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

Dad just went into surgery. Drew his sigil on my wrist, seems to help hold the freakout at bay.

 

Crossing my fingers, knocking on wood for you and your dad.

 

@Aviari, good luck to you and your dad. Now on to the Awkward Atheist perspective.

Which is basically that I agree re: deities not being interchangeable if that's your belief (if that makes sense - a hard polytheist can't be forced into a soft polytheist solution) and that it's kind of affronting to say to a god "I'm the wrong culture to worship you, i'm gonna worship someone else," but at the same time... I don't see an issue with simply saying "No, I'm not comfortable with this, pick someone else." Like, it's possible for the god picking you to be crossing over your boundaries, and you have a right to enforce those as well?

(This is actually something that frustrates me about a friend of mine, who is like, "I'm a follower of Thanatos so I kind of have to deal with the dead" no. you are allowed to make your boundaries.)

Basically, as an atheist who is generally uncomfortable with the idea of being picked by gods for anything, I don't see why no one ever exercises the right to say no? And that makes me a bit uncomfortable with the whole issue. There's this pressure of "you've been picked, you must do the worships nao" in pagan discussions that I just really dislike.

 

You absolutely have the right to say no, and the idea that gods have the right to ignore your personal boundaries is a thing I see on tumblr sometimes and always bothers me.

 

Yes, the way some people put it on Tumblr, it's effectively mind-rape by a deity, and they present it as the ideal!

Freyja said "you're Mine" to me, but She would have taken a no, and would now. It's just not going to happen.

 

He's out and recovering.

Got the news seconds after I redrew the sigil in different ink. Hmm.

 

Meanwhile I am just over here like



#awkward wombats into magic thread #awkward wombats out of magic thread

 

So I just read that article and some links and I am kind of sitting here going "life and beliefs are fucking weird". I must be an obstinate or oblivious fucker since the descriptions of calls are just so... ?????

I guess I find it weird because a part of me is like, "I want to be a wise lady of magic who draws on the mystic and helps the world and people that way"... and the other is just sitting on my brain going "This is utterly boofish and totally fake".

This doesn't really have a point, I'm just observing and being a bit amused at the whole thing. I will carry my amulet with me, and somehow simultaneously believe in it and not believe in the trinket, because I am of two minds. They just kind of live side by side like siblings with different opinions but a healthy relationship. Shrugs on all sides folks.

 

...I remain not entirely convinced you're not actually some weird AU fusion of me and @bramblepatch.

 

I'm sure people do say no. I said no to Lugh for a year though it was more avoiding him. And I do thoroughly believe that I could have outright said no after doing what I vowed to do. I just can't imagine actually having said no. He's worth saying yes.

 

Ditto for Freyja, for me

 

On Saturday I am going to do my Loi Krathong stuff as best I can. Even though the day of is actually yesterday. But it gets celebrated on the weekend of the week of out here because America sucks dick when it comes to my holidays and time off. I'll be taking the Eight Precepts and I'll try and make a krathong as best I can. Then set that thing out in the bathtub and let go of my glorious hatred of the tumblr pagan tag.

Also must ask Phra Mae Khongka to keep this horrible state from drying up entirely. Save our rivers. Flood us. Please, Ganga.

 

[RUMINATES LOUDLY ON BLOOD CURSES]

look I don't think there's anything more appropriate for cursing blood relatives who care more about money than family

#also rose thorns #a personal touch

 

Woo, finally finished reading through this entire thread

 

I like to draw things on my hands when nervous. Usually triskeles and spears. Sometimes dhammacakkas. I like to cover my notebooks and things in those symbols in general. If I could I would just paint them all over my walls too.

 

My tarot deck keeps turning up the Nine of Swords in readings. For me personally that card maps directly onto PTSD, so I'm not sure what that actually means. My broken coming up...?

...actually, that's kind of happened lately. Huh.

 

Months ago I told of a sleepy spell I cast with Sollux kitty as a medium or something. Eralier this week, I think I did something similar with the Bigcat!

I petted and floofed her while asleep, but in my mind she had this bright red aura to her and she represented a lot of good things - fierceness and strenght and love not as a cutesy thing but as an unstoppable force of nature. She felt like a cat, but she also seemed like a dragon to me, and I did feel like I was getting power and energy from her as we cuddled. When I woke up, I felt amazing. I think it was something about banishing insecurities and reaffirming motherly love, which is relevant because I was bummed about my actual mother being a jerk and then I stopped being bummed (and the Bigcat has always been, to me, a guardian who protects me from being harmed by her, and sort of a surrogate mother figure even thought she's a 4 year old cat).

Whatever the spell did for the Bigcat, it's certainly been good. She's been VERY cuddly every night with an intensity I'm not used to, rubbing her head against me and wanting to hold my hand with her paws and rubbing her nose against mine. It's really cute.

Wixbloom: Cat Wix.

 

Do any inhabitants of this thread know any good resources for tarot beginners? And witchcraft beginners in general, really. In the past few months I've decided (partly because of this thread!) that I want to at the very least try dong some witchy stuff. It's something my mom used to do when she was my age. She doesn't really practice anymore for lack of anyone in the area to practice with (it was always a very community-oriented thing for her and her coven was also an activist group), but she does still keep a shrine, I think, and she gardens, which definitely has spiritual aspects to it for her... anyway, when I told her about my interest, she sent me her tarot cards (along with a bunch of really nice rocks). It's this deck. Initially I was a little doubtful of it, because it uses Wonderland-themed suit names instead of traditional ones (flamingos for swords, peppermills for wands, hats for cups, oysters for pentacles). But I warmed up to it really quickly, which I guess can't be anything but a good sign? It feels right, like the kind of flaw a found or gifted thing should have to make it perfect.

I've only tried using it once, though, partly because until recently I've been too stressed to feel like I can start something new (especially something new like magic!) and partly because I'm not really sure how to go about it. Is there anything you're supposed to do with a new deck? Are there any good spreads for beginners to use to get the hang of it? And on the general witchcraft front, are there any simple spells that are good for... breaking into the craft, I guess? I've tried thinking of my own things to do, but at least to start out with I think I need something from the outside to help it all feel real.

 

@adisagestar

1. I imagine it comes with a booklet. Read it and look at the cards as you do

2. Even though your deck is a little unique, also read about the Fool's Journey and read up on the suits, their meanings etc. I really like learntarot. It's simple and didactic.

3. Pay attention to the feelings, associations and ideas the cards evoke for you. A booklet is fine and good, but you are the reader for a reason. If a card intuitively doesn't feel like the description, trust your feeling - the card may have something unique to tell you.

4. Try to draw one card every morning and reflect on it.

5. Practice simple 3 card spreads. 3 card spreads are the best because they allow for association while still being straightforward, and you can adapt them for everything because a lot of things come in 3s (past - present- future, lover 1 - the relationship - lover 2, desire - fear - resolution, etc.). Personally they remain my faves, and I've been reading for years. But even if you prefer simpler or more complex spreads later on, 3 card spreads are excellent in learning to associate the meanings in cards without getting overwhelmed.

ETA: As for rituals, here's the one I like to purify the cards. This is a bit intense. You can do it card by card if you REALLY wanna get rid of a lot of built up negative energy (like I did with a deck that was preferred by an abusive former friend and was full of badness) and you can do a simplified version, or a version that only invokes one or two elements, if it's light stuff like in this case. Make sure to do it gently and CAREFULLY plz, if you get any gunk on your cards wipe them immediately with a clean dry cloth:

• Fire: Pass the deck over a candle flame
• Water: Either pass it over a bow of water or wet your fingertips with water and flick them on the cards
• Earth: Either pass the deck over a bowl of sea salt or dirt, or gently sprinkle either on top of the cards, wiping them IMMEDIATELY afterwards so as not to damage them
• Air: Either gently spray them - from far! - with perfume, or just take a very deep breath and blow on them
• As you do all this, think about the elements purifying the cards and welcoming them to a new home. It's OK to talk to the deck as you do it, too!

 

Thank you! That site looks very informative. Other ones I was finding looked a little too froofy for me :P I've spent a while shuffling, playing with, and generally looking over the cards but I'll be sure to do it while following along in the booklet as well.

The one reading I did before was just 3 cards. I liked it - I think mostly what I need is to get better at knowing how to ask my question, and what question to ask, and that seems like a thing that just needs practice.

(incidentally, when I went to do the first reading, the first card I drew after shuffling the deck was one of the deck description cards with the cover image + text on it. This deck has two, one normal and one mirror-imaged because Wonderland, and I got the mirrored one - I didn't include it in the spread, obviously, but it felt kind of like the deck was introducing itself which made me smile :>)

Edit: i didn't see your eta before, whoops. I like the sound of that ritual! I will give it a try - maybe a simplified version, since this deck doesn't need much cleansing as far as I can tell. And I will definitely talk to the deck as I go. Heck, I'll probably end up talking to it and any other materials I end up using all the time no matter what. I like talking to things :)