Finding My Way Again And Healing In The Process

Stones and Crystals in My Corner of Witchcraft

Crystals are often thrown out because of their New Age ubiquity, but what I think a lot of people don’t realize is that they had uses before the New Age movement. Crystals are just shiny rocks. And as rocks– as a part of the earth– they have a documented place in folkloric witchcraft.

If you want to start looking into classical crystal stuff, get a copy of The Curious Lore of Precious Stones by Kunz and save yourself the headache of sorting through nonsense. In it, I was able to locate uses for various stones that were historically backed-- onyx separates lovers, moonstone arouses passion, bloodstone could be used to raise a tempest, etc.

I will admit that store-bought crystals aren’t my favorite things in the world. I find that usually the rocks around my neighborhood get the job done for free. 

There’s rocks with quartz inclusions by the river’s edge. These make excellent spirit houses.

Smooth stones can anchor glamours and illusions.

Hagstones can give protection and Sight.

Jagged stones can be a great base for a hex.

I have about 2 or 3 crystals that I use on a regular basis– one because it’s the first magic item I ever bought, and one I received as a particularly uncanny omen. But that doesn't mean I disregard the whole field. Like I said, anything is useful if you know where to look and how to use it.

⚰️Subtle Anpu Worship⚖️

Greatly inspired by @khaire-traveler's wonderful subtle worship series, which can be found here.

Honor your ancestors/souls that have passed

Visit cemeteries; leave flowers at graves (with permission); or help clean up gravesites (if allowed)

Learn about and uphold Ma'at

Make a playlist or listen to songs that remind you of him or you think he'd like

Make a collage/moodboard/pinterest board/similar collection of photos and images you associate with him, especially if some of the images are your own

Wear a piece of jewelry or other clothing item that reminds you of him

Light a candle or incense that reminds you of him (safely)

Carry a picture of him in your wallet, pocket, phone case, etc. or as a phone or computer wallpaper

Have jackal, wolf, dog, or scales imagery

Allow yourself to mourn over difficult changes or the end of relationships; allow yourself to miss people

Become comfortable with change; take new risks, try new things, accept difficult changes

Hold onto any family heirlooms; keep items from people who have passed in your life

Support humanitarian organizations, especially funeral funding or suicide prevention ones

Learn about death; acquaint yourself with the idea of death; figure out what you believe happens after death

Learn about different mummification practices especially Egyptian ones

Hold others and yourself responsible for their/your actions; apologize or make amends when possible/appropriate

Let go of people or things that do not contribute to your life in a positive way

Remember that rest is productive; take breaks when you need them

Practice truthfulness and keep your promises

Don't feel obligated to forgive people; you do not have to forgive them even if they've apologized to you

Make charms/other items for deceased loved ones especially protective ones or ones with his image and leave them on their gravesites (if possible) or on an ancestor altar

Help out those who are grieving (cook them a meal, help pay for funeral services, be a shoulder they can cry on, etc.)

I may add more to this list in the future. Suggestions are always appreciated.

Link to the Kemetic Subtle Worship Masterpost

I'm feeling better but not much got done. But I'm showered, dressed, had crochet talk, eating a quick snack. I need to get these damn dishes done.

I'm struggling with my anxiety today, I'm trying to do small manageable tasks, with my witchy ambience music, but it's not quite helping. I do have my asks and messages open if people want ask or talk about something. I mean witchcraft is a topic, but I also enjoy journaling, bullet journaling, crocheting, or whatever tickles your fancy. I just need help getting through some house work.

🧹💐 SPRING CLEANING REFLECTION ASKS for your magical practice 💐🧹

You can treat this as an ask game or journal prompts leading up to Beltane – I might do both!

Talk about....

🔥 A favourite ritual 🐉 A deity or spirit you used to work with 🐚 A deity or spirit you currently work with 🌻 A magical encounter in nature ☕ A magical encounter in the city 🌟 A time you improvised with what you had 🌶 A risky offering 🥀 A working that didn't work out 🦉 A mentor or person who's influenced your practice 🌱 A skill you're working on 🍇 An offering you're proud of ⚡ A favourite collaboration 🐾 The furthest you've ever travelled for magical purposes 🏺 An ancestor (blood or chosen) 🐬 A culturally specific belief or practice of yours 🦂 A mistake (that you're willing to talk about) ⛈ An ethic or value that's central to your practice 🌗 One way that your practice has changed 🍁 Something you miss about an older version of your practice 🦀 A bad habit 🌋 A magical gift (either something you're Gifted At, or a gift you've received) 🐝 Your magical/spiritual community 🔮 A memorable divination session 🍄 A dream or vision 🐣 A goal for your practice

"So this is how liberty dies... With thunderous applause."

Sharing Joy (built from Sorrow): We lost our long time canine companion in October, after losing my Mother in Law in April. It broke my Husband to lose both in one year, so we re-adopted fairly quickly despite me initially wanting to wait until around Christmas or Tax Season. Her name is now Lily, and she's a Great Pyrenees and Husky mix. She's SUCH a ray of sunshine. She's always happy and playful. But her favorite toy is literally fire logs / pieces of firewood for our fireplace- and her favorite pastime is laying on the couch just chewing on my hand while I'm reading a book 🤣

I'm deeply sorry for your loss. But I'm also happy that you got Lily. She sounds amazing and your home is never boring. 😆

Spell Casting - Time of Day

Dawn - renewal, rebirth, new beginnings, new ideas, creativity, cleansing, healing 

Morning - achieving goals, brewing potions, intellect,

intelligence, love, relationships, companionship 

Noon - solar magic, confidence, success, attainment, wealth, courage, strength, protection

Dusk - release, letting go, peace, reflection, breaking bad habits, transformation, banishing

Evening - cursing, banishing, binding, dream magic, celestial or planetary magic

Midnight - lunar magic, psychic awareness, intuition, spirituality, divination, peace, relaxation 

Twilight - liminal space; transitions, change, transformation, astral travel, traveling to other realms, spirit communication

© 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 𝙰𝙳-𝙲𝙰𝙴𝙻𝙴𝚂𝚃𝙸𝙰

like to charge reblog to cast

🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️

🕯️🕯️ may all 🕯️🕯️

🕯️🕯️corrupt politicians🕯️🕯️

🕯️🕯️ meet their fate 🕯️🕯️

🕯️🕯️ ‧͙☆༓happy ides༓☆‧͙🕯️🕯️

🕯️🕯️ to all 🕯️🕯️

🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️

As somebody with ADHD as well, how do you balance a secular witchcraft practice and deity worship? Also, ty for showing me that I can separate the two!!

Good question! UPG and secular witchy things ahoy.

The way I see it, my witchcraft and my pagan practices are pretty much two separate things. When I'm venerating my deities or making offerings, that is Bree the Pagan doing the thing. While there may be special occasions where magical ritual as part of that, like around Samhain, it's not the focus.

When I'm creating or casting a spell, 99% of the time I'm not asking for divine aid, I don't require it, I don't think about it. I'm relying on my own resources and tools to make things happen. And while there may be some special occasions where I invoke my patrons for aid, usually for protection, that's not the focus.

So I'm a witch who also happens to be a polytheist pagan, rather than a polytheist pagan witch, if that makes sense. When I talk about my witchcraft, I talk about magic and technique and theory and such, but not my deities. When I talk about my paganism, I talk about my deities and veneration and my experiences with them, but not my witchcraft.

Surprisingly, my ADHD doesn't really affect my ability to compartmentalize in this way. I rather feel like it makes it easier to say The Witchcraft Is Over Here and The Paganism Is Over Here. Separating the two also helps eliminate a source of anxiety for me. Relying on the input of others to help me accomplish my goals has, historically speaking, been fraught with disappointment. So if I'm just relying on myself, it's easier to fully invest my energy and determination into the working, without the distraction of worrying whether the additional aid will come through or if I'm doing something "wrong" with regard to the inclusion of a deity or annoying them by asking for help.

So yes, it is perfectly possible to separate the two things. You can be a witch without being a pagan or a pagan without being a witch. Or you can be both without putting chocolate in your peanut butter, as it were.

Hope this helps!

I want my blog to be mostly positive and mostly witchy, but given the state of things, I feel I need to share some things because I am angry. Just know, I say these things as they are what I witnessed and grew up being around. Growing up, my (step)family and I were Catholics. I'm not obviously anymore but they still are. We lived in rural Kansas where there was more livestock than people.

These people wouldn't know kindness if it bit them in the ass. When my mom and step dad got married, I was informed and reminded repeatedly that I would never be a real sister, cousin, and I wasn't a part of the family. Mental health issues were a sign of weakness, and I was bullied by peers and adults alike for being too sensitive. Bullying was an everyday occurrence, and I really struck a nerve when I found their mother's suicide note, it was four pages. I read it. Being only 13 years old, I understood

They were also racist, so racist one of my sisters got caught kissing a guy that was not white, I remember a lot of yelling being involved, maybe more but not 100% sure. Throughout this weird Catholic community we also had a lot of Latino people. At school, my peers weren't allowed to speak Spanish, even at recess it was always met with "We speak English here!" I was there at the beginning of the whole "Mexicans are taking our jobs!" In our dating years, we didn't dare bring anybody home that wasn't white.

Being LGBT...um..."Not the way God intended." Is the kindest way to say how it wasn't welcomed. This was met with insults, hate, and biblical rhetoric. And threatened to be disowned if we were.

It's also very much a Pro-life area, growing up during the Summer every other Sunday afternoon all us little chickens and some older chickens would flock to the highway with some Pro-life signs from the church basement and stand along the highway with our signs for a couple of hours.

These people cannot be reasoned with, they refuse to even remotely listen. This mindset has been ingrained in people's brains. Even in my town now, there is still hate. A town maybe 30 minutes away was KKK headquarters for my area. If you aren't straight and white, it's tough.

I'm angry and scared, but I refuse to be dragged back into that pit which I dug out from. I will fight as I did before. I'm bisexual, pro-choice, and I love everyone. We are humans, we all bleed red, and we all deserve love and respect. The sun can warm, but it can also scortch and burn, and I will do my best to help comfort those who suffer.