heatherwitch:

• Part one talks about spells, wards, sigils, cleansing, divination and more! 
• Part two talks about grimoires, crystals, wands, altars and more!

It can be easy to feel super overwhelmed when you’re first starting off. This post is for very new witches who have limited knowledge and would like a broad overview! These are my opinions, feel free to disagree but be polite about it.

Please note: Some sections contain information from other posts. All are sourced and linked both within the post and at the bottom!

Coven vs. Solitary?

It is a common belief that you must join a coven to be a witch, but that is not always true.

• Many witches are solitary, meaning they primarily do witchcraft on their own. They may however do it with a friend or two on occasion! I am a solitary witch myself.
• “Covens are a group of practitioners with like minded interests, ethics, and beliefs. They gather together to perform rituals, to connect, and to learn. They often celebrate sabbats and create their own traditions.” [source]    
• There are benefits to being solitary, and to being in a coven. It is often a matter of personal preference!

Secular vs. Religious?

Another common belief is that witchcraft = religion.

• Witchcraft certainly CAN be a religion for you.
• It also can be tied into whatever religion you are already practicing.
• However, witchcraft is not inherently religious, and you can keep witchcraft and your religion separate.
• Additionally, witchcraft isn’t inherently spiritual, and that also falls under the category of secular.
• You can practice witchcraft without worshiping or believing in deities!

Paganism vs. Wicca vs. Witchcraft?

Trust me, this is about as simplified as I can make it while trying to keep it accurate and informative! Basically, people may identify under one of these categories alone, or multiple. They are all valid. 

• Paganism. Was used as a blanket term for everything that didn’t fit into a tidy box of “main world” religions (anything pre/non-Christian). The phrase paganism is now used to describe anyone who follows ancient religions.

  It is often connected to nature worship as well.

  [external source] 

• Wicca. “A form of Neo-Paganism. The practice of Wicca places religion and magic together. They are linked together and cannot be separated. If you practice traditional Wicca, you cannot do magic without attaching religious reference to it, usually in the form of calling on their Goddess and/or God. There is also a set of rules that many practitioners follow.” [source] 
• Traditional witchcraft. “Often serves as a reconstruction of what we believe, from the sources of folklore and history we have, witches did and the roles they served. It is based in and inspired by the lore of witches in the Early Modern Period.” [source]
• Witchcraft. Is a bit of a blanket term. Although by definition it falls under paganism, not all witches identify as being pagan. There is a diverse group who chooses this label, and some may follow certain rules and guidelines, while others do not. 

Curses vs. Hexes vs. Jinxes?

You do not have to do these if you don’t want to. I personally don’t, but fully support those who do perform curses/hexes/jinxes.

• Curses. Curses are long-term, potentially life ruining things. They hold the power to do a lot of harm.
• Hexes. Often considered a weaker version of a curse, designed to make all the little things go wrong, and are long-term.
• Jinxes. More of a momentary, short-term thing. Designed for the target to have all the little things go wrong or have a touch of bad luck.

Enchantments vs. Charms?

The terms can be interchangeable and it is a matter of personal preference. My personal opinion is….

• An enchantment is what you DO to an item. It can also be done to a person.
• A charm is the end result (an item being enchanted).

Blessings vs. Spells?

• Blessings are typically short term and nice little things. A blessing could be “may every light be green for you today”. 
• To bless something with certain intent is kind of a mix between a blessing and a spell, and can last a long time.
• Spells can range in length and intent, and are basically everything not already covered in this post!

Sources: [X] [X] [X] [X]

angry-yet-asexual:

doomsniffer:

mikkeneko:

tilthat:

TIL that a cat once co-authored a physics paper. In 1975, a physicist had just finished writing a paper and was ready to publish but realized that he had used ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ throughout, despite being the sole author. Not wanting to edit the paper, he listed his cat, Chester, as a co-author.

via http://ift.tt/2pvbu4c

This is the cat, by the way: 

I trust him

Ok but the best part is, physicists loved the joke. When people called the author’s university and he wasn’t available, they’d ask to speak with the co-author instead. The author issued a limited number of copies of the article signed by both authors. (Chester’s was obviously a pawprint.) And to this day, physics papers will often have F.D.C Willard (Felix Domesticus, Chester Williard [Willard was the author’s father’s name]) mentioned in the footnotes thanking his “useful contributions to the discussion”.

He looks so damn smug, and rightly so