Bitchcraft

everything leaves a mark on us

I love dragons and I especially love Mesopotamian dragons, but Tiamat is my fave

Tiamat  𒀭𒋾𒊩𒆳

“In the religion of ancient Babylon, Tiamat (Akkadian: 𒀭𒋾𒊩𒆳 DTI.AMAT or 𒀭𒌓𒌈 DTAM.TUM, Greek: Θαλάττη Thaláttē) is a primordial goddess of the salt sea, mating with Abzû, the god of fresh water, to produce younger gods. She is the symbol of the chaos of primordial creation. She is referred to as a woman, and described as the glistening one. It is suggested that there are two parts to the Tiamat mythos, the first in which Tiamat is a creator goddess, through a sacred marriage between salt and fresh water, peacefully .creating the cosmos through successive generations. In the second Chaoskampf Tiamat is considered the monstrous embodiment of primordial chaos. Some sources identify her with images of a sea serpent or dragon.”

What a queen, look at her.. and she’s known as “the glistening one”….

every since the thanos snap weedblr has been so dead bc so many weed blogs were nsfw so reblog if you’re an active weedblr in may 2019! and if you

(all don’t have to apply)

-post your own content/ would want to be tagged in stop drop and take a hits

-are lgbt

-practice wicca (or anything similar)/ post a lot about nature

-are a poc!!!

Icelandic Staves to Ward Ghosts and Evil Spirits

Chakras are part of closed practices. Find a different theory on energy centres and how they work. I have my own here but there are many more that exist.

Do your research. Question everything. Don’t follow Tumblr posts blindly. Do your research, make sure that research is credible. Some authors out there are shitty (Edred Thorsson for example). Some Etsy shop owners appropriate. Do your research.

Support minority businesses! Support local businesses!

The best basic herbs to have on hand are: sage, rosemary, cinnamon, thyme, lavender, sea salt. 

For the love of the gods, please ward. The first time you ward, you will most likely sleep upwards of 10+ hours because it is draining as hell but WARD. Wards will keep you safe from entities that seek to harm you.

ALWAYS have a good banishing spell and a good return to sender spell on hand if you need it. Here is Part 1 of a good masterpost on protections and warding.

Always be a skeptic. Don’t just believe things blindly. Is a god telling you they’re an actual god? Question them. Do your research on that god. Always question.

DO NOT INGEST ESSENTIAL OILS. They’re meant to be applied topically with a carrier oil. Don’t ingest them.

Some herbs will interact with your medication if you’re on them. If you’re on medication and want to try herbal remedies, talk to your doctor to make sure that your herbal remedy won’t negatively interact with your medication.

Tarot cards don’t need to be gifted or stolen in order to work. That’s a myth. However, if you feel like you’d like your tarot decks to be gifted to you, do that. Whatever you’re comfortable with.

Your first tarot deck doesn’t have to be explicitly Raider Waite Smith. My first deck was a variation on the traditional RWS style and it allowed me to read tarot more intuitively.

There’s no shame in using a tarot guidebook. There’s 78 cards that’s a LOT to memorize. I haven’t memorized them all and I’ve been reading tarot for two years now. Take your time and don’t be embarrassed to read tarot from a guidebook. I do paid tarot readings and still use my guidebooks.

If you’re worried about wasting food as an offering, it’s okay to eat them. I do it. Many others do it. If you’re still wary about eating the food, if you have plant friends, you can just bury the offerings (especially relevant for chthonic worshippers).

The Theoi website is one of the best for information on Hellenism. Every thing written on that website is cited back to an Ancient Greek text, or even several.

PLEASE PRACTICE FIRE SAFETY. If you’re burning an object in a metal bowl, don’t touch the bowl afterwards. You may burn yourself. Have something to put out a fire on hand should something happen. Don’t burn hair. Crack a window so you don’t inhale smoke. Be safe with fire.

Since I started my journey into Norse paganism, I’ve also been wrestling a lot with energy centers and chakras. Like a lot of pagans, I unintentionally appropriated chakras when I first started on my path as a witch. Now that I have learned more about cultural appropriation, I’ve stopped and I’ve started learning more about energy centers. Energy centers are basically what people perceive chakras to be. However, chakras are explicitly from dharmic religions (Hinduism and Buddhism) and are part of closed cultural practices, so unless you’re Hindu or Buddhist, they’re closed to you. Which is why I’ve been transitioning more to the concept of energy centers.

One of the theories I’m most familiar with for energy centers is the Three Cauldrons [x] [x]. This theory was presented originally in the energy work channel by a member that I don’t recall right now but one of the other members, Quartz, detailed how they view energy centers with their own system!

From my understanding, the way that this theory works is that the energy are divided up into the Head, the Flesh, and the Blood, and each one presides over different aspects of your energy.

For me, the way I’ve started viewing energy centers corresponds to the Norse depiction of Yggdrasil. I’ll attach it now.

In Norse polytheism, the universe is divided up into the 9 different realms: Asgard, Ljossalheim/Alfheim, Niflheim, Midgard, Muspelheim, Jotunheim, Vanaheim. Svartalfheim, and Helheim. Each realm corresponds to a different energy center in my body and a different element.

While the four primary elements remain Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, I also believe there are secondary elements that we can use when referring to energy centers, like Deep Earth, Ice, Light, Darkness, Spirit, and Magic/Sorcery, especially since each of the 9 realms rules over these different elements.

To explain how I view the realms as energy, I’ll start at the top of the world tree and go down. For how I view the 9 realms, I wrote down my ideas that were based on what NorseMythology.net says about the 9 realms, except for Helheim. For Helheim, I used Norse Mythology for Smart People’s website since what the first website said didn’t resonate with me.

Asgard - Asgard is the realm of the gods known as the Aesir. I correspond Asgard with the element of spirit. This element can also be known as aether/ether and it presides primarily in the mind. I got the idea of spirit as an element from the film, Vampire Academy. In the film, the element is associated with  aura sensory, dreamwalking, creating illusions, telekinesis, and mind-reading. The element can also be used to bring the dead back to life, although those that do come back are called “shadow kissed.” The rune I associate with spirit is Ansuz since it rules over the mind (appropriately for Odinn).

Alfheim - Alfheim is the realm of the light elves. It’s also called Ljossalheim (which I didn’t know before I started this project!). The ruler of Alfheim is Freyr, Freyja’s brother, and the element I associate Alfheim with is light. While light and fire can both be conflated with one another, I tend to see them as very different from one another. One burns and the other restores. The energy center for Alfheim is located in your overall aura. It’s all around you. The rune I associate with light is Sowilo.

Midgard - Midgard is our realm. It is the element of earth and helps root you to the earth. Midgard is in the middle of the 9 realms and connects everything to one another, which is why I associate Midgard with the element of earth. It grounds and connects everything and the energy is located in my feet. The rune I associate with earth is Berkana.

Muspelheim - Muspelheim is the realm of the fire giants and is filled with fire. Appropriately, I associate Muspelheim with the element of fire which also features lava and flame. The energy of fire is located in my solar plexus and the rune I associate with fire/lava is Dagaz.

Vanaheim - Vanaheim is the realm of the Vanir. There’s not a lot known about Vanaheim – it’s not really described anywhere and the only deities that come from Vanaheim are Njord, Freyr, and Freyja. The Vanir are deities that have mastered magic, sorcery, and prophecy (aspects that Freyja rules over) and i feel like it’s appropriate that these can be considered secondary elements in their own right. The energy of magic/sorcery is located in my eyes and the rune I associate with magic is Eihwaz.

Jotunheim - Jotunheim is the realm of the frost giants. It’s filled with dense wilderness and ice, which is why I associate Jotunheim with the element of ice. For me, the element of ice is so intertwined with intuition that I place this energy center in my stomach and my hips. The rune I associate with ice is Hagalaz or Isa (both work honestly).

Niflheim - Niflheim is the realm of fog, mist, and ice. It’s cold and damp and was the first of the nine realms. The element I associate Niflheim with is air and I find that that energy lies most predominantly in my hands. Talking with other folx about energy centers, I’ve also come the conclusion that the energy centers in my hands also differ from one another. My right hand is more focused on the thin/watery aspect of air (mist) but my left is more focused with the denser/icy part of air (fog). The rune I associate with air is Othala.

Svartalfheim - Svartalfheim is the realm of the dark elves. Like Alfheim, Svartalfheim is a realm of darkness and deep earth. It’s the deepness of earth, which is why the element I associate with Svartalfheim is darkness primarily, which is a subset of earth for me just as light is a subset of fire. The location of this particular energy center resides in the womb or the testes (it depends on the person). The rune I associate with darkness is Tiwaz.

Helheim - Helheim is the realm of the dead for the Norse. The realm is presided over by Hel and it’s a concealed place. While I don’t see the realm as empty, I do get the feeling of emptiness from the energy of Hel. Instead of the element being deep earth (like Svartalfheim), I get the distinct lack of an element for Helheim which is known as black bile to me. The location of this energy center is the spleen. The reason why I say the spleen is because the spleen is an energy that Alexander Pope reference in his mock epic, The Rape of the Lock. The Cave of Spleen for Pope is a cavernous underworld where the Goddess of Spleen also resides. Throughout the Renaissance and the Middle Ages, energy was divided up into what we now call the four humours: sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic. In his article for The Review of English Studies, Lawrence Babb equates the energy of the spleen to black bile, or melancholic energy, which tends to be more stagnant but less grounded. The rune I associate with black bile is Jera.

That should be everything. The associations I have for all the energies are very personal, so I don’t really want to go into detail for how I use them in my day to day life. Maybe one day I’ll be comfortable but for right now, I won’t be doing that. That being said, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me!

Sources Used:

https://norse-mythology.net/the-nine-worlds-in-norse-mythology/

http://www.therunesite.com/elder-futhark-rune-meanings/

“The Cave of Spleen” by Lawrence Babb

https://norse-mythology.org/cosmology/the-nine-worlds/helheim/

Thank you, that is a very good question.

Now firstly, faeries is a very general term. If you take a look at Faeries by Brian Froud or An Encyclopedia of Fairies by Katharine Brigg you will see there are hundreds of kinds of fairies.

But for simplicity’s sake lets divide them up into major types. I am using a mix of terminologies here that I believe explain things in the most simple manner.

Shining ones/Aos Sidhe: These are a divine race and/or semi-divine race of people that once ruled the British Isles, but later went underground and in the hills in a pact with the ancestors of the current residents to share the land. These fairies are usually huge and have bodies of light. Lugh, Angus, and Brigid are good examples. These are not particularly dangerous if you keep the pact with them.

Seelie fairies/Trooping fairies: These are the figures of lore seen dancing, holding feasts, and marching at the quarters as the seasons change. These creatures seem to have laws and rules in their courts. They have queens and kings and such. They sometimes kidnap beautiful and/or especially talented young people. These creatures are usually made of a kind of oily airy substance and they feed off of the spirit of foods and crops causing them to be no good for people to eat. They are usually similar to humans in build, but a little bit smaller or thinner—though most can shape change to be smaller or bigger, prettier or uglier as the case may be. They are somewhat dangerous, but sometimes can be tricked due to a moral and honor system of their own.

Unseelie fairies/The Host: These are restless undead. Perhaps fallen angels that didn’t take sides in the battle between heaven and hell. Suicides or other people who aren’t bad enough to go to hell and not good enough to get to heaven who haunt the land for whatever reason and are usually fairly solitary and are not particularly good-natured. These creatures tend to also be made of the thin oily airy substances and are also usually similar in size to regular creatures, but usually are grayer, more gaunt, and strange. They live in odd wild places like bogs and graveyards. They are very dangerous.

Primordials: This term is one that isn’t particularly celtic, but I find it describes a group of Titan like figures that are absolutely giant, the shaped the landscape itself. The Callieach is such a figure. As is Mananaan MacLear. Puck is also like this, he predates the elves and fairies and is the land of the British Isles itself. Also included in this classification (for simplicity’s sake) are the Fomorians, a race of monstrous creatures that live in the sea. They are known for being inhospitable and are often combative.  These are no more dangerous than the tooth and claw of nature itself. They foretell deaths, they are the fates of nature, but don’t play a particular role in the lives of mortals unless there is a special relationship made.

Ah Puch - Mayan god of death and ruler of Mitnal (the lowest and most brutal of the Nine Hell’s). Seen as an owl-headed man, a skeleton, or a bloated corpse

Aker - Egyptian god of the earth and the dead. He oversees the gate where the pharaoh enters the underworld

Ament - Egyptian goddess who greets newly arrived souls in the underworld with bread and water

Amida - Japanese god of death who the dying turn to at the moment of their death. His realm is filled with soft breezes, ambrosia trees, and singing birds

Andjety - Egyptian god of the underworld who is responsible for the rebirth of souls in the afterlife

Anubis - Egyptian god of the dead and embalming who oversees cemeteries and burial grounds. He is responsible for weighing a person’s heart to see what kind of life they lived. He is portrayed as a man with the head of a jackal

Atropos - one of the three Greek goddesses called the Fates. She is responsible for cutting the thread of life

Azrael - Islamic archangel of death who collects souls at the moment of death and is one of the four highest angels to the the throne of Allah. The angel of both angelic devotion and devastating destruction

Balor - Celtic god of death and king of the evil giants called Formorians

Baron Cimetiere - Vodou loa associated with cemeteries

Baron Samedi - Vodou loa of death who controls the passageway between the worlds of the living and the dead

Chamer - Mayan god of death worshipped in Guatemala who takes the form of a skeleton in white robes who dons a scythe made of human bone

Charun - Estruscan vulture-like demon who tortures the souls of the dead in the underworld

Chertu - Egyptian being who is the ferryman of the dead and the protector of pharaoh’s tomb

Chontamenti - Egyptian god of the dead and ruler of the west. He is portrayed as a horned dog or a jackal-headed man

Chu Jiang - Chinese god who rules the Second Hell where the souls of thieves and murderers are imprisoned

Cizin - Mayan god of death who burns the souls of the dead. His body is covered with yellow and black spots and he wears a human bone as an earring

Cum Hau - Mayan god of death who was worshipped in ancient Mexico

Emma-o - Japanese Buddhist god who rules the underworld and judges the souls of the dead and decides their punishments based on Buddha’s law

Ereshkigal - Sumerian and Akkadian goddess of death and sky who was believed to have a dark and violent personality

Fe’e - Polynesian god of war and death who appears as a giant octopus

Giltine - Lithuanian goddess of death who appears as a tall and skinny woman in white. She has a poisoned tongue that can kill a person if she licks them but she prefers to strangle or suffocate victims instead. She frequents graveyards at night to collect poison from the dead

Hades - Greek god of death, riches, and the underworld. He is a dark bearded god who rides in a black chariot pulled by four black horses

Hel - Norse goddess of death who rules the realm of the dead. She is portrayed as an old woman whose body is half dead and half alive

Heret-Kau - Egyptian goddess of death whose job it is to guide the souls of the dead in the afterlife

Hine-Nui-Te-Po - Polynesian goddess who governs death, darkness, and night who is said to be the most evil of all goddesses

Hunhau - Mayan god of death and one of the several rulers of the underworld. He is seen with canine attributes but is sometimes portrayed as an owl-headed god

Ikal Ahau - Mayan god of death who hides in caves during the day and stalks the earth to eat human flesh at night time. He is said to take the form of a vampire bat and hide in the bell tower of Christian churches

Itonde - African god of death who eats the flesh of rats and watches over hunters in jungles. He uses a magickal bell called an elofo to decide where death will strike next

Ixtab - Mayan goddess of the noose and the gallows. She is the patron goddess of all those who die by suicide and is portrayed by a decaying woman hanging by a noose in a tree

Kala - Hindu god of death and destruction who wears a garland of human skulls and smells of decomposing flesh

Lasa - Etruscan winged goddesses who watch over the graves of the dead. Their sacred symbols are mirrors and wreaths

Mania - Roman goddess of the dead who is referred to as the mother of ghosts

Merau - Polynesian goddess of death and the underworld and the rival of the evil goddess Hine-Nui-Te-Po

Mictlantecutli - Aztec god of the dead and a ruler of the underworld who is portrayed as a skeleton. Spiders, bats, and owls are his sacred animals

Morrigan - Celtic shapeshifting goddess of war and death who often appears as a raven or crow. A soldier seeing her on the battlefield is an omen of his death

Mors - Roman god of death portrayed as decaying figure wrapped in a burial shroud who holds an hourglass in one hand and a scythe in the other

Mot - Canaanite and Phoenician god of natural adversity whose name means death. He dwells in a pit and his death brings drought and scorching heat to the world each year

Na Ngutu - African god of the dead who guards the souls of soldiers killed in battle

Naenia - Roman goddess who presides over funerals

Ndjambi - African sky god who lifts up and protects the souls of all who die by natural causes. Speaking his name is considered taboo

Nehebkau - Egyptian serpent god who guards the entrance to the underworld

Nephthys - Egyptian goddess who meets and teaches the spirits of the dead and comforts their mourning family

Nergal - Mesopotamian god of the underworld who enjoys bringing illness, war, and fear to humans

Ninedinna - Babylonian goddess who rules over the books of the dead

Odin - Nordic and German god of the dead and victory in battle. He is considered a shaman who receives occult knowledge through communications with the dead. He can shapeshift and rides on a winged eight-legged horse

Ogiuwu - West African god of death who owns the blood of all living things. He lives in a palace in the underworld which is covered and blood and demands an annual human sacrifice to be appeased

Orcus - Roman god of death, the underworld, and oaths who brings punishment to those who commit perjury

Persephone - Greek goddess of spring and queen of the underworld

Proserpina - Roman goddess of spring and queen of the underworld. She is the Roman equivalent to Persephone

Ran - Norse goddess of storms those who died at sea. She causes ships to sink and collects the souls of the sailors in her net and brings them to her hall

Rudra - Hindu god of death, storms, and wind who brings distraction and disarray

Savea Si’uleo - Polynesian god of the dead

Seker - Egyptian god of all things used in funerals and is the patron deity for those who build tombs for the dead

Serket - Egyptian goddess that watches over the canonic jars that contains the internal organs of the dead. She is portrayed as a woman with a scorpion shaped headdress

Shoki - Japanese god of the afterlife and exorcism who is invoked during rituals to drive our demons from possessed people

Supay - Incan god of death and ruler of the underworld

Tate - Native American (Sioux) creator god whose voice is in the wind and he appears in the clouds. He watches over the change of seasons and guards the souls of the dead

Teoyaomqui - Aztec god of warriors killed in battle

Thanatos - Greek god of death who lives in a cave and brings death to mortals

Xolotl - Aztec god of lightning who guides the souls of the dead and the twin brother of Quetzalcoatl

Yama - Hindu god of death who passes judgment on the souls of the dead. He is depicted as a green man wearing red clothes and riding on top of a black bull

Yan-lo - Chinese god of the dead and lord of the Fifth Hell who uses memories of the dead in order to condemn them