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

Got some live herbs; mint, sage, and basil. Let's see if I can keep them growing.

Also, I inherited among my late grandfather's possessions a small sheathed knife with a deer's hoof as a handle. I'm pretty sure that a practice focusing on animals will have use for that.

 

Sceptic brainweasels attacking again and making me feel bad :( I have the problem that I can't bring myself to exactly believe in this kind of stuff, but I'm disappointed enough to sometimes outright cry whenever a case of weird shit is debunked. I hate the way my head works. If I try it out and it doesn't work, should I stop or does it become better with practice?

 

hmmm. I'm probably not the best person to talk about this since I'm still very much a baby witch but. It really depends on what you're trying and what you mean by it not working. I know for me that even though I don't feel a ~*strong connection~* to spirits or God or anything I still do things because it makes me feel better. Like, even though I'm not sure any gods want to talk to me, I still pray and I'm trying to get into the habit of doing tarot.

but I also don't believe that you have to Believe in anything to find solace in doing some witchy things. Like those plants that you were talking about growing. That's a Very Real Thing that you can do that doesn't require any belief.

Idk. Belief can be Important but I also don't think it's the end all be all. Sometimes it's cool just to do things because you feel like they're significant to you. So if you feel silly or like something isn't working the first thing but enjoy doing it, you can still do it because it's of personal significance. I don't know if the charms I'm planning on making some of my friends are gonna work, but the idea that they'll have something made with those intentions makes me happy, so I'm still going to do it.

I hope that makes sense?

 

Yeah, it does. I guess I'll give it a try. Even if sprinkling salt and water around doesn't do anything magic, it gives me motivation to vacuum, right? I just struggle with where to draw the line on obvious bullshit - like people who say the only reason I don't have what I need is because I'm not wishing hard enough. Where does the difference start for you?

 

there's a lot of really interesting stuff behind the "wishing hard enough" thing that i'm not going to get into right now, but in my eyes, it comes down to this: everyone has their own truths. the people who believe that you can make things come true by wishing for them? that's a truth for them. so it's really about where you want to draw the line. you don't have to accept what other people say about magic or What The Real Truth is, because you sort of have your own.

for me, i go based on feelings. tarot feels like it Works b/c what my brain comes up with every reading makes a lot of sense without me actually thinking much about it so i've practiced that a little bit, and i've left offerings before, but mostly out of liking the ritual/idea than a distinct feeling that Something was there (although some of the stuff i left did disappear and i did stop having Issues with my apartment door, so who knows). so far i haven't had any luck with sigils feeling like they've worked, but i still like making them b/c they're fun to make. so it's okay to do things just because you like them, and not just because you Absolutely Believe They'll Work.

maybe a sort of practical magic would work for you??? stuff that has dual purposes as like. magic-y stuff and stuff that's been proven. so maybe the herbs would be a good place to start! i do craftsy and intuition-based stuff b/c my intuition when i'm not busy being paranoid can be p accurate and i'm a craftsy person by nature, though i'm also super interested in learning about actual traditions instead of just doing whatever Feels Right.

also: if people tell you that you're not wishing hard enough for something, you could maybe say that you respect their beliefs but politely disagree, b/c even if they believe in that sort of thing, i still feel like that's rude of them to say.

i hope that makes sense!

 

I was thinking of the ones like people who say money will just drop into your lap if you meditate enough - there was a woman on a TV show who said she had a wishing board where she apparently just stuck and stared at pictures of a car she wanted without doing anything practical to get it. That mentality actively enrages me, because if it was true then there would be no starvation or illness in the world because people don't wish for those to happen. I do think it's demonstrable that moping about how you won't get what you want makes things worse and the right mentality makes good non-tangible things at least seem to happen, though.

I already sort of do the herb thing - I'm trying to start a perfume business and I know essential oil properties are really popular in indie perfumes, and I've been testing them out. I love lavender especially, always have. I think those are a pretty obvious one which works either way. One doesn't need magic to know that things that smell good will make you feel good :)

 

that reminds me that people legitimately make money off of that sort of thing and yeah no that's p dang Awful. i mean. the attitude thing (at least in terms of perceiving that your life is getting better) is legit but the "i just thought about this thing and it landed right in my lap!!!" thing is. no. just. no.

also that's awesome!!! essential oils are super cool! :> i don't do anything with them myself but i would like to make cleaning things and stuff out of them if possible at some point.

 

Yeah, it's good to outright be told it's a different thing than what's being talked about here. In the words of David Wong, the way these people got their money was by giving the seminars. What I'm not sure about is where the difference is with this. Is it that nobody here is claiming you can just magically get the exact material possession you want with mixing potions?

Well-diluted tea tree oil is the only thing I've found which reliably prevents the horrible ear infections I started being prone to in my late teens. I know that isn't magic, but it is a very good thing.

 

??? here as in in this thread? i'll admit i'm a little confused.

if you are referring to this thread, i can only speak for myself, but i'm definitely not claiming that you can get what you want if you do things a certain way. magic is mostly about practice in my case. i can't say one way or another that if something good happens it's because i made a sigil or made someone a good luck charm, but i'm going to do it anyway because doing it is comforting for me. i mean. there is a part of me that's like "what if what i'm doing really does have an effect?" which is another reason why i do what i do. but everyone is different.

 

Yeah, I mean here, and I meant nobody here did say that and everyone here sounds a lot more reasonable. Good points, and thanks. I guess trying it won't harm anything.

 

no problem! :> it made me think about why being a witch appeals to me, and i think i understand some of my stances on things better now that i've had to put them into words. so thank you, as well!

 

Used a yes-no tarot site, asked "does this work?" and got yes five times out of six. Huh. Significant?

EDIT: Then I stopped focusing on that question and got several no in a row, started focusing again and got a more mixed bag. Hm.

 

Random.org dice, when asked a yes/no question with "1 for yes, 6 for no", seem to reliably answer questions that do not involve technical jargon or events more than a few weeks in the future. By "reliably", I mean they answer either yes or no, but the answer is not always accurate. From my experience, they will not contradict themselves if you're asking the questions in a short time span. For reference, "Does this work?" is a yes.
Edit: asking the same question again does not work, though.

 

Tried the same thing on a different site and got no three times in a row. Hm.

 

In my... not experience, but what I feel of divination methods, questioning it is basically a good way to get whatever forces reveal themselves through divination in a bad mood. It's like being asked the same question by somebody several times, even though you already answered, stop asking, either take my advice or stop asking for it!

That's just my impression though, but I know I avoid bothering my deck and any divination of any sort much to not set that off.

 

Ahhhh, sorry to butt in to the conversation with a post way back in the thread, but hello! I've often considered cultivating a formal altar and worshipping the Morrigan.
I admit to having some of the same problems as the other people in this thread (as far as the ultra skeptic brain goes), but I've been curious for a while and I think I might start charms/sigils soon.
How did you start worshipping? Did you feel called, for lack of a better term? I've always felt an affinity for corvids and crows in particular (my chosen name is literally Jay), but I'm not sure that's "enough."

 

My partner's the Morrigan Witch, I'm the Freyja girl around these parts. I think called for my partner, but for me, for sure. She literally grabbed me and spoke in my mind's ear and there it was. I'm pretty skeptical about a lot of things but with this whether this is purely true just inside my head or in some wider sense, at the very least I have found things to aspire to, things to work toward, an inspiration. I don't lose either way. And the world is more fun this way. Besides, it feels true; or rather, at least, it feels like a projection of the impossible onto the plane of the possible, as much as our human minds can understand things.

 

Im a morrigan type. Lib is too.

 

part of last night's dreams involved a group of people playing around with my tarot cards, mostly being silly, not proper readings. but some douche 'accidentally' tore one of my cards in half
and that would be an interesting, potentially significant message, if I could remember what the card was.

universe if you're trying to tell me something you gotta be more blunt than this, I immediately forgot it the second I woke up

 

I am sure I had a prophetic dream a few days ago, but the whole thing relies on a specific species of flower... Which I forgot.