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resinatingbeauty · 3 years

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Witchcraft & Expectations

What do you really expect from the Craft?

I had considered writing this for a while before actually doing it just because I didn't want anyone to feel like they were being attacked or singled out. Offending you isn't the purpose of this post, so please do not be discouraged by anything you read here. There is no wrong way of practicing your Craft and to each their own. I was just curious about perspectives when it comes to your expectations regarding Witchcraft, magick, and spirituality as I have dealt with many different people following many different paths since focusing more on my Craft and art through my shop which began on Mercari and grew enough to become more established on Etsy.

I do sell many spiritual / witchy items from personalized spell kits to witchy mystery boxes compiled with Intuitively chosen and my own handmade, one of a kind items. Among the most popular spiritual offerings are my 'buy one get one miniature spell jars,' which allow my customers to select two general purposes or a personalized request from which I assemble and enchant a miniature glass spell jar containing herbs, crystals, essential oils, and other objects based on their needs and requests. I wanted to make these little portable vessel talismans more available to everyone price and purpose wise, compared to others that have been charged with a more specific intent or devoted to a specific deity.

I have a long history of using spell jars myself for various purposes whenever I feel compelled to create one or a special occasion arises. I'm picky about larger jars and bottles, however, so they are usually created in small corked jars or in larger jars that I will sometimes embellish or try new things to integrate that allow the spell jar to also be an appealing or intriguing piece of handmade everyday decor while serving its spiritual purpose, such as the one in the photo above.

For the most part, I have found a surprisingly amount of success with my spell jars. Not just myself, but others as well have reported events that they thought were directly related to their spell jar. I had created one for my neighbor a couple weeks ago who had been searching for a better job than the one she had at a preschool. The day after I gave her the jar, she received a text from an old coworker who notified her that a position at a bank she had applied at months ago that had nothing available at that time had just opened up.

This actually exceeded my expectations. In my experience, magick takes time. Others who have commented on the success of their spell jars or magick in general would contact me a few weeks or so after using their spell kit or receiving their spell jar. I created a spell jar back in January to help jumpstart my small business selling my crafts and Craft and didn't really start to see a huge change until mid-March-April where I was more successful than even I anticipated.

This was about on par with what I expected in terms of time, as most spells I've ever done have taken days, weeks, or even months to start manifesting results that couldn't be passed off or ignored. To be sure, I include a scroll with each of my kits and jars explaining how they are best utilized, to have patience, how to set a purpose and intentions, the power of thinking positively, and that magick rewards those who are willing to work and make sacrifices for what they desire. To me, all of these things are virtues that this path teaches us and are part of what makes the Craft so empowering overall. Whether it was the spell or your hard work, you are the catalyst for change. You made things happen. I mean, what is more empowering than that?

This is part of the reason why I personally chose to over spell kits and magickal tools rather than offering to cast spells or perform rituals on one's behalf. It was my desire to make YOU feel empowered and you are the one ultimately responsible for your own success or failure, whether spiritually or otherwise. I'll gladly steer you down the road of success and provide you with my knowledge, experience, and guidance, but I am always clear about what to expect.

Unfortunately, we live in a time where instant gratification is anticipated and expected, which I never considered in terms of Witchcraft. I knew that no matter how many times I write 'set realistic expectations, focus on your purpose, be patient, and keep doing what your doing' that some people would just blow through all that hoping that they just bought a quick fix for all their problems for $6.99 + a buy one get one deal.

Two weeks or so ago, I had received an order for said jars from a young man who simply said he wanted a personalized spell jar for lucid dreaming and dream work and selected his second 'free' one for self empowerment. I reached out to clarify and answered some of his questions. My immediate impression from him was one of discord. He expressed a lot of turmoil in his life over the past few months and claimed to have taken on a lot of responsibility. He seemed young and eager, with a ton of questions regarding magick in general. I answered his questions the best I could, but reiterated the same values I expressed in the previous paragraph when asked why such and such spell wasn't working, 'should I not have done this,' etc. Magick takes time to manifest, especially when it comes to financial purposes like he explained which are inherently unlikely to resolve themselves overnight.

He seemed happy enough with his purchase and said as much when he received his package. A couple days later, I received a notification about a review he had left which was negative, saying one of his spell jars didn't work with a message delivered in tandem asking what purpose I had set for his spell jar.

Let me say this: I am not upset with him or complaining about his review. He is entitled to his own opinion, although I was annoyed with how quickly he had come to the conclusion when in the instructions I provided him I specifically said that these things take time to work. Anyone who receives results instantly or within the next day or so are exceeding my own expectations. Which is great! Hooray!

But this is definitely not the standard I've come to expect in all the years I've been practicing the Craft.

I continued chatting with and answering this young man's questions and ultimately uncovered that he was upset about a variety of things that had been going on in his life. In his mind, he felt entitled to have these things work for him sooner rather than later and was frustrated and angry that nothing he tried had been working out the way he expected.

In the time that I have opened my little shop, I have (thankfully) only run into one other person like this- where their understanding of Witchcraft seems to have been compiled from television and movies. After the first, I learned to tread lightly around these individuals because, whether it's their fault or not, they have been mislead.

Television shows like old school Charmed and the newer Salem and Witches of East End are really entertaining. I enjoyed watching them, but they are the absolute enemy of those who practice magick / witchcraft as a form of religion or spirituality. Sure, some of these shows actually do their research. Even Buffy the Vampire Slayer was ahead of its time introducing Wiccans, Technopagans, and New Age practices to pop culture and in many ways helped to show people an obscured version of the truth during the 'Satanic Panic' period when even witches hated being called witches and the pentagram / pentacle difference became an actual difference that wasn't just a choice of words.

Newer generations growing up with Harry Potter, which is hardly a great introduction into magickal traditions, were at least more open minded than the previous generation to the actuality of witchcraft and magick as a spiritual practice.

I mean, who doesn't want to snap their fingers and make the house tidy in one fell swoop?

I sure do. But even when I first started practicing at 11 I understood that that just isn't how it is.

This young man who was saying he lead a coven sounded more like he was LARPing than legitimately asking for spiritual guidance. I realized real quick that I couldn't do anything for him. What he wanted and expected, no matter how many times I referenced the instructions I provided (he evidently hadn't acknowledged) and relayed to him my own experience and expectations, he was looking for that 'quick fix' and someone or something to blame for when it didn't work the way he thought it would. The main reason for his complaint? The night after he received his spell jar, he said he just dreamnt about the moon.

My understanding of lucid dreaming was having direct control over ones dreams. The more I talked to this person the more it became clear that this wasn't his understanding of lucid dreaming. I tried to ask what he had tried to gain that control, as many of you know that I suffered from sleep paralysis for years and taught myself how to realize and 'break out' of it over time. He referenced making offerings to a goddess. I had to stop.

I'm sure that another business minded witch would have sold him something else or offered an exchange. I (stupidly) tried to make him understand that he has the power to manifest his desires. All I did was provide him with a tool to help things along.

This was the same for the woman I had dealt with months ago who said that she had been told by this coven owned business that she was a vampire reincarnated to be with her lover. That was the ultimate end of our conversation because she didn't seem very open to anything I suggested. Whether the things she bought were 'effective' for her or not we will never know. When she started messaging me to the point of harassment I deleted her messages and flagged them as spam. All this time and effort spent consoling someone who really isn't in the right frame of mind for magick or witchcraft.

The main point in writing this ranty post is to get the perspective of the community. What are your expectations for your own spells? What do you tell others when they ask? If you are also a 'witch shop' owner or own your own spiritual practice how do you deal with clients that have set unrealistic expectations for you and your Craft?

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1800-my-drums-suck · 4 years

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YOUR FIRST TIME OPENEING ABELTON

Right, so you've got everything installed and ready to go. So you open up abelton, and see this :

WTF. Right? Yeah, I know. Lets break it down:

To start with Abelton has two viewing modes, arrangement view, and session view, you can toggle between the two by hitting tab. You'll work mainly in arrangement view, where you'll be able to view your project against time going left to right.

So, lets go by the circled areas in the photo above:

Browser Section: This is where you'll be able to search from, and drag and drop audio, instruments, audio effects, etc. Basically, anything and everything you'll need to drag and drop will be/can be from here. Underneath (far left of green box) is the help section, you can hover your mouse over anything and a brief explanation of its function will pop up here: good for a quick check/reminder.

Effects and Plugins Section: Here is where you'll be dragging and dropping to and will able to access and tweak/turn off all those things. Your effects, VSTs, plguins etc. can be opened by double-clicking on them from here, or directly but adjusting the knobs here( e.g the OTT effect i have dragged in here) .

QUICK TIP: The order in which effects are added in the chain of effects can make all the difference in the overall outcome of your sound, so experiment with this.

QUICK TIP: When installing 3rd party plugins, make sure to make a new folder on your PC for them. This will be where Abelton scans for all 3rd party plugins. You’ll need to set this on Abelton first. Options > preferences > File > VST plugins custom folder.

Groups and tracks: Here you will find all your tracks be it audio or midi ( more on the differences, pros and cons of these in another post) The highlighted section called BASS is a group (to group channels, select wanted channels, right click) and inside is a midi channel with an instance of Xfers Serum on it, and the other a blank audio channel. The number and 'S' underlined in pink to the right of the tracks can be use to turn the track on/off (number) or Solo it (S)

Navigation: Here you can move around your project, set locators at specific time-stamps by right-clicking ( e.g 'Chorus' here, or 'Drop' here). The unit used here in bars(although it can be changed). You can also loop a section of your track should you want to, using the loop button and length locator(underlined in purple.

Right, so I know when you open up Abelton for the first time it won't look exactly like above. Thats cause i've set a template, this makes my life easier and I don't have to do some of the things needed in a project each time I open up Abelton. Each persons template will be slightly different depending on style/workflow, so dont hesitate to change this template to what you feel works best for you, once you know that.I cannot stress how imporant being able to lay your creative ideas down easily and efficently without having to spend 2/3 minutes mucking about trying to find what you’re looking for.

Before we go into building your template, lets take some time to get into the audio effects in the template, understand a basic degree of what they do and why we might want them there.

EQ- An EQ allows you to boost/dampen the gain of a certain range of frequencies within a sound. The Q knob on an eq, allows you to wider or narrow the exact range of requenies being affected by the boost/reduction in gain you set. I actually have three of these in my template, one for high, mid and low frequencies.

Reverb- This gives the sense the sound is reflecting off walls, as if it were made in a large room with a lot of echo, this can add 'size' to sounds, making a listener preceive it as 'big'.

Utility tool- This is a stock abelton plugin that will allow you to adjust the gain of a channel as well as some other useful things you can do with it that will come later on.

Extra: Gain VS Volume- These two are very similar in idea, and some people will loosley use them interchangably. Volume is how loud the output of the channel is. It affects your loudness. Gain is how loud the input of the channel is.It controls tone.

In my template I have:

BPM set to 175 (this is completly up to you and can vary from project to project)

Inside Abelton, you can create custom Audio effect racks, these are essentially just a a grouping of effects in a particular order, that you can apply all at once with a single effects 'rack'.Certain parameters of effects can the be asigned to blank 'macro' knobs, this allows you to tweak them easily. I have an Audio Effects rack with a range of effects I will most commonly use. ( Note i have all the values set to 0 by default, such that they can be there but not be in use if i dont want them, but are there and easy to access if i do). I have this effects rack assigned by default to each new channel I add, both midi and audio.

Making your custom AER:

In your browser section >Audio effects >Audio effects rack (drag and drop this onto a blank channel)

This should be blank by default. We'll add all our effects first then map specific parameters to the macro knobs later. To start with, we'll add our three EQ Eights.(Eq Eight vs. EQ three, is simply the number of points on the EQ you can manipulate). Drag and drop these from your Audio Effects section in the browser. Each of these will control a different range of frequencies.

The values I use on the different EQs are:

Low: A low shelf filter, Q- 0.71, Freq- 200hz

Mid: A Bell filter, Q-0.56, 500Hz

High: A High shelf filter, Q-0.71, Freq-1.1kHz

Next we'll add some reverb and a utility tool.

Now we'll assign the specific parameters of the effects we'd like to tweak, each to their own macro knob.To do this, click the map button above your macros, this should take you into 'macro mapping mode' and highlight mappable parameters green, right click on the parameter you want to map, and then assign it to its macro. Macros can be renamed by rick clicking on them once out of 'mapping mode'. For each of my EQs, i have a macro assigned to their gain at 0dB. A macro knob for the dry/wet parameter on reverb at 0% (dry), and a macro for ther gain knob on the utility at 0dB.

Once you’re done, add one to a midi channel, right click on the channel > set as default midi channel, then do the same for audio and your sorted :)

Extra: Dry/Wet is j a term used to describe how much effects are being applied, with Dry being no effects, and wet with.

Thanks for reading :) My next bunch of posts will be a series on writing a track start to finish, with a couple random tips and tricks dotted inbetween :)

Big ups x

- P

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