🦋Astrology Notes 🎨🫧

🌙 Witchcraft Masterpost: 🛁 Cleansing and Purifying Energy

purify (verb) - to remove contaminants 

We’ve all seen it in the horror movies. A cute, unimposing family moves into a new home, and things start getting creepy. Doors open and close on their own, strange voices start showing up on the baby monitor, and the kids are playing hide and seek with someone that isn’t there. Then, before these suburbanites know what hit ‘em, there are G H O S T S™ everywhere. How do these innocent protagonists often deal with their new spiritual occupation? Do they move away? Do they call their friendly neighborhood witch for assistance like any responsible ghostbuster would do? No. Out comes their handy dandy Sage Stick™ as they attempt to cleanse the house of evil entities. 

While the idea is visually appealing enough for cinema (and while ritualistic sage cleansing is a real and effective Native American practice), in the movies it never really seems to do anything but piss the demonic entity off. Metaphysically, these newbies might be failing because there is much more that goes into cleansing energy than just burning some sage and walking around your house. 

Why do you need to purify things? 

Physical objects are like energy sponges, and as time goes on, they soak up the energy of everything around them. Lots of witches these days are familiar with how crystals operate, so I’ll use a crystal as an example. 

The first time you pick up a crystal in a shop, it absorbs some of your energy as it rests in your hand. As you purchase it, it absorbs the energy of the register. It absorbs some of the energy of the bag it’s put in, and it absorbs some of the energy around you as you walk out of the shop and back to your car. It absorbs the sound of you singing along to the radio on the car ride home. It absorbs the energy of your house as you take it inside. It absorbs the energy of your altar as you first set it down. It absorbs the energy of every spell you do with it, and it absorbs the energy of everything that happens around it - every time you speak or worry or laugh or cry or anything. It is always there, absorbing and collecting whatever ambient energy it encounters. 

These stray energies build up over time, eventually clouding the crystal and disrupting its own unique vibration. After a while, the crystal might start to act erratically in spellwork, even backfiring at times. Under extreme stress (environments that are particularly erratic, emotional, and/or negative), the crystal may even build up so much excess energy that it shatters. 

Even worse, let’s say you have the crystal in your pocket one day, and you get into an argument with someone. The crystal will also absorb that aggressive, argumentative energy. If it absorbed enough of it, it will start attracting that energy to you whenever you carry it or use it. You might start getting into a lot of arguments all of a sudden, and obstacles might start appearing everywhere you turn. The same could happen if the crystal encountered any negative or oppressive energy, like sadness, regret, or suffering. (Side note: When houses/locations absorb a lot of violent, stressful, aggressive energy, they often begin to manifest poltergeists)

The purpose of cleansing/purifying, as a witch, is to rid an object of these built-up energies - to bring it back to a pure, unaltered state. You are essentially setting it free of all its baggage and allowing it to vibrate how it naturally wants to. 

It isn’t only crystals that can be/need to be purified (tho crystals are much more sensitive to energy than almost anything else and do need to be purified regularly). Literally any object you can imagine holds onto energy in some way. Some other things that you may want to cleanse at least every once in a while: 

altar / altar space

bedroom

car

living space

ritual tools

talismans

yourself 

Basic Energy Cleansing

There are an infinite number of techniques you can use to cleanse or purify something. Every culture throughout history has invented some way of doing this, so study up and see what works. 

The most basic way of cleansing something uses only your own energy and willpower. Be mindful, though, that it is easy for stray energies to latch onto you when using this technique, so grounding afterwards is imperative. 

Begin by heightening and focusing your own energy through meditation, focused breathing, or whatever way you personally choose to harness your own energy.

Connect with the object you wish to cleanse. Touch it with your bare skin, and allow your energy to pour into it. Feel it out, and try to detect anything contaminating the object - anything that feels wrong, conflicting, or out of place.

After you have successfully attuned to the object, visualize your energy rushing through the object like a stream of water.

As it passes through, visualize your energy pulling out everything that doesn’t feel like it belongs, anything contaminating or polluting. When I use this spell, I like to imagine particles of dust or sand being swept up and taken away. 

After your energy has flowed through the object completely, allow it to flow back into you. Don’t let it rest inside of you, though. Immediately take the contaminated energy and direct it firmly into the ground, where it can be taken away from you and completely recycled by the earth. 

Repeat this process until the object’s energy has been entirely cleansed of anything that feels conflicting or out of place. 

Other Techniques

Cleansing with salt: If the object is small enough, put the object in a bowl and cover it in white or pink salt. Allow it to sit overnight. 

Cleansing with water: If the object can safely be put in water (some crystals cannot), place it in a bowl of clean water (preferably river water, ocean water, rain water, or moon water) and allow it to sit overnight. If possible, leave it outside in the moonlight while its soaking.

Cleansing with smoke: Very similar to the basic energy cleansing technique described above, except you visualize the tendrils of smoke reaching into the object and pulling out any contaminants. Instead of grounding the energy afterward, open a window and allow the wind to carry the smoke away. 

Cleansing with sound: Also similar to the energy cleansing technique described above, except sound waves penetrate the object and expel anything that shouldn’t be there. Love to do this with Tibetan singing bowls, but you can really use any kind of sound, even your own voice. Instead of grounding the contaminant energies afterward, imagine the sound waves pushing them very far away from you. 

Cleansing with sunlight/moonlight: Expose the object to bright sunlight/moonlight and let it sit for a while. 

Cleansing a living space with a broom: Sweep all of your floors, preferably sweeping east to west, starting in the center of your home and moving outwards. End by sweeping all of the collected dust out the door.

Self-Cleansing Bath/Shower: Essentially the same idea as cleansing an object with water, except you’re doing it to yourself in the shower or bath. Pro-Tip: Use a bath bomb with strong peppermint, sandalwood, or frankincense oils for added power. 

Brightest blessings, and best of luck 🕉

Witches Sabbats: Lughnasadh

Autumn draws near and with it, comes Lughnasadh.

Lughnasadh, pronounced “LOO-nah-sah” and known also as Lammas, is a Celtic festival that occurs from the 31st of July through into the 1st of August. It was observed fervently throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man and marks the beginning of the harvest season.

Also called: Lúnasa (modern Irish), Lùnastal (Scottish Gaelic), Luanistyn (Manx Gaelic).

Lughnasadh is the celebration and ritual of the first harvest of fruit, wheat, and grain. This festival both acknowledges and celebrates the waning of light - Lughnasadh is the initiation of Winter preparation.

It is named for Lugh Lámhfada. and is in honour of his step-mother, Tailtiu who perished of exhaustion after clearing the fields of Ireland ready to be planted, sowed and seeded. Lughnasadh was originally a set of rituals, gatherings and funerary games (named Tailteann Games, or Áenach Tailteann) in honour of Tailtiu’s death and sacrifice. 

Some Symbols of Lughnasadh:

Wheat

Corn

Barely

Oats

Onions

Grapes

Straw dolls/straw bales

Corn dolls

Wood

Tarot (strength)

Runes (Eihwaz)

The Colours of Lughnasadh:

Yellow

Orange

Red

Violet

Dark green

Brown

The Stones & Crystals of Lughnasadh:

Carnelian

Cat’s Eye

Citrine

Marble

Sale

Granite

Lodestone

The Herbs of Lughnasadh:

Heather

Blackberry

Rose

Sandalwood

Goldenrod

Important/Celebrated Foods of Lughnasadh:

Bread

Apples

Corn

Beer/Ale/Mead

Grapes

Onions

Apricot

Pear

Activities to be done during Lughnasadh:

Baking/Cooking: Sharing food is a good thing to do with each sabbat, especially those with agricultural ties. If you incorporate seasonal foods, and foods associated with the sabbat itself, it can be seen as an offering or as being done in honour of what you’re celebrating.

Take some time to enjoy nature: Lughnasadh is a time when the seasons are changing, so take this time to walk and enjoy the last that summer has to offer. Collect things whilst you walk to put on your altar if you have one.

Construct an altar: if this is something you do, decorate your altar with some of the items mentioned in the list above. If you’re pagan and have a deity who corresponds with this holiday, leave an offering on your altar. In Lugh’s case, he is a god known for his skills in craftmanship and His ability to turn His hand to anything. He is also known for playing the harp, so anything you have crafted or that has taken skill to create will be well received by Him.

Decorate your home: if you like, small decor changes can really get you in the mood and act as a celebratory act.

Bonfires: Invite friends and/or family to a bonfire. Not only is Lughnasadh a celebration of waning light and of the god Lugh, it is a celebration of fire. Share plans to remove negative habits or influences from your life with your loved ones, burn representatives of negativity, drink to future prosperity and toast to Lugh.

Light a candle and do the same, if you are not yet an outed witch.

Craft: as mentioned before, Lugh is a god of craft and skill. Make something! Finish a project you’ve been putting off! 

If you don’t want to do something in Lugh’s name, you can make dolls out of corn (a very traditional activity) and they can be left on an altar if you have one, used as decoration or turned into a poppet.

Acts of athelticism: The funerary games of Lughnasadh were its primary reason for creation. To honour this, you can do something on a small scale, such as jogging or yoga, or going to the gym, if you are able.

Trading: Bake some bread and give it to your friends/family/coven in exchange for herbs, or some canldes! That’s just an idea. but you get the gist of it.

Lots of trading took place at historic Lughnasadh celebrations, as they assembly for this season festival was always large.

Feasting: Ties into the baking/cooking aspect, but using things that come from the first harvest is a good way to honour Lughnasadh and Tailtiu.

Symbols Chart.

i’ve written before about how uncomfortable it is being Jewish in most witchcraft/magic/occult spaces, but right now i’m feeling it particularly acutely as i try to navigate this queer & trans witchy renaissance we seem to be having (which is, i think, a direct response to the terror & loss of control we all feel in 2017 - magic has always been about resistance & survival to me & a lot of other people)

i’m tired. i’m scared a lot of the time. i want community & inspiration to help keep me going, so i reach for something like a zine that bills itself as an inclusive mix of queer & trans voices on witchcraft, resistance, activism - because it’s a group of marginalized folks, i (maybe foolishly) have this expectation of seeing myself in it, or of the editors being conscious of the many forms of cultural appropriation that happen in these spaces & working to educate about them

but what i’m finding, over and over, is two things: the first is that despite the fact that we exist in greater numbers than i’d ever have expected, there are no Jewish voices in any of the witchcraft-focused publications (indie or otherwise) i’ve ever encountered. the second thing, that cultural appropriation of Judaism & other forms of pervasive anti-semitism DO exist in these publications, just makes the lack of Jewish perspectives more glaring

so in the interest of being direct, here are a few things the queer & trans witchcraft community (i’d like to ask the ENTIRE witchcraft community, but i am speaking to people with whom i share something right now) can do & think about to help:

include us. if you didn’t think that any Jewish folks were involved in witchy communities, ask yourself why! is it because you thought Judaism was a religion only? or incompatible with ideas about magic? Judaism is an ethnicity & a culture - or more truthfully, a group of ethnicities & cultures - with long & complex histories of magic, mysticism & folklore. some of it is considered traditionally “kosher” & some of it isn’t! our relationships to that are individual, fascinating, & worth being shared!

stop throwing around the words “Abrahamic” & “Judeo-Christian” - especially when you want to talk about cultural values or historical oppression. 9 times out of 10, you just mean Christianity. yes, we share some text, but we have VERY different relationships to it. plus, if you’re talking specifically about the persecution of people believed to be witches, that’s the history of Jews being murdered by Christians. honestly just do us a favor & remove “Judeo-Christian” from your vocabulary, there’s almost no context where it’s an accurate description of anything.

educate yourself about appropriation. i should never have to see someone mention “practicing Kabbalah” in a zine that includes no Jewish people. our mysticism is connected to our culture, our history, our faith - not only do you have no business taking it, what could it possibly mean to you without its context? 

understand that anti-semitism runs deeper than current appropriation - if you engage at all with any Western occultist or “ceremonial magic” literature or practice, you need to learn its history. what does it mean that the 15th century grimoire you’re drawing inspiration from contains Hebrew & calls itself Solomonic, but has no actual connection to Jewish people? what does it mean that the person who created the most iconic image of Baphomet, something beloved by a lot of queer & trans witches for being androgynous, gave himself a fake Hebrew name? i’m not asking you to throw all of these concepts & traditions out entirely - i have something of a love/hate relationship with ceremonial occultism myself, i collect vintage & antique things related to it & some of it is really interesting - but please at the very least educate yourself about it. specifically, educate yourself about how medieval Jews were treated while non-Jewish occultists were incorporating (often misunderstood or mangled) Jewish mysticism, language & folk practices into their frameworks. 

if you’ve stayed with me this far, i appreciate it - i know this post is long & that confronting this stuff can be difficult, but i urge you to do some reading & listening before you push back. i’m writing this because i want to see things change - i want to see communities where people connect meaningfully to their own heritages & participate in actual cultural exchange & learning based in equity & mutual support. 

i’m speaking to my own experience, but all of this goes for ANY marginalized culture/tradition being “drawn from” in witchcraft communities without actually including members of said culture. 

many of us got involved in witchy things because we felt locked out of mainstream religious practice due to a mix of oppressions - let’s not replicate that in our own spaces.

The Journal Witch

My Digital Grimoire is Complete*!

All of the pages on my digital grimoire are complete! Feel free to look through them and reference them if you need to!

There are pages on:

color associations

animal associations

moon phase associations

associations of the moon in different signs

tarot card meanings (including yes/no)

associations of herbs and botanicals

crystal associations

hellenic deities

associations of different kinds of water (ex: moon, sea, river, well...)

associations of days of the week

associations of days in the wheel of the year

associations of planets

I hope this helps somebody!

*i will continue to add little things here and there to the site but all the basic stuff is done!

🌲Yuletide Simmer Pot🌲

I know I’m a few days early but I wanted to welcome the season in a little earlier than usual; plus I wanted to do some spell work too after the week I’ve had at work so yeah!

❄️ Ingredients ❄️

❄️A handful of cranberries for Abundance & Love ❄️A few bay leaves for Protection & Manifestation  ❄️Several orange slices for Luck & Prosperity ❄️4 cinnamon sticks for Success & Prosperity  ❄️3 tbsps. of whole cloves for more Protection & Clarity ❄️A whole red delicious apple in slices for Beauty & Wisdom ❄️A few pine branches for Cleansing & Protection

Aries Descendant trying to connect through passion, Libra Ascendant expressing the self beautifully.

Taurus Descendant trying to connect with loyalty, Scorpio Ascendant expressing the self deeply.

Gemini Descendant trying to connect through curiosity, Sagittarius Ascendant expressing the self unfiltered.

Cancer Descendant trying to connect via attachment and depth, Capricorn Ascendant trying to express the self carefully.

Leo Descendant trying to connect generously, Aquarius Ascendant trying to express the self uniquely.

Virgo Descendant trying to connect through care, Pisces Ascendant expressing the self in many different ways.

Libra Descendant trying to connect through relatability, Aries Ascendant expressing the self confidently.

Scorpio Descendant trying to connect intensely, Taurus Ascendant expressing the self calmly.

Sagittarius Descendant trying to connect through growth, Gemini Ascendant expressing the self energetically.

Capricorn Descendant trying to connect realistically, Cancer Ascendant expressing the self softly.

Aquarius Descendant trying to connect with others' minds, Leo Ascendant expressing the self creatively and boldly.

Pisces Descendant trying to connect on every level, Virgo Ascendant expressing the self pensively.

Southern Cunning is now available for pre-order! I’m so excited to have this going out into the world and sharing something that has been such a labor of love. Pre-orders are immensely helpful for authors so give it a gander! Here are some of the early reviews for Southern Cunning

“Born of experience and lived practice, Aaron Oberon’s honest, warm and insightful exploration of Southern Cunning illumines an immersive journey from the crossroads through the stories, rites, tools and substances of an operative witchcraft rooted firmly in folkloric potency, the ways of spirits and the power of place.” - Gemma Gary, author of Traditional Witchcraft - A Cornish Book of Ways

“A straight-talking, easy to follow take on folkloric witchcraft from the South, rich in personal anecdotes and practical tips.” -Lee Morgan, author of A Deed Without a Name

“This is the sort of book I wish there were more of, because it connects the living magic of the past with the living magic of the present without getting stuck on problems of lineage, authentication, or secrecy. Southern Cunning will be a valuable addition to the library of anyone with an interest in folklore, magic, and witches with a Southern flavor.” -Cory Thomas Hutcheson, host of the podcast New World Witchery