"It's March. I open the window and spring floats in, kisses me on the nose. I have waited so long–and now the Sun is washing the world in yellow, and now the seeds sprout green in the dirt, and now the trees are budding and ready to bloom–and it was all so worth it."
– Schuyler Peck, Worth the Wait
'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde (published in 1890)
yes in the dark times there will be singing but in the dark times there will also be laughing. even in hell there will be moments when we look at each other and feel mirth bubble up and spill through the cracks between the blood, sweat and tears.
From the Penguin Classics intro to the 120 Days of Sodom (1785)
If you want to write a dumb little story with a dumb little plot and ridiculously silly characters. No one's stopping you. Genuinely, no one should be allowed to stop you. Write that dumb story with your whole heart and don't hold back.
“can i be a hater for a second” girl you can kill someone in front of me and id be okay with it be fr
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne 1981
There is no such thing as a beginner deity.
There is no necessary changes you need to make to your life in order to worship a deity.
There is no psychological preparation that needs to be done.
You don't need to break a habit. Reframe your psyche. Finish medical treatment. Reach a life 'milestone'. in order to worship a deity.
If anything you should approach a deity to help you through these things.
Learning the religion can occur at the same time as worship. They can be parallel events.
You can begin worshipping a deity the day you read this. There is no future point in time where you will somehow be more ready to approach a deity.
You are already ready.
I think I've mentioned before that I studied witchcraft and folklore academically in college, but I don't know if I've ever made much of a deal out of the fact that I did so as part of a major in Cultural Anthropology. I learned a lot about different magical practices in those specific classes and I still use much of what I learned, but what I learned back then that I use the most didn't come from one of the magic classes, it came from the prep class for the original anthropological research I had to do for my thesis. In that class I was taught how to conduct anthropological interviews and how to take notes on those conversations. Over the years I have developed those anthropological interview notes into a template that I use for every encounter I have with an incorporeal entity. This template is very simple: 4 broad categories that I sort my thoughts into and some examples of what kind of notes I put into each category. I use this format to take notes on all of my spirit work encounters, regardless of the type of spirit - one page of my binder per encounter, and then I can keep all of the pages for a particular entity together in chronilogical order.
Impressions: Initial notes on an encounter.
Reflections: How do I feel about the encounter after the fact
Emerging Questions: Questions I have based on this encounter
Future Actions: What do I think I need to do next?
Most witches consider local spirits to be a cornerstone of their practice. It's much easier to cast a ward on your home when the local forest spirit will back it up. Ask five witches how to connect to spirits and you'll get seven answers and three arguments.
So I'm going to give you a foolproof answer.
If you live in the united states, your state will have a list of endangered and threatened species. It will also have a list of invasive species. Look through these. There's a pretty good chance that you'll be surprised and find something you've seen before. "I didn't know that was endangered! I've seen that in my grandma's backyard."
Great! You are now that species guardian angel.
Figure out how to protect it. Find out how to spread it. Then do it. It spreads from cuttings? Awesome! Take some cuttings and sprout them, then plant them somewhere.
You don't have anywhere to plant them? That's okay. Get a high-vis vest, pull over onto the side of the highway in a nice spot, plant them, and leave. No one questions the high-vis vest. Someone does? "I'm a volenteer at an endangered species reintroduction program." It's not even a lie, it's just a program of one. Hell, that program may actually exist and you may actually be able to volenteer for it.
"But how does this help me connect with local spirits?" You are actively protecting your local ecosystems that your local spirits are a reflection of. They will appreciate that far more than any other offering you can give.
“You worship so many deities how do you keep up with them all?”
Yes, that is kind of the point of polytheism.
Polytheistic worship includes a massive web of Gods who are all connected in some way or another, their domains overlapping as they work together.
You are just one person so you only have so much time and energy, of course you would worship one Deity who is linked heavily to your journey more than others.
You dont have to be every Deity’s devotee, just like you dont have to be everyones best friend. Sometimes you worship for a specific time, purpose or to bond with a loved one who worships that Deity.
Like I said in my previous post, the Gods will not get angry or clingy if you dont pay attention to them, they existed and have been worshipped way before you were born and way after you are dead.
If you devote yourself to a deity, dont be afraid to acknowledge their family, in fact they will encourage it.
Here's my concept for a method to facilitate bonding with a Plant Spirit or Herbal Ally over the course of a month. Obviously this practice takes far longer than a month to create a lasting bond with a plant spirit but hopefully this exercise helps provide some structure to the practice of bonding with a Herbal Ally. Feel free to use this outline yourself or modify it to your own needs.
15 days of Plant Spirit Devotion. Day 1: Introduction to the chosen plant. Day 2: The plants native habitat. Day 3: Cultivation, Foraging and Preparation. Day 4: Mundane properties (Culinary, Medicinal, Poisons etc). Day 5: Art inspired by / incorporating the chosen plant. Day 6: Magical correspondences. Day 7: Folk names and their origins. Day 8: Folklore and associated myths. Day 9: Deity / Spirit associations. Day 10: Plant's role in ritual: Cultural and Spiritual Significance. Day 11: Tarot / Oracle associations: Card spotlights. Day 12: Personal Sigil for the Plant Spirit. Day 13: Current Relationship with the Plant Spirit. Day 14: Personal goals when working with the Spirit. Day 15: Exercise conclusion, Take-aways and final overview.
My current plan with this exercise is to complete it each month for a different plant spirit / herbal ally, starting with Rosemary during February. Generally my plan is to spend the first half of the month bonding with the herb and researching it and the latter half of the month completing this exercise.
This Exercise was inspired by this post: link by @noctivague about a 15 day deity devotional. Thanks for the amazing idea!
Art Credit: Anastasia Catris
The Spring Equinox, also called the Vernal Equinox or Ostara, is usually celebrated between the 21st of March in the Northern Hemisphere (In the Southern Hemisphere around September 20th or 21st)
In 2024, Ostara and the Spring Equinox land in the Northern Hemisphere on Monday, March 19th.
The Spring Equinox celebrates the arrival of spring. Celebrating balance, growth, and new beginnings as Winter has finally ended.
How you celebrate the holiday does not matter. You can choose to do any activity that feels right. These are only suggestions and remember that you're enough no matter what.
Also please note some stuff is UPG. A great book is Year of the Witch by Temperance Alden for honouring the celebrations and if you wanted to work more seasonally. It's not Wiccan-based and has plenty of resources for every witch.
Feel free to post how you celebrate in the comments or reblogs!
Want to see more of my posts? Check out my Wheel of the Year Masterpost or my Main Masterpost.
go outside & listen to the birds sing & smile at strangers. there’s a good chance it will heal you
If someone said to me, "I'm a beginner witch and I want to cover my bases in case I run into magical trouble," I would recommend:
Of all of these things, avoid repeating ingredients across charms, unless you are in special allyship with a certain spirit.
Those persons also suffering from nightmares or disturbed dreams may also benefit from:
Of any ward and amulet, feed it a minimum of once a season; if they're working often to provide assistance, or if the effects run out, increase feeding to once a month; in times of distress, feed weekly or as needed.
