witchcraft blog

but what is it about kitchens? 

What you need to know right off the bat is that you're layering powers on each other, and if you draw on more powers, you generally get better results. Now, there is some level of balance to this, as doing too much can muddle the intent of your spell, but the "too much" threshold is going to be something you learn to use intuition to find for yourself.

So, let's begin! Here are components of your spells to layer on top of each other

The most basic, your ingredients: what are the correspondences of your oils, waters, herbs, candles, and stones?

The time you do it: what day are you doing it? What phase is the moon in? Where are the planets? What day of the week are you doing it?

Location: Are you doing it in the woods? Near a river? Can the light of the moon touch you? What cardinal direction are you facing?

Visualization: While I don't believe intent alone is the driving force behind all magical works, that doesn't mean mental pursuits during your spell work are worthless. Visualization can be an incredibly powerful layer in your spells. What does the magic you're controlling look like? What is it doing?

Who you call on: Will you petition deities, spirits, ancestors, or fae for power? How will you do this?

Symbols: What shapes are your stones? Did you use runes or alchemical symbols? Did you make a sigil? How are your symbols incorporated into the spell?

Energy: Where are you getting the power for the spell? Yourself? The earth? A charged crystal? The spirits you petitioned?

Repetition: How many times has this spell or ritual been done before? An old spell has a lot of power behind it due to the sheer amount of times it has been used. Additionally, how many times do you perform an action or speak an incantation in the spell?

Incantation: what are you saying? Are you speaking to an entity or the earth itself? What language is the incantation in? Is the language related to who or what you're petitioning or is it just the language it was first written in?

Numbers: How many ingredients are you using? How many times will you perform an action? How many crystals/flowers/spoonfuls/candles/etc will you use? Numbers have correspondences.

Colors: Colors have correspondences too. What color is your candle? Your ink?

Tools: What tools are you using? How have those tools been powered or charmed? What have you used them for previously? How old are they? What energies power them?

Traditions: What traditions are you using? Where did the correspondences you use come from? If you're mixing traditions, do those traditions mix well? I do some amount of brauchery, and it doesn't play well with other traditions.

Order: What order do you do things in your spell? Which way do you stir? Do you petition spirits before the spell or during it?

And finally: intent and will. Yes, I'm not a fan of this stuff because tumblr sees it as the end all, be all. However, your intent will guide the way the spell goes, and your willpower is going to get you through anything tricky. YOU have to have the power and knowledge to make the spell work. If you're in a place that is specifically yours (like your house) you have sovereignty and your willpower will decide whether or not entities in the area respect that sovereignty. I could talk for a long time on this but I won't because this passage isn't the whole point of the post

To conclude:

Hopefully this illustrates why a cup of tea isn't the greatest spell when it only includes ingredients and maybe some intent. I know I probably didn't get every component you can add to a spell, but hopefully I got most of it.

These are great questions and steps to ask yourself as you go through the process of creating OR casting a spell! The basics are SO important. Like @system-witches says above, we are LAYERING the powers and correspondences. Our intention needs to be strong, and focus on the goal clear.

I don't have anything against self-care, taking care of yourself is an important part of your mental and physical health. But that doesn't mean it's magic. Neither is brushing my teeth, but things like that shouldn't need to be magic for us to do them.

Comfort, though, is not magic. It is laziness. I love comfort, most people do, in fact. But you cannot move mountains, or heal the sick, or summon the infernal spirits of hell by sitting wrapped in a blanket on a plush sofa. No real magic that I have performed has come from a place of comfort and complacency.

I'm not saying that to work effective magic you have to be constantly in pain, undergoing five dozen trials and tests of perseverance, but just in a way I would have assumed is fairly obvious, people have never worked magic from a space of comfort. It is probably the one state of being I would describe as antithetical to a magical practice, and it isn't because I hate tumblr and never want you to feel good. Comfort, in the sense I'm referring to it, implies not only are you not doing anything, but also you have no need or desire to act. That is not a headspace that will lend itself to improving your magical skills. No one works a curse because they're comfortable. Like any skill, magic benefits from discomfort. Want a new job? Do a spell. Want people to like you? Glamour and enchanted perfumes for you it is. Want to know what's ahead for you? Learn to divine. Want to learn the secrets of the universe? Conjure an angel. I genuinely can't think of magic that comes from a space where you're comfortable and pampered.

This is not an ableist post. Magic takes work, and I have to push through my illnesses to achieve what I do.

You will not achieve great things in your comfort zone. If you want to have your low level magic, your small charms and weak spells, go for it. Embrace the weak magic of an orange scented face wash and a cup of tea you couldn't be bothered to charm properly.

Ok, other mentally ill witches can't work through it? THAT WON'T MAKE MAGIC ANY EASIER TO DO. I don't care if other witches want low level magic. I don't care if another spoonie witch wants to light a candle and draw a card and that's all they do that day. THAT'S OK. They did low level magic, they'll get low level results. However, magic with any substance takes effort. Magic is not going to be gentle with you and pat you on the back because you didn't have the mental capacity to do a spell, it doesn't care that some of us are disabled. Either you put in the effort for the results you want, or you don't get the results. Yes, it sucks! I've been doing this for 3 years, and I've been disabled and mentally I'll for the whole time! But the river spirits won't divulge their secrets if I don't go down to the river to give them offerings and speak to them. My rituals will not give me power if all I do is light a candle and say a prayer.

Washing your face with a face wash that doesn't even have real citrus in it, just chemicals that sort of smell like a lime will not get you energy enough to be up to neurotypical levels. Drinking tea 20 million other people have drunk with no noticable differences in their lives, (but it'll be different because you *thought about magic really hard*) will not cure your insomnia. You can't do magic without the effort. If the effort wasn't necessary, why the fuck did so many witches in so many cultures die trying to preserve their work? The Egyptian mage who painstakingly preserved the Papyri scrolls also was like "but yeah, if you just have intent and some rosemary it'll work too"? The women who wrote entire tomes in code to keep their work safe would look at your blog and nod sagely, going "yes, you can also get the same result by holding a crystal and really wishing for it"?

Yes, go shake your jar of plastic flakes. Glitter isn't magic, it's micro plastics and we already have a huge issue with those. Y'all tumblr witches will sing "as long as it harms none!" And "Buy organic, save the environment!" Till your lungs give out, but ignore the fact that when you dump that useless jar of plastic and water out, that trash is gonna end up in a fish.

People who are using disabled people as an excuse are being inherently ableist.

DISABLED PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF THINGS THAT TAKE EFFORT. I'M NOT ABLEIST FOR SAYING MAGIC TAKES EFFORT, BECAUSE DISABLED PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF THINGS THAT TAKE EFFORT. IT IS INFANTILIZING AND CONDESCENDING TO SAY DISABLED PEOPLE CANNOT DO HARDER OR MORE TAXING MAGIC.

There is no “pre-patriarchal” version of the Persephone myth where she rules the Underworld on her own and Hades isn’t present.

There is no “pre-patriarchal” version of the Persephone myth where she rules the Underworld on her own and Hades isn’t present.

Please stop spreading this crap and misinforming people.

http://tehomet.net/persephone.html

Oh wow, you read a website.

Now can you tell me the ancient sources that this story is referring to. Or at least some sources that are peer-reviewed and written by Classics PhDs.

The only source that states a “Persephone wonders down to the Underworld” tale is written by Charlene Spretnak in 1992 who, by her own admission, rewrote the myths so that her four year old daughter could read them and gain an interest in mythology. The tale is in itself a beautiful tale, but is a modern invention.

The actual tale of “Hades and Persephone” is found in Hesiod’s Theogony and The Homeric Hymn To Demeter.

Persephone’s empowerment came from the fact that her husband loved her so much that, despite living in a patriarchal society, he ensured that the would be his equal in everything. Besides this, the tale was written for women as it details the struggles that women faced then.

Persephone was quite often the goddess that many would call upon for aid. The tale of Orpheus is an excellent example of how they ruled together and made decisions together, with Persephone being able to persuade him to change his mind.

Ancient Athenian wedding preparations began under cover of night with the bride being ‘abducted’ to the groom’s house in a chariot. The groom would give the bride gifts, and the families would feast together. During the ceremony, the bride would eat a piece of fruit given to her by her husband, typically an apple or pomegranate, to signify that her needs were now going to be provided for by her husband. Later, after the ceremony, the marriage was consummated.

In the myths, Zeus had earlier promised Hades his choice of wife since he was given the Underworld as his lot. Hades desired Persephone as his bride and arranges the marriage with Persephone’s father. 

He presents a gift to her (the narcissus flower in the field of Nysa) and after Persephone accepts it by pulling it from the earth, he takes her into his chariot to bring her with him to her new home. 

He gives her further honours once she gets to the Underworld to show his commitment and love for her Persephone eats pomegranate seeds given to her by Hades, signifying that she is bound to Hades as his wife. 

Scholars believe that it was after the seeds, that Hades and Persephone consummated the marriage before Persephone went to see Demeter to assure her that she was all right. 

The stretch of time between Kore’s transformation into Persephone is anywhere from a couple months to a year in the hymn— nine days between Demeter’s search and finding out from Hecate and Helios that Aidoneus had carried away her daughter, and the few months to a year she spends in Eleusis at her newly-built temple the Telesterion refusing to speak with the Olympians.

Even when Persephone is recounting her stay to her mother, she says nothing about ravishment, or rape, or seduction.  Not a single word, whereas the writers would have made that abundantly clear in other texts about the abductions of other women. Basically there is no real evidence that she was ill-treated, abused, raped or in general badly treated by Hades; in fact, the HHTD directly mentions that Persephone was a guest of honour in Hades’ household.  

Hades gets the bad rap in modern society even though he was the only Greek god who remained faithful to his wife because he became a Satan analogue after the rise of Christian monotheism and trinitarianism.

The original myth was a warning parable and morality tale of sorts, meant for its ancient audience… a morality parable that no longer resonates with modern society because women are no longer the property of their father or husband. 

The moral of the story is this: you should respect and consult with your wife and speak with your daughter before marrying her off, otherwise life at home will be a living hell, not just for the father, but also the new husband.

Demeter makes Zeus’ life very difficult because he did not consult her in his choice of husband for Persephone. She sends a blight on all of Zeus’ worshippers until he fixes what he did without her consent. 

Likewise, Persephone unwittingly accepted the marriage proposal of Hades without knowing that she had been given to him and resisted being taken away to be his wife. However, once she realizes how genuine Hades’ love is for her, as seen when he gives her the gift of equality in both rulership and marriage, as well as a portion of his own timai (honor) the honor bestowed upon him by mortals, she comes to the decision to accept the pomegranate seeds, thereby accepting his offer as a husband. The acceptance of the seeds in myth is a code for sexual intercourse since this was the last gift offering by the groom before consummating his marriage with the bride.

Once Persephone is with Demeter again, she lies about the pomegranate seeds, telling her mother that Hades ‘forced’ her to eat them, though we already know that all he did was slip her the pomegranate and she accepted in secret before she was about to be taken away. 

This is despite the fact that Hades gave her the chance to leave and never have to see her again and well, she had plenty of reasons to accept his marriage.

Intriguingly enough, there are Ancient sources that support Persephone loving Hades.

Virgil, Georgics 1. 36 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.)

“Tartarus hopes not for you [Caesar in the guise of Hades] as king, and may such monstrous lust of empire never seize you, though Greece is enchanted by the Elysian fields, and Proserpine reclaimed cares not to follow her mother.”

–> Persephone prefers to stay with Hades than returning to her mother.

Ovid, Metamorphoses, X:

Orpheus singing to Hades and Persephone:

“If able, I would bear it, I do not deny my effort—but the god of Love has conquered me—a god so kindly known in all the upper world. We are not sure he can be known so well in this deep world, but have good reason to conjecture he is not unknown here, and if old report almost forgotten, that you stole your wife is not a fiction, Love united you the same as others.”

–> Just like in Metamorphoses V, love is shown as something that unites two persons. More specifically, it is directly mentioned by Orpheus that Hades and Persephone are united in love.

Lucan, Pharsalia, VI:

The witch Erichtho calls upon the Underworld deities to allow her to bring back a dead person.

“…to Persephone who shuns her mother in heaven…”

“… I shall tell the world the nature of that food which confines Persephone beneath the huge weight of earth, the bond of love that unites her to the gloomy king of night, and the defilement she suffered, such that her mother would not call her back.”

–> Persephone is directly mentioned to have a dislike towards her mother, Demeter, and is specifially mentioned to have a bond of love with Hades. The so-called ‘defilement’ is a direct reference to the pomegrante and the loss of her virginity (In that time period, a virgin having sex was referred to as “defilement”).

Claudian, Rape of Proserpina

The brief summary of this is that while Hades is taking Persephone to the Underworld, a terrified Persephone cries and laments her fate. But Hades feels genuine remorse for the fact that he had to abduct her and comforts Persephone by wiping away her tears and swearing to her a good marriage. Immediately after this happens, Hades is no longer a gloomy and frightening figure to Persephone but is instead a cheerful and kind god. Persephone immediately perks up once she is aware of her situation (she is simply getting married), and a beautiful and joyful wedding is held at the underworld.

It’s a shame that Claudian never managed to finish his tale because it’s a beautiful take and directly hints at the fact that Hades and Persephone had children as this theme is brought up several times.

Lucian’s Dialogues of the dead

A man asks Hades permission to go back to life and he refuses constantly until Persephone gives a suggestion. Persephone addresses Hades as “my husband” and he says “Since it’s Persephone’s pleasure (I grant the favor)” or “I cannot refuse a lady”.

–> Despite the short dialogue, we can easily see that Hades and Persephone are depicted as possessing a peaceful marriage and are presented as a couple who rule with equal power, unlike the dialogues of Zeus and Hera where she actually cries for the things Zeus does to her (cheating).

And we can see generally, from the vase paintings or other texts (like Aristophanes Frogs) that the Greeks were in the belief that Hades and Persephone marriage was ideal. And in several religious cults, and in some cities, they would be the divine parallel of what an ideal marriage should be.

In the depictions (literary, artistic, etc.) where Hades and Persephone are shown together, they are always shown to be happy. Persephone is never portrayed as a miserable wife and Hades is never portrayed as a cruel husband. Hades and Persephone were idealized by ancient Greek women themselves.

What to do for the new year as a spiritual person

I thought to make a post on what me and my WHOLE family does when it’s close to the near year. We do this so that we welcome in good luck, abundance and prosperity along with wealth. It’s something that mainly my mom’s side has done for a very long time and good things happen from it (I also called this what to do for the new year as a spiritual person because me and my mom’s side of the family come from a long line of spiritual family members!)

 So first off!

Go through your shit Like seriously. Get rid of things you no longer want or need. Like clothes, nick nacks, jewelry etc. Throw things away that is trash!

Organize make things more nice and neat within your room/home. go through things to find out what needs to be taken out, trashed or placed somewhere else.

Clean now with cleaning… You gotta do some serious shit. Make sure the dish washer is always empty and no dishes are in the sink (as best as you can). Your bed is made, your bath room is nice and clean, No piling trash etc. The point is, you have to try and stay clean as much as you can until it’s finally the new year and new month. Also wash your bedding and curtains if you have any.

Cleanse my grandmother would make flour washes to welcome in prosperity and abundance. She (and my mom when she was younger) would even wash the walls too. You can play music, light a candle, burn incense, use sage, holy water, you can even use perfume or colonge to cleanse your place.

Keep it looking spotless until the new year!

Something to note:

Now this is optional but is VERY helpful. My mom told me if you wish you can dedicate your place to who ever you work with. That your home is their’s as well. That you promise to keep it clean as possible in their honor for you know they don’t like dirty things. 

You could possibly even ask them to help bring in prosperity and abundance if you promise to keep the place clean in their honor most of the time. 

Cleanliness is next to godly-ness

Another thing, My grandmother would always buy new bedding and curtains and other stuff. In with the new and out with the old basically.

Witchcraft doesn’t have to be fancy.

Today, I was stuck in an executive dysfunction funk. I literally did nothing all day because I couldn’t choose what to do cos I was so worried about life.

I wrote my worries down on a piece of paper and then as I breathed out imagined all my negative energies and worries went into it.

I then ripped it up, and said aloud “fuck you, you’re not running my life, fuck you, I’m gonna BOSS this all because I am a BOSS” and I instantly felt better.

Earth Moons: Sensual emotions that caress their body until they feel it from their head to their toes.. They can smell, hear, taste, touch, and see their own feelings and trace them into thoughts.. They are alchemists; morphing matter into mind.

Air Moons: Breezy feelings that change like the weather.. Forecasting their own emotions to predict and understand the patterns and changes. Uncovering their triggers and their soft spots, they drench their feelings with logic and analysis but even they can be wrong..

You can charge the water yourself. You can cleanse your crystals yourself. You can do the love spell yourself. It’ll just take more. But don’t force yourself to do shit you don’t want to do just because it’s the full moon, you need to feel like it’s the right time, you can’t force it.

There are many, many “isms” regarding religious beliefs and practices. The two most well known would be polytheism and monotheism.

Polytheism: the belief in and worship of more than one/multiple gods or deities. Ancient Egyptian/Kemetic and Greek religions were polytheistic. Some modern day examples are certain forms of Hinduism and various neopagan revival movements.

Monotheism: relatively new compared to polytheism, this is the belief and worship in a single god or deity. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the best examples of monotheistic religions, but even in some cases (mainly Christianity), this concept can get tricky. This will be discussed shortly.

So what other isms exist besides these two? Well let’s take a look.

Atheism: Many atheists further emphasize that atheism itself is not “a religion,” but quite the opposite, being instead the simple lack or absence of any “religion” whatsoever. On the other hand, some religions such as Buddhism and Jainism can be characterized as “atheistic” in nature, insofar as they do not recognize the existence of god(s).[x] But even then, this will vary on geography; for example, there are gods in Tibetan Buddhism, albeit they are seen as a level below a Buddha. In addition, atheism historically did not always mean the absence of belief in a god/gods. It could also mean an individual did not believe in the “mainstream” practices at the time; an example would be early Christians in the Roman Empire. The Romans generally liked to incorporate the deities of conquered lands to their practices, and would allow conquered peoples to continue practicing their own religions. However, since the Christians denied all other gods including the Roman ones, they were declared atheists and faced rebuttal from their neighbors (this is much more detailed and complicated scenario, but for another post).

Agnosticism: This term comes from the Greek gnosis (meaning “knowledge”), but modified with that same sort of negating “a-“ prefix that turns theism (the belief in God or gods) into atheism (the lack of belief in God or gods). So, agnosticism (literally “a-gnosticism,” denoting a lack or absence of gnosis or knowledge) simply refers to being “without knowledge,” one way or the other, regarding God (or gods). Strictly speaking, agnosticism technically refers to the view that definite knowledge about God is impossible or unavailable; colloquially, however, agnosticism is often used more loosely by many people to refer to their persistent personal uncertainty, one way or the other, about the existence of God. Many agnostics so identify themselves simply as a shorthand means of indicating their own noncommittal indecision — a kind of “the jury is still out” position, somewhere midway between theism and atheism, neither fully believing nor fully disbelieving but suspending judgment and remaining open to either possibility. [x]

Animism: Polytheism frequently occurs in indigenous religions blended almost seamlessly with animism (from the Latin anima, meaning “life,” “life force,” “soul,” “spirit”), a view which holds that the world is filled not only with gods per se but also with a vast multitude of spirits of all sorts. Life or “spirit” is ubiquitous, according to animism, with even seemingly “inanimate” objects — rocks, mountains, rivers, wind — often regarded as “alive” insofar as they are each believed to be “ensouled,” each such natural feature possessing a separate and distinct spirit of its own. Add to this mix of gods and nature spirits the lingering (and often meddling, or otherwise influential) spirits of deceased ancestors, and the spiritual universe of polytheistic and animistic cultures begins to look like a pretty crowded place! [x]

Deism: This term comes from the Latin deus, which (like the Greek theos) simply means “god.” (Such terms as “deity,” “divinity,” and “divine” are also etymologically related to deus.) Accordingly, deism literally translates as “god-ism” (just as theism does, too). One might therefore be forgiven for assuming that deism and theism are synonymous — two alternative terms for the exact same thing. However, such an assumption would be incorrect. In practice, Deism as a distinctive term has come to refer quite specifically to a particular religious perspective (one quite distinct from the monotheism of traditional Christianity) that came to prominence during the 17th and 18th centuries, in the wake of the European Enlightenment. Deism holds that God initially created the universe, but subsequently left it to its own devices, allowing it to run unencumbered by further divine adjustment, guidance, or meddling. Deists therefore do not believe that God ever interferes with natural law, or intervenes in human history; hence Deism affirms no miracles, no prophecies, and no divine revelations. [x]

Henotheism: Another relatively new term for an ancient p.o.v., henotheism refers to the worship of one god while simultaneously acknowledging other gods. In other words, henotheists need not deny the existence of multiple gods, all of whom may be legitimately worthy of worship, but they choose to devote themselves only to one specific god (out of all the available gods). Vaishnava Hindus, for example, may primarily worship Vishnu or any of His incarnations, but still acknowledge other gods such as Shiva.

Omnism: Omnism is the recognition and respect of all religions; those who hold this belief are called omnists (or Omnists). In recent years, the term has been emerging anew, due to the interest of modern day self-described omnists who have rediscovered and begun to redefine the term. It can be thought of as syncretism taken to its logical extreme. However, it can also be seen as a way to accept the existence of various religions without believing in all that they profess to teach. Many omnists say that all religions contain truths, but that no one religion offers all that is truth. [x]

Pantheism: this term refers to the belief that God is in everything and everything is in God. The pantheist view maintains that there is no personal God as such, and that “God” and creation are one and the same. Whereas traditional monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam typically maintain that God alone is divine, pantheism asserts that everything is divine, because everything is God. Like everything else, pantheism comes in various forms; some versions of pantheism amount to little more than reducing God to a synonym for nature or the cosmos, which is considered sacred in and of itself. [x]

Panentheism: Whereas straight pantheism insists that God and the universe are identical, panentheism allows that God “contains” the universe within him/her/itself, while also extending beyond the universe (so that God is not limited to, or exclusively contained within, the cosmos).

Trinitarianism: This term mainly applies to the Christian churches who maintain that God is a Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). As mentioned in the beginning of this post, such a view has caused confusion and controversy for believers and non-believers alike over the past millenia. It is understandably confusing to claim that a religion is monotheistic while also saying that God is Three distinct Persons. However, Trinitarian theology is a topic for another post. However, triune natures of deities are not limited to just Christianity. Check this post out for more information.

Lets break that joke down into some different language though. “Let’s play the music of a woman who bears the same name that was given to this storm in the hopes that it leaves us in peace.” Suddenly it sounds really legit. Or the joke used above “Let’s play a song we’ve all known since our youth and pray that the storm is compelled to follow the steps.”

Animistic folk magic and other things that we consider to be long gone like sacrifices to beings for safety (many modern approaches to recycling and composting focus on ‘giving back’ to an unnamed source for future safety), reverence or fear of spirits or the unknown (fae/ghosts/demons/evil in general), and the worship or reverence of certain sites (monuments/national parks/memorials) have stayed with us because they’re an inherently human part of the meaning making process when confronted with our world.