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

I DO SAY. How did I know that would catch your interest?

So far we're not exactly blending the practices as much as practicing them alongside each other, but they have some commonalities of values, mostly in the value of narrative and story as a power to be reckoned with. Specifically, I was reading this fanfic series, which contains (with minimal spoilers for the rest of the fic) this event:

Spoiler: excerpt

"I wish we had some wassail," [Bilbo] said wistfully as he took his bows. "It's nearly Yule Week in the Shire--everyone will be picking out their Yule logs and preparing their stars."

"Preparing their stars?" Balin said, eager as always to hear some new bit of hobbit customs.

"Oh, you don't give stars at the end of Yule? How strange." Bilbo took a moment to contemplate this oddity, then went on: "It's the tradition on the last day of Yule, the Star Festival, to give your--well, your sweetheart--a star of some sort. We usually make them out of paper or wood, and some people make star-shaped biscuits. My mother carved my father a star from a piece of quartz before they got married, that was considered quite romantic." He laughed softly. "I only gave one, to a--" He faltered, then went on, "--a lad I had rather a crush on. I went early in the morning and made a star in the snow outside his window with my footprints, so he'd see it first thing in the morning. He never found out who did it." He cleared his throat and took a drink from his canteen, looking down at his feet. "He's married now. Has seven adorable children."

"We don't do anything like that," said Kíli rather sadly. "I mean, we have the Ceremony of the Moon around the same time, but that's serious stuff, nothing romantic or fun."

"Oh, Yule is the most fun!" said Bilbo, brightening. "We go skating and sledding, and there are dances and games--snap-dragon and blindman's-bluff and forfeits, pass-the-slipper and squeak-piggy-squeak--" Kíli and Fíli's eyes were wide with amazement, and Balin and Dwalin looked like they were stifling giggles. Thorin, on the other hand, was listening gravely with his eyes narrowed, as if he feared he might be called upon to explain the rules of squeak-piggy-squeak. "And we sing all of the traditional star carols and the songs of Yarndo--"

"Yarndo?" Balin asked politely, his eyes dancing.

"You don't know Yarndo?" Bilbo found himself legitimately shocked. "I thought everyone knew the Tale of Yarndo! He's the whole reason behind the Star Festival, after all." He put his hands on his hips and shook his head in amazement at the circle of blank faces, then recited carefully: "During the Time of Great Famine, Yarndo built a ship of silvery beechwood and sailed to the uttermost West, to the Land of Plenty, where he asked the Fair Folk to have mercy on his people. And they had pity on him, and they heaped his boat full of good food--oranges and bread and cider and taffy--and they polished his ship until it shone like silver in the darkness, and hallowed it so it could sail through the air, and it became the Morning Star. And thus every Yule we give each other stars for mercy and for love, and are thankful for all the plenty and happiness in our lives." He shot Thorin a narrow look. "What exactly is so funny?"

Thorin's shoulders were shaking, but his face remained serious--apparently with some effort. "I believe your Tale of Yarndo has...some precedent in the writings of the elves," he said. "But the taffy and oranges are a uniquely hobbit addition."

So anyway, between having Tolkien mythos informing my values and choices to a significant degree already, and having felt called to nothing more specific than the concept of "stars" pretty strongly for over a year now, I finally caved, and we did Star Festival on Jan 6th this year. We'll probably do it on the 3rd in subsequent years to coincide with Tolkien's birthday, but that didn't work well for our schedule this time.

 

OOOO.

omg the hobbits and their story about the island. IT HAS TAFFY.

It is now time to wonder how much Tolkien's shit has affected what I believe in. Specifically regarding the power of word. Like you can't just word things you gotta word things SO PRETTY AND SO PERFECT THAT THINGS SHIT THEMSELVES TO HEAR IT.

 

Spoiler: I went on a freezer-diving adventure today

what the HELL am I supposed to do with all this saffron you guys

 

ship some to me
share your wealth

 

One of my friends has allowed me to make a charm for her for her to actually have and potentially carry with her.

Spoiler: charm info+Witchy musings

I'm thinking protective/luck charm combo. I'm probably going to do like a mantra-type thing by saying the words over and over again "I protect you [name]" or "I want [name] to succeed in her endeavors and be safe from harm," and also thinking of her and imagining that she's happy and safe.

Said charm will be essentially a lanyard keychain with a star attacked bc stars are kind of My Thing and have been My Thing for a Very Long Time. Plus stars represent luck.

I have decided that crafts are probably going to be part of my Witchy Thing, but plants might also eventually configure into things once I have somewhere to put them.

I'm still doing things just because they Feel Right but I might be less worried about screwing up now since I'm not sure there's any one right way to be a witch.

 

A hilariously illustrative example of the kind of... personality that my 2 favorite decks (Victorian Fairy Tarot and Light Visions Tarot) have:

I'm having a bit of a crisis re art school, I think it's taking from me a lot more than it's giving me when it comes to the tools and the will to make art. I had been considering dropping out, or at least taking a semester off.

I asked the Vicotrian Fairy Tarot about what to do re: final projects and potential-semester-off, and it gave me this:
The Magistrate (i.e. Justice) = ponder your decisions, assume responsibility for your decisions, weight the value of things in your life, don't take on unfair burdens
Wheel of Time = remember that this too is a moment like any other and it will pass, you feel this way now but your feelings might change with patience and time
The Hermit = retreat to pursue study, personal growth through independence, follow your own curiosity, set boundaries so others don't waste your time
In other words, "do your tasks, wait for this to pass, take the next semester off, breathe, see what you feel like then".

I then asked the Light Visions Tarot "okay, you and I have never fucked around each other for one goddamn second, should I actually drop out"
It gave me DEATH (ending, moving from the known to the unknown, finishing a cycle, eliminating excess) in the middle, framed by the King and Queen of Swords (command, intelligence, justice, analysis, not fucking around, avoiding distractions, getting to the heart of matters - inward and outward focus symultaneously).
It might as well have spelled out DO IT.

 

By the way, guys, I have a Homestuck Tarot that I want to pass on. I no longer have the original box for it (it Literally Fell Apart) but all the cards are in perfect condition. I would mail them to you tied up with a ribbon, and inside an envelope or box - and mark it as a gift, so you wouldn't have to worry about customs fees. If anyone is interested, all I would ask is for you to cover the shipping cost to your location!

 

While I'm interested (notwithstanding the probably absolutely disgusting shipping fees from Brazil to England) I already have, uh, seven decks because I tend to hoard, so I guess I'm stating my interest in the advent of nobody else who doesn't already have more than enough tarot wanting it. xP

 

I would be interested in the Homestuck deck!

 

omg... i've wanted the Homestuck deck for ages...

 

PCP practitioners; it hit me recently that there's an opening for prayers/offerings to or about villains and monsters to make them stay away. I'd just remembered the comic Digger, and the "Black Mother pass us by" chant. Is that a thing?

 

i am probably going to make myself a protection charm/a charm to ward off executive dysfunction bc i missed work today bc i couldn't make myself get up and get ready after oversleeping (i didn't hear my alarm clock go off bc i was tired due to staying up late) so called in.

the protection charm is b/c i live alone and am fucking terrified of what could happen during the next four to (heaven forbid) eight years.

 

Inauguration is soon. Want to do something protective on the day, but I've got no ideas for what.

 

seconding this. I can't do anything big, or anything involving rocks or herbs, because I'm....sort of fresh out. I was thinking maybe do a sigil...but I'm not sure what I would make my intent be? and I kind of want to do something more than just a sigil, so....anyone got any ideas?

 

starlight dragon tarot got here today. I am flat, but pics later

 

.....does flat have a different meaning in this context because all I can picture now is a pancake you
which is a strange image because the only point of reference I have for your appearance is your avatar and the fact that I seem to recall you relating a lot to octopus
so I'm picturing a flat pancake of an octopus that is the colors of your avatar

 

will probably be making my protective charm before inauguration--most likely this Thursday. I think I'm gonna design a protection sigil sometime this week to be cross-stitched or embroidered and framed and hung by the door. I'm thinking black for strength, green for luck, pink for my energy, and purple and white for protection/grounding since my amethyst and clear quartz geode are kind of my grounding/protection stones. I've been meaning to make one at some point anyway and now is probably a Pretty Good time.

 

not entirely wrong but in this case it means "too tired to do anything more than lay down flat somewhere"

 

Ooh, SCP tarot!

 

Terrible idea I have to share: Legendary Badfic tarot cards, with The Wheel as that sketch I shared of a bad sex scene where an insufficient number of people tried to fuck in a circle at painful angles.