The Crafts: Wixes, Spells, and the Weaponized Placebo Effect

I would probably be able to sew one, but. spoons.
plus, easier to buy one.

 

Easier to buy 'em, yeah. I make mine because sewing takes fewer spoons than human interaction for me and none of the craft stores in my area have self-checkout :'D

 

etsy. all my shopping is done on etsy. no human interaction required!

 

@chaoticArbiter if you can't find any bags for cheap just let me know, I love making drawstring bags and would be willing to make bags for like......a few bucks apiece probably? Would be good sewing machine practice lol

(This goes to anyone else in the thread too - custom pouches!! Wowee)

 

sweet! if I can't find anything I'll hit you up!
....as soon as I get money :P I am planning for gemstones that I am gonna buy when I get money in a week or so.

 

Rowan is, I think, a moderately popular ornamental shrub! Sorbus, Sorbus-bush, etc, that' the genus name, you might want to know what else it's called if you're going to a nursery. ?It's got pretty red berries all winter--there are a few shrub-sized ones in people's yards and next to walking paths around here. There's an american variety as well as the european one. I think making a point to visit and develop a relationship (or at least introduce yourself!) to the tree that you'd get a wand from is a very good idea.

When I learned about Rowan, I was taught that's it's got a lot of magical oomph in general--either in projecting your own, or protection from others. Also strong otherworldly travel/access associations.

 

Lots and lots of things, jfc. Thankfully +quote is a thing.

rereading and caught this post and that possibly explains part of why I was Uncomfortable at the local witchy store. It's not a hole in the wall, it's definitely large enough to have a cat, and even if they didn't there's a distinct ... uptightness of identity about it that I feel "doesn't have a cat" explains well.

One of my major protections is a rose thorn in a tiny bottle on one of my hairsticks, so yes A+. I also use them specifically for cursing ex-romantic-feelings-people.

this shop is my go to for that kind of thing, though they tend more towards the harry potter style of straight and well-polished. Their wand selection seems a little lacking ATM, though.

I burn stuff a lot. Birthday candles are great for candle magic because they're single-use and take like no time at all to burn down.

Rose actually does have a distinct flavor (it's one of my FAVORITE flavors) it's just very delicate? So it's easy to lose under anything that's strong-tasting at all.

As someone who grew up hoarding chestnuts, yeah, abundance. abundance as fuck.

re: bismuth: it is the Gay Metal, yes, but it's also the Secrets Metal for me because whenever it pops up in fiction it's always a Great Mystery (the seed bismuth in gunnerkrigg court and the bubbled hunk of it in the Lion Room in SU come to mind). Also the fantastic gay crystals don't occur naturally, so for me it's also a big fuck you to the whole "natural only" brand of witchcraft. manmade can also be beautiful and powerful.

Lab stones are cheap because new agers and snobs don't want them. That said, ten bucks for that stone is about in line with my super discounted pink/purple sapphire, which is about a carat and I got it for $30.

whispers tiny bottles at you. I keep my lab ruby (~1carat pear cut) in the one with my rose thorn for my protection ward (someone in the background makes an Eragon joke here) and it's Ideal. You can get like, 50 packs of 3ml bottles for ~$10 on amazon and they are The Small, perfect jewelry size for rocks you don't want to set or just want the look of "a bottle of tiny shinies."

 

omg.
tiny bottles.
best idea.
thank you so much
then I CAN LABEL AND ORGANIZE THEM :D

 

misread: "a bottle of shiny tiddies"

 

also
why shun lab stones
they are just as good as earth stones and I will love them

 

I think I know some about it? At least, I feel pretty confident about my ability to take a thing, and then charge that thing up with a particular kind of energy and purpose...and then I think the next step from there would be making sure that Thing (In your case Ring) knows what its job is, and how you expect it to be done.

If I was going to enchant something that I would wear on my person, probably the first thing I'd do is make a point to keep it on me often, and whenever I had a spare moment to hold or hand or fiddle with that object and focus on the purpose and energy I want to imbue it with. Maybe you'll have something specific that you say or visualize when you do that? I could also line something up with a specific animal or plant energy...etc. (Fox! Foxes are choice for invisibility given how they live so unnoticed in human inhabited areas, and it seems to be a really accessible guide energy. Or Mouse?) Etch a rune or bindrune on it and chant that...

I guess this is by science analogy like...if I want to turn a needle into a compass, I'm going to swipe that magnet over it, again and again and again, in the same direction, to align its particles up and make it sensitive to the magnetic field of the earth.

Then I need some kind of signal/small ritual or spell to awaken/name/activate that object so it can start Doing The Thing. I'd love to play around with annointing things with essential oils but that shit is expensive.

Or, I don't know, I could make a sigil that means, 'this is a magic ring of Overlook Me, Don't Notice Me,' and draw that out with a nice pen on some nice paper, and leave the ring on top of the sigil for...a lunar cycle? An astrologically-meaningful amount of time?

There are a lot of ways you could enchant something, i think.

 

IME, stones don't need charging tht frequently; I've honestly never had to charge mine but I don't rely on them for my energy regulation that much.

 

Vaguely on the topic of recharging thing: ...I just realized that going back to the Bhikkhus for merit transfer based blessings or rechargings of sak yant is basically running up to someone in an MMO and asking for a buff.

...

 

-coughs awkwardly because it isn't really magic but you guys are the only folks i know who know anything about herbs past cooking-

i have an rp character who is an herbalist (well mostly farmer, but part time herbalist anyhow) and i need info on plants with medicinal properties and i am not looking forward to -google- -make sure it is reliable source- -google more- soooo. any basic but good websites with lots of info on plants? the area she's in is close to the sea, lots of cliffs and rocky bits, grasslands with a few trees scattered about. a river a mile or so from the town. we have only just started rping so we haven't gotten to the forest bits of the map yet. and the area is not cold but not overly warm either? of course, the person in charge of the server might have just been too lazy to give us warm clothes and just plopped us in XD but anyhow, yeah.

i only need herb-info, as another character is going to be the one making actual medicines out of the plants, and then we have a 'hands on' doctor too. my character's just the cute lil semi-explorer who likes plants. other than a tea or simple poultice she wouldn't have any knowledge past 'this plant do this'.

erm. if there is a better thread for asking questions like this please direct me to it XD

 

Is it bad that I've been trying to get to know my stones and I really don't feel much from them at all? Like, minus the one that's sitting with my aloe, they're all pretty dang quiet.

Maybe I need to meditate more. My focus is kinda crap anyway.

 

Aw fuck I wish I was using websites more often for this stuff.
Um. moderate climate grasslands, sounds like generic european herbs, lemme... fire up the big note document I used when I made a bro's herbal compendium for LARP. yeah. Back in a minute

 

I don't think so? If meditation doesn't work well for you it doesn't work, I just threw my method out there because it was worth a try. [Shrugs]
Do we have any rock people in here who don't meditate with their crystals? I think I remember a conversation early in the thread about working around "you need to Focus On This for it to work" if your brain straight-up can't focus.

 

Eh, still worth a shot. A major flaw is I can be kinda impatient, so maybe I'm just not giving them enough time. I like meditating. But I'll also just try to focus in on them! c: somethings bound to come through eventually, and even if not, they make me feel calm.

 

Oh god I forgot how much i limited that document down to the barebones urghs.
Okay I'll give you a basic description of herbs that do x thing useful in field medicine n I'm p sure you'll be able to just google the plant no problem to figure out if it fits the right climate and how it looks!

Spoiler: Nettle

Stinging Nettle is good for blood related stuff. It's used to help build up blood and to clean out toxicity from blood. Generally you'd give a patient a relatively strong Infusion (the tea kind, with heat), two cups twice a day with meals. This also helps against respiratory problems (it loosens up mucus and encourages your system to basically clean out everything that isn't supposed to be there (which is messy and not very pleasant but actually helps) and it's good for flushing through the kidneys and discourages water retention and build up!)

Spoiler: Chamomile

Chamomile is your best friend! it's a generic grasslands plant, easy to distinguish and an all purpose dysenfectant that can also help with food poisoning and other stomach stuff. It encourages wound-healing, helps against cramps, relaxes, soothes pain and dysinfects wounds, and can even be used to treat already happening inflammations of moderate strengths. I could give you actual preparations for this even, usually it's infuses (again, teh tea kind, not the cold kind, that one's mazeration) or baths.
Love chamomile and chamomile will love you back. Only with the tea you have to be careful if you drink too mcuh of it it will stop working.

Spoiler: Lavender

Lavender is soothe, calm, sleep. Ideal to calm down freakouts, decent to surprisingly potent if you want to put someone to sleep. Also cleans out the kidneys, but not a primary function. Easy to identify, pretty hardy, grows whereever it's put as long as there's some sun in my experience.

Spoiler: Balm

Lemon Balm or Balm is great for any stomach problems, as well as migraines and headaches, insomnia and afab problems. It's very refreshing and smells great and tastes good too, so that's a definite plus point. It grows wild in southern Europe, so generally where it's a bit warmer, but it's definitly hardy enough to grow in more moderate regions too! I can see this being useful to mask Lavender's pretty, uh... distinct taste in a sleeping potion you want to give someone secretly, since it has similar-ish effects but tastes much more pleasant.

Spoiler: Rosemary

Rosemary is useful as a 'we don't have time for being tired, fucker' bath addition or tea. It also helps with appetite. Generally you wanna have a ten minute bath at 37°C with rosemary in it and then lie down for 30 minutes and that should readjust low bloodpressure and re-energize people! Generally most useful for intellectual overworking, so maybe a good thing to make your mage do regularly.

Spoiler: Sage

Sage tea with honey and vinegar is the most universally known remedy for fevers, fever-cramps and flues i've ever come across. It helps with literally ANY sickness that drains strength a lot. Generically it's anti-inflammatory and lightly dysinfecting.

Spoiler: Thyme

Thyme is your friend for any cough that's stuck in the lungs. I've personally kicked bronchitis's ass with thyme tea (on my gp's recommendation. Always ask your doctor before self-medicating serious shit like this). It's also good against headaches, helps with weak hearts and encourages blood regeneration! It also has cleaning properties so might be useful to include in a wound-wash and as a tea against fevers.

Spoiler: Amber

Amber or St. John's Wort is another 'go the fuck to sleep' herb, with additional help against migraines and intestine problems, as well as afab problems. Has blood-building properties, as well as being anti-inflammatory. Generally not a good idea if people are already sensitive to light, tho. Pretty hardcore irl, because tehre's like five different plants that are sort of similar but can be wildly different in their effects and that can complicate things but for an RP you can PROBABLY handwave that.

Spoiler: Flaxseed

Flaxseeds can be made into formentations/compresses against bruises and muscle pain. Otherwise it's really good at helping regulate intestinal stuff, too, but that's probably not a thing you could need.

A long list of which stuff to use against which things with very little elaboration

Spoiler: random things that could happen on an adventure

Blood loss and anemia: apple, nettle, amber, common centaury, wormwood,
Bruises: arnica (for the love of god only use it externally! it's not for ingestion)
Blood cleaning: apple, nettle, coltsfoot, lime blossom, balm, buckhorn, thyme
Freakouts/Excitement: valerian root, chamomile, lavender, amber, balm
Ulcers: flax seeds, balm, yarrow, common horsetail, chamomile, common centaury
Heartweakness: lavender, rosemary, hawthorn
Cramps: valerian root, fennel, hay flowers, chamomile, mistletoe, rosemary, flax seeds, amber
Nervous Weakness/Neural problems: valerian root, amber, chamomile, hawthorn, lavender, balm.
Major Bruises: arnica, amber, lavender, balm, thyme
Sprains and Dislocations: arnica, amber.

I HOPE THIS HELPS
it's a lot i'm sorry, i'm bad at picking and choosing relevant info.

 

Quick note that you might find useful: personally, not all stones have their own energy, for me. Some of them are empty receptacles for putting energy in/charging with. So keeping that in mind, some of the stones that you don't feel anything from may not have anything to give!