There Are Two Elements In The Magical Act - The Spell And The Rite. The Spell Is The Uttering Of Words

I haven't seen dancing pumpkin guy ONCE this year, are you guys okay?

Ok but Camila’s talk with Luz in For the Future, and Eda’s talk with her in Separate Tides?

They’re pretty similar. In that both mothers are telling Luz

“I don’t give a shit that you messed up, I love you a lot”

Hell, the scenes have similar lighting!

But then again, Camila’s talk also parallels the talk at the end of O Titan Where Art Thou, in that it also ends with the beginning of Stringbean’s creation.

Hermes is the feeling of happiness when you randomly find money in your pocket.

Hermes is the feeling of excitement when you win a board game.

Hermes is the laughter after you make a joke.

Fuck Off Oil (Banishing  Oil)

Sometimes, just saying “fuck off” doesn’t quite do the trick. Whether it’s unsatisfying or doesn’t repel the asshole you’re trying to get rid of, it might be time to pull out the big guns.

This banishing oil is a revamped version of an oil I made for an old friend many years ago. The original purpose was to rid her home of a nasty invasive spirit and then keep it away, since it had already been banished and returned a few times. She used it to anoint her mirrors, windows, doors, and even herself, followed by a large black pillar candle coated in more of the oil and burned every day until it was just a lump of wax.

It worked perfectly for her purposes, so I have taken that old recipe and recreated it in my current style for my current needs. If you saw my earlier rant post, then you know what this is for. If not, that’s okay - just know that someone has tested my patience and taken advantage of my kindness, and now they should kindly fuck off forever.

Like most of my spells and spell ingredients, this oil is 100% edible… and pretty tasty! See my notes below for ideas on how to use it.

Ingredients:

Oil of Your Choice (I used olive oil because it’s what was in my cabinet)

Salt

Pepper

Red Chili Flakes

Smoked Paprika

Garlic, minced

Onion Powder

Oregano, dried

Caraway Seeds

Coriander

Bay Leaf

A Jar or Bottle

Instructions:

Measure how much oil you will need to fill your jar or bottle of choice. You can pour the oil into a bowl or use a measuring cup to both measure and mix your oil, which is what I did. Fewer dishes to wash at the end!

Add each of your ingredients, one at a time, to the oil. Leave the bay leaf for last, and see step 3. I added the ingredients in the order that they are listed, but you can do them in whatever order suits you best. Be sure to give each a purpose tied back to the person, spirit, or other bothersome creature you are banishing (some ingredients have protective properties; see my note below for how I assigned a purpose to each).

Stir your mixture well. Really whip it. Beat the hell out of it. Etc.

Bay leaves are often used in wish magic or as vehicles for sigils. For our purposes, hold the leaf with both hands and stare at it hard. Think of the person, spirit, or thing you are banishing. Whisper or shout your desire to keep them away from you, adding any specifics you like. Stuff the leaf into your jar or bottle whole.

Pour your mixture into the jar or bottle over the bay leaf. Be sure to get all of the bits of garlic in there.

Cap the jar or bottle and give it a good shake. I recommend letting it sit and infuse for a few days to get a really good flavor going, but you can use it immediately if you want. Just be sure to shake it well to charge it before use.

This oil is good for up to six months, though it may last longer. Keep an eye on it; if it forms mold, throw it away immediately. Keep your jar or bottle in a cool, dark space. Refrigeration is optional, but it’ll last longer if you keep it in the fridge.

Notes:

As with most oils, there are many uses for this recipe. It can be either a spell on its own, or you can create it to be a component in another spell. Or both! Both is good.

I like to use this to cook vegetables like brussels sprouts, asparagus, and potatoes, but you could also use it in a stir fry or to cook meats. This oil also makes for a very pleasant salad dressing when mixed with red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar. It would be both funny and effective to feed a Fuck Off Salad to your target. If you want to do this, I recommend making it extra spicy, especially if they hate spice and you’re feeling especially vindictive.

If you’re not looking to eat this oil in some way, you can also use it to anoint candles for a banishing spell. Or, if you want to get a little more involved, you can submerge a taglock or poppet in the oil to symbolize the person you are repelling. This would be a great way to continuously banish someone or something if they keep trying to return. Plus, it can have the added benefit of being… uncomfortable for the target.

Here are the purposes I assigned to each ingredient; feel free to use these or come up with your own based off your own experiences:

Salt - Protect the caster during the creation and use of the oil, repel bad vibes and start the process of cleansing

Pepper - First line of fuck off; give a reason or a particular attribute that you want gone, such as “aggression” and “lying”

Chili flakes - Second line of fuck off, this time with ✨spice✨; I assigned “threats” and “rancid vibes” to this ingredient

Garlic - Third line of fuck off; protection against further nonsense, repelling them from contacting me

Onion - Keeping away pests; I use the layers of the onion to symbolize the layers of “fuck off” in the oil and reinforce each one

Oregano - Now comes the part where we protect ourselves from the offending party’s possible retaliation! This is protection from backlash and luck for the success of the spell. This has extra power for me, since my mom grew this oregano and is superbly pissed about someone threatening her kids!

Caraway seeds - Boosting my convictions and inner power, preventing the spell from backfiring on me (the target(s) are also witches, so this was very important to include!)

Coriander - Personal protection against further nonsense, cementing this oil as a line of self-defense

If you use this oil in a spell, let me know how you liked it, if you made any substitutions, and/or how it worked for you!

Happy Banishing, Witches!

appalachia is devastated. towns i loved, towns i visited all the time, are gone. not damaged, GONE. they are leveled to the ground. there is nothing left but rubble and ruin. people are dead. appalachia is poor to begin with and relies on tourism for a lot of its income, and multiple of those tourist locations are just...gone.

my town is okay, but it's flooded and wrecked. trees are blocking all but one way out of our neighborhood. power lines are hanging limp in the roads. we've been without power for over 24 hours and will continue to be without power for likely another 24+. disabled people and poor people are GOING to die from this. gods save appalachia.

the wicked movie teaches important moral lessons like "be bisexual in college" and "don't trust politicians" and "if you push someone who's in a wheelchair without their permission, someone might throw a bench at your head with their mind"

Sometimes being Hellenic is like:

Here is an offering I worked really hard for, I made it/bought it specifically for you because this is something you're associated with. I hope you enjoy it and I pray that you can guide me on the path I need help with

Other times...:

Huh, I really need to give an offering and pray to this deity but I don't know what to give them. *feels compulsive urge to give them an avocado and instinctively knows its the deity* okay, if you want this. This is for you, please help me with what I need. Thank you for all your help

some elements of spellwork distinguishing animist or spirit-based approaches from the energetic and psychological – a laughably basic and woefully incomplete list:

waking: most especially relevant for dried herbs or other preserved material. rouse what lies dormant with breath and touch and whisper.

speaking (or writing, etc): ask for assistance, don’t demand it. give praise, throw in some epithets. make deals, discuss terms and conditions. say thank you. say what you mean.

listening: now shut up for a bit. anticipate communication. words, song snippets, images, colours, feelings, whatever. look out for a “no” and be ready to honour it–it may hit hard in the chest or the guts. we have two-way streets here.

giving: praise, prayers, food, drink, candles, incense, crafts, all the usual suspects and more… reciprocity is key, no one likes a perpetual taker. some situations call for altruism, others for hard-nosed contracts, others for a secret third thing.

feeding: giving again, but specifically to maintain or revive longer workings. remember what the dormouse said…

sourcing: the perfect is the enemy of the good, but it makes a difference. grow, make, forage (responsibly) as much as possible. listen & give when sourcing things from the earth. shop ethically, re-use, thrift.

paring down: if it seems like a lot to go through for everything you want to include in your spell, then good. depth before breadth. use fewer herbs/stones/whatever that you know well, and that really need to be there. god i hate 12-ingredient spell jar recipes with #babywitch stuck on them. yes i will probably stick #babywitch on this. sue me.

to me these follow logically from the premise that plants, stones, bones, bits & bobs have spirit, not just energy. because that implies that their power must be given, it isn’t just there to be channelled (energetic model) or derived from the practitioner’s mental associations (psychological model). i claim nothing of reality and little of truth, but this premise has served me well.

just in case: the writing style is a little conceit that i use in many of my personal notes, which this was originally. obviously “in my opinion/experience/practice” etc.

I see your “Apollo agreed so easily because he doesn’t care about Odysseus” and raise you “the god of prophecy knows that Odysseus is going to make it home, so he’s not going to make much of an effort to stop him.”

Spoopy Season Safety