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Magical water properties. A part of Grimoire Basics Volume 3

Animals in Sea Witchcraft

Hi everyone! I had a lot of questions about animals in sea witchcraft and what they represent so I thought I’d make a list <3  Because the sea is home to many animals and plants of different shapes, sizes, and species, animals in sea witchcraft is important and can make your craft more versatile. 

Before I list all the animals and what they can do for your craft, I want to talk about first how you can implicate characteristics of the animals. You can use the sound they make during rituals or spell casting to incorporate their characteristics or make your spell/ritual stronger. You can use a picture or statue of them to incorporate in rituals, or carry a statue or picture of the animal to give yourself their characteristics. You can put the picture or statue under your pillow (if the statue is small enough and you’re okay with it) to bring you dreams that pertain to their characteristics. 

Sea turtles These are very old creatures, so they carry with them the characteristic of wisdom and patience, and because of their shells, they also carry the characteristic of protection and strength. They can also represent home, and carrying home with you wherever you go- a characteristic of being rooted. In Hawaii, they represent good luck.  Uses: Use for good test scores or quality work, rooting for yourself or others, insight, and anxiety.

Dolphins Dolphins are very fun and intelligent creatures, carrying with them the characteristics of intelligence, charisma, playfulness, open-mindedness, helpfulness, community, love, and companionship. They are one of the more versatile of ocean animal totems, because they can represent so much. Depending on your intent for using the dolphin in your craft, the characteristic will come out into your work. Some other characteristics might also come out to help make your work even more versatile.  Uses: pretty much anything honestly. Mainly used for companionship, such as strengthening bonds that might be strained or broken. 

Manatees Manatees are an underrated animal in witchcraft. Manatees have the characteristics of relaxation, flexibility, open-mindedness, patience, and self acceptance. In our world today, we have no time to slow down and relax or take 5 minutes to reflect on ourselves. When stressed out or stuck in a tight situation, try incorporating the manatee’s energy into your work. The energy of manatees will slow you down and give you the relaxation and open-mindedness you need to reflect and will give you the self acceptance you need.  I highly suggest using this animal in your craft.  Uses: Stress relief for yourself or others, depression, anxiety

Whales There are many different kinds of whales, all with different characteristics. As I don’t what this post to be too long, I plan to go into all the different species in a different post, but for now I will share what characteristics are generally attributed to whales.  Whales carry the characteristics of power and creativity, as well as friendship/friendliness, and emotion / self discovery and awareness. Because of their size, their power shines through. The unique and individual songs whales sing represent their creativity. Whales represent friendship and friendliness, as well as some undertones of patience.  Whales can reach deep depths of the ocean, representing ourselves reaching deep into our minds and emotions and bring about self understanding, discovery, and awareness. The whale can help us understand our emotions and who we are.  Uses: Good for when you or someone you know feels weak or helpless, good for calming after someone or yourself has done something against you or someone else, as it helps to calm and understand.  Rays Rays are a popular creature at many aquariums and during many sea life tours. There are multiple species, like the string ray, manta ray, butterfly ray, etc.  Just like with the whales, I’ll probably go into them into another post but say the general characteristics.  Rays represent fluidity, grace, flexibility, protection, and camouflage/blending in. Rays move with grace, carrying a go-with-the-flow and fluidity and flexibility characteristic. Because they are called “the birds of the sea,” they also carry a characteristic of freedom and flight. Use rays in your work when you want to let go of something that might be causing you stress and bring your mind to a place of go-with-the-flow, as well as getting out of the situation gracefully and protected. Rays also help with blending in to surroundings, and can be helpful especially helpful for people with anxiety.   Uses: Anxiety, procrastination, stress

Jellyfish Jellyfish are known for being dangerous because of their stingers, but they can teach us important lessons. Jellyfish carry the characteristics of harmony, balance, responsibility, and learning from our mistakes. They can also represent self love. Jellyfish represent harmony and balance, being in harmony with the environment around them and being balanced. They represent being cautious and being responsible, looking around for danger before stepping into the water. When we dive in head first into something we haven’t taken the time to reflect on, we can get stung, so jellyfish represent learning from our mistakes. They can also have an undertone of self love, as once put in danger or feeling threatened, the jellyfish will attack and won’t put up with someone walking on them. 

Uses: Use during divination or prayer before making a big decision, or use the jellyfish for reflection after a mistake you made to help you learn from it and get out of the mistake a changed person.  Otter Otters are incredibly friendly and cute animals, and are a famous attraction at zoos. Otters are more of the smaller marine creatures, and can represent being one fish in a whole ocean full of them. Otters carry the characteristics of usefulness, wit, curiosity, freedom, and relaxation or “wind down time.” Otters are easy going and can help after a stressful day of work or school, or just a stressful day in general. They are extremely witty and can use the resources around them, such as when they use rocks to open shells for food. They represent freedom in that they are happy where they are, and happy as an individual, like being a small part of a huge ocean.  Uses: Use the otter when someone you know or yourself has had a stressful day,week, month, year, etc. Use the otter to become more witty and see solutions in the area around you, even when there seems like there is no solution.  Seal Seals are another popular sea creature, and represent open-mindedness in seeing two sides of a story and seeing different view points. They represent difficulties that will come to you and the balance to fight against or go with the difficulties. Seals can see above and below water, two entirely different worlds, so the seal can help you see two entirely different worlds of the same story, or can help someone you know to understand. The two ways of seeing the world also represent two paths that you can take- you can either fight against difficulties that come your way, or just swim along with them and let them pass. If you are having difficulties balancing your life, maybe balancing personal and professional life, the seal can help with this too.  Uses: Use the seal whenever there are 2 options and you don’t know which one to take, or use it when you want further understanding.  Orca / Killer Whale The orca is part of the dolphin family, unlike what the name suggests. Orcas carry the characteristics of understanding, peace, intelligence, community, and quick learning. Orcas are intelligent and are quick learners and can easily learn new tricks, whether these be taught or something they learn themselves. They bring about peace and understanding, as often times people misunderstand orcas. If you feel misunderstood, use the orca. Orcas travel in pods and create their own distinct “language” within their pods, so they can not only represent community and relationships, but also the orca has a meaning of understanding one’s language and using one’s words.  Uses: Expressing yourself, especially in the case that someone has misunderstood you and/or your relationship with someone is deteriorating or is broken. Also can be used during studying or reading to learn things quickly and absorb knowledge.  Seahorse The seahorse is a popular animal in many aquariums. Seahorses represent uniqueness, love, good luck, rooting/anchoring, and determination. Because of the uniqueness in not only their appearance but also in the way they procreate, seahorses represent uniqueness and can bring out the uniqueness in you. They are monogamous, and sea horse couples rely on each other, which represents the love the seahorses bring about. They are a symbol of good luck. They anchor themselves to plants like grasses and can be helpful with rooting/anchoring. Because these little creatures have small fins, they can easily tire and die from exhaustion, but they keep going, representing determination and endurance.  Uses: Use seahorses before working to root yourself and anchor yourself. Use them during spells or other work that takes a long time and determination to accomplish, such as energy or spirit work. You can also use the seahorse to strengthen relationships, especially love.  Shark The shark has the characteristics of protection, power, awareness/alertness, understanding, and determination. Sharks are territorial creatures, feeling threatened when something is in its territory and always ready to strike back if something gets too close. They protect their territory, and they have immense power. They are always aware and alert of their surroundings, and are constantly moving forward, representing determination. Like the orca, sharks are often misunderstood, so they carry the same meaning as the orcas.  Uses: Use the shark when you feel threatened and want to be more aware and alert and want protection from whatever is making you feel threatened. Use the shark when you want power and determination. The shark is especially good for people with anxiety, and are good for people who are or want to be head strong and confident.  Starfish The starfish, or sea star, is a very common attribute of the sea. When we sea pictures of the beach or sea, we will generally sea sea shells or star fish. These beautiful creatures carry the characteristics of aliases and blending in, disguise, balance and harmony, wishes, and flexibility. Sea stars can be called many different names, and hence represent aliases and disguise. This can also translate into them blending in, as well as how they blend in with their surroundings. They can see black, white, and gray, and represent a balance and harmony, like yin-yang. There will always be a little black in the white and there will always be a little white in the black, and nothing is set in stone or perfectly outlined. Because of their star shape, they represent wishes and prayer, and can be helpful during these actions. 

Uses: Use the starfish for making decisions and during prayer or when making wishes. This can also be in spell casting or potion making to heighten the potency of the spell/potion. Use the starfish for blending in and going by unnoticed. 

That will be all for now, but if there are any animals you want to know the attributes of or want to know what attributes go to a certain animal, please message me and I’d be happy to help!  Overall you can use these animals in any way, whether you use their energy for spirit work, energy work, potion making, spell casting, rituals, worship, prayers, divination, dreaming, etc. Keep in mind that you need to have an intent that you want the animal to bring out, and be open minded to having other effects resulting from the use of the animal as well.  The sea represents harmony, balance, self love, self acceptance, self discovery, self awareness, emotion, power, beauty, and so much more, so the use of pretty much any sea animal will also carry the attributes of the sea. It mainly depends on your intent for using the animal.  I hope this helps with your craft and hopefully it helps all of you every day, whether you have a good or bad day.  Thanks for reading!

would you have any tips for being a respectful theistic satanist? i am aware that satanism is often used as an antisemitic dogwhistle as well as of the antisemitism that often presents within the field, and i do my best to recognize and combat these things and listen to jewish voices, but is there anything in particular you would recommend avoiding? i am asking in terms of actions or practices, not organizations, btw

Unfortunately, that's not really my call to make. I encourage you to bring the question to a jewish practitioner, so im gonna throw the question over to @will-o-the-witch

Aroace Satanic Edits

Emo angel version

The Fruit of Knowledge

The story of Eden is important to most Satanists. A lot hinges on the fruit of knowledge and on what that signified. For many of us, you could call it our central mystery.

Different Satanist tendencies can often be classified based on how they interpret that fruit. 

Luciferians tend to be very focused on intellectual and spiritual knowledge. That’s nice. I have a lot of history with that tendency and I still relate to it. I’ve even joked that “Luciferian” is a five syllable word for “bookworm” or “nerd.” 

But of course, in the Bible, “to know” has a lot of connotations. Famously, it stands for “carnal” knowledge– we’ve all know what it means to know someone in a “Biblical sense.” (It means you fucked them.) Certain strains of Satanism place a lot of focus on carnal knowledge. That’s cool too. I do that as well. 

But I think it’s a mistake to forget that the fruit stands for all knowledge. It has many dimensions of meaning. Remember, it was said to give knowledge of good and evil. That’s pretty broad– and also implies a type of knowledge a lot of Satanists don’t seem to think about much, which is to say conscience, ethical knowledge. 

It’s OK to follow your heart and focus on whatever you like, but I think it’s a mistake to focus on just one type of knowledge and knowing. Gnosis doesn’t have to come from just reading a ton of books, or just from meditating a bunch, or just from hedonistic indulgence. If you tend to be particularly cerebral, or particularly carnal, it may be profitable to balance your approach. You might be missing out. 

Who is Azazel to you?

My view of Azazel is very shaped by his role in the Book of Enoch, which I'll explain for those reading this who are less familiar, and also because I don't know if you have any knowledge of the story therein. There's also a bit of him that borders on UPG/Unverifiable Personal Gnosis, which I'm fine admitting to. I think more people should be inclined to fess up to when there's ideas or experiences that work for them (and maybe others) that might not have textual evidence.

I suspect I was sent this question at least partially because, depending on your religious background, the name can evoke a pretty different set of emotions and ideas. I can't get into it in dept here without writing an essay, and the question was "who is Azazel to you" instead of just "who is Azazel", but I've found in my research that the name appears in some form in Christianity, Islam to a degree (not as Azazil/Iblis though, their names are just similar, but rather in a story similar to his Enochic appearance), Judaism (which I'd posit is his origin, based on what I've read), and the apocrypha. That last one is where my view of him comes in!

In the Book of Enoch, Azazel is one of the Watchers or Grigori: angels who were meant to watch over mankind, but who were enticed by their leader to pursue their desire for mortal women. The result of this union was the Nephilim, a race of giants. Genisis describes them like so.

Genesis 6 1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

During this time, the Watchers were said to teach mankind new knowledge and skills... the act of which ultimately led to them being cast out of Heaven. Each Watcher taught something different, such as Penemue teaching about ink and paper so mankind could write, Sariel teaching about the lunar cycle, and Baraqel teaching astrology. Azazel, in my opinion, is credited with an incredibly interesting set of teachings. We get in Chapter 8...

And Azazel taught men to make swords and knives and shields and breastplates; and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them; and bracelets and ornaments; and the use of antimony and the beautifying of the eyelids; and all kinds of costly stones and all colouring tinctures.

I just think it's very interesting that blacksmithing for the purpose of making armour and weaponry came from the same entity that was said to teach the creation of jewelry and cosmetics. So to me, all three of these acts and their results are very connected to Azazel. His punishment for being generous with this knowledge also makes him (and every other Watcher for that matter) an incredibly Promethean figure, which is a theme that comes up A Lot in my Luciferianism to the surprise of literally no one. It's not that unique a taste to have.

And now comes the parts that get a bit less concrete textually, but I incorporate into my understanding and relationship with Azazel: I see him as a potential teacher of magic, particularly witchcraft, occult and medicinal herbalism, and by extension veneficium. My reasoning for this is twofold.

To be fair, magic is not attributed to him specifically by name among the skills he taught. It is mentioned in regards to their leader Semjaza, who taught enchantment, and Armaros, who taught the "resolving" (I assume breaking) of enchantments. These two are interesting to me (as all the Watchers are) but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew when dealing with this sort of entity, if you follow, and Azazel was the one I felt most drawn to and got a very positive response from.

However! This is just when looking at their individual attestations that begin in Chapter Eight or so. In Chapter Seven, when their actions are described as a group, we get the following passage:

And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants.

The fact that no other Watcher is credited as teaching herbal lore leads me to believe that magic and herbalism were skills that they universally understood and taught as a collective regardless of other specialties/focuses/areas of mastery, rather than this being an overview of a few subjects they individually taught. So, in my opinion, if you feel drawn to the Watchers but Azazel doesn't feel right to you and/or doesn't seem to reciprocate your interest, I personally do not believe he is the only means of working with them in an explicitly magical context.

He is, however, the only one of them with a long and repeated association with goats, which are of course also a very popular symbol in witchcraft (especially portrayals of the Witches' Sabbath when the Devil is involved), so to me that only furthers my association between Azazel and the teaching of magic, but witchcraft in particular. I'm not saying he's the true and universal identity of the Witch's Devil, or the Sabbatical goat, or the Man in Black, or anything else so universal. Many, many figures can fill those roles for different people, practices, and traditions. However, for me (so far), he seems well suited and well inclined to fill that role, and it's another appealing detail when viewing him through a lens of folkloric witchcraft.

I hope that answers the question! Thanks for asking.

would you have any tips for being a respectful theistic satanist? i am aware that satanism is often used as an antisemitic dogwhistle as well as of the antisemitism that often presents within the field, and i do my best to recognize and combat these things and listen to jewish voices, but is there anything in particular you would recommend avoiding? i am asking in terms of actions or practices, not organizations, btw

Unfortunately, that's not really my call to make. I encourage you to bring the question to a jewish practitioner, so im gonna throw the question over to @will-o-the-witch

An icon

In a witch trial from 1673 in the province of Hälsingland, the maid Giölug Olufsdotter seems to have openly and without coercion confessed to having intimate relations with Satan (Court records 1673). She even claimed that she perceived her relationship with him as beautiful. The court complains that she denied or regretted nothing, showed no desire to repent; and that she claimed to drink, dance, and sleep with the 'worst Devil', i.e., Satan himself, while she was at Blåkulla, the location of the Swedish Witches' Sabbath. As if it did not suffice to proclaim herself a satanic witch, Giölung confronted the court and authorities with utter disdain, reviling the priesthood, the mayor, the court assessors and the police officers with perverse and blasphemous comments.

'It is better to believe in the Devil': Conceptions of Satanists and Sympathies for the Devil in Early Modern Sweden written by Mikael Häll in The Devil's Party: Satanism in Modernity edited by Per Faxneld and Jesper Aa. Peterson.

So beautiful

so i was cleaning my room and in one of my old journals I found a devotional poem that I wrote to Lucifer, and I just thought I’d share it here.

I worship a flawed creature

An angel whose hymns

come in sighs of pleasure

Feathers rusted, ruffled and crimson

His eyes burn with cold blinding light

lost in a tangle of wings and eyes

I reach for the sky and yet

the hand grabbing mine is my own

I was divinity all along

When I choke on thorns, I taste sweet roses

and bitter wine, and then I remember

the one who put me here was me

and that rebel angel was the guiding light

with eyes of white fire.

Thank you for reading!