I’M GOING TO TELL YOU ABOUT THIS MAGICAL ASS WITCH SHOP AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO YOU!
This place is called Maggie’s Pharmand it’s unique to my hometown of Memphis TN. They have existed for over 35 years now, surviving through the recession and managing to stay afloat when all else around them disappeared. They are locally owned and nearly ALL of their products are handmade. They have a phenomenal selection of oils and shampoos, as well as all kinds of medicinal remedies and teas and soaks to help those in need.
The great thing about them is that not only do the have superior customer service (some of the nicest and most helpful people I have EVER met, and their knowledge base is just amazing – you can ask them literally any question about their products, or ask for advice on how to achieve a certain outcome and they’ll ALWAYS answer with a polite and humble air. Very Educated), but they also DO NOT BOAST using their products in place of proper medical care for serious conditions. They advocate a harmony and melding of the two, and I think that’s just great.
BUT LET ME GET TO THE MEAT OF WHY I MADE THIS POST.
THEIR HERBS.
Guys. GUUUUUYS. They literally have every herb you could ever think of. And their spice collection is impressive as well. And everything is FRESH and NEW. They are constantly turning over and taking care of their products. Like, every time I’ve been in there, there’s some lady taking down the jars and examining them, refilling whats low or dumping what may have sat for too long. This shit is legit. These people take great pride in their work and it shows in the product. Maggie’s has never let me down in all these years (even before my witchy days, when I was simply going in there for their special tea blends and their homemade skin care products.)
The best part? Everything is reasonably priced. Nothing over the top.
For example, today I bought Jasmine, Chamomile, Thyme, Basil, Peppermint, Sandalwood, Red Rosebud Petals, Mugwort, Sage, Dandelion Root, Cayenne Pepper, Rosemary, Lavender AND a new mortar and pestle all for like 34 bucks. You can’t beat that dude.
Now why am I telling you all this, my dear witchy friends, when most likely you live very far away from this place and can’t access these wonders?
WELL GOOD NEWS. THEY SHIP.
That’s right you heard me. THEY’LL SHIP ANYWHERE YOU WANT.
I’m not sure about outside the US, you’d have to call and ask them, but I DO KNOW they can for sure send anywhere in the US. But LOOK GUYS. This is a great place and you can totally utilize it in your craft.
In a world where technology and the internet reign supreme, it’s nice to see that some truly magical homely places like this still exist in the world. I know its easy to buy online (and it may be a bit cheaper too) but please PLEASE give these guys a look and a shout out.
We don’t want the magical witch shops of the world to disappear.
So please, if you can, give these lovely people a try. You won’t be disappointed I can promise you. And they deserve support more than you could ever know.
so i made a post not too long ago about my grimoire, explaining what it was and providing the template. i realize how long it takes to make a book like that, though (it took me twelve hours straight, literally), so i decided i’d just share my own in its entirety. (not literally in its entirety; i’ve left out my own personal prayers, songs and hymns. i’ve only left one general prayer to all of the theoi.) so here it is:
Everything below are things I’ve read, enjoyed, and have influenced my practice in some way. Enjoy! 😀 I’ve also include some comments about most of them
Authentic Witchcraft by Grayson Magnus: great, non religious, traditional witchcraft book. Definitely not not neowiccan. The author has many opinions about neowicca. They don’t pop up much, but heads up
Ancient legends mystic charms and superstitions of Ireland by Lady Wilde: My favorite book! Great look into Irish witchcraft and the practice of the fairy doctors. Heads up, certain spells and charms use poisonous ingredients without stating as such. Do research before trying any of the charms and spells
A Deed without a Name by Lee Morgan: A book that covers a large amount of topics in traditional witchcraft. A rather good for both those starting traditional witchcraft and those that have been practicing for a while.
This
is a magical exercise I used to practice for the fun of it. It is a
good way to learn visualization and quite interesting, too! In this
exercise you will attempt to ‘open up’ a picture and send your mind
to it, so that you can experience whatever is going on using your
magical vision (or if you are very skilled, projection).
You
will need a variety of pictures. Any tarot deck will work great.
Images on your PC may be okay, I’ve never tried it; a picture book
like a photo dictionary or encyclopedia would be fun. A children’s
history book would be great! Basically, collect interesting pictures
that you want to “jump in”.
There
are 4 basic steps:
Opening
the picture
Jumping
in
Exploring
Exiting
and closing
Opening
the picture
Make
your hands in to a triangle shape, and view the picture through the
triangle. If you like to use charms, say to yourself, This
triangle manifests the picture in to magical reality.
Imagine that there is a thick, clear glass cover over the picture.
Think to yourself, open,
picture!
Imagine
that the glass cover of the photo swings open, and suddenly
underneath you can see the image moving and coming alive. Remember
you will see this with your magical vision – and that means, inside
your imagination. As a goddess recently told me, “it doesn’t matter
if it’s real – it’s happening.” So if it is happening, don’t
wonder if it is “really real” or not. Just enjoy the fun of the
exercise.
Jumping
in
There
are many ways to ‘enter’ the picture. You can imagine that you become
very tiny, and a little figure of yourself jumps from your forehead,
between your triangle hands, and in to the picture. As soon as the
figure lands you gain their perspective and will see the picture from
first person perspective.
You
can also imagine that you are falling in to the picture, and tumbling
through your hands until you land inside.
Or,
you can come up with a method all your own.
Exploring
Any
way you do it, the result should be that you now magically view
yourself as being inside of the image. What you see should have ‘come
alive’ and be animated and moving. You should be able to move freely
within the image and interact with whatever people or beings you
like.
Try
using all your senses. Smell, touch, see, feel, and hear what is
going on around you. Observe characters from the scene that are
moving. Try moving around the part of the picture that is printed,
then move beyond the borders of the picture in to a greater world.
Exiting
and closing
When
you are done, imagine being lifted back up out of the picture, back
through your triangle hands, and back up in to your body.
If
you prefer, you can blink and know you are back where you belong, in
your cozy body.
Remember
that the glass pane over the image is still open. You must close it.
Imagine that the glass swings closed and say to yourself, close,
picture!
If
you wish, ground and center after this exercise.
Warnings
& Miscellaneous stuff
My
earliest adventures in picture-jumping were tarot, and some of the
images can be quite scary when you are suddenly immersed in them – especially if the cards are
reversed. Try choosing pleasant, enjoyable images to jump in to.
I
chose to jump in to tarot cards so I could learn their meanings by
viewing the cards in a new way. I learned a lot by doing this. Try
picture-jumping with sigils, too. When you think you have the feel
for it, try picture-jumping with things like herbs, crystals,
objects, and even other people. If you are like me you will gain a
great deal from this exercise.
Hoxton Street Monster Supplies has launched its newest product: salt made from human tears. According to the Monster Supplies website, the product “combines centuries-old craft with the freshest human tears which are gently boiled, released into shallow crystallisation tanks, then harvested by hand and finally rinsed in brine.“
holy shit
obvs not possible, but I’m still going to drool over the still remaining possibilities for witchcraft
Hey guys! With the Winter Solstice coming up, I’ve been making candles as gifts for my family and friends. I took pictures of my process in case it might be useful to anyone.
What you will need: -potholders/oven mitts to protect your hands -newspaper -wax -wicks and wick holders -cardboard rolls -dye (optional) -fragrance (optional) -toothpicks/chopsticks/cottonswabs
I’ve made both jar candles (pictured left) and pillar candles (pictured right) but this tutorial is only for pillar candles. The candle I’m making in this tutorial is for someone that has anxiety so the herbs I’m adding are lavender and rose petals for soothing qualities and self love.
FIRST! Make sure that your working area is covered entirely in newspaper. Wax can come off of most hard surfaces but its a lot easier to clean up if you use newspaper because this is can get very MESSY. Next, take cardboard tubes (mine were from toilet paper rolls) and hot glue them to a flat cardboard surface. MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO GAPS in between the cardboard roll and the flat surface when you glue them. Otherwise hot wax runs everywhere. I learned this the hard way. Pictured on the left is the first one I made to give you an idea of what it is going to look like.
Next fill a pot about ¼ full with water and set it to a boil. Inside the pot you will place a separate container, preferably disposable or something you will only use for wax, like a coffee tin or a cookie wafer tin (like I’m using) because the inside will be impossible to clean. Don’t allow the water to boil dry. Place your wax inside the disposable tin and allow the water to melt the wax. Keep an eye on your wax in case it gets too hot and catches fire. Once the wax is in liquid form you can add dye and mix it (dye is available at most crafting stores) to make whatever color you want or you can melt a chunk of colored wax from old candles you have during the melting process to make colors. Just make sure that its from the same type of candle you’re making (jar candle wax for jar candles, pillar candle wax for pillar candles) This is also the point where you would add fragrance if you wanted to.
Let the wax cool for a few minutes and pour a little bit into the bottom of the mold, place your wick in the center of the wax and allow it to COOL before you pour more hot wax in to make sure your wick is set in the center of your candle. If the wick isn’t in the center it will burn funny or might not burn at all.
Once the wick has set I use two toothpicks taped together to make sure the wick is held straight up through the center of the candle while I’m pouring the rest of the wax. The toothpicks hold the the wick in place. Then carefully pour in the rest of your wax and sprinkle the top with whatever herbs you are using. Leave to set overnight….
And in the morning peel off the cardboard around it and bam! You have a beautiful candle!
It’s hard to boil down the astral into a single descriptive term because there are so many ways and possibilities that there really are no hard or fast rules for what it means to travel or how to get there.
The shortest explanation I can give is that astral travel is the act of accessing Unseen or non-physical planes. But even that isn’t quite right because some people end up remote-viewing this physical plane that we live in. And some planes that you may access via astral travel are physical in their nature as well. Some travelers manage to get onto the astral and end up only visiting one plane ever. And some travelers end up plane hopping regularly.
A general note regarding astral travel: the act of traveling is not mandatory for pagans, and isn’t something that has ever been wide-spread in history (aka not everyone is cut out to do it). If anyone tells you that you need to access the astral, they are talking out their ass. Simple as that.
Astral travel is a huge point of conflict here on Tumblr because half of the community thinks we’re a bunch of crazy people who just want to feel special, and so they don’t take us seriously. And the other half of the community thinks we’re trying to put ourselves on a pedestal and gets angry because they can’t travel. So the strife that often comes with astral travel gets trivialized and everyone feels like shit all around.
There are tons of ways to get there. Some popular methods involve drugs or alcohol. Others involve strict dietary restrictions and purity restrictions before accessing the astral. Others involve pushing your body to its limits. And some people just accidentally fall into the astral. Astral travel can happen while awake or while asleep. Some people are capable of both methods, some people are only able to do one or the other. The ability to travel will vary from practitioner to practitioner. Some people’s connections are very solid and they have the ability to access the astral like clock work. Other people’s abilities are more restricted, and so their access is limited. In both cases, sometimes your ability to travel can just shut off for no reason because the universe is a troll. Again, no hard or fast rules in this situation. Additionally, each astral traveler will have their own limitations and skill sets. For example, I can barely see over there, and I require assistance with moving around large locations or busy places.
I learned how to astral travel by accident. It started when I used to dance until I couldn’t stand, which opened up my ability to receive weird visions. And when I was driven to the edge a few years ago, I fell into the “astral proper” and it’s been a whirlwind since then.
For those who want to know, I house all of my astral links here. I try to add to the list regularly.
Unfortunately there is so much to cover with the astral, it’s hard to make a succinct write up about what it is or what it entails, but hopefully this covers some of it.
The Carving Witch 