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

They can be. Though they can also be the same. Never doubt our species' capacity for hypocrisy.

 

So a while back, I mentioned that my deck interviews seemed to indicate that the decks I found most aesthetically pleasing were generally better for my purposes.

Tonight, I learned that this is not a universal thing.

See, I got four decks out of storage recently, and I decided to interview them. The results? The Thoth deck, which I've never found especially attractive, needs to be used cautiously but can open up some really good possibilities. Meanwhile, the Deviant Moon deck, which I bought specifically because it's gorgeous, seems to be...very honest, but potentially to an actively damaging degree.

(Meanwhile, the novelty decks--Zombie and Pirate--both seem to get along well enough with me, though the Zombie deck does seem to want to be used very carefully. I think the Pirate deck might be fond of me because it was my first deck. :P)

Also, storing witchy shit in the cloud is way better than keeping a notebook, IMO. Easier to update, easier to access, harder to lose track of.

 

I wish I could like Deviant Moon, after all the work the artist put into the guidebook. But the art is just bluh for me.

 

I personally like writing things down in notebooks. And greatly prefer it honestly. Just weird personal quirk.

 

anyone know anything about plants/symbolism associated with mercury/hermes beyond the basic wikipedia stuff? for example, google doesn't seem super forthcoming on symbolic plants :")

 

http://www.kitchenwitchcorner.com/table:planetary-correspondence

Alfalfa and Anise are associated with the planet mercury apparently

 

I do not; however, barring ability to find plants directly linked to him, I might suggest looking up the meaning of plants and picking ones that have a meaning related to his sphere of influence. (did I use that term right)

 

@chaoticArbiter good advice!! thanks :D

@IvyLB perfect!! thank you so much woo, time to go buy some alfalfa and anise

 

good luck with whatever you're doing!!

 

That's fair too! I just personally find it way easier to use Evernote or Google Docs. :P

 

...So I think I've found a figure that resonates with me, but I'm also 99% sure Tumblr would cry "OMG CULTURAL APPROPRIATION!!!" if I so much as mentioned my interest in her...

 

well, who is she?

 

Santa Muerte.

 

Oh yeah. People would murder you for that.

Hrmm. The only person I know who knows anything about her is definitely VERY CATHOLIC. Would you want to be directed to him? At the least you could read up on his blog. Or you could ask him questions about the thing. Just keep in mind he is very Catholic, very brujeria, and very ritual magician. He also isn't entirely comfortable with sharing magic shit related to his culture because people take it out of context the moment he does.

 

If you could link me to his blog that'd be great.

It just sucks 'cause it's like FINALLY, A FIGURE THAT SPEAKS TO ME SOMEHOW but I'm white as fuck. :(

 

it's not a closed religion, is it? because if it is, I'd caution you against it. I don't know much about Santa Muerte. outside of that, though, I don't see why Tumblr would crucify you for it--so what if she's not white and you are? if she speaks to you, she speaks to you.

 

Because if she's not white and you are, that's the tumblr definition of cultural appropriation.

 

uuuuuuuuuuuugh Tumblr
Tumblr needs to stop

 

Santa Muerte is related to Mexican folk Catholicism. So yeah. Catholicism is a closed religion and you can't just call yourself Catholic. Even assuming that it's not specifically a Catholic veneration of Santa Muerte then it's still potentially sketchy because she is, again, related to Mexican folk religion. Now Catholicism is a religion that you can be initiated into easily enough. Still there is the issue of her specifically being a Mexican folk saint. Anyway blog is carprenumbra. He also has a magic blog here. He's a very educated man where Catholicism, brujeria, and Latino folk Catholicisms are concerned. Though he's specifically Colombian so keep that in mind if you ask him questions? And again he's kind of...very rightly edgy about sharing shit. Because boy howdy do white people love yanking shit out of its context.

 

In general though don't just yank Catholic saints out of their context. Unless it's like, I dunno, Saint Josaphat. Who is actually the Buddha. And especially don't fucking do it with the Virgin Mary. I've seen people say that they worship her as like a god or that they aren't Christian and just. No. Don't do that. Mary isn't yours. Admire her from afar or become Christian. Pick one or the other.