Persephone

Hades and Persephone - Alexandria Huntington

☽ little tips for witches ☾

here I will leave some very useful tips for those who have been in practice for some time, as well as for beginners. I hope this text will illuminate and help each one on their way! ✨

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• to do energy cleaning in your home, put in a glass: water, coarse salt and charcoal. position it behind the entrance door.

• bury egg shells in a pot or in your home garden to ensure abundance and fertility in your home.

• do not put the ashes left over from the incense out, they can be reused in making the black salt.

• burn dry rosemary to attract protection, purification, psychic abilities and openness for healing.

• to attract positive energies to you, spread several mirrors around your home, just avoid those with sharp details on your edge. they also help to clear the mind.

• to ward off any bother that is bothering you, write the key words of the situation on a white candle. light the candle and ask the fire beings to burn this evil that you want to destroy.

• make a wreath with chamomile flower and hang it on the door to protect the environment throughout the year from physical and spiritual damage.

• use cinnamon to improve your individual skill with prophecy through divination, channeling and working with oracles.

• when making your own oils, use olive oil and dried herbs of your choice.

• press and store rosemary leaves in your books. this will increase your wisdom during your studies and your memory, making you learn more easily.

• burn some thyme on your altar to clean up your magic space. thyme when burned with incense strengthens psychic power.

Too much light! 🌿 🌿

Healing is...

I'm not sure who might need to hear this but healing looks different for everyone and it isn't always herbal baths, green tea, and journaling. For some people the process of healing is:

Uncontrollable crying

Meeting parts of yourself you've kept hidden.

Doing what feels like never ending shadow work only to find yourself back at the same trigger that initiated your shadow work in the first place.

Allowing yourself to feel anger towards others for giving you burdens you didn't deserve to carry while simultaneously feeling bad that you're angry with them.

Realizing it was never your fault, then having to forgive yourself for making choices that were heavily influenced by the weight of those burdens placed on you.

Working with your inner child to let them know they are safe while still trying to maintain your sanity to deal with day to day life in the present.

Having to figure out new coping mechanisms during a time when you wish you could just rely on the old ones because you already know the relief they give you. But at the same time understanding that the relief they provide is only temporary and will lead you into a never ending cycle of despair and self loathing.

With this being said, do not ever feel bad if your healing starts to feel more like regression than progression. That is all a part of the process, if you are still choosing to continue on the path to healing, despite any feelings of stagnation you may have. That is in fact, you still working on healing, not giving up on yourself or your ability to heal. You are amazing for recognizing your need to recover and I sincerely pray that you find peace and restoration as your reward for taking this path. 💗

- Erika, The Clumsy Witch

🍊☀️Sunshine Happiness Bath☀️🍊

Hello witchlings! With the sun in the sky and summer all around us in the Northern Hemisphere I thought I'd share one of my favorite bath recipes! It's focus is around solar magic and the oranges - to fill you with vibrations both hearty and gentle, bold and elegant, vibrant and soft. ☀️ It's time to take care of and connect to your divine self! 

Ingredients:

☀️ 3-4tbsp of sea salt

☀️ the peel from one orange(preferably local or organic so you know it's pesticide free)

☀️ a handful of lavender buds

☀️ optional: for more intention(or simply the comfy aesthetic) you can make a small altar on your bathroom counter. You can use a candle, light incense, crystals with solar or intended energies(i.e. orange calcite, carnelian, sunstone, citrine, quartz point, etc.), put on music with the right vibes, etc.

Directions:

☀️ Best done when the sun is out - draw a warm bath for yourself. While the tub is filling up add in your spell ingredients and stir the water in a clockwise direction focusing on your intent. As you stir visualize the golden rays of sunlight rippling off the water, the energy of sweetness and joy filling the bath.

☀️ Optional: while the bath is still filling; light your incense, candles, set up your little solar offering, open a window, etc. get comfy!

☀️ Once all set up - soak for at least ten minutes(or whatever is comfortable for you), feeling all the heaviness and darkness be washed away, instead filling you with the bright light of joy.

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Autumn Roses

💀Unusual Death Witchcraft💀

Visiting natural history and art museum. Not only for the spirit work (museums are surprisingly rife with spirits) but also the reflection on the objects themselves that are imbued with death energy due to their age.

Kitchen witchcraft with fermentation. I’m talking both home starters/yeasts and drink based fermenting! The process of encouraging fermentation is literally a controlled necromancy if you think about it! Also your own fermented product will be excellent to use in spellwork!

Upcycle crafting! The process of reusing items in a new way that you already had or seeking out items to use instead of letting them become trash is also working with death energy!

Playing death related games or watching movies with friends and family. Death witchcraft tasks and energy work doesn’t have to look witchy! If you have a weekly or monthly hangout where you play tabletops like Betrayal at House on the Hill or even online games. Or watch documentaries or movies with loved ones that related that totally counts! Especially as a lower spoon option.

Drawing or photographing abandoned buildings/architecture. So often people forgot that the decay of manmade objects and places do hold death energy and weight. Tapping into this side of death witchcraft can be an interesting experience.

Visiting a 24 hour store or restaurant in the middle of the night. This is a personal experience of mine but that quiet low level liminal space energy is such a similar transitional energy as to help you grow your experience and sensing of death energy. Also walking through a store at 3am is a good time to practice a walking meditation or some simple spirit communication without too much trouble. Just have your headphones in for an excuse!

Learning to maintain your own compost! I’m hopeless with the green thumb side of things myself but I still have composting I do for my yard in general. My wildflowers and natural growth is lovely because of it! The cycle of your kitchen supplies life and decay is such a simple and deep way to access that death energy and maybe even work your way up to having that green thumb! Also using this compost in spellwork will pack a punch!

What are some unusual ways you experience death witchcraft and energy?

Warding

I've covered warding recently in my protection post. But here I will go into more detail on what warding is, the most popular ways to ward and how to create them as well as when to know when a ward is no longer useful or has been broken. I will also go into baneful warding and what it is.

What is warding?

Warding is a form of defensive magick which acts as your first line of defense against negativity. Be this baneful magick from another practitioner or negative entities and general negative energy. There are multiple ways to ward with each practitioner warding differently to the other. Wards come in all shapes and forms, and there is no limit as to how much warding you should do, you protect yourself as you see fit.

What is baneful warding?

Baneful warding is a form of warding in which the negative that hits a ward gets sent back to its source. Baneful warding is seen as a more "advanced" form of magick, however not too advanced for a novice to do with the appropriate amount of research. Baneful warding can come in the same forms as normal warding would.

Warding jars

Perhaps one of the most common wardings on this post, warding jats usually contain ingredients charged with the intention of warding. These ingredients usually range from herbs to bodily fluids such as saliva or blood. These jars are either buried on the practitioners property, left above entryway, left on an altar, or are carried with the practitioner when they want protection on the go.

A warding jar might contain: ashes of a warding sigil, bodily fluids, herbs and plants, crystals, bones, warding or protection oils, spices, metals, glass shards etc. These jars are then sealed with black or white wax (or are sealed in any other way, with glue, tape or simply just with intention).

When a warding jar is broken, you might find the contents of the jar to become moldy, the jar shatters, the seal might break or the contents of the jar to go off, you also might feel that the jar no longer has its power. When this happens, if the jar is intact, break the seal and empty the contents into the bin/trash or return them back to the earth. You can then cleanse the jar with your preferred method of cleansing and reuse the jar for another ward or spell.

Talismans and symbols

Talismans are objects which are charged with the intention fo protection or warding. A well known example would be the Nazar, known to ward off the evil eye.

Symbols are used to represent something or represent an intention example would be the pentacle/pentagram, a well known protection symbol. Another example could by the Eye of Horus, a symbol used by the Ancient Egyptians for protection, health and restoration.

You can create your own talismans and symbols to aid in warding. These might be used to ward against a specific thing, or can be used as a general ward to all negativity.

A talisman or symbol might break or feel like they're no longer useful once theyve done thier job. If this time comes, you can simply dispose of the old one and create a new one.

Sigils

Sigils are created and can be programmed with any purpose necessary. May this be warding ot cursing, they can be used for almost any working.

Sigils can be burnt to activate them, with the ashes being used in spells to add extra power. Sigils can be put up around your house or around your room for warding. These sigils can look like anything, simply draw them with the intention of warding.

Crystals

Crystals can be placed above entryways or in windows to act as a ward. Crystals can also be added to spells to give a desired effect or worn as jewellery to act as warding or protection on the go.

Some examples are: black obsidian, black tourmaline, clear quartz, amethyst, hematite.

When a crystal ward has been broken, the crystal might shatter, or go missing. Or you may feel the crystals energy feels different than usual. With crystals you cam simply cleanse and recharge the crystals to be used again!

Spells

Warding spells can be as simple as a dressed candle, or can be a complex ritual. Warding spells differ from practitioner to practitioner. Similar to warding jars, these spells might include the use of herbs, bodily fluids, crystals, plants etc. The methods of creating a warding spell vary, as there is no one way to create one.

When a ward breaks down, you might feel the ward break, or if it does what is intended, you might feel something bounce off the ward. Depending on the negativity sent your way, the ways in which you might feel a warding spell break down vary, this could range from feeling sluggish or nauseous to downright feeling psychic attack. (Whenever this happens, please consult a doctor, mundane before magical. What you may feel is a magical occurrence could be explained by illness, so please consult a doctor of you feel this way constantly)

Warding is a great form of protection which is used very often in a persons practice. While not all practitioners use warding, this is just to inform you of the ways you can ward to keep yourself safe in your practice!

Practical tips for Hellenic Khthonic Ritual

Khthonic deities are of the earth or ‘under’ it so offerings were made outside on low altars (escharai) or into specially dug pits.

For libations wine was replaced with water, milk, honey or blood.

Animals sacrificed were black in contrast to white, which were reserved for Ouranic (sky) deities.

Rituals were traditionally performed at night.

Seeing as animal sacrifice is frowned upon nowadays and not feasible for most practitioners, votive offerings can be offered instead, i.e. black animal figurines, predominantly sheep and rams.

Other offerings may include coins as traditionally an obol or oboloi (plural) was used as currency in Hades.

Epithets were used more than plain names.  Persephone  - Kore (Maiden,) Carpophorus (Bringer of Fruit), Despoina (Mistress), Praxidice (Exacter of Justice). Hades  -  Aidoneos (The Hidden), Necron Soter (Saviour of the Dead), Eubouleus (Good Counselor), Necrodegmon (Receiver of the Dead), Plouton (Wealth), Polydektes (Receiver of Many Guests), Theon Khthonios (God of the Underworld).

Any food offerings were wholly burned or buried (holocaust), none of it was shared with the ritual attendees as with Ouranic offerings.

Gods associated with or make the Underworld their home includes Hades, Kore, Hekate, Hermes Khthonios, Kerberus, Erinyes (Furies), Kronos, Thanatos, Charon, Hypnos, The Moirae and Nyx, among a myriad of others.

Heroes and ancestors were also worshipped in this manner, thought to exert great power from their tombs and the Underworld. F’ex, Asklepios and Herakles.

Caves or deep chasms were also thought to be gateways to the Underworld though mortals were discouraged from venturing there before their time.

Disclaimer - This is solely from personal research and in no way indicative of how everyone should approach Khthonic ritual. Feel free to omit or adjust anything you see fit.

Sometimes the gods will seem like they aren't there, but they are.

Sometimes you will feel like a small child learning how to ride a bike. You can feel the hands on your shoulders, you can hear their voice close by. Then, suddenly, you don't feel their hands and their voice is farther away.

They didn't abandon you in your time of need. They're watching you take everything they've taught you to apply it. They've got the band-aids if you need them, and they're standing at the top of the driveway watching.

They cannot pedal that bike for you. They cannot hold onto the bike so you never fall.

They're watching you and they are proud. They are proud even if you fall down or crash.

Don't panic. Now's your time to show them what you've learned! Go as far as you can. You're not alone.

Beginner Tips for Interpreting Tarot (with Real Examples)

There’s this game called Powerpoint Karaoke. In the game, someone makes up a short series of powerpoint presentation slides. They will give the whole presentation a title, and then pick related or unrelated images to go on the slides. Another person has to give the presentation to the audience - basically improvising along the way the best they can to turn a random topic plus random images into a coherent presentation.  Reading tarot is a lot like doing Powerpoint Karaoke. The title of the presentation is the question you ask, and the cards are the slides. The better you are at stringing disparate images into a coherent narrative on the fly, the better you will be at making sense of tarot spreads.  For each of these tips, I will illustrate it with a real question that I am genuinely asking my tarot, the card I pull, and how I interpret it. 1. Ask clear questions. It is ten times harder to interpret an answer when the question was muddled in the first place. Your questions can be general, or specific, but it’s best to only ask one question at a time. I think about the wording of my question for a while before I actually answer it. I might think at first, “How is this new creative project thing going to go? Should I start it on the New Moon, or am I going to be an unproductive mess this week? Is it a bad month to start it? Why have I been so unproductive?” I’ll take that and cut it down - for instance, removing my own speculations about myself and how it will go and all of the different options. If that stuff is relevant, it will come up in the cards. I end up with a straight-forward question that is open to lots of different answers: “Is it a good move to start working on my new creative project at the New Moon?“ Example: Is it a good move to start working on my new creative project at the New Moon? Ace of Pentacles. Ooh. This seems like a good omen to me. It is not particularly hard to interpret because it feels very on the nose, because Aces are about beginnings. And it indicates that whatever I do could eventually become profitable, even though that’s not explicitly my intention.  2. Get rid of any preconceived notion of what the answer will be. Sometimes you turn over the exact card you are anticipating - like me the time I flippantly asked my tarot deck what my persistent headache might be from and thought, “I’m probably just dehydrated and it’s going to be Temperance or some shit like that.” But other times the card you get will not fit into the mold of what you are expecting. The answer you get is not always going to be the answer you want. Sometimes you are just looking for a “Should I keep going with this story or scrap it and start something new?” but that assumes that one of those options is the correct answer. Your cards may think that you should keep going with the story, but change it in some way. Or maybe you should scrap it and not start on something new right away. If you are expecting a purely yes-or-no type of answer, you may feel confused by the result you get. I often ask questions that could have a whole range of answers, instead of expecting a specific type of answer, so instead I might say, “What should I write about?” Example: What should I write about? The Chariot. This card is about overcoming obstacles, and maintaining control. It’s not really at all what I was starting to write about recently. This is definitely a card where the interpretation isn’t obvious to me. I’ve just been sitting here and had flash of realization that I think maybe I was asking the wrong question - ironic for an example about having preconceived notions. But this actually illustrates the “having preconceived notions” thing perfectly. I asked it what I should write about, and the flash of realization I just had about the message of the Chariot is, “You worry too much about what you should write about, when you will only succeed by actually putting in the effort of writing. Stop worrying about the content - write about anything as long as you are actually writing instead of pacing and contemplating.” So yeah - sometimes the answer you need is not the answer you want.  3. Read interpretations of the cards online. Yes, this is obvious. But it needs to be said because a lot of people have strong, contrary ideas about how tarot should be done. You don’t have to read only the pictures, or have a list of associations memorized, or expect the answer to come purely from your intuition. Lots of sites online offer long and detailed explanations for each tarot card upright and reversed. Often cards can have several meanings, and while reading on a few different interpretations a meaning may jump out at you as obvious.  Example: What’s going to happen this week?  The Moon. This card always seems hazy to me, so it’s a good one to look up. This site says, “On the New Moon, set your intentions and plant the seeds of opportunity so they can grow,” which feels relevant given that the New Moon is this week. This site says, “The towers on the opposing ends represent the forces of good and evil, and their similarity in appearance can allude to the difficulties that we face in distinguishing between them,” which frankly sounds like America to me right now. It also says, “the negative energies must be released and turned into something constructive.” I wouldn’t necessarily gather all of that just from relying on my own ideas about what this card means, but seeing it written here feels very apt for what Americans are going through - both last week and I guess maybe the upcoming week. 

4. Generate a bunch of different ideas for what the cards might mean. If the answer doesn’t seem obvious or immediate, write down three or four things you think it could be saying. Write down all of the associations that spring to mind, even if they seem stupid, and then whittle them down later. You may have some intuitive sense of which interpretation is correct, or one interpretation will grow on you the longer you sit with it. Sometimes the answer may have shades of all of the interpretations you came up with.  Example: What is the best way to spend my Sunday? Three of Pentacles. For me, this could go a few different ways. I asked my deck once what someone thought of me and got this card. So I associate this card with that person. It is that person’s birthday today, so it may be indicating that I should actually reach out to them. I have some good reasons for not doing that though. Or it may be a much less personal interpretation, telling me to do something collaborative. The more that I think about it, the more I think it may also relate to the first card. I’m drawing a connection here because the suit is the same. I’ve kept my ideas about my new creative project entirely to myself, but maybe before embarking on it I should get feedback from someone else on the aspects of it I’ve been struggling with. I think that’s the interpretation I’m going to go with.  5. Ask your cards silly, simple, or non-consequential questions. If you only ask serious questions where you really need an answer, you may feel way more pressure to interpret the cards correctly. As practice, it can help just to ask casual questions like “What should I eat for dinner?” and see what it says. In fact, I’ll do that right now just to show how I would interpret it. Example: What should I eat for dinner tomorrow? Six of Wands. The meaning of this card is ‘success’ and ‘praise’ and things like that, so it kind of reminds me of how I would always choose lobster on birthdays, or after my choir concerts, or middle school graduation and those types of events when I got to pick what to eat. It is definitely a celebration food for me. This is actually a card that is like ‘the answer I want but not the answer I need,” because I don’t know where I’m going to get lobster for dinner tomorrow. Maybe seafood in general will do, because I have salmon I could make. Overall - interpretations are very personal. In the examples I’ve included, someone else may not draw the same conclusion just from the card and the question because they don’t have all of that background knowledge about me to draw from. One of the best things to do when interpreting tarot readings for yourself is just to know yourself - and be able to look at yourself honestly.