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Daily Tarot Draw: Oct. 7, 2020

It feels like such a long time since I last drew for us all! Between school this semester (ugh, chemistry is just as horrible as I anticipated) and a full work load, I’ve barely had time to even look at my deck. But we’ve still got the rest of the deck to get through and a deck to giveaway!

Today’s card is The Star! We haven’t gotten too many Major Arcana cards into the circulation yet so it’s nice that we keep getting more. Especially since we have to cover them all!

Each Major Arcana card follows through the journey of life, starting the the Fool representing the beginning of life and the journey, and ending at the World, coming full circle. The Star is actually the 18th card in the 22 cards of the Major Arcana. Even though the card says its only the 17th, the cycle starts 0 with the Fool.

The Star is towards the end of the deck and is after we’ve done all our growing and changing after the upheavals of life. The Star represents hope and rebuilding. It actually comes immediately after The Tower in the deck.

So if we’re being told to be hopeful, to rebuild, to look to our future, I think we should remember that this year alone we’ve gone through so much, as a country, a society, and individually. So while we do have a lot we need to focus on for our futures, we should still focus on giving ourselves the hope we need to see in the world.

One of my most favorite quotes is from Avatar: the Last Airbender, from dearly beloved Uncle Iroh; ‘if you only look for the darkness, that is all you will find.’

So let’s be hopeful going into a strenuous and scary time of the year, and even if something falls through, like this dreaded election or your car payment, let’s focus on taking care ourselves and our loved ones through this. Besides, Samhain is coming up and we should celebrate what we have been able to reap from this year’s poor crop.

Take care of each other out there, witchlings!

So far, we’ve pulled all of these cards:

The Star
Five of Pentacles
Eight of Swords
Six of Cups
Temperance
One of Pentacles
Page of Cups
Four of Cups
Queen of Pentacles
Four of Swords
Seven of Pentacles
Judgement
Two of Cups
The Tower
Ten of Pentacles
Six of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

I think I might start laying them out in a table as we keep going to keep better track of what ones we have left.

Cups	Pentacles	Swords	Wands	Major Arcana
Six Page Four Two	Five One Queen Seven Ten Four	Eight Four One Seven Six	Three	The Star Temperance Judgement The Tower Strength

Let me know what you all think in the comments.

Witchcraft 101: Protecting Yourself

bitchcraft

Protecting yourself while practicing witchcraft is one of the major things to learn before actually casting spells. I know as a sweet little witchling you are ready to jump right into your first spell, but we have to talk about protecting yourself before hand.

Now if you have any social media and follow just one witchy page, you’ve seen possibly post upon post about crystals, cleansing, essential oils, sigils, salts, waters, and everything else under the sky.

While there are spells for protection, this is just about protecting yourself and your energy.

Don’t mess with something you don’t know

This is the easiest way to protect yourself. Do not, and I mean under any circumstance, do not mess around with anything you haven’t previously researched.

This goes double for trying to summon spirits or deities. Unless you have spent time researching how to summon or banish or manifest or ANYTHING. Always learn before you try to do anything and always be cautious; if it doesn’t vibe with you, don’t do it. You may need more time to learn and you may need more experience before you can go though those spells and workings.

Cleanse yourself and your space

Protect your energy by cleansing your spaces regularly. And not just a regular sweep and mop. Cleanse your space regularly with smoke and sound and cleansing with moon water. This will keep your space on the right vibes.

With regular cleansing, you’ll feel when the vibes are off. This will keep you safe from invoking bad vibes or bringing them home with you.

Use water and crystals

Crystals are great at helping preserve energy, banish energies that don’t serve you, and keep your energy to yourself. But also go and research which crystals would work best for you and what you need to bring into your space.

Always research proper crystal care in regards to charging. Clear quartz can always be used a substitute if you don’t have the necessary crystal or if you’re poor af like me and can’t afford multiple crystals.

Moon water, from different moon phases, can also be used in multiple ways to protect your energy. Making moon water is super easy.

Charms and Totems

Charms and totems are items you can bring along with you to influence your luck and energy. Charms take their root from wivestales and folklore, like a horseshoe or four leaf clover. Totems and talismans (talismen?) are those you keep with that are intricate and relate to your deities or have a set intention when being made, such as being used for just protection or just manifestation (lucky cat talisman anyone?). An amulet is more lowkey and is something you can either give an intention or let be for general use.

Keeping yourself healthy

Outside of all the fancy magic and herbs, you need to keep yourself healthy in general. You need to drink water, sleep often, eat good food (I’m a sucker for fries but we still need some real vegetables). We need to take care of our physical bodies to keep our spiritual bodies healthy too.

You can’t do spirit work if your body hurts and your hungry.

Delve deeper into protecting yourself. Please be careful as we get closer to Halloween and people ask about seances and summoning and all that good stuff.

Daily Tarot Draw: Oct. 3, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

The last couple days have been a whirlwind of me practicing some beginner-level feng shui, which really means I’ve just been moving a bunch of shit around my house. Gotta get those vibes right. Luckily my office space is almost perfect and then I’m going to get some of the witchiest decor my minimum wage ass can afford!

Today’s card is the Five of Pentacles. Looks like somehow, with all the Pentacles I’ve pulled in the last month, there still more Pentacles. Gonna pull like the 23 of Pentacles tomorrow.

Pentacles are materialism and wealth. Fives represent conflict and change. Even in the imagery of this card, we can see a figure walking over a pile of skulls, with some being green and more square that the rest of the skulls. I think the green skulls are supposed to be like art or sculptures of skulls, as they do not exactly have the same roundness as the other skulls pictured. Sculptures and art are usually a sign of wealth; if you are wealthy, you can afford to have fine art in your house, which shows that you have money to blow on the nonessentials of life (housing, food, etc.).

I’m kind of torn on how to interpret this card.

On one hand, I’m draw to the meaning as being don’t be a greedy asshole; don’t walk over others on the path to wealth and financial freedom. Like, don’t walk over others that are in the same position as you and don’t overly hoard your resources so that others cannot have any. But that could be me riding the emotional high of Election Season (scary than spooky season).

On the other hand, I’m reading this as indulge in some art for your space! I know it seems counterintuitive, but maybe we need to invest in our spaces so that we don’t feel quiet so horrible about the place we have to come home to, the place where we’re supposed to be decompress and recharge from the world. So get some art that doesn’t make you feel like the weight of the worlds is on your shoulders for just two minutes of the day. Now don’t go and blow rent money on an undervalued Picasso, but get a poster of your favorite show or paint a mural in your dining room or by that candle holder for $3 on clearance because it looks like a bunny.

I guess this card will speak to you in a different way than me because i think we’re all having conflicted views on the world at the moment. Tell me in the comments what you think this card is showing to you.

So far, we’ve pulled all these cards. We are over a quarter of the way through the deck now! Go check out the Instagram to see updates about the giveaway packages!

Five of Pentacles
Eight of Swords
Six of Cups
Temperance
One of Pentacles
Page of Cups
Four of Cups
Queen of Pentacles
Four of Swords
Seven of Pentacles
Seven of Swords
One of Swords
Judgement
Two of Cups
The Tower
Ten of Pentacles
Six of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

Sign up on the Giveaway page to be entered to win the special Tarot kit I’m giving away to one lucky follower! Included in the kit is a brand new deck! Go check out the details and get signed up now!

Daily Tarot Draw: Oct. 1, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

I held out as long as I could, but I gave in; I bought my first Halloween decoration of the season. She’s the cutest little skeletonized gnome! She even has a black cat, just like my little boy! Go check out the Insta for blog updates and little tidbits I can’t exactly turn into a whole ass post. (Follow me @the_drunken_witch on Instagram)

But onto what we came here for!

Today’s card is the Eight of Swords. I love the imagery in this card. The swords raised in defiance to the storm above, the storm itself almost personified with its own face. In any other circumstance, I would be wary of the storm’s face being skeleton, but this whole deck is skeleton people so we can’t exactly take an obvious warning there.

Eights represent movement and change. Swords are thoughts and mentality.

With the coming election for America in just about a month, I’m sure we’re all riding a wave of anxiety and rage as we’re forced to try to write the wrongs that have plagued the country for the last few years. This is the time of year were we can make a change, we can make a movement. We can do what’s best for ourselves, our communities, our country. After the debacle that we unfortunately call the presidential debate, there is no reason we cannot all show our individual power in voting to keep this world from plunging down a road we cannot return from.

We’ve pulled these cards so far and we’re making quick work through our deck.

Eight of Swords
Six of Cups
Temperance
One of Pentacles
Page of Cups
Four of Cups
Queen of Pentacles
Four of Swords
Seven of Pentacles
Seven of Swords
One of Swords
Judgement
Two of Cups
The Tower
Six of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

Sign up on the Giveaways page for a chance to win a brand new deck! Go check it out while we contemplate our stark future.

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 29, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

Are you guys as ready for spooky season as me? It’s the time for baked goods, lattes, corn mazes, and all things SCARY! I’m so excited for what this next month is going to bring.

But let’s get onto the card and get our daily dose of Universe Sass.

Today is the Six of Cups. It seems that after almost a whole month of being sassed about my actions and my thoughts and my money habits, we’re finally getting sassed about our emotions.

Cups represent our emotions and our heart. Sixes are compassion or problem-solving. When I see this card, I get a feel of balance; it takes a lot of balance to hold 6 cups, especially the way she is. In the Rider-Waite deck, the card is vastly different, showing two young figures surronded by light and full cups. But for this card, I feel like it’s reminding me to have balance in my emotions. Normally, 2s or 4s represent balance, but that’s part of being able to read a card intuitively.

I’m going to work on having more balance in my life today; between working with adults that act like children, trying to keep up with school, trying to get together with my friends, trying to get everything set up here and on my new Instagram account for the site, and having to maintian a household, I know I’m losing it a little. Maybe you see something different in the card; let me know in the comments!

So far we’ve pulled:

Six of Cups
Temperance
One of Pentacles
Page of Cups
Four of Cups
Queen of Pentacles
Four of Swords
Seven of Pentacles
Seven of Swords
One of Swords
Judgement
Two of Cups
Tower
Ten of Pentacles
Six of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

Sign up for the Daily Draw Giveaway for a chance to win a whole Tarot kit when we finally get to the end of the deck! Check out the Giveaways page for more details and to sign up!

Witchcraft: why I chose to practise witchcraft…

bitchcraft

I grew up as the good little church going girl, you know, Sunday school and the whole shebang. So what happened?

I got over the whole ‘organized religion’ thing at the start of puberty, as I went through some major trauma that I still carry to this day. I felt that there wasn’t anything I could learn from a bunch of stuffy old people sitting in a stuffy church reading the same stuffy stories about how people shouldn’t do this and that.

It was boring and, honestly, pissed me off. Who was this stuffy god to tell me who I couldn’t be and what I couldn’t do? I hated having to hear the same thing every time and be told who I was supposed to be.

So I quit that shit.

I quit listening to these guys telling me who were trying to tell me who I could and couldn’t be. I quit listening to all the bullshit.

Then I spiraled for years trying to find my footing through trauma and tribulation. I tried to push spiritual growth away in favor of science. Of course, I love science and I love scientific discovery. I still do.

So why the hell wouldn’t I pick witchcraft?

I chose to practice witchcraft because I can marry my love of science and the unknown. I can live freely without judgment from someone who thinks they know me and my journey. I can live without fear of breaking some hidden rule. I can make my own path, I can live my own life. I can look at the natural world and know why a bee buzzes and a flower grows and all the things that make them tick, but I can also appreciate them deeply, appreciate them for what they bring to the world.

I can understand why people choose to practice witchcraft with the gods of their choosing; it is much more comforting to go through life with someone with more power than you on your side. I can also understand why witches like me are secular in practice; we do not need to look to a divine being to appreciate the world in all its splendor.

I’m not nay-saying the act of choosing a god or goddess as your patron; I’m just explaining why I choose to practice the way I do.

I love science, I love knowing how the world works, knowing how every little thing is connected to each other, knowing how I fit into the world and those around me fit together in a giant tapestry of living, breathing, LIFE.

As I ramble now, I practice witchcraft because it can use some of the what we know as facts now, such as the use of a placebo to make someone believe the world is turning in their favor, as well as trying to explain the things we can not yet comprehend like spirits, the afterlife, the way our minds and bodies connect.

Witchcraft has always been in people’s blood; the need to know, the need to understand, the need to comprehend ourselves and each other. We have looked to the stars for eons and we have looked to the elements for some type of answer, we have assigned meaning to the greatest aspects of human nature and human experience. Why wouldn’t I give in to the natural feelings we have all felt as humans, roaring through space on this little planet without guidance and without direction, towards who knows what? Why wouldn’t I want to be a witch knowing that even if magic is fake, magic isn’t real, I can at least give myself something to be curious and hopeful about? Why wouldn’t I give into human nature of looking for answers and understanding of the universe?

That is in short, why I have chosen to practice witchcraft.

In long, I’ve grown to recognize some aspects of witchcraft, I was practicing all along as I pulled myself through depression in high school. I look back now and realize that I used to stare at the moon every night, asking for peace. I would lay in bed and meditate on how my future would look like (manifesting, anyone?). I used to wear colors that I thought would hide me from view, protect me. I was obsessed with the undead and their subtle meanings they bring to literature (self-proclaimed zombie expert right here.)

But in short, again, I practice witchcraft because it’s self-driven, it’s open to experimentation, and it holds a place in humanity that will never be forgotten.

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 28, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

The weather has taken a turn here and is finally feeling more like fall finally! Now if only I could make a dent in all the schoolwork piling up! But today we’re bundled up under the lovely blanket I knitted up last winter and we’re having a good strong cup of coffee to get today kicked off right!

Today’s card is another Major Arcana card! We’ve just a few pop up this month but there’s always room for more; the more the merrier!

Temperance is a card that comes later in the Tarot deck, near the end with The Tower and The Moon and The World. Temperance it self is a strange little word, meaning abstinence or self-restraint. The card Temperance means self-healing and finding the middle ground.

For today, we should focus on finding balance and the middle ground. Perhaps this means finding middle ground at work between opposing views on a project. Perhaps this means finding the middle ground within your own family. Perhaps this means finding the middle ground between politics (I mean, finding the middle ground, but not adhering to it; we have to meet some people halfway before they are willing to go all the way to our side). We should strive to understand multiple perspectives and use that to our advantage to learn more about others and to understand others. In understanding others and where they are coming from, we can learn how we are perceived and learn how to help others to perceive the world as it really is.

So far, we’ve made a sizable dent in the deck! Maybe once we get through this deck we can do another giveaway with a new deck! Let me know what you think in the comments!

Temperance
One of Pentacles
Page of Cups
Four of Cups
Queen of Pentacles’
Four of Swords
Seven of Pentacles
Seven of Swords
One of Swords
Judgement
Two of Cups
The Tower
Ten of Pentacles
Six of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

Tarot 101: Bonding with your deck

bitchcraft, Tarot

When you’re new to Tarot, you’re probably thinking about how you can learn to read Tarot. But before you can start slinging cards for your friends, you have to learn about your deck! And I don’t just mean reading the books and such.

Each deck has its own vibe; you know how your perfectly fine remote control can sometimes act up of its own accord or your car sometimes doesn’t like to start right away on rainy days? Things like that? Well, your deck is the same way; it has it’s own energies and vibes and you have to learn how to deal with them.

So bond your deck to learn how to cope with your deck giving you attitude! But how do you bond with your deck? How do you learn to deal with your deck giving you grief about everything?

Spend some quality time with your deck!

Drawing every day

Drawing every day is a great way to learn about your deck by being able to spend some one-on-one time with every card. With everyone having a crazy busy life to begin with, a daily draw is a great way to take a couple of minutes to yourself to learn about the deck.

Shuffling and sorting every day

One of the ways to also get a vibe for your deck is just shuffling your deck and getting a feel for the cards themselves. Not only will you get more used to the size and feel of the cards themselves, it’ll help you get a vibe for any cards that seem ‘jumpy’. These are cards that keep wanting to pop out of the deck during shuffling. Sometimes these cards have special meanings for you.

After you’ve spent enough time shuffling or if you’re finished for the day, I like to sort the cards back into order. It’s a nice way to wrap up your own feelings from the reading and draw the energy to a close. It also keeps the energies from a reading from sticking around in the deck.

Charging your cards in light

Charging your cards in the light can help them absorb some energy they need to sass you properly. Everyone talks about the full moon for a reason! Leaving your deck under the full moon is a good way to charge your deck with energy without letting your deck get faded in the sunlight. However a little sunlight never hurt anyone! Leaving your deck for a few minutes under the sunlight to get some valuable solar energy is a good way to clear old energies from the deck and keep it fresh.

Talking to your deck

This one seems like a no-brainer, but also a little strange. When you’re first learning about your deck and first learning to draw cards, even your own readings, you’re going to struggle with setting an intention or using your intuition to read the cards. When you’re first starting out, don’t be afraid to verbally ask your questions to your deck. It’ll help you get comfortable with asking questions of your deck as well as how the deck likes to interpret your questions.

You need to bond with your deck every time you get a new deck. Don’t be afraid to try to bond with your deck and get to know your deck. Don’t be afraid to sit there shuffling for hours and hours because you want to get comfortable just holding the deck. Don’t worry about just sassing your deck back because it gave you three reversed cards even though you know none of the cards had been reversed.

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 26, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

It’s already Saturday this week and boy am I getting more and more anxious for gloomy weather and rain. But it’s not in the forecast unfortunately.

Today looks like a break in our streak of Cups; we have the One of Pentacles for today.

Ones are the beginning, the start of a journey and Pentacles are wealth and materialism. So today is pretty straightforward.

We should expect a something new in our journey’s towards wealth. Maybe we will achieve a sale, maybe we will start a new business, maybe we’ll get a gift thrust upon us of money or goods. No matter that happens today, we should welcome the opportunities that come our way with open arms.

While today’s reading is a bit short, sometimes the cards don’t always hold a lot of information; we have to muddle through some days and some days we have to take it at face value what the cards have to say. While I wish the cards would always give us all the answers, we have to remember that as much as a destiny can be written, the rest is up to us to write for ourselves.

So far, we’ve pulled:

One of Pentacles
Page of Cups
Four of Cups
Queen of Pentacles
Four of Swords
Seven of Pentacles
Seven of Swords
One of Swords
Judgement
Two of Cups
The Tower
Six of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

We’ve made it a little over 20% of the way through the deck, which means that before we know it, we’ll be having our drawing for our Daily Tarot Giveaway! Go to the Giveaway page for details and to sign up for this Giveaway as well as our Anniversary Giveaway!

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 25, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

Today’s draw is one of those draws where the card kept popping out at me when I was shuffling. So we’re having a pop-up card today! They say that the cards that pop out when you’re shuffling have a special message for you. I only listen when they pop out more than once, since I have a problem handling the decks with my baby hands; so if they pop out once for me I assume I’m bad at shuffling, if they pop out twice, then it’s probably a sign.

Today we have another court card! I’m happy we finally have a more balanced mix of of the suits since we were going on mostly Swords and Pentacles for the last week.

Today is the Page of Cups. Cups, which we are slowly becoming more familiar with now, are emotions and the heart. Pages are one of the court cards where they can represent several things. When used as a signifier, they represent a young person, like a child. Outside of signifying cards, they represent how a child views the world; where the Queens are used to show creation and fruition, Pages are the wonder and enjoyment of the world.

The take away for today, is to look at the world with a fresh heart. How can we do that? Let’s all start small; let’s appreciate the flowers and the sunset and the butterflies again with easy appreciation. Don’t look at the rest of today with a cynical eye, don’t say to yourself, there will always be another it’s not that special. One day there won’t be another. One day, you may see your last butterfly, last daffodil, last sunset. Appreciate it all today as though you are seeing it for the first time. We live in such a fast-paced, hustle and bustle world, we need to take just a moment and enjoy the little things that we know bring nothing but pleasure. Eventually, we can stop being so coldhearted and cruel to each other, if only we take a little time to remember we’re all on the same planet.

(I’m not denouncing anything like the rightful rage against the system and the those in power, all I’m saying is that you have to have something besides anger to keep you warm at night or you’ll end up much too cold with no one else to light a fire in you.)

So far we’ve pulled:

Queen of Cups
Four of Cups
Four of Swords
Seven of Pentacles
One of Swords
Seven of Swords
Judgement
Two of Cups
The Tower
Ten of Pentacles
Six of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

Remember to sign up for the Tarot Giveaways over on the Giveaway page!

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 23, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

This week is just trudging along! I cannot wait until this weekend where I have my first weekend day off in almost 2 years! But I am going to so enjoy it.

Today is the Four of Cups. This is honestly a bit of a depressing card to look at. We see a poor guy, pouring out his liquids into the street. Obviously, we know that this is just a physical representation of his emotions, but still. Really sad. And weird.

Four represent stability and structure. However, the more and more we see the Fours, they seem to be very depressing and, without being able to think of another word, human. Fours show some of humanity’s darkest sides; depression, greed, death. But we can always grow from what seems to be the darkest sides of humanity. Cups are emotions.

For today’s lesson, we should take away that we are not stable emotionally. With the world actively crumbling around us, I don’t think anyone has an adequate handle on their emotions. We need to learn how to cope better with stressors and processing our more volatile emotions like anger, rage, and grief. Some people are not channeling these emotions effectively and some are channeling them into the wrong kind of coping mechanism. Drinking, smoking, partying; in excess, these things can lead to an inability to cope with emotions in a healthy manner.

So go home tonight and cry, scream into your pillows, meditate, write your feelings out, find your stressors and craft a plan to deal with them more effectively.

Here’s the running tally:

Four of Cups
Four of Swords
Seven of Pentacles
One of Swords
Seven of Swords
Judgement
Two of Cups
The Tower
Ten of Pentacles
Six of Swords
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 22, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

Today is a spectacular day! It is Mabon, the Autumn equinox, the first day of fall! That means it is now culturally appropriate to wear sweaters and drink pumpkin spice and decorate your house in the spooky manner you wish you could all year round.

But we have a card to read today!

Today’s card is the Queen of Pentacles.

Court cards are always a little wonky, since they can either be representative of figures in life, such as the subject of the reading or of people in the subject’s life, or they can represent the bigger picture of the suit’s message; Kings refer to the management and ruling over of the suit’s intention, such as the King of Cups being the the ruler over emotions.

Queens can represent mothers or women, or the creation of something. Pentacles represent wealth and materialism.

Normally, I would assume that this card is representative of me or someone close to me, but since this isn’t exactly a normal reading where we have a representative. But since today isn’t representative of a person, it is more likely the idea of creating wealth, creating a space with the materials you need to be nurtured.

Today, I think we should focus on giving ourselves a sacred place in our own environments; make that blanket fort, make a new altar space, make your bedroom more cozy and comforting in time for winter. Despite what everyone else on the internet preaches, you can’t go and create wealth by learning some weird skill or becoming an virtual ‘insert-job-title-here’. Wealth cannot be created or magically earned (I know, ironic coming from a witch). But wealth can be attained through hardwork and giving ourselves the resources to work hard.

So let’s give thanks for what we do have and gives ourselves the space to recharge and rest after our had work. We can create our own wealth in remembering what we do have and being grateful for what we have. We can create a space for ourselves to enjoy life.

So far we’ve pulled:

Queen of Pentacles
Four of Swords
Seven of Pentacles
One of Swords
Seven of Swords
Judgement
Two of Cups
The Tower
Ten of Pentacles
Six of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

Don’t forget to sign up over on the Giveaways page to be entered into the Daily Draw Giveaway!

Witchcraft 101: The Wheel of the Year (AKA WItchy Holidays)

bitchcraft

The Wheel of the Year is what dictates the holidays many witches, Wiccan or not, celebrate. It’s called a Wheel because , well each season follows the last as the year goes on (spring into summer into fall into winter in spring and so on).

The Wheel of the Year is made up of 8 holidays. Each holiday coincides with either a celestial occurrence or the natural world. For example, 4 of the 8 holidays lie on the equinoxes and solstices, as the world rotates through space and changes angle in regards to the seasons on the Earth’s position in relation to the Sun (basic 4th grade astronomy stuff). The other 4 holidays relate to human nature and the way we’ve lived in the world, mostly tying into harvest schedules and human nature of being cooped in or wanting to be let out.

Taking into account the holidays were created by the witches of yore, who worked their fields and lived in communities of other farmers and ranchers and grazers, witches, the wise women of their communities, helped make holidays for the working class to enjoy life and help keep track of the days between harvests and between the cold long nights of winter.

While the names have changed over the years and the days changed as people grew into the great big world we know today, we can still celebrate these holidays to keep our selves anchored to our pasts and our roots as witches.

Each holiday is called a Sabbat. Some take names from old engligh and some have had names coined for them in the last several decades. But witchcraft is always growing and changing; if you don’t feel drawn to a holiday in particular or to a name in particular for a holiday, then change it to suit you and your needs. I’ll list each holiday and what it celebrates as well as the dates for each.

Fall

Mabon – The Autumn Equinox Sept. 20-23

Samhain – Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, Witch Christmas (basically, as we get to leave our houses spooked up and it looks festive af) Oct 31

Winter

Yule – Actual Christmas, Winter Solstice (This one was stolen by the Christians cause it was way more fun than any of their dumb ideas for dead of winter parties) Dec. 20-25

Imbolc – The world is waking up party! Celebrating the world defrosting and beginning to grow again. Usually happens in the weird part of February where you can feel the warm weather coming in your bones but there’s still snow in the forecast. Feb. 1-2

Spring

Ostara – Spring equinox, Closely resembles Easter (I wonder why ‘insert side-eye emoji’) Celebrating the world coming alive and… the birds and the bees 😉 Mar. 20-23

Beltane – May Day! Usually celebrating the first actually nice and sunny day of the year! May 1

Summer

Litha – Summer Solstice! Celebrating the longest day of the year Jun 20-22

Lughnasadh – First harvest of the year! Celebrating all the stuff that usually comes to fruition towards the end of summer, like the corn, berries, squash and such. Aug 1

So while there’s a lot of holidays (and excuses to party it up with your fellow serfs) you don’t have to follow each and every holiday to a tee. You can even make your own holidays to celebrate anniversaries and such. Just have fun and roll how you feel; as long as you’re being safe, there’s no wrong way to celebrate your holidays as a witch.

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 20, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

Mabon is right around the corner this week, with it following Halloween! I’m going to do a post this week about all the witch’s holidays and Wicca.

But on to today’s card!

Today’s card is the Four of Swords. One detail I love about this card is the nails in the coffin; we’ve already seen the Seven of Swords, where the figure inside the coffin returns.

Fours represent stability and structure. Swords are thoughts and mentalities.

What we can see in the card, however, is that we are not building or growing, we are putting something to rest.

We can take this several ways; we can be putting an old mentality to rest, so to speak, or we can be letting ourselves rest after using our big brains too much. What I find odd, however, is the aspect of death that comes in this rest. Even in the Rider-Waite deck, it shows a man prone in a church, ready for his wake (maybe? that’s the only reason I can see being unconscicous in a church.)

Maybe it is that we need to lay the old parts of ourselves to rest, or maybe it that is is it time to let the past lie when this card comes up. For today, I’m going to take away that it is the perfect time to let go of that which no longer serves us; not only is it a new moon, and the cusp of fall, but it is the beginning of a new week and that means now is a great time to let go and move forward into the rest of this week and this year.

So far we’ve made it through 13 cards! That’s about 16.7% so we’ve got a little ways to go, but we’re making great progress!

Four of Swords
Seven of Pentacles
One of Swords
Seven of Swords
Judgement
Two of Cups
The Tower
Ten of Pentacles
Six of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 19, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

This past week has kicked my ass, but I am refreshed and ready to go today! I think that’s one of the coolest things about witchcraft; if you need to take a break from practicing, you can and you should, and that’s so refreshing from the constant dribble we’ve been fed since childhood of ‘if you aren’t doing somethng all day every day, then you’re not being productive.

Today’s card is the Seven of Pentacles.

Sevens represent faith, understanding, wisdom. Considering how late Sevens occur in the suit, the Sevens are mostly there to show how far you’ve come on your journey and understanding what you’ve learned so far in your journey. Pentacles represent materialism and wealth.

In the card itself, we can see a man behind an abacus, tallying out some number or some worth. We can only wonder what his real figure may be in his head; however in my mind’s eye, I see the worth of my life. He is tallying on Dia de Muertos, as we can see on the banner behind him. Dia de Muertos is the celebration of the dead and what they did while they were alive.

For today, I’ll take away the fact that no matter what everyone thinks of me, I know my worth. And I know that my life is not always worth what others deam (minimum wage job, anyone?) . I’ll remember that today I’m worth much nore than they pay me to give myself to a faceless corporation that holds no love for me.

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 16, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

This week has honestly been kicking my ass. I guess there are a lot of lessons I need to learn, like making boundaries for work and being more convicted in my obligations and responsibilities. But let’s get into today’s card!

Today’s card is the Seven of Swords!

Swords are thoughts and mentalities. Sevens represent trouble, struggle, and discipline.

Knowing how I was yesterday, missing a post and spending too much time at my day job, and today, with struggling out of bed and just getting ready for the day, I know this card is literally personifying me. We literally see a figure getting out of a coffin, the final resting place if you will. And the nails in his coffin are all on the ground.

I’m stuck on the fence with whether this card is warning me to be more discipline with getting more done in my day or if this card is letting me know I’m trying to be too disciplined and thus I’m further exhausting myself. When you’re on the fence with a card, it’s best to take a few minutes and figure out your intuition or instinct about the card.

My head is telling me that I’m not putting in enough effort, whereas my gut is telling me I’ve worked too hard this week and I need to take a well-needed rest. I think now is the perfect time to prepare a rest and get myself back in the right head space.

So far, we’ve seen these cards come through:

Seven of Swords
One of Swords
Judgement
Two of Cups
The Tower
Ten of Pentacles
Six of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 14, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

We’re going to dive right in today on this bright and beautiful Monday!

Today’s card is the One of Swords!

Ones are were the cycle begins, the start of a journey in the cards. Swords are thoughts or mentality.

Knowing what we know from yesterday’s card, it seems the cards are guiding us down a new path. With yesterday being focused on the Judgement card and us moving past what we’ve already learned this year, today seems like it’s pushing us down a new learning path! I know classes are in full swing at many colleges and schools across the world and many students are eager to return as late-start classes are just around the corner.

But besides classes, we should also take the time to learn in general! Maybe you finished school and have no desire to return (no faults there), but maybe now is a good time to pick up a new hobby as the weather turns colder! Maybe now is a great time for you to pick up a new language as our world gets more and more connected. Let’s all take a step towards a new learning path and let’s grow further.

So far, we’ve pulled:

One of Swords
Judgement
Two of Cups
The Tower
Ten of Pentacles
Nine of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

Go to my giveaway page to sign up now for this giveaway that will happen after we get through every card in the deck!

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 13, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

I think the worst thing about working so much is that sometimes you have to put the pet projects on hold to go make the actual money to keep a roof over your head. I know I completely forgot to post yesterday and I’m going to make up for that today. Hopefully.

Today’s card is the Judgement card.

The Judgement card is one of the Major Arcana cards, and pops up in occasions of reflection and reckoning.

Given the current world order, with our many miseries and tribulations, I think this card is here today to remind us that we are becoming kore and more aware of how the world works behind the curtain and how we can affect that inner working.

For today, I think we should remember how far we’ve come this far in the year, of all we’ve learned and grown from, of all that we are now aware. While we shouldn’t congratulate ourselves for just learning, we should keep in kind we are growing and changing.

So far, we’ve pulled:

Judgement
Two of Cups
The Tower
Ten of Pentacles
Six of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

Don’t forget to head to our Giveaway page to register for our Tarot Giveaway!

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 12, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

Today’s post is a little rushed, since real life came banging on the door almost literally at 6am and said ‘we need you to come to work early since everyone else can’t do their jobs well enough’. But a little overtime won’t hurt I suppose. I mean, it definitely will, but let’s think positive.

Today’s card, afer a whole week is finally a Cups card! Today we have one of the better known Cups cards, the Two of Cups.

Twos represent duality and choices. Cups represent the heart and emotions.

The Two of Cups represents the duality and balance in a relationship. We can see the taller figure pouring water from his cup-head into his lover’s, while his lover supports his heart, since he had no other soft tissues to support his organ.

For today, I think we should remember that love is give and take; so instead of taking too heavily from those that love us, let’s give as much as possible today. Love is not a limited resource. Love hard today and take that little extra time to show those around us the love they need.

So far, we’ve drawn:

Two of Cups
The Tower
Ten of Pentacles
Six of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 11, 2020

bitchcraft, Tarot

Buckle up kiddos, because today’s card is a doozy!

Today we have the dreaded Tower card!

So take a deep breathe first. Now, before you get anxiety, let’s remember that many of our scariest cards are there for a reason, to tell us the hard truths we need to know to grow properly. We can’t get far on only sugar and positivity.

The Tower card represents upheival, disaster, a shift in your reality. There is nothing wrong with this card; we should welcome it (cautiously and begrudgingly) into our lives. Because the quicker we learn the lesson it brings, the faster we are done with it’s B.S.

So how can we work through something like disaster with grace? Well, we have to make our peace with why it happened to us; we can’t go through life asking ourselves ‘why did this happen to me?’. We have to make peace with the fact that it happened, whether from accident or from our own hand.

From there, we have to understand what this change is meant to teach us; maybe we are supposed to learn humility from a bad decision, perhaps we are supossed to learn grace as we leave a situtation that is harmful to us and our loved ones, or maybe we are supposed to learn how to do better in our futures.

The Tower, Death, and The Devil cards are cards that are meant to show us that when disaster strikes, we have the tools to survive and come through better, to come through and help others when they come to a situation like you went through. Love yourself and love each other, especially in times of stress and disaster.

Including today’s bleak card, we’ve seen:

The Tower
Ten of Pentacles
Nine of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords