Folk Witchcraft - Tumblr Posts - Page 2
Protect my siblings of muslim faith,
Shield from harm and keep them safe.
Let those opposed by religion or race,
Flourish unharmed within this space.
✴️🌟🔄🫂☪️🌟✴️
A spell to help protect your muslim and bipoc local communities during the islamophobic riots in the UK.
Likes charge, reblogs cast.
A big misconception I see come up a lot is that tarot can predict the future. In a sense, it might, but it's a lot more nuanced than that.
There is no 'THE future'. There are lots of different futures and lots of different paths you could be led down, but not all fates come to fruition based on the choices we make.
Tarot should be used to gain insight and reflect on your current and alternative paths. You can't necessarily predict how something is going to go, but you can use them to look within yourself and see what might need to change to get on the path you want to be on.
This is one of the earliest things I learnt when beginning tarot, and learning this can open you up to different paths and possibilities, as well as allowing you to ask the right questions to get where you want to be.
A Guide to Graveyard Work
One of the earliest introductions I had to spirit work as a baby witch was graveyard work. In short, this practice involves building relationships with the deceased spirits of a graveyard, by communicating, leaving offerings and being mindful of their space. It is part of a wider practice known as death work, but this focuses specifically on how to enter and respect what is essentially the 'home' of the spirits you are working with. You can further build on your practice from this.
This is a handy guide to the different aspects of the practice, looking into the appropriate offerings and etiquette, written with a lot of love.
⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆
Graveyard Etiquette
There are rules you must follow in graveyards, whether for your personal safety, out of politeness, or following the law of your country. Sometimes these overlap. But sometimes, the rules you hear might be no more than baseless superstition, which there is a lot of concerning graveyards. There are way too many superstitions to list, however -
Some good rules to follow are:
Don't begin this work with the intention of taking from the graveyard or using the spirits in your practice. In the same way you wouldn't take from a stranger, it's important to build a relationship before you ask for things.
Try not to stand on graves where possible, out of respect for the dead but also those mourning them. Sometimes, graveyards are set up so that it is impossible to go anywhere without stepping on something, which is okay so long as you're not intending disrespect. However, do be wary that headstones can fall and the ground can shift.
Some people believe you shouldn't take any photos of the graves. I personally think that if the grave is old enough, it doesn't matter too much. If the grave is modern, it might be inappropriate for those in mourning to see you taking photos.
You can clean up trash, but be mindful of what might be considered trash. Obvious thrown-away food and drink packaging might be appropriate to clean up, but what if someone left a deceased one's favourite food at their grave? Or what if you decide to get rid of a toy or letter left there? Try to avoid cleaning up around the actual graves and focus on cleaning near the gates or in empty areas.
Don't trespass! If the cemetery has set entry times, enter and leave only within those times. Don't jump the fence, and don't enter any areas that are clearly gated or off-limits.
Leave an offering when asking to take something from the cemetery grounds. I don't feel it necessary to leave an offering each time you enter, especially if you plan on visiting often. But, if you want to take something like graveyard dirt or plants growing there, leave an offering for sure. And make sure to ASK. If you feel wrong, it's a no.
If you EVER find anything askew in a graveyard, such as vandalism, theft, or even dug up bones (it happens, I've found them before) PLEASE report it straight to the groundskeeper, associated church, or relevant authorities. It is not your responsibility to attempt to fix these things, or take things for yourself.
Offerings
You can leave offerings at the gate, or on specific graves if you want to work directly with that spirit. You don't always need to leave an offering, but it is a good thing to do when building a relationship and especially when asking to take from the site.
Some good offerings are:
Coins, especially two coins. There is a belief that the two coins are placed on the eyes of the deceased to pay the ferryman taking them over the river Styx. This has been maintained as a tradition.
Flowers. Even better if you look into Victorian flower symbolism for older grave sites and base your offering on this.
Origami. I would often fold multiple tiny cranes and leave them as offerings on individual graves. The best part is they are biodegradable.
I would be wary of leaving any kind of food or drink, as you might attract animals or even cause harm to the ecosystems living there. The same goes for anything made of plastic or that could hurt an animal.
Natural items such as seashells, feathers or stones are great, safe options for offerings.
You could also burn a candle or incense, but remember to stay with them while they burn and make sure they are extinguished when you leave.
Offerings don't have to be physical - you could say a few kind words, sing to them, or even just dedicating time to sit with the dead or talk with them can be an offering in itself.
Protection
I personally don't go into my practice thinking I could get possessed or followed by a demon at any given moment. However, I do think it's important to remember that graveyards can be full of a lot of upset, angry, and occasionally malevolent energies. Even if you don't intend to, these energies can attach to you or be taken home by you and can make you feel off.
Here are some ways you can protect yourself:
Cleanse yourself before and after entering a cemetery, even just by meditating and visualising or by using incense.
Check out my post on shielding techniques, and try to familiarise yourself with the visualisation techniques until you feel comfortable doing them.
Charm an item of clothing, such as a piece of jewellery, as an amulet to ward against negative energies that you can wear.
Find or create a protective sigil or rune that you can draw on something or on yourself.
You can pray to any deities you work with to ask for protection, especially if these deities are associated with death or spirits.
Communication
People who practice death work might communicate with the dead in different ways. They might be clairvoyant, use divination, feel energies or sometimes even just know what the spirits are saying. In any sense, spirit communication is a skill that is very much required in this practice. @koscheys-skull said it best here. You need good communication skills, in the sense that you are still talking to PEOPLE. And you need to go in with good intentions. If you are going in purely with the intention of using the dead for your own benefit, you won't get very far. If you can't talk to and actively listen with some semblance of empathy, you won't get very far. Death work is not an aesthetic, it is not for you to take your emo photos and be disrespectful. it is a serious, difficult and tolling practice that takes a lot of time and refining.
If you have gotten this far, I wish you all the best. It is a difficult but ultimately fulfilling part of spirit work, and if you are ready to dedicate the time and effort to it, you will get a lot out of it.
Thanks for reading! Please visit my tags for more guides, and feel free to reach out with requests for more information. Lots of love.
brigid — celtic goddess of healing, smithing, poetry, fertility, divination, fire and water.
brigid bless this hearth and home, keep us safe from harm. no matter how far we might roam, guide us safe and sound. heal me with your sacred water, shield me with your flame. your love is my sword and shield and so it shall remain.
terms like white vs black magic really make me uncomfortable. by whose standards are we measuring what is 'white' witchcraft and what is 'black' witchcraft? societies, who sees all witchcraft as somewhat 'other' anyway? the content of what is being practiced, or where those practices originated from? whether it is socially acceptable to do certain things in the west compared to practices from other parts of the world? what exactly do we mean by this? my practice is neither, and I won't be boxed in by even more made up rules for what is or isn't acceptable.
my manifestations for this autumn 🍁 left to right
healthy eating • abundance and prosperity • new creative job • emotional and spiritual healing • self love and growth • write my novel • weight loss • make music with my band • see my friends
I think we need to bring local shrines back. Not in the sense of like, a church, but somewhere in a local community where offerings to the spirits, fae, deceased loved ones, can be left. not too dissimilar to community shrines to local spirits in Japan.
Other Witch Tips
Bread, Milk and Sugar can be used in a spell to maintain household prosperity.
Salt, black pepper and Cayenne Pepper can be used in protective and jinxing spells.
If you had to get three thread colours, go for white, black and red. White for general "right hand" work, black for general "left hand work" as well as things such as protection, binding and the like. Red Thread for any work that requires a boost.
Do not undermine the powers of knot magick.
Sex magick can be touch and go but generally is empowered by a build up of energy.
Mirrors can act as a portals, divination devices, amplify magick, protect, bind and so on and so forth. A compact mirror can be used to close someone's energy in on themselves if their image is placed in the mirror, the mirror closed and bound with either red or black thread.
Chewing on lavender helps get rid of headaches and promotes sleep but I will tell you now that the taste is awful and extremely potent. Like my da used to say - if the medicine tastes like shit, that's how you know it works.
Herb's Properties
Basil: money, luck, prosperity, happiness
Bay Leaf: energy, cleansing, can be charged with almost any intention
Camomile: Caring, kindness, luck, growth, self-love growth, confidence, avoiding negativity, happiness
Cinnamon: passion, quick success, fire magick
Chia seeds: Growth, health, kindness, Property
Chilli flakes: Pride, confidence, power, strength, Passion
Cumin: Courage, bravery, protection, loyalty
Dandelion: wishes, charisma, success, good luck
Dill: sexual love, luck, protection
Eucalyptus: cleansing, healing, purifying, relaxing, comfort
Fennel: hate, anger
Flax seeds: Prosperity, growth, new beginnings
Ginger: fiery passion, success, and personal power
Jasmine: love, dreams, sensuality, luxury and kindness
Lavender: love and attraction, purification, relaxation, restful sleep
Nutmeg: luck, Health, Fidelity, Love, Prosperity, comfort, loyalty
Oregano: comfort, love, warmth
Paprika: Pride, confidence, power, strength
Parsley: Cleansing. purification
Peppermint: healing, purification, love and energy, cleansing, prosperity
Poppy seeds: protection, intuition, self-assurance, hexing and cursing
Rose: love, beauty, harmony, romance, attraction
Rosemary: cleansing, purification, wisdom, protection
Sesame seeds: Prosperity, growth, health, nurturing
Spearmint: love, cleansing, renewal, blessing
Sunflower seeds: happiness, growth, joy
Thyme: beauty, strength, courage
Turmeric: confidence, creativity, energy
Vanilla: love and sexuality
tip jar
Unpopular Opinion Time
The doodle you make or the picrew you use, the poorly executed poetry or basic bare bones prayer will ALWAYS be better than AI generated offerings.
I am sick of having my feed flooded with practitioners, pagans and other polytheists using AI. Specifically deities like Brigid should never be offered AI in my opinion, it’s essentially a slap in the face.
AI generated spells aren’t shit, it’s what a computer assumes will work based off of what it can gather from internet trends and research. MAKE IT YOURSELF, ask a human for help anything but AI.
There is no place for Artificial Intelligence in these spaces.
I worry SO MUCH about stupid little things in life and I’ve got to stop!! I always forget the toll that worry takes on not only the mind, but also the body, until I remember that even the very hairs of my head are numbered by Him. Jesus is ALWAYS watching over me and I need to trust in Him alone!!
Trusting God is the only thing that brings real rest!
My favorite simple wards to guard the home
Hanging rosemary above the doorstep, and/or above doors of the house for protection.
Sprinkling a line of dried red pepper on a windowsill, to counter a curse.
Placing a mix of dried & ground eggshells and black pepper in every corner of a room to keep out unwanted spirits.
Placing a decoration representing a witch in the kitchen, to keep away illness and to favor health.
Crafting an effigie (no matter how crude!) and make it into the guardian of your home by charging it with your intent of protection and placing it near the front door.
Crafting small witch ladders to hang around the house.