The-horned-raven - The Horned Raven

from here

to the moon

and back

Hey, so I understand that your intentions are good, but if we've never really talked, I'd appreciate you not sending me overly familiar asks, such as roleplaying physical affection. I don't know you, and if I ran into you in person I would not want to have physical contact with you.

This isn't directed at any one person -- I've had a few such asks at this point, and at least one fairly unsettling parasocial situation, so I'm asking folks to respect this boundary.

Beware of destination addiction: The idea that happiness is in the next place, the next job, or even with the next partner. Until you give up the idea that happiness is somewhere else, it will never be where you are.

Crow counting

Edit: I didn’t explain what crow counting was, oops! It’s basically a way of divination using the number of crows in a murder (what a lovely word for a flock of crows btw), taking them as an omen or sign. This only really works if crows aren’t a usually occurrence (as how it works with most signs)

One crow-

Bad luck, loss, sorrow

Two crows-

Good luck, a major change, joy

Three crows-

A wedding or celebration, the birth of a girl

Four crows-

New beginnings, the birth of a boy

Five crows-

Money coming, good business

Six crows-

Major money change, could be a loss or a gain

Seven crows-

A secret, mystery, or curse

Eight crows-

Life changing experience (usually positive)

Nine crows-

Love, positive recognition

Ten crows-

Major turn around or change in life

Eleven crows-

News, surprises, secrets revealed

Twelve crows-

Good luck, completion, fulfillment

Thirteen crows-

Completion, the end of a journey

more info from my grimoire notes! Hopefully this one will get as much attention as the salt post (that’s been blowing up oh my gods!), it’s kinda crazy how much people like salt!

Tips for when you’re considering Paganism

For my lovely friend @whoooooisthis!! I hope this helps love!

First things first, learn the basics. Cleansing, Warding, Banishing and Protection. 

Cleansing: You should cleanse when you’re having a bad day, are/were sick, after a breakup or loss, after arguments, during a major transition in life (graduation, birth, etc) and when you feel you need to. Cleansing cleans up the energy around you and keeps you safe. You can cleanse by lighting incense and passing the smoke around an object or room, bathing yourself or an object, burying an object, with salt (just don’t put it near dirt and plants!!), setting something in moonlight or sunlight (Make sure you keep track of which moon phase to cleanse on), with sound like bells or singing bowls, clapping, cleaning, burning sage or candles, using holy water or a protection spray, and touching each corner of a room and saying a prayer for each one. 

Warding: Wards are spiritual shields that keep you safe. There’s two types of wards - spacial (for spaces and rooms) and personal (for objects and the self). You will need to maintain wards by charging and clearing them. You can ward by using enchanted jewelry or objects, sigils (magical symbols with purposeful energy), energy shields, magic circles, spells, protective crystals, protection spell bottles, anointing the corners of a room and window and door sills with holy water or another warding substance. I personally like to drill holes in peach pits to wear as necklaces, they work quite well for warding. 

Banishing. There are tons of spells online that will teach you how to banish negative entities. If an entity is fucking with you, bad things keep happening or things just feel off, don’t be afraid to banish. Letting spirits know you’re not to be fucked with is incredibly important.

Protection. Light a black candle. Use salt and pepper for warding. Learn banishing and warding spells. Use protective sigils. Protection is incredibly important when concerning spirits, so educate yourself on this thoroughly. 

Now onto the fun stuff…

- Talk to things! Your house, your trees and plants, your spirit guides. You can do this out loud or in your head. And remember, even if they don’t respond, they’re probably still there. Just trust me on that

- It’s alright to forge your own unique path. I personally am Autistic and have terrible memory, so it’s important for me to forge my own craft. If something doesn’t work for you, don’t be afraid to change it. Substitutions can always be made.

- Meditate. Everyone says this, but it’s very true. Meditation not only calms the mind and body, but it opens you and your intuition/senses up to new forces

- Don’t ask for things without giving something in return. I lost my pillbox once and couldn’t find it anywhere. I walked out of my room, politely asked for it to be returned, and a few minutes later it was right there on my desk in plain sight. I left a little dish of honey out for whoever (or whatever) returned it. It’s always polite to approach with an offering and give one either before or after asking for something. You can do this with something as simple as picking a flower, always ask permission.

-  Make it an everyday thing. That doesn’t mean you have to do daily rituals or meditation sessions. Simply talking (again, in your head or out loud) to your spirit guides, practicing mindfulness and doing little spiritual things here and there are enough. This could be meditation, interpreting a potential sign you got today, saying good morning to the spirits you work with, leaving an offering (especially if you’re asking for something or something has already been done for you) and plain researching to expand your craft and knowledge. 

- Write it down. In witchcraft/paganism, almost everybody is journaling. It’s the best way to keep track of signs, experiences, feelings, omens, knowledge that may pertain to your craft, dreams, anything that might seem important. Many witches have a grimoire or book of shadows where they keep their witchy knowledge stored. These are often very personal, can be online or written by hand, and are entirely unique to you. You don’t need a 50 dollar designer spellbook. My grimoire is almost entirely online and printed out into a binder. You don’t have to be fancy. - Research!! Keep finding white feathers? Look up what that means! You want to give an offering? Look up what nature spirits and specific deities prefer! Make sure you’re knowledgeable about what you do.

- Incorporate what you know and what you’re used to. I grew up in a Polish family in an Eastern Orthodox church. Many of the practices I learned from my family and culture have carried on into my craft. Such as knocking on wood to prevent jinxes, wearing clothes backwards to see spirits and keep them from messing with you, and little cultural tricks like stepping out of a room and asking for lost items to be returned when you can’t find something. Keep it familiar.

That's really all I can think of for now, love. If you have any more questions, just let me know in a relog!!

for those looking to start witchcraft

this is gonna be a resource for y'all. lots of times when you wanna start witchcraft there’s a loooot of info to search through and it can be pretty overwhelming. i want this to be a database for everyone, so that you can have just a broad starting point for your craft. this is long so its under a read more.

Keep reading

Speaking as a religious witch? Nobody is saying you're not allowed to include deities in your witchcraft practice for just a witchcraft practice, without a religious practice alongside it.

But for the love of all things holy, at least show some respect for the religions which these deities are from, for their origins, for the people and cultures for whom they have or had once been such important parts of their lives.

These are gods that are thousands of years old, who have impacted human civilizations and influenced humanity. And some of you are for reals treating them like witchy collectibles.

Colour magick:

Yellow - happiness, joy, burst of energy, optimism, freedom

Orange - warmth, creativity, peace, wisdom

Red - seductive, passion, anger, fertility

Purple - magical, glamorous, intuition, power of the universe

Light blue - breezy, clear headed, clarity, freedom, happiness, infinity, calm, cooling

Green - fresh, abundance, nurturing, protecting, growth, fertility, calming, cooling

🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌

𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𓋼 low energy witchcraft activities 𓍊𓋼𓍊𖡼.𖤣𖥧

• Tarot apps that give you a card pull for the day or let you do readings

•Apps that give you affirmations, guided meditations, etc. so you don’t have to search much for something to follow and get overwhelmed by choice.

•Drink sun or moon water, bonus if you add healing or energetic intent into it.

•If you need to cleanse and don’t have the energy, just let some incense burn, your oil diffuser run with cleansing oils, or take advantage of my personal favourite “lazy” option and let belongings cleanse on some selenite.

•We all know this but tea/coffee magic is great for when you’re low energy, especially since you’ll likely be drinking these for comfort anyway. If you don’t drink these don’t forget you can put intent into any food or drink, these are things you’re ingesting so you’re letting that intent go into you, think of ways to take advantage of that! (Bonus again for using sun/moon/etc water for drinks!)

•If you need to sleep but need to communicate with a deity/guide/etc invite them to communicate to you in your dreams. Take care of yourself first and let yourself rest but sometimes there’s moments where you need to talk to them and are struggling to find the energy.

•Simplify offerings to match your energy level, whether that’s saying you can’t give anything today, or finding something easy for you like a fresh glass of water, some herbs, whatever works with your needs.

•Audio books, podcasts, and youtube videos are great for when you want to learn but don’t have the brain power to read and research much, especially when you’re in an emotional rut vs. simply taking a few days off because you burnt yourself out. You can listen to these in bed, eyes closed, get those good feelings from being productive by learning more while not pushing yourself too far.

•Sigils are perfect low energy magic, even more so if you have sigils made ahead of time! Draw an energy sigil on you, put a pain-calming sigil under your pillow, a motivating sigil on your bath products to help you get through washing your face and/or brushing your teeth. Be mindful when using sigils off the internet that you don’t always know for sure what they’re made for, and it tends to work best when it’s your own. Using symbols like runes or bindrunes are also a great option if you want to play it safe but not make your own.

•rock. just pick the rocks you want in your pockets, on your bedside table. it’s pretty, it’s nice, they’re good fidgets, i don’t have to explain to other practitioners why crystals are great (coming from someone who barely uses them in their practice)

•Baths!! Baths aren’t as easy as a lot of people treat them, it’s totally okay to not have the energy to run a bath, especially if you want to wash out the tub a bit first, not have to deal with wet hair, all that. But if you can, it’s going to ease your body so much, use teabags you already have for simple herbs in the bath, water safe crystals, epsom salts are great for your muscles.

•Do some self love journaling, which is a great balance to doing shadow work. Look up self love journal prompts and go with whatever you can come up with things to write about.

•Music/sounds for everything! Youtube and other audio platforms are full of music and sounds that already are made with intention, or you can play intentionally to cleanse, protect, calm, bring joy, etc.

•Making online altar spaces or just collecting general fun inspiration, pinterest and tumblr are great for these!

•Sit outside, lay in the sun, watch the bugs, watch the weather, stare at the moon and stars.