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

Thank you! Again I am still not entirely sure how I'm going to be using them but that's divination in a nut shell really. Even when you know about specific methods it's a lot of making shots in the dark and pulling together your own method. I think one of my next projects where this is concerned to write up a paragraph of two about each aspect and player emblem (I don't know how else to shorthand the things on their shirts). Kind of like explanations about particular tarot cards you see a lot I guess? Though the ones about the players specifically will probably read more like short descriptions of gods.

 

Well, it was mostly the Spanish Prisoner.

 

... I think the dude is confusing engineering with actual scientific research? Or maybe I'm just biased.

(I am so biased hi I am a biologist)

 

Ok so last night I finished up my summaries of the aspects. Which I'll want to work on expand in the future, but hey you have to start somewhere I suppose. The current summaries are under the spoiler tag. @chaoticArbiter as before.

Spoiler

Space - One of the two primary aspects and opposite of Time. The aspect of creation and matter, Space is that which governs the physical universe. The laws of physics fall into its domain, naturally, save those handled by its interaction with Time. However, Space is more than physical laws. Space is also the aspect of creation. It deals with the births of lives, the universe, and more. The more can include creativity in the form of art, as what is creativity other than birth? The birth of art. To add to its association with creation Space also is the aspect of mothers. Whether it is literal motherhood, midwifing, breeding, or the mothering of a mom friend Space is the aspect that is most closely associated with it. Space is also one of the most vast of the aspects. It represents and encompasses all of the physical world at every single point in time. As a result Space is somewhat a lonely aspect. It views self not on the level of the now, but as the whole tapestry. The sum of all selves past, present, and future as they simply are add up to what may more be properly called self where Space is concerned. Frogs and lotuses are heavily associated with the aspect of Space.

Time - One of the two primary aspects and the opposite of Space. The aspect of destruction and time, Time is that which governs the temporal universe. It has a close interplay with Space that complete the physical laws. Being the aspect of time, however, Time is associated closely with change of a more negative sort than Space. Time is ending, destruction, and decay. It is the aspect of all change, however. Without Time how could there be the birth of Space, after all. Birth is a change. As a result of working with change, Time is integral to causality. It is the overall fabric of causality in a sense, along with the capacity for it to even occur. Every last point of temporal space is held within its grasp. As a result Time often is associated with a sense of fatalism. The world can seem all too determined and actions all too pointless at times. Despite Time's close association with death though Time does have a creative edge. Time is heavily associated with music, the creation, playing, or enjoyment of it.

Breath - The opposite of Blood and the aspect of winds. Breath governs quite literal breaths and winds as well as more figurative ones. While it can be the gusts of storms or cool breezes or a shortness of breath, Breath is the winds of movement and freedom. Breath is free of boundaries and blows on by, on an almost instinctual level. It may come across as oblivious or thoughtless, as a result. Breath does not carefully plan, Breath acts as that is its nature. This sort of action for the necessity of it is associated with confidence as well. Confidence is a surging breath of personal pride and self-belief. The truly confident can float away freely like a leaf in the wind. As a result Breath is one of the aspects most associated with leadership. While Breath might not plan, Breath galvanizes those behind it. It gathers up and organizes others by being as fun and confident as it is. You could say the Breath is the ultimate in friendleaders.

Blood - The opposite of Breath and the aspect of blood and bonds. While it can refer quite literally to blood, the aspect deals more with the concept of bonds and relationships. Bound by shared blood or not this aspect governs relationships and kinship. Blood is not just the aspect of family and friendship and love however. It is also the aspect of masses and society as a whole. It is relationships on a microscopic or macroscopic level and a deep understanding of it. Blood is not nearly so confident as Breath, however. It is self doubt and a seeking to prove oneself. Blood is thus amazingly driven. While Breath acts out of instinct, Blood acts out of ambition. It is a seeking to change things for the better. Blood is thus the other aspect tightly tied with leadership. Blood builds morale and gathers its forces with awe of its ambition, as well as its social know how.

Light - The opposite of Void and the aspect of lights, both literal and figurative. While Light can and does refer to the brightness of the sun or even of colors Light finds its greatest significance in knowledge. Knowledge and learning are the domains of Light, as is meaning and purpose. With knowledge and meaning come fate and fortune. Light seeks for the most fortuitous courses of action. Ones that will maximize knowledge, and bring greater significance and meaning to oneself and life. Light is thus the aspect of luck, blessing, and divination. Light's drive and knowledge come with a deep sense of pride as well. Light is stubborn and proud. It is assured that it knows the best course of action and will refuse to stop unless forced to do so. This pride can also lead to a great deal of spitefulness and vengefulness.

Void - The opposite of Light and the aspect of darkness and lack. Void deals in nothingness. The lack of knowledge or the blocking out and hiding of it fall within Void's domain. Void also deals with a lack of substance. Self and objects have no concrete identities, ever changing over the course of time. As a result they can be said to be possessed of Void. While Space sees a whole in the vastness, Void sees nothing in it. However, Void is also the aspect of pure imagination. It is the ability to pull something out of nothing. While one might not have a philosopher's stone one does have inspiration. An inspiration of a different sort from Light's careful plotting and scheming. Void is also on par with Light for its association with polymathy. However, whereas Light finds significance in this many-skilledness Void sees a lack in it. Void is the constant search for identity and purpose, and never finding it. Finding it only reveals there to be nothing.

Mind - The opposite of Heart and the aspect of causality. Time might be the fabric and vastness of change Mind is the actual process. Time are the choices and possibilities that weave Time into what it is. Decisions are not just made by Mind. They are thought up and considered by Mind. Its plotting outdoes even that of Light, which simply seeks for the most fortunate solutions. Mind searches through all solutions and carefully thinks through the possible future possibilities of even the worst, creating vast arrays of possibility and causality. Mind is thus the aspect of karma, Buddhist or no. As well as the aspect most fit to the understanding of action and reaction. Mind is also the aspect of balancing and weighing. Actions and their reactions are nothing but a cosmic balancing act and Mind doesn't just weigh them in manner of success or failure. It also weighs them with morality in mind. Mind is thus the aspect of justice and judgement. Crimes must be paid for, and rewards must be doled out.

Heart - The opposite of Mind and the aspect of self. Identity and conflicts of self are most clearly represented by Heart. It is not just a finding of or sense of a true self that Heart deals with however. Like how Mind fills out Time, Heart fills out the self of Space. All possible selves, including the unreal, are governed by Heart. Heart is thus the aspect of acting and lying. It is the masks one wears to deal with reality, whether positively or negatively, and it is the masks we wear to entertain others. Thus Heart is the aspect of theatre, roleplay, and, in some forms, even writing. It is the ability to mold the self. However Heart also deals with the breaking off and splintering of self. Disassociation, derealization, and a difficulty with finding a "real" you all come into play with Heart as does compartmentalization. Heart can also deal with quite literal splintering off of self, however. As in the case of gods who can split themselves into many beings.

Life - The opposite of Doom and the aspect of, well, life. Life is vitality, health, and longevity. It is abundance and plenty, as well. Perhaps even fertility. However there is more to Life than simply plenty or health. Plenty has often been associated with the rule of a righteous monarch and Life is most clearly the aspect of sovereignty. Whether it is in the fashion of heirs to companies or literal kings or even those of kingly virtues Life is the aspect that represents these. With kings comes rules, however, and Life is the aspect of rules. More specifically in breaking them. Life seeks to be above the rules that it builds. It twists, bends, breaks, or rewrites the rules as it sees fit. When caught it is a distress in the inability to remake life as it sees fit. Life can thus be the symbol of revolution or despotism.

Doom - The opposite of Life and the aspect of, well, doom. Doom is not nearly as negative as its name sounds colloquially. Doom simply means fate in general. It is not decisions that lead to results as Mind is or the fabric of those decisions as is Time. Doom is the happening of those actions. It is the result of Mind. Doom is also the rules and restrictions of causality. Doom is to be constrained by rules and bound to a contract, often times one that is unwanted. However Doom can make use of the very rules that bind it. While Life cheats the rules, Doom plays them very straight to its own benefit. It is the using of the rules as they are to gain an edge. Doom is also the aspect most closely associated with self sacrifice.

Hope - The opposite of Rage and the aspect of positive emotions. Hope deals with positive feelings in general and its namesake in particular. It is brightness of feeling, and it is contentment. It is joy and delight. It is the belief in a better day and the clinging to such belief. Indeed, Hope is the aspect of belief and faith. Hope can also be a deep desire for that belief. While one might not hold it, one might a deep wish to believe in something. As a result Hope can be the aspect of childishness or innocence. Hope also has an even darker edge. It can be a stubborn refusal to budge from belief even when all signs point to the opposite. It can be the creation of false realities to cope with true reality. Hope can also lead to great disappointment. The desire for a belief to be true violated Hope loses its brightness and turns to a bitter resentment and nihilism.

Rage - The opposite of Hope and the aspect of negative emotions. Rage deals with all negative and painful feelings, though it is most typefied by its namesake. Rage is anger and fury, hot or cold, reasonable or unreasonable. However, Rage is also sadness and loneliness. It is fear and pain and disappointment and grief and loss. Rage is all that is unpleasant emotionally. Rage can be seen as purely negative as a result, but it doesn't necessarily need to be so. Lessons can be learned from pain, after all. One can also gain a deep understanding and sympathy for others from feeling pain or anger. Rage can even be a bolstering force. It can be the strength needed to act. Even the fear of Rage can be the twitchy energy one needs to act. However, just as Hope can be hard to manage so can Rage. It is easy to fall into the seemingly unpredictable madness of the aspect.

 

Whyfor is the magic side of tumblr so defensive about curses? I have seen maybe like... one of these "curse-shamers" they talk about, but I've seen a lot of weirdly gung-ho behavior including one person talking about how cursing someone for cutting you off in traffic is actually saving lives or some shit?

Like, I would consider violence sometimes necessary and, very occasionally, even morally right, but I'd seriously side-eye anyone who decided they needed to describe themselves as "pro-violence". That's a reasonable comparison, right?

 

I've seen a few of them. I've also seen people who just mock the concept of cursing in general as being stupid bullshit for babies in the tags. I've also come across the people you've mentioned.

I really don't know. Though I've seen some argue about how some of it might partially be racism where non-white traditions are concerned. Similar things crop up in regards to things like animal sacrifice on that note too.

 

@OnnaStik Largely because if you delve hard enough into paganism, you'll come across really obnoxious Wiccans who insist you should abide by the Wiccan Rede even if you're not a Wiccan, blah blahblah, etc

 

Oh right. I forgot about those fuckers.

Yeah.

Fuck them and their Rede. Bitch please my god let a father's kids bleed to death in front of him even when he begged for them to be saved because said kids murdered Lugh's dad.

 

Because off tumblr they're really extensive in the witchcraft community, and vocal to the point of in-community discrimination. Like I know someone in my Gaia witch circle who had an anti-curse witch literally attempt to ruin her IRL witchcraft business by driving away customers.

 

What in the fuck

 

YEP apparently the lady like, went around their local witch circle telling everyone not to buy from Friend because Friend did curses. Fortunately most of said local witch circle was like "idgaf."

 

Thank gods.

 

I'd briefly forgotten about the 'aggressively anti-curse' contingent of IRL communities. My mind cynically went to thinking about how tumblr culture sometimes justifies attacking and harassing those perceived as wrong, abusers, etc. In terms of consciously wishing someone harm and strife, how much of a comparison is reasonable to draw between online harassment (especially inciting others or doing so anonymously.), and cursing?

I'm rambling.

In other news! I'm starting to study the Ogham and finding I really like it. I'm using a copy of Erynn Rowan Laurie's _Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom_ book for starters, with a side of "okay, what's the impression I get from that tree's spirit/energy as a guide? I love all the information she's including on Celtic Recon in general, and that she's including and using the other word/color/etc. Ogham lists as well.

Also! Does anyone here do work with helping spirits, animal or plant guides or allies, etc? I'm trying to further develop some relationships (I've ...got some homework to work on, apparently). I have a guide I'm starting to suspect I've been meeting/working with for a while--but with exceptions, not in the same form or shape. But the feeling of interaction is the same? I'd like to try and get more verification or information on this from alternative sources--because I don't want to just be talking to a projection in my head, you know? I haven't raised the issue in a journey yet--it occurred to me recently after my last one.


Grabbing the cards/runes/divination, or asking a friend to do so, seems like a starting place. I'm open to other suggestions, though?

 

Mine has a preferred shape (giant wolf) and most of what he does atm is being comforting but i've also not been doing much for/with him. I'm getting him a heather pot soon, which the hilarious thing? One kind of heather can be used for baths to help with rheumatism. Fen likes to help me with things in roundabout ways it seems.
I mostly have very little spoons for witchery atm bc of the move.
The most witchy thing I did was make cakepops recently (lemon and basil for happiness and harmony.) (i know they both do "love" as an effect but the more i use ingredients aligned with love the more i realize they Just Dont Work. Maybe the "love" i'm influencing in myself is the amount of shipping of giant robots I'm doing lmao)

 

I don't have spirit guides, or allies, so to speak, but my view of spirits is often that of a patron. You respect them, they protect you, you both help each other out but we all know the spirit has more power. Everytime I look here I realize more and more how Andean my viewpoints are, because my instinct was just "always greet respectfully and make an offering on earth of coca leaves" and just. You guys don't have coca leaves! So this doesn't help at all, I'm rambling, but I suppose burning incense with an offering works. Textiles are important (they can't be cut) so making a small offering wrapped in a simple woven blanket is a nice thing, and those usually get burnt up together when offering.

... Lima, or my area, doesn't really have an Apu. Not that I can tell or identify, at least. I'm suddenly feeling upset about that, it's not like La Paz and the looming Illimani looking over all of us. At least I can still do offerings for Pachamama here.

 

Does anything not have "love" as an effect? It's almost like people are hugely preoccupied with it.

Lemon/basil sounds like a delicious combination, though.

See, this is where my mind had gone. Now that I know how... intense... it can get in meatspace, I have a lot more sympathy for some cases, but some of them do sound a lot like tumblr-kiddies and make posts like "a curse to destroy transphobes!" and it... definitely seems related, as far as I can see.

 

Closest I have to some sort of defined animal guide are that the gods speak through birds a lot of the time. Could be single birds or groups of them. Could be the same bird or a different bird. But the birds are messengers. The birds might also be the gods themselves of course. I do my bird augury stuff almost entirely off gut instinct though. And my gut has tended to be right when it concerns them so I'm going to keep with that. I also have to keep in mind that the messages might not even be for me.

 

Well, I do have crows following me around, but I usually take it more as a sign that they noticed the peanuts.

 

I knew I'd seen a post that touched on my side-eye of the "lolcurses" thing! Here it is.

 

I... Kinda feel like those are two different parts of Pagan Tumblr?