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Surprise Tarot Reading!

Well folks I just did a suppose reading for myself, the first in a very long time and oh boy. I completely understand those memes about how putting off shadow work comes back to bite you in the ass.

I pulled several cards as I asked my deck questions tonight and the answers honestly shocked me, but in the same way you get shocked when something bad happens because of something you could have easily prevented, like keeping a glass from falling from the edge of your counter.

I didn’t get any pictures in the moment so this post will be sadly pictureless. As a notice to anyone who is startled by the cards I describe, I’m using the Santa Muerte deck.

I started with asking what I needed to now at this moment.

I drew the 2 of Pentacles, 6 of Cups, and 5 of Cups.

The 2 of Pentacles represents the issues we are having with money; and that while we are better than where we’ve been, we are not comfortable yet. The 6 of Cups represents my current overwhelm with my emotions and internal monologue. And the 5 of Cups represents the depression I’ve been suffering from; the image on this card in particular is of a figure in a pond with water rising around them, almost to chest level as they pleakly stand. I remember this card clearly because all I could hear in my head was I’m drowning.

I then asked what I can do to fix it, being the situation itself?

I drew the 8 of Wands and the Knight of Cups. This particular 8 of Wands is very vibrant and features shafts of wood coming out the undergrowth around a skull that is seemingly yelling. I understood this combination to mean that I must work through with my internal conflict to become the champion of my emotions.

I then asked if I was on the right path, asking as a yes/no answer.

I drew the Star next.

While I understand the place the Star holds in a traditional journey, it is different in response to a yes/no question; as a yes/no you have to ask how you feel about the card and what it means to you.

I took the Star to mean yes, but an iffy yes, the kind where you’re not quite sure but anything can influence the decision.

I then asked if I take the next step I had been considering, will my path be right? (I know this one is almost too specific, but I wanted to see what I could pull?)

I received the 3 of Pentacles in response. This card shows a farmer watering three spouts with love and care.

I take it to mean that by taking the time to grow my garden first, then the next step will be prosperous.

I felt like this is one of the longest organic readings I’ve had in a long time and it was great. I guess sometimes when you stop and listen, you can actually learn things.

Have you ever had an experience like this? Let me know in the comments.

Witchcraft 101: Angel Numbers

bitchcraft

Oh my dear witchlings, how I simply detest Angel Numbers.

Where do I start?

I feel that Angel numbers are simply a scam. Angel numbers are a construct for our digital modern world to find meaning in the meaningless. We find these numbers written in clocks, on signs, in emails and messages. All man made constructs.

Maybe I feel that Angel numbers are a thing because I grew up in an area where the local taxi company’s number was just 7s, making it easier for drunk folk to get a ride home (before Uber existed, I’m not that old I promise). Seeing something like, I don’t think I can put my faith in Angel numbers. I can’t connect with Angel numbers.

But I’m still going go through what they mean so you have a good idea of what they can mean for you. Witchcraft is about finding what works in your practice. I know some witches swear by Angel numbers, making wishes on 11:11 and such. For me, my heart just doesn’t have connection to Angel Numbers.

111

One repeating is a sign of intuition. It’s a sign to keep doing what you’re doing as this is the right path.

222

2 repeating is a sign that you are exactly where you need to be. Focus on what you want and trust in yourself.

333

3 repeating is a sign of equilibrium. When this number shows up, it is time to focus on the body, mind, and soul, and to care of each properly.

444

4 repeating is a sign that your guides are protecting you, and to take care in protecting yourself in your environment and your mind.

555

5 repeating is a sign of change. This number is commonly used for written manifestations and petitions to help bring about change.

666

6 repeating is a sign to stop and reevaluate. This number has been corrupted by Christianity as a sign of the devil, but in different contexts things can mean different things. This number, when observing angel numbers is harmless and is a number for self-evaluation and self-monitoring. However, this is one of those narratives that we will most likely not change in our lifetime, like the black cat issue.

777

7 repeating is a sign of strength. It is a sign of releasing fear and looking towards the future with hope.

888

8 repeating is a sign of balance and harmony. This sign means you are connected well to yourself and to the universe.

999

9 repeating is a sign that your journey is coming to an end, and it is time to let go. When journeys end, it is time to leave what was brought on the journey and become ready to start the next journey.

You might disagree with me and think Angel numbers are amazing. And I’m not here to tell you they aren’t. I’m hear to say that I can’t connect with them, but I’m giving you the information to make your own decisions about whether this is something you want to include in your practice.

Maybe you agree with me that Angel numbers aren’t anything special. But let’s not go after others that want to use this form of practice. We’re better than that. We can say we don’t like them, but we shouldn’t discourage others from doing what is best for them.

It’s kind of like vegetables; some people love Brussel sprouts and some people hate them. But if you like them you shouldn’t force them on people who hate them and if you hate them you shouldn’t force that on someone else who likes them.

Note: this logic does not apply to something regarding basic human rights, such as gender, sexuality, access to medical care, or the pursuit of a long, safe, healthy, happy life.

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Witchcraft 101: Honoring your story…

bitchcraft

Hello my little witchings!

I know it’s been a while and I want to say two things.

For everyone who has still been visiting, thank you so much for your support. And for everyone that has been patiently waiting for me to come back, thank you as well.

The past few months have really highlighted how toxic my situation had become with my self talk, my work environment, and my goals. I took some time away to really think about what I’ve been wanting out life and I think I know now.

Honoring your story is the way you look at your own story and decide that you are still worth it despite all the trials and struggles you’ve faced. For several months now, I’ve been focusing on my story and working to honor the past I have. I’ve been, frankly, depressed about how my life has turned out and I’m not even 25 yet!

I visited an old friend this past April, and they told me exactly what I needed to hear; that I’ve been trying too hard to be responsible and I haven’t let myself live or have fun. And that I should focus on doing things for me.

So I took the time to look for a new job in the industry I want to work in and I started looking for a way out of retail. And I finally did it. I found a job at a veterinary clinic and I found a way out of working in retail. And my mental health has never been better.

I know my story is… boring and typical. I know my story hasn’t been written fully, neither the ending or the beginning has been laid out for you dear readers. But I know that the journey I’ve been on has taught me hard lessons I needed to learn.

Honoring your story is understanding that some days are going to be hard, and the version of you you wish you could be might never come true. But it also means that the hard days are meant to help you grow, the missed opportunities and missed connections are for a reason, and the you you want to be is everchanging and growing as you change and grow.

Honoring your story is forgiving yourself, which is still something I am actively working on.

Honoring your story is being your first line of support in heartache and victory.

When you honor your story, you are drawing connections to your past to forge your future.

I won’t lie to you. The last year has been the hardest I have lived through and not just because of Covid. In two weeks I’ll turn 24. Last year, I spent my birthday sitting on my couch getting drunk and mourning the version of me I thought I should’ve been if everything had been different. I still mourn that version of me. I know now that this version of me is the version I need to be. But it’s hard to reconcile your dreams with the reality of your situation sometimes. But that’s why we need to honor our stories and honor each other’s stories as well.

If you want to tell your story and get it out, please feel free to do so in the comments. Or send me a message via my contact page or on Instagram. I know telling my story to others has helped me gain insight to my own journey and if you have no one you can tell, tell me; I won’t post anything sent in confidence.

Witchcraft 101: What is Grounding

bitchcraft, Grimoire, Witchy

In these tough times, the hardest thing to do is keep your senses and your mind clear enough to actually make a difference in the world.

Between the world recovering from a pandemic to the current the current political and racial tensions plaguing American, anyone who feels emotions heavily is feeling drained. You don’t need to by an empath to even feel drained from the constant hits this year keeps bringing.

The easiest thing you can do as a witch during these trying times is to ground yourself and ground yourself often.

Grounding is the process of connecting yourself to the earth. Grounding is what you do to help get your emotions and thoughts in order, especially before going into figurative battle against the Karens at your workplace or the injustice in the world. I think of grounding as the literal reminder to come back down to earth and be in your body instead of being stuck in your head; while many problems need to be thought about to come up with a solution, overthinking can plague us with fatigue, overwhelm, directionlessness, unnecessary anxiety, and undue stress. (Take it from me, as someone who is a chronic overthinker)

Grounding can be a part of meditation and is useful for centering yourself and knowing how you want to proceed through a task or obstacle.

You can ground during daily meditation sessions or whenver you feel overwhelmed with everything.

The easiest way to ground is to literally just find some ground and take a few minutes to breath. Many people have access to gardens or parks of some kind; grounding should become a part of your rituals and practices because it can help you regain focus on your thoughts and help you ground your energy back to you.

Why should you ground? Why is grounding so important?

Grounding is the first step before any spellwork; you should always be aware of your emotional state before starting spellwork or any magic working. If you focus on the wrong emotion during a spell, it won’t work or it won’t work as intended. Grounding is also a good way to decompress after a stressful day or stressful situation by helping you focus.

Many ground by just sitting or touching earth of some kind. Maybe you can do this during a meditation session, during a daily gardening session, or during something like a yoga routine every day. You can ground anytime of day, day or night, sunlight or moonlight, whatever temperature (as long as you’re being safe! Be wary of temperature extremes!)

Grounding is something that takes a bit of practice, like meditation; while an easy and cheap thing to pick up as a new witch, it does take some practice to understand how your energy feels before and after. I like to repeat mantras to myself while grounding; like in meditation, it can help a busy mind settle down and focus on one topic. Grounding is also a great way to help with bringing home work; by taking the time to stop, reflect, and breath, you reduce the stress life is causing you in aspects like work, family, and general survival (everyone hates seeing their bills and the stess of paying them while making sure you have enough to eat).

You can ground in many ways and there’s so many ideas about how to ground out there. Don’t be afraid to ask how others do it and see what works for you; that’s the whole point of witchcraft! We can help each other by providing new ideas and new perspectives while still being able to make the rules for ourselves about how we want to practice our individual beliefs. And don’t worry if you’re in an environment where earth might be hard to come by, like a bug city apartment with concrete and steel for miles around. You can use the dirt in your potted plants, the dirt under your nails, or just go fill up a jar with dirt!

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 9, 2020

Tarot

You ever feel that end of week slump were you’ve worked super hard all week and you’re ready for your day off? Cause I sure am feeling it today.

But we’re here to read Tarot so let’s get to it!

Looks like today is the Six of Swords! Swords is honestly my favorite Minor Arcana suit; I really like the symbolism behind swords in literature and the entire suit of Swords is so complex and deep.

Sixes represent compassion and problem-solving. Swords represent thoughts, mentality.

In this card, we can see what I can the ferryman, his boat loaded down with men. Perhaps they have come from a battle somewhere, or perhaps they are still on their journey on to their final fight. Either way, they are on a journey of some kind.Whereever the ferryman is taking them, at least they are together with their brothers-in-arms.

From this card, we can draw that we need to think outside the box, come up with new solutions to our problems. Perhaps this means meeting with our teams and our support systems to best handle new issues and situations. Or we should take the time to understand why a certain thought process or course of action has not worked. Wherever you end up today, remember that you always have someone by your side. And if you feel like you have no one, then let me be on your side. Comment or send me a private message on my contact page; I’ll be there for you because we need to help each other get through what is arguably one of the toughest points in many peoples’ lives right now.

Here is the running list of the cards we’ve drawn! Don’t forget to register for the giveaway on our giveaway page!

Six of Swords
Four of Pentacles
Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

Daily Tarot Draw: Sept. 7, 2020

bitchcraft, Grimoire, Tarot, Witchy

I think once we get through the whole deck, I’ll do a Tarot kit giveaway, like a deck, some candles, some tea, a tapestry or something to read the cards on. Let me know in the comments if that sounds cool or if you have a better idea. Gods know I need some. But I’m mostly always available and would love to hear what you’re thinking. But now onto our card today.

Today we get a Major Arcana card! Today looks like Strength. Unlike some Major Arcana cards, Strength is one of the few that means what is says (looking at you, Devil and Tower). I love the Strength card even in the Rider-Waite decks. Something about it is just, well, magic.

But let’s dive in before I lose myself in self-reflection.

Strength is a great card, it’s powerful, it means what it says; it’s Strength. It tells you to be strong, to be courageous. The advice from the White Book is mostly this: act with conviction, without hestiation, and trust yourself to know what do.

This honestly the first time I’ve pulled Strength for myself in a reading, but just seeing it makes me want to punch a bear and climb a skyscraper. The colors alone in any deck are usually so bright and eyecatching, strong is almost an understatement.

For today, I believe we must remember we have been strong enough to get to this point and we are strong enough to persevere. We are strong enough to change the future to better serve us and those after us. We are strong.

Here’s running tally of the card’s we’ve pulled:

Strength
Three of Wands
Two of Swords

So there’s about 75 cards we have to get through!

Witchcraft 101: Do’s and Don’t’s of love spells

bitchcraft, Grimoire, Witchy

Today is the day for all things love, lust, and romantic.

But what they don’t talk about for Valentine’s day, is the requests for love spells. And you know the ones we’re talking about; the Hollywood movie magic where with a special incantation(in Latin, obviously) the one you desire will be utterly obsessed with you.

But we have to lay down some ground rules.

Do… define what kind of love someone is looking for. There’s all kind of safe, effective rituals and spells for self-love and selfless caring for an individual. These kinds of spells are good regardless of belief system, because spreading love to yourself and others is healthy.

Don’t… perform spellwork for unrealistic requests. Some boundaries cannot be crossed and manipulated, such as one-sided love or bringing the dead back. So if you get a hankering to work some spells on your crush, or get a request for conjuring a dead relative, maybe just say no until your more comfortable in your practice.

Do… work some spells for yourself. Today is about love. Work some spells and rituals to show yourself some love. Cleansing bath with herbs and crystals, buying yourself a box of chocolates, tending your garden (if applicable), stargazing, or even a break from witchiness. Whatever you feel you need.

Don’t… feel pressured to lie about love. Maybe you’re doing a reading for someone and the signs aren’t there. Don’t feel like you have to lie to your friends or clients about love being in their future when it’s not. The truth may hurt, but it hurts less than lies that lead people on.

But most importantly…

Do… remember to have fun! Do so safely, of course, using proper spiritual and physical safety precautions (wrap it before you tap it). But today is a day of having fun and spreading love.

Witch 101: Candle burning tips…

bitchcraft, Grimoire, Tarot, Witchy

My dear little witches, I’m sure you’ve been chomping at the bit to start spell work. And the easiest spells to start with is candle magic.

But let’s pump the brakes for a minute. Before we dive headlong into lighting shit on fire (I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m all for lighting shit on fire), we should go over some concerns.

Safety concerns.

The three things you need to consider before striking those matches:

Candle size
Time constraints
Fire safety

I know what you’re thinking Ugh, this isn’t the first time I’ve played with candles. Which I know. But this is the first time you’ve played with fire, literally, for other intentions than making a space smell nice or lighting your way during a blackout.

So let’s take candle size into consideration first.

One of the top social media witch tips is to use birthday candles is you’re worried about time, since they burn down fast.

But what about some old fashioned taper candles(like for a dinner party) or a votive candle or pillar candles? All of these bigger candles pack a bigger punch than a birthday candle or even a tealight candle.

But you have to be present with the flame burning otherwise you are compromising your own safety.

So rule of the thumb, the bigger the candle, the longer it burns. Duh.

But this pairs with our time constraints.

Any spell should be thought out, and you shouldn’t be doing a candle spell 20 minutes before you have to leave for work.

So you have to plan for a night in or something to work big candle magic, like burning a pillar candle or your big ass Yankee candle you got on sale.

I’m sure at this point you’re blindly scrolling, rolling your eyes like I’m your mom giving you a lecture about the dirty dishes.

But I say this with love. And concern.

But what about some of your bigger candles? Do you have an idea of how to keep your tables safe from wax drip or heat marks? Do you have an idea of where in your space you can safely burn candles?

Here’s where I have some cheap witch tips for you baby witchlings.

To catch wax drippings…

Use a spare aluminum foil pan! A pie dish or a roasting pan, whatever you have available, will catch your drippings safely since the edges are raised. And when the pan is used up, you can get rid of the wax appropriately (recycle, reuse, dispose of correctly per city waste rules), and then recycle the pan.

You can also use an old plate or bowl you have sitting in the back of the cabinet. You know the one, it matches the set but the edges are busted from one too many upsets in the dish mountain in the sink, or theres a whole missing piece from an accident, but because it matches the set, you won’t just dump it. The plate is heat safe, since it holds hot food, and can protect your tabletops from heat damage from a low-burning candle.

Just remember basic candle safety anytime you want to do a candle spell:

Light candles on a sturdy surface, to reduce risk of knock overs and resulting fires.
Keep candles, especially open flames like on votive, taper, tealight, and even birthday candles, away from pets and children, even your familiar
Don’t leave candles unattended for periods of time, since fire is unpredictable and can cause problems when not properly contained or monitored.
And keep a safe method of putting fire out on hand. A fire extinguisher is always a good thing to keep on hand, whether to stop kitchen fires or candles that got out of control. If you’re worried about the flame getting out of control, keep calm, try to put you candle out safely with water first or an extinguisher, and remove the hot candle to a cool and safe location until the candle is completely cool to touch, such as a cement driveway, sidewalk or patio, or a bathtub/shower where more water is readily on hand. Always call the proper emergency response agency if an emergency occurs, whether fire or burns.

Witchcraft: palm reading…

bitchcraft, Grimoire, Witchy

Palm reading is literally the coolest thing I can imagine when it comes to secret witchcraft.

It’s like no one knows you’re a witch until bam! You look at their palm and tell their future. Then they’re shaken, they’re like, whoa you were a witch this whole time. Then you slip into the shadows with an eerie cackle, never to be seen again.

But what is palm reading exactly? What do witches see on the palms?

Well, buckle up kiddos, cause this is about to get spooky.

Palm reading is the art of looking at someone’s palm and reading the lines. Which lines you ask? Well, every palm is different, of course, just like everyone has unique fingerprints. But we all have some things in common, exactly like how fingerprints can be classified by shape even though we’re all unique.

Each palm, while unique, has certain lines that can be ‘read’ so to speak. These lines cross the palm in certain ways and are read in specific ways.

Just Google palmistry (the art of palm reading) and look at the image results. SO many results pop up and honestly, I won’t try to find one for you to look at because, depending on how in depth you want to get, that will depend on how detailed of an image you want.

So what’s the point of palm reading then? Why bother to learn it besides it being a cool party trick?

Well, you can tell a lot about a person from their palms and it doesn’t even have to be anything about their future.

Use palmistry as a way to determine if someone is a good vibe. Check their palms for callouses, scars, burns, and healing wounds. These things can tell you all about a person; their career, their work ethic, their carefulness or carelessness… And this doesn’t even cover the lines in their palms.

When you do get to their palms, take a look at how the lines cross over their palms. Take into account if the lines are long or short, continuous or broken.

The Life line runs from the heel of the hand across towards the thumb.

The Heart line runs from the edge of the palm, by the pinkie, just under the fingers.

The Head line is the longest line between the Heart (on top) and the Life (bottom).

The Fate line runs perpendicular to the Head and Life line, creating a triangle-like shape in the middle of the palm.

These four lines can help you divine someone’s destiny.

The length can tell you how long their life may be, when they may meet their love, how their fate and their life are intertwined.

Don’t be afraid to look up all the crazy posts out there telling you how to read a palm. Most of these posts go in depth about their character based on hand shape, how the shape of their fingers can influence their destiny, how the lines interacting can mean different things, what it means if the lines are broken, what it means if the lines are present…

Because after all…

Your destiny is in your hands.