DoNOT cast spells for positive effects that involve:
Burning a picture of yourself*
Burning a piece of paper that anywhere contains your name*
Burning a piece of hair or other taglock*
*Unless you really know what you’re doing
I don’t know how sigil culture got people to think that burning anything = sending it off for spirits, but NO. Across pretty much every magical practice, burning involving a person = destruction. Burning as a means of generically sending things off is mainly used for offerings.
On a similar vein, do not cast spells for positive effects that involve taking a human figure and ripping up, burning, submerging in soil or water, or doing anything else to that figure that would maim or kill a real human. (unless you really know what you’re doing)
Remember the Law of Similarity. Destruction of an image = destruction of the thing itself.
I’ve left a group over this one. Though it was drowning not burning. To get rid of negativity in the group, we were supposed to make poppets of ourselves and then make a paper boat and put the poppets in the river. Where the river would carry them away as they sank. And drowned.
I said no. This refusal created more negativity. Okay, I may have also said something like “I don’t know what Ophelia shit you’re up to here, but I’m not doing the spell.” Which probably caused more negativity because the reference was probably went over some heads. But…
You do not create representations of yourself and destroy them. If anyone who thinks they should teach witchcraft or lead a group tries to get you to do that, you have every right to leave. Or to severely question what they think they’re up to.
(Need to get rid of negativity or excess energy? Get a good size rock. Not a fancy crystal, just a hunk of basic rock. Hold the rock and let your energy flow into it. Then put the rock outside on the ground and the energy will flow into the earth. This transfers the energy without destroying anything. I know witches who have a specific rock just for this purpose.)
I can’t believe they wanted you to make a poppet of yourself and sink it. Besides the environmental impact, based on what materials used put in the river, this feels more like a curse than a remove negativity spell. Did the person who put the spell together want yall to be miserable together, stuck in a river? What happens when the river floods…. I love the Ophelia comment because definitely that feel.
I like the rock idea, I’ve done this with negativity, with harmful spirits too. If you really want it gone gone for good, that’s when you throw that rock in the river that contains your negative energy, etc.
New witches, if you do not curse personally remember to research into what cursing holds! This is exactly why.
You can definitely make poppets of yourself for positivity but you should never EVER destroy or harm those poppets unless you have already removed all connections to you from them - or else you are essentially unintentionally setting up yourself for the possibility of allowing some very negative unexpect outcomes to rear their heads into your life.
Remember the aspects of cursing and what different steps in cursing means to avoid doing that to yourself.
Actions to avoid doing to yourself or a poppet of you (this includes anything with your name or photo or other taglock unless you are doing very specific spirit work contracts but that is a whole different thing):
1. Burning: burning brings not only destruction it is often done to poppets and items of people to represent anger, hateful energy, bringing complete chaos and ruining good things that they have. In cursing you burn poppets of others as one of the more severe types of curses and often to get very large outcomes.
2. Submerging in Water: as discussed above this represents drowning which isn’t literal in most cases but often represents anxieties, sinking emotions, flooding or drowning someone with negative emotions or misery, losing control of one’s life and paranoia. Drowning is usually connected to extreme punishment connected to another’s emotions and their own self-views.
3. Burying: burying a poppet represents caging, confining, repressing and smothering them. It can also be used to ‘bury a person away’ or toss them out of your life. Doing this to something strongly connected to you outside of a properly made witch’s jar or well researched ritual is not only environmentally bad if its not made out of safe materials but can repress yourself from achieving goals, reaching milestones or succeeding in things you do such as trying to improve upon something.
4. Cutting/Slicing: never cut or slice a poppet meant to represent yourself! This represents pain, bringing old wounds to the surface and suffering. I’ve seen way too many younger communities try to say cutting up something with your face or name on it is letting go - it can be but not in this context. Cutting things like strings, ribbons, tangled up knots, etc is much safer and proper without risk of the above.
5. Tying, Knotting, Hanging: using thread, ribbon or anything else to bind up a poppet or photo even if its in a pretty bow is the same actions done as in binding spells - which are meant to restrict and immobilize others. Make sure you do not hang your poppet especially not by the neck or limbs for this can also represent suffocation (usually not literally but emotionally or socially) and removing someone’s ability to protect themselves and making the vulnerable.
Remember intent only goes so far! You can put as much intent as you want into things but that doesn’t always ensure that they will happen - do your research! Research what correspondences are to everything you use, make sure any actions you are using are not going to counteract with the spell or worse possibly ruin the whole spell and make sure you are well researched in self poppet and taglock work!
Note: all craft is different, everyone walks their own path, just research before you try to tackle things that may go against what you are trying to do. As said intent only goes so far. If you are certain that you have a safe method for anything above and have done it before thats great! this is intended for witches who are new, finding their footing and may not realize how to properly protect themselves or master their craft yet. All craft is valid! We just want to make sure people do it safely and know the basics before they jump into things they aren’t prepared for
Since people apparently really liked Ada, my joy poppet, I thought that maybe some of you would like a tutorial… So here goes!
Disclaimer: Since I’m in the broom closet and that I’m a real life dollmaker, I tend to make my poppets as complex and “clean looking” as possible so that people assume it’s just yet another of my dolls. You definitely don’t have to do it the way I do it, or even to follow a remotely similar aesthetic.
You’ll need:
• some paper • a pen • scissors • fabric (stretchy is best for beginners) • a sewing needle and some thread • herbs • crystals • small items • a taglock (since I only do these poppets for my own use, I use a small lock of my hair) • stuffing • something blunt and long, like a screwdriver.
First, draw the body’s silhouette on paper. I try to make mine fairly symmetrical because it makes creating the clothes easier but it’s not necessary. Also, you should think about what you’re planning to use your poppet for. For example, Ada’s job is to bring more happiness in my life and help me fight off anxiety, so she’s shaped like a cat because cats make me happy. Lucia, which I’ll be building in this tutorial, is a mourning poppet: her job is to help me mourn my father, dull the pain and help me accept that everything must end, so she’ll be shaped like a skeleton. Think about what your poppet is for, choose its body accordingly.
Then do an arm and a leg the same way. As you can see, I tried giving her a little hand and curved the foott, but a simple rectangle will do the job just as well. Her leg here is super short because I’m going to make her boots out of polymer clay. I don’t need it to be as long as it should since I’ll glue the boots on later.
Now pick a fabric and draw each part twice. Chose the color accordingly to your poppet’s purpose and your personal taste. Also, if your poppet is going to be small like Ada and/or you’re a beginner… Pick some stretchy fabric, like an old t-shirt! Afterward you’ll have to turn it inside out and the stiffer the fabric, the more you’ll cry. Trust me.
Using an old t-shirt you don’t wear anymore makes your poppet even more personal! Yet another side benefit of loving yourself instead of keeping on using linen because you love the feel of it, but your poppets are pretty much drenched by tears of frustration by the time you’re done. Why do I keep doing that.
Now cut the silhouettes off, leaving some wiggle room. If you use a fabric that doesn’t fray, like an old t-shirt hint hint, you don’t have to leave a huge amount of fabric on the side. If you picked something that was probably weaved in hell, like satin, get your pinking shears out. if you don’t have pinking shears, use some fabric glue to stop the fraying. If you don’t have fabric glue, well. Good luck.
I sorta forgot to take pictures of the in-between stage, sorry. So uh. Just sew the two body silhouettes together, and each limbs, folding them on themselves. Remember to leave a hole big enough so that you can turn everything inside out.
Don’t worry too much about it being perfect: as long as it’s tight enough to not spill the stuffing, it’s good enough. While I try to make my seam lines as discreet as possible (to be more discreet about my practice), I find contrasting seams super appealing visually. So if you want to experiment with that, knock yourself out.
Start stuffing the limbs. For Lucia, I’m using the stuffing I stole from an old pillow. For Ada, I used leftover wool because that’s what I had handy. For others I used rice. Whatever works for you. As you can see, I’m using a screwdriver to push each little cotton ball all the way down. Don’t stuff the arms too much, or your poppet won’t be able to lower it arms. Unless that’s what you want.
For the body, I usually just stuff the head and the bottom of the body with cotton balls and then keep the belly and chest empty so I can fill it up with herbs and items. You could fully stuff the poppet with herbs if you’d like, or just mix a pinch with the cotton balls. See what works best for you.
Here Lucia already has one arm sewed on because I got impatient.
Here, I got my herbs ready in my mortar and put them in a small cup for easy access. Start filling up the poppet’s chest and belly (but not too much, you want some space left). Just so you know, that step tends to be pretty messy so… Do that somewhere where getting herbs everywhere isn’t much of a problem.
Pick herbs related to your poppet’s mission. For Lucia, I usedlinden(grief-relief after death), thyme(provides strength and courage, wards off grief), lavender (eases heartbreaks, soothing) andsage(self purification, deals with grief and loss, removes negative energy).
I didn’t take the previous step in pictures, because the items I picked where pretty personal and I don’t feel likeshowing them. But I can list them.
Here’s what I put inside of her: • pink quartz (for love) • a skull bead (for death) • a taglock (I always use a lock of my hair tied with a red thread) • something that belonged to my dad (it was hard to let go of it)
Again, pick everything according to the poppet’s mission. If you give yours the job to ward off curses or to help you cast spells, your list will be probably very different from mine. Take time to research what you want to use, think of how it symbolizes her mission.
I sewed on the limbs because I felt like it. You can do this later if you want, it doesn’t really matter.
So now the step shown in this picture is “the letter”. It’s an important step because that’s where you state the poppet’s purpose. And it’s also where you name your poppet (names have power, take time to think about it)! It’s not a very complicated step, though, you just need a pen and some paper.
My letters usually go this way:
“Dear (name),
You are my (purpose) poppet. You will always do (thing). You will always help me with (thing) by doing (thing). I give you this (crystal) to symbolize (thing), this (item) to symbolize (thing), this (precious thing) to symbolize (thing). I also give you my (taglock) to symbolize our bound together.
With Love,
(my name)”
Personalize it whichever way you see fit. Fold the letter tightly, put it inside the poppet, finish filling it with the herbs.
Now that the poppet’s all filled up and ready, sew close the hole and sew on the limbs if you haven’t done it already. You can now give your poppet a face. You can embroider it, paint it with fabric paint or acrylic, or use beads, or markers, or buttons, or anything you want. Be as creative as you want.
Once you’re done, you can add a sigil on it (I like to do it some place others can’t see, like under the clothes), and give some hair and some clothes to your little one. Or don’t! It all comes down on your instincts now, what feels appropriate and what doesn’t. Even if your poppet isn’t perfect, take some time to appreciate its existence. At first there wasn’t anything but a bunch of supplies and you made SOMETHING. And if that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.
As you can see on that picture, Lucia isn’t finished yet, but I’m working on her clothes and accessories right now. Once she’s fully clothed and ready, the only thing she’ll need will be to be activated, so I’ll leave her to charge on my altar for one night. And in the morning, I’ll wake her up by kissing her forehead so she can start doing her job.
You forgot to add the fact poppet was literally unplayable and wasn’t fixed until a random discord member pointed out when they got a very specific error screen when trying to visit a poppet’s room from the old mm the error would say “popet”
A whole character was unplayable for months because SOMEONE forgot to add an extra “p”
Turns out I’m not done with my annual hair retexture spree yet! I’m aware that I don’t make longer hairs that often, so here’s an attempt to fix the lack of those in my system~
@redsimmer-blog converted a couple of low poly(!) 3t2 hairs and I just had to have them in my game. Because buns and low poly are And I thought I’d share, in case someone wanted them, too:
Buckley’s Beatrice, 3t2 conversion by redsimmer-blog. All ages, @poppet-sims‘s colors and textures. Grey linked to black. texture size 1024x1024, polycounts: 2,3k.
Buckley’s Delilah, 3t2 conversion by redsimmer-blog. All ages, @poppet-sims‘s colors and textures. Grey linked to black. texture size 1024x1024, polycounts: 2,6k.
Pocket Poppets / Pocket Guardians are up in shop! Felt sewn herbal stuffed mini poppets made for whatever intent you may have. (you pick your herb!) They literally fit right in your pocket!Clickhere for etsy listing.
