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

My general suggestion would be GIVE IT THINGS. Possibly set up a small shrine for it in some place in your home. Then give it things there regularly. Especially if it is a house spirity type thing. House dudes deserve spots and things. Partly because they like stealing things or making people sick when not pleased.

 

the closest thing to ritual that i've been doing recently is i go to the graveyard and sing at/talk to/pray at graves that hold specific meaning for me (the grave that i saw empty, the grave of an infant, the grave of my speudo grandmother, some of the warrior soldier graves, the in memorium statue, the gravestone with my friend's last name on it even though he's alive) even though i don't think those words are actually anywhere

 

Aside: Am I the only poor kid who has an immediate visceral reaction to food offerings? Because my reaction to food offerings is always an immediate "but someone could EAT that" dismay.

 

Not poor, but child of a hoarder, so... yep. ><

 

Some would argue that that's part of the point of a food offering. Like, if you DON'T have that instinct of "we need this" it's not really much of an offering. Like, I love the "give spare coins to Hermes" thing, but that's a daily minimum offering. If I actually were doing ritual I would do something more significant.

 

... huh. That's really cool; I think you're right about that. Like the offerings of jewelry sunken in the water in Roman Britain; the significance is based on sacrifice as much as symbolism?

 

For me unless it is a holiday offerings tend to be small things. Just bits of food or a glass of something. The food is eaten for two reasons. One, the toradh of the food has been consumed and therefore the food is no longer safe to eat and, two, that's just fucking rude. You give someone food and go "Yes welcome to my home" and then take the food away and eat it in front of them? It's being hospitable. Or it's part of an agreement that was made.

With fancier offerings I try to make sure it's something I took time in preparing or it's the last of my favorite of something. Because as much as I want these things I've got things to do and those things involve giving up things I want.

 

I did this spread for four of my decks--Tarot of the Witches, Universal Rider-Waite, Vertigo, and Homestuck--and I noticed something amusing, which is that the decks I find more attractive and personally appealing (Vertigo, Homestuck) seem to be a lot more compatible with me, according to the spread, than the ones I'm less "drawn to." In fact, the Witches one, which is probably the ugliest deck I own in terms of appearance, seemed to outright say a relationship between us would be toxic. The Waite said it was mediocre and best used sparingly, the Vertigo said it was helpful and good for goal-finding but perhaps a bit capricious at times, and the HS one seems to want me to improve as a person and find who I am alongside it.

Not sure if that's just a coincidence or if I have a tendency to be drawn to decks that just mesh with me, but I figured it was worth noting.

 

@Acey people who aren't me talk about being drawn to their decks a lot, so, yeah. Interesting comparing our Homestuck decks, though, you'd think they'd have at least somewhat similar personalities.

 

I've been waffling over spellcraft and whatnot for a while now but couldn't really justify an interest or practicing it with SCIENCE BRAIN. This thread though, particularly the "weaponized placebo effect" may have clicked it. The placebo effect is probably my favorite phenomenon in the multiverse.

I don't appear to have a spiritual/religious angle to it, but:

I am powerfully drawn to the ocean. Prime example: family went down to an out of state east coast beach for less than an hour a few weeks ago. The air itself and the smell felt like it was pulling me to the water. I stripped off tennis shoes and socks and waded in up to my thighs. Now, my mental safe-zone/happy place/etc has always been utter solitude and an echoing quiet (not unlike you get under water, hmmm) but even with dozens of kids and vacationing people and music and noise (I have never seen a beach so crowded) I had an incredible sense of relief and "yes good this is home". It wasn't even "my" ocean, I was born on the west coast, but I had this overwhelming sense of "I needed this" and just standing in the water like a dork for a few minutes put me in a good mood for days.

Also plants. Back when the Lucky Bamboo Feng Shui craze was in full swing I had lots of people asking me to design targeted arrangements for them because somehow they worked? I don't know how much accuracy Casual Internet College Feng Shui has but I imagine the intent and effort had a lot to do with it? The one I remember best was a "money luck" one for my ex, who'd been looking for a new job for months. Specific number of stalks, shaped stalks, coins in the pot to grow as the plant did, tied with specific colored ribbon, things like that. Finished it, handed it over, told him to talk to it. He got a job offer the next day. Probably coincidence but....

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is, "Any advice for a huge noob?"

 

I've never really felt drawn by my tarot decks, or that the decks themselves have any particular personality. They're just objects that I use as a medium to talk with other beings. The ones I'm more comfortable with using are because the pictures on the cards just make a greater amount of intuitive sense to me. I treat my ogham staves and my ogham dice the same way. They're a medium that I use to ask questions of various other entities. The ones I address tend to be specific gods, the gods as a whole, or the gods and ungods as a whole.

Though who is answering my questions if anyone is entirely up in the air!

 

I don't want to derail the plot on tarot, but I've been looking at natural magic stuff, and jar spells? I'm not fond of the idea of a jar full of components sitting around waiting to be shaken when I need it.

But then I thought of the whole lucky bamboo thing I did, and combining that with the jar components and having something I can tend and care for and, I dunno, strengthen the spell as it grows?

does this sound completely bogus I have no idea what I'm doing

 

I dislike a lot of jar magic because it takes up so much space; hence why I instead hoard THE TINIEST OF BOTTLES. Also don't worry there's no such thing as derailing here, and your bamboo thing sounds really symbolically neat.

But anyway, general advice: Don't listen to anyone who says "you have to do x" or "you can't do x." Go with your gut and do what feels appropriate to you.

Otherwise my general newbie advice is "do your research, ignore the tumblr echo chamber, and don't be a jerk," but that's applicable to basically everything in life. If you want anything more specific someone around here can probably point you at resources.

 

Tiny bottles are amazing. And I totally agree with 'ignore tumblr + don't be a jerk'. Do your fucking homework with history books and anthropology books, and you should generally be okay. And because this whole damn thing is a weaponised placebo effect, just do what you fucking want. Do what feels right to you. It will definitely work better than anything that doesn't feel right to you.

 

Coming into this thought waaaay late: Pearls make far more sense as seals. Sure they're generally naturally smooth and white, but I have difficulty accepting something as "pure" when it's made to cover up something foreign and irritating. Sealing something up or smoothing over damage makes more sense now, but maybe earlier practitioners never cut one open, and just focused on the aesthetics of the finished product, not its source, and by the time we figured out how they were made, Tradition already had them set as "purity" symbols?

 

You will discover throughout your time here that I am very much Fuck Tradition if it doesn't make sense. I use them as both seals as supplements to attracting-type spells (attracting something doesn't do much good if it just leaves again, throw in a pearl to make it stay).

 

I really need to purify my tarot decks from my jerkwad former friend's negative energy. Douchebag insisted I read the cards to him all the time, with no appreciation for it, insisted on inverting my cards even though I personally don't like working with inversions, whined constantly about the results he got and would reformulate his question and draw again until an answer pleased him. His slightly less unpleasant sister would ask me every chance she got about her abusive boyfriend and be somehow dismayed that the cards kept pointing out to her that he was an abuser. And my "friend" was also bitchy about the decks I used. He insisted I used always the same one, which after a point just read nonsense even though I tried milder purification, like setting all cards right side up and in order. So there's. Guh. A lot of crap to unload from my decks. Ugh.

 

Bamboo plants planted!
28 out of 30 were good quality enough to plant, so now I have arrangements based on:
Protection/warding (Foyer/front window)
Calming/clarity (Next to my library chair, "my" space in the house.)
Protection/prosperity (back window/living room)
Calming/strength (Husband's game room, "his" space*)
Happiness/Love (Master bathroom**)

Five stalks each, based around a pentacle, sizes of stalk indicate emphasis of arrangement (Ex: Tallest points of my library plant are Air and Water) with a tumbled chunk of smoky quartz to focus in each. Will be adding labradorite as soon as it arrives.

*"Here, have a plant. No questions. 'S good for you." *clunk*
"...wat"
** It WOULD go in the master bedroom, but, cats.

 

Alright, I just took out my three decks and did this really intense purification/meditation combo for each. With each one, I slowly took all the cards out and arranged them in the right order one by one while thinking about the deck and the associations I have with it, paying attention to which suits got completed first, which cards were switched up or inverted etc. Then with the one that was most in need of purification (Light Grey, the one my jerkwad friend insisted I use), I sprinkled the cards with water, quickly passed them over candle fire, rubbed them in salt (earth), sprinkled them with perfume (air) and carefully dried each one by hand with a towel before putting them back in the box. The other ones didn't require that much care. Light Visions I just closed the box and did the water/fire/earth/air thing with it as a whole rather than with the cards, and the Homestuck one, which was pretty friendly and chill, I just quickly placed near said elements without touching it to them. that was a lot of work, but I feel tons better about working with the Tarot now, hell yes!

 

Posting again because I did the neat tarot interview spread for each deck. They are all really cool.

Light Grey was just very sweet and loving - full of Cups cards, which, water being my element in general, explains why I'm so comfortable working with it. It's good at feelings, relationships and love and refuses to lie to me. It made sure to remind me that it can't make decisions for me, I must make them for myself. Told me what I need to do to work well with it is to match its kindness and honesty by leaving behind anxiety and negativity when I touch it, promised to help me work towards love, family and community.

Homestuck tarot, equally awesome: it's very balanced, and its insistence upon structure and a peaceful, open attitude makes it seem like it really wants to help me just be myself, stay grounded and chill. It told me it's not good with extreme emotional conflict, it prefers to contribute order, moderation and peaceful feelings and not be thrown in emotional turmoil. I can relate to that a lot (in fact, it's one of the main motivations for me having refused to take hormones all these years - they throw emotions into way too much intensity and sharpness... so in a way this also relates to being true to myself and takingcare of my mental health!)

Light Visions pretty much sang me "Eye of the Tiger"! Lots of cards related to thriving and overcoming, clarity and decision in pursuit of goals. I'm sure going to need them in going to art school, dealing with my gender identity and pursuing the life of an artist which I desire. It told me I don't need to contribute the kickassery, though, I just need to remain open, warm and generous - it can fall short on those aspects, so it needs me to balance its energy out. As for results of our working together, it showed me my single most favorite card - Strength! Harmony and perseverance and inner truth and just general awesomeness, hell yes :3 :3 :3