Crystals&Chill

Have you ever seen a violinist going APESHIT?!

Obviously there are black string players. We just don’t see them because they “don’t look like” string players.

While being active in a spiritual community that holds many people from different countries and belief systems, it’s important to interact with them equipped with the proper respect they deserve. Here is a short list of acts and terms that are considered disrespectful! 

Whether you’re new to witchcraft or a seasoned veteran, there is still information here you will find valuable. I believe it’s important to talk about these things in a controlled manner so people realise that it’s not an attack when we say not to use these terms. Forward this post to a friend if you need to give them a gentle nudge away from some shady activities they may have been unwittingly pursuing. 

Smudging

One of the most incorrect terms used widely in the community, smudging is a specific ritual within Native American belief and spirituality that is exclusive to those practitioners and those practitioners alone. The non-appropriate non-Native equivalent of a similar act of cleansing is called smoke cleansing. Many people use the terms smoke cleansing and smudging synonymously when they are two different things! It’s extremely disrespectful to claim to smudge if you are not Native.

Dreamcatchers

While this one causes less offence, it’s still going to grant you an eye-roll from anyone educated on the matter. Dreamcatchers are again, aspects of Native culture. Dreamcatchers can be gifted or sold to non-Native people respectfully so long as the seller is of that culture themselves. Most of the time, however, non-Native shops exploit and make money from this iconic practice while the Native peoples continue to see none of the rewards for something that is theirs, which is why buying non-Native dreamcatchers is seen as offensive. Additionally, it is the words and energy woven into the dreamcatcher that gives it power. There’s little point in buying a cheap dreamcatcher from Becky on Etsy for the aesthetic.

Spirit Animals & Totems

Similar to Smudging, Spirit Animals and Totems are exclusive to Native American practise and simply can not be used unless you are a part of that culture. They are again, very specific terms that people have wrongly interpreted to be universal. If you wish to work with animal spirits in your practice, a more appropriate term to use would be a spirit companion, or simply an animal spirit.

Black & White Magic/Witchcraft

This is a niche issue and depending on who you ask you’ll have a different answer on if this causes offence or not. I can’t give a definite ‘Don’t use these terms, they are bad’ to you but I can say they are pretty dated and a good alternative would be to use light and dark magic instead. The term ‘Black magic’ holds racist connotations for many. ‘Black Magic’ is often seen as a negative force yet holds associations with hoodoo, voodoo and African spirituality. It puts non-western, non-white magic into an ‘other’ section, something nefarious to be feared, and innately implies a lack of moral purity. ‘White Magic’ is mostly considered to encompass modern spiritual healing,  western neo-witchcraft and neo-Wicca, and is painted as the ‘Good’ and moral choice. In other words, these terms create a subtle racial divide that leads to some unconscious potentially racist views of cultures outside of what the west considers the norm.

Closed or Partially Closed Cultures

There are countless religions which are open for anyone and everyone to join. Norse, Hellenic and Kemetic Paganism are just 3 examples.

However, many religions and spiritualities are closed to any who are not born into them. These cultures are often closed in order to protect the longevity, quality of information and ward against theft. As many of these practices rely on the wisdom and connection of ancient ancestors, it makes little sense for those not born into them to practise them and is believed the deity or spirit of the culture in question would be offended at someone trying to do so. 

As well as closed cultures, there are also such things as partially closed cultures and religions. These are initiation based; in order to practise them, you must have permission or have been introduced to the culture by someone already within it.

Wicca And Witchcraft

There has been a confusion of these two terms for a very long time. Wicca is a religion. Witchcraft is not. Witchcraft is a practice, a way of channelling energy to achieve a desired intent. It has no specific belief system. Christians can be witches and atheists can be witches. Wicca is a specific earth-based religion in which the followers also happen to be witches.

Wicca, ‘The Old Religion’

A lot of Wiccan authors will tell you that Wicca is the one main pagan religion that has been around for thousands of years; this is incorrect! It was a theory that the founder of Wicca, Gerald Gardner, picked up from a historian called Margret Murray. In one of her texts, she theorised the existence of one main continuous witch-cult religion. Wicca was based on this belief. This theory, however, has been disproven MANY times by other historians and is simply incorrect. Wicca was born in the 1950s, early 40s at a push. It was loosely based on a mishmash of late 19th and early 20th century texts combined with influence from African spirituality and a healthy dose of imagination. 

‘A REAL witch wouldn’t curse’ or ‘It is against the rules of witchcraft to curse people!’ or ‘You must follow the Threefold Law!’ or ‘You must follow the Rede’!

Whether or not a witch chooses to curse or not is entirely up to them. There is NO rule against cursing unless you belong to a religion that forbids it. There are no rules to witchcraft at all; it is a personal, secular experience that no one can tell you how to do. Both the Threefold Law and the Wiccan Rede are exclusive to Wicca and do not have to be followed if you are not a Wiccan.

Karma

The concept of Karma is not what you probably think it is at all. Not only is Karma exclusive to religions like Buddhism and Hinduism, the rough actual meaning of Karma is that the actions a person takes in this life will decide the fate of their next life.

Chakras

The use and knowledge of working with Chakras is again, a CLOSED practise belonging to Indian tantric religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Knowledge of Chakras has been so watered down and stripped of its identity at this point that any book you read on the topic is most likely for lack of a better term, new age nonsense. You do not have to use the term Chakra to pertain to energy centres within your body.

G*psy

I often get requests for information and resources from those just beginning their journey into witchcraft and magick, and have recently begun a series of articles geared towards new witches. While, for the most part, I try to make every article I write accessible to new witches, these, in particular, focus on key concepts with regards to witchcraft and magick, and will hopefully be helpful for those just starting out. I strive to write from a non-denominational perspective, but I hope you will find these useful for starting to incorporate witchcraft into your path, regardless of what that might be!

Curious about witchcraft?

I can only offer my own advice, coming from my personal experiences, and my views may not resonate with everyone. I just want to say that you’ve probably heard a lot of things about witchcraft, witches, and magick that are simply not true.

You may have heard that all witchcraft is evil and harmful. This is not true. On the other hand, you may have also heard that witches never harm or interfere with others via magick, but this, too, is quite false. Witchcraft takes many forms and can be used in ways both helpful and harmful.

You may have heard that, to be a witch, you must worship a certain god or goddess, or join a certain religion. Also not true! While many witches mix religion with witchcraft, it isn’t a requirement, and not all witches have religious beliefs or engage in worship.

Some may have told you that witchcraft requires purchasing expensive tools and painstakingly following ancient rituals, but this isn’t true, either. Witchcraft is often innovative, and a skillful witch can make use of almost anything in his or her work.

Witchcraft requires self-awareness and reflection, but not ideology, and those who begin their sentences with “A true witch must…” or “All witches…” can be safely ignored in favor of blazing your own trail, as those who came before you did.

Advice to Beginners

These articles are mostly preliminaries that introduce concepts and my personal views on witchcraft. They are worth a read, especially if you’re brand-new to the fact that witchcraft even exists. They will also likely give you an idea of whether my own views on magick and witchcraft mesh with yours, and just give you perspective on where I’m coming from.

Of note, I recommend you read What Makes a Witch before hitting my askbox with questions about whether you’re a witch, whether you could become a witch, or about how I “realized” I was a witch. Suffice to say, witches in real life don’t operate much like those seen in Harry Potter and Sweep, as the article makes clear. I also recommend any newbies read my articles on Witch Hunts and also the one on Gaslighting, both of which highlight dangers in the magical community.

What Makes a Witch

Is there a “wrong” way to practice witchcraft?

What is Wicca?

Wiccan Versus Non-Wiccan Magick

What To Do If You Feel Cursed

Keep Calm When You Succeed

Beware: Witch Hunts

Beware: Gaslighting

The Perils of Self-Discovery

About Secular Witchcraft

Magical Foundations

These articles, while not spells or rituals themselves, give information about techniques for casting and practical spellcraft. Some are highly theoretical, but give what I feel are important foundations for magickal practice, such as the use of correspondences and symbolism, as well as visualization. Special emphasis has been given on my blog to magick that requires little or no tools, such as sigilization techniques, but you’ll find some articles in this category that do describe work with herbs and other ingredients for those who are drawn to that. Again, these articles are not spells, just techniques and information about the building blocks of magick as I see them. If you’re interested in spells, visit my grimoire page.

General Beginner Advice

About Correspondences, Associations, and Symbolism

About the Psychic Censor

Discovering Your Personal Correspondences

Sensing “Energy:” Positive and Negative

What’s Negativity?

Basic Visualization in Witchcraft

Sigils, Symbols, and Sketched Witchery

Charging Sigils: My Method

Finding Your Element

The Basics of Potioncraft

An Introduction to Bottle and Jar Spells

Visualization Tips

Enchanting and Empowering Objects

Introduction to Incantations

On Divination

Divination is a big part of my magickal practice. While that won’t be true for every single witch, I’m an enthusiastic fan of experimenting with divination methods, particularly Tarot and scrying. Here, you’ll find a series of articles with tips, tricks, exercises and information for budding diviners. Of note, especially, are the articles on scrying. Tarot may be more popular, but I personally find scrying to be an extremely useful tool, as well. This section is relatively short, so expect additions to it in the future.

Budget Solutions for New Diviners

Choosing a Tarot Deck

Scrying Defined

The Basics of Water Scrying

The Basics of Fire Scrying

The Sky as Mirror: An Air Scrying Technique

Scrying the Senses: An Exercise

Celestial Powers in Witchcraft

These articles all concern developing connections with the celestial or cosmic powers, namely the planets, and how these connections might be used for effective spellcraft. Thus far, this section is mostly limited to the seven classical planets, but I’ve plans to expand it to include information about working with  the outer planets and Zodiacal forces, as well. Some people might disagree, but I believe planetary workings are excellent for beginners and help to build a solid foundation of connectedness on which a budding witch can build their practice. I’ll admit, this is a pretty complex topic,  but it simplifies a lot of aspects of magick once understood, and can be useful for many witches.

An Introduction to the Classical Planets

[Image] Classical Correspondences for the Planets

Timing in Planetary Workings

Using Planetary Squares to Create Sigils

Using Planetary Glyphs in Magick

Using Planetary Septagrams and Hexagrams

Studying Tips and Tricks

Witchcraft is hardly all spellcraft and throwing your will around. Much of it involves just doing your homework, researching, recording, and studying magick in order to practice it more effectively. The articles below are the best advice I can personally offer in that regards, and will hopefully be useful for those beginning their journey into exploring magick through the written word and beyond.

Grimoires, Diaries, and Books of Shadows

Tips for Buying Your First Notebook

Witchy Symbols

Book Recommendations for Fortunetelling

Witchcraft Book Recommendations

1. Ask for a “yes” sign.

2. Ask for a “no” sign.*

*IF they were the same, it means it will be uncooperative at this time.

3. Ask if you two are in harmony.

Alright. Y’all know how this works. That’s $1100 right there. 

This is the Willard Library in Evansville, IN. 

And, this is the library founder’s daughter, Louise Carpenter, (aka The Grey Lady), who haunts the library, b/c he left all his money to it. 

The library has embraced her and installed ghostcams that you can watch, on their website. As a librarian who works in a 150 yr. old library myself, I find this totally fascinating. 

“Juniper eclipse” 😂

Mostly I’ve been painting dogs for people, but I’ve done some other stuff as well. I’m trying to make art my main source of income because I’m sick of working pointless jobs. So.

If anyone would like a painting done, I would love to paint your dog.

You can message me on here, email me (ask me), or find me on Etsy, insta, or fb.

Insta: @meggpaints

Facebook: @pawtraitsbymeg

Etsy: