Tips For Making Sigils

Reblog if you think transgender people are NOT a burden

And you hate trump

4 Things To Do Before A Spell (With Examples)

1. Clear your intention: Think about what it is that you want. Be clear with your wants. and desires. Example: If you’re doing a spell to help find a job. Be clear with what kind of employment you’re looking for. Consider distance, profession, pay. Don’t just ask the universe to hand you a “Job”

2. Clear your space: Clear your space of negativity and distractions. Example: If you’re doing a luck spell, Don’t just wing it. Cleanse your space with herbs, reduce noise, clutter, or things that will get in your way. This could also mean people. Meaning, If there is company, or people around you who are not involved in the spell try to find a calm peaceful space where they won’t effect the outcome. 

3. Improvise premade Spells:  If you’re using a spell from a book, Or online (Tumblr) switch up the spell to make it personal and doable for you. Example: If the spell calls for lavender and you don’t have it use other calming ingredients like salt, Or your favorite calming incense. 

4. Protect Yourself: No matter what spell you are doing, Always protect yourself before during and after. Example: Before your spell wear protective crystals or draw sigils on your body. During the spell create a protective circle, And after take a cleansing and protective bath with herbs and salt. 

x

Treat yourself. Talk to your local undead spirits. Befriend the strange entities hiding within the shadows of your bedroom. Let the strange whispering creature made of eyeballs and dark matter envelop your brain. Become one with your town’s secret underground hivemind. You’ve earned it.

WITCHY ART CHALLENGE  ✨ 🌘🔮

Summer is coming and here is for you, all witch artist/writer of this world, a Challenge with only witchy stuff to draw or write about! You can do whatever you want with it, whenever you want! It’s just a list of witches I really wanted to design and bring to my story or I really wanted to draw just for fun~ 

You can mix it with some color palette meme found on the web, there is a lot of it around deviantart and Tumblr! It doesn’t have to be done in the order, you can just reblog it and ask to you followers to suggest you some of these! And you can suggest me some of these too! I’ll do it in July or August anyway ;D

This is a character design challenge~ You can do anything, any body type, any skin color, any disability, any religion or any gender you want, it’s totally free, so be creative ♥ That’s the only thing that counts! 

Lots of love *:･ﾟ✧

My witchy iOS apps.

Wow! I’ve never gotten more than MAYBE 15 notes in my many years on tumblr. Thanks, witch fam!

UPDATED*** Here are some app links for @valicorne​ and others who requested. They should all be free. Some of these are also in the Android Marketplace, and for those that aren’t, there are comparable ones.

And my mom has a baller sigil making app on Android I envy: Sigil Automatron. Anyone know of a comparable one for iOS? (I don’t want just a paint or photoshop-like app, but one specific To making sigils)

Not all the full names show in the screenshotted app view, which is why some of you struggled to find them. Sorry!):

1. Tarot Card Memorizer: Pretty self explantaory. This is a nice reference when you’re trying to learn card meanings.

2. Pendulum Charts Free - a plethora of charts. I like using that on my iPad, not super useful on a smaller screen, aka my iPhone. Can also use to reference for making your own charts on paper, or woodburning like I’m working on.

3. Golden Thread Tarot - Really nice free eversion of great physical deck. Nice for witches on the go, or witches on a budget.

4. Crystals And Gems - Handy reference guide for both physical and metaphysical attributes.

5. Mighty Timer - temperature, time, and amount of tea you need for the perfect cup. Great kitchen witch app, especially if you grow some of your own herbs for tea, like I do.

6. TimePassages - Free daily horoscopes, meanings, planetary bodies glossary and then some paid options for chart downloads.

7. Herbs Guide - Herbs for health and cooking. ***never take any information found on the Internet or via apps as medical advice. Seek professional medical help if you have an issues. This witch is very pro-science and modern medicine, despite making teas, tinctures, and herbal salves. Those are merely supplements to help relieve symptoms.

8. Dreamboard - my favorite digital dream journal

9. Runes - pocket advisor - Get one, two and three rune readings. Also helps you learn the meanings of elder futhark runes. 10. SkyView Free -This overlays constellations and other astronomical information when you open the app and point it at the night sky. Uses your camera and GPS to know what it’s looking at. Works inside, too. I impress the heck out of people when I whip this out at stargazing events.

11. Best Essential Oils and Aromatherapy Guide Pro - This app, containing six broad sections - guides, application, single oil, oil blends, aromatherapy and weight loss. Again, this is not to be used in place of proper nutrition and medical attention, and be very careful when using essential oils. All need to be diluted with carrier oils, and some are dangerous if you’re pregnant, etc.

12. Spellcaster - tarot cards, horoscope and pre-written spells. Not my favorite, but fun to flip through.

13. Celeste -LOOOVE. Celeste allows you to calculate a natal chart, which you can view on a zodiac wheel. You also get a description of all the planets in signs, not just the sun sign.

14. Star Chart - This is similar to skyview. I haven’t played with it too much so I can’t vouch for it quite yet. I think I prefer the skyview interface.

15. Free Candle - Different candle options, and you cna blow them out. Great for on the go candle magick/meditation, and for those who aren’t allowed to use candles in apartments/dorms/etc.

16. The Pocket Pagan - “This unique Pagan app includes a map of the USA and Canada filled with Pagan, occult and New Age stores, a handy correspondence guide for quick magickal look-ups, and a calendar that shows you the next full moon and Sabbat dates. Quick links can help you find the latest news, blogs and videos too. One little widget shows the real-time moon phase too.”

17. Moon - current moon phase - Love this. Very simple interface for when you JUST want basic full, new, waxing, waning moon info.

18. Herbs in Magick - The application contains information about more than 200 herbs and their magickal use. No internet connection

Ten Mistakes New Herb Gardeners Make (and How to Avoid Them!)

Mistake 1: Growing from seed. When you first start out trying to grow fresh herbs, I recommend you begin by trying to grow from seedlings rather than planting your own seeds. These great little starter plants are widely available in grocery stores in the late spring. For the same price as a packet of fresh herbs from the produce section, you can buy your own little starter plant. Lots can go wrong in the seed to seedling transition (including not thinning out plants properly), so its probably best to begin by skipping that complicated task or you are in danger of washing out before you really begin.

Mistake 2: Starting with the wrong varieties. I recommend you start by trying to grow fresh basil. It is the perfect trainer herb. First, basil grows quickly, allowing you to observe the effects of your care more easily. Second, basil leaves wilt visibly when not watered enough, but recovers well if you water the wilted plant. This makes basil a great ‘canary in the mineshaft’ to help you figure out how much water is enough.

Mistake 3: Watering herbs like houseplants. Instead, water herbs a moderate amount every day. While some houseplants flourish with one solid watering per week, most delicate herbs require moderate and regular watering. This is particularly true during hot summer months. If you have good drainage at the bottom of your pot (at least a drainage hole, possibly rocks beneath the soil), it will be difficult to water herbs too much.

Mistake 4: Not cutting early and often. As a novice gardener, it may seem like your puny little plant just isn’t ready for a trip to the barber, but then you will find yourself sitting there wishing for leaves without much success. Again, basil is a great herb to practice pruning. As with all herbs, you want to cut the herb just above a set of growing leaves. With basil, when you cut the plant that way, the originally trimmed stem will no longer grow. However, two new stems will grow around the original cutting, creating a “V” shape (see the photo above, can you spot the Vs?). If you don’t trim basil aggressively, it will continue to grow straight up, and become too tall and top-heavy. Making your first trim approximately 3-4” above the soil produces a nice sturdy plant. Of course you want to be sure you are always leaving a few good sturdy leaves on the plant (see below). As it continues to grow, continue to prune it approximately every 3-4" for a nice solid plant. I like to let it grow for some time and then cut back to within 2-3 inches of the original cut. After only a few early trial cuts, this usually makes for a nice clipping with plenty of basil to use for a pizza.

Mistake 5: Taking the leaves from the wrong place. When you are just starting out it seems to make so much sense to pick off a few big leaves around the bottom of the plant, and let those tender little guys at the top keep growing. Wrong. Leave those large tough old guys at the bottom alone. They are the solar panels that power your herb’s growth. Once your plant is big enough to sustain a decent harvest, keep on taking from the top, as you have been when you were pruning. That way you get all those tender new herbs that are so tasty, and your plant gets to keep its well developed solar power system in place. Plus, if you pluck from the base and leave the top intact, you get a tall skinny plant that will flop over from its own weight (and yes, I know this from experience). When you pluck from the top, instead of clipping off just below a pair of leaves, you want to clip off just above a pair of leaves. It is a bit counter-intuitive as a novice, but trust me it works. The place where the leaf joins the stem is where new growth will occur when your plant sends off new stems in a V.

Mistake 6: Letting your plants get too randy. If you are pruning regularly, this may never become an issue, but unless you are growing something for its edible flowers, be sure to cut back herbs before they start growing flowers. My friend once brought me to her backyard garden and pointed, frustrated, at her wimpy, small basil plants. “I just keep tending them, but they don’t even produce enough leaves to put on a salad!” she lamented. I pointed to the glorious stalk of flowers at the top of each plant, “That’s your problem” I explained. Because herbs are kind of like college boys: if you give them half a chance, they will focus all their energy on procreation and neglect growth. If you want leaves, keep cutting off the little flower buds whenever you find them (see photo above), and it will encourage your plant to focus on growing more leaves.

Mistake 7: Using tired soil with no nutrients. Tired soil that has been sitting in your garden or lawn for ages often looks grey and a little depressing. Would you want to grow in that stuff? Give your plants a dose of the good stuff and they’ll thank you for it. I grow my herbs in a combination of potting soil, used coffee grounds (with a near-neutral PH, available for free at Starbucks), and organic compost. If I have some on hand, I also throw in crushed egg shells. Those without access to compost (and no deep commitment to organic growing) may find Miracle grow useful. My momma swears by it for tomatoes. A diluted solution of Miracle grow occasionally can help many herbs flourish.

Mistake 8: Getting in a rut. There is an element to passion about herb gardening. In order to be good at it, you need to feel rewarded. So don’t stick too long with one or two herbs just because they work. Branch out to a few other basic herbs that you will use regularly in your kitchen. There are few things more rewarding as an urban foodie than being able to pop out to the fire escape to clip fresh herbs to use in my cooking. Once you have become comfortable with basil, I recommend moving on to try growing oregano, mint, rosemary and thyme. All are regularly useful herbs in the kitchen, and all are relatively easy to grow. You will notice that rosemary cleaves after cutting in a somewhat similar way to basil, but grows much more slowly, so the effect is difficult to notice. Some plants also respond to clipping by throwing out more full leaves at their base. I have long wanted to grow cilantro but have not had much luck with it.

Mistake 9: You mean there’s more than one kind of mint?When choosing herbs, read the label carefully. For example, there are two main varieties of oregano: Mediterranean and Mexican. Mediterranean oregano is the more common variety, and what you likely own if you have conventional dried oregano in your cupboard. I have Mexican oregano growing on my back fire escape. I love Mexican oregano in spicy dishes, for making beans from scratch, and often use it in tomato dishes where I don’t want the flavor to seem too much like marinara. Similarly, there are many different kinds of mint. You don’t want to be thinking of the pungent spearmint plant and accidentally take home the much more subtle (and not mojito savvy) applemint by mistake.

Mistake 10: Feed me Seymour! If you are planting in soil instead of pots, take care that your cute little herb seedling doesn’t become a giant plant that takes over your garden. A word of warning for oregano and mint: both can be voracious growers. If you are planting outside in a garden, rather than in pots, you may want to consider potting these herbs and then burying the pots in the ground. This will add a measure of control to the root systems of these herbs, which can otherwise take over a garden and strangle nearby neighbors. When in doubt, check out wikipedia, they usually are careful to point out which herbs are in danger of overwhelming your garden.

Some really useful info here if you’re new to herb gardening.

advice for smol new witches

im writing this bc @cinnamon-starlight and i were talking and i wanted to offer something that wasnt ridiculously incoherent and babbling

THINGS I WISH I HAD KNOWN BEFORE I GOT INTO WITCHCRAFT

all witchcraft is valid. don’t shit on people’s methods. any way you want to witch is beautiful and wonderful. absolutely anything can be magic if you want it to be.

that doesn’t mean you can take whatever the hell you want. don’t take things from closed cultures if you aren’t in the culture. hellenic gods? you’re chill. “smudging kits” from urban outfitters? no. don’t do it. 

your meanings are your meanings. someone else might see a plant as one way, but that doesn’t make it the best way for you. witchcraft is personal. don’t let other people make your decisions.

be safe. don’t eat anything unless you’re 100% sure it is safe. don’t use magic instead of medicine. just don’t. mundane solutions are actually great! do your research before doing things, and make sure you understand how to protect yourself with wards before you do spirit work, curses, astral projection, etc. 

don’t leave rationality behind. this is important. just because there might be something ghostly doesn’t mean there is. do not begin to see omens everywhere. don’t trust your life to a pendulum. 

witchcraft is not a Super Serious Thing. it can be! but it doesn’t have to be. it can be casual. you can use pop culture. you don’t need special supplies or a whole room for rituals (though there’s nothing wrong with either of those!) don’t feel like you’re not a “real witch” because you aren’t constantly talking about astrological transits. 

have fun. do things you want to do. learn cool stuff. meet other witches. if one of them is rude tell me so i can go kick their ass. this should be a nice and supportive community for people doing something they care about. 

witches, pagans, and wiccans are not the same thing. witches do magic, pagans follow pagan religions, and wiccans follow wicca, a form of paganism.

don’t be afraid to be told you’re wrong. let people explain things. just be sure that they aren’t covering up your opinions, namely those meanings i talked about. suggestions are good. 

learn learn learn. it doesn’t happen overnight. everyone continues learning. keep learning. more learning. yessss that learning. but if at any point you don’t enjoy learning about something? you probably should stop studying it and go try something else instead. look at number seven.

now go out and witch! i just know you’ll blow them all away and i am so happy you’ve decided to be a witch! which, by the way, is a gender neutral term. 

-callis

send me your best/worst uquizzes

Excerpts from the Ben & Jerry’s erotica: “Interpersonal Creameries“

“Oh Ben, I’ve read the Karamel Sutra and thought I’d prepared for everything, but when you unzipped your pants and showed me that Chunky Monkey, I realized I’d never seen such a Vermonster!”

“In a frenzy of ecstasy, Ben shouted ‘Jamaican Me Crazy’ as he climaxed. Jerry sighed with satisfaction at the feeling of fullness from his Late Night Snack. They lay there for a while, just breathing. Then, some time later, Ben grunted and reluctantly withdrew his Berried Treasure from his Chubby Hubby.”

“’…maybe I can have S’mores?’ Jerry’s pleading always helped Ben’s Cannoli swell with ruthless turgidity. ‘Maybe,’ teased Ben. ‘But only after you’ve had a go at these Schweddy Balls.’”

“Ben was poised over Jerry’s Cinnamon Buns as his lover whimpered and wiggled. ‘Please,’ he begged. Ben oozed a dollop of Vanilla on Jerry’s back. ‘Do you want it all?,’ whispered Ben. Jerry smiled. ‘Everything But The…’”