Gentle Witch Little Things

i wanna sit on a rock near a swamp

Witchcraft #15

If you're really into writing or get those burst of writing creativity. That can be used within your craft. Writing a short story can be a type of manifestation/intention work. Write about someone overcoming a problem your facing. Or receiving/becoming something you want. It can be a powerful tool in your magick.

some of the best mushrooms I've seen <3

just thinking of how our meaning or purpose in life is merely to experience. eating an orange segment, hoping for snow, being in love, returning over and over to one painting, stepping outside for the full moon, submersion in water, having a favourite colour, knowing beauty, feeling alone, feeling connected, feeling longing… it is enough. 

“The lack of materials or tool should never prevent a witch from performing magick.”

— Mat Auryn, Psychic Witch: A Metaphysical Guide to Meditation, Magick, and Manifestation (via libercoven)

“no matter how badly you think you’re doing it, someone else has done it a lot worse and been fine” is applicable to a wide, wide range of things and i say it to myself all the time

Moon Phases and Their Meaning

The moon is an important part of witchcraft, the phase of the moon has its own spiritual meaning and practices that should be performed during that phase. This isn’t a fixed rule, but it gives your magick a little boost that it may need to come into fruition. Being in tune with the moon makes us stronger.

Checking the moon daily is a great way to keep track of the moon phases, along with having a moon calendar in your phone. I also track the sun on my phone, but that isn’t necessary, it’s my personal preference.

New Moon 🌑

The new moon is a time of new beginnings and setting intentions. Some use this as a time of contemplation and self reflection, but this can also be done in later moon phases.

Waxing Crescent 🌒

This is the official moon phase for setting intentions, but I always do it in the new moon. This can also be used as a time of action, to act on your intentions

First Quarter 🌓

The moon for making decisions is the first quarter moon, this is a great time to begin acting on your intentions if you haven’t yet.

Waxing Gibbous 🌔

This is a time to further refine your intention and fine tune it into exactly what you want, revisit your new moon and crescent work to do this accurately.

Full Moon 🌕

Full moon is a time of manifesting, sealing intentions, and release. Let go of your expectations and allow the universe to simply make it happen

Waning Gibbous 🌖

This is a moon phase to show gratitude for the universe, the people around you, yourself, and everything you care for. Gratitude is so important and is underrated in my opinion.

Last Quarter 🌗

The last quarter signifies forgiveness. What is still hurting you? What can you let go of? Remember that forgiveness isn’t for the person in question to feel better, it is only for you. Also remember that you do not have to forgive someone if you feel they do not deserve it.

Last Crescent 🌘

This moon phase is about surrendering. Hold gratitude in your heart and release what doesn’t serve you as you move into the darkness of the new moon. This is also a great time to reflect on yourself.

🌑 🌒 🌓 🌔 🌕 🌖 🌗 🌘 🌑

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Racism, Spirituality, and Witchblr

As a Black witch, it first made me relieved to see so many people in the community band together for Black Lives Matter. Over the past 5 years as a member of the Witchblr community, I have been subjected to numerous acts of racist microaggressions and attacks ranging from slurs being thrown at me, death threats, insults to my cultural practices because they’re different from European witchcraft and folk magic, attempted doxxing, and more because I was outspoken about anti-racist action. And that doesn’t include the many accounts of racism and bigotry that I witnessed secondhand. So seeing the community come together to support BLM made me hopeful that there would be a cultural shift within the community. 

But, as time went on, the amount of support for BLM that I saw in the tags slowly began to dwindle as if the movement had some hidden expiration date for allies, as if all the work was done after the mass spells performed on the eclipse.

The work is far from over, witchblr. We still need to protest, sign petitions, donate, and do our part to end police brutality, defund/disband the police and abolish prisons, and address the systemic racism that exists in all facets of society.

To look “locally,” the same problems in our community still exist. And while we alone cannot eradicate racism from the whole of society, we can absolutely prevent its spread on witchblr and in other spiritual/occult communities. 

Being an ally means more than posting a black square on your Instagram page or changing your profile picture to “heathens against racism.” Being an ally means actively being anti-racist and doing your part to ensure the community is truly inclusive and safe for people of color.

So, how can we begin to address the problem of racism in the spiritual communities both online and offline? Here are a few tips. I’ve focused largely on how white allies can address racism as it impacts Black practitioners, as I can only speak from my own experience as a Black person. Other people of color of all races are welcome to add onto this.

Stop supporting cultural appropriation. I don’t care if they’re your favorite blogger, your favorite diviner, your favorite occult supply store, etc, but if they’re posting about hoodoo sweetening/honey jars and they’re not Black, it’s time to block and unfollow. If they claim they speak for the Orisha or the Lwa and they aren’t initiated, it’s time to block and unfollow. If you don’t respect our cultural practices, you don’t really respect us.

Educate yourself on non-European practices. Did you know that there are more ATRs than just Lucumi, Vodou, and hoodoo? Can you explain the difference between Voodoo/Vodou and hoodoo? What is the difference between hoodoo and witchcraft? If you can’t answer these questions, time to do some reading! Educating yourself prevents you from appropriating or saying/spreading ignorant misinformation.

Stop supporting spiritual/occult organizations that act as performative allies and/or refuse to explicitly support practitioners of color. That means covens, fraternal organizations, Discord servers, pagan temples, conventions, and other spiritual organizations (large and small.) Don’t donate to these groups and don’t attend these groups or their events.

Amplify the voices of Black practitioners. How many Black spiritual/occult authors, diviners, bloggers, podcasters, astrologers, priest/priestesses, and/or vloggers can you name? How many African or Black philosophers can you name? Our voices and contributions to religion, spirituality, and the occult matter. Listen to us.

Deplatform racists. If you are a moderator or leader of a spiritual/occult community, delete/ban/kick out anyone who expresses racist or bigoted ideologies. Defending racists under the guise of “freedom of speech” just allows them to spread their hate and potentially harm or traumatize POC. Even if you’re not in a position of power, refuse to engage with bigots to prevent their message from spreading. Don’t reblog their posts, watch their videos, buy their products, etc. If you can, spread receipts of their racist acts instead.

Stop speaking over practitioners of color. If we say that something is racist/appropriation/insensitive, listen to us instead of arguing in an attempt to “save face.” We all make mistakes. Just own up to it and do what you can to fix the situation. Attacking us just because we demand equal respect is an act of racism in and of itself.

Support Black-owned businesses. Instead of buying your herbs from Amazon, go to a botanica. Get readings or other metaphysical services from Black diviners. We deserve to be compensated for our labor. It’s the least you can do considering a large chunk of modern folk magic is inspired by, influenced by, or straight up stolen from Black spiritual practices.

De-center yourself from the conversation. Cool, you’re an empath or a “sensitive”, but venting all day about how much pain you’re in is honestly insulting. And, if you want to rant about all the racist things your family has done, maybe go to one of your other white friends instead of forcing us to listen to you repeat their racist garbage.

Acknowledge your own biases and privileges. There are tons of resources out there on white privilege, white fragility, and unconscious forms of racism. Educate yourself.

Keep up the work outside of witchblr and spiritual communities. Keep donating, keep signing petitions, and keep using your platform for anti-racist action.

These points are only the tip of the iceberg. Racism is so deeply embedded in our society that it won’t be removed overnight. But if you want to claim the title of “ally,” you need to join in and continue doing the work. Unlike you, we don’t get to “opt out” of caring for the movement as racism impacts us every single day of our lives. Don’t opt out on us now.

i really wish more witches and practitioners talked about the different types of energy and how you can use them. yeah sure theres the basic elemental energies and everyone knows about using “light” and “imagine a ball of light” and whatnot. but did you know you can use shadows? did you know you could use atoms specifically? did you know you could use colors? the void? the universe? stars? you know that anything that has energy, can be used in energy work?? because when i was a novice, i didn’t. and it made me sad/disconnected because the whole “imagine a white light protecting you” didn’t resonate with me well. but what did was the abundant scale of color, and usage of shadows and darkness. discord <3

Nuala Archer, From The hour of Pan/amá; “Longing for community, Portrait Series: Plague of Inc.’est”