Moping your floors (or cleaning with) pine needle infused water will cleanse a space of negative energy.
After working with crystals for dream work it’s good to take a break and let your dreams breath.
When trying to meditate, you are not actually doing anything wrong by being unable to “clear your mind.” The goal is not actually to have a blank mind, but an open and receptive one. If a thought pops in suddenly, acknowledge it, dismiss it, and move on. It doesn’t mean you’re not focused or doing it wrong.
Hydrangeas are moderately toxic if eaten.
Electronic library. Download books free. Finding books This website has a lot of witchy books you can download for free!!
Holey Stones, any stone with a hole in it, are thought to gaurd against malicious fae and protection in general.
Palo Santo and White Sage because they are being grown on stolen land. For cleansing, you can use: cedar, juniper, lavender, rosemary, lemongrass, cinnamon, or eucalyptus.
If you don’t have a bath tube for ritual baths, do a foot bath instead.
Put it above your door: If your ash comes from incense or an herb bundle, the ash shares the same correspondences and power as the herb. I’ve met some who think it’s even stronger, as it’s been activated. You can either use the bundle to make a light mark above a door frame or it can be done with a finger. This can be powerful protection, luck bringing, or love inducing, depending on your intent and correspondence
Use it in spells: Why get rid of something so powerful? As mentioned, the ash still has power and energy. Your correspondence is based on what was burned. You can use it in place of that herb if you’re out, or in addition.
Use it in anointing: While it’s often used in conjunction with oil, ash has a long history of being used in anointing. Burning holy herbs, and then using a finger to swipe cooled ash onto someone being anointed is a powerful piece of the ceremony
Bury it: A lot of witches, including myself, find that burying the remnants of a spell is incredibly powerful. It’s often seen as giving respect to the earth for the power it gives. The phrase ashes to ashes, dust to dust comes to mind. It’s essentially the ending of a spell, returning the ash to the earth
Ward your home: Sprinkling protective herbs and ash around the perimeter of your home can help ward against negative energy and evil spirits.
Mix it in to art: Did you know you can make your art magic? Through sigils, colors, intention and more. But one possibility is to mix a bit of ash into your paints or use it as a charcoal substitute
Banishing is farmore specific and directthan warding.
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WHY IS IT USED?
Banishing is used to get rid of a particulur energy,spirit, or person. Think carefully before banishing, asit’s a strong form of defensive magic.
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BANISHING METHODS
USE THE ELEMENTS
burn a slip of paper with your target’s name on it
throw a leaf with your target’s name on it into a running river/stream
burn corresponding herbs and pass the smoke through your space
CANDLES
anoint your candle with corresponding herbs and oils, then burn it
when the candle has burnt out. the banishing is complete
SIGILS
make your own banishing sigil find one that resonates with you
place it in the space or on the item you are banishing energy from
HERBS + TINCTURES
use herbal smoke to force energy out of a space or object
make a spray or herbal tineture to sprinkle around your home
FOLLOW YOUR INTUITION
use the method that calls to you
never use a method that feels wrong or that you haven’t researched thoroughly
✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ ✨✨
✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
WARDING
Warding isa gentler form of defensivemagicthat isused in a more general sense.
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WHY IS IT USED?
Warding is used to protectand guardfromnegative energiesof any kind -it redirects energy away from you or your space.
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WARDING METHODS
VISUALIZATION
use your intention and energy to visualize a powerful barrier of protecting light around yourself or your space for more info on ENERGETIC PROTECTIONclickHERE
GUARDIANS
create a guardian to guard your home or space from negative energies
use a small object, enchant it with your intention,and keep it in a safe, permanent place
CRYSTALS
corresponding crystals can be worn as jewelry to protect against negative energy
placing erystals in a room or around you house will create a protective barrier
SALT
black salt can be ured in banishing rituals or used alone
sprinkle salt around your door and windows or make protection jars
HERBS
burn protective herbs and pass the smoke through your space or tools
sprinkle herbal oils and tinctures on yourself and your space for protective barriers
FOLLOW YOUR INTUITION
use the method that calls to you
never use a method that feels wrong or that you haven’t researched thoroughly
✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
I really hope this post was informative and helps some of you! If you have any questions please feel free to message me! merry meet- B
I just moved in with my smoke sensitive boyfriend, so I had to store my eucalyptus smoke stick for now and come up with another way to cleanse and protect our new place. A spray doesn’t effect anyone, it’s quicker than a smoke stick is, and bonus points for smelling like cinnamon :) Lets get started !!
1) Gather your ingredients
I personally used:
-1 cinnamon stick
-3 bay leaves
-a couple pinches of rosemary
-some sea salt
-sage(homegrown and harvested in personal garden, not used for smoke cleansing)
-a couple lemon slices
-sea water
-rain water
All these ingredients have correlations with both cleansing and protecting, so I choose these, but you can pick which herbs you want to toss in there to modify the spray to your own liking! But no matter what herbs you choose, you will need these items:
-a small pot
-a pot cover
-stirring spoon
-something to strain out the herbs
-a cleansed spray bottle
-paint or marker
2)choose your sigil!
I chose this simple and lovely sigil to cleanse and protect made by @kore-amore ! You can choose any sigil you like to modify the spray how you want.
3) Get brewin
We have everything picked and laid out, now it’s time to grab your pot, pour the water and herbs into it, and set it to medium heat
Once it gets to a boil, I like to stir it counter clockwise and think about the negative things the spray will cleanse, and then stir clockwise thinking about the positive protection the spray will bring. After a few minutes of stirring, cover the top with your lid, set it to low heat, and let it simmer for about 10 minutes, or however long it takes till the water is potent in smell(most of the time, depending on which herbs you use, the water will also turn a different color, mine turned yellow, as seen below)
Here we have a finished brew!
4) Strain and pour
Once your brew has cooled down a bit, strain out the herbs and pour into your spray bottle!
5) Paint your sigil
I used the sigil I chose earlier and painted it on with black paint(once again, credit to @kore-amore for this lovely sigil), but you can choose any sigil or paint color you like! Just be sure to think hard about the intent of the sigil you are painting, as the sigil itself only does half the work, and the other is your own magik :)
6) Start sprayin!
Spray wherever you need some cleansing or protecting! My recipe smells like cinnamon with hints of the other herbs so it leaves quite the lovely smell for a short time afterwards! I love this spray, as someone who’s very busy, has a smoke sensitive boyfriend, and needed something very in tune witchy to do :) I hope you enjoy!!
Remember that no matter how skilled you are or how long you’ve studied, it’s okay to go back to the basics. You’re not a bad witch or lesser than you were by doing this.
Aging your books and grimoires easily with coffe and more
Well, time has pased upon i decided to finally make this short tutorial
Maybe some of you should know that this is a photography tumblr, but i love tutorials too so, i decided unify both.
Lets use our coffe in a alternative and productive way to make our photos looks great !
Hmmm, no.. maybe not that way.
∆ Materials:
▲We need a couple of things that everyone can easily found in their homes.
Cotton or brush ( i personally prefeer cotton )
Plastic gloves. Believe me, you dont want to make your fingers dark :p
Very dark coffe or tea. Instant coffe is what i used to use.
A cup where you will put the coffe.
A book, grimoire or book of shadows you would like to aging.
Don’t be like me, and don’t take your mother’s gloves, it dosn’t fit well haha.
∆ Let’s do it !
▲ First of all, and depending of the type of paper we have, when you sumerge the cotton on coffe, have to drain it a little to not exceed on the amount of liquid, or our paper will not have notorious details when it dries.
The kind of look we want.
▲ Don’t be afraid of play, or even draw forms, conect with the divinity and let your imagination be ! Don’t forget that we are witchs artists ۞
I frikin love scythes ♥♥♥
▲ The stains and all tipe of marks are very welcome too !
I gonna drink my coffe while i make some magick, what could go wrong.. ups.
▲ Eventually, the paper maybe turn so much wet, but don’t alarm yourself, you can blow a little on it and belive me, if it isn’t a very delicate one, it’s gonna be fine.
▲ When you paint about to 10 pages, set it dry at the sun or a window and then keep painting.
▲ Take care too of the little details like this, since they make the diference at the end.
Im looking at you motherf******.
▲ Eventually with patience, effort and much love we´re gonna have a very old, misterious and rustic looking book ♥
And it smeells good too.
∆ Of course, this isn´t only a simple tutorial. We are witchs right?
▲ Manual works are perfect to calm and bring peace to your soul. It also can beautify and strengthen your mind while you do it:
Acompasing your respiration.
Displaying positive images in your mind.
Giving to it your intentions and care.
Silencing your mind for a while.
Perfecting your manual skills.
Giving yourself a break of the cotidianity.
Keeping focused on something new.
Reflexioning in calm about facts that you can write on it later.
▼ A few aclarations:
Making the most amazing and beauty book of shadows dosn´t make you a better witch than any.
You don’t really need nothing of these things to improve your soul and your afinity with nature and his spirits.
If you are pure of heart and intentions, then you probably alredy have some especial conexion with de divinity herself.
Don’t let anybody determines what your real limits are.
Never stop learning or searching the truth, that is what gonna make you free of chains ♥
And that’s all folks ! Hope you enjoyed my first tutorial! Feel free to coment with your own painted books, im very exiting to see them !
If you like magick, or you are a practicioner, maybe you would like photos like this ♥♥♥
Witchcraft PSA: The Chakras & Cultural Appropriation ❌
Warning: This is probably the longest post I’ve written so far, so be prepared for a VERY long read.
Disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert, a historian, or a theologist. I am simply a witch, a student, and a POC living in the United States where many aspects of pagan spirituality are often appropriated from other cultures and perpetuated through simple ignorance. I’m sure this post will generate some type of controversy, but I do not mean to attack anyone or their beliefs with this post.
So. Here’s the big one, guys. The post I’ve been dreading making but have really wanted to write for a while.
Cultural appropriation is one of the hottest topics in the modern witchcraft community, and the discourse about it on tumblr is far-reaching and incendiary at best. The problem: Where should witches draw a line between explorational spirituality and cultural appropriation?
I’m not here to lay down laws of morality. I’m not the cultural police. But I DID have a very eye-opening experience recently that led me to create this post.
I’m a white-passing minority, and I won’t pretend that this doesn’t lend me a degree of privilege in America. Especially as a witch, many doors are open to me. Just within the witchcraft community, I look white enough to be welcomed whole-heartedly into most neopagan circles. That’s not to say that blatant racism is abundant within the pagan community, but we can’t deny that many non-white cultural practices are heavily stigmatized. For instance, as SOON as any of my “light worker” friends hears that I have a family background in Santeria and Brujeria, the FIRST thing I hear is, “Oh, I don’t mess with that dark stuff,” or “Well, I don’t like the idea of hurting animals and other people.” And don’t get me started on the ignorant conversations one of my dark-skinned, Vodou-practicing friends has had to sit through before.
Like,what?
Because of this, I’m often the first person within my social circles to stand up for cultural barriers and denounce cultural stigma. Above all else, I try to respect the hell out of closed cultures and educate myself about cultural appropriation.
So, it was much to my dismay when I discovered that I have been culturally appropriating the chakra system for the last 11 years of my witchcraft practice.
The chakra system and its use in western occultism is one of the most heavily debated topics in the witchblr community. A simple search will yield dozens upon dozens of posts, each filled with witches claiming that usage of the chakra system either IS or IS NOT appropriation. For the most part, I’ve tried to stay out of this debate. I’ve incorporated the chakras into my practice since I began, but I thought my oriental heritage and my “thorough” understanding of the chakras made this okay. But, lo and behold, I was sorely mistaken.
So, after some deep research into this topic, and after talking to several Hindus and Buddhists, here’s my attempt to shed some light on this issue.
What are the chakras (according to Western occultism)?
As a brief overview, the chakras are believed to be spiraling energy centers that exist within the subtle body. There are seven of them, and they lie along the spine in places where large amounts of nerves and vital organs exist. Similar to the way our brain is a large compilation of nerves, these chakras are believed to be the intersection points of energy currents within our spirit.
Each chakra rules over a particular psychological, physical, and spiritual state of being, and disruptions within the chakras are believed to lead to different types of mental, emotional, and physical illnesses.
These chakras are depicted as lotus flowers with varying numbers of petals, and each is represented by its own color. Each one also corresponds to a Sankskrit syllable mantra which is believed to activate the chakra when spoken aloud.
In order, they are:
❤Muladhara - The Root Chakra - Connection to the Earth and the Self - Located at the base of the spine - Depicted as a red lotus with 4 petals - Mantra: LAM
Swadhisthana- The Sacral Chakra - Connection to sexuality and instinct - Located near the sexual organs - Depicted as an orange lotus with 6 petals - Mantra: VAM
Manipura- The Solar Chakra - Connection to will and identity - Located in the Solar Plexus - Depicted as a yellow lotus with 10 petals - Mantra: RAM
Anahata- The Heart Chakra - Connection to love and relationships - Located in the heart - Depicted as a green lotus with 12 petals - Mantra: YAM
Vishuddha- The Throat Chakra - Connection to voice and communication - Located in the heart - Depicted as a blue lotus with 16 petals - Mantra: HAM
Ajna- The Third Eye Chakra - Connection to spiritual awareness - Located above and between the eyes - Depicted as a purple lotus with 2 petals - Mantra: OM
Sahastrara- The Crown Chakra - Connection to Source/the Universe - Located at the top of the head - Depicted as either a purple, rainbow, or white lotus with 144,000 petals - Mantra: Silence
Along with these associations, each chakra is often associated with various crystals, herbs, and spirits.
What are the chakras within their original cultural context?
The concept of ‘chakras’ arose from a practice known as Tantric Yoga. This was a spiritual system that began to gain popularity in India and other eastern cultures between 600-1300 CE. Up until this point (and concurrently as well), most types of spirituality in these cultures was very transcendental - that is, they had a fundamental belief that the Divine was transcendent and inherently 'above’ the natural world. Therefore, in order to commune with the divine, it was believed that the material world had to be renounced and denied, and higher states of consciousness had to be achieved in order to commune with divinity.
Tantric spirituality flipped the script. It adopted the idea that divinity was an inherent quality of the natural world, and that a person could freely commune with the divine by opening themselves up to the world around them through mindfulness and all-embracing compassion.
The philosophies and teachings of tantric yoga (loosely known as ’tantras’) became extremely widespread throughout this period and dramatically shaped many emerging sects of Hinduism and Buddhism. As this philosophy spread, many different types of specific spiritual practices arose, many of which can be recognized in our Western ideas of holistic meditation - such as mantras, mudras, mandalas, and even modern Western yoga.
One such concept that gained popularity was the idea of chakras - focal points of spiritual energy in the body. However, these chakras were very different than what Westerners think of today.
There were a LOT of different traditions that arose from Tantric teachings, and each one had its own unique belief about chakras. The most obvious difference between these chakra traditions was that each one believed in a different number of chakras. Some systems had three, others had six, others had seven, others had nine, others had 10, others had 21, etc.
Each one approached the chakras a bit differently, and so each one believed in a different number of chakra centers.
What are some of the primary differences between Western Chakras and Tantric Chakras?
The most eye-opening difference for me was that Tantric chakras have none of the associations that Westerners believe in today. Original practitioners of Tantric spirituality did not associate specific colors with each chakra, they did not associate physical or psychological states with them, they did not associate any herbs or crystals or planets with them, and they did not even associate Sanskrit syllables with them. What’s more, they didn’t even believe they were located in fixed points on the body.
Loosely, they believed that the chakras - like all things spiritual - were very fluid. They could often be accessed through general areas of the body, but they definitely were not stagnant, fixed points. This also accounts for the varying number of chakras, because it was believed that the chakras would manifest in different ways depending on what traditional practice you used to approach them.
Many traditions did believe that these chakras could be depicted as lotus flowers with various petals, but these were not meant to inherently describe the individual chakra. Rather, these depictions were meant to serve as a visualization for a person to meditate on when trying to access a specific chakra.
Along with this, these traditions did not assign specific names or syllables to these chakras - at least not the ones we use today. Rather, it was believed that Sanskrit syllables carried an inherent magic or divine energy within them (similar to Kabbalistic views of the Hebrew language), and they assigned various letters and syllables to the petals of each lotus flower, which corresponded to various energies in nature.
The symbols, names, and Sanskrit syllables popularized in the West today don’t even correspond to any kind of Tantric chakras. They actually correspond to the elements within certain traditions of eastern spirituality. They also are not meant to be uniquely associated with any individual chakra. Rather, these syllables were used in meditation to invoke specific elemental energies into different chakras depending on the situation.
If your tradition believed that the heart chakra could affect the relationships in your life, and your personal relationships happened to be very stagnant, you could vibrate the syllable for the Wind element and invoke that energy into your heart chakra to help your personal relationships become more dynamic. Etc.
This brings me to the final thing I’d like to talk about: Westerners are NOT using the chakras for their original purpose.
The only concrete associations that tantric traditions had for the chakras were deities. These traditions believed that each of their chakras was associated with a specific Hindu deity (though the specific order or deities listed varies between tradition and time period).
The original purpose of 'working with chakras’ was to eventually invoke the energy of these specific deities into a person’s chakras in order to become closer to these gods and goddesses and emulate their behavior and teachings in daily life.
How did the original concept of chakras get misconstrued in Western culture?
Oh, boy. This is a tough answer that’s soaked in 1000 years of colonialism, racism, cultural and linguistic barriers, and simple misunderstandings.
But, simply put, the appropriation of tantric chakras can be narrowed down to four specific individuals.
In 1577, a spiritual teacher and academic named Purnananda Yati wrote a treatise of tantric teachings called the Shatchakra Nirupana, or roughly 'An Explanation of the Six Chakras’.
In this treatise, Purnananda lays out the modern framework we see today - six chakra centers within the human spirit, with an additional seventh chakra above the head that connects the spirit to the divine source. He based this concept off of an earlier writing from the 13th century, which also details this framework but openly acknowledges that this is just ONE tradition, and that many other traditions also exist.
In 1918, a British scholar named John Woodroffe translated Purnananda’s treatise from Sanskrit into English, and unfortunately, there were many mistranslations in Woodroffe’s version. This translation was what eventually gained extreme popularity throughout academic and occult circles in the West.
Throughout the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s, the renowned European psychologist, Carl Jung (who you might recognize from your Psych 101 class), became fascinated with the idea of chakras and their relation to consciousness. Throughout this time period, Jung wrote extensively about potential connections between the seven chakra centers and various psychological states. This is where the chakras became associated with different states of being, such as instinct, will, and sexuality.
Finally, in 1987, an American occultist and spiritualist named Anodea Judith published a book entitled Wheels of Life. In this book, Judith talks extensively about the seven chakras, and even lists correspondences between the chakras and various herbs, crystals, elements, planets, tarot cards, deities, and archangels.
Her book became wildly popular within holistic and spiritual circles, and set in stone the way that modern neo-pagans view the chakras in the West.
So, are chakras part of a closed culture?
Yes and no.
Chakras as we view them in the West are, at best, a distorted and bastardized version of a beautiful, ancient belief. They were studied and theorized by many traditions for over a thousand years, and many of these traditions still exist today. Most commonly, they are still used in Shaivism, which is one of the most prevalent forms of Hinduism in the East.
Many of these living traditions ARE, in fact, closed. But more than that, to perpetuate (and worse, claim spirituality from) a distorted, white-washed version of an Eastern religious belief is just plain disrespectful and potentially racist at its worst.
That being said, though, there are certain living traditions which ARE NOT closed, such as the exceedingly popular Tibetan Buddhism. These traditions recognize many of the same teachings and are freely shared with people of any nationality or background - as long as you put in the work to learn about them.
The Main Takeaway
The chakras, as viewed in the West, are incorrect. This is not to disclaim any type of spiritual experience Westerners may have had by utilizing chakras in their practice, but I’m of the opinion that Westerners should recognize that the “chakras” they believe in don’t actually have any basis in ancient spirituality.
That being said, the concept of a subtle body and energy centers within the human spirit is not unique to the Far East.
The concept of currents and centers of energy within the body can be found in cultures the world over, from India to Japan to Korea to Africa to the Middle East, and even among the Native Americans who never came into contact with these other cultures (as far as we know).
The human soul, the subtle body, and spiritual energy are concepts that supercede cultural boundaries, and if studying and utilizing them is an integral part of your craft, then I encourage you to follow your personal path and find connection with the Universe in whatever way you feel called to.
But. Perhaps developing your own unique system and beliefs about the energy centers within the body is the best course of action for us Westerners. Until we ourselves make the effort to go join one of those (open) traditions, subscribing to the modern Western system of “chakras” is, in my opinion, cultural appropriation.
It uses the “Witchcraft” and “Wicca” fuckin interchangeably
It suggests you’re one dreadlock and eagle feather away from being your very own, white Shaman
It claims “Voodoo” is a super fun, spooky thing that everyone should join in on
Smudging is cool, also, has anyone seen my works cited? Oh that’s right, I didn’t make one.
If you curse, you are mustache twirling devil and the 3 fold law is gonna send your ass to witch hell
All witches, Wiccan or not should abide by the rede or burn the hell up in the aforementioned fictional witch hell
Ignorantly throws around the word “Chakras” like fuckin mardi gras beads
You even see the word gypsy once
Spices things up with some sacred, closed and wildly un researched Native American Spiritualism
Miscellaneous new age white person spiritualism
And here’s some Ohms. ૐ ૐ ૐ
I’m not sure what what they but have some more Ohms ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ
Wait, white sage is endangered?
New Additions:
It suggests that “witch” is a gendered term or refers to witches (and possibly the reader) exclusively with she/her pronouns.
It sets hard timelines on length of study before you can call yourself a witch or learn certain skills or try certain activities i.e. “year and a day before you can cast a spell” with a hand-wave of an explanation. (Bonus points if it’s a book that’s supposedly for solitary witches.)
It says anything about youth being inherently magical. Big honking red flag.
“The Law of Attraction TOTALLY works! You just need to be more positive!”
You don’t need medicine or doctors, just drink this crystal herb elixir and do this spell, oh and don’t forget to put mugwort in your tea. What are health warnings?
But of COURSE we can apply modern concepts to ancient narratives without any regard for the historical record! There was totally a pre-Christian Irish potato goddess!
NINE MILLION DEAD WITCHES!!!11!!!1!!eleventy
There is only ONE RIGHT WAY to be a witch, the rest are garbage and you’ll probably end the world if you get things wrong.
one time, i was watching noodle recipes to make the next day and suddenly, Lord Apollo popped up. his energy was right behind me. just as i was about to change it, he said “no i want to keep watching” and i said “no i don’t want to” then grinned, tried changing it but he made me open another video anyways.
we gave pendulum readings to strangers on amino with Lord Apollo.
i was meditating. i walked into a castle to see Lady Artemis throw an arrow at Lord Apollo, chase him. i still can’t figure out what the hell that was.
Lady Artemis enjoyed the yarichin b club opening when i sang it to her.
i guess i will add more, but the others are a bit more personal. these are weird enough tho anbdhwhujdhw.
UPRIGHT: Inspiration, new opportunities, growth, potential
REVERSED: An emerging idea, lack of direction, distractions, delays
Ace Of Wands Description (rider wait smith)
In the Ace of Wands, a hand holding a sprouting wand extends out from a cloud, as if to offer a new opportunity or idea with the potential to grow. The rich, verdant landscape is further confirmation of this growth capability. In the distance on the left sits a castle, representing the promise of opportunities to come, and hills and mountains line the horizon. Their rolling peaks remind us that there will always be challenges along the way, but they are surmountable with enough effort.
