some more sincerely than others.

However, to imply that all approaches are equally valid, that all create success, or that witchcraft is something which requires minimal effort is simply. not. truth. And further, to adopt such sentiments to heart, and spread them as foundational teachings representative of the craft to others is to misstep. It not only does a disservice to your own practice, but to the craft as well. There are people who have devoted their lives to learning, working, and refining their practice. To flippantly cast off the importance of dedication, devotion, and discipline in the magical arts is to dishonor the nature of the work and the spirits whom attend to you. Truth. There is no ONE way to all of this. And if someone is trying to sell you that there is, then close your ears to such falsity.

There are, however, better ways to accomplish the work than others. This is a part of why certain practices and lore have stood the test of time. Unfortunately for many, there is no quick and easy route to obtaining such things. To assume that a witch who just started practicing is in any way a match for one who has been diligently studying and practicing for decades is to insult both the craft and the dedication of your elders. No. A person who has this level of experience, and the wisdom that comes with it does not deserve your friendship or respect on a personal level simply because they’ve been at it longer than you. Many of the greatest magicians and witches I’ve known could quite easily be described as assholes, at least on occasion. This does not diminish the work they have done. Or more importantly that witchcraft, if you want to get good at it, requires actual work. Or that, even if someone more experienced than you behaves in a fashion that you find arrogant, or is critical about your practice, their points and the value found in them may be worth pondering. Witchcraft is not about us all getting along. It never has been. That’s not the end goal. Powerful people often have powerful personalities and strong opinions. Get enough of that together in one place and the result is rarely going to be folks standing in a circle sweetly agreeing with each other and nodding heads. There are times where things should rightfully be pointed to as being of little use and not germane to the study and practice of what has traditionally passed for witchcraft throughout the ages. Or at the very lease, suffer a bit of poking at for being silly. People died, and still do, in the name of witchcraft. To treat it with flippancy, or as fashion does a discredit to all of those people (practitioners or otherwise) who were martyrs to the craft. It besmirches the work of those people who have have dedicated their life’s work to the craft. Let’s talk about dedication shall we? Are you willing to die for your craft? Would you be willing to stand in the face of an inquisitor and tell them to fuck off should you find yourself in their grasp? Is that the level of love and devotion you have for it? Do you truly believe that in the current era this is an impossible scenario that might be not faced by this generation of would be witches?

I can think of no tool in a witches’ arsenal which requires more finesse than the mortar and pestle. So often people will pick one up, looking forward to pounding and grinding, not realizing it takes so much more than brute force. Resins will gum up, herbs will be stirred with little to no effect, roots will refuse to powder, all causing a great deal of frustration to those who so looked forward to using this marvelous set. But here’s the secret to using a mortar and pestle: brute force is rarely ever needed, and will not work well in most cases.

Working with resins, herbs, spices, flowers, and more can be maddening with a mortar and pestle, as each of these requires different ways of grinding and working. You cannot approach each the same, as each is entirely different. Simply pounding away at everything will not produce the fine powders so often hoped for. In some cases, a powder is simply not attainable. But, with a little patience and cunning, the tool will serve you well. But before we get to any of that, it’s important to note that if you’re having excessive trouble with working with a mortar and pestle, and the set came from a specialty occult shop, it might just be best to toss it aside. Most of the time these sets are too smooth, not having what it takes to actually grind the materials down. A mortar and pestle made for culinary use is usually the best way to go. Such sets are generally not expensive, and will last you a lifetime.

With that in mind, left’s get right to it! Below are a few examples of the different grinding methods I use.

Resins- Resins can be notoriously difficult to powder properly, often succumbing to the friction between the mortar and pestle and gumming up. Even pounding the resinous chunks too hard will result in sticky pieces. When it comes to tree resins, you must consider what it is you are grinding. Don’t pound the chunks with all your might, or try to grind them with force. No, resins require a delicate touch. Use the pestle to gently hit the chunks until they crack apart. Then use the pestle smoothly, gently, with patience. Resins will take time to powder, giving you plenty of chance to focus your will as you work. Before you know, the gently circular grinding motion will produce a fine powder for any use. Be aware, though, that you cannot use one technique for all resins. Copal powders easier than Dragon’s Blood, which powders far easier than Myrrh.

Dried Herbs and Flowers- Another example of a place where brute force will not serve you, though dried herbs and flowers are much more forgiving. Rosemary, jasmine, lavender, and vervain are all good examples here. Simply stamping at these will not be enough. Often times it takes a gentle grinding of these ti create a suitable material for a powder. Some dried herbs, like mugwort, simply will not powder, whereas Jasmine flowers will be reduced to a fine powder in mere seconds. As with resins, take your time. Be gentle. When you grind dried herbs, you’re either working with botanicals you have dried yourself, or that come prepackaged. If you’ve dried them yourself, you’ll have a much easier time. Prepackaged herbs, while useful at times, are very difficult to grind down any further than the state in which they are purchased. It’s possible to do though with yet more patience.

Dried Roots, Barks, and Berries- Don’t let anyone tell you these are easy to grind because holy mother, that is a lie. Dried roots, bark, and berries are prbably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to grind in my life, and these botanicals are some of the only ones where brute force is your friend. Each of them requires a great deal of power to break down. However, once you’ve pounded them apart, the force is no longer needed. You’ll still have to give it some welly, but it won’t require near as much effort once you’ve broken the materials down. Mandrake root is a good example of this. When dried, mandrake becomes wood-like. It’s very difficult to break down. However, once you’ve got it worked down, you can powder it as you would anything else. Other roots are not so forgiving which is why, if you pull your iwn roots, I encourage you to slice the root pieces into disks. These are much more managable than even small pieces, as the larger surface area gives you more to work with. Bark should be handled much the same. As far as berries, you have to be sure they’re comoletely dry before attempting to work then down. Some berries are far easier to powder than others. Juniper berries (not being real berries) will give you hell. But, as always, keep your patience. It will serve you well.

Fresh Botanicals- This is where you’ll want to forget about powdering. When it comes to fresh botanicals, it’s often only feasable to draw out the juices via stamping and bruising of leaves and flowers, or making a paste by the addition of warm water. Roots will create a paste of their own, as will mucilagenous plants like aloe-vera and marshmallow. Berries will simply muddle down. If you’re trying to get seeds from fruits or berries, you can use a mortar and pestle to (gently) muddle the materials, then add water. After some time, the seeds will sink to the bottom while the body of the fruit/berry floats. Using fresh botanicals in a mortar and pestle can create a great poultice, as well as helping release the volatile oils and constituents of a plants for an infusion or decoction.