the-urban-witch

[the-urban-witch]

date a forest god who can grow entire gardens with just a wave of his hand

[the-urban-witch]

Claiming money energy

🪙 | 💸 | 🏧

💸 | 💵 | 💸

💎 | 💸 | 🪙

[the-urban-witch]

source

#aesthetic

[the-urban-witch]

Early Modern Reconstructionist Witchcraft

Getting quite frustrated about a trend in what could be called Early Modern Reconstructionist Witchcraft: a trend of taking particular ideas about reported historical practises in early modern and often also medieval Europe (and especially England and Scotland) and attempting to codify them as The True Witchcraft - often partially or completely devoid of the actual cultural and religious context of these practices (and without critical analysis of whether they *were* actual practices, when they come via trial reports), and often along with an American fetishisation of Europe.  It’s giving me a thumping headache.

Look, being inspired by the imagery of witchcraft in early modern (& earlier & later) England, Scotland, Western Europe is great.  Flying ointments, diabolical Sabbats, wild hunts & furious hosts and faery rades, familiar spirits, Diana and Habondia and their spiritual sisters - it’s great stuff, it’s juicy, it’s a real current in historical thought that’s affected our present day ideas.  The image of the cunning wo/man (whether of the mystic-cottage-full-of-herbs variety or the canny sometimes-rip-off-merchant practising what Pratchett termed Headology one [and the two are not exclusive]) is fertile inspiration for  modern practice.  I draw on this stuff myself, obviously!

But please, please be wary of anyone trying to tell you that modern, developing practises derived from (often selective) historical reports and modern interpretations of them are What People Did And How People Thought/Believed Back Then!  Especially if the same people are deriding twentieth-century witchcrafts inspired by people like Murray - because those witchcrafts were *also* based on (often selective) historical and archaeological information of their day and the contemporary interpretations of them.  (And extra especially if those people have books or classes to sell!)

The reaching for ‘authenticity’ is an understandable urge, and can be a real spiritual and magical hunger for roots and meaning.  But claims of *historical* authenticity in contemporary, reconstructed practices should always be treated with wariness - because there’s always more evidence to come along, new ways of looking at the past to develop, and what seems like an obvious historical survival today is going to look like Murray’s witch cult and Frazer’s Golden Bough in ten, twenty, fifty years’ time.  (And hey, people can and do still draw valid personal inspiration from those, we just need to understand they’re not History Fact.)

Any practice that looks back to the past is necessarily a child of historiography as much as history.  And historiography is a constantly evolving thing. So…just be thoughtful, okay?  If stuff speaks to you, that’s great, work that current ‘til your arse falls off.  Just be wary of believing - or making - claims that what you’re doing is More Real, More Accurate, More Authentic, More Historical than what other people are doing.

#witchcraft #witch #the more you know

[the-urban-witch]

Art Prints

Ivy Alive on Etsy

#aesthetic

[the-urban-witch]

🍁Welcome to October!🍂🎃

[the-urban-witch]

Due to personal reasons,

It is now Halloween

🦇🕸🦂🕷🍁🍂🔪🎃🔮🎱🌚🌙🕯🗡⚰

[the-urban-witch]

date a forest god who keeps watch for you all night long when you are sick with fever

[the-urban-witch]

💞🌿🌸✨🌌✨🌿🌸💞

An emoji love spell, draw in the love the universe knows you need

Likes charge

Reblogs cast

[the-urban-witch]

🤑💸🌿🤑💸🌿🤑💸🌿🤑💸🌿🤑💸🌿🤑💸🌿🤑💸🌿🤑💸🌿🤑💸🌿

an emoji spell for financial abundance & flourishing opportunities

like to charge

reblog to cast

[the-urban-witch]

A spell to repel unsolicited opinions

Repeat the phrase “Did I fucking ask you?” until the subject realizes that you, in fact, did not fucking ask them

[the-urban-witch]

Ledges the cat

#aesthetic

[the-urban-witch]

thanksgiving is cancelled in 2020. instead, november will be a month of Dionysian madness, casting curses, moonlight revelry, dubious self-care methods, ritual sacrifice, and mashed potatoes. 

[the-urban-witch]

Why pushing womb-centric ideologies is gross

-it objectifies and commodifies women

“women are valuable because they can create life!” Not only are there many women who can’t or don’t want to have children, there are so many wonderful things about women and its wrong to deem some people valuable and others not.

-it pushes many people away from magic

women who are infertile, women who don’t want kids, women who could have kids but it is too dangerous for them, transwomen, people who identify as male, women who can no longer have kids, people who are intersex, the list goes on..

it’s pretty hetero and cis-normative and pushes other people in marginalized groups away. As well as it is gate-keepy

-it’s ageist and places a priority on younger women

It places virgins on a pedestal and really pushes the idea that women have a “prime” and are more valuable at certain points of their lives. This is a narrative we continuously see everyday, and it doesn’t need to be pushed into the witchcraft community.

-it pushes misogyny for the aforementioned reasons 

if you think about it, placing more value on women who are virgins or pregnant furthers not only the idea that women are meant to be obedient baby-makers but that women aren’t powerful on their own. You are not more or less valuable after losing your virginity. You are not more or less valuable if you have a baby.

-the obvious transphobia and exclusion

I’m not here to have an argument, I wanted to get my opinions out

If you personally feel like pregnancy and childbirth was magical for you, congratulations! I’m very happy you had a fulfilling experience of it and had the opportunity to do so. Just because others haven’t had this experience doesn’t make them less magical, they have likely had magical experiences you have not. If you think your power comes from your womb, that’s your choice, but don’t push the idea that that is the only place power can come from.

Transwomen are valid witches

Nonbinary people are valid witches  

Men are valid witches

Everyone has power and anyone can have magic

If you don’t agree (or that makes you uncomfortable), try taking a look at: why, who told you that, and what their motivations are to spread that information. 

I used to be uncomfortable with the idea that anyone could claim their magic, that it was just out there, for anyone. That was until I realized noone will practice exactly as I do, have my exact mix of knowledge from cross referencing books and combining ideas, noone will be able to make what I make, not because I have a womb or any other thing outside my control, but because it is made by me.

[the-urban-witch]

Hello to all witches! 🔮🙌🏻🌙

[the-urban-witch]

{Bright Future Nail Polish}

My best friend is leaving her job tomorrow, and I wanted to give her a glamorous charm for her future endeavors. Thank you, @ivythewitch, for the inspiration!

* orange candle (happiness, success, changes) * matches * paper * pen * cauldron * paint pen * nail polish (I used her favorite nail color) * string (I used her favorite general color)

1. Carve the spell recipient’s initials into the top of the candle. Light it. 2. Select and draw your sigil on a scrap of paper. I used the “I am finding the new start that I need.” sigil from @magic-for-the-masses. 3. Burn the sigil. As it burns, visualize the recipient’s future joys and triumphs. 4. Use a paint pen to draw that same sigil on the nail polish jar. 5. Hold the jar in your hands, channeling your energies into it. When you are finished, tie it with a string. 6. Extinguish the candle. Give to a friend who’s taking leaps and spreading their wings. Or use on yourself to brighten your own future!

I played my friend’s favorite song while casting this. I like to think it gave the polish some extra positive oomph :)

[the-urban-witch]

I’m so sorry I’m never active on here, I love this blog actually and this space