September Lessons

September Lessons 🍁

Aries: breathe in the fresh air and remember you don’t always have to be grinding in order to be successful. take things in.

Taurus: be aware of how others make you feel and act accordingly. don’t hang onto people just for the fact that you’ve known them a long time. hold onto those who make you feel good.

Gemini: release yourself from guilt. whatever happened in the past, happened. it only causes issues to be so hard on yourself about it.

Cancer: don’t be afraid to tell people when they have hurt your feelings. you deserve to voice when something has upset you, not hoard it inside.

Leo: remember that you always have what it takes, don’t let your mind play tricks on you.

Virgo: be a bitch when you have to be a bitch and don’t feel bad about it. you can’t let people walk all over you, you are your own priority and own loyalty.

Libra: you can’t be everywhere all the time, and it’s in your best interest to put self care first. you don’t want yourself to get burnt out all the time.

Scorpio: it is not weak to open yourself up to people. wanting connection is a human instinct and you don’t have to be so careful 24/7.

Sagittarius: no matter what anybody says, being intense is a blessing. anyone who makes you feel bad about that doesn’t appreciate you.

Capricorn: remember that you can change what you don’t like, not everything has to be the same all the time. you can become a completely different person if you really want to.

Aquarius: it’s okay to be busy, it’s okay to not have time for everyone. anybody who makes you feel bad for that isn’t worth having around. you are doing the best you can.

Pisces: love yourself, even when you think you don’t deserve it. you have to. you have to be your own best friend.

Spell to Ward Your Person from Harm

I saw a version of this spell, that was very lacking. It literally said to just add crushed peppers and broken glass shards to a container, and then bury them on your property. The problem, the intent isn’t super clear, and the ingredients are a bit of a mixed signal. The concept is good though. It got me thinking. So here’s what I would do for a protective spell pouch.

~~~

You’ll need a small pouch to keep your spell in. A box or jar would also work. 

A hot chili pepper, preferably whole

An iron nail

Soil from your own home

A lock of your hair 

If you’re making the spell for someone else, then you need soil from their home, and something of theirs to use for the focus. A photograph would work if you don’t have access to something like a few strands of hair.

You need to have a clear, quiet area to focus from start to finish. Try to set everything out in a way that makes sense to you, for how you’re going to use it. Charge every item as you added it to your spell pouch. 

Hot peppers. Peppers are for warding things away, averting them from you. You can use peppers in cursing and attack spells, but they are also extremely useful in warding and cleansing. Focus on the warmth of the pepper being soothing for you, and painful for those who would do you harm. If you’re visual, then picture this. If you’re tactile, then maybe handle the pepper, feel how it warms your hands after a while, internalize that the pepper is not meant to burn you, but will scar your enemies.

An iron nail. This should not be rusted if possible. Iron is strong, unyielding. It is used for both building and destroying. The iron nail is your sword. It is your shield. The cold metal keeps you safe and damages those foolish enough to try your defenses. It also has the added benefit of warding off some spirits and fae. 

Soil from your home. Your home is your safe place, your castle, your base of operations. It’s where you gather your energy. The soil ties the spell to your home, so it can continue to feed from the energy of your house.

A lock of hair. This ties the spell directly to you. It focuses the spell so that it will serve to protect you. Without this, it’s a very general spell that can serve to protect an area. With a lock or few strands of your hair though, it focuses the spell in on protecting you from harm.

Focus on what each item brings to the spell as you add it to the bag. When you’re finished, close up the bag. Seal the spell now. One of the easiest ways to do this is to sew up the bag. If you’re using a jar or box, you can seal it with wax or clay. You can also seal it by tying a knot in the bag strings, or something similar. This indicates the spell is finished working, and severed from your active energy. This “finishes” the spell, and allows it to start working without drawing on you for power. Now store the spell somewhere safe.

~Ash

your house smells of leather and lavender and cinnamon. your fingers are ink-smudged and weary from a long day of writing, and when you step outside the evening air touches your cheek like a kiss, and you lift your face to the darkling sky, letting the gloaming breeze tousle your hair. you stretch deliciously from the tips of your fingers to the rock of your heels, and the evening swaddles you in tender light. 

Lighthouse is a short and atmospheric adventure where you follow environmental clues to help track down a lighthouse on a remote fog-filled island.

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There are so many 'witchcraft' books available nowadays!

Now I know this is gonna make me sound old as shit but I gotta say it:

When I was started learning about witchcraft around 15 years ago, all 'witchcraft' books were wiccan books and they were all fucking awful. You might find 3 books in the back corner of a bookstore and they were all misinformation and blatant lies about history. You might also find a couple books about tarot, dream interpretation, healing crystals and natural remedies but that was IT. To find out any real information you had to do extensive research in historical and anthropological texts and academic journals.

So while there are thousands of 'witchcraft' books available nowadays (I saw 6 sitting on the same shelf as popular self-help books in KMART today)... they're all watered down and 'socially acceptable' spells for love, money and self acceptance....

Dont get me wrong, I'm thrilled that I dont have to hide my practice as much as I had to years ago but... a lot of the witches I meet now are swimming in the shallow part of the pool while thinking they're delving in the deep seas. This lack of understanding isn't their fault though, just as it wasn't mine when all I had was books that only shared personal gnosis and misinformation.

The problem with flooding the market with shallow 'witchcraft' books, is that these books don't really help new witches and they don't help experienced practitioners either. For newbies these books can touch on some of the basics while simultaneously giving the reader the impression that this book will tell them EVERYTHING THEY NEED TO KNOW. The majority of these books also don't help experienced practitioners because they either share a rehash of 'common knowledge' or they make witchcraft out to be this fluffy-bunny, white-washed, appropriating crap.

Now, I know that this post will likely offend people, and for that I apologise. This was simply a frustrated rant by a witch who has seen too many terrible 'witchcraft' books.

Witchy Tip:

If you can, when jarring stuff you’re going to use exclusively for magick, color code it. Red for non-edible, green for edible. Is that rosemary straight from the herbs and spices cabinet from the kitchen? Label it green. Oh, that’s not culinary lavender? Label it red, you gotta remember that.

And for when you’re perusing through your jars to see what things would work best for the spell you’re whipping up, it’d be very helpful if you listed the magickal and/or medicinal properties on the back of the jars beforehand. It helps save you time for those moments in life where you have to throw together a spell and you don’t have time to flip through your BoS or Google to find a spell to cast.

putting the properties on the back has also proved to be a good studying technique. It reminds me of how one studies by use of flash cards.