heatherwitch

[heatherwitch]

Everyone has the potential to fall victim to being indoctrinated into a cult. Anyone can be sexually assaulted. Anyone can become a victim of an abusive relationship. Yes, even if you're intelligent and strong willed. Yes, even if you think you're tough and "don't take shit from anyone".

If you've never found yourself as the victim of a cult, or sexual assault, or abuse, the only thing separating you from people who have been victimized by cults / sexual assault / abuse is circumstance. That's it. Sheer luck. Luck over what family you were born into. Luck over who you were surrounded by when you were emotionally compromised or in any way vulnerable. Ect.

You are not better than people who have been victimized. They didn't do anything wrong to ask to be victimized. Anyone can be victimized by these situations given the perfect storm of circumstances. You are not better than people who have been victimized by cults / sexual assault / abuse.

You need to understand that if you are lucky enough to have never been victimized by cults / sexual assault / abuse, it's very little to do with how smart or strong you are or you doing all the "right" things. Someone can be smart and strong and do all the right things and still find themselves a victim given the perfect storm of bad circumstances.

The sooner this can be understood, the sooner we can do away with victim blaming culture. And the sooner we can do away with victim blaming culture the sooner atrocities like cults, sexual assault, and abuse can stop being so prolific. Victim blaming culture allows these atrocities to thrive. And they will continue to thrive until we shift the blame to where it rightfully belongs.

[heatherwitch]

Seems about right

I was expecting anything but not Bard

[heatherwitch]

#the x files

[heatherwitch]

scotland

[heatherwitch]

I'm technically a prophet but the prophecies are presented to me in a language I can neither speak nor fundamentally fathom. so I just circle back to basically being normal

[heatherwitch]

What's the funniest spell fuckup or unintentional consequence of your magic that's happened to you?

Mine is when I accidentally created a cursed ring.

[heatherwitch]

Fog in the foothills

#my photography

[heatherwitch]

The purest form of love is consideration. When someone thinks about how things would make you feel. Pays attention to detail. Holds you in regard when making decisions that could affect you. In any bond, how much they care about you can be found in how much they consider you

[heatherwitch]

are there any apps or websites for learning about plants and other things? i need to work on my mundane knowledge!

Great question, and I’m excited that you want to learn! It highly depends on your area, as each region has different plants. 

Apps:

Try seeking out reputable field guides that have been turned into apps. (Such as Peterson or Audubon). You may also find that different societies/whatever have created localized guides and turned them into apps.

There are a lot of Plant ID apps where you simply take a photo and it gives you it’s guesses. I haven’t personally used any, but they seem like a decent starting point if you have absolutely no clue. But please don’t use them as a sole identifier!

Edit: iNaturalist is a decent one because it has it’s first guess from whatever picture you submit, and then people review it and can either agree or disagree with your initial ID and provide their own.

Websites:

I look for websites that are created by government organizations, plant societies, museums, universities, tribal organizations, field guide publishers, etc.

When trying to identify a plant, sometimes something as simple as googling “purple flower shrub ___ (your area)” and looking at the image results can help you out, then go to more reliable sources to fact check. 

I’d also recommend familiarizing yourself with botanical terms, or at least figuring them out each time you have a mystery plant you want to identify. (Think: leaf shapes, branching patterns--opposite, alternate, whorled, other?--, flower types, fruit types, etc.) This is a huge rabbit hole you can go down but those four things are very helpful for basic identification. 

Here are some search queries to try:

Wild plants of ___ (your area)

Native plants of ___ (your area)

Weeds of ___ (your area)

List of ___ (your area) plants

___ (your area) plant guide

Broaden the search if your area isn’t pulling up much. For example, I’m in Washington state so I might try “Pacific Northwest” or “West Coast” or even “North America” if desperate. 

Here’s some examples of decent sites for my region (WA/PNW):

(I got to all of these sites by using the search queries listed above btw)

Washington Native Plant Society

Burke’s Washington Flora Checklist (University of Washington Herbarium)

USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Plant Database

University of Washington’s Directory of Recommended Links (lots of resources)

King County Native Plant Guide

Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board

Downloadable PDFs:

Northern Forest Atlases for woody plants, mosses and sedges.

Here are the plant guides I use the most:

Other plant guides (I’ve collected them over the years through used bookstores, there are likely newer editions):

EDIT: Since making this post I’ve done a lot of traveling and moved to a different area so I wanted so share my improved collection!

Lots of libraries have field guides, I recommend borrowing them and seeing what formats work for you!

And please comb through secondhand bookshops, there’s no need to drop a small fortune on field guides! There are very few that I buy new and that’s because they’re worth it, and good enough that they won’t be in used bookshops anytime soon!

[heatherwitch]

[heatherwitch]

You couldn't pay me

[heatherwitch]

Osprey - Pandion haliaetus

#birdingwithmouse #hoping to get better at getting osprey shots this year! #there’s a pair nesting at the pond I walk most days after work

[heatherwitch]

Kitchen Staples and Their Properties

If you're any kind of kitchen user, there are a few things that are usually present. Things like bread, cheese, beans, and vinegar are all things that many kitchens keep in stock. So, here is a list of some staples you may have in your kitchen, and what they mean.

Bread: health, abundance, the hearth, kindship

Beans: wisdom in choices, luck, money, divination, prosperity

Butter: peace, friendships/relationships, spirituality

Cheese: goal completion, happiness, moon magic, health

Eggs: feminine/goddess magic, fertility, mysticism

Honey: joy, love, sex, wisdom, lust, purification, health

Milk (Cow's): feminine parenthood/guidance, love, sustenance, spirituality,

Rice: fertility, protection, luck, money, growth

Salt: purification, protection, grounding, cleansing

Sugar: banishing negativity, love, affection, invoking kindness/sweetness

White Vinegar: cleansing, purification, protection

Adding some things together melds their properties! Cooking in butter for your friends can strengthen your relationships with them, and baking bread can bring abundance into your home.

As always, do your research, practice safely, and blessed be!

Support your local witch on Ko-Fi!

[heatherwitch]

Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus

#birdingwithmouse

[heatherwitch]

@katfishdraws

[heatherwitch]

Gentle reminder as we go into 2024 to please practice fire safety when giving offerings. If you have live candles and incense on your altar, never leave them unattended, and always keep a bowl of water nearby for safely extinguishing any lit matches, incense sticks, or other flammable items. You can even get fancy and have a dedicated water bowl if you must, but be safe. Fire is pretty, but dangerous.

[heatherwitch]

Ways To Be A Garbage Witch

Look everyone, in These Trying Times we can't always afford things so we gotta make do with what we got. So here's some hot tips to help you become a garbage witch:

Save and use apple seeds, orange seeds, peach pits, cherry pits, etc. to use in your spells.

Make a spirit board/pendulum board out of an empty cardboard box.

Make drawstring pouches out of old clothes.

Use bag strings for binding magic or use them in small drawstring bags.

Shoelaces and drawstrings from old pajamas or sweatpants are fine for knot magic or turning into drawstrings for pouches.

Save glass jars for spell jars.

Study carrion animals, animals that eat garbage, fungus, and the process of decomposition in general. Learn about the importance of biodiversity, and the hazards of oversterilization.

But also study proper sanitation methods, and be aware of biohazards. Don't go living in a house fulla mold or fish through people's garbage for... uhhh... ummm... taglocks. Don't store chicken bones so they'll rot.

If you have a compost bin, write anything you want to "decompose" out of your life on a banana peel. Put the banana peel in the bin.

Learn how to repair broken stuff. (But also learn what you really shouldn't repair for yourself - EG, microwaves - lest you meet with a horrible fate.)

Make charms/talismans by cutting out pictures of things that correspond with your intent and decoupaging them onto wood, chipboard, or layered cardboard.

Make paper mache diety art/statues out of newspaper.

Learn more about crafting with scraps, packaging materials, old magazines, etc. (There's many videos on YouTube!)