it’s funny when the people complaining about tradcrafters “gatekeeping” fail to realize that almost every major spirit tied to the Craft stands before a gate, a lock, or door in some way. like the whole point is to become initiated by these figures so that you can walk through the “gate” and then reap the benefits of the hidden knowledge, it’s not supposed to be easily accessible.
secondly, no other practitioner is supposed to be able to deny you your power. if you feel like another practitioner is ‘holding’ you back simply because they aren’t sharing their stuff or spoon-feeding you info, learn how to communicate with your spirits instead; they are the ones who are supposed to teach you. and if they aren’t willing to do so then perhaps it’s not your time yet, or perhaps you’re just not called to this specific branch of magic.
I will do a 1 card reading from my Starman Tarot deck for any celebrity you want to know something about. I read through Spirit, which might be different from other readers.
I will tell you not only what I see in the card, but any words or phrases I hear, whatever vision is conjured, what emotions are evoked and what they tell me about the situation and person(s) in it.
Send me an ask about the celebrity you want to know about! Anyone past or present!
5 of Wands - The figure in this card seems to regret his actions. He’s made his situation much worse than it ever needed to be. If there was a time for you to get over yourself and ask for help, now would be it. Whether that be from those around you, a therapist, or spirit you need to ask for help
Knight of Cups - New love is in the air! Watch for red flags as usual, but you might have a new relationship coming your way very soon!
6 of Pentacles - Things are going to go well for you financially on your current path, but making offerings to your ancestors wouldn’t hurt anything! Put a glass of water on the table and light a candle for them, and maybe give them a meal, and ask for their help and guidance
Would you like a reading, or some spellwork done? DM me, and I’ll schedule an appointment! Readings are $35, through CashApp or Venmo! Spell work prices vary, depending on ingredients and time, so a consultation is needed
So mant people want readings for free, either because they don’t respect the skill or because they think that we don’t deserve to earn a living wage for our work. I charge $35 for my full readings because they take a lot of energy and I let you ask multiple questions. If you want a free reading, that’s fine, but don’t try to ask someone who has set their prices. We’ve set them because we have spent our time giving free readings and building up our skills. My prices aren’t even that high in my opinion, I know there are those who charge over a hundred. So don’t sit there and tell me you still want me to do it for free, go find a new reader who’s looking to sharpen their skills and take the gamble. Especially when it’s cause you think your girlfriend is cheating, I am absolutely not lowering my prices for relationship readings. I should be charging way more for those, most of those who ask for that legitimately need some form of therapy
Familiars are spirits, not animals. What does that mean? It means that familiars can take up the guise of an animal (or anything for that matter), or the familiar could be using an animal as a vessel; but the animal isn’t the familiar. It’s the spirit inhabiting it. With that said, there are other spirits that work alongside witches, similarly to familiars, but they do not equate. They could be fae, spirits of deceased loved ones, angels, demons, etc. More often than not, a familiar isn’t in a corporeal form.
Familiars are the classic witch’s companion and teacher (not a servant). They aid by bringing more energy into a spell, carrying spells to far off locations, sharing information and insight you otherwise wouldn’t have known, protecting the witch and the home, and guiding you when crossing into the astral, among other things. How a familiar comes into one’s life, can happen any number of ways. Some witch’s familiars are passed on from another, such as a family member, friend, or a teacher. Others may happen upon them spontaneously, while going about their daily tasks. Sometimes, a familiar may appear during a time of hardship, and offer their assistance. One may also be contracted via a pact with a trusted higher being.
Historically, having a familiar was recognized as criteria to being a witch. Familiars were first recognized as angels (medieval Europe), and then as guardians of the hearth and home (Rome). Following that, familiars were recognized as spirits who guided one’s actions (Greece). Later on, sightings of familiars were used as evidence to accuse witches.
In 16th-17th century Europe, King James VI of Scotland (later James I of England) called himself an expert on all things witchcraft. During his rule, it was a criminal offense to practice witchcraft. In 1604, 1 year after this move to England, he introduced a new Witchcraft Act that made working with “evil spirits”, often called imps, a capital offense. Only evil spirits were persecuted, as naturally, any “good spirits”, often thought of as angels, that would aid in larger crop yields, or healing the sick, were welcome and encouraged.
Familiars can take the form of animals found in the local area. Cats, dogs, rabbits, snakes, birds, and so on. This way they could easily pass through unnoticed to carry out whatever they’re tasked with. Fun fact, people have even been tried for witchcraft, human as their familiar. In 1576, Bessie Dunlop of Scotland was tried, having sought advice from an elderly man. In this case, the man could have been fae or a ghost.
A relationship with a familiar is give and take, like all partnerships. Not every task can or will be filled by either party. Respect is important. Disrespect could wind up in some major discord or conflict, where reconciliation may not be possible.
All of this isn’t to say that animals can’t be sensitive or serve similarly to a spirit familiar. Many animals living with witches have been known to be more psychically attuned to the magical goings on around them. They could have been attracted to a witch’s call, like when one performs a ritual to attract an animal familiar. They can sense malevolent energy, be it a directed force, a person, or another unseen entity. They can have a calming energy, aiding in a witch’s focus for spell work, or even lending some energy.
As some folks may know based on other writings of mine, my partner and I have been working to find a House Faery (specifically, a Hob) willing to form a compact of employment with us. This pact would essentially entail the faery in question watching over us and helping with our domestic affairs—from minding the garden, to protecting the hens. This relationship essentially falls into the category of a Tutelary Deity, in that, a particular entity would be propitiated in exchange for its guardianship and domestic services. However, while many people in the occult community acknowledge and work with beings of this kind, I think something which is overlooked all too often by practitioners is the Spirit of the house itself; an animistic personification of the interwoven virtues that make up a house. This is, essentially, a variety of Genius Loci, and over the course of getting to know our home, we have come to call this specific form of animistic presence the Genius Domi (ie. ‘Nature of the Home’.) Maintaining and getting to know this spirit can prove highly useful, since any workings that involves the house are more easily undertaken with the cooperation of the house itself, but what’s more, I believe that a Genius Domi has the power to subtly effect the wellbeing of its inhabitants. If it goes neglected for long enough, or if it’s exposed to ongoing unhappiness and/or acute trauma, it can be energetically changed in ways that will eventually begin to negatively impact those who dwell therein. In fact, I think it quite likely that many hauntings are merely the result of a Genius Domi “gone bad,” which leads to feelings of fear, insecurity, sadness, anger, and/or paranoia for the inhabitants. As such, caring for the spirit of your house can have further reaching consequences than many would think
What I share here is the hearthside altar we use to engage with that presence —which we subtly adjust throughout the year, following the seasonal progressions. It is called the Nidus(meaning ‘Nest’) and it serves to honor and empower the unique and living conglomeration of Spirament that forms the Genius Domi of our home, and it acts as a focal point of interaction between us and any Domestic Wights we may collaborate with in the course of our work. It draws on our connection to the Land, the Ancestors, and the Gloaming Folk, in order to underlie and secure our relationship to the Spirit of our home.
The top tier of the altar represents prosperity. It houses a potentFamily Talisman of Luck, passed down to us by my partner’s father when we moved into the house, crossed with small boughs collected from a young White Oak that is growing by our Front Gate. A selection of Oak galls resides at the forefront—gifts of fortune granted us by a number of different Oaken Wights who we’ve tended and fed in honor of the Wild One.
The second tier of the altar represents protection. It houses another family talisman, passed down to us by my mother when we left our place next-door to hers and moved across the country; a Robin’s Nest that once resided in a birch tree outside my old house, which was continuously inhabited by generations of robins for nearly ten years, before a particularly bad storm finally dislodged it one day. Thereafter, it was incorporated in the Domestic Altar of my old home, until it passed to me. Within the nest rests a large Snail Shell—a powerful symbol of both home and protection—while several spiny, storm-blown boughs from a nearby Hawthorn form a protective cradle that watches over them both.
The third tier of the altar represents the land we live on, and the innumerable forces and entities who pervade its forests, hills, and rivers. With the Faerie Faith playing such a central role in both of our lives, it acts as the lens through which this natural synergy is perceived and, accordingly, accessed. While we maintain a shrine in the nearby forest where we meet with and appease the Gloaming Folk, this part of the altar manages to serve as a window, of sorts, into that power and connection, which helps to underlie and support our relationship with both our Genius Domi, and the vaster Genius Loci of our land.
Along with our maintenance of the Nidus, we have also nurtured and built rapport with the Spirit of our home by learning its name, reverently cleaning and repairing it, and feeding a part of every meal we make to Hearth—the central, burning heart of the Genius Domi. In doing these things, not only have we contributed to the long-term welfare of our house, but we taught this domicile to recognize, protect, and care for us. And that domestic love and respect has absolutely come back to aid us in times of strife.
I love this so much. Wondering what to put on my top shelf.
