There Is No Such Thing As "universal" When It Comes To Witchcraft And Spirituality. Because Nothing Is

“I Recover From Fatigue”

Draw this on a bottle/cup/mug of whatever it is you’re drinking be it coffee, tea, or water

Hel Mary - 07/01/20

“Hel Mary” is the title of my personal upcycled art projects in which I thrift abandoned Mother Mary statues and give them new life with paint & love. My newest addition is adorned with clear and smoky quartz points, sustainably foraged & cleaned animal bones and a labradorite cab in her hand.

Hel is the Norse deity of the underworld, said to have the appearance of being half alive. She looks after those who did not die on the battlefield.

This piece will be up for auction on 7/3 on Instagram at WayWardWitchAuctions, and up for sale in my shop if she doesn’t sell. Please consider following my Instagram and Etsy as this is my main source of income now 🖤

IG: dhdivination

WayWardWitchAuctions

Visit the Shop ➡️

** Please do not repost! **

My Edit | Original 

requested by anonymous

patreon | ko-fi | store | commission

"I Have The Energy To Improve"

I can think of a page-full of ways to use this sigil, so I'll put only a couple here, but as always I encourage everybody who uses my sigils to feel free to get creative with how you use it, because the possibilities are limitless.

You can keep this in your workspace you use to practice the thing you wish to improve on You can keep this on yourself You can put this on a cup of coffee or other drink You can draw or tape this onto a mirror you use frequently

BEKKATHYST HALLOWEEN 2020 GIVEAWAY

~This giveaway is in no way affiliated with Tumblr.~

Please read thoroughly before entering!

Hello lovely Tumblr folk! It’s that time again- I have a giveaway for you all. Unlike previous giveaways, this one has been made possible by the lovely human @classicintp who graciously sponsored the gift card prize. The crystal prize is coming straight from our shop as our contribution 🥰

We have both an online store and a physical location that could use your support!

My business is just a small, family run establishment that I started here on tumblr in 2013. I’ve been lucky enough to grow to the point where my husband and I opened a brick and mortar store and I’ve been able to employ my mother and several of my siblings! I’ve been supporting my mom and younger siblings since 2016 💜 I’ve always put compassion and ethics above all else in my business!

This giveaway is in honor of the rare blue moon that will happen this Halloween 🥰

This giveaway will have two winners - a grand prize winner and a runner up.

What the grand prize winner receives:

A $200 gift card that can be used for our online store or for any of our Tumblr sales!

What the runner up receives:

The pictured crystals which include: an agate geode dragon head, a laser quartz point, a rose quartz moon bowl, tumbled larimar, a labradorite heart, a fluorite sphere, a rough rose quartz chunk, an idigo gabbro palm stone, tumbled dragon's blood jasper, a tumbled blue aventurine, a tumbled rose quartz, tumbled ruby in zoisite, and a couple miscellaneous rough pieces (total retail value about $150)

Rules:

You must be 16 or older. (If under 18 you MUST have parent’s permission)

You don’t have to live in the US to join!

Shipping is entirely free, I will cover it. But if you live outside the US and for whatever reasons your country wants to charge you import tax, you are responsible for it. If it gets sent back to me, you will need to pay shipping to have it sent again.

You must be following me, so you can get updates if anything about the giveaway changes.

Please check out our online shop!

DO NOT tag this post as giveaway. That will risk the notes getting messed up, and this will be ruined for everyone.

Reblog this post to enter. Likes count, too. No giveaway or spam blogs. If you reblog on a side blog, let me know in the tags what the name of your blog is that you’re following me with.

Please don’t spam people with reblogs- limit 2 reblogs per blog per day.  

At the end, each entry will be assigned a number and the grand prize winner will be chosen by a random number generator. The runner up will be chosen second.

The giveaway ends Sunday, November 1st, 2020 at 6 pm Pacific time.

The winners will be messaged and must respond with their full names and addresses within 24 hours, or new winners will be chosen.

Please respect me and my rules, and have fun!

— @bulbasaurcowboy5

a sigil to protect your neck

About Iso'onna

Halloween is just around the corner so let's talk about something similar to a vampire. Blood sucking yōkai is rare in Japanese Folklore, but there is one kind of vampire-like (in terms of sucking the victims blood) yōkai indigenous throughout Kyūshū Region [九州地方] called Iso'onna [磯女] (blow) (or Isohime [磯姫] including other regional variations).

Generally, Iso'onna is described as a anthropomorphic, serpentine yōkai with a women-like appearance with long dark hair, but in most cases, observers fails to distinguish her with any ordinary coastal rock due to her elusiveness when lurking near or in the ocean for hunting her victims. ①

Similar legend ① is also told in Amakusa City [天草市] (Kumamoto Prefecture). Locals are warned not to sleep in a fishing boat with the fishing net still casted on its sides because Iso'onna would use that net to climb onboard to suck the blood of sleeping fisherman using her hair.

While she does possess a Siren like quality as well. A legend ② from Minami-shimabara City [南島原市] (Nagasaki Prefecture) tells a story of a man spotting a woman at the coast who was idly looking at the tides. Then as soon as the man called her out as he approached her, the woman suddenly turned around and after making an ear piercing screech, she wrapped her long body around the man and began draining all the from him via her long dark hair. This is the reason why the locals are warned to not approach a woman near the coast especially during the night of New Years and Obon ③.

In a particular case ④, the locals of Ojika Town [小値賀町] (Kitamatsu'ura Dist. [北松浦郡], Nagasaki Prefecture) believes that the true identity of Iso'onna are the souls lost at sea who appears on the surface on a calm day; begging to return the souls within the sea back to the land.

Meanwhile, the legend ② of a perhaps identical yōkai called Isohime [磯女] from Nagashima Town [長島町] (Izumi Dist. [出水郡], Kagoshima Prefecture) is told to not only attack anyone near sea coasts to suck-out their blood, but some may die only by looking at her even a glimpse.

Sources:

1. "Yōkai-jiten" [妖怪事典] (2000) by Kenji Murakami [村上 健司](1968-present)

2. "Sōgō-nihon-minzoku-goi" (1st Edition) [綜合日本民俗語彙 (第1巻)] (1955) by Tokihiko Ōtō [大藤 時彦] (1902-1990) & et al

3. "Gensō-dōbutsu-jiten" [幻想動物事典] (1997) by Takumi Kusano [草野 巧] (n/a)

4. "Jōmin: Gotōrettō-ojikashima Chōsahōkokusho" [常民: 五島列島小値賀島 調査報告書] (1963) by Chūō University's Society of Flolkloristics [中央大学民俗研究会]

Beginner Witch Tips

Read. Before you even think about practicing magick, you need to study. It sounds tedious, I know, but witchcraft is not a trivial undertaking. 

Start a grimoire/Book of Shadows/Journal. You’ll need a safe place to keep all of the information you’ve gathered safe, and a grimoire (as I call mine), is essentially a notebook for that exact purpose. It doesn’t have to be fancy (though you’re welcome to make it as ostentatious as you like), – it can be a bullet journal if that’s easy for you. Within your grimoire, you should keep all gathered information, spells, failures, successes, records of work you’ve done, etc,. Anything that pertains to your craft.

Don’t put pressure on yourself to pick a path. You might see a lot of witches who class themselves as one thing or another, e.g., storm witches, kitchen witches, elemental witches, spirit/divination witches; green witches; cosmic witches, and so on.That is cool and their prerogative, but you will also see witches known as eclectic. Eclectic Witches, are simply witches who choose to practise many different types of magick and forge their own path, instead of following only one, or following a pre-established path. Basically, there is no need at all, whatsoever, to label yourself. With many of us, our paths found us in time. 

Research paths, secular witchcraft and religious witchcraft.Witchcraft alone, is a practice. However, some paths are indeed religious, such as Wicca. Make sure you know the difference before you begin actively practicing and before you decide on your path, if you do choose to do so.

Carry a little notebook on your person.You can’t always carry your grimoire with you, so I personally like to carry a tiny little notebook with me, for those moments when inspiration takes me, or if something captures my imagination or attention. You can add it to your grimoire/BoS later.

Oh, and one more thing: don’t ever stop learning and reading and recording. Witchcraft is a path of continuous learning.

Things to Research:

Crystals/gemstones/minerals

Herb and crystal correspondences, e.g., such as color and planetary.

Sabbats (also known as “Witches Sabbaths”) and esbats.

The basic tools of witchcraft.

Altars (if you’re so inclined).

Lunar phases.

Divination, e.g., tarot, runes, pendulums. 

Witchcraft and deities (if you’re so inclined).

Traditional witchcraft practises, such as circle casting.

SAFETY! What is safe to use/burn/touch/ingest. There are lots of poisonous and potentially fatal plants and ingredients out there.

Easy/budget magick/witchcraft.

The history of witchcraft, including lore, myths and tales.

The importance and use of the elements in magick

Research cultural witchcraft. Make sure that your practice does not steal from closed cultures. 

Easy Practices for New Witches:

Grounding – grounding is the act of centering your energy and focusing it within yourself. You can ground yourself by being out in nature and using visualising techniques that tie your energies firmly into the ground (very traditional method), or by finding a quiet place that you are content in and meditating.

Meditation.

Visualisation/visualising.

Sigil crafting/creation.

Dream interpretation.

Charging jewellery/crystals/objects/sigils.

Using glamours in makeup/cosmetics/everyday wear.