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

so I've been thinking thoughts and I have a question.
let's say I wanted to use lightning in a spell for any particular reason. if I personally feel that sand that's been struck by lightning and turned into fulgurite contains actual....I don't know, crystalized lightning, sort of--would crushing that up and adding the crystal particles to my spell mixture work for the lightning bit?

 

I think that might work.
... But now I'm wondering whether "artificial" electricity counts as lightning or not. And if it does, is it any electrical current, or necessarily arcs?

 

I feel like it might, that's a really good idea! Other things I could think of are setting somethign out to charge during a thunderstorm maybe, but that's highly subject to the whims of nature and so on

 

Wood from a tree that got struck by lightning might also work, if you can get that better?

 

wood from a tree struck by lightning would be roughly the same difficulty for me to get as the fulgurite, although it's definitely an idea I'm keeping in mind--I mean, it's not like lightning's super uncommon in Seattle storms :P so it's totally possible there'd be a random tree that would get struck by lightning, maybe I could ask the cleanup people if I could have a little branch.

but!! since you guys think it's a viable idea, I'm going to use it :D thanks. (I'm working on a kind of protection spell thing of my own design, and I need a little, like, 'essence of lightning' for it.)

 

Dad linked me to the Psychonaut Field Manual, a super cute crash course comic on chaos magic for beginners. Stays agnostic, has some theories on spirits it provides just to have the language for working with them but outright says they're just theories and other interpretations and ways of doing things are valid. Not perfect or universal because nothing works for everyone, but I liked it.

Also includes the incantation "Skeletor to my north! Starscream to my east! Blammy slammy alakazamy, I'm a fucking wizard!" and I feel so called out right now.

 

I knew this thread was somewhere.

Y'all, we are getting not just a full moon, but a super moon on January the fucking first this year. The time for a banging ass new year's ritual is upon us and tbh I don't know what to do. Been reading me some Cunningham, been thinking of doing a ritual asking for decent goddamn sleep this year and a sense of tranquility and peace, but what if I want to use the night to scry the future year??? It would be perfect?? Not like I suck at fortune telling or anything

Read alert the heavens are auspicious I repeat THE HEAVENS ARE AUSPICIOUS

 

I've decided to type up the attributes Cunningham assigns to the moon in the chapter "Lunar things" in his collected writings "Cunningham's Magical Sampler." Well, it's a posthumous collection, but still, FOR THE EDIFICATION OF ALL

Magical effects: love, peace, tranquility, sleep, psychic awareness, prophetic dreams, healing beauty, fertility, childbirth
Qualities: moist, fertile, nurturing, loving
Rules: women, the family, mothers, children, the tides, human emotions, gardening, cancerians
Phases and Magical Operations:
Waxing: positive operations, beginnings
Full: All manner of rites
Waning: Destroying baneful energies, habits, and disease
Colors: white, silver, iridescent hues
Magical Tool: the cup
Day of the Week: Monday (Coincidence??? I think fucking not)
Number: 9 (or 3)
Season: Fall
Astrological Sign: Cancer
Goddesses: Artemis, Diana, Hecate, Hina, Isis, Lucina, Selene
Gods: Sin, Nanna
Musical Note: B
Sense: Taste
Body: Stomach, breast
Activities: Swimming, sailing, bathing, washing, purifying, cleaning, dreaming, daydreaming, brewing, nursing
Clothing: All white clothing, silver jewelry, cotton and silk (paraphrased, list is repetitive)
Incense: 1 part frankincense, 1/2 part sandalwood, 1/4 part myrrh, 1/4 part white rose petals, a dash poppy seeds
Herbs: camphor, cucumber, gardenia, jasmine, lemon, lemon balm, lettuce, lily, lotus, myrrh, poppy, pumpkin, sandalwood, seaweed, water lily, white-flowered or night-blooming plants
Perfumes: sandalwood, myrrh, rose water
Woods: sandalwood, willow
Stones: aquamarine, beryl, chalcedony, moonstone, pearl, selenite, quartz crystal
Metal: silver
Symbols: crescents, mirrors, seashells
Places ruled: all manner of waters, whether saline or fresh, flowing or stagnant, natural or manmade (greatly paraphrased), inns, kitchens, the home, gardens, bedrooms, farms, ships at sea
Musical Instruments: Cymbals, gongs, sistrums, resonant metallic instruments
Tarot suit: cups
Foods: coconut, crescent cakes, eggs, fish, ice cream, lemonade, shellfish, soup, vanilla pudding, yogurt
Drinks: lemonade, milk, kefir, champagne, white wine (and personally I don't know why lemon balm tea is not on this list)

LBR long lists is what draws us to this religion. Useful?? You decide. Reference material?? Yes I love reference material

 

.....can I use the power of a full moon to cast a very potent curse on a particular someone who may or may not be the President of the United States

 

Yes.

 

good.
this is such excellent news, and now I go to think and make preparations.
thank.

 

Like I don't know how exactly that'd all work since I've never done spells, per se, or things with the moon. But I mean if you can find a way then go for it. I'm pro-curse up in this bitch.

 

I don't think I should try dabbling in curses if I don't practice other magics, that seems dangerous, but can I somehow boost someone else's cursing attempt?

 

well the way I'm seeing it is....if the moon is associated with, say, sleep and tranquility....I would guess that I could ask it to give someone sleep or tranquility, but imo, it will also work in the reverse: I can curse someone to have no peace or tranquility, or at least as little as humanly possible.
and honestly the more miserable I can make him, the better. I rarely curse anyone--but I feel like I have some pretty solid reasons for this one.

 

I’m not very well curse-versed at this point in time. I’m new to magic so I’ve been focusing on myself. But I think you might be able to hash something out with Diana, who is a moon goddess and who is all about crushing the powerful and helping the weak. It’s important to note that she’s given these attributes in the Gospel of Witches, which is almost certainly a modern invention, not a record of antiquity like it claims, but that doesn’t mean it’s not useful. Just reading the first chapter or two will give you a picture of Diana and her daughter Aradia and how they could help.

I don’t even know what I’m doing myself though so keep that in mind.

 

I have to admit I'm hesitant to call upon any gods who I'm not familiar with, and I've never worked with Diana. if I was going to call on a god, I'd probably go with the Greek goddess who's considered the equivalent of Diana, Artemis, but even then I'm wary because I've never worked with any of the Grecian gods either....
that said, Artemis is the goddess of the wilderness and wild animals. I feel like some of Trump's policies have been threatening that....
and I'll definitely look into Diana! thank you for the information. I'm just not sure I'll be appealing to any gods at all--I get a little nervous about asking things from gods I don't know and have never communicated with before. I might just stick to working on my own power plus any power the moon can give me.

 

At least with my variety of curses I feel that having other people recite the poems with conviction adds a sort of extra truthyness to them. Given that that truthyness is how the things even function, having more people believe that this is the truth and then reciting it too is good. Because then it's being further reinforced. So with similar kinds of magic that might be an avenue.

If it's something more...energy based (???) like what with Buddhist merit transference then that can work better if there's more people sincerely trying to add to it. The way merit transference festivals work is that you have a ton of people who aren't so good at transferring, led by monks who are super good at transferring, all working on transferring merit at once. This gets out larger amounts of it and more of it is generated by the group doing it. So it can be more easily spent on larger groups of people. Similar principles might be applicable to similar kinds of curses. Though I guess with negative intent instead of merit.

If it's a god based favor kind of curse meanwhile it might work out if you made an offering to the deity in question. Alternatively make an offering to an entity that you yourself are good with to ask for help with this thing being carried out. Personally I'd go with gods that I had the most ins with as it's easier to get help from entities that know you and that you have some sort of social backing with.

Supporting curses can work but it depends on the method involved, really. Certain methods benefit from certain kinds of help.

 

Honestly I feel that might be best? A curse like that's sort of a big thing to be asking for. Unless you had something of equal or greater value to the act to offer up it's probably best to just work with one you're already in good with. But that's just based on my ways of interacting with entities, which is very reciprocity based. Others view them as less actual existing things and more like...emanations of their mind or such.

 

I mean I view the gods as real entities of some sort, and I do work, to an extent, on a reciprocity-based system with such entities. my relationship with a god who I consider myself 'closer' to is more different and personal and less structured on 'this is how things usually work', but....
I get a bit leery of asking entities I'm unfamiliar with for help because I don't know what they're going to want in return for help, and I don't KNOW them, so naturally they're going to want something right then because this is a brand-new working partnership and we don't know each other at all and generally calling on an entity you're unfamiliar with for help means that things are gonna stick to the particular rules and structure I'd expect.
the only exception to me in 'exchange required' is if the thing I'm asking for is covered by their domain--i.e. if I knew there was a person abusing their pets, I might point them out to a god whose domain is protection of animals and ask if, since that person is harming animals, the god might consider intervening, and help me with my goal to stop that person abusing their pets. so I'm debating asking Artemis to consider doing something because Trump's policies this year have threatened the wilderness--but I'm not even sure I'm gonna do that.
plus, I think 'hey would you consider intervening in a way that you choose' is a little different than 'please help me with this curse against this person', so even then, I don't think I'm gonna ask for specific help with the curse. AND asking for help in a way that gives free reign can be a little risky sometimes--I mean, I'm less concerned about that with Artemis, I think, but there are some gods I wouldn't want to send such an open-ended request to.

 

hmmm.
so does anyone know of any herbs or crystals or something associated with repelling what I ask them to repel from a specific person, rather than already having a thing like "repels specifically negativity"?
I like to work with sort of.....wards or shields or similar things that repel elements--so I want to try and make my curse be something along the lines of 'repelling peace and tranquility from' rather than 'attracting the opposite of peace and tranquility to'. since I'm more familiar with 'repel this' rather than 'attract this thing', you know?
I am debating doing one spell to attract things, but that's for my friends and I already know what I'm doing with that one. most of what I'm doing otherwise is about repelling stuff.
please note that I can buy basic herbs but probably can't get my hands on anything else new, so if you could keep suggestions to things one can usually find in the grocery store, that would be helpful :P any crystal suggestions are welcome, I just may not have anything that works.