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procyongrey · 8 days

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Growing up I was always really skinny but never very fit or athletic. I liked sitting and reading, or playing video games, so I didn’t have much cause to get out and about.

Then, one summer in my early twenties I found I was just a ball of anxiety. I was in a terribly stressful long distance relationship and didn’t know how to handle my overwhelming feelings. So I started walking about it.

I lived five minutes from a stunning state park and decided to just go see it one day. I didn’t make it very far before I was tired. I found a huge set of stairs and gave up. Then the day after that I found a little nature bridge, a fallen log across a stream.

I’d sit and listen to the water or write. Every day I’d stay longer and one day I decided to actually huff and puff my way up the stairs. I was rewarded with a gorgeous river view and every walk after that I tackled the stairs to get to the river.

I’d hang out in trees that overlooked the trail and got yelled at occasionally for startling folks. All summer I’d take daily walks farther and farther, never running out of park to explore. It was peaceful and did help with my anxiety.

One day near the end of summer I found myself in the shower and decided to treat myself to shaving my legs. It is a very infrequent occasion for me, but sometimes I want legs as smooth as a baby dolphin.

I leaned down to shave my leg and froze. There was a bulge on my calf. I felt it with trepidation. I had a tumor. A leg tumor? Did tumors come in legs? I started to panic, feeling the unfamiliar swell under my skin. How common was leg cancer? I still shaved it.

I turned to my other leg and was flummoxed to see that this leg also had a new bulge. What were the odds of having two tumo- oh my god those were muscles. Muscles I’d never developed and never seen before now popped up from my calves after a summer of dedicated walking.

I was so embarrassed to have mistaken muscles for cancer that I immediately went to tell my roommates.

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procyongrey · 2 months

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I have a set of old sheep sheers I'm working on restoring as a magical tool. Going to be using them for making charms etc as well as for use in collecting wild medicinal plants. Still have a lot of work to do on them, but a lot of that work will likely be delayed until after we move this summer. Excited to have this tool available though! I'll try to remember to post about it when it's done

Scissors symbolize cutting, separation, and liberation. Many cultures use scissors to cut hair, cloth, or paper as a symbolic act of letting go of the past or starting fresh. They can represent the power to create, the ability to cut through obstacles, and even the transformation of the self. In italian witchery scissors have a main role in removing the malocchio, the evil eye, and in bringing new positive energies into the house.

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procyongrey · 5 months

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Witchcraft Exercises

Just a quick compilation of the posts I've made about exercises to help improve your craft. These can be used as journaling prompts, inspiration for activities, or as methods for pulling yourself out of a slump and recharging your witchy inspiration.

Witchcraft Exercise - Quantifying Your Craft

Witchcraft Exercise - Dig Through The Ditches

Witchcraft Exercise - The Book of Lessons

Witchcraft Exercise - Home Brews

Witchcraft Exercise - Witchy Inspo Journal

Witchcraft Exercise - Spring Cleaning

Witchcraft Exercise - Creating Correspondences

Witchcraft Exercise - Creating Your Own Runes

Witchcraft Exercise - Shakespearean Witchcraft

Witchcraft Exercise - Music To Witch By

Related Prompt - Music to Witch By

Most of these are also available in the May 2021 bonus episode of Hex Positive (check your favorite podcatcher).

Happy Witching!

(If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊)

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procyongrey · 6 months

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On what I'm going to call "peer positioning" in witchcraft, and the scary empowerment it can bring you

I think a lot of people who get into witchcraft have a problem with being able to see themselves as peers & equals to the powers they cultivate around them.

I see this most often discussed when it comes to gods. "Just because your god asks you for something doesn't mean you need to do it!" Etc. I think we've all heard that.

But today my thoughts are on the tarot, and how some people seem to treat tarot readings as "the truth" or "the answer" that then must be followed, even if they (the living, breathing, human practitioner) don't really agree or don't really want to do that.

I'm really big on the analogy of a witch as a monarch, and the concept of various powers (like gods, spirits, tools, and spells) being counselors in the throne room.

In this context, it's easier to adopt the mindset that all of these powers have their own personalities, abilities, and goals - and that they can & will provide conflicting information when you ask for advice. (Especially ancestors - so opinionated!)

Imagine Captain Picard sitting in the meeting room with Geordi, Riker, and the rest of the space nerds.

Captain Picard is like, "the power core is failing and the away team is stranded on the planet. I think we should use the nebula to hide until the Gromflomites stop searching for us." And then Geordi is like, "but Captain, the engines would never make it! We have to go rescue the away team immediately!" And Captain Picard is like, "damn... Wow. I really wanted to go to the nebula, I thought it was the best choice :/ but if you're saying we literally don't have to worry about the Gromflomites..." Then Riker is like, "Captain, no. Geordi isn't saying the Gromflomites aren't a problem, he's just expressing his top concerns as Chief Engineer." And then Picard is all, "oh, so... this is conflicting information? Did that mean I did a bad reading on Geordi, or that negative spirits are stopping me from being able to communicate? Is Riker possibly a trickster?"

If you're captain of the ship, monarch of the kingdom, (etc.), then it might be important to ask yourself:

Am asking for input from my counsel of allied powers, and then making choices for myself?

Or, have I inadvertently signed over my decision-making process to these powers?

And I think it all kind of comes back to "peer positioning," or, witches being able to develop a spiritual framework within which they are equals to the powers around them.

Since beginning practicing witchcraft in earnest, I have often demanded a course of direction. Instead of asking, "how do I accomplish this?" I would ask, "what do I do?"

And the answer was the same every time, deeply infuriating, but also very scary: "Do whatever you think is best."

I think that's the problem of being the captain of the ship. Once your counselors are done giving their input, you are the one who has to make the final call.

Lately I've really been on a kick about witchcraft as a path of empowerment, and I think that viewing spiritual input as just that - input - is a vital part of the process.

Even if you are a true-blue believer in the magical power of tarot, tarot is still just one counselor sitting in your throne room.

Even if you have tutelary spirits, guardians and guides, gods and angels, providing blessings and support - they are not sitting at the head of the table.

You are.

I think that a framework of allied powers as peers and equals is relatively basic, and does have its flaws. But I also think it can be helpful in a variety of ways:

It can provide a system of understanding why allied powers can give conflicting advice, or even seemingly bad advice that doesn't align with our personal desires.

It can provide a tool for processing spiritual input.

It helps restore a sense of personal authority to a practitioner.

It can help a practitioner reclaim control of a path that's grown a mind of its own.

It aids in practicing that most oppressive of skills - liberated autonomy.

I just think it's something to consider. At the end of the day, most of us have probably got to make our own calls.

[I'm making this post because in the past few months I've been helping witches consult the tarot, and they've been giving feedback like, "so this is what I should do, right?" or, "what is it telling me to do?"

I can basically see the huge reblogs where people are explaining that a period of time where they signed complete personal autonomy over to their god was the most empowering and spiritually electric time in their lives,

and I want you to know, I'm not speaking about vows and oaths made to entities that gives them control over your life. I'm talking about situations where witches put down their autonomy so they can have both hands free to shuffle tarot.]

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procyongrey · 6 months

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Money spell ✨💸💵🪙💰

Gods of wealth, hear my plea

To be prosperous and financially free

May abundance find its way to me

For ask and I shall receive

With harm to none and good to all

This is my wish so mote it be!

✨💸💵🪙💰🍀💳🪙💸💵💳💰💴💶💷💸🪙💸💰🍀

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procyongrey · 7 months

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Just a quick reminder since I'm seeing a trend in my recent new followers -

If you are a radfem/gender critic/gender essentialist/TERF, don't support trans rights, think that "witch" is not a gender-neutral term, or believe that magic comes from the womb / only cis-women can be "real" witches, get the fuck off my blog.

Don't follow me, don't ask me questions, I don't care about your journey, I don't care about your reasoning, I'm not interesting in talking to you, I will block you on sight.

This is not a safe space for TERFs. There is nothing for you here.

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procyongrey · 7 months

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Hmmm... sounds fishy. Do you have any sources to back this up?

"If you have to ask questions,then you're not a real witch."

IF YOU DONT HAVE ANY SOURCES I WILL ASSUME YOU MADE IT UP.

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procyongrey · 7 months

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Since I've seen a few takes on this I'm curious

#i always read them #but not as the next card in a set #if im doing a lay out or the like the jumper is added to the card i was shuffling for as a clarifier #so if im doing a simple past present future spread #and get a jumper as im about to pull the present card #ill set it aside and pull the card i ment to #then ill read the jumper as a clarifier #sometimes cards can have multiple meanings depending on the way you look at it #and picking the right one is intuition and experience #but also when the deck wants to be explicitly clear jumpers can help clarify #make a mental venn diagram and your meaning is in the circle #or sometimes its like an exclamation point or other punctuation #clarifying a specific feeling to it #but also thats mostly what my deck prefers to do #ive had multiple decks with different personalities that do things different #thats just what my line strider (which is my prefered deck) does

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procyongrey · 9 months

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Whoa there, pardner! What have you done to make sure that belief or practice actually originates in ancient times and didn't come from the imagination of a repressed Victorian romantic?

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procyongrey · 9 months

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Like or reblog if you are an active witchcraft account

I fell off tumblr for idk how long and need new blogs to follow :)

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procyongrey · 9 months

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Me: logically, a small, compact grimoire is both more available and more useful. It will be easier to travel with, it will take up less space, it will be easier to write in. And there are so many pretty journals out there that I can utilize!

Me: BIG TOME MAKE BRAIN GO BRRRRRR

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procyongrey · 9 months

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procyongrey · 10 months

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Friendly reminder to all witches (and especially newer practitioners) that it's a good idea to include the basic mechanics of curses and other baneful magic in your studies.

EVEN IF YOU NEVER INTEND TO USE THEM.

The choice of whether to cast baneful magic is yours and yours alone, but you should still know how it works and what types of spells are out there.

While protection and warding magic are all well and good, certain magical countermeasures like bindings and turning spells may be considered baneful by some practitioners. Despite this, you may need to employ them proactively or reactively as a matter of defense.

The chances are very low that you'll ever find yourself in a situation where someone uses baneful magic on you or someone you know, but if that should happen, you need to know how to recognize it, how to undo it, and how to protect yourself in the future.

If you do not understand the nature of a potential threat, you are not adequately prepared to avoid or combat it.

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procyongrey · 10 months

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Magic has no gender.

Women are not “more magical”, men are not “devoid of magic”. In many cultures of the world, men have made most of the input into the development of magical craft. You don’t need to be a cisgender woman to do magic or call yourself a witch; witch is a gender neutral term.

Magic is a craft and a skill, not a chromosome - not to mention that people who believe in bioessentialism in magic have a very shallow understanding of genetics.

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procyongrey · 10 months

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I remember when I first experienced ego death while flying on mushrooms. I remember looking at the mirror and not recognizing myself, but seeing my worth as a human being through someone else's eyes. I didn't see me but I also didn't see all the little things I dislike about myself. I saw myself as a stranger might. Or maybe even a friend or lover might. I saw the beauty in myself for the first time in a long time, if maybe ever in that way at least. I think it has helped me so much in my journey of learning to accept myself as I am, and to be kind to myself and others tbh. While there's a lot to be said about doing so safely, I highly recommend experiencing ego death in one way or another at some point in your life and just getting an outside perspective in a way that's basically impossible to do otherwise. It's so enlightening

Comic I made about doing psychedelics as a depressed trans burnout and briefly visiting another, kinder dimension. Download for PWYC on itch.io! Also on Twitter and Instagram

#drug mention #flying #ego death

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procyongrey · 10 months

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procyongrey · 10 months

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Witchcraft Exercise - Quantifying Your Craft

Witchcraft is a complicated business. There are lots of moving parts, dozens of things to study, and so much information to try and keep straight in your head. It’s easy to become overwhelmed. Sometimes we forget things. Not just when the full moon is (although plenty of us do) but what it is we want to do with our craft.

And sometimes we feel like we’ve lost our drive. Like whatever moved us to become witches in the first place has somehow slipped away, leaving us with just the dregs. Sometimes we feel stuck, unable to make progress. It’s easy to become frustrated too, but it’s important to push on.

To that end, I offer this exercise.

Choose a journal or open a word document and begin quantifying your craft.

Start by outlining the broad concepts. Do you follow a particular path or tradition? How would you classify your craft, i.e. green witchcraft, cottagecraft, sea witch, lunar witch, and so on? Do you work with any deities, and if so, which ones? Do you work alone or with others? How long have you been practicing? What, to you, is the most important aspect of your craft?

Then get into your working space. Do you have an altar? If so, what’s on it and why? Do you have a dedicated workspace, or a place you go to work magic outside of your home? If you could describe your ideal workspace, what would it look like?

Next, describe your tools. Do you have cards or runes or a wand or other specialized tools that you work with? What do you use most frequently? Do you have favorites? Do you make or grow any of your components? Where do you acquire the things you use in your magic, if you can’t make them at home? Do you have a personal library? What are your favorite sources of information? Do you have ritual garb or jewelry that connects you with your craft?

Sketch out your year as a witch. What holidays do you observe and how do you celebrate them? What seasonal festivals or special occasions do you mark? Which ones do you enjoy the most? Is there a time of year when you feel more energized?

Once you have all of this recorded, think back to what first interested you in magic and witchcraft and describe that. Was it a movie? A favorite book? A personal experience? Were you raised in the craft or did you come to it on your own? What made you decide to become a witch?

Then think about how you’ve progressed since you started. Have you achieved a particular goal you set when you began, or are you closer to achieving it then you were? What have you gotten really good at? Where are you still struggling? Where would you like to be a year from now? Are there things you’d like to try but haven’t yet?

And of course, if anything else occurs to you, record that too.

There is no need to share these thoughts with anyone if you don’t want to. This is purely a personal exercise, to help you understand where you are, where you’ve come from, and where you want to go. Quantifying this information might provide some much-needed inspiration, in addition to helping you solidify any nebulous thoughts that might be floating around. It’s much easier to progress in your craft if you have an outline for what you’re already doing.

Happy Witching!

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Want more Witchcraft Exercises to help grow your craft? Check out the masterpost here.

If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊

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