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

Here's hoping, Aviari. It'll be recognized, no matter what.

Perfect Perfection Gold is kinda weird, but there are a number of chemical properties that are really neat about it just the same--
It doesn't oxidize, and it's highly resistant to corrosion, it won't rust, it won't dull, it's soft and malleable enough to shape with a hammer and dent with your fingernails. It's great for making wires and all sorts of electronics applications because of that combination of 'conducts electricity well'+'does not corrode.'
A sheet of gold hammered thin enough is see-through; it's used for the visors of astronauts because of this, when combined with how well it reflects infrared radiation. Very few acids break gold down--one of the only that could, chemists and alchemists called it aqua regia, the royal water. (Aqua Regia is definitely another thing to look up symbolism for.)(I also recommend Sulphur and Salt.)
And then there's the whole gold, greed, coins, etc. Gold is still an actively traded in and invested commodity, true, but gold hasn't been intrinsicially valuable as a thing to make currency out of for decades and decades.
In large part, I think gold as an esoteric/divinatory symbol might have the value that we assign and perceive it to have--which is sometimes very independent of one's actual use and talents.

 

@Zuki I knew most of that! :D Well, not the astronaut thing, which is ridiculously awesome and I shall now treasure that knowledge forever. But yes, absolutely perceptions, which my own perceptions have been shaped by stories involving evil dragon gold and the like. Hence incorruptibility seems odd even though I know it makes perfect sense from a physical perspective.

So far I'm considering adding Antimony, Arsenic, and yes Sulfur and Salt. Possibly the four classical elements. And processes! Apparently there'd often be a set of twelve processes which got assigned to zodiac signs, which would add another layer even if I do tend to side-eye astrology. Assuming I can pick a set, of course. There's a lot of variation out there. Exciting, but not convenient.

 

OOoooooh, I heard alchemy!

My favorite little tidbit about gold and aqua regia is that during WWII, there was a Hungarian chemist by the name of de Hevesy who dissolved the Nobel Medals of two of his friends in a jar of aqua regia and stuck it, unlabeled, in the back of a chemistry cabinet to hide it from the Nazis. After the war he went back, found it still there, precipitated the gold and sent it back to be recast.

 

It worked :)

 

I would throw my hat in the ring for Bismuth, as Bismuth is the only metal with a strong personal symbology for me. It's the Gay Rainbow Metal, if you haven't seen a bismuth crystal go google but it's also "secrets." There's a number of fandom reasons, but also that cool rainbow crystal thing? It only does that under artificial conditions. So natural bismuth is, itself, keeping a really cool secret.

 

I shall keep this in mind! I'm probably going to wait to add things until I'm used to the Seven, though.

Also, I've had an idea for anyone who wants it- following the advice of Unfuck Your Habitat, I've had a spray bottle of white vinegar for a while as it cleans all sorts of things, particularly glass. Also on their advice, I chucked some orange peels in there so using it would smell a little more like citrus and less like pickles. I'm sure herbs and the like could also be added so as to cleanse while you clean!

 

Thinking of setting up a spirit house on our property. I'll have to do more research into how they are set up and actually go out and look at stuff in our yard. I don't have a geomancer or priest on hand so I will have to do the scoping out and chanting myself. Did have a dream that had a decent looking spot in our yard though? Based off what I know of the rules of placement. I'll have to look into it more though.

Basic rules being that it should be in front of a tree, first off. Next, it should not be on the left side of any doors. Which is hard given how my stupid yard is set up. After that you need to make sure it's not facing a road or toilet. If you can you should point it north or northeast. Then you want to make sure that it isn't in the shadow of the home or building it's being built for. And lastly you want it to line up with the home's Buddha room.

Then there's shit with actually setting it up which involves chanting and offerings to various gods. That and carefully setting up sacred boundary stones and other such things in the pillar pit. All of that is nine in number. The stones themselves you arrange with eight in the cardinal directions and the ninth in the middle.

My biggest worry though is that they aren't to be removed. So I'd have to get permission and understanding from my grandparents first off. Then there's the issue of if we moved. Who the fuck is going to honor the old owner's rule that some weird little house thing stay in the corner of their yard?

 

There might be some legal way to force anyone who buys the property to honor that condition? I know I've seen something similar done wrt privately owned parkland.
That might be a little expensive and involved, though.

 

Yeah. Hrmm. A thing to look into, I suppose.

 

I had quite the thunderstorm last night/this morning- on the one hand, I'm hoping it hasn't drowned my herbs or anything, but on the other hand, I managed to get a decent-sized jar of rainwater from it!

 

hey, is anyone in here Buddhist? sorry for asking a non-witchcraft-related thing, but I could've sworn someone in this thread was.

 

I'm the Buddhist. What'cha need me for?

 

I thought it might be you, but I wasn't sure, so I didn't tag you jic it wasn't you.
I have a friend who's interested in Buddhism--if I PM you with a way to contact him, would you mind talking to him, answering some questions he has, maybe? he asked me about it and I don't know anything, but I thought since you do, maybe you wouldn't mind terribly?

 

Sure thing! I'd be more than happy to talk with them about things.

 

So the one in my family generally associated with amber is my mom. she has so many pieces of jewelry with it it's kind of ridiculous.
I'm usually the lapis one.
Well i've gone through my half buried old jewelry today.
Apart from aventurine (obvious, since I'm a Cancer) i seem to have accumulated a slightly concerning number of ambers myself. wtf. Like i legitemately forgot just how MUCH Amber I apparently own? idk I liek the stone too, but i'm not sure it's as much My Stone as Lapis is.
Maybe a secondary support stone or something?

In good news I recovered my small-beaded-lapis necklace which i got when I was in seventh grade and i'm so happy :3

 

Do you have a good relationship with your mom? It only seems natural to be extra fond of Her Stone, to me.

 

http://fusiformis.tumblr.com/post/140923067860/a-spell-against-footsoreness

In other news, I've written my first spell and I'm kind of excitenervous. I have tried it a couple of times, and it's seemed to help!

 

well yes. I just didn't expect it because 99% of the amber i would normally come across in this household is likely to be her jewelry :P
we also often did vacation in places that have lotsa amber though so a lot of it's souvenirs?

 

Does anyone know of decent autistic magic resources? Protecting against overload, cleansing after a meltdown, that kind of thing?

(Especially protecting against overload, Retail Hell is giving me breakdowns almost weekly here, wow)

 

I've seen them around but they come and go a lot. here's my disabled witchcraft tag