Norse Mythology And Advice

lammas

- 🥖🌾🌻🍂✨

lammas, or lughnasadh, is the first of our three annual harvests and is celebrated on august 1st; this holiday is centered around giving thanks for and reflecting on the abundance’s and opportunities given to us this year. this sabbat marks the time period in which we‘ll now begin to notice the whispers of autumn creeping in, though still plenty warm, the sun will soon set earlier and earlier and we may even notice just a few, small yellow leaves brushing by in the breeze~

[ recipes ]

• heart-warming potato soup

• vegetarian mushroom ravioli

• cheddar garlic biscuits

• gooey s’mores bars

[ activities ]

• making corn husk dolls

• lots of baking! drown the house in bread

• tend to plant life and make sure it’s strong & ready for the seasons coming

• picnics (wear sunscreen! bring/plan for shade! social distance!)

• camping (heavy shade is a must, be safe in the heat!)

• foraging

• good deep sweep of the house/your space

• deep dusting while you’re at it

[ spellwork ]

• protection & warding

• healing & restoration

• growth & prosperity

• gratuity & offerings

• reflection & planning

• intention setting & manifestation

[ crystals ]

• honey calcite

• howlite

• tigers eye

• peridot

• citrine

• pyrite

• clear quartz

• moss agate

• smokey quartz

• black tourmaline

• clear fluorite

• green aventurine

• sunstone

• hematite

[ herbs ]

• basil

• hops

• cinnamon

• valerian

• cayenne pepper

• bay laurel

• rosemary

• garlic

• thyme

• ginger

[ colours ]

• orange

• yellow

• white

• gold

• brown

• tans/beige

• richer greens

[ grains ]

• wheat

• rye

• wild rice

• brown rice

• oats

• grits

[ veggies ]

• sweet potato

• normal potatoes but especially russet, yukon golds, red potatoes, and those tricolour minis

• corn & sweet corns

• carrots

• any squash (summer, zucchini, pumpkin, etc)

• wild mushrooms (be f*cking.. oh my gods be f*cking careful here- just use these as offerings or in spells, please don’t even think about eating wild mushrooms unless you could consider yourself an expert on foraging and have done plenty of thorough research)

• earthy deep coloured mushrooms (the edible kinds; portobello, baby bella/cremini, shiitake)

• eggplant

• green peas

• spinach/rich greens

[ fruits ]

• grapes

• black currant

• raspberries

• apples

• lemon

• apricot

• elderberry

• fig

• peaches

• blackberries

• blueberries

• watermelon/other melons

• banana

[ nuts ]

• almond

• walnut

• pistachio

[ vegan & omnivore proteins ]

• tofu

• edamame

• turkey/‘turkey’

• chicken/‘chicken’

• salmon, mackerel

• scallops

• crab/imitation crab (snow, king crabs) **(imitation crab isn’t vegetarian/vegan, it’s just ground whitefish instead of crab meat, if you didn’t already know)

• mussels

[ cheeses ]

• white & sharp cheddars

• bleu cheese

• goat cheese

• feta

• marinated cheeses

• gouda

[ drinks ]

• tart, dry, medium bodied berry wines

• airy, crisp white whines

• light-medium brew beers, dryer and not too heavy bodied/bitter (samuel adams boston lager is perfect for lammas in my opinion if you wanna feel like you know what’s up or you’re just looking to try out new drinks, & miller/bud lite is also A1 if you’re a cheap date like me)

• any sort of spiked or nonspiked apple beverage (yes even just plain apple juice)

• ginger beer

• iced teas/coffee/matcha

• americanos/cold brew

[ decoration ]

• scythe

• corn husks

• dried sunflowers

• grain stalks

• iron

• cast iron

[ flowers ]

• sunflowers

• chamomile

• calendula

• marigolds

• yellow roses

-

this, whew, is just about everything i’d like to have on here i think. i’ll be adding recipes as the season goes on probablyyy, and i might add in more specific little notes like i did with the beer and stuff if i find anything else like that along the way, feel free to leave any questions or feedback, hope this was helpful!! wishing you all abundant health this harvest~

What is a Blot?

A blot, is a ritual  sacrifice, to the gods, the wights, ancestors, alfr etc. Any of The Holy Powers. They are a way to communicate with them, to ask for intangible gifts and give them in return. “A gift for a gift as it must always be.” There is a debate as to whether or not the word “Blot” is apprporiate for non blood sacrafices, many practionores will also use the term “Faining” as an alternative if it is not a blood blot.

Read More…

🌱 Alternatives to Lavender 🍃

Love: • Roses • Oranges • Coriander • Basil • Thyme Fertility: • Corn • Sweet Basil • Alder • Saffron • Apples Visionary: • Cinnamon • Cloves • Sweet Basil • Ash • Apples Protection: • Ash • Blackberries • Birch • Coriander • Thyme Peace: • Coriander • Fig • Purple Loosestrife (or any Loosestrife) • Marigold • Olives • Violets Crystal Alternatives: Love: Rose Quartz, Carnelian, Garnet, Lepidolite, Sunstone Fertility: Carnelian, Amethyst, Milky Quartz, Moonstone, Moss Agate Visionary: Clear Quartz, Aqua Aura, Amethyst, Fluorite, Tourmaline Quartz Protection: Tourmaline Quartz, Iron, Silver, Jet, Black Onyx Peace: Blue Lace Agate, Sugilite, Kunzite, Rose Quartz, Purpurite

Litha Recipes with Correspondences and Vegan Alternatives

Cinnamon Red Sun Tea

Ingredients:

- 6 cups water

- ¼ cup loose red (rooibos) tea leaves

- 2 Cinnamon Sticks

- Simple syrup or Agave to taste

Directions:

- Place water, tea leaves and cinnamon sticks in large container or pitcher. Stir. Cover with lid or plastic wrap. Let stand in sun for 3 to 5 hours.

- Strain tea, discarding tea leaves and cinnamon sticks. Serve tea over ice or refrigerate until chilled. Sweeten with Simple Syrup, if desired.

Correspondances:

- Tea ~ courage, mental powers, prosperity, restfulness, strength

- Water ~ purification

- Cinnamon ~ healing, love, luck, lust, peace, protection, psychic powers, strength, success

- Sugar ~ love

Peach Earl Grey Fritters

Ingredients:

- 1 ½ cups whole milk (almond or soy for vegan)

- 1/3 cup earl grey tea

- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (coconut oil for vegan)

- 5 cups all-purpose flour

- 1 pinch nutmeg

- 1 pinch cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon salt

- ¼ cup sugar

- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast

- 2 eggs (egg substitute for vegan)

- 6 cups Vegetable oil, for frying (use more if needed)

- 3 large peaches, diced

For Icing:

- 1 cup powdered sugar

- 3 tablespoons honey (agave or maple syrup for vegan)

-  1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

- 2-3 tablespoons milk or cream (almond or soy for vegan)

Directions:

- In a small pot, heat the milk, tea, and butter until the butter has melted and the mixture is warm. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

- Mix the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of a mixer (or a large bowl if mixing by hand). Add the warm milk mixture and mix to combine.

- Add the eggs, scraping the bowl well. Turn the mixer up to medium speed, and, using a dough hook, mix until the dough begins to pull away from the edges. If mixing by hand, knead until it easily pulls away from the sides of the bowl as you knead (it will still be quite sticky).

- Transfer the finished dough to a well-oiled container and cover. Allow it to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Alternatively, you can refrigerate the dough overnight so that it’s ready to make in the morning—but you may need to punch the dough down once or twice during that period to prevent it from over-fermenting.

- Roll out the doughnut dough on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about ½ inch thick. Size/precision of the rectangle isn’t important—just focus on an even thickness for the dough. 

- Use a knife, pastry scraper, or bench knife to cut the dough into long vertical strips about ½ inch wide. 

- Next, cut the strips horizontally about ½ inch wide—this should make a whole bunch of ½ inch squares. 

- Divide the dough squares into 12 even portions. 

- To shape each doughnut, take about 2/3 of one portion of dough squares and smoosh them gently together. Place about ¼ to 1/3 cup of diced peaches on top of the dough.

- Top with the remaining 1/3 of the portion of dough squares and smoosh the dough gently to adhere to the peaches and other dough. It’s best for each piece of peach to be touching dough in two places (on top and on bottom), otherwise some may fall out when you go to fry them.

- Cover the doughnuts with greased plastic wrap and let them rise for 20 to 30 minutes.

- While the doughnuts rises heat the oil. If you have one, use a deep-fry thermometer to test the oil and help regulate the temperature—around 350° F is best. If you don’t have one, throw a doughnut hole or scrap piece of dough into the oil and see if it sizzles and rises to the surface. When it does, you’re good to go.

- Working in batches, gently drop the doughnuts into the oil, frying until they’re golden brown on both sides, 2-3 minutes per side. It’s helpful to use a spider or slotted spoon to support the fritter for the first 15-30 seconds, until the dough sets.

- Drain the doughnuts on several layers of absorbent paper towels. Let cool for 5-10 minutes. 

-In a small bowl, whisk the powdered sugar, honey, cinnamon, and milk or cream to combine. Add more milk or cream as needed to make drizzly glaze. Drizzle each doughnut into the glaze, and serve immediately.

Correspondances:

- Milk ~ Goddess energy, love, nurturing, spirituality

- Tea ~ courage, mental powers, prosperity, restfulness, strength

- Butter ~ smoothing relationships, spirituality, tenacity

- Flour ~ revealing hidden matters, consistency

- Nutmeg ~ confidence, emotional openness, fidelity, healing, luck, prosperity, social interaction

- Cinnamon ~ healing, love, luck, lust, peace, protection, psychic powers, strength, success

- Salt ~ cleansing & purification, grounding, protection

- Sugar ~ love

- Yeast ~ grounding, purification

- Egg ~ fertility, lust, protection, spirituality, strength

-  Oil ~ spirituality

- Peach ~ happiness, healing, fertility, longevity, love, wisdom

- Honey ~ happiness, healing, love, lust, purification, spirituality, sweet things in life, weight loss, wisdom

- Maple Syrup ~ prosperity, love

Raspberry Banana Bread

Ingredients:

- ¾ cup fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed

- 1 ripe banana

- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

- ½ teaspoon baking soda

- ¼ teaspoon salt

- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

- 1 cup white sugar

- 2 eggs (egg substitute for vegan)

- ½ cup vegetable oil

- ½ teaspoon lemon extract

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a loaf pan.

-  Mash raspberries in a bowl with a fork. Mash banana in another bowl with a fork.

- Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a bowl.

- Beat sugar, eggs, raspberries, banana, and vegetable oil in a bowl with an electric mixer set on low until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes.

- Stir flour mixture into raspberry mixture until batter is just moistened; stir in lemon extract. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Correspondances: 

-  Bread ~ (in general) kinship, sustenance

- Cake ~ (in general) celebrations, hospitality

- Raspberry ~ happiness, love, protection, stamina, vigor

- Banana ~ fertility, love, luck, potency, prosperity, spirituality

- Flour ~ revealing hidden matters, consistency

- Cinnamon ~ healing, love, luck, lust, peace, protection, psychic powers, strength, success

- Baking soda ~ raising energy or expectations

- Salt ~ cleansing & purification, grounding, protection

- Nutmeg ~ confidence, emotional openness, fidelity, healing, luck, prosperity, social interaction

- Sugar ~ love

- Egg ~ fertility, lust, protection, spirituality, strength

- Oil ~ spirituality

- Lemon ~ faithfulness, friendship, happiness, longevity, love, marriage

Keeping Consumerism out of Your Craft

Consumerism is a set of socioeconomic conditions and attitudes that encourage the continual acquisitions of goods and services. There is no “enough” in a consumerist society — members of the society are constantly pushed to buy new things, pay for new services, and keep up with the latest trends.

There are a few reasons consumerism is bad news. For one thing, it’s terrible for the environment — consumerist cultures usually have linear economies, where resources are extracted, consumed, then discarded, with no effort to replenish them. This is highly unsustainable, because at some point those limited resources are going to run out. Consumerism also has a human cost, as it often leads to the use of sweatshops, which violate basic labor laws. In many sweatshops, workers are not paid a livable wage, children are employed as workers, and working conditions are unsafe. Companies in countries like the United States get around labor laws by outsourcing labor to other (poorer) places. Consumerism also contributes to classism, as the acquisition of expensive items is often treated as a status symbol.

Consumerism is present in nearly every aspect of Western culture, and this includes spirituality and witchcraft. There are multiple “Beginner Witch Kits” for sale from Amazon and other online retailers which include candles, crystals, and incense — which is great, as long as that’s all stuff you’ll actually use in your practice. (I mean, do you really need twelve different varieties of incense?) Witchy authors and bloggers often treat magic like a matching game, where every problem requires a very specific herb or crystal. YouTube is full of “witch hauls,” videos solely dedicated to showing off new purchases. All of this contributes to a commercialized witchy aesthetic, which can only be achieved by buying the tools of the trade.

I get it. Shopping is fun, especially when you’re still learning about magic and magical items. It’s exciting to search for the perfect crystal or incense blend, especially if you have a local metaphysical store where you can shop in person. But owning the right stuff doesn’t make you a witch. All you need to practice magic is your will — everything else is optional.

I’m not saying every witch should be a hardcore minimalist, or that you can never buy new things. What I am saying is that all of us, witches or not, need to be more mindful of how we spend our money and the impact of our purchases on the world around us.

How to Avoid Consumerism

If you’re considering buying something, ask yourself if you’ll really get use out of it. For example, I don’t use a lot of tools in my practice because I prefer to work with my hands, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to buy an expensive wand or ritual knife. Don’t feel like you have to buy something just because another witch uses it — if you don’t think you’ll use it, don’t buy it.

Don’t buy multiples of the same tool. Instead of buying multiple different colored altar cloths for different times of year, buy one white altar cloth you can use year-round. Instead of buying multiple tarot decks, find one or two you really enjoy working with. You get the idea. (Obviously, there will be some items you need more than one of, like spell candles. This rule applies more to tools that can be reused.)

Replace things as they run out instead of buying them before you need them. Buying things in bulk can lead to unnecessary waste and drawers full of unused magical supplies. Buy things you know you’ll really use, and only buy one or two at a time. Use up the items you have before you buy more.

Invest in items that have multiple uses. For example, most kitchen spices can also be used in spells — search your spice cabinet before ordering special ingredients online. There are some items that have multiple magical uses, like rosemary and salt. Buy a couple of these multitaskers instead of a large collection of herbs with very specific uses.

Use the “two week” rule. This is something I do to keep myself from making impulse purchases. If I think I want to buy something online, I wait two weeks before I order it. If I still want it after two weeks, I take that as a sign that I’ll actually get some use from it.

Go “shopping” in your backyard. Familiarize yourself with the plants, animals, and minerals that are native to your area and go foraging for spell supplies instead of buying them. Items you can probably find near your home that could be used in ritual include leaves and flowers, pine cones, seed pods, tree branches, rocks, and naturally shed feathers. Just make sure you never harvest enough of a plant to hurt it, and make sure you properly disinfect any animal products you pick up.

If you can, make it yourself. Not only does making your own magic items save money, it also creates a much stronger personal link between you and that item. You can grow your own magical herbs in a garden or in indoor pots. Many common magical tools, like brooms and wands, are easy to make at home with some basic craft skills. Making your own items also means you can customize them, tailoring them to your own craft.

If you can’t make it yourself, but it used. There are some items you can’t reasonably make yourself, like incense burners, cauldrons, and books on the craft. But you can find most of these items used, either in thrift stores or online on websites like Ebay and Depop. Buying used almost always ends up being cheaper than buying new, and because you’re buying items already in circulation you aren’t contributing to a linear economy. Thrifting is also a great way to find unique items that won’t be like what anyone else has on their altar.

If you can’t find it used, support a small business. Sometimes, you can’t make what you need or find it in a thrift store. In that case, buying from a small business is preferable to buying from a big retailer like Amazon. When you support a small business, you’re supporting an individual rather than contributing to some CEO’s massive yearly bonus. A lot of small business owners make their items themselves, which avoids sweatshop labor. Pretty much everything I buy new for my craft comes from Etsy sellers — there are a LOT of witches on Etsy, so with a little digging you can easily find exactly what you’re looking for!

Don’t buy crystals. I know, I know. Thanks to social media, large crystal collections have become synonymous with witchcraft. But the crystal trade is highly unethical, with unsustainable mining techniques, dangerous working conditions, and child labor. Because of a lack of regulations, it’s virtually impossible to find crystals that are truly ethically sourced. Most sellers don’t know where their crystals come from and can’t guarantee that no workers were harmed in their extraction. No stone is worth the health and safety of other human beings, no matter how pretty.

Avoiding consumerism in your witchcraft means being less reliant on tools and set dressing. This will allow you to rely on your own energy and will, which will lead to a deeper and more meaningful spiritual practice.

Resources:

Revolutionary Witchcraft by Sarah Lyons

Simply Living Well by Julia Watkins

“11 Facts About Sweatshops” on dosomething.org

“Child labour in the fashion supply chain” from The Guardian

“Bangladesh factory collapse toll passes 1,000” from BBC News

“Are crystals the new blood diamonds?” from The Guardian

“Dark crystals: the brutal reality behind a booming wellness craze” from The Guardian

Riot magic tip: Coyote bones and coyote powder are the shit for rioters. Get some coyote teeth or claws, maybe powder that stuff, or buy some of the coyote spirit powder from a local botanica and give it to your rioter friends or use yourself if going to riots. The stuff usually wards off the law, makes you unconquerable, and allows you to slip past others. The typical trickster attributes you want.

✨ How To Wake Witchblr ✨

We’ve all seen the hashtag #wakingwitchblr or the term itself at one point. Still, I found that there’s a lack of info on what you can actually do to make witchblr more active. 

So I took it upon myself to create a list of things that anyone can do to revive our amazing community! Enjoy !

1) Don’t Like, Reblog instead 📣

There’s nothing inherently wrong with liking a post, it’s just that due to how Tumblr works, liking a post does virtually nothing. Reblogging, however, lets that post be seen by more and more people. The surefire way to revive witchblr is by reblogging as many witchy posts as you can. 

But what if some posts just doesn’t fit into your blog’s theme, even though you want to support it? Well, you have a couple options:

Reblog anyway. Diversifying your posts actually makes your blog more interesting. You can always tag it as ‘off-topic’ if the different theme bothers you that much.

Create a reblog/spam account! I have one and it is so simple. The post may not gain as much traction compared to if you RB-ed in your main blog, but trust me when I say a single reblog goes a long way.

Share it on other social media. See that arrow-like button down there? Click it and you can share the post anywhere. Send it to your witchy discord servers or your insta groupchat !

 2) Get off the ‘Top’ page. Go to ‘Recent’ 💌

AKA reblog from lesser-known bloggers.

Not only will you support fellow witches creating content, this also give you a chance to talk to them and find your place within Witchblr! Which brings me to my next point…

3) Interact with The Community 💬

If I’m a witch who wants to move away from Tumblr, there will be only one thing that can stop me, and that’s the friends and connections that I’ve made here.

Join online covens and discord servers, ask your witchstagram and witchtok friends for their tumblr url, and just have fun together. 

Interacting with other witches, making friends, even just giving compliments or advices. This is what makes us a community. It’s what makes us stay here. If we don’t interact with each other, than we’re just a bunch of people who likes the same thing without any connection. That’s not witchblr.

4) Diversify Your Tags 🎪

There is a kind of… exclusivity, when you look through the hashtags of witchy posts. Witches only ever tag with “witchblr”, “witchcraft”, and “magick”.

This creates an accurate, non-spammy post, but it is also a post that will only show up on other witches’ dashboard and no one else’s. The community will never grow in this way because there will be no new people finding the community. It’s just an echo chamber.

Instead, diversify your tags. I’m not telling you to tag your ritual oil with ‘cars for sale’, but if you made a travel altar yourself, there’s nothing wrong in tagging it #crafting, #diy, #handmade, etc. 

Non-witches will then find the post and potentially become interested in the community, thus making it grow.

5) Make Original Content 🔮

Original content is the backbone of any community, and witchblr is dying because we’re not producing any. So if you want to revive witchblr, make content of your own.

No, it doesn’t have to be well thought-out. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be good. Original content can be anything! It can be you posting about a witchy thing that happened. It can be your drawing, or a picture you took. It could even be memes???

Or it could be a ‘how to wake witchblr’ post that you wrote because you have a script due 3 weeks ago and somehow this is your idea of procrastination

The point is: just click that ‘Make a Post’ button, and make a freaking post !

6) Share This, and Add Your Own Tips! 🖤

Now that you know these, it’s time to let other people know too ! I put a lot of thoughts into this post, but I have to admit that these tips will only work if everyone in the community is doing it. 

If you have other tips or ways to make Witchblr more active, feel free to reblog with your own addition too.

I love this community, and if you’re reading this post I’m sure you do as well. It’s not gonna happen overnight, but I know that we can be as active as we used to be. We’ve got the heart, we just need the action.

Huginn and Muninn by benu-h

I'm not sure who needs to hear this at the moment but if you have any kind of animistic slant to your practice and enjoy plants you absolutely should be reading Daniel Schulke's Viridarium Umbris. PDFs are extraordinarily easy to find, the information and tech is phenomenal, and it is easy to pick and find what you want to work on at any given time. I started getting my teeth into it for the first time last year and I'm only sorry I hadn't picked it up sooner. It should be required reading.

I view witchcraft in the same way that I do vitamin supplements. Vitamins can help boost you up if you’re deficient in certain things, but if you ate nothing but vitamins, you’d still be very unhealthy. Witchcraft is the same way. If you need help finding a job, a job spell can help increase your chances after you submit a job application. However, if you ignore mundane means and only ever use witchcraft, you’ll never reach your full potential.