Your Craft Is More Than Your Tools

A Lesson for Young Witches

If you cannot find representations for a given element, remember…

You are supported by a rigid skeleton made of minerals. You are earth.

Your body is over 70% fluid. You are water.

Your lungs take in and expel breath. You are air.

Your blood is warm and your brain runs on electrical impulses. You are fire.

Your essence, however you describe it, resides within you. You are spirit.

You are composed of gifts from every element, and every element is given marvelous life in you.

Never feel that you are insufficiently magical for lack of icons or accoutrements or accessories.

You are ALWAYS magic. You are ALWAYS enough.

Moon Phases and Their Meaning

The moon is an important part of witchcraft, the phase of the moon has its own spiritual meaning and practices that should be performed during that phase. This isn’t a fixed rule, but it gives your magick a little boost that it may need to come into fruition. Being in tune with the moon makes us stronger.

Checking the moon daily is a great way to keep track of the moon phases, along with having a moon calendar in your phone. I also track the sun on my phone, but that isn’t necessary, it’s my personal preference.

New Moon 🌑

The new moon is a time of new beginnings and setting intentions. Some use this as a time of contemplation and self reflection, but this can also be done in later moon phases.

Waxing Crescent 🌒

This is the official moon phase for setting intentions, but I always do it in the new moon. This can also be used as a time of action, to act on your intentions

First Quarter 🌓

The moon for making decisions is the first quarter moon, this is a great time to begin acting on your intentions if you haven’t yet.

Waxing Gibbous 🌔

This is a time to further refine your intention and fine tune it into exactly what you want, revisit your new moon and crescent work to do this accurately.

Full Moon 🌕

Full moon is a time of manifesting, sealing intentions, and release. Let go of your expectations and allow the universe to simply make it happen

Waning Gibbous 🌖

This is a moon phase to show gratitude for the universe, the people around you, yourself, and everything you care for. Gratitude is so important and is underrated in my opinion.

Last Quarter 🌗

The last quarter signifies forgiveness. What is still hurting you? What can you let go of? Remember that forgiveness isn’t for the person in question to feel better, it is only for you. Also remember that you do not have to forgive someone if you feel they do not deserve it.

Last Crescent 🌘

This moon phase is about surrendering. Hold gratitude in your heart and release what doesn’t serve you as you move into the darkness of the new moon. This is also a great time to reflect on yourself.

🌑 🌒 🌓 🌔 🌕 🌖 🌗 🌘 🌑

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Always cleanse your cards 🕯️🍃🥀

Source: photo from unsplash by Kayla Maurais

Cheers

so i don’t think a lot of people really understand how often south asian culture is misinterpreted and appropriated so i’m making a post about it right here.

any mention of third eyes

any mention of chakras

people wearing bindis when they shouldn’t be 

fucking “om” or “aum” tattoos or appliques on things like yoga pants. do you know how fucking disrespectful it is to put a symbol that is so important to my religion and culture on the ass of some white chick’s yoga pants

people wearing maang tikka when they shouldn’t be

anklets with bells on them are very important to the dance culture of south asia and it’s disrespectful to wear them outside of a traditional dance setting

feel free to add any more that i missed because i’m fucking tired

I am slowly losing my mind over the shift towards video as the default media format.

I do not find this to be an efficient way to absorb information. I am bored and distracted by the time the largely unnecessary introduction is over. I can't use ctrl+f to find the specific information I'm looking for. If there are instructions to follow, I don't want to have to constantly pause and back up to the part I need.

At least give me a fucking transcript.

Things to put in your book of shadows

Of course, only put in your book of shadows/grimoire what you want. If you don't want to put certain subjects in your book then that's fine. It's your book, utilize it how you want. This is just a masterlist of ideas that I've put together. Feel free to add anything else to the list that I may have missed, because there's absolutely no way I included everything.

And for the love of all the gods, if you come across a closed entity or practice, don't try to work with the entity or practice if you're not already part of that group or tradition. You can research it but don't practice it.

+ A blessing and/or protection

+ A table of contents

+ About you:

Your current path

Your personal beliefs

Your spiritual journey

Favorite crystals/herbs/animals

Natal chart

Craft name

How you got into the craft

Astrology signs

Birthday correspondences (birth tarot card, birth stone, etc)

Goals (if you have any)

Anything other relating to your personal practice

+ Safety

Fire safety

What NOT to burn

Plants and oils that can be toxic to your pets

What crystals shouldn't be in water, sunlight, etc

Things that shouldn't be put out in nature (salt, glass, etc)

Potion safety

How to incorporate blood safely

+ Core concepts:

Intention and how it works

Directing energy

Protection

Banishing

Cleansing

Charging

Shielding

Grounding and centering

Visualization

Consencration/Blessing

Warding

Enchanting

Manifestation

+ Correspondence

Personal correspondence

Crystals and rocks

Herbs and spices

Food and drink

Colors

Metals

Number

Tarot card

Elemental (fire, water, air, earth)

Trees and woods

Flowers

Days

Months

Moon phases

Zodiac

Planets

Incense

Teas

Essential oils

Directions (north, south, east, west)

Animals

Local plants, animals, etc

Dream symbology

+ Different practices

Practices that are closed to you (some examples below)

Voodoo and Hoodoo **Closed**

Santeria and Brujeria **Closed**

Shamanism and native american practices **Closed**

Wicca and wiccan paths

Satanism, both theistic and non-theistic paths

+ Different types/practices of magick

Pop culture magick

Technology magick

Chaos magick

Green witchcraft

Lunar magick

Sea witchcraft

Kitchen magick

Ceremonial magick

Hedge witchcraft

Death witchcraft

Grey witchcraft

Eclectic witchcraft

Norse witchcraft

Hellenic witchcraft

Animism

+ Deities

The deity/deities you worship

Different pantheons (the main five are Celtic, Roman, Greek, Egyptian and Norse, all open)

Deities and pantheons that are closed to you

Common offerings

Their epithets

Their mythology

Their family

Deity worship vs deity work

Prayers and how to make your own

Deity communication guide

Devotional acts

Ways to get closer to them

+ Other spiritual entities

Angels

Ancestor work

Spirit guides

The fae

Demons

Familiars

House spirits, animal spirits and plant spirits

Other various folklore entities

Spirit etiquette

Cemetery etiquette

Setting boundaries with the spirits

Communication guide and etiquette

Grounding, banishing, protection and cleansing, aka: "Spirit work safety guide"

How they appear to you

Common offerings

Circle casting

+ Divination

Tarot cards

Oracle cards

Tarot and oracle spreads

Pendulum

Numerology

Scrying

Palmistry/palm reading

Tasseography (Tea leaf reading)

Rune stones

Shufflemancy (Shuffling of a playlist)

Dice divination

Bibliomancy (Randomly picking a phrase from a book)

Carromancy (Melted wax)

Pyromancy (Reading flames)

Psychic abilities

Astrology

Aura reading

Divination via playing cards

Lenormand 

Sacred geometry

Angel numbers

+ Other types of magick

Candle magick

Crystal magick

Herbalism/herbal magick

Glamour magick

Hexing

Jinxing

Cursing

Weather magick

Astral work

Shadow work

Energy work

Sigils

Art magick

Knot magick

Crystal grids

Color grids

Music magick

Charms, talismans and amulets

+ Spellwork

What makes a spell work

Basic spell structure

What NOT to do

Disposing of spell ingredients

Revitalizing long term spells

How to cast spells

What to put in spells (See correspondence)

Spell mediums- Jar spells, spoken spells, candle spells, sigils, etc

Spell timing

Setting up a ritual

Taglocks: What they are and how to use them

+ Holidays and Esbats

Yule

Imbolc

Ostara

Beltane

Litha

Lughnasadh/Lammas

Mabon

Samhain

The 12 full moons (Esbats)

How to celebrate

Deity specific holidays

+ Altars and tools

What they are

The different types and their uses (travel altar, working altar, deity altar, ancestor altar, etc)

What you can put on your altar

What you use your altars for

Common tools in witchcraft

How to use the tools

Food and drink

Common herbs in recipes

Sabbat recipes

Moon water: What it is and how to use it

Potion bases

Tea magick

How to get your herbs

Foraging

+ Mental health and self care

Bath magick

Affirmations

Burnout prevention

Aromatherapy

Stress management

Mental health coping mechanisms

+ History of witchcraft

+ Dream records

+ How to differentiate between the magickal and the mundane

+ Calendar of celestial events (Esbats, retrogrades, etc)

+ How to dry herbs and flowers

+ What chakras actually are and how they work within Hinduism

+ History and traditional uses of reiki

+ The witches' alphabet

+ The runic alphabet

+ Common witchcraft terms

+ Common symbols in witchcraft

+ Your own witch tips

+ Good witchcraft books and authors to avoid

+ Any online resources you utilize often