Raise your hand if you love swords 🗡️
The use of knives and blades has historically played a hugely important role in many magical practices. In the modern day, when most people think of magic and knives, they think of the Wiccan Athame—and while there is a lot of interesting lore there, learning about the use of blades in Jewish magic is absolutely crucial!
Whether you’re sleeping with a brand new blade beneath your pillow in order to suss out the evil eye or swinging a carved sword above your head to protect your newborn from the powers that be, these traditions are long standing and deserve to be talked about!
If you’re still here, use code “Swords” on the Jewitches website for a percentage of your order!
A spread based on how your being is doing, how to learn more self-love, and what your heart wants you to know! I would suggest using this spread when you really need your heart’s advice.
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Aphrodite is the Greek Goddess of Love, Beauty, Desire, Fertility, and more.
Correspondences:
Colors: Red, pink, seafoam green, aqua.
Element: Water.
Day of the Week: Friday.
Stones and gems: Diamond, rose quartz, pearl, aquamarine, sapphire, garnet.
Incense and essencial oils: Rose, myrrh, vanilla, cinnamon, jasmine, ginger.
She’s related to:
Doves
Bees
Swans
Geese
Dolphins
Pearls
Mirrors
Roses
Apples
Scallop shells
Conch shells
Ocean
Hares
Cats
OFFERINGS (typical and original)
Roses (could be fake, in a jar of water, planted or in a bush - it don’t matter)
Scallop shells / Conch shells / Sea shells - just shells
Sweets, candy and desserts (She loves chocolate!)
Natural honey
Abandoned beehives
Dead bees (make sure they died of natural causes, please don’t kill bees)
Something you created (could be drawings, poems, knitted decoration, whatever you did while thinking of her!)
Something someone else created (always ask for permission to use someone else’s art and don’t ever make it pass as your own, She’s not stupid and will be pissed if you do)
Statues of her or anything She’s related to, as stated above
White feathers / dove feathers
Pearls of any color
Mirrors
My personal favorite: a golden apple (learn how to do it here)
Diamonds and the stones listed above
Lingerie
Sex toys
Jewelry
Sea water
Fish scales
Wine or champagne
Nuts
Aprodisiac scents/foods
Silk
Myrrh or some incense listed above
Starfish (grab a dead one from the beach, don’t buy one because they usually take living starfish and kill them to sell it as decor or souvenirs)
Beach sand
Coffee beans or ground coffee
Fruits like strawberry, cherries or grapes
Vanilla sticks
Cinnamon sticks
Cat whiskers (please don’t cut a kitty’s precious whiskers, wait for them to shed naturally - look for them mostly during Summer and on the places your cats spend most of their time)
Blood (it could be your period blood or blood you deliberately took to give it to her - I use a menstrual cup and have a rose bush, so what I do is I take that blood and feed it to the roses, they LOVE it)
Himalayan salt
See also: Tip to start deity work and Devotional acts for Aphrodite
TEA – To consume. Steep herbs, flowers, or roots in hot water. Vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants found in herbal teas provide many short and long-term health benefits. Used for colds, immune system, digestive system, inflammation, anti-aging, stress, anxiety, or skin health, among other treatments.
TINCTURE – To consume. Herbs that have been stepped in alcohol or vinegar in process of extraction, creating a concentrated liquid form of a herb. Preserve and concentrate the properties of the herb, making them more effective and longer lasting. Fill glass jar with dried herbs. Filling half full will make a stronger (don’t pack down.) Pour boiling water to just dampen all of the herbs. Fill the rest of the jar with vodka and stir. Store the jar in a cool/dry place, shaking daily, for at least three weeks and up to six months. Strain and store in blue or amber dropper bottles (or clean glass jars.) Take 2-3 drops daily.
POULTICE – Topical application. Moistened herbs formed and patted down over area where needed (like herbal band-aid). Place whole or powdered herbs in a bowl and add hot water to stick together. Apply topically and use medical gauze to hold in place. Good for: stings, bites, wounds, broken bones, infection, boils, in-grown issues, acne, or anything that needs to be drawn from the skin.
FOMENTATION – Topical application. Strong steep infusion of herbs (typically stronger than what you would drink). Infuse, strain, and soak cloth in infusion, applying to area where needed. Useful for wrapping a body part or treating large area.
TOPICAL WASH – Topical application. Similar to fomentations, but instead infuse herbs and strain then soak affected body part in the infusion. Direct contact allows herbs to penetrate in unique way.
HERBAL OIL – Topical application. Herbs are “baked” in base oil such as: olive, sweet almond, apricot, jojoba, avocado, grape seed, or hemp. Can use fresh or dried plant material and sun or Oven as heat source. Heat extracts the oil soluble healing components of the herbs to create the healing oil. Herbal oil often used to make other products such as salves, lotions, or creams but can be used on their own.
SALVE – Topical application. Treatment with the consistency of a balm or ointment. Made by adding beeswax to a herbal oil until desired consistency. Used to sooth skin after a burn, bite, sting, abrasion, or other surface problems.
✨️🫙✨️Spells✨️🫙✨️
When I say "connect with nature" I don't just mean the aesthetic forests with deer and beautiful flowers.
I mean the weeds growing through concrete, the fungus that grows on the rotten shed, the nettles that always seem to return and the scary, spindly cellar spider in the corner of the bathroom.
Nature is not always pretty or magical - the pigeons and seagulls you swat at are nature too, the wasps and flies that hover by your meals are animals too, store-bought strawberries and the leaves that fall from your neighbour's tree are not all that different from the Giant Sequoias and it's seeds.
If you want to connect and understand nature, I mean *really* connect to it, in it's entirety, you have to seek out and learn about the ugly, scary and mundane things as well. You don't have to like it, just don't forget that it's there.
On the Dikhomenia, after I give offerings to Selene outdoors under the moonlight, I also leave offerings for Hekate at Her shrine. These offerings usually consist of libations, incense, cakes or fruit, and beeswax candles anointed in fragrant oils to symbolize Her torches and the guiding light of the Moon. On the Full Moon I honor Hekate at Her most heavenly, as Hekate Ourania, as Hekate Soteira, the goddess honored by Zeus, the most high. I ask for blessings, guidance, and deliverance from strife, calling on Her shining light to guide me down the best path.
In this way, She is given honors every lunar month in Her different aspects, as protector of the home on the Noumenia, as the goddess of the restless dead and as pyschopomp on the Deipnon, and as a goddess of the heavens on the Dikhomenia. Thus, as a goddess of boundaries, liminality, transitions, and the in-between, She is honored at the end, the beginning, and in the middle of each lunar month.
God of love, as dawn breaks, we praise you; you are one, called by many names. Cleanse us of selfishness as we start this day anew. May our hands be your hands, doing good upon the earth.
Opening Salutation: 1. From Spring equinox to autumn equinox The sun is bright and the days are long. Blessed are you, Regina Caeli, triumphant Mother of Life and Growth! Hail to Persephone, Mystical Rose, Maiden of Flowers, Ave!
2. from autumn equinox to spring equinox The moon is bright and the nights are long. Blessed are you, Mater Dolorosa, Dark Mother of Death and Rebirth. Hail to Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, Lady of Skulls, Ave!
Prayer of Protection (from the Lorica of St Patrick) I bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlit Heaven, The glorious sun's life-giving ray, The whiteness of the moon at even, The flashing of the lightning free, The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks, The stable earth, the deep salt sea, Around the old eternal rocks.
Day of the Week Prayer
link to day of the week prayers
Litany: Virgo Rosarum, Oh Maiden of Roses, upon this new day we offer this garland of litanies to you. Virgo Sanctissima, Oh Maiden Most Holy, bless us. Virgo Immaculata, Oh Maiden Immaculate, cleanse us. Virgo Veneranda. Oh Maiden Most Venerable, guide us. Virgo Fortissima, Oh Maiden Most Strong, defend us. Virgo Splendidissima, Oh Maiden Most Shining, inspire us. Virgo Ferocissima, Oh Maiden Most Wild, invigorate us.
Prayer to God the Father: (from the Book of Common Prayer) Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of Peace, as children of one Mother. Amen.
Closing
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us as we forgive others. Lead us not into separation but deliver us into love.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us now and at the hour of our death.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Child, and to the Holy Mother. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.