Three Card Tarot Spreads

quick and easy tarot trick:

1. find the fool in your deck 2. the card under it is how you fucked up 3. the card over it is how you fix your fuck-up 4. you’re welcome

How to Become an Occultist:

An easy (?) step-by-step guide.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A WIZARD?

There's no easy step-by-step guide to the occult; someday I'd like to write a course on it for my patreon, or maybe a book. But for now, I'll give the short version:

I’m just going to say upfront, research is the enduring and eternal step. You can’t become an occultist without doing research, and you’re never going to stop doing research. I have a list of pdfs of classic occult texts and grimoires here, and a recommended reading list here.

Step 1: Pick a tradition, practice, or subfield.

The first step is to know what you’re signing up for. Western esotericism is a large field with lots of different subsets. Here’s just a few of them:

Witchcraft: A broad umbrella term that covers everything from historical folk magic, to Wicca and its offshoots, to modern WitchTok folk magic, and beyond. “Witchcraft” has become something of a general term for pop-occultism in recent years, and it’s what people tend to see first. Witchcraft seems more folk-magic-focused than some of the other fields, but that’s not universally true. Modern witchcraft is almost the melting pot of the Western occult tradition, so, if you’re able to find good reading material, it’s a good place to start.

Wicca: Wicca is an neopagan religion founded in 1951 by Gerald Gardner. Wiccans worship a God and a Goddess, practice magic, and call themselves witches. The ritual structure of Wicca is largely inspired by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (see below), but it also takes inspiration from folk magic, witchlore, early anthropology, and a bunch of other things from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Wicca is probably the best-known occult religion, and it’s mostly responsible for the association between witchcraft and paganism in pop culture.

Ceremonial Magic: Ritual magic or “high magic,” mostly codified in the Renaissance era by grimoires like The Lesser Key of Solomon. This kind of magic is characterized by the evocation and binding (summoning) of spirits — angels, demons, “olympic spirits,” and so forth. One can theoretically command these spirits to do one’s bidding. Modern magicians who work with demons typically fall into two camps: traditional Solomonic magicians who believe that the demons need to be bound and controlled, and demonolators who worship and work with the demons the way witches might work with pagan deities. Also in this subfield is planetary magic, rituals that exploit the powers or influences of the planets by using the tools associated with each one and doing rituals at particular times on particular days, etc. Enochian magic, a system of communicating and working with angels developed by John Dee and Edward Kelley, also falls into this category.

Folk magic: Folk magic or “low magic” is a catch-all term for magic practiced by average people to solve everyday problems. This is your healing magic, love magic, apotropaic (protection) magic, luck charms, spells to find lost objects, curses, etc. etc. Almost every culture has their own local form of folk magic, but there are also some ideas and techniques that are consistent across most of them (e.g. “like attracts like”). There’s also considerable overlap between folk and ceremonial magic; sometimes the only real difference is the social class of the practitioner.

Hermeticism: A system of philosophy based on the Corpus Hermeticum, a set of ancient Greco-Egyptian philosophical dialogues about the nature of the universe. It’s a short but dense text, not the simplest introduction to occult philosophy, but still worth reading because of how influential it was. It’s the loose basis of a nineteeth-century occult society, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which is the great-grandfather of most modern occult societies (including Wicca). The HOGD was concerned with a lot more than classic Hermeticism; they also practiced ceremonial magic, astrology, alchemy, and mysticism. Golden Dawn liturgy is so common in modern occultism that you should probably look into it, whether you plan on practicing it or not.

Alchemy: A historical practice that is at once science, philosophy, art, and poetry, alchemy is a thing unto itself. The short version is that alchemy is early chemistry. Alchemists’ attempts at understanding how matter worked was understood to be a philosophical study of the nature of existence, on both a physical and spiritual level. That’s why the goal of alchemy is called the Philosopher’s Stone. The Philosopher’s Stone is allegedly a perfect substance, crystallized divinity, that is able to physically and spiritually perfect anything it comes in contact with. Alchemy is very complicated and hard to understand without diving deep into it, but some alchemical imagery and maxims (“as above, so below”, solve et coagula) have made their way into the general Western esoteric sphere.

Thelema: A religion developed by Aleister Crowley in the early twentieth century. It combines Golden Dawn material with a lot of Crowley’s own personal philosophy and general edginess. Its core tenant is “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law,” which means that one should always follow the guidance of what Thelemites call the “True Will,” the divine intention of one’s Higher Self. Its most important foundational text is a short, cryptic… poem, I guess?… written by Crowley, called The Book of the Law.

Chaos Magic: When Thelema meets postmodernism, you get Chaos Magic. Chaos Magic is more of a philosophical approach to the study of magic than a particular practice. It does away with the pomp and trappings of ceremonial magic and cuts right down to the basics, the magician’s relationship with their subconscious mind. That makes it very straightforward, but also difficult, because you can’t rely on any of those more complex tools. Chaos magicians (or “chaotes”) interpret belief as just another tool, so, they aim to pick up and put down different beliefs and traditions at will, based on whatever suits them in the current moment. The only specific practice associated with chaos magic is sigils, a symbol or other abstract representation of one’s desire that one uses to cast a spell. Chaotes tend to be deliberately haphazard — they have a “fuck the rules, do what you want” kind of attitude.

Satanism: The best-known of the spookier, edgier, “left-hand path” occult traditions. There’s two main varieties of Satanism, atheistic and theistic. The Church of Satan or LaVeyan Satanism (after its founder) is atheistic. It uses Satan kind of like a mascot for their beliefs of self-indulgence and free will. Although they don’t believe in any gods, they do practice magic; it’s mainly Golden Dawn material with an edgy “black mass”-style twist (like invoking demons, using a naked woman as the altar, etc.) The Satanic Temple is also atheistic, and it’s not really an occult society. It’s more a political activist group that fights for religious freedom in the United States. Theistic Satanists believe that Satan is an actual entity, and usually believe that he’s a positive being that represents free will and enlightenment. Some are demonolators, meaning they evoke and work with the demons of traditional ceremonial grimoires as though they’re gods (some believe that they literally are gods). The majority of Satanists are pretty chill. Very few believe that they worship literally evil entities.

That’s just scratching the surface, and keep in mind that this is all in the realm of Western esotericism. It’s a huge field. I recommend having an idea of what you want to study going in, because it’s a lot of material, and it’s easier to find good sources if you know what you want to focus on. Speaking from my own experience, I wish I knew what my options were going in.

Step 2: Learn a divination method.

Every occultist needs some kind of divination method. There are potentially thousands, but I’ll give you some of the big ones:

Cartomancy is card reading. There's lots of different kinds of cards: tarot cards, oracle cards, Lenormand cards, you can even use normal playing cards. It's a super common and super popular method. Tarot is definitely the most popular system. This method is easy to learn and very accessible.

Cleromancy is divination by lot, or casting objects onto the ground — dice, sticks, bones, stones, etc. — and reading the random pattern they make. There's lots of different types. This method is very old and very common. One of the more popular methods nowadays is casting runestones, which use Norse letters.

Scrying is gazing into a blank object until you see visions projected onto/into it. The object can be a crystal ball, a black mirror, a bowl of water, even a dark window or a blank wall (though that's not particularly mystical). Scrying is often used to see spirits in ritual magic. I can't scry worth a damn, so I can't tell you more than that. It's worth trying if you're a visual person, though.

A pendulum is a stone or other heavy object on a chain. You can use it to answer yes/no questions. Lots of crystal shops sell fancy pendulums, but you could just use a pendant. You say to the pendulum, "show me my yes" and "show me my no." Usually the "yes" is going around in a circle and "no" is going back and forth, or vice-versa. Pendulums are fun, but not super reliable because you can influence them easily. I wouldn't interpret any answer a pendulum gives you as final.

Oneiromancy is dream interpretation, and it’s another ancient method that’s used all over the world. I don't have significant dreams very often, though, despite my best efforts. With the abundance of other methods, I don't recommend relying solely on this one.

Automatic writing or “free-association writing” is my personal preferred method. It’s writing a question, and then writing whatever comes to mind as the answer, regardless of whether it makes sense. This technique is very, very effective for me, and has triggered full-on mystical experiences more than once.

Astrology is also a type of divination that involves interpreting the position of the stars and planets on the 2D plane of the sky to learn about the future and/or about specific people. It’s a much more complicated system than horoscope apps make it look. Practically a necessity for planetary magic, but in this century, you can be a wizard without being an astrologer. It’s good to have at least a foundational knowledge of it.

Different methods are useful for different things. Automatic writing and scrying are good for talking to spirits. Astrology is pretty useless for talking to gods, but is a good way of determining the outcome of your spells and the various influences upon your life at a given point. Cartomancy and cleromancy can be used for either, with some benefits and drawbacks. I recommend playing around with different methods to find one that works for you.

Step 3: Develop basic magical skills.

In addition to divination, you’re going to need some other basic skills. The most important one is meditation — if you don’t know how to meditate, learn. Meditation doesn’t have to mean sitting still. I definitely can’t sit still; I meditate by pacing back and forth. Anything you can do to lull yourself into a trance state can work, even singing in the shower.

You’ll also have to practice visualization, imagining your magic as though it were something tangible. For example, a lot of ritual formats will begin by asking you to imagine a white circle of light around yourself, or imagining taking each of the four elements into your body. Next is energy work — manipulating these imaginary forces and seeing how they affect your body, your emotions, other people, and the external environment.

You’ll also have to learn the basics of how to conduct a ritual, and gather your basic tools (which don’t have to be fancy or expensive). Rituals can feel awkward and silly at first, but that changes with practice. The basic point of a ritual (“supernatural” stuff aside) is to create the conditions to put yourself in a particular state of mind.

Finally, magic requires a lot of introspection and self-awareness. You have to really know what you want, not just what you think you want. And when your magic is successful, you have to have the humility to not have it go to your head (or else you’ll be afflicted with the dreaded “Magus-itis”). And that’s without going into the fact that ritual can drag up some intense stuff. Work through your shit, do your Shadow work. It’s hard, but it pays off in the long run.

Step 4: Practice a simple ritual.

Once you have some basic skills, it’s time to try your first ritual! You’re not going to want to try anything that’s labor-intensive or life-changing. Save the demon-summoning and stuff until later. The first ritual you do will probably be a banishing — a simple spell that’s intended to clear the space of any spiritual crap. Ideally, it should be used before and after every rite. Even if you don’t believe in evil spirits or “negative energy” or anything like that, a banishing is like the magical equivalent of turning it off and back on again. It’s a systems reboot. It wipes the slate clean. You’re gonna want to know how to do that, so you can 1. know what a space feels like when it’s free of influences, and 2. put down whatever you call up. It’s a good first thing to learn because it’s so essential, and also because it’s almost guaranteed to have no major repercussions.

The standard banishing ritual in the Western esoteric tradition is the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP), which is from the Golden Dawn tradition. It consists of intoning or “vibrating” the names of God and invoking the angels of the four directions. If that’s too Abrahamic for you, there are plenty of other variants that use different divine names. The Wiccan “circle casting” is essentially the same thing, trimmed down a bit. If the LBRP doesn’t appeal to you, there’s plenty of other banishing rites out there.

The first full ritual I did was actually a simple variant of the Wiccan “Drawing Down the Moon” invocation. I remember really feeling something the first time I did it, and that was enough to convince me that I wanted to continue.

And there you have it, a step-by-step guide to becoming an occultist, as simple as I can make it. Keep it simple to start, take your time, do your research. Whether you want anything specific out of occultism, you want to satisfy your curiosity, or you just like the idea of being a wizard, it’s fun to study magic.

Divination with DnD Dice

There seemed to be enough interest in the DnD Dice Divination system that I decided to go ahead and write it up. I couldn’t fit it all on here though so I might be making more posts in the future about it. I’ve included the most important stuff here to get started. 

I’ve included a zine to download and print off if you want to take it with you. I actually recommend the zine, it’s a better format than what tumblr would let me put together. 

Please consider tipping me and definitely credit me where you can. 

I know there are other systems out there and I don’t have a monopoly on dice divination but this guide did take a lot of time to put together and is built on my own collection of frameworks, meanings. 

Dice sets can be picked up for cheaper than most basic tarot decks making the barrier to entry lower. My goal was to create a system that could get a similar level of complexity of information to tarot and oracle cards. I found in test readings, I could get roughly the same as I would get from a four card reading. So it’s a good start! 

It’s my mission to make divination more accessible, tipping me helps me devote more time to this.

Zine: https://www.scribd.com/document/380692727/Divination-With-DnD-Dice

If Scribd gives you trouble try here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/21613135

Read description for printing directions or it might not come out right. 

If you can’t print it off, the same information is included below the cut.  

Hope someone finds this useful! 

Keep reading

it’s okay if you haven’t pulled cards in a few days. it’s okay if you haven’t lit a candle since last week. it’s okay to be busy with school or work or life and collapse into bed, fast asleep before you can do any meditation. life will happen, your path will still be there.

Shout out to pagans who have a romantic relationship with their deities and others don't believe them.

Shout out to pagans who have sexual relationships with their deities and are judged or attacked for it.

Shout out to pagans who have a parental relationship with their deities and don't feel taken seriously or belittled by others.

Shout out to pagans that are aro-/ ace- spec and feel uncomfortable with the idea of bringing romance or intimacy into relationships with their deities.

Shout out to pagans who see/hear/feel their deities and are called crazy or mentally ill for it.

Shout out to pagans who cannot sense or feel their deities at all and feel left out or disconnected from the community.

Shout out to pagans who are mentally ill and have a hard time knowing if something is real or not and aren't sure how exactly their relationship with their deities is.

Shout out to pagans who are chronically ill or disabled and feel like they can't do as much for their deities as they'd like to/as other pagans.

Shout out to young and new pagans who have no idea where they're at with their deities.

Your relationship with your deity is uniquely your's. It's beautiful and it's valid. You're a pagan, and the pagan community is your community, no matter what part of the spectrum you fall onto.

about me!

my name’s kit

pronouns he/it, i’m trans and queer

disabled and mentally ill

this is my witchcraft sideblog, i will only be posting about witchcraft. this blog will function as a place to compile all the information i come across and will want to reference later on

i’m a beginner witch. i currently mostly practice sigils, herb magick, divination and some spellwork

i worship lord lucifer and king asmodeus (and nature in a non-theistic way)

my main blog is @endless-tsundoku

Please read this if you practice witchcraft, especially if you're a baby witch

Everyone says "do your research!" and absolutely, but this does not just apply to making sure you're using the right crystals in the right places or not being disrespectful towards whatever forces you're working with. Do your research in the most logical, practical, basic sense so that you don't accidentally hurt (or kill - yes, some of these mistakes can be literally deadly) yourself, your pets or children, your plants, the environment you're working in, etc.. I don't just want to scream at baby witches but use some common sense. You're working with chemicals here, not just energy.

- Salt is one of the most popular things to use for cleansing rituals. Putting it on soil will destroy it. Drinking it won't kill you, but there's a reason they say not to drink salt water no matter how thirsty you are. In small amounts you'll become dehydrated. In large amounts you'll get sick and likely start vomiting.

- Not all essential oils are safe for skin use, or for inhalation in terms of children or pets.

- Not everything is safe to burn. Again, remember that you are inhaling this when you burn it.

- Not safety related, but water can harm certain crystals. And sunlight. And salt. Research your crystals.

- Herbs can and do have side effects. We often talk about the medicinal benefits, but just like there's medicine you shouldn't combine, don't combine certain herbs or medications.

- Know what chemicals you're working with and what shouldn't mix. I recently saw someone create a hex jar with bleach and urine and go "Why is it doing that?" Because that's chloramine gas and it can kill you.

- Don't attempt to bring anything into nature that could risk the safety of what lives there. Something as simple as a lit piece of paper can start a forest fire. Leaving an offering? Make sure it won't kill any animals that eat it.

(This isn't chemistry related, but I also recently, as in today, saw someone ask about cleansing a route they regularly hike on. Let's reframe this: Would you consider it rude to go into someone's home as a guest, decide you enjoy being there, and then attempt to cleanse it of the owners? Yes. Because it is rude. And you're sure to really piss off anything that's living there. And aside from that, it's useless to attempt. Whatever is living there is a lot more powerful than your smoke - you're outnumbered and overpowered.)

- All this goes to say, if you do not know for damn sure that something is safe for you and everything around you to burn, ingest, inhale, or in any way combine, don't do it.

New favorite way to cleanse my deck:

Play tarot klondike solitaire while listening to music as a creative way to sort the cards in order before reshuffling them again. 

Can also be used as divination, as source describes, for a grand total of one part game, one part cleansing, and one part divination!

Astagyromancy: Dice Divination

Astagyromancy (also called astragalomancy) translates to "spinning of the dice" and is an ancient form of divination using dice. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are the best days to cast dice. Traditionally, three dice are cast within a 12 inch circle. It is said that if the dice fall out of the circle, you should try again later and if they fall out three times it's a bad omen. However, if one die falls on top of another it is an extremely good omen and signifies a coming gift.

The dice should be interpreted as follows:

• 3- One of the best numbers that can appear. Pleasant surprises, good fortune, positive responses.

• 4- Disappointment, bad luck.

• 5- Wishes granted, new friendships.

• 6- A loss of some kind in the near future, possibly with money or friendship.

• 7- Sorrow, setbacks, people talking behind your back

• 8- Sign you will be falsely accused of something

• 9- Sign of weddings and good luck in love

• 10- Career advancement, child birth

• 11- Important news, happiness

• 12- Temporary separation or sickness

• 13- A good omen for some, bad for others

• 14- Secret admirer or helpful friend

• 15- Dishonesty, disagreement, gossip

• 16- Upcoming travel, pleasant journey

• 17- Change is coming

• 18- The best number that can be cast, wealth, success and happiness

Single die numbers:

• 1- Generally favorable

• 2- Your success depends on your friends

• 3- An omen of success

• 4- Disappointment and trouble

• 5- Good indications

• 6- Uncertainty and indecision