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#need witchy advice
raining-tulips · 6 months
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Ideas for a hair cutting ritual? I am about to transition my life and am feeling the urge to snip snip hmm how do I make it MEAN SOMETHING?!
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luaveltarot · 1 year
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PAC: Feel drained? How to feel more energetic?
| Pile 1-4 from left to right |
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Pile 1 🌼
Call a friend.
Go out and spend time in nature. Meditate on a tree and visualise yourself as the tree, letting the earth absorb all the turmoil, chaos and negativity into the earth.
Rely on your family for support, listen carefully to their advice. Especially your mom.
Spend time with your pets, they can feel you and they want to give you comfort. <3
Doing artistic creativity will you feel better about yourself, listen to music which lifts up your mood.
Self discipline, strategise and prioritise what works are more essential then do it in an organised way. Don’t let the scattered work overwhelm you. Also, you can ask your coworkers to give you a hand. Don’t shy away.
Don’t let others expectation weigh you down.
Pile 2🌸
Walk away from situations or relationships which drain you.
Stay away from conflicts.
Listen to podcasts, music, ted talks or even tarot reading which make you feel better.
Set healthy boundaries for yourself in respect to any situation.
Join a class or go to a workshop-get new experiences which help you achieve a new sense of perspective.
Go out attend parties or ceremonies because they will prove to be comforting for you.
Close your eyes and meditate.
Take decisions more mindfully and spiritually rather than investing yourself emotionally in return draining yourself without actually coming to any conclusion.
Pile 3🌄
Time for some inner child work- do things you loved as a child.
Be silly and do silly things like dance silly, sing in silly way and eliminate the fear of being watched or judged.
Your mom loves you but don’t let everything she say determine your worth.
Spend time in nature especially around colourful flowers.
Be patient with yourself and nurture yourself like a mother.
Appreciate how far you’ve come and don’t belittle yourself.
Take care of your health.
Build a routine which is more in alignment with your self healing journey.
Pile 4🍊
Sit in stillness, look inward and find power within. It’s important to rest.
Seek mediation and find literature that focuses on ways to quieten your mind.
Find a new hobby, the one you truly enjoy doing.
Handle situations skilfully and with confidence.
Face new job or financial situation with grace like a newly formed butterfly balancing possibilities in its delicate wings.
Know that everything happens for your highest good.
Delve deep within yourself and find what truly nourishes you. Self development is the key.
Spends time around waterbodies to bring more clarity.
You should eat mushrooms 🍄?! ( it supports healthy immune system)
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witchygirl4eva · 6 months
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ok so i need some witchy advice…. Im going to do a spell where the container is a hollowed out apple and was wondering about what i should do with the apple after ive done the spell. i cant exactly leave it in my room bcs im a closet witch and itll start to rot. so if anyone who has been practicing longer have any ideas that could help i really appreciate it💕💕 thx
(sorry if this doesn’t make sense)
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grimmoiree · 10 months
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question for my fellow witches-
I don't do a lot, if any, spirit work with ghosts or entities or anything. the store I work at definitely has something here and it's getting a lot more active, even showing itself in shadows to some of my coworkers. I'm unsure if it has bad intentions or if it's just hanging out and wants to be seen.
I've already cleansed the entire store, storage room, office, and fitting rooms and it's still here, which leads me to believe it may not be a malevolent spirit. I've debated banishment but I'm not sure if that would be a good idea. we've also discussed making it an altar or a little space in the locker room to reside in, I don't want it to think we're a threat to it and retaliate but if it does end up to be a baneful spirit I don't want to invite it to stay.
I'm unsure what to do, any advice would be so insanely appreciated
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mydysfunctionallife · 8 months
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Hi baby bat here, but you one of you experienced witches of tumblr please tell me if a lack of sleep can mess with your aura. I don’t trust information from google but I really need a lot of witchy tips.
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marimoscorner · 24 days
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Consumerism & Witchcraft
Written by Marimo (he/they)🌿
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I’ve seen a turn for the better in some witchy spaces regarding consumerism in the past few years, but overall it still tends to be an issue for us as a community. I’ve decided to try and breakdown the pitfalls I’ve noticed in my own journey, in the hopes that it will inspire and assist others. I’ve also provided alternatives and ideas on how to make small changes in our practice to help us better protect the Earth, stick it to the failing system and still acquire our bits and bobs we love so dearly.
As always, I am no authority on any subject nor am I perfect—but we’re all learning as we go, so let’s dive right in 🌿
A Preface
There are some things that should be made entirely clear before we begin:
You are not a bad person for wanting an aesthetic
You are not a bad person for unknowingly falling into pitfalls. Only if you continue to purposefully do so after knowing better
You are not a bad person for consuming content/objects or for not always making the most sustainable decisions. At the end of the day, we can only control our small part of environmental impact, while the rest is left up to the major corporations that make more pollution than any of us ever will
You are only human. Show yourself some grace and understanding that the internet so lacks.
My Experience in Consumerist Hell
I have fallen victim many times to consumerism in witchcraft. Starting my journey at the ripe age of about ten years old and heavily in the broom closet, I was quickly drawn in by the shiny rocks, the brand new candles and scents, the promise of new tarot decks and pendulums and other fancy, shiny new equipment. I was consuming an online aesthetic along with my ideals, and it distracted me from starting my journey by learning well.
I began to spend my birthday and holiday money on the aesthetic of things. While, granted, I still did buy a few literary resources now and again from my local secondhand bookstore—I was stubbornly ignoring the sage advice to learn and understand first before diving in headfirst.
I purchased statues, crystals, too many tarot decks to use. I purchased osteomancy bones I later returned to the earth, for I had not done enough research to know that that animal was mine to practice with. I had a tankard full of incense sticks, and even a growing pile of books that would not be read. While I liked to consider myself crafty with my homemade Maypole and various hand-bound Grimoires, something was becoming apparent: this was all a distraction.
The aesthetic I was partaking in was providing me with a false sense of progress and practicality.
When I’d go to do a tarot reading, I’d become far too overwhelmed with choosing a deck to read in the first place. When making an offering to a deity, I’d feel pressured to also bolster the altars of all the other deities I’d set up, and with my wide pool, the connections felt muddy. Often times I’d be off-put on a project or spell because I knew I needed to film it and it needed to look nice.
In the long term, I don’t have many of these items today. I’ve sold and donated a vast breadth of them. Feeling overwhelmed costed me a few years retreat from my craft to recuperate. However, what has stuck with me is the knowledge I picked up along the way.
So, What’s the Issue? TL;DR
I’ve noticed a few issues here in making these mistakes myself.
Consumerism absolutely distracts you from learning and your craft
Overconsumption leads to environmental damage. If everyone hoarded supplies, there would not be enough to go around. And with what gets thrown away every year…it paints an ugly wound on the Earth
We damage our learning abilities by not allowing ourselves to be anything less than perfect
The need for aesthetic creates barriers to entry within the community and creates a divide of haves and have-nots
You won’t be able to truly follow your individual path if you are only consuming and not creating for yourself
Consumerist culture promotes appropriation. Metaphysical stores carry items from closed practices (such as white sage and palo santo, or coyote bones) because someone is buying them. Don’t be that person, and find alternatives relating to your own culture instead
Consumerism can influence your spiritual decisions based upon monetary inclinations (where some may sacrifice a quality ingredient over a higher quantity of a lower quality ingredient)
So, what can we do?
Firstly, I want to clarify that I am not against collecting, nor am I against maximalism or the beautiful visual aesthetic we carry as a community.
I am an artist a very visual person and understand the longing for a beautiful home and workspace. However, this aesthetic shouldn’t come at the cost of irresponsibly harming the Earth or another community.
Thus, I’ve compiled a list of small things that I will be incorporating into my practice to make it more mindful and sustainable. I hope that you’ll join me in a few of them.
Minimize Supplies. While I used to have a huge selection of stationary for my Grimoire, I now limit myself to a simple pencil and watercolor set if I’m feeling artistic. This helps me actually use my Grimoire for study, rather than to keep perfect. It’s also friendlier on my wallet!
Thrift Supplies. There are plenty of perfectly good items that get donated daily. You can get high-quality candles and holders, old crystal bowls for altar offerings, spare crafting supplies, fabric for alter cloths and even clothing if you so wish—all for a fraction of the cost new and while saving the planet just a little bit more. Hell, you can sometimes even find good silver!
Share Supplies with your Community. You can create a sort of barter system with other witches in your area. Perhaps you create a sigil for them, and they provide you with a candle spell. Play to your strengths and grow together!
Look for Creative Outlets. Do you really need to go buy an altar statue that’s been mass-produced? Or can you give your deity the personal gift of a drawing, painting or even hand-modeled or hand-carved rendition? This will also deepen your connection to your craft and your magic, and make it more meaningful and stronger. If you really like something, though, go for it!
If you aren’t the artistic sort, consider supporting an artist before going to a large company. While I haven’t purchased from them myself, Blagowood on Etsy has beautiful deity statues carved from wood by their small team in Ukraine for a comparable cost to the standard mass produced metal statues. I consider this extra labor of love going into these pieces and those of similar small companies to be much better energy for my practice. I myself may put out some art prints and other handmade supplies in the future, but I will likely spread them around my community first.
Try Secondhand Books. While not available in every area and further still not as available for witchcraft and occult books, you may strike luck! Not only are secondhand books less expensive, but you’ll be supporting a local business. That’s not to say you can’t buy firsthand books, but some searching around may be beneficial to the earth and to your wallet in the long run.
Be mindful of where you source supplies and decor. If you are a fan of taxidermy decor, make sure that you source cruelty free. Bats can practically never be sourced without cruelty, so if a shop carries them, I’d be mindful of their other specimens. The same goes for if a shop decides to forgo a culture’s wishes and carry supplies sacred to them, such as white sage or dreamcatchers. Supporting folks who turn a profit off of others’ suffering is not something many would wish to include energetically in their craft.
Search the Wild for Tools. Find sticks, flowers and other plants out in the forest. Learn how to rockhound in your area for crystals. Your craft will be more powerful the more connected it is to the land you are surrounded by. Be sure to reference guides for safety and legality!
Get Creative with Purposes. If you are having difficulty finding exactly what you need by thrifting or searching, make another tool multipurpose if it would do the job good enough. Find supplies that are easy to source and work as substitutes for other ingredients (ex. Quartz as a stand in for other stones)
Spend more time Doing. Go out into the woods (safely) and advance your connection to the earth instead of worrying over the perfect item for your collection. Your craft will benefit
At the end of the day, all of this is your decision. Take what you like, and leave what you don’t. Even if we don’t agree, I thank you for your time and open mind. I will continue updating about how I incorporate these steps, and I will also hopefully post more on witchy crafting in the future.
I wish you well, and hope you’ll decide to follow along on our journey!
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coughloop · 8 months
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URGENTLY LOOKING FOR A ROOM I CAN VAPE IN:
Hello gay Facebook group of housing queers. I am looking for a 420 friendly apartment room I can hang out in 2 - 4 hours a day and vape in complete silence (I will be screaming but I need silence from all other residents to complete my experience). I do not have money and trade exclusively in pendants I made to depict a new catholic pantheon of neo paganistic spiritual dream stalkers and night lovers. The idea is to bring a more witchy side to the saint loving hippies in the Vatican that I think don't really understand the pressures of being a novus womano in the modern and scary world. I would like the room to have no windows, or at least be painted over with vantablack (i can byob) but this must be a room shared with someone who sleeps at night and is haunted be terrible dreams. I need the chakral energy to commune with whatever dark ichor leaks out of my busted ass cart which doesn't smell. But I might get some on your floor.
IT IS NOT OKAY TO CONTACT THIS USER WITH UNSOLICITED ADVICE OR FAVOURS
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breelandwalker · 2 years
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General Advice for Beginner Witches
A brief masterpost of some of my advice posts for beginner witches and the episodes of my podcast dealing with the same. (There is UPG here, particularly where marked, as I base a good deal of my advice on my own experience and observations of other witches.)
Hex Positive Podcast Episodes
Hex Positive, Ep. 04 - Advice for Beginner Witches (July 2020)
Hex Positive, Eps. 6-7 - Come In For A Spell 1 & 2 (Sept 2020)
Hex Positive, Ep. 12 - Witching From The Broom Closet (Jan 2021)
Hex Positive, Ep. 24 - Warding A Witchy Home (Dec 2021)
Hex Positive, Ep. 27 - When Inspo Takes A Holiday (March 2022)
General Tips & Advice
I Feel Like I Might Be A Witch...But I Don't Know
I Have Mental Health Issues - Can I Still Be A Witch?
Can I Still Be A Witch And Use Magic If I Take Medication?
How Do I Teach Myself To Believe In Magic?
How Does Magic Work? (upg ahoy)
Will I Be Possessed Or Haunted If I Try Witchcraft?
What Are Some Things I Can Do To Get Started?
How Can I Start My Practice If I Don't Have Tools Or Books?
How Do I Organize My Study Materials?
How Do I Contact A Deity?
How Do I Worship My Deity If I Can't Have An Altar?
Tips On Working With Deities And Spirits (here be upg)
My Intuitive Spark Feels Low - How Do I Get It Back?
I'm In A Slump - How Do I Get Out Of It?
I've Reached A Stopping Point - What Do I Do Next?
My Candle Is Flickering - Does It Mean Something Bad?
How Do I Make A Magic Circle For Spellcasting?
What Happens If I Get Interrupted While Casting A Spell?
Do I Need To Maintain Positive Vibes For My Spells To Work?
What Should I Do If I REALLY Want To Hex Someone?
How Do I Know / What Do I Do If I've Been Hexed?
How Do I Become More Skilled And More Powerful?
How Do I Know When I'm Ready For The Next Step In My Practice?
Additional Tips For Developing Your Practice
Witchcraft Exercise - Quantifying Your Craft
Witchcraft Exercise - Dig Through The Ditches
Witchcraft Exercise - The Book of Lessons
Witchcraft Exercise - Home Brews
Tips on How to Visualize and Construct Basic Wards
Practicing Your Warding Technique
Cleansing Before Warding / Warding A Shared Space
Refreshing / Patching Existing Wards
Non-Appropriative Herbs for Smoke-Cleansing
Smokeless Cleansing / Other Methods
Recommended Reading & Book Suggestions
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lilithess · 1 year
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moon signs as i’ve met them
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🌔 taurus - high brand, high value. likes expensive/quality materials. might be loners and unlucky in love. if undeveloped can be very lazy and sensitive to criticism. catty and competitive. status and money seem to be of great deal to them or an important theme in their lives whether they’re rich or poor.
🌗 gemini - a scientist. bored. dissasociates mid conversation. talks over you. honesty comes from naivety, not necessarily good intentions. highly rational. elite humor. loves the tea. craves something interesting and weird. too fast for their own good.
🌕 cancer - best listeners. hardcore lovers. hides emotions under their crab skin. can be vengeful and have a victim complex. family issues, mostly with mother. notices every change in your tone and knows your secrets. unlucky in love. naive as hell.
🌒 sagittarius - can go either way, really dark or completely the opposite. versatile. able to talk about anything. thinks highly of themselves and might have machiavellian approach to life. not high on being empathetic to others. they might not excel in their family’s expectations. has their own way. can be really lucky or really unlucky.
🌗 aquarius - alternative kids. black sheep of your class but not in a loser way, in a cool way. edgy. trendsetters. weirdos. controversial. will disagree just to spite you. keeps it cool. secretly wants the spotlight but for all the wrong reasons.
🌑 scorpio - they seem like they’ve been through something. alluring. sneaky. notices everything. can go ice cold. keeps emotions behind closed doors. you don’t really know what’s going on over there, like any other water moon. can be petty. witchy people. feelings go a long way until they die.
🌒 capricorn - feet on the ground. controlling and in control. petty. competitive. elite humor. poker face. invented repressed rage. goes through it alone and hard. seeks salvation through work and status. takes their sweet time with anything and everything.
🌓 libra - calm. collected. soothing, but not necessarily comforting or optimistic. openly talks about anything. in control of their emotions. private and secretive. normal. good for giving advice to people. rather unbiased and relaxed on the surface.
🌕 pisces - can believe in anything and everything. possible family issues. a wanderer. a mystery. far away. you never know.
🌑 aries - speaks their truth. bad girl/boy vibe. good for advice just like libra, if you can handle their version of it. simple people. can get violent when angry. emotions come and go. very magnetic and attractive, bursting with energy. can be heartbreakers, but without any grand agenda.
🌙 virgo - motherly. aggressively worries about you. likes to give gifts even if you don’t want or need them. needs to be of service. doesn’t like the spotlight. very reserved and in control. they are listening even if you think they’re not. traditional. secretly kinky. seeks status in work.
🌖 leo - similar to aquarius, but without the black sheep stereotype. might have been spoiled for better or worse. clingy to their home / mother. sticks to their beliefs. ego can be off the roof.
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whimsigothwitch · 9 months
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Back 2 school tips for witches
School/college has already started for some, others begin next week. I thought sharing some tips on incorporating witchcraft while going back to school would be the perfect timing! (these can also be used for those who go to work!)
Meditate before getting up, we all know those 5 minutes before getting up from bed contemplating whether or not you should get up or just roll over because you are laying so comfortable... Use those 5 minutes to do some meditating, breathe in 4 seconds through your nose, hold 4 seconds and then release through your mouth 4 seconds. Feel how the air fills your lungs, see it as charging up with fresh energy. And what you release is old, negative thoughts and feelings.
Tarot, quick morning draw. Ask advice for this coming day, and reflect on your pull in the evening.
Shielding from negative energies, imagine being surrounded by a white light that protects you. Or have a short mantra that you can say to yourself or in your head when needed, this can be as simple as 'I am protected against negative energies in any shape or from'
Shielding from negative energies, imagine being surrounded by a white light that protects you. Or have a short mantra that you can say to yourself or in your head when needed, this can be as simple as 'I am protected against negative energies in any shape or from'.
Planner, Write all the moon phases with timing and zodiac, retrogrades etc in your planner. Together with all the sabbats, you can plan spellwork this way much easier.
Read a book, choose a witchy book, this can be an informative book, digital book of choice. Sometimes lessons are canceled and you have to wait a period, or if you have lunch you can read to make time pass faster. If you can, go on a walk around your school/work place for some fresh air to connect with nature for a bit. Does wonders.
Sigils drawn on or inside notebooks, your hands, written in (gym) sport shoes, sewn in clothing/bags etc. for luck, protection or strength for the day.
Crystals in pockets, bags, jewelry (necklaces, earrings, rings), keychain, on your desk while studying.
Enchant your makeup for glamour magic, jewelry, pens with intention of choice.
Color magic, while getting dressed; red for confidence and strength, yellow and orange for happiness and energy, green for attracting luck and abundance, blue for focus and communication, pink for (self)love and friendships, purple for intuition and wisdom, black for protection, white for purity and protection. Gold jewelry for the sun, succes and prosperity, and silver jewelry for the moon and intuition.
Sachet, make a sachet you can always carry with you in your bag, add herbs, crystals and intention of choice.
Showering, washing any lingering energy, thoughts or negative feelings away from the day. If you have trouble imagining negative energy washing off you in a color, see the soap you are washing off as this energy. Watch it flow away from you into the shower drain.
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eclectic-misfit · 5 months
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sometimes learning about paganism and witchcraft can become incredibly tiring and occasionally even terrifying, especially when you haven't lived in a pagan and/or witchy household (but not only in those cases).
there are so many concepts to grasp, so much new information that it becomes overwhelming to see all those things that you think you should know immediately — and overall there's a lot to unpack, be it skepticism or religious trauma or anxiety or any other thing.
i'm here to tell you that it's okay. it's okay to be scared and insecure about all of this, it's okay to have doubts, it's okay to struggle.
my advice is, as simple as it might sound, break down what you'd like to know into small categories, and start focusing on only one thing (if it works for you — everyone learns in a different way!).
you're getting overwhelmed with so many notions about herbs, crystals, pantheons, witchcraft history, etc? choose one topic and start from the basics.
there are many different sources, which can be contradictory — use them all and confront them.
and remember, take it slowly. your practice is yours and it should accomodate your needs. <3
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hikarry · 5 months
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Crowley's post-divorce assembled squad should be Nina and Anathema
No, they are not there to comfort him. They are there to give him shit and have drunk nights in his apartment while watching Golden Girls
Crowley: 6000 years! 6000 fucking years and all I get is an "I forgive you"?! He will see what he will need to forgive me for when I-
Nina: What? Storm Heaven and cause a scene?
Crowley:
Crowley: I could, if I wanted to
Anathema *snorts into her wine glass*: Right. You would have your ass handed to you in a silver platter
Crowley: You don't know what I'm capable of. I'm the fucking Serpent of Eden!
Nina: And so far that hasn't helped you much now, has it?
Anathema: Yeah, that little title of yours didn't make the angel stay, did it?
Crowley *downs the whole wine glass in one go*: Why do I even invite you guys over?
Nina: Because you are a depressed ancient supernatural entity that lost his only friend and we are the second best option
Crowley: Yeah yeah, and who's fault was that?! It was your stupid idea that fucked me!
Anathema: Technically Aziraphale probably would have left regardless if you confessed or not-
Crowley: Get out
Anathema: What if I do? *laughs* Will you call me again at 1 in the afternoon because you need "some witchy advice" but spend an hour complaining about your life instead?
Crowley *grabs a throw pillow*: Book girl, I'm warning you
Nina: Oh don't be ridiculous *grabs the pillow from his hand* Drink your wine and let's finish this episode. I need to work tomorrow
Anathema: And I need to go back to Tadfield to, you know, be with my husband
Crowley *grabs the pillow again and throws it against her face with a growl*
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n3xii · 7 months
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Whats holding you back right now?
hello everyone! Today's pick a card has to do with the blockages in your life and whats holding you back, your reading will also contain some advice about how to overcome this blockage! Take a deep breath and choose from one of the purses below!
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PURSE ONE
Cards: 5 of pentacles and ''Capricorn''
For this pile, I think theres some financial restraints that are holding you back and causing you to lack boundaries with work- you hustle and hustle because you know you need the money/experience, and while the constant hustling may seem productive for now, its actually harming you in the long run. When you get in the mindset that you should always be doing something productive and related to work, you begin to loose yourself and the parts of your life that also deserve your time and attentions. This doesn't mean you need to quit your job or stop hustling, but it does mean you need to reflect on where you need better boundaries with work, know when it's time to shut down the station for the day and give yourself time to relax.
PURSE TWO
cards: 3 of wands, rainbow fluorite
People who chose this pile simply need to implement a spiritual or witchy routine to cleanse their energy/ aura because I'm seeing that the path ahead for you is actually clear. there's nothing standing in your way of pushing forward and executing your goals, but your aura may be carrying some stagnant energy that's fogging your vision. Doing some mindful meditation and visualizing your energy being cleared, visualizing that your energy is being cleansed in the shower, or holding your favorite crystal with the intention of it absorbing your negative energy etc. can be a few ways that will help you.
PURSE THREE
cards: ten of pentacles, clear quartz
People who chose this pile have a similar problem to pile two, the blockage you're currently dealing with has to do with energy. However, for you guys, I'm seeing negativity from family members, extended family, relatives etc thats latching onto you and creating delays/blocks. call attention to what in your life is causing you to feel dragged down and reclaim ownership over your energy. Dont let family/relatives clog your energy with negativity.
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c-e-d-dreamer · 5 days
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When We Howl, the Moon Will Cower: Chapter 4
A/N: I'd say I'm sorry this chapter is so long, but I feel like no one actually wants to hear that. We've got a little bit of everything! Cassian getting his ass handed to him. Nessian banter. Mama A being the worst. And SMUT! Anyways, hope everyone enjoys
Additional note: I'm really sorry to everyone on my tag list. Tumblr won't let me tag any accounts for some reason. It won't let me select when I paste it in and it keeps saying "no blogs found" when I try typing manually which I know is a damn lie 😭
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Read on AO3 // Chapter Masterlist // Previous Part // Next Part
Cassian
Cassian watches as Nesta works through the combination, fists hitting against Cresseida’s raised palms. Her hair is tied back in a braid that runs down her back, the strands swishing across her shoulder blades with each movement and glinting beneath the rays of the afternoon sun. She’s been at it for a while, pink coloring the apples of her cheeks and stretching down her throat to her collarbones, and even from where he’s standing, Cassian can see the beads of sweat speckled across her skin.
Before he can stop them, his thoughts start to spiral down and down. He still remembers the last time he saw that sheen along her skin. Still remembers exactly how far down that flush can go. His body still too keyed-up after sleeping beside her the night before. He has to tilt his head up toward the sky with a sigh, determined to cool the heat sparking and simmering in his veins.
When Cassian focuses his attention back down, Nesta and Cresseida have moved on to sword practice. Wooden sword in hand, Nesta moves first slowly then with more speed through the steps Cresseida directs. Cassian keeps waiting for Cresseida to correct Nesta’s stance, but after the fourth repetition, he can’t take it any longer, striding across the training rings.
“Watch your foot.”
Nesta sighs at the sound of his voice, dropping her wooden sword to her side and turning to him with an unimpressed expression. “What?”
“Your foot. You’re turning it inward each time you lunge,” Cassian explains, gesturing down toward the foot in question. “You’ll lose strength and control doing that.”
Nesta glances down to her own feet, and Cassian wonders briefly if she intends to ignore the advice out of pure stubbornness, out of pure, witchy spite. Another way for her to pull one over on him while they’re trapped in this blazing wildfire burning around them, between them. But instead, surprisingly, Nesta readjusts her stance, shifting her foot so it faces forward.
“Thanks,” Nesta mutters, raising her sword again to work through the same sequence. “Did you need something else then?”
“Just trying to help, sweetheart.”
“And yet, I don’t recall ever asking for it.”
“Cassian!”
Cassian turns at the call of his name, finding Baz just outside the training rings. For once, there’s no smile on his third’s face, his brown eyes missing their usual, playful spark. It has cold dread flooding through Cassian’s limbs, crystalizing between his ribs until the weight twists and presses in. He breathes through the churning in his gut, but his muscles feel tense, his lips pressed into a grim line by the time Baz reaches him.
“What’s happened?” Cassian demands, skipping right past pleasantries.
“Alistair and Cormac have returned,” Baz explains.
Cassian sighs softly, squinting back toward the village and the rows of cabins, his mind reeling over this news. There’s no denying the relief that floods through him, the way it soothes the fear that always sparks within him every time they send out scouts. But what did they see? What information are they bringing back? It’s a stark reminder of the storm clouds looming just over the horizon, of the thunder shaking the ground beneath Cassian’s feet, beneath the pack’s security.
Nodding to himself, Cassian turns his attention back to Baz. “Gather the elders. We’ll meet immediately.”
“Already on it.”
Baz turns on his heels, jogging away, and Cassian watches him go before making his way toward the meeting hall with another sigh. Anxiety prickles across his skin at what they’ll learn, what will be discussed. He makes it a few steps outside of the training rings when the sound of a second set of footsteps reaches his ears, Cassian stopping short. He turns to find Nesta walking beside him, her brows furrowing at their sudden halt.
“What are you doing?” Cassian asks, gesturing back toward the training rings. “Go back to training with Cresseida.”
“It sounds like there’s important news, clearly an important meeting,” Nesta offers, peering up at him as if it’s obvious.
“And?”
“And? And I’m joining you.”
Cassian scoffs, crossing his arms. “You’re not attending this meeting.”
“What,” Nesta snaps dryly, her tone low and incredulous. “Why not?”
“I’m not having a witch in the room when we discuss pack business.”
Cassian is certain that the glare Nesta settles him with would cut down a lesser man where he stands. The blue of her eyes is pure ice, a fire burning in them and promising to swallow him whole in a blazing storm. She steps closer to him, her chest brushing against his own with every annoyed, heaving breath, lip pulled back in a sneer.
“I am your wife,” Nesta reminds him, words cold and clipped.
Cassian leans down until they’re eye to eye, offering a glare of his own. “I didn’t choose you.”
This close together, Cassian catches it, the way her mask slips for just a moment. He almost thinks he imagined it, that flash of emotion in her eyes, before the fury returns. He doesn't dare look down, look away from her gaze, but he can feel the sparks of silver flames prickling across his skin where their hands hang a hairsbreadth apart. He resets his stance, shifting his feet and preparing for the impact of her magic.
“You’re a godsdamned bastard,” Nesta seethes.
She doesn’t say anything else, surprisingly keeping a leash on her magic and her rage. Instead, she turns on her heel, stalking back toward Cresseida on the other side of the training rings. Cresseida meets Cassian’s gaze briefly, shaking her head, before holding out the wooden sword for Nesta to take again. But Cassian doesn’t have time for disappointment or other’s opinions on what he should or shouldn’t do.
On how he should or shouldn’t run his pack.
He winds his way through the village until he reaches the meeting hall. Baz and Emerie are already standing outside, and he offers them both a nod in greeting.
“Are all the elders gathered?”
“Everyone’s gathered and ready, yeah,” Baz explains, glancing behind him to the open doorway.
“Where's Nesta?” Emerie asks, looking pointedly over Cassian’s shoulder as though she expects the witch to appear.
“Hell if I know,” Cassian shrugs, moving to step forward into the meeting hall but Emerie is quick to step directly into his path, blocking him. He rolls his eyes. “Last I left her, she was at the training rings with Cresseida.”
“Should we wait for her before we start, then? One of us can go grab her,” Baz offers.
Cassian lets out a derisive snort. “Why would we wait for her? She’s not attending a pack meeting.”
The cold look Emerie settles him with rivals Nesta’s. “She’s your wife.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that? Did everyone forget that I didn’t choose her?”
“Did you forget that she didn’t choose this either?” Emerie demands, smacking him hard in the chest. “You were there. Her mother practically sold her and her sisters like cattle. I thought I already told your dumbass you need to respect her.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Cassian growls, side stepping around Emerie and into the meeting hall. “Let’s go.”
“Fucking idiot…”
~ * * * ~
The sigh that tumbles past Cassian’s lips is heavy, icy claws sinking into his lungs and drawing blood with the exhale. He digs his fingers through his hair, the strands already starting to knot with how many times he’s repeated the gesture. The map continues to lay splayed out across the wood of the table in front of him, and all he can do is stare at it, blink at it.
“We’ll have to inform the vamps and the Vanserras,” Baz’s voice draws Cassian from his quickly spiraling thoughts. “We can’t keep this information to ourselves.”
“A temple,” Emerie whispers, almost to herself. “What kind of evil do you have to be to attack and destroy a temple?”
“If Cormac is right, they got whatever they were looking for,” Cassian comments, leaning forward over the map and sliding his finger along the parchment, along the ink of the lines, the trees and the mountains. “Hybern’s even more dangerous now, and we need to be ready. We need to up our defenses along the western lines, make sure our warning system gives us as much time as possible.”
“You really think Hybern would try something? Attack the pack directly?” Baz asks, a hollowness taking over his usual sunny expression.
“Mother knows what Hybern is thinking or planning,” Cassian says, pushing back up to his feet. “But I’m not willing to risk it. Not willing to risk our pack.”
Emerie nods in agreement, the weight of what Cormac and Alistair described finding at the temple clearly still pressing on her even as she defiantly holds her chin up high. “I’ll make sure the new orders are delivered and implemented.”
“Tomorrow,” Cassian offers, giving Emerie’s shoulder a comforting squeeze. “We’ll worry about implementing everything tomorrow. I think we all could use a night off after that.”
“And maybe a drink,” Baz mutters, the barest hint of a smile starting to return.
Cassian chuckles softly, unable to deny the idea sounds appealing. He has a bottle of whiskey back at his cabin that’s smooth and aged, and it might just be calling his name. “And maybe that too.”
Cassian rolls up the map and returns it the rightful place, following his second and third out the door the elders vacated what feels like hours ago. True to his teasing words, Baz heads for the pack’s favorite watering hole, Emerie vanishing toward her cabin to find her wife. It leaves Cassian to make the trek back to his own cabin alone.
The meeting lasted for hours, darkness having now blanketed across the village. The clouds shimmer and shift across the face of the moon, the silver light rippling like waves across the grass where it bleeds through, casting shadows over the trees and cabins. He just hopes it means that Nesta may have already retired for the night. The last thing he wants after that meeting is to rehash an argument with her.
He’s already dreaming of a tall glass of whiskey, of settling before the fire and relaxing at least for one night, as he makes his way up the steps to his cabin. He reaches forward for the handle of the front door, but a shock jolts through his fingertips, skittering up his arm and through his entire body. His eyebrows pinch, and he shakes out the pins and needles before trying again, only to earn the same reaction, his every muscle tensing in response.
“What the fuck…”
Cassian raises his hand, carefully, slowly, pressing his palm forward. The magic glimmers around his touch, spreading outward in silver swirls that Cassian suspects must be some sort of runes. They stretch all the way up and around the cabin like a shield.
A ward.
She’s put a ward around the cabin, locking him out.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Nesta?” Cassian shouts, loud enough she can hear him from wherever she is inside. “Let me in!”
Only silence answers Cassian, mocks him.
“Nesta, I know you can hear me! This isn’t fucking funny.”
Cassian growls in frustration when there’s still no response. He slams a fist against the ward, but the magic seems to give back whatever impact thrown at it, silver flaring around him and the force sending him stumbling back a few steps. He scrubs a hand through his hair and down his face, sending a silent prayer up to the Mother. He doesn’t know how long his stubborn witch of a wife intends to let him stew, but it’s clear that it’s going to be a long night.
~ * * * ~
Nesta
Nesta tugs on the strands of her hair, shifting them until they sit how she wants. She holds them steady in place, plucking the pin from between her teeth and sliding it between the strands. Examining her work in the mirror, she hums quietly in approval, finally stepping back and toward the door. She winds her way through the cabin and to the front door, but her steps stop short when she pulls it open.
Cassian is curled up on his side, his back to the door. One arm is tucked up beneath his head, cheek pillowed on his bicep, and his hair is a tangled mess all around his face. For a moment, Nesta can do nothing but gape, nothing but blink in surprise at the sight of him here in front of the door. When she’d warded the cabin last night, she assumed that he’d find somewhere else to sleep, perhaps crash with Baz wherever the third’s cabin is.
Guilt begins to spool in Nesta’s gut, but then she remembers everything that happened yesterday. She remembers how Cassian seems set on locking her out of everything involving this pack. As if being isolated from her family through this farce of a marriage wasn’t bad enough, she’s stuck being just as isolated here thanks to her dear husband. As if Hybern and its king aren’t as much of a threat to her as they are to Cassian and the pack.
All of the anger and rage from yesterday blazes back through Nesta’s veins like a wildfire, and she raises her chin, stepping right over Cassian’s still sleeping form. Hopefully, now, the alpha has learned his lesson. He wants to play games and shut her out of everything, then he can enjoy sleeping outside in the cold and being shut out of his own cabin.
“Nesta.”
Nesta sighs, pausing just two steps down from the cabin. She turns around just in time to watch Cassian scramble up to his feet. Despite not being in his wolf form, his eyes still glow golden, furious in the way they spark and blaze. His lips are pulled back in a snarl, brows pinched down low as he glares at her.
Nesta raises a sardonic brow, not giving him an inch with her cool expression. “Sleep well? Who knew you took your inner wolf so seriously that you take to sleeping outside now.”
“Do you think this is a fucking joke?” Cassian growls, fists clenching at his sides.
“I don’t know. Did you think yesterday was a fucking joke?”
Cassian scoffs, but Nesta has heard enough. She spins on her heel and continues down the steps that lead away from the cabin and back toward the village.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”
“Emerie is waiting for me with a carriage,” Nesta explains, not stopping or turning around. “I don’t want to be late for tea with my sisters.”
She can feel Cassian’s ire following her the whole way, burning a brand into her spine. The low sound of his growl practically echoes in her ears. It has a self-satisfied smirk tugging up Nesta’s lips the whole rest of the way, and if Emerie notices her expression, she thankfully doesn’t comment on it as Nesta climbs inside the carriage, as it carries them away from the village.
It feels almost strange to be back at the Archeron manor, to peer up at the dark red brick, the spires, and the climbing ivy through the carriage window. Almost subconsciously, her thumb slides across the slightly raised skin on the back of her left hand, tracing the scar back and forth. A deep breath in and out, and Nesta opens the carriage door, stepping out and into the misty morning light.
She walks up the front steps, the front door swinging open right before she reaches it. At least, the magic imbued within the wood and brick of the house still recognizes her. Nesta steps inside, instantly greeted by the familiar smells of fresh lavender, ginger, and basil, and follows the halls all the way to the sunroom at the back of the manor.
The round table in the room is already covered in a white, lace tablecloth, a steaming teapot placed at the center. Elinor sits primly in the seat directly across from the doorway back into the main house, hair neatly and harshly tugged back away from her face and chin raised high. As soon as Nesta steps inside, her mother’s cool eyes are pinning her in place.
“Mama,” Nesta greets quietly.
Feyre is already settled in the seat directly to Elinor’s right, so Nesta takes the seat across from their mother. She chances a glance toward her youngest sister, but Feyre has her eyes cast downward, staring intently at her plate. Nesta doesn’t miss the way Feyre chews on her bottom lip, the way she aimlessly pushes around her eggs, even as her grip on her fork is white knuckled.
Giving her hands something to do, Nesta reaches forward for the teapot, pouring herself a cup. Thankfully, just as she’s taking a sip, Elain steps inside the sunroom, brown eyes wide and almost nervous as they flit around the table. She’s quick to settle into the final seat beside Nesta, fingers twisting and fisting into the skirts of her dress.
“My girls,” Elinor begins, taking the time to look at all three of them. “Back together again. Have you all been well?”
Feyre’s eyes flash up at the question, but Nesta is quick to jump in. “I’m sure we’re all still adjusting, Mama.”
Elinor hums, Nesta’s fingers twitching and tensing in response to the disapproving sound. She has to shake the urge to trace that scar on the back of her hand again, that sound and what typically followed it still haunting and prickling in the back of Nesta’s mind.
“And what have we learned, hm?” Elinor continues, folding her hands neatly in front of her. “The rumors say that Rhysand’s numbers are beyond what we’ve been led to believe. Is it true? Are there more vampires than we know?”
“How would I know that, Mama?” Feyre sighs softly.
“You’re his wife now, are you not? And what about the wolves?” Elinor asks, her attention snapping to Nesta. “There’s long been stories of their training, of their strength.”
“I haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary with the pack,” Nesta explains, trying to hold her mother’s gaze but dropping her eyes to the dark swirls of her tea.
“And how about the Vanserras? And their coven’s spellbook?”
“I… I haven’t seen any spellbook, Mama,” Elain murmurs, her voice quiet.
Elinor sighs, and Nesta tries to brace for whatever is coming. “I give you girls everything that you need, set you and this family up, and this is what you offer me?”
“Mama…” Nesta starts, prepared to place herself in front of her sisters and in the line of fire with their mother if need be.
“You all have to be better. You’re Archeron women for the Mother’s sake.”
“Are we? Since you married us off,” Feyre mutters under her breath, but not quiet enough that their mother doesn’t hear.
“You insolent child,” Elinor seethes, turning her ire on her youngest daughter. “I am making you all stronger, ensuring you can take your birthright. And you’re ungrateful?” She takes a calming breath, smoothing out the lines of her skirts. “I expect you all to be better than this moving forward. At least I see you haven’t allowed the vampire bite, nor the wolf mating bite. That’s good. Elain?”
Elain’s grip on her skirts is near white-knuckled beneath the table, pink beginning to spill through her cheeks. With each second of silence that stretches around them, Nesta frowns in confusion, trying to surreptitiously reach toward her sister in comfort without their mother noticing.
“Elain,” Elinor repeats, her voice clipped.
Another tense moment passes, but then Elain slowly lifts her hands, placing them palm up on the table. The pink line across her left palm is unmistakable, still slightly puckered and not fully healed. A bonding spell, a witch’s equivalent of tying two souls together through blood and magic.
“I’m sorry, Mama,” Elain whispers, wincing when Elinor’s fingers curl around her wrist in a tight grip. “It was Eris. He insisted that Lucien and I do it.”
The response has Nesta even more confused. Elain has never been a particularly good liar, neither when they were girls and she was stealing cookies and sweets from the kitchen nor when they were teens and she was sneaking out to meet Graysen Nolan in town. And Nesta knows that Elain is lying now; although, she has no idea why.
“What were you thinking, Elain? This type of stupidity is beneath you.”
“Please, Mama. You’re hurting me.”
“Do you have any idea what this means? What you’ve done? You’re an Archeron, dammit, not some Vanserra’s tramp. Marriage or not, I will not have you tarnishing this family’s name.”
Elinor releases Elain’s wrist, crescent shaped indentations embedded in the skin from her nails. Elain clutches her hand back to her chest, cradling her wrist. Anger sparks and flares in Nesta’s chest in her sister’s defense. She glares across the table at their mother, but Elinor’s focus stays glued on Elain. The biting words sit heavy on the tip of Nesta’s tongue, poised and ready to fire without a second thought for the consequences, for what she knows it would mean to bring Elinor’s ire back her way.
As long as it’s off Elain and Feyre.
But before Nesta can say anything, Elinor pushes up to her feet. She looks down her nose at all three of her daughters, a cruel queen and her subjects. “Remember your place, remember what is expected of you as an Archeron, and do not fail me again.”
~ * * * ~
Nesta is quiet the entire carriage ride back to the pack’s village. She can feel Emerie’s curious gaze watching her from the seat across from her, but Nesta keeps her eyes firmly out the window. She watches the leaves and the trees shift and morph as they move past, her mother’s words, the whole morning, still playing over and over in her mind.
She’s an Archeron woman. A witch who comes from a long line of proud, powerful women. One of three sisters said to be blessed by the Mother herself. No matter that she’s a married woman now. No matter that she and Cassian may one day be amicable. No matter what the pack might one day mean to her. An Archeron is what her mother expects her to be, and Nesta will not fail her.
She will not be a failure again.
“Are you alright?” Emerie finally dares to break the quiet to ask. “You seem… tense.”
“I’m fine,” Nesta dismisses curtly. “Besides, you don’t need to worry about me.”
“You’re the alpha’s wife. You might be surprised, but that actually means something to me.”
The words take Nesta by surprise, and she turns her attention to the second, blinking a few times before remembering herself. “Thanks.”
Emerie shrugs like it’s easy, like it doesn’t mean anything, but it does to Nesta. It makes her feel like she may be less alone in the pack after all. She’s about to ask Emerie if she likes to read, to see if they may share any interests, but the carriage pulls to a stop. Emerie is quick to hop out, holding the door open for Nesta to step down as well.
“I promised Cresseida I’d relieve her from shop duty as soon as I got back,” Emerie explains, waving off the carriage. “You’ll be alright?”
“I’m fine.”
Emerie’s gaze sweeps over Nesta, like she doesn’t quite believe the words, but she doesn’t comment or say anything else. With a nod of her head, she heads toward the market square. Left alone, Nesta takes a moment for herself. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in, allowing the scent of the trees and the moss around her to fill her senses. The peace this deep into the forest licks at her wounds in a soothing way she doesn’t expect, has that magic within her settling like a beast returning home.
Home.
Is that what this place is now? Between her grandmother and her mother, the Archeron manor certainly never truly felt like a home. Nesta has never really felt like she had a home, not a true one,at least. When she was younger, she used to read stories of sweeping romances and believed that she could find one just like the women between those pages. Her mother always said they were nothing more than fairytale dreams, always chastised her when she had her nose in those books.
Maybe that was one thing Elinor was right about.
Sighing softly to herself, Nesta rolls her shoulders and starts along the winding path through the village, back toward the alpha cabin on the top of the hill. When she pushes through the front door, she’s surprised to find Cassian standing in the kitchen. He looks just as surprised to see her, but then his expression changes, morphs into rage with the way his lips pull back in a snarl, the way his hazel eyes flare and narrow.
Nesta had almost forgotten about Cassian, certainly forgotten about their previous argument and the ward she’d placed around the cabin last night. She’d been too caught up in her mother and her sisters, between the disaster that was tea this morning. But it’s clear that Cassian hasn’t, and it all comes crashing back to Nesta as she takes in the way he’s glaring at her.
It’s the perfect distraction.
“I see you got yourself back inside after all,” Nesta comments idly, turning her back on him and removing her shoes and her cloak.
“We need to talk about last night.”
“What’s there to talk about? I thought it was rather fitting. Perhaps, we should build you a dog house.”
Nesta turns back around, offering her best saccharine smile, knowing it’s exactly the thing to get under his skin and fuel the fire. To draw out the pull to her push until they’re burning together and everything else fades away with those flames. But Cassian merely tilts his head, watching her in that unnerving way of his as though he can see right through her. It has Nesta’s hackles raising.
“Do you want to play, Nes?” Cassian drawls, taking slow, measured steps closer to her.
“Play? There’s no playing. You’re insufferable.”
“Insufferable? That’s weak, even for you.”
Nesta scowls up at him, daring to close that final step between them until they’re toe to toe. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, come on. Is that the worst you’ve got? I’ve been called much worse than that, sweetheart.”
“Like what?” Nesta asks, any other cutting words dying on her tongue.
“Offended on my behalf?” Cassian fires back, reaching a hand up between them to cradle her jaw, dragging his thumb across her bottom lip.
The teasing tone has the scowl returning in an instant, Nesta smacking his hand away. “Perhaps, I want to shake the person’s hand. Exchange ideas.”
“Ideas?” Cassian continues to tease, walking Nesta back until her back hits the wall.
“Yes. Ideas I could have shared in the pack meeting yesterday.”
Any teasing drops away completely from Cassian’s expression as he rolls his eyes. “Back to that, are we? It’s my pack, remember? Did you forget who the alpha is?”
“Did you forget I’m your wife? I should have been in that meeting.”
“Oh, you want to be my wife, now? How about you be a good little wife and get on your knees and suck my cock?”
The words are crude, all but snarled in her face, but that doesn’t seem to stop the way Nesta’s body responds. She still remembers that cock all too well. Remembers the way it had felt fucking into her. Remembers the way his knot had stretched her. Remembers the delicious ache between her thighs that remained for the entire next day.
But she’ll be damned if she lets Cassian know all that.
“Fuck you,” she snarls instead, shoving at his chest, but of course his large frame in unmoving.
“You’ve certainly forgotten how good a wolf’s sense of smell is,” Cassian tells her, leaning down over her with a cocksure smirk. “You think I can’t notice the sweet scent of your arousal? Do you want to suck my cock, sweetheart?”
“It’s clear you certainly want me to.”
Nesta shifts her hand, reaching down to grip Cassian’s cock through his pants. He hisses at the contact, but she can feel how he’s already half hard, can feel the way he twitches against her palm. It’s clear he’s getting off on their back and forth just as much as she is. She rubs her hand up and down, squeezing when she reaches the head of his cock.
Cassian continues to swell beneath her ministrations, and Nesta can’t help but lick her lips. How would the weight of him on her tongue feel? How would he taste? Just the thought has her clenching her thighs, desperate for friction, for relief, beneath the skirts of her dress. There’s a hunger yawning in the space between her ribs, clawing and gnawing at her chest, and she sees that same hunger echoes in Cassian’s own burning gaze, in his darkening hazel eyes.
“The no kissing rule still applies,” Nesta tells him, pulling her hand away so she can focus on the laces of her dress. “This is just sex.”
“Just sex,” Cassian agrees, reaching a hand back to fist in his shirt, tugging it up and off.
Nesta’s dress has barely hit the floor in a crumple of fabric before Cassian is pressing fully into her space. His hands find her thighs, fingers spread wide and digging into her skin, and he hauls her up off the ground with ease. He turns on his heel, only taking a few long strides before he deposits Nesta on the kitchen table, the wood pressing against her back.
Cassian takes his time roving his eyes over her, tracing down her throat and collarbones, lingering on her heaving chest and her peaked nipples, following down her stomach and between her spread legs. He dares to reach his hand forward, shadowing that same path with two fingers. It’s a spark catching, goosebumps erupting across Nesta’s skin as she arches up against that touch.
“So pretty flushed like this,” Cassian comments idly, using those same two fingers to toy with the waistband of her undergarments. “Good enough to eat.”
Cassian gathers up his hair in his hands, tugging it away from his face and securing it with a leather band, before he slowly drops down to his knees. His fingers curl around Nesta’s ankles, calluses along his palms sliding up her calves, over her knees, up her thighs. He pries her legs further apart, leaning in until even through the fabric separating them still, Nesta can feel the ghost of his hot breath against her cunt, until he can lick a thick line over the dampness that’s already gathered there.
Cassian groans softly, giving her cunt another lick. “And oh so sweet too. Who knew just the thought of sucking my cock would have you dripping already?”
His hands slide up over her hips, and Nesta can feel the heat of them scorching her skin. She can feel the hint of claws too, teasing and drawing a shudder up her spine. Would he fuck her with those claws? What would that feel like?
The sound of tearing fabric is almost too loud, even over Nesta’s panting breaths. She snaps her attention down just in time to watch what remains of her undergarments fall away. That cocksure grin of his is out in full force, hazel eyes glinting from between her thighs. Normally, Nesta would want to wipe that smirk clean off his face, but right now, all she can think about is the sight of him on his knees before her, about the blissful release that sight promises.
“Cassian,” Nesta whines instead, trying to buck her hips up against his hold. “Please.”
“What a good girl,” Cassian praises, mouthing along Nesta’s inner thigh and drawing a soft whimper from her lips. “Now, keep those eyes on me and keep moaning my name.”
The first slide of Cassian’s tongue against her cunt has Nesta gasping, thighs squeezing instinctively around the alpha’s head. Cassian groans against her, his mouth moving to her clit and tracing slow, tortuous circles over it. Nesta tries to keep her gaze firmly on him, but it feels almost unfair. His wide shoulders bracketed between her thighs, the shorter strands of hair falling out of his updo and along his temples, and his eyes…
His eyes glow golden as though the wolf within him has decided to join as well. As though Nesta truly is the prey caught in the predator’s trap. But she’s not sure she’d rather be anywhere else.
Cassian groans again, and then he really starts to devour her. He fucks his tongue up into her, curling and flicking it along her walls. Nesta feels like she’s burning, every nerve ending blazing and focused on where Cassian’s mouth works her higher and higher. Her feet scrabble desperately for some sort of purchase, against Cassian’s shoulders, against the edge of the table.
“Cass… Cassian… fuck.”
Nesta knows that she’s babbling, knows he’s turned her into a puddle of moans and canting hips, but she can’t find it within herself to care, not with the way he plays her body so well. She slides a hand down to Cassian’s head, holding him right where he is, the other finding her own breast to pinch and tweak her nipple in time with the movements of Cassian’s tongue.
Cassian focuses his attention back on her clit, and that fire blazes hotter until it swallows Nesta whole. Her back arches up fully off the kitchen table, fingers curling tight enough in Cassian’s hair that her nails bite into his scalp. She moans loudly as her release carries her right over the edge, trailing off into a whimper when Cassian continues to lap at her still fluttering cunt until he’s had his fill.
When Cassian finally pulls back, Nesta is forced to release her grip on his hair, her hand falling back to the table with a soft knock. His lips and chin glisten, and he makes a big show of sliding his tongue around his mouth and gathering up the excess. Nesta watches from beneath hooded eyes, that heat in her blood still simmering.
She pulls herself up into a seated position, reaching for the laces of Cassian’s pants. She makes quick work of the knot, pushing the fabric down until it slips from his hips and falls to his feet. Just the sight of his cock bobbing free has her thighs clenching again, has her swallowing hard and licking her lips. She eyes the vein that runs along the underside, the already weeping head, remembering exactly it’ll feel when she sinks back onto it.
Her legs are shaky as she slips off the kitchen table, but she’s able to guide Cassian back until he’s falling into one of the kitchen chairs. She sinks down onto her knees between his spread legs, sliding her hands up over his knees and along his thighs. She drags her nails along the skin, through the coarse hair lining his strong thighs, before finally curling her fingers around his cock, squeezing the base.
“Now this is a sight I could get used to,” Cassian comments, his hips bucking up against her grip. “A good girl on her knees before her husband, ready to take his cock so well.”
Nesta wants to roll her eyes at the words, but there’s no stopping the way her body responds to the praise. She decides to focus on the task at hand, leaning in and licking at the arousal dribbling from Cassian’s cockhead. She moans softly at the salty taste blooming across her tongue, opening her mouth wider to swallow him down. She slides her tongue along the underside, relaxing her throat to take as much as she can and working what she can’t with her hand. The weight of him in her mouth is exactly as unparalleled as Nesta imagined, and she moans around his cock as she starts to bob her head.
Tears start to prickle Nesta’s eyes, but she doesn’t let it deter her, blinking and peering up at Cassian through her eyelashes. His gaze is already pinned on her, lips parted and expression nothing short of enraptured. His dirty mouth is silent now. Nesta almost wishes she could smirk around the way her mouth is stuffed full. She may be the one on her knees, but it’s the pack alpha rendered powerless.
It goes right to her head and right to her cunt.
She widens her stance and dips her free hand between her own thighs. Her fingers slip through the wetness, and she teases her clit briefly before sinking two fingers into her cunt. She tries to match the pace of her fingers with the movements of her mouth, curling her fingers every time she swirls her tongue over the head of Cassian’s cock.
“Gods, look at you,” Cassian’s voice draws her attention back to him. “Go on, sweetheart. Add a third finger. Get yourself nice and ready to take my knot.”
Nesta whines around Cassian’s cock, but she does as she’s told. She presses in a third finger, fucking her cunt hard and desperately. Heat coils low in her gut, her thighs beginning to tremble, and when she dares to press her thumb against her clit, Nesta has to finally pull back from Cassian’s cock. She drops her forehead to his thigh, letting out a high pitched cry as her walls clench around her own fingers, her release making a mess of her own hand.
But still she wants more.
She’s not sure how she manages it, but she pushes back up to her feet. She moves to straddle Cassian’s lap, to finally take what she wants, but she barely gets a single knee up onto the kitchen chair. Cassian’s hand snaps to her throat, fingers pressed hard against her thundering pulse. Her cunt echoes the squeeze of his fingers, clenching around nothing desperately.
“Nice try, Nes,” Cassian leers up at her, keeping his hold of her as he stands up. “But I’m still the one in control here.”
He tightens his grip around her throat briefly, Nesta’s breath catching with the squeeze, before releasing it entirely. He spins her around, her back pressed firmly to his front and her hips digging into the edge of the kitchen table. She can feel his cock still hard and waiting, and Cassian shifts his own hips so that it slips between her thighs, dragging teasingly through the mess of wetness there, along her clit.
Cassian presses his lips to her ear, hot breath skittering across her skin. “Beg for it.”
“Please. Fuck me, please.”
Cassian groans at her words, but still, he doesn’t give her what she wants. His hand slides down her stomach, down between her thighs. He sinks two fingers into her dripping cunt, spreading them and stretching her wide, but it’s not enough. It’s not nearly enough. It’s nothing compared to the real stretch she knows he can give her.
“Do you want my cock, Nes?”
“Yes,” Nesta moans, tilting her hips back to grind more firmly against his cock. “And your knot. Please.”
Cassian’s teeth snag on her earlobe. “Good girl.”
Cassian pulls his fingers free, but Nesta barely has time to whine at the loss before he’s replacing them with his cock. Already, just the stretch of him has stars popping in Nesta’s vision, her cunt fluttering and clenching down around him as though desperate to draw him deeper still, to keep him right there. She feels so incredibly full, her toes curling against the hardwood of the cabin floor.
“Two orgasms already and you’re still so tight around me,” Cassian sighs, pressing between Nesta’s shoulder blades until she’s bent in half over the table. His hands find her ass, fingers digging in against the flesh. “But Mother save me, look at the way you take me so well.”
Nesta whimpers as Cassian pulls his hips back, the slow drag of his cock, but then Cassian is snapping his hips back forward. Again and again he drives into her, setting a hard and fast pace. It’s everything that Nesta needs. Every thrust that has him pressing deeper still, every slap of his hips against her ass, has Nesta keening. She claws at the kitchen table, desperate just for something to hold onto.
As that heat starts to lick up her spine again, her body coiling tighter and tighter like a bow string, Nesta reaches a hand between her hips and the table edge, fingertips trying to catch on her clit despite the jostling. A growl sounds from behind her, fingers curling around her wrist. Cassian yanks her hand away, pressing it to the table and holding it firmly there.
“You’ll come on my knot or not at all.”
It’s a threat and a promise.
Her entire body feels wrung out, but she doesn’t want him to stop. She hopes that he doesn’t stop. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she knows she should feel embarrassed at this hunger that cloys in her gut, that flares through her chest, but she can’t find it within herself to care. She wants this. Wants him. Wants his knot.
Her throat feels hoarse with how much the male behind her has made her scream, but there’s no stopping the litany of moans that tumble past her lips. Especially when she starts to feel the swell of Cassian’s knot, feels it catching against the lips of her cunt with every forward thrust.
But he only seems to keep teasing her with it.
The next time that Cassian snaps his hips, Nesta presses her own back to meet him, forcing his knot to sink into her, to properly notch and lock them together.
“Fucking shit,” Cassian groans, dropping his head to her shoulder.
His hands grip Nesta’s hips hard enough to bruise, his cock twitching and flooding her core with warmth. The stretch of his knot, the feeling of being so completely and utterly full, is indescribable, and Nesta clenches down, milking his knot and his cock with a soft moan.
“Still want to be a good little wife, Nes?” Cassian asks, grasping her jaw and pulling her head back against his chest. “Then come all over your husband’s knot.”
His free hand slips down between her thighs, pressing hard against her clit. It’s all it takes for Nesta’s third release of the afternoon to tear through her. She all but screams Cassian’s name, her body trembling through the way his knot still presses against the walls of her cunt, the way she can still feel his cock twitching and filling her deep, the way he doesn’t relent with the rough circles he traces against her clit.
When Cassian releases his hold on her, Nesta is like a marionette with her strings cut, slumping down against the kitchen table with a soft whimper. Her chest heaves as she tries to catch her breath, tries to calm her thundering heart and come down from her high. With her cheek pressed to the table, breath puffing against the wood, Nesta allows her eyes to fall shut.
She and Cassian may never be the sort of husband and wife Nesta often dreamt of as a girl, will certainly never have the sort of love she read about in books, but at least they can have this.
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hiswitchcraft · 1 year
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I am a witch who's trying to get back into witchcraft after an immense amount of burn out. The burn out wasn't due to the witchcraft, it was due to things piling on my brain in general. What sort of things do you suggest to ease myself back into it? If you don't have an answer that's okay, just thought to ask
I've been dealing with this myself and I actually just made a video on it that I really like not too long ago, so I think I can help you!
How to Come Back to the Craft After Burn Out (+ A Guide to doing Witchcraft with Low Spoons) 
I was burnt out in general and because of the craft, particularly because of the way I was filtering my personal practice through social media. I realized a lot of my burnout was tied to pushing myself, and shame. I feel like maybe this is common. This is a mix of both personal and witchy advice, and I may be projecting, but I think you have to focus first and foremost on not rushing back in and getting overwhelmed by adding a bunch of stuff to your routine at once and trying to do everything right or perfect. A good practice or routine is sustainable, not perfect. Perfect is the enemy of good, and also the enemy of done. I've had to focus on this a lot recently. 
With this in mind, you might be wondering where you should even begin when it comes to actually practicing again. Remember to go slow. I’d suggest thinking about what you were doing and interested in before and start practicing and researching whatever sounds the most fun when you’re ready. You could also go over any notes you had about your practice before, if you had a blog or something look at that, etc. You get the idea! It will help you remember and might inspire you. If you really enjoyed tarot for example, you could do that when you feel inspired to. Starting slow is important. if you want go slower you could just do whatever practices you were doing before, or like now, whenever you feel like it. You could also try working witchcraft into your routine. Routine is hard for a lot of people but it doesn’t have to be intense. It can just be adding one thing. That’s all it needs to be. It could be something you do once a month, once a week, when you wake up, after you brush your teeth, only some days or whatever you think will make you feel the best.  
Of course I don’t know anything about your practice but to inspire you and others, here’s some ways you can easily introduce magic into your life. 
Daily divination  A tarot card every morning is what I like to do but you could use any kind of divination you like! 
Meditation  Meditate for a few minutes every morning/evening. Even 2 minutes makes a difference. Also, despite popular belief meditation does not have to be emptying your mind. 
Dream interpretation  Interpret or just journal about your dreams! Honestly journaling in general I think is great for witches. 
Witchy items of the day  Pick out some items to carry on you for the day. This could be crystals or herbs you want the properties of, a hag stone, or other items with properties you want to draw to you or use in your practice. 
Intention in drinks & food!  If you have coffee or tea every morning or day you can stir intention into it. Clockwise for things you want in, counterclockwise for things you want to banish. Or that’s the typical belief/way people suggest doing it. You can also stir sigils into it or add items to your drinks/food with or by intention. 
Enchanting personal care  Another way you can bring magic in your everyday life is enchanting personal care products. I’d do this for added layers of warding but you could get super creative with this and do whatever intention you like. 
Sigils sigils sigils  Sigils are fun to make. You can use them for a ton of other things on this list. Stir them into your drinks. Draw a sigil on your skin using lotion. Write them on your walls for warding. Sigils, sigils, ... sigils! 
Spritz cleansing If you have a hard time cleansing or not a lot of energy right now when you DO have energy you can put together a mixture for cleansing using a spritz bottle and then you have it done and ready to go ahead of time for many cleansing sessions. Beware of herbs and things you add if you have any allergies/pets. Actually just research any plants you handle anyway. 
Layering your wards  If you’re struggling with burn out right now you probably don’t have a lot of energy so this is a tip I like for when this happens and just the long term overall. Always add small layers using different methods to your personal and spacial wards. An example of this I love is some of the above, carrying an item with strong protective properties or writing sigils on the bottom of your shoes/sewing them into your clothes/etc are some other ideas I love. Customize as needed! Be creative! 
Basically just think of things you do everyday and try to make it witchy! Or think of practices you want to do more, like maybe cleansing, and figure out how to make it easier. 
Also I did mention research. I think in addition to picking a practice to try again or add to your routine, picking a topic to research that sparks interest may help too. Here are some ideas for that!
Intention 
Cleansing 
Charging
Grounding
Warding 
Circle casting 
Consecration 
Visualization 
Meditation methods 
Divination types (some are listed below)
Tarot 
Oracle cards 
Lenormand 
Pendulums 
Runes
Scrying
Astrology 
Palmistry 
Dream interpretation 
Spell types & spell construction 
Taglocks 
Sigils 
Other symbols & what they mean
The Theban alphabet 
Color magic 
Moon phases 
The Elements 
Correspondences of days, times, etc 
Crystals 
Moon water
Black salt
Plants, herbs, and spices in witchcraft  
Local plants 
Local history & folklore 
Pantheons & their deities 
Deity work
Spirit work
Astral projection 
Hope this helps 💕
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maxs-grimoire · 7 months
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Hey! Not sure if you take asks or not, but do you have any advice for a baby witch?
YES! First, asks are always open, and I appreciate you sending one! Secondly, of course I have some advice! Let's get into it!
(1) Decolonize your craft
Decolonizing your craft is essential to witchcraft. Making sure you don't take part in practices that are closed to you, and making sure that you don't use tools/methods/items that are sacred to cultures you aren't a part of is SO IMPORTANT!!! This is where I would recommend you to start your research. Here is an excellent article on what a closed practice is, but it doesn't go too deep into specific things that are closed. I think it's a good jumping off point.
Along with respecting and educating yourself on closed practices, knowing where your information is from and what biases that information may have (good or bad) is also important. This goes along with what materials you use and where they come from (is this ethically sourced, is this a closed item, who profits off of this item, etc.).
(2) RESEARCH A TON!!!
If you're on this blog, asking this question, you're doing this! Good job! If you search "BOS" on my blog, or click -> here , you can go to my "book of shadows" tag, and see lists of ways to start your own book of shadows (aka a ton of things to research and write down)
(3) Write everything down
Going along with that last sentence, write. stuff. down! Your craft will change and grow, and even if you're just writing what you learn in your phones notes app, you will be so happy that you have that later on. It's great to see where you came from and how far you've come, and who knows, you may need that one sigil you made 3 months ago, or maybe that random spell you wrote down ages ago is exactly what you need in your current situation. Just write things down, you'll thank yourself for it later.
(4) Don't feel like you need to fit into a box
This one is very important as well! Social media witches and pretty instagram witchcraft isn't how your craft is most likely not how your practice will look, especially not when starting out. Don't force yourself to have the most perfect altar, with allllll of these beautiful, expensive tools, and all the witchy clothes and decorations, etc. etc. etc. You honestly don't need anything but your intention to do witchcraft. Don't worry about having an "aesthetic" practice. It really isn't realistic for most people.
Also, witch "types" aren't set in stone. You don't only have to be a Green Witch, or only a Hearth Witch, or only a Sea Witch. These are just fun categories, and you don't need to commit to one or the other. I consider them mostly just tags that witches use to see the kinds of content they want to see, or to categorise themselves so others know their favorite things in their practice. If you NEED a label, but can't decide, "eclectic" is an easy thing to slap onto your practice that is all encompassing while still being labeled.
These are my biggest advice points. If anyone wants more, I'm sure I can think of more, I just wanted to get this out because I was excited to get an ask, haha.
Anyways, happy witching!
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