Someone once told me that I should be able to interpret the tarot without ever looking at the cards and like on the one hand okay, it’s important to know the general meaning of the cards but on the other, each deck has energy from the artist’s work imbued into the card and that’s important too, and this whole rant is really to justify pulling the 8 of wands, which in my deck has a cherub shooting and arrow, and deciding that the deck was telling me to play a first person shooter
I know it seems like I’m active but it’s 90% queue right now. My health has been really bad and the fatigue and exhaustion is hitting me hard so I barely come on here. Even typing this is difficult. I’ll be more active when my health allows it ❤️
Because the garbage pit of discourse is apparently overflowing onto my dash again, a few reminders:
Accepting or renouncing particular religions does not make you any more or less genuine, authentic, or “accurate” as a witch.
You are never required to “prove yourself” as a witch by doing something that makes you seriously uncomfortable. Anyone (human or spirit) who says you must do so is an ignoramus at best, and a predator at worst.
Your spirituality and worldview are not disconnected from the political realm. When people call you out, it is your responsibility to sincerely attempt to listen.
People are allowed to define what “witch” means when applied to themselves.
No single person, no matter how fancy their bibliography, gets a monopoly on what’s “traditional.”
One subject that I incorporate into my craft are local deities. What are local deities? Local deities are guardians and protectors of specific places such as a specific forest, mountain range, river, or even a specific city. They can come or manifest them in many different forms or none at all. Everything within the entirety of it’s domain is its eyes and ears.
But this post is specifically about local forest deities. If you’re lucky, you might be able to catch them manifested as a huge gorgeous deer, an hawk who’s gaze seems to pierce right through you or maybe even as a huge, seemingly ancient tree that you swear that you can see it breathing.
The forest deity, as the name suggests, watches over the forest and all its inhabitants. The way you treat the forest can be the difference between suffering the fate of a forever lost traveler, who can only seem to walk in circles, and having a safe voyage through to your destination.
If you go out of your way to help protect and conserve the forest, you might just gain the respect of the deity. If you’re particularly devoted and deemed trustworthy, it is possible to have a relationship with them, working together for the forest.
Here are some ways to help gain respect:
Pick up litter
Report poachers (it’s super dangerous to approach them so please don’t)
Organize an event to plant some NATIVE trees*. Do your research. It would be wise to contact your local conservation group
Meditate in the forest. Try to feel the breath and whispers of the forest
If you find a unnaturally injured animal (caught in trap, hit by car, shot and left to die, etc) DO NOT INTERACT WITH THEM but rather call you’re local animal rehabilitation unit**.
*I can not emphasize how it important it is to not plant non-native flora. It can seriously harm the entirety of that ecosystem and can wipe out complete species of fauna/flora there
**Touching or interacting with wild animals is really bad and sometimes illegal. It can seriously stress them out which can be deadly to them and/or you. If an animal is injured, the consequences will be much worse.
Something that baffles me is when people compare Aphrodite to “bloody” goddesses (Anat, Inanna, Sekhmet, etc.) as a way to say Aphrodite is just a demure love goddess teehee, look how badass my warrior goddess is instead.
Aphrodite Ourania rose out of blood and the ocean and walked to land fully-formed. This Aphrodite is a Titaness, older even than the generation of Zeus. She has no mother. She is never an infant. She is the ultimate generative power, the fish, born from a male (upending societal norms) and wielding the power of creation and invention.
Aphrodite Areia is a war goddess – this is the title made famous by Athena and Ares, but Aphrodite does not get this title from her lover. She is a goddess of soldiers and fights on the battlefield of Troy. She is also Aphrodite Hoplismena, the armed, depicted in full armor with a shield and sword. This is the Aphrodite of Sparta.
Aphrodite Nikephoros is not only Aphrodite armored and armed, but Aphrodite commanding the power of Nike – Nike, the goddess usually found at Zeus’s side, ensuring victory. This Aphrodite is not one to be crossed on the battlefield, because you will not win.
Or maybe we just aren’t on the same page as the ancients when it comes to a “love goddess.” Aphrodite Pandemos is a goddess of frenzy, a goddess who incites war and madness, a goddess to whom it was said even the Fates would bend their will. To some Hellenes, Aphrodite was the goddess of creation because she is the spark of all love and desire – and to others, she was the creator of all.
There’s nothing wrong in calling Aphrodite a goddess of love – she is, truly. But this doesn’t make her timid. She is not clawless. She is a complex goddess, inextricably linked to the awesome war goddesses of the Ancient Near East. Do not dilute her just because you’re not familiar with her or with the domain of love goddesses. I know this may seem trivial to some people, but don’t reduce one goddess to make another look more powerful – they don’t need it.
So I just moved into my apartment, and I thought I’d share some of the things I did when I moved in to cleanse and ready my house for my new life!
Before moving! Packing your witchy things carefully into a box with packing paper. Put sigils for protection and cleansing either on the outside of the box, or on the paper on the inside. I used This one for cleansing.
When moving in cleanse the house! I choose to use sage, but palo santo works really well too (I know sage does not smell so hot). You can either burn a bundle or use incense or Oil. I find that all three work when it comes to spreading the essence through the house. If burning a bundle I trace the doors and windows of the house. if using incense or oil I put the defuser in the center most room of the house.
protect the entrance of your new home by sprinkling a line of salt outside your front door.
Craft and hang a witches ladder in the living room.
Set up your altar/s. I have my Wiccan one and my shrine for Aphrodite in my bedroom and a small alter in my kitchen. Altar’s do not have to be big and showy if you want to put one in another room! My kitchen altar just consists of a candle and a small bundle of crystals and an incense burner. It helps bring energy into different parts of your home.
Use crystals as decor. Place some or your crystals decoratively on shelves or tables to both give your home some pizazz and bring some witchiness everywhere.
If you worship gods/goddesses end by doing a small offering and welcome the god or goddess into your new home and to thank them for their help.
“you’re going to DELETE a post you AGREED with just cuz you found out ops a terf??”
yeah turns out learning that people having uber bigoted ideologies changes the context of the post buddy
I once reblogged a post about how a women’s bathroom was an important place of refuge, and that was why women often go to the bathroom in groups or to cry and why people leave those domestic abuse cards in women’s bathrooms, and how it’s the one place women can be away from men, and I was like “this is a fantastic post, yes” and then I found out the OP was a TERF and that post was suddenly no longer about safety in women’s restrooms. It was actually about wanting to make it impossible for trans women to pee in a public restroom. It was about making trans women seem like they invade a sacred place and make it dangerous. You bet your ass I deleted that reblog.
thanks to my followers who hit me up when/if I need to delete something
Heatherwitch 