Can I Interest You In A Gàidhlig Sea Shanty?

Black Thread: A Witch’s Best Friend

I’ve met a lot of Witch’s from numerous backgrounds who have only ever used black thread as a means of keeping things out (black being a color for banishing negativity and numerous other bad spirits and mojo)

After listening to one friend describe how she used black string as a banishing agent for her windows WITHOUT first cleansing her house, it occurred to me how many of us don’t think about it keep bad things IN.

In short, I’ve started using it on curse objects and anything I use to absorb bad luck or anything of the like. For instance, if you are burying a box at the crossroads, tie it up in black thread to keep the bad or good inside and keep anything else out. You can even tie off your box of Witchy things with black string or thread to keep the good in ad the bad out. Or if you curse a poppet for future use and need to keep it in your witch box wrap it up in thread to keep it from tainting everything else in your box :)

Just a thought is all. :)

When to use what in witchcraft -

Ok so I am gonna say this is my personal reference, its mainly through associations. You might TOTALLY disagree and thats chill! 

Its more something to think about and a guideline of what I use myself…

Candle Magic:

Carve a candle when…. the candle represents the target, in sympathetic magic. When, essentially, the candle is a poppet and lighting it is a symbol of destruction or empowerment to the target.

Place something under the candle or before it when… you are doing general candle magic, when the candle represents empowering a wish, idea or concept.

Anoint the candle when… doing work with spirits and gods, when you mark the candle for a special purpose, when doing high magic.

Herbs and plant work:

Use dry herbs when… it is convienent to do so, when the herbs are out of season or when you need to store them in a jar or bottle for a long time.

Use fresh herbs when… the spell is very earth orientated, when doing magic on behalf of another or when the magic is sympathetic so that the herbs represent the target, within kitchen witchery.

Use flowers when… when the spell concerns love and sex, or perhaps fertility and attraction, due to flowers being the reproductive parts of the plant. 

Use fruit when when… working with children as a target, or with children practising. When you work with fertility and abundance spells.

Use wood and twigs when… when the spell is for protection or binding, for hardiness. 

Burn herbs (recaning/incense) when… you wish to cleanse or banish, or invoke an atmosphere - that being, for divination using herbs that are said to open up your perceptions, when banishing, burning acrid or pungent herbs.

Use oil infusions when… you wish to anoint something, when you wish to mark something permanently.

Use floral waters (rose water etc) when… dealing with spirits and gods, for glamour as it has a long history of being used to beautify.

Crystals:

Use metals (haematite, copper, ores etc..) when… you work in protection, when you do energy work due to the conductive properties of metal.

Use shell, pearl, coral and such when… you work in sea magic, when you work within emotional magic due to the element of water.

Use points when… you wish to direct magic to a target.

Use tumble stones when… you wish the magic to be gentle or manifest at a certain place on the body on a target.

Use geodes when… you work in protection, when you work with glamour aimed to obscure and hide.

Knot magic:

Use cotton when… it is convenient.

Use silk when… doing spells that benefit the target.

Use ribbons when… love spells and wealth spells, as well as confidence and beauty spells. Spells to ensure victory.

Use rope when… doing spells that aim to hurt or weaken the target, binding especially.

Poppets:

Use cloth when… the spell aims to benefit who the poppet represents, use particular care when sewing or cutting, choose colours that are appropriate to them.

Use wax when… you wish to manipulate the target.

Use clay when… wish to create fetches or servitors, when you wish to create permanency.

Use twigs when… you wish to bury or throw the poppet out, when you want the poppet to be easily destroyed by breaking or setting on fire.

Sigils:

Use an alphabet grid or circle when… you wish the sigil to be more random and less attached to you.

Combine the shapes of letters from a sentence… when your sigil is very specific and a short term goal.

Use your own personal symbols when… you want the magic to be connected to you, when it is personal.

WTF is... Death Posture anyway?

Before we get into it, I have a little disclaimer:

Warning: Do not attempt this technique if you have serious physical or mental health problems. I take no responsibility for any damage this practice causes you. You have been warned.

So what the fuck is death posture anyway? You’ll hear lots of chaote’s throw the term around without much explanation. Simply put, it is a kind of alternate form of meditation. Of course, it is a little more complicated than that. Austin Osman Spare, the creator of death posture, defines it in the following way in his book “The Book of Pleasure”:

“Lying on your back lazily, the body expressing the condition of yawning, suspiring while conceiving by smiling, that is the idea of the posture. Forgetting time with those things which were essential-reflecting their meaninglessness, the moment is beyond time and its virtue has happened. Standing on tip-toe, with the arms rigid, bound behind by the hands, clasped and straining the utmost, the neck stretched- breathing deeply and spasmodically, till giddy and sensation comes in gusts, gives exhaustion and capacity for the former. Gazing at your reflection till it is blurred and you know not the gazer, close your eyes (this usually happens involuntarily) and visualize. The light (always an X in curious evolutions) that is seen should be held on to, never letting go, till the effort is forgotten, this gives a feeling of immensity (which sees a small form ), whose limit you cannot reach. This should be practised before experiencing the foregoing. The emotion that is felt is the knowledge which tells you why.”

So that’s all well and good, but lets put it into some more modern terms. This is the way that I do death posture. Keep in mind, this is just the way I do it, and there is not an “absolutely correct” way to do something in chaos magick. This is just the way it works for me. Feel free to change any of it to suit your personal needs. 

1. Find a place where you won’t be interrupted for a while, preferably a nice, quiet dark room.

2. With your back to a wall, close your eyes (closing your eyes is not always necessary, depending on your goal) and stand on your toes. Lock your arms behind your back with your hands interlocked together. Arch your back and extend your neck as far as you can. 3. Your breathing will become/should become more labored and faster, bordering on hyperventilating. You’ll also start to feel tingly and exhausted. It will feel intense, so be prepared. 4. You will begin to feel incredibly uncomfortable, start hyperventilating, and your vision (if you keep your eyes open) will begin to blur, but stay locked in this pose for as long as it is possible. 

5. Right before you collapse from the strain, you will enter a kind of altered mental state. At this point, you may feel like your floating, or like your muscles are on fire. While in this state, it will be possible to do certain acts of visualization. This is also when sigils can be charged, or an affirmation can be said. 6. Collapse to the floor and relax. Hopefully, you didn’t blackout, but it is possible. You will probably feel fairly strange but this is normal. Do whatever banishing ritual you feel necessary (I usually go with a laughter banishing, but it doesn’t really matter as long as it works for you) and then get up slowly so you don’t accidentally fall over and crack your head open.

So why the hell would you want to do this? It sounds pretty awful.

Well, yeah. It kind of is awful. That’s the point. I initially said that death posture was a kind of meditation, which is true in a sense. Claudio Naranjo once said:

“The word ‘meditation’ has been used to designate a variety of practices that differ enough from one another so that we may find trouble in defining what meditation is.“ 

Death posture exemplifies this, as it is meditation, just not in the sense of what we typically imagine meditation being. Like any form of meditation, the primary goal is to attain a state of gnosis (something I will cover more in depth in a later WTF is article), but in attaining this gnostic state, you then use it for a work, whether a sigil, spell, or whatever.

But wait, how do I use a mental state for spellcraft/sigil craft?

You’ll hear me often say this, echoing a bit from bluefluke‘s Psychonaut field manual, but visualization, visualization, visualization. You’ll need to hold the image of what your are trying to accomplish in your mind’s eye when the gnostic state is entered (and preferably for the entire duration of the instance of death posture.) I’ll cover different visualization techniques in a later article.

Thanks to enochtopus for suggesting I talk about this. I think I’ll do sigil magick next, then move on to gnosis and visualization.

23

天津甕星

those pretty sunset lamps are calling me by my full government name and ssc

How do I break a hex or curse?

As someone who’s had negative energy thrown her way, I’lltell you what I’d did. It began with a sigil and casting it during the fullmoon. Before that, I spent a while meditating in the sun and performing acleansing. Then I cleansed my energy points.

So you could do an energy cleansing, I would recommend usinga dark gemstones (tourmaline, obsidian, smoky quartz, etc.

You could do a jar spell to break the curse as well.

Here’s some helpful links: 

What to do if you’ve been cursedCurse BreakingHave I Been cursedKeeping Yourself Protected

22 Domestic Witch Tips, Charms, and Omens

This is a list of tid-bits that I find useful in aiding the Domestic Witch in creating a comfortably witchy home. 1. Spray a bit of perfume, drops of essential oils, or room spray on light bulbs to make a room smell fresh and add a magickal aura according to the sent you’ve chosen.  Make sure you do this while the light is off otherwise the light bulb will likely explode. 

2. Keeping an acorn at your window will keep lightning from striking.

3. Keep a Kitchen Witch (Cottage Witch) doll in your kitchen to bring good luck and to keep away any ill meaning spirits.

4. Spilling water on your tablecloth means a storm is coming.  The same is true of a coffee pot that keeps boiling over.

5.Burn a candle on your stove to symbolize the hearth fire of the past.  This honors your patron kitchen Goddess and fills your home with love.  (Candles have a longer burning life if you place them in the freezer for a few hours before lighting them.)

6. To keep an unwanted visitor from returning sweep whatever room or rooms they were in as soon as they leave your home.

7. Never sweep your kitchen after the sun goes down

8. Two yolks in an egg foretell a marriage.

9. Cakes should be baked while the sun is rising.

10. Never turn a loaf of bread upside down after it has been cut.

11. It’s good luck to receive a loaf of bread as a house-warming present.

12. To throw away bread is to throw away any potential luck and prosperity that would come to your home, instead make breadcrumbs or feed it to the birds.

13. If a ring of rice forms around the edge of a pot it means money is coming.

14. Wine leftover from ritual…freeze it in ice cube trays then add a cube or two to gravies, sauces, and casseroles as needed.

15. To make your food taste better keep a quartz crystal on or near your stove.

16. When given a plant as a gift you should not say thank you or the plant will die.

17. Those looking for love should place a pot of basil on their windowsill.

18. Rosemary can be placed under pillows to ward of evil spirits.

19. In ancient times it was believed that in gardens “where rosemary flourished, the woman ruled.”

20. Lavender can be placed under the mattress to bring passion to the marital bed or hung on a bedpost for protection.

21. Growing ivy in your home guards against disaster.

22. Grow a spider plant (chlorophytum comosum) in a space you want to purify.

(Source: ravenrinspagannest’s blogspot)