Magic Vs. Medicine?

Magic vs. Medicine?

People who believe in witchcraft know there are things in this world that science cannot explain. Many witches also believe in the healing power of nature. Because of this, there tends to be a lot of overlap between witchcraft and alternative healing.

Some alternative healing modalities, like herbal supplements, crystals, and essential oils, are incredibly popular with witches because they align so well with a magical worldview. And that can be a beautiful thing. If you find that taking CBD oil or diffusing lavender makes you feel good and gives you a sense of empowerment, then it absolutely has a place in your life.

The problem is that alternative healing (and, by extension, magic as a whole) is often framed as being in competition with conventional medicine. It’s presented as an “either/or” — either you believe in doctors and medicine, or you believe in energy healing and herbal supplements. This is not realistic, and it may even put people in danger.

The irony of this is that the first witches were also the first doctors. In Ancient Egypt, doctors would invoke the gods to imbue medicine with healing power, or curse a disease to make it leave a patient — these approaches were paired with actual medicine. In medieval Europe, witches and cunningfolk were the keepers of medical knowledge and would often serve as healers.

Even today, most pharmaceutical medications are made from naturally occurring ingredients. For example, antibiotics are synthesized from bacteria and fungi. These medications are not less natural than the medicine people used hundreds or thousands of years ago, but they are more refined thanks to modern technology. Rather than trading a natural remedy for an artificial one, you’re often just taking a more effective form of the same substance.

Personally, I like to use magic and alternative remedies to treat symptoms, but use medication to treat the underlying cause of the problem. If I have bronchitis, I might drink echinacea tea and diffuse eucalyptus essential oil, but I’m also going to take a full course of antibiotics to kill the infection.

Likewise, if I’m having a bad mental health day, I might take a bath with lavender or do some energy healing on myself, but I’m also probably going to call my therapist and continue taking my prescribed antidepressants.

Some witches have a lot of resistance to therapy, psychiatric care, and psychoactive medications. I’ve heard every possible argument, from “psychoactive meds lower your vibration/block your psychic abilities/dull your ability to feel energy!” to “if you tell a therapist you believe in magic, they’re going to think you’re crazy!” These arguments are completely false, plain and simple.

I’m a better witch when I’m in therapy and on my meds, because I’m a better person when I’m in therapy and on my meds. I’m better able to focus, set goals, and be aware of my body, which are all important skills in magic. I have no doubt that if I wasn’t doing what I need to do to keep myself stable, my mental health would suffer for it.

Good therapists know the importance of religion and spirituality, and they will respect your beliefs. No matter what your beliefs, a good faith-affirming therapist or counselor is always a good idea.

Your therapist is not going to think you’re crazy if you tell them you can astral travel, or talk about an experience with a pagan deity. What they will do is let you know if your experiences are outside the realm of healthy spirituality, and give you guidance on how to keep yourself safe if this is the case.

The truth is, whether we want to talk about it or not, not everyone who sees angels or talks to fairies is having a genuine spiritual experiences. As many as 63.3% of delusions in schizophrenia patients are religious in nature. If we are going to encourage people to seek out direct experiences of the spiritual, we also need to inform them on how to recognize when those experiences aren’t healthy or are not grounded in reality.

Psychosis refers to any experience that is not grounded in reality, including hallucinations (false sensory experiences) and delusions (false beliefs). Psychosis is not a mental disorder, but can be a symptom of many different disorders. It can also be an isolated incident in someone who may not usually experience breaks from reality.

Som if someone claims to have been visited by Isis, or Cernunnos, or the Virgin Mary, how do we know if they’re describing a genuine spiritual experience or a psychotic episode?

First of all, look at context. If someone claims to see angels or to be the reincarnation of a god immediately after taking drugs, after pulling an all-nighter, or while running a high fever (all potential causes of psychosis), they may be disconnected from reality and may need medical attention. On the other hand, if you know this person to be stable, sober, and well adjusted, they may very well be describing a genuine spiritual encounter.

Second, look at the actual experience. Is it consistent with the person’s existing beliefs? Is it consistent with experiences other people have had within the same belief system? Is this person clearly able to differentiate between this experience and the “real world,” or is the experience taking over their daily life? Answering these questions can help determine whether mental health intervention might be needed.

Finally, as a general rule, if you have an experience that scares you, makes you feel like you are in danger, or makes you feel compelled to hurt yourself or someone else, you should get a second opinion from a trained mental health professional.

As members of the witchcraft community, we have a responsibility to look out for other members of the community — and that includes being willing to say something if we believe someone genuinely needs medical help. Science and spirituality are not opposed, and they can coexist. Being a witch doesn’t mean rejecting science, and believing in science doesn’t mean rejecting magic. A healthy dose of skepticism goes a long way in keeping your magical practice safe, productive, and empowering.

Resources:

The Dream podcast, season two

New World Witchery podcast, “Episode 65 — The Slender Man Discussion”

Inside Schizophrenia podcast, “Psychosis in Schizophrenia”

The Savvy Psychologist podcast, “302 — Chemtrails, Aliens, and Illuminati — The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories”

🌿🍊Litha Orange Honey Cake🍊🌿

Hello my greenies! Happy Litha! I hope you’re all enjoying the summer sun and nature. Even during quarantine, if you’re able to take a walk in nature without contact with others, I highly recommend doing so. If you’re unable to go outside, I recommend taking the time to bake and maybe listen to some nature sounds on youtube. Those have helped me during these times. I wish you all the best with this yummy cake! I hope you all like this recipe:)

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

½ cup softened unsalted butter

2 eggs

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ cup granulated sugar

½ cup milk

½ tsp salt

¼ cup brown sugar

2 tbsp fresh orange juice

2/3 cup honey

1 tbsp vanilla extract

around a tbsp of orange zest

Optional Glaze

½ cup honey

¼ cup brown sugar

some lemon juice

juice of 4th of orange

couple pats of ground cinnamon

dash of vanilla

½ cup (maybe.. I never measure this out)sliced almonds

Mix until syrup state.

Directions

Preheat Oven for 350°F and coat pan with non-stick or other alternative. I honestly don’t know what size my pan is…so I’d say eyeball it and see how much you can fit? Lol

In medium bowl, mix dry ingredients (including the orange zest). Set that to the side while you mix the other ingredients in a larger bowl.

Sift the dry ingredients into the bowl with the other ingredients in batches. So, sift a little in and mix then repeat that until all the dry ingredients are mixed in.

Pour the mixture into the pan and cook for about 28 to 35 minutes. Check with a long toothpick:3 After you take out you can pour over an optional syrup that I think is amazing!

There’s no particular chant I do for this recipe, I mostly just pray for the sun and for the health of those I care for. I like to visualize the sun and its heat and color wrapping me in an embrace and that same warmth infusing the cake.

I hope you call have a lovely Litha and special time with those you love a care for.

- Kenzie

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1 year ago

Earl Grey and Lemon Cupcake Recipe - Your source of sweet inspirations! || GET SWEET DESSERT BOOKS! || GET AWESOME DESSERT MERCH! || GET COOL BAKEWARE! || GIFTS FOR THE DESSERT LOVER!

Sandwich correspondences

Fruit correspondences

Vegetable correspondences

Tea correspondences (sun tea, tea in general, floral tea)

Flower correspondences- can be used as decoration, for flower crowns, as a fun nature activity (collecting them respectfully, of course), and edible flowers can be used for deserts, drinks, and salads!

Desserts- here’s some witchy dessert recipes, perfect for any picnic!

(Tiny strawberry pies, cranberry pistachio shortbreads, cardamom pear cake, ginger and fig tart, apricot coconut bites, and lavender tea bread)

Locations- fun witchy locations for picnics include:

🌹a botanical garden, floral garden, or any sort of garden (perfect for fae, floral, air, green, life, spring, and summer witchcraft)

☀️a sunny open field/area (probably has wild flowers!, great for air, sun, floral, and weather witchcraft)

🌙⭐a night picnic under the stars and moon! (Perfect for lunar, nocturnal, and cosmic witchcraft)

🌳a park (great for all witchcraft, very versatile)

🌊💧a beach, pond, lake or near any body of water (perfect for water, sea, and love witchcraft)

👻a cemetery (perfect for death, spirit, medium, and floral witchcraft. Just make sure it’s allowed and you’re respectful of graves)

🌲A forest (perfect for forest, tree, nature, green, earth, and hedge witchcraft, here’s some tree correspondences)

Other witchy picnic ideas:

Stones/crystals to bring- it depends a lot on location and the general theme of the picnic! But a few favorites of mine are:

rose quartz, opalite, any aura quartz, sunstone, agate, tigers eye, and selenite (especially peach selenite)

Scents- I like to focus on scents a lot during picnics. It can make the experience so much more enjoyable! Location once again plays a huge role, but you can always spray your picnic blanket with essential oils, use strongly scented herbs or flowers, use a specific perfume, or even a specific tea that smells good. Some scents I like to focus on during picnics are:

lemon, orange, grapefruit, lemongrass, strawberry, orange blossom, gardenia, rose and lavender

Bring some little spells or offerings with you! A picnic in nature is the perfect time to do a little crafting, especially love, self care, fae, peace and happiness spells. And you can correspond your picnic with the intent of the spell!

It’s also a great time for devotional offerings and any other offerings, especially fae offerings.

Put together a picnic spell- an entire picnic can be a spell! Everything from location, to drinks, to food, and the extra stuff you bring along can be in it.

🍑Have fun picnic witching! 💐

“Support me and guide me, Spirits of Nature. As a Green Witch, I thank you for your many blessings. I take a little piece of the Forest with me as I walk my path. Blessed be, and so mote it be.” 🌿

You can now take your little piece of the Forest inside your spell jar with you wherever you go as a reminder of your Green Witch oath and path. It’s great to keep in your bag, purse, or travel altar! Blessed be, lovelies! 💖🌿

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4 years ago

Magic Correspondences of veggies and fruits (Eng//Esp//Cat)

I’m going to use this post not only as a correspondence guide but also as a traduction guide, since english is not my native language and I need to keep record as to what is what. So I’m posting the original english correspondence and just below the names in spanish and catalan with a spanish traduction of the correspondences.

BTW, the original correspondence list was made by @peachyymama. So all praise be to her.

————————————–

Apples: Love, fertility, marriage, beauty, vanity, wisdom.

Manzanas / Pomes: Amor, fertilidad, matrimonio, belleza, vanidad, sabiduria.

Avocado: Lust, love, beauty (carry pit around to radiate beauty).

Aguacate / Alvocat: Deseo, amor, belleza (puedes llevar un hueso de aguacate para irradiar belleza)

Apricot: Attracts love.

Albaricoque / Albercoc: Atrae el amor.

Banana: Fertility, potency, prosperity

Plátano / Plàtan: Fertilidad, potencia, prosperidad.

Blackberry: Healing, protection, money.

Mora / Mora: Curación, protección, dinero.

Blueberry: Peace, protection.

Arandano / Nabiu: Paz, protección.

Broccoli: Leadership, protection, strength.

Brócoli / Broquil: Liderazgo, protección, fuerza.

Brussels Sprouts: Protection, endurance, protection.

Coles de Bruselas / Cols de Brusseles: Protección, resiliencia, protección.

Beets: Love.

Remolacha / Remolatxa: Amor.

Cabbage: Good luck, money, fertility, lunar magic.

Repollo / Col: Buena suerte, dinero, fertilidad, magia lunar.

Carrots: Lust, fertility.

Zanahorias / Pastanagues: Deseo, fertilidad.

Cauliflower: Protection.

Coliflor / Coliflor: Protección.

Celery: Mental & psychic powers, lust, fertility.

Apio / Api: Poder mental y psíquico, deseo, fertilidad.

Cherry: Love, divination, happiness.

Cereza o Guinda / Cirera: Amor, adivinación, felicidad.

Coconut: Purification, protection, chastity.

Coco / Coco: Purificación, protección, castidad.

Corn: Protection, good luck, divination.

Maíz / Blat de Moro: Protección, buena suerte, adivinación.

Cucumber: Healthy, chastity, fertility.

Pepino / Cogombre: Salud, castidad, fertilidad.

Garlic: Healing, protection, purification, exorcism, guards against negative energy.

Ajo / All: Curación, protección, purificación, exorcismos, guarda contra las malas energias.

Grape: Money, fertility, mental powers, garden magic.

Uvas / Raïm: Diners, fertilidad, poderes mentales, magia de jardín.

Grapefruit: Cleansing, purification.

Pomelo / Aranja: Limpieza, purificación.

Lemon: Cleansing, purification, removes blockages.

Limón / Llimona: Limpieza, purificación, remueve bloqueos.

Lettuce: Divination, protection, sleep, lunar magic, love spells.

Lechuga / Enciam: Adivinación, protección, sueño, magia lunar, hechizos de amor.

Lime: Protections, purification, promotes calmness.

Lima / Llima: Protección, purificación, promueve la calma.

Mushroom: Psychic awareness.

Setas / Bolets: Conciencia psíquica.

Onion: Stability, money, lust, protection, prosperity.

Cebolla / Ceba: Estabilidad, dinero, deseo, protección, prosperidad.

Orange: Love, joy, happiness.

Naranja / Taronja: Amor, felicidad, alegría.

Peach: Fertility, love, wisdom.

Melocotón / Préssec: Fertilidad, amor, sabiduria.

Pear: Lust, love.

Pera / Pera: Deseo, amor.

Peas: Luck, money.

Guisantes / Pèsols: Suerte, dinero.

Pepper (green): Growth, prosperity.

Pimiento verde / Pebrot verd: Crecimiento, prosperidad.

Pepper (red): Energy, strength.

Pimiento rojo / Pebrot vermell: Energia, fuerza.

Pepper (yellow): Creativity.

Pimiento amarillo / Pebrot groc: Creatividad.

Pineapple: Luck, money, chastity.

Piña / Pinya: Suerte, dinero, castidad.

Plum: Healing, peace, love.

Ciruela / Pruna: Curación, paz, amor.

Pomegranate: Divination, wishes, wealth, fertility.

Granada / Magrana: Adivinación, deseos, riqueza, fertilidad

Potato: Healing, money, luck.

Patata / Patata: Curación, dinero, suerte.

Pumpkin: Healing, Prosperity.

Calabaza / Carbassa: Curación, prosperidad.

Radish: Protection, lust.

Rábano / Rave: Protección, deseo.

Raspberry: Love, protection, happiness, stamina.

Frambuesa / Gerd: Amor, protección, felicidad, estamina.

Spinach: Prosperity.

Espinacas / Espinacs: Prosperidad.

Strawberry: Success, good fortune, love, luck, romance.

Fresas / Maduixes: Éxitos, buena fortuna, amor, suerte, romance.

Sweet Potato: Grounding, love, lust.

Batata o Boniato / Moniato: Anclarse a la tierra, amor, deseo.

Tangerine: Protection.

Mandarina / Mandarina: Protección.

Tomato: Healing, love, prosperity, protection.

Tomate / Tomàquet: Curación, amor, prosperidad, protección.

Watermelon: Healing.

Sandía / Sindria: Curación.

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4 years ago

September seasonal produce 🍎

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4 years ago

These Are For My Daughter’s Birthday Party This Weekend, But I Thought I Would Go Ahead And Share This

These are for my daughter’s birthday party this weekend, but I thought I would go ahead and share this because it’s seriously so easy and I can see there being a lot of uses in the witchcraft community. These are heart shaped sugar cubes and they are seriously easy to make. I have roughly fifty-nine of them too. I went with white because I had no red food coloring in the pantry (the theme is soft pastels), but it’s also really easy to color these to suit your needs.

You can literally really make cute enchanted sugar cubes and I like this method because it feels very ritualistic - like it has the potential to be magical if you make it magical.

I pressed birthday wishes into these - that this year will be fun and kind and that she’ll learn the lessons that she’s meant to learn.

The recipe is as follows:

2 cups granulated sugar

food coloring, if desired - you can use wet or dry food coloring

4 teaspoons water

Mix sugar and food coloring until sugar reaches desired color. Add in four teaspoons of water to mixture and combine until the mixture reaches a sandy consistency. If you add too much water, it won’t hold its shape so be careful.

Turn sugar mixture into a flat surface. I used a glass pie pan. Use the bottom of a cup to compress the sugar into a solid layer. Use a small cookie cutter to cut out the desired shape and carefully place on a baking sheet.

If you want to let them dry out for a couple days, you can. However, I rather prefer this way: preheat the oven to 200 F and bake sugar cubes for 10 minutes. Take out of the oven and let cool completely.

I pressed my intentions into the sugar when I pressed the sugar mixture down into a solid layer. There’s a lot of ways you can customize this into a spell, however - the color of the sugar, the shape you choose to make, the intentions you put into the sugar itself. The possibilities, as they say, are endless!

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4 years ago

hopeless romantic kitchen witch in need of some assistance !! 🌿

- i found this charming little recipe this morning and basically fell in love and want to surprise my partner with a cute lil romantic dinner when they come home from work today! I was thinking a ‘fancy’ garlic bread to go with it for sure :) but I need some veggie side ideas or something! maybe soup? anyone know how to make a good minestrone? im kinda stumped ;(

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4 years ago

Midsummer

The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year, the night is shortest and it is the inverse of the cold, dark days of the winter solstice. If the winter solstice is a time for reflection and gathering in the safe warmth of one’s home, then the summer solstice is a time of outdoor celebration to honor the light, the warmth, the green, and all things that are vibrant and alive. You’ve spent the winter months planning, you’ve planted seeds of growth in spring, now at the height of the sun it is the time for action and for celebrating your activeness before you are able to reap the benefits come the autumn harvest. From this day forward the darkness will return slowly and the days will shorten once more and what you prepare in the light of summer will be what you enjoy in the darker months. Use this time to celebrate and to enjoy the process of working towards your goals, uncomfortable though it may be at times. Take pleasure in the living world around you and in those around you whom you care for. Happy Midsummer!

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4 years ago