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sylars-duckling · 6 years

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Hi! I am extremely new to witchcraft. I don’t even know where to start, tarot cards and the use of crystals really intrigue me and I’d love to learn more about how to use them, where to buy them, which ones you’d recommend. I’d really appreciate it if you could get back to me thank you so much! - an aspiring witch

Hello there! Sorry for the delayed response, I’ve been so busy with the holidays, it’s been crazy. Also, in writing this, I realized this was gonna be a pretty huge response, so click below to read my full response.

To answer your first question, witchcraft is a huge, ever growing umbrella that encompasses so much knowledge, so there’s not really a cut and dry place to start. Various people might have different recommendations as far as where to start, but I started with a lot of research, and baby steps towards what I was interested in. One thing that I did at first was look up secret or closeted witch tips, not because I needed to keep my practice secret, but most of the tips were small, discrete forms of magic that I used to dip my toes into the world of witchcraft.

As I got more confident, I started focusing on more on what really interested me (I really like crystal work, tarot, essential oils/herbs, lunar witchcraft, and astrology). So I started doing some reading on all of those subjects. Going through articles online, a few books from my local library, and various Tumblr posts helped me piece together the mechanics of these various forms.

You mentioned you are interested in crystal work and tarot cards, which is great! I too enjoy working with both, and I’d say those two combined is close to the bulk of my practice (well, and enchanting, but we’ll get to that later).

Crystals are a great way to get into witchcraft because they can be combined with other practices, or used on their own. I use crystals for meditation/energy work primarily, holding the crystal I think best fits what I want to meditate on/what energy I want to work with, and focusing inward.

When I say what crystal I think best fits what I want the meditation/energy to be about, I’m referencing their metaphysical properties and associations. Throughout history, various people and cultures have connected various types of crystals to various themes, such as love, business/career, healing, protection, communication, ‘opening the third eye’ or using intuition, helping with anxiety/stress, and bringing harmony and peace, among others. There are tons of themes that are associated with various crystals.

In addition to themes or emotions that people attribute to crystals, various people and cultures connect different crystals with different parts of the body, associating different crystals with the head/the mind, the heart, the throat, the stomach, among other places. These can often line up with the theme of the crystal as well (for example, I have a necklace made with Lapis Lazuli, a stone associated with communication and honesty, as well as being associated with the throat. I really like this stone because the theme of the crystal also aligns with the biological location, and this necklace allows me to keep this crystal physically on the biological area it’s associated with)

“But where do I find this information?”

This kind of information is all over the web. A site I used a LOT when I was getting into crystal work was the Crystal Vault’s crystal encyclopedia.

https://www.crystalvaults.com/crystal-encyclopedia/crystal-guide

While it doesn’t have everything, what it does have is super detailed and really well organized. In addition, searching “(name of the stone) metaphysical properties” in google pulls more of this kind of information than a regular google search of just the stone name.

For where to buy them, I try to support local business by going to the two closest metaphysical shops near me, but I understand that’s not accessible for everyone. I’m a frequent user of amazon for crystal jewelry, and the site I linked earlier has a shop section as well (unfortunately I can’t attest to their quality of products/service as I haven’t bought from them, I know they have an expansive inventory that could be good for beginners).

other ways to use crystals include:

-as components/ingredients in spell jars/spell-work

-as talismans, amulets, or charms (wearing, carrying, or placing them in your home/space to bring a specific energy/thing into your life)

-to make crystal elixirs (a sprayable/drippable liquid that you can put on other objects to imbue them with magical power) (A NOTE WITH THIS ONE: crystal elixirs really shouldn’t be drunk, and some of them can be VERY POISONOUS, whether to drink or even to touch/make. always always always ALWAYS be safe and double check if a crystal is water soluble or toxic. It’s always better to be safe than sorry).

-hundreds and hundreds of other uses that I can’t think of off the top of my head/aren’t in my practice but could certainly be part of yours

For recommendations, a few stones I recommend for beginners/what I started with are:

-Clear Quarts: clear quartz is a great stone because it boosts the energy and ‘vibe’ of all other stones around it. I keep a clear quartz point with all my other crystals for this very reason

-Rose Quartz: a stone popular for it’s gentle pink color, rose quartz has a very loving energy and I found it very welcoming in my early practice

-Black Agate/Black Tourmaline/Obsidian/Hematite: all these stones are associated with protection. While they all have their various individual niches and energy, its good to have a protection stone around when you’re about to start doing witchcraft, as it can protect you from outside influence while you work your witchcraft.

-Amethyst: this stone is commonly associated with the mystical, intuition, divination, and reaching higher powers, a kind of witchcraft booster if you will (good for tarot, which we’re about to get to).

So that rather wraps up crystals, again always be safe as these are elements from the earth and can contain chemicals or content harmful to humans and/or pets. In addition, something I like to note is that if you’re storing crystals out in daylight, certain kinds can fade in color (amethyst and rose quartz in particular fade rather quickly if left in direct sunlight). If you want to preserve the vibrancy of your stones, check to see if they’re safe for intense sunlight before picking a display spot.

Now, onto Tarot

Tarot is one of the most well recognized forms of witchcraft. with the tarot deck being an iconic part of witchcraft. While, of course you don’t need to use tarot to be a witch, you mentioned you were interested in it.

Tarot is a form of divination using a special deck of 78 cards to predict the future. The deck is made up of 2 categories; the Major arcana and the Minor arcana.

The Major arcana has many of the more ‘iconic’ or recognizable cards from tarot. These cards generally have fancy names and do not fit a suit. Some examples of these cards are “the hierophant”, “The devil” “the lovers” and “justice”. These cards are sometimes considered more powerful than the Minor arcana.

The Minor arcana is the second part of the deck. The minor arcana has 4 suits; swords, staffs/rods, cups, and pentacles/coins (depending on what deck you have, they might use either staffs or rods, and pentacles or coins, the symbolism and meaning are the same between staffs vs rods and pentacles vs coins). Each suit in the minor arcana contains a king, a queen, a knight, a page, and 10-1 of the suit. These cards have various meaning, and while may be considered less powerful than the major arcana, can still be very enlightening and powerful.

To use tarot cards for divination is called giving a tarot reading, and while the process is in effect the same, there’s a few ways to get there.

To start, when performing a tarot reading you focus on a question. A question for a tarot reading needs to be rather general and open ended. Questions like “Does my boyfriend love me?” “Am I pregnant? and “When will I die?” are too narrow for a tarot reading to explain. A better way to phrase a question if you want this kind of information is something like “What does the future hold for my relationship?” “What does my fertility look like?” and “What does my distant future look like?”

After determining your question and focusing on it, you shuffle the cards face down and select cards (how many you select depends on what tarot spread you use, which I’ll get to in a minute). Different people have preferred methods of shuffling, and I personally like to lay all my cards face down in a messy pile and pick rather at random, touching as many cards as I can and picking which one ‘feels right’

For how many to pick up and what to do with them, we have to look to tarot spreads. Tarot spreads are patterns in which you lay out tarot cards during a reading, and the placement of the cards represent different things. A common spread is a 3 card speed, where you lay 3 cards face down in a line. going from left to right, the cards represent your past, present, and future, as related to the question. There are TONS of tarot spreads available free online, with the pattern and the placement key to tell you what each card position means. I personally like the 1 card quick draw for just getting a pulse of the situation, the 3 card spread, and @barberwitch‘s full moon clarity spread (link below)

https://barberwitch.tumblr.com/post/158286975716/barberwitch-full-moon-clarity-tarot-spread-1

once you’ve picked your cards and laid them out in a spread, you flip them over one by one in the numbered order of the spread, and interpret the cards. When I started reading tarot, I was no where even close to having the card meanings memorized, but I found this amazing app called Labyrinthos Academy (link to their desktop site below)

https://labyrinthos.co/pages/learn-tarot-for-beginners-with-our-online-tarot-classes

it’s a great app that has not only all the card meanings (as well as the inverse meanings, as tarot cards tend to mean either the opposite or near opposite when they show up upside down in a spread) in a neat, clean interface, but has a neat quiz feature to help you memorize the meanings, and the best part is it’s free for iOS and android (however, I think it is unfortunately not available for desktop). (also, fyi, while the app is built for the labyrinthos brand tarot cards, it does work with any deck, as images are fairly standardized, only really different by the difference in art styles by artists).

As far as decks, there’s a lot of superstition and tradition around tarot decks. Many say that the first deck needs to be stolen/gifted. Please don’t steal a tarot deck just to match tradition, it’s not worth the penalty, and while receiving a tarot deck as a gift is a great gift and a wonderful gesture, it could be a lot of waiting around, or if you’re a closeted witch, nearly impossible to get as a gift. I bought my first deck myself and never had any troubles with it.

The first deck I bought was, honestly, the cheapest deck I could find. I was broke and just wanted the most basic deck to get me by. I picked up a basic deck at a halloween store (link below)

https://www.spirithalloween.com/product/148287.uts

while it did it’s job (the cards were well made and didn’t fall apart, the deck didn’t have any missing cards), I didn’t like the the art style all that much, and they were really hard to read unless you had memorized what card illustration matched what card. However, for $4 USD, you really couldn’t beat the price if budget is an issue

Recently, however, I got The Essential Tarot Kit (link below)

https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Tarot-Kit-Book-Card/dp/0880882484

while it has a higher price point ($15 USD) it comes in a sturdy box that can be used for storage when not in use, and also comes with a mini book with a few basic spreads and a page of meaning for every card in the deck. I really like this because I like to not have electronics out when I do tarot readings, it can be distracting. In addition, the deck has beautiful illustrations and the bottom of the card has the name of the card in a much easier to read print.

As for where to find tarot cards, they’re readily available on sites like amazon, and most major bookstores will stock tarot kits (however if you’re looking for a certain art style, a brick and mortar bookstore might not have the best selection).

In addition to tarot cards, there’s also oracle decks, which have their own styles, number of cards, and symbolism, as well as ways to use a standard playing deck for divination. (all three of these forms of witchcraft fall under cartomancy: divination using a deck of cards).

So that pretty much wraps up tarot cards. A few notes before I close on tarot, many people have multiple decks, with some being just for personal readings, and other decks for giving other people readings (where they ask the question and choose the cards, and you help set up the spread and help with interpreting the cards). Some people also recommend having a black cloth to work on, as it blocks outside energy or influence, but I personally feel fine using my deck on pretty much any flat, clean, safe surface as long as I cleanse the area before starting. In addition, when dealing with divination, and tarot in general, remember that what the cards say is not set in stone. Just because you interpret the cards one way does not mean that exact thing will come to pass, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Tarot has been explained to me as a glimpse into the future if you do not change anything, and that you always have the power to change the future through your actions in the present.

I think that just about finishes this post. sorry it was so long, but I hope this was helpful, and thank you for the inquiry! I’m always willing to help a fellow witch, and if you have any other questions, feel free to contact me again!

happy witching! ✨🌕🔮✨

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jqperi · 7 years

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Get to Know Admin Coco

1. What’s your middle name? Orion

2. What are you listening to right now? Admin Izzy’s smacking (shes eating) && Come To Mama - Lady Gaga

3. What was the last thing you ate? McDonald’s

4. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My boyfriend

5. Do you drink? Socially

6. Do you smoke? No

7. What is the first thing you noticed in someone? Their attitude

8. What is your hair color? Light brown tips and my natural dirty brown. (I need a hair cut)

9. What is your eye color? Brown

10. Do you wear contacts/glasses? Glasses

11. Dogs or cats? BOTH!!

12. What’s your favorite animal? I love all living things, call me Rose Quarts… except bugs… fuck those guys lol

13. What’s your favorite television show? STEVEN UNIVERSE!!

14. What’s your favorite movie? Moana!

15. What’s your favorite band/singer? Well… BTS and Hoseok, They are the first group I actually fan over!

16. How old are you? 20

17. Do you have a crush on anyone? Yes~! My lovely boyfriend

18. What’s your sexual orientation? Straight

19. What’s your favorite color? Red

20. What was your most embarrassing moment? When i lost my virginity to sophomore… uuuuugh

21. Do you ever wish you were someone else? No

22. What were you like when you were a kid? A cute lonely little turtle with a big imagination (Only child)

23. What would your dream house be like? Something that i worked hard for

24. What last made you laugh? Admin Izzy xD

25. What is your favorite word? Fucking bitch 😂😂)

26. What is your least favorite word? Moist!!! ugh!!

27. What turns you on? Neck kisses, deep voices, being in control and praising….

28. What turns you off? BEING SELFISH

29. What is your star sign? LEO!!

30. What are your favorite books? Fanfiction, I don’t read books…

31. Do you have any siblings? I have a 5 year old little sister

32. Do you like to dance? I like to jump around.

33. What is your definition of cheating? Having relations with someone else behind your s/o back physically and emotionally…

34. Have you ever cheated on someone? Yes… in middle school for like two days, I FELT AWFUL!

35. Do you regret anything? Being to trusting…

36. Do you have any phobias? EVERYTHING THAT ISN’T NATURAL

37. Ever broken any bones? NOPE

38. Ever come close to death? I would hope not

39. What is your religion, if any? Christian, but not like hardcore lol

40. Have you ever been to a psychiatrist/therapist? No

41. Are looks important in a relationship? No, as long as that person makes you happy and smile it shouldn’t matter what you/they look like.

42. Are you more like your mom or your dad? Both, I get my sass, temper and attitude from my dad and laziness and patients from my mom

43. What is your favorite season? Winter because all of the clothes are cute.

44. Do you have any tattoos? YES! Just one. It says Worth It because I life is always worth it

45. Do you have any piercings? YES!

46. How many boyfriends/girlfriends have you had? 9 Boyfriends and 1 girlfriend.

47. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? YES! Beast Boy from Teen Titans, don’t judge

48. Who is your celebrity crush? Hugh Jackman(lol), Jung Hoseok, And Park Jimin

49. Are you a virgin? Hell No

50. Do you get jealous easily? Yes but you won’t know unless I tell you lol

51. What is your favorite type of food? PASTA

52. Do you ever want to get married? Hopefully

53. Who was your first kiss with?His name was Tyler and it was in middle school at the our town fair.

54. Have you ever been cheated on? OOOOH Boy, remember that guy Tyler that I just told you about lol

55. What is your idea of the perfect date? We are both happy

56. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Is both a thing?

57. Do you believe in aliens or life on other planets? I believe SOMETHING is out there and that there may be life on another planet…

58. What talent do you wish you’d been born with? I wish i could sing a

59. What is your saddest memory? When my mom thought something was wrong with her pregnancy and lost the baby, and was cradling my little sister’s little monkey. BUT MY SISTER IS HERE AND HEALTHY! That little monster.

60. Do you believe in love at first sight? No

61. Do you believe in soul mates? MMM yes?

62. Have you ever dyed your hair? It’s dyed right now!

63. Has someone ever spread a nasty rumor about you? Not that i know of.

64. Would you go against your moral code for money? No!

65. What are three things most people don’t know about you?

66. Who are you jealous of? No one

67. Do you sleep with a stuffed toy? No

68. How long was your longest relationship? Remember that Tyler guy, we dated on and off for 4 years

69. Is the glass half empty or half full? I probably spilt it xD

70. What is the sexiest thing someone could ever do for/to you? Go slow and take time for the build up.

71. Who is your most loyal friend?My boyfriend, admin izzy, and admin Nicole

72. Are you in a relationship? YES!

73. If you have a boyfriend/girlfriend, what is your favorite thing about him/her? He’s an idiot, in the cute way. Jordan is himself and i love him for that.

74. Are you a bad person? No! I’m a good noodle

75. Are you a lover or a fighter? Lover, fuck fighting lol

76. What did you do on your last birthday? Family came to the house and we had Pizza and cake.

77. What is your favorite quote and why? Be still and know that I am God, because it is my late grandmother’s favorite verse in the bible. God is in charge and this life is a test, no matter how cruel.

78. If your best friend died, what would you do? Obviously i’ll be sad!

79. If you had to go back in time and change one thing, what would it be? Nothing because those mistakes helped me become the girl i am today.

80. If you only had 24 hours to live, what would you do? Hunt don Rebecca Suger and BTS

81. What is the strangest dream you’ve ever had? I was choking an old woman…. DON’T ASK ME WHY

82. Are you happier single or in a relationship? Relationship, i have someone that i can tell all of my secrets to.

83. Who were you in a past life? A squirrel.

84. What is your happiest childhood memory? Going to see Chris Brown, Bow Wow and Soulja Boy

85. Have you ever experienced unrequited love? Uuuugh so many times! It’s sad lol.

86. Have you ever had an imaginary friend? Yes, his name was Andrew

87. If you were the president, what would you do? No become president because i ain’t finna get blames for the failure of our country.

88. What is your ideal career? Something that makes me happy.

89. What is your political affiliation? Democrat according to my parents…

90. Are you conservative or liberal? Libreral

91. Is the male or female body closest to perfection? Both, are bodies our made to create. But humans are bitches lol, we can’t survive in the wild for shit!!

92. Do you like kissing in public? Pecks are fine, but making out gross. Save that for the bedroom.

93. If you could change one thing in the world, what would you change? The dying planet, we are killing Her.

94. Where would you like to live? Stable and on my own.

95. Where would you go on your dream vacation? Traveling the world, SAFELY

96. Describe yourself in one word. Unique

97. Describe yourself in one sentence. I’m loyal until you give me a reason to not trust you.

~Admin Coco

#admin Coco

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catherindonald · 5 years

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Harvesting & Preserving Elderberries

A couple of weeks ago, a friend let the boys and I come and forage elderberries on her property. She had planted a couple of varieties of small elderberry bushes last year, and this year, they had taken off and doubled in size. Since she had already collected all the berries she wanted for her elderberry jelly, she said we were free to take whatever we wanted. When we got there, I was amazed at how many purplish-black berries were there just waiting to be picked or eaten by the birds. I only wanted to collect enough berries to make a batch of elderberry syrup and dry a quart or so for the year, so we didn’t take much. Plus, there were plenty of green to red berries still on the bushes when we left—enough for 2-3 more harvests!

Now, I rarely forage elderberries. Normally, I buy them from Mountain Rose Herbs because it’s quicker and easier. However, as I continue to align my life with seasonal living practices, I find that my practice of herbalism has begun to align with the seasons as well. That means I’m finding myself growing more of the plants I use most frequently, using more of what is available to me in my local area, and wildcrafting and preparing as much as I can on my own. Sure it takes a bit more time, but it’s worth it. Plus, it just feels right, deep in my soul.

Living seasonally and practicing seasonal herbalism has also helped me to feel more connected to God as I’m constantly looking for and relying on the gifts He provides throughout each season. I suppose it makes me more aware of the blessings He has given to us on the earth. It also helps me to see how beautifully He has designed us humans and this world, especially in regard to how our minds and bodies sync up with seasons and cycles, and it just makes me grateful.

If you are interested in foraging elderberries growing in your local area, good for you! My first tip would be to learn how to properly identify elder. You can use a reginonal field guide or an online herbarium to help you find out the physical characteristics of the elder plant. There are also many educational blogs that have material medica articles on elderberry which include identification information alongside plant photos. If you think you have found an elder bush in your area but aren’t certain, there are some plant identification groups on Facebook as well as some smartphone apps that can help identify a plant from a photo. My favorite way to learn how to identify plants, though, is by going on a plant walk with a local herbalist. That way you get in-person information and hands-on experience in addition to asking them questions and take notes and photos of the plants you find.

The next foraging tip I want to share is, don’t be greedy! Leave some berries for the birds. Not only does this feed them, but they’ll poop out the seeds which means more elder plants next year. As a general rule, you only want to collect about 1/4 to 1/3 of what you find when foraging. When it comes to elderberries, though, you can gather closer to 1/3 of the berries that are ripe on the bush and come back later for second and third harvests as long as elder is plentiful in your area. If not, it’s best to take a smaller amount, and over the next few years, hopefully, the elder population will increase in your area! You can learn more about foraging and wildcrafting herbs in this post here.

Once we had collected our elderberries, we took them home to process them for use and storage.

The fastest way I know to garble elderberries is to use a fork and basically comb the berries from their stems. Sure you will get some small pieces of stem in your mix, but I don’t find this anything to worry about. Yes, elder stems, especially the larger sized ones, will make you vomit if ingested. However, the small amount of tiney stems that come off of the umble during garbling is not enough to bring this action on. You also don’t need to worry about the occasional green berry mixing with the others.

When removing elderberries from the umble, I’ve found it’s best to do it over a large bowl so you don’t lose any berries. It definitely takes a while, and yes, your hands will be purple by the end, but it’s worth it. Not only will those elderberries mean so much more to you, but if you prep and preserve them with a kid or two, it will teach them something valuable they can take with them into adulthood. It also provides a good chunk of time to sit and chat with your kids which is always time well spent.

Once we had all of our elderberries off the stems, I reserved a cup of fresh berries to make a batch of my Ultimate Immune Boosting Elderberry Syrup. I then put the rest on dehydrator trays and set the berries to dry at 100 degrees for 24 hours. I increased the time as often as needed until all the moisture has evaporated and the berries are small and hard. I’m not certain how long it took. I think I let the elderberries dry for 3 full days, but I didn’t check on them all that often on day 2, so they may have been ready then.

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If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can place the berries on a baking tray and dry them in your oven on its lowest temperature. I’ve never done this with elderberries so I’m not sure how much time it would take. I would not recommned drying them outside as it would take several days for them to completely dry, even when the temperature is nice and hot, and the bugs may get to them first. If drying isn’t a good option for you, you can freeze the fresh berries and dethaw them for use later if that is a better option. You can also make elderberry juice and freeze it in that form as well.

So I now have a quart of dried elderberries put away for winter and a quart of elderberry syrup in the refrigerator. Cold and flu season preparations are definitely underway here on the mountain! I can’t wait to share more with you here on the blog, over on Instagram and Facebook, and in my Letters To Natural Mamas emails over the coming months!

Love and light, Meagan

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Harvesting & Preserving Elderberries published first on https://marcuskeever.blogspot.com/

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