the first result isn’t always the one you’re looking for but when you press enter it’ll give you a ton of words related to your query that’ll probably have what you’re wanting, or something better
Just a disclaimer before I start: I am in no way shape or form speaking for every mentally ill person out there! Everyone’s experience is different so what worked/works for me may not be as effective for you! Personally, I was diagnosed with depression and generalized anxiety disorder about four years ago when I was 13, so I’ve kind of worked my way around my mental illnesses throughout high school. Anyway let’s start!
I answered an ask on general motivation tips that you can find here
Procrastinating? Ask yourself why. We all struggle with procrastination, I literally do not know a single person who doesn’t. But oftentimes when we reallyprocrastinate (and by that I mean avoid doing important tasks for extended periods of time) there’s an underlying reason as to why. For me, it’s tied to anxiety. When tasks seem super overwhelming or too difficult, I get into this headspace of like ‘oh maybe if I ignore it it’ll go away’ yeah it WONT. The secret to beating this is accomplishing your tasks little by little, so it seems a lot less overwhelming. If you work on that paper that’s been freaking you out for like 20 minutes at a time, you’ll get there eventually. (and if anyone is wondering, I once procrastinated so hard for a bio lab that was due in october, and only submitted it in march. Don’t ask me how I didn’t get my ass kicked because I don’t know either).
Laziness vs Depression. Okay. This might get a little controversial. On the studyblr/studygram community people always talk about motivation and mental illness as though depressed people aren’t lazy at all and their habits are just a product of their mental illness. While this is true most of the time (we all know that lack of motivation is a symptom of depression), it’s important to know when you’re having a bad mental health day and when you’re being lazy. It happens to everyone, being a little lazy once in a while isn’t a bad thing, but you yourself should know where your lack of motivation is coming from. For me, I know I’m having an off day if I’m asleep all day and not skipping meals; conversely, I know I’m being lazy if I’m putting off my work to watch bon appetit on youtube for three hours. Knowing yourself and your illness is so so so important; we might not necessarily be able to 'overcome’ our mental illnesses, but knowing how to work with it can make your life so much easier.
Ask for help. I was lucky enough to go to a school where my teachers were very understanding of mental health and would work with us if we needed extra guidance/time/whatever, but not everyone has this luxury. If you feel yourself spiraling, talk to someone, anyone.Whether it be your best friend, your guidance counselor, your dog, literally anyone. It’s so important to voice your feelings out so you can get help. If you feel like you don’t have any in person outlets, there is an entire community here on tumblr that’ll lend an ear and welcome you with open arms. You are not a burden. You matter. We all need this reminder sometimes.
Here’s a real tip for all you baby witches out there, diving into spellwork before anything else: Spells aren’t as simple as going through the motions, and a spell probably won’t work if you don’t understand how to use your Will.
This is what I’ve been taught by my mentor who has been a witch for 25 years. You have to set your intentions and use your Will to match. What is your Will and how is it different from your Intention? This post may get long, but it’s important and I haven’t seen any others cover this, so please don’t give up half way through!
Basically, it’s like this:
Intention: your reason for a spell, your goal/what you want + ingredients to match
YourWill: the Power you put behind your spell or working
The intention part is easy. You figure out your goal, pick a spell or create a spell that uses ingredients or actions that match your intent, and then you perform it. This is what most of Tumblr will teach you how to do. While working with simply your intent can sometimes work, it’s more like a coin toss because you’re not actually making your spellwork as powerful as it could be.
But your Will, as I’ve been taught, is the most important part of any magick and is the most often overlooked. You can make magick with nothing but your intent and your Will together. Did you know that? What is your Will? It’s the power you put behind your intent. Your Will is your Power.
That’s right, baby witches. You have to learn how to tap in to the power around you as well as the power within yourself. This is why spells are never as simple as you think; if you can’t add your Will to a spell, it will never be as powerful as you want it to be. This concept can prove difficult, so I’ll try to break it down as simply as I can.
Your Will comes from the energy within you, but you can also tap into the energy around you to add to that power. This means that to find your Will you have to first learn how to:
Perceive Energy
Feel Energy
Feel your Own Energy
Touch Energy
Gather Energy Inside and Around You
Manipulate Energy
Infuse Energy with Intent
This is the basis for finding and understanding magick. Magick is all about energy, and the sooner you learn how to do these things, the sooner you’ll start to realize your power as a witch. And this is why I say that spells are not as simple as Tumblr makes them; at least, they shouldn’t be.
When you’re performing a spell, you should be raising energy and infusing that energy with your intent. You could be adding energy to your ingredients, or simply raising it and holding it, to be released into the world when the spell is finished. That’s your Will; the energy you add to your working. The stronger the energy, the stronger the spell.
A simple way to put it: Intent + Will = Power
So please do yourself a favor. Research energy. Find it, figure it out, feel it within you. Take your time to truly understand that power so you can properly perform powerful spellwork.
Learning all of this can take time and that is fine. If you take your time to work on this, you will be grateful for it in the long run. Feeling the energy that surrounds you and that comes from within you is such a beautiful thing, I promise. Energy is wonderful.
This is done on handmade paper so some of the water colour comes through to the other side of the page which I didn’t think about but it looks ok,
quick side note I’ve noticed a lot of my pages being saved to pinterest please don’t do this as a lot of people don’t even link back to me they link to their own pages, I had even saved my tumblr setting so you couldn’t save my pages elsewhere but that apparently doesn’t stop people, it’s very disheartening as I don’t make money from this and put a lot of time into writing out the pages only for someone else to get the credit, I just want to share with the witchblr community, please appreciate my wishes and don’t save my posts on pinterest, I may eventually get around to making an account specifically for my grimoire pages but at the moment I do not.
Top notes: bergamot, grapefruit, peach Middle notes: Peony, Rose, Magnolia, Violet Last note: vanilla, sandalwood
Citrus
Top notes: citrus, blackcurrant, pineapple, melon, water lily, honeydew Middle note: Mayrose, Jasmine, Lily of the valley, Auris, Vetiver, Raspberry, Peach, Mulberry Last Note: Sandalwood, Amber
Unisex Wood Perfume
Top note: Ginger, cardamom Middle note: Juniper Last note: sandalwood, cedarwood
