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Anonymous asked:
Hi Beth. I was wondering if you had any ideas for charming/enchanting a piece of jewelry that one might wear everyday, like a wedding band or a favored necklace, to become a shield against negative energy or to promote general protection of the person. It's for myself though, not someone else. I've noticed that you take who the spell is for into account and wanted to assure you it was just to make me feel safer. Thanks!
Purpose: To turn a favorite piece of jewelry into a wearable protection charm.
You Will Need: Sawdust or wood shavings (oak, cedar, walnut). Blackberry leaves (dried). An incense charcoal disc. A heat proof container. String.
Step One - If you’re casting your charm on a ring or other piece of jewelry that doesn’t have a chain or cord, tie it to the end of a string.
Step Two - Mix your sawdust and your blackberry leaves. Light the incense disc. Make sure that you place it in a heatproof container. You can use sand to absorb some of the heat and keep the surface your container rests on from being burned. Sprinkle some of the mixture over the charcoal disc and let it smolder.
Step Three - Wave your jewelry through the smoke and recite:
By smoke and fire and spoken charm,
I cast a spell to ward off harm.
When this charm is on my person,
I am safe from ill, bad luck, and cursing.
How Magic Works
These are just some of many different theories about how spells work. For anybody who really enjoys “magical theory” like I do or is looking for validation that there’s something to all these weird spells! None of these serve to discredit magic, but rather add a deeper level of understanding to it. The success of a spell could be credited to more than one of these, or something else entirely!
- Law of Attraction. Basically, the idea that you attract what you focus on. A popular example is focusing on the color red, and seeing how much red is around you that you didn’t notice before. This is most effective for spells involving personal matters and success, by formally opening your eyes to details and opportunities you may have missed otherwise.
- The Placebo Effect. It’s a proven fact that our bodies can heal ourselves merely by belief that what we’re doing helps! This can extend beyond health spells to things like confidence, performance ability, and other things that aim at personal improvement. The placebo effect may be all that spell needs to be successful ( and it wouldn’t have happened without the spell!)
- Direct cause/effect. Something about the spell and the way it was cast directly affects the outcome. Example: a sigil designed for protection, when looked at, serves as a constant visual reminder that you are protected, subconsciously strengthening your wards.
- Science/chemistry. This is most true for kitchen witchery and herbalism. Chamomile, lavender, and other herbs aren’t corresponded with calmness and sleep for nothing… they’re made up of chemicals that have been scientifically proven to calm the nerves and aid in sleep!
- Quantum physics. There’s a phrase called “Quantum Woo,” where people use quantum physics (often incorrectly) to explain any type of magical thinking or practice. While the ultimate theory behind quantum physics was recently disproven, the discoveries made through research still hold true. Basically, we know particles behave differently when observed, and our energies can effect this. We just don’t know why that is. This is the baseline behind a lot of energy work.
- Divine string pulling. Ask and ye shall receive. This is where we depart from the physical to the spiritual side of magic. Many people do magic by appealing to divine forces, Mother Earth, God(s), the Universe, whatever you want to call it. This could be with an offering, a ceremony, or even just bedside prayer. The divine force hears the request, and grants it by affecting change and “pulling strings” to cause the desired outcome.
- Spiritual string pulling. Very similar to the previous point, but with entities that are not worshipped or seen as divine. Many believe that spirits can still affect change “behind the scenes.” A spirit worker may make a deal with a spirit for luck or protection, or someone may ask their ancestors for good fortune and health.
- Personal string pulling. Instead of asking an outside entity, this is the idea that we, as the practitioner, pull the strings. This is most seen through the “cone of energy” method of casting, where we raise a lot of concentrated energy and intent in a space, then release it all at once to do its thing. You also see it with sympathetic magic, where by doing something to a poppet, we actively affect that change on the target. No middle man included.
Shadow Work with Me (part one)
Buckle up y’all. It’s a long one. So long it’s coming in two parts.
One post my girlfriend has requested time and time again has been an outline of what to do if she wants to sit down and start doing Shadow Work. And yet, despite it being one of her top suggestions, I’ve struggled to write it. “You just do whatever Shadow Work you want,” I tend to say, which is admittedly a non-answer.
I think one of the reasons I’ve struggled is Shadow Work just isn’t very aesthetic. Even though it’s a cornerstone of my spiritual life, I just don’t feel very witchy for doing it. In fact, it’s one of the areas I feel like aesthetic can actually get in the way. Shadow Work requires you to drop whatever façade you maintain, whatever story you tell yourself, especially the ones you like.
For that reason, my shadow work practice is extremely spare; I’ve taken the rituals out, I’ve taken the candles and the ambiance out. I usually do it sitting on my bed, on my laptop, alone. I usually pray at the end and sometimes I give an offering of incense or booze afterward. Following that, I meditate for anywhere from a few breaths to an hour depending on what I need. Then I grab a snack.
“Okay but what do you actually *do*?” I can hear my girlfriend saying even as I write this. Which brings me to…
Journaling
Journaling is the backbone of my Shadow Work. Basically, all of it is journaling of some form or another, it’s just a matter of whether its tarot assisted or not. I use these journaling styles when I know speifically what I want to work on. I use tarot when I don’t have something I know I want to work on. A mix of both is helpful to me.
I usually use my laptop because it’s easier on my hands. There have been times when I couldn’t type and I’d just turn on the camera or bring up an audio program and talk, going over the recording like I would a journal entry if the method requires it. But usually I bring up a OneNote notebook I have set up for this or an empty word document and go to town.
TMS Journaling
I use this for: when I can feel I’m holding a lot of stress in my body, removing emotional blockages
What it is: Tension Myositis Syndrome/The Mind-Body Syndrome is a medically unrecognized condition where the mind confuses repressed emotions for physical pain. I found it a couple weeks ago when looking for alternative approaches to fibromyalgia (a condition I have) and while I’m not sold on it yet, their journaling exercises have been incredibly helpful. The idea is to allow difficult emotions to come to the surface, see that you’re okay and you don’t have to act on them, and let them float away. Or act on them, I mean I’ve acted on some of what’s come up and it’s been very helpful.
How to do it: The idea behind it is to get in touch with feelings in a raw and routine way. One practitioner I’ve been learning from, talks about letting your inner five year old throw a temper tantrum on the page and that is definitely what it’s like for me. It’s also important for this method to shred the paper or delete the file after you’re done. Because it’s one of the only ways to really get yourself to let loose; when you know absolutely no one will be able to see and be hurt by what you’re writing.
I use a combination of list making and free writes. One of the common TMS journaling components is making three lists: past, present, and personality. Then you list stressors you have under each one. When you go to journal you pick one you’re drawn to and do a 20 minute free write.
I often cry when I use this type of journaling so I really recommend doing it in a private space where you can really let loose if big feelings come up. Though as always, practice good emotional hygiene and mental health safety.
Personal Example: I’ve been extra touchy with my girlfriend lately and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I keep getting caught between feeling like I was unhappy with our relationship, but I also loved our relationship. Through doing this journaling exercise a few times I figured out that I was a bit angry and disappointed that our relationship didn’t look like what I’d spent so much of my younger years imagining my long-term relationship looking like. But by acknowledging those feelings and realizing they didn’t break us up or ruin what we have, it freed me up to enjoy us more deeply, free from guilt and repression. Long term relationships aren’t going to be the ideal in every way and it’s okay to acknowledge that. What I’ve got with her – mutual respect, deep compassion, shared interests, and lasting attraction – is pretty fucking great and that’s the important thing. Might seem basic but it was something I needed to spend active time processing in order to integrate that part of me better.
More information: TMSwiki
I Think/I Feel/I Want/I Will
I use this for: when I’m feeling defensive, when I’m dealing with current or past hurt by a person/people
What it is: A lot of people use Unsent Letters to process feelings from traumatic situations or old relationships, but I found the format often triggered me because of how often I’d been gaslit and trained not to believe my own reality. I Think/I Feel/I Want/I Will is an adaption of a Dialectical Behavioral Therapy format for being more assertive. I use it in my daily life but it’s also pretty much the only way I can write Unsent Letters.
How to do it: It’s very straight forward. For the “I Think” section, you list the events that happened in as unbiased a way as you can. Then in the “I Feel” section, you write whatever the situation made you feel, it doesn’t have to be factual just true for you. In the “I Want” section, you write about how you want the situation to change. In the “I Will” section, you write what will happen if those changes don’t happen.
When writing Unsent Letters in this format, it often winds up validating whatever current course I’m taking (avoiding, going no-contact, etc) that I’ve been feeling guilty about. It helps me realize it’s not just an uncontrolled tendency but a way of protecting myself from a person or group of people. There are just people in this life who don’t need to or shouldn’t have access to you and that’s okay.
Personal Example: My girlfriend’s family has largely disliked me from the moment they met me. They were unkind and exclusionary, then would blame me for not feeling connected or coming to events. I felt really guilty about not wanting to interact with them for a long time. Sitting down and writing an Unsent Letter like this to her mom and her sister helped me feel firmer in my decision to keep my distance from them. They since decided to go no-contact with both of us, which I can’t say I mind. I think though I saved myself a lot of heartache by just being able to organize my thoughts and feelings in this way. I really wanted to be a part of her family and the situation brought up a lot of memories of being teased and widely disliked when I was younger, so I started to feel this desperate need to win them over. But writing out my thoughts like this helped me realize that I had done plenty and they weren’t going to like me no matter what I did. It freed me to focus on myself and Ria more.
More Information: DEAR MAN
Stuck Points
I use this for: limiting beliefs, inner critic work
What it is: I adapted this exercise from one I did with a therapist for a while. The idea is to try to capture some of the unquestioned beliefs that are a part of our everyday thinking and then slowly shift them into something more functional and positive. It’s really hard though so I don’t even get the opportunity to do this too often because it takes a thought showing up repeatedly and decently loudly before I think to apply this. But when I do get to apply it, it’s very helpful.
How to do it: I keep a note on my phone just for capturing dysfunctional beliefs with I notice them. I also include any beliefs I want to investigate. Occasionally I get a belief that I’m unsure if it’s as true as I seem to think it is and I include it. I try to write it in an “If ____ then ____” statement. Then I try to take time to sit down and write the belief out in a big font. Then I use strike through and write new iterations, recording my reasoning for each of my edits until I get a belief I can’t edit anymore. The important part of this is only making edits that feel true. Even if I know something is true, I don’t use it unless the edit also feels true too. This process can take an evening to a couple months or even a year.
Personal Example: I’m currently in the process of revising the belief that “I’m not a good student”. I’ve had a lot of trouble with school my whole life and it’s been a source of shame for me. I’m not to a point where I would say “I’m a good student”. But through different edits and reasons I’ve arrived at “I’m not a good traditional student, but I’m a good self-taught student.” Just getting it here has helped free me up to look at the self study I do in German, philosophy, and history as a part of my education rather than something separate. It’s shifted from a feeling of being inherently wrong or bad to doing well or even excelling under certain circumstances and struggling with others. That’s still so helpful just to have that degree of separation. It’s still slow going but I do try to work on it from time to time. It’s easy to get frustrated when it doesn’t budge for a while, but I know it will eventually.
More Information: Details on how to write out stuck points to work with
Conclusion
In the next post I’ll cover how I use tarot specifically for Shadow Work. I usually have a pretty even mix of both this style of journaling and tarot journaling over a weekly basis. I’m toying with the idea of doing shadow work journaling prompts on New Moons or maybe weekly. If that’d be something you’re interested in, please let me know! I really do think Shadow Work has a lot to offer us personally and magically and I want to help more folks do it. What other shadow work topics would y’all like to see?
I heard these people do some pretty quality decks - I like that you can order just one or two decks for a personal project and it’s only $16 a deck.
Bedridden Witch Series
For those of you who don’t know me, I suffer from a chronic illness and I spend a LOT of time bedridden. I also happen to be a witch! I don’t let being trapped in bed stop me from practicing my craft. Here are some resources I’ve compiled from my personal experiences and the help of others <3
- Bedridden witch - Original edition
- Bedridden witch - Nature edition
- Bedridden witch - Worship edition
- Bedridden witch- Divination edition
- Bedridden witch - Stale energy edition
- Bedridden witch - Elements edition
- Bedridden witch - Pastel edition
- Bedridden witch - Kitchen edition
- Bedridden witch - Winter edition
- Bedridden witch - Ocean edition
- Bedridden witch - Love edition
- Bedridden witch - Weather edition
- Bedridden witch - Garden edition
- Bedridden witch - Bath edition
- Bedridden witch - Wheel of the Year edition
- Bedridden witch - Discreet edition
- Bedridden witch - The Setup
Check the notes for future updates! Updated January of 2020
Read More, Read Better
Many of us are looking for more ways to enjoy our time at home in these stressful circumstances. Some of us have turned to books. But how can we make sure we get the most out of them?
You are immortal; you exist for billions of years in different manifestations, because you are Life, and Life cannot die. You are in the trees, the butterflies, the fish, the air, the moon, the sun. Wherever you go, you are there, waiting for yourself.
don Miguel Ruiz (via aspiritualwarrior)
will-o-the-witch