Mai definitely brewing. Brewing is always my first go-to. Why have a cauldron and spend the money on it if you can’t use it for what the tool was made for in the first place?
But, there are a great deal of uses for a cauldron. If you’re a practitioner who views tools as gendered, the whole fire in the womb of creation things can be REALLY powerful. I find that cauldrons and fire tend to just work well together. Granted if you burn something on your cauldron you won’t want to use it for food after that.
You can also use it as the central point in a working. Let’s say you wanted to “birth” a poppet. You could fill the cauldron with water, sink the poppet into it, then after some working, treading, dancing, or other act, you can literally birth the poppet from the waters of creation. Cauldrons can also be really good for group focus. Gemma Gary writes in “Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways” that a group could well employ a cauldron in workings such as knot magic. Each group member will tie a knot into the cord, then it goes into the cauldron. After that, the coven or group will circumambulate while intoning their spell of influence. For me, that’s a little too ceremonial, so I would fill the cauldron with water, toss in the cord, and start an ecstatic rite where wall of stirring the cauldron together while circling and giving their power to the work. Then the cord is taken up and placed somewhere to work its magic.
You can also use them to in more maleficent workings such as stork conjuring. Into a cauldron boil some water. Toss in some henbane, and some fern. Begin intoning the spell and focus all your will on conjuring forth a grand tempest. Stir the cauldron to stir up the skies. Take your broom and dip it into the cauldron while stirring, then swiftly take up the broom and scatter the water on the ground. If you don’t feel like using your broom, you can simply burn the henbane and fern in the cauldron, whole dancing about the ring and calling up the storm you seek.
A cauldron is a RIDICULOUSLY versatile tool, and you can do so very much with it. Have fun and be safe.
Why … Why did I read this is James Charles’ voice?
I am James Charles, hear me speak!
“Hark, coven sisters! Today we’re reviewing the MAC flying ointment ‘Manic Mandrake’!”
“Hi shishstars! Today we’re gonna learn to sister summon a storm!! First grab your henbane, this is my absolute fave! So keep watching and we’ll send the inquisition ships fLYING, oof, wig”
i’m sure we all have times where we feel like witchcraft is too much, too time consuming, not fulfilling enough, or we just can’t seem to get motivated to actually practice. this is especially true for my spoonie witch self! here are tips i’ve found useful for when i personally feel burnt out.
pace yourself. don’t feel like you have to get back to where you once were in your practice right away. try one tarot card a day. do some light energy work this week. schedule a day to make a tasty potion (hot cocoa potions are the bomb for this) and then watch a movie while you enjoy it.
plan in advance. maybe you canget yourself hyped for a big ritual at the next full moon! write down a day in your planner for a cool event and ration smaller preparatory tasks leading up to it.
practice passively. set a jar on your porch for when the next rain happens to fall, or throw some rose quartz in your makeup bag for your next night out. when you rediscover these things, it can really spark interest and motivation again.
explore nature in solitude. this one is huge. go for a nature walk (yes, I am a city witch and it’s possible!) and collect fallen leaves or wildflowers (cut, don’t pick) that you can use in future work. or, just soak in the awe of earth herself.
research. when you have free time, have a big research day on herbalism, crystals, your dieties, whatever. this one’s also huge for me.
glamour magick. one great active spellwork activity you can do is glamour and self love magick. #glamour magick on here, check out the tag! also recommend @orriculum for these types of spells. they really help you find peace in your craft again.
take a break from it. sometimes we need one. go out with friends and family, focus on school or work, and try your best to remain hopeful. personally, i’ve taken two of these long breaks from my craft. it helped me to rediscover why I’m a witch in the first place.
On Saturday, I plan to dip my toes into ancestor veneration for the first time.
What I’d like to know is, anyone who honors their ancestors or works with the dead in any type of way, how did you introduce yourself if it was someone you did not know in life? What offerings did you leave? How did the relationship develop after that?
I know these answers could easily vary from person-to-person, which is why I am curious. I am eager to hear a myriad of stories from anyone and everyone willing to share anything about this aspect of their practice.
Tagging @nicstoirm because I think you do this? But if I am wrong, maybe you know someone who does. ;u;
Hello my friend~ Sorry it took me a few days to get to this post! Been rather busy with school haha.
Anywho. Ancestor veneration! For me, I am in a very distant relationship with my ancestors – all of them: I honor my family ancestors, the ancestors of Ireland and Irish Polytheism, and the Queer Ancestors. My practice mainly consists of me giving offerings on the appropriate holidays and not developing beyond that. But recently I got a message from one of my grandfathers during an unrelated reading I was doing, so I think I should try to do more.
The offers I leave vary. It’s sometimes incense, sometimes food, sometimes just water. It’s often just whatever I have on hand haha. And it’s, again, infrequent which doesn’t really build a relationship.
I’m going to tag @themodernsouthernpolytheist since I know he does some stuff with Ancestor Veneration and may be able to give more insights!
Sorry, it’s been a long week and I’m in an incredibly goofy mood, lol. So, ancestor veneration. You’re definitely right that it can look very different across different traditions and even between practitioners of the same or similar traditions, so I’ll talk about my personal experiences.
It can be tough to start. One of my big hangups was that my family have been devoutly and conservatively Protestant for as long as we have memory. The specific flavor has varied, but my mom’s cousin who married a Catholic was absolutely SCANDALOUS, so the thought of engaging them as a Polytheist frankly freaked me out. But it’s gone really well. I haven’t had any negative experiences, but I’ve also largely worked with ancestors as a whole, most of whom feel like Ye Olde Ancestore rather than more recent ones. That’s my next step. I’ve done some guided meditation type stuff that involved my grandfather who passes last year, but that’s it with him so far. Part of that is also because it was totally unexpected and the whole thing is still really raw for me, but that’s only part of it. So, that might be the place to start: with ancestors as a broad category.
The other part of my ancestors that I work with are Queer ancestors. Tbh, they were the first ones I approached, the ones I knew would understand. I honor them because their existence, openness, and sacrifice allow me to be who I am today. I want to be that person for future generations. And I’ve started a tradition of honoring all those killed each year on the anniversary of the Pulse Massacre. This past year was the 2nd year and it’s a tradition I feel really strongly about. Point being, creating a specific day in your religious calendar may be something to think about, too.
And don’t forget an ancestor shrine! It can be as simple as a candle sat in a corner dedicated to them or as extra as I like to be, lol. My dining room is covered in framed photos of family, both living and deceased. I have my grandfather’s pocket watch on the wall. I have the painting of a skull one of my closest friends made for me. And I have floating shelves around the room for candles and other things to sit. This is also where Manannán mac Lir and Donn’s shrines live given their associations with the dead.
So, these are my ideas and a few of my experiences. I hope it helps, but feel free to ask me follow-ups!
I want to address how to introduce yourself because I was about 300% more stressed about that when I started than I needed to be! I do honour family ancestors but mostly focus on Trans ancestors, so the majority of my ancestral practice is based around people I didn’t know during their lives.
Honestly what I’ve usually done is light a candle, make some tea as an offering (I am very British, that’s the first offering that springs to mind 99% of the time – if tea would feel weird to you then go for something else), sit down and just say ‘Hello, my name is X, I’ve made you some tea’ and then go on to tell them a little bit about who I am and why I’m talking to them. What you get from that point varies – I’ve found that some people don’t want me bothering them, which is fair enough, that some enjoy a bit of conversation, that some don’t mind me being there but also wouldn’t mind if I wasn’t. People are varied after death just as they are before death. So my advice really would be to start, and then see what they seem to want. The dead can make their preferences known, if you’re prepared to listen.
If you don’t know what this means, it’s basically then end of how the internet currently is in Europe. Memes? Nope. Youtubers? Bye!
You’d need a license for everything!!!!
And my fellow Americans my be all like, well, what’s the big deal for us? It’s a Europe deal.
No, because the Youtubers there that you love so much? This effects them too! I’m freaking out because Jack, the person who helps my depression go away, may no longer be able to do what he does!
Guys, we need to stop this somehow. Please.
Call your MEPs. Sign petitions. Protest (Peacefully please. Don’t get hurt).
I’m sorry for tagging you guys if you don’t want to be or already know, I just want as many people to know as possible!
I can’t tag everyone, but if you see this, please reblog it. Spread the news. Sign the petition. Call your MEPs. Do what you can to help stop this from passing in January.
I don’t live in Europe but this needs to be spread
I’m spreading this because this is greatly unsettling to me. I live in europe and really can’t imagine how the future would look like.
At this point i’m signing every petition i come across, have contacted all of the MEPs that are relevant to me and told pretty much everyone i talk to about it. Please help, it’s important.
I live in Europe and this is horrifying.
For USA folks this is effectively Europe’s net neutrality ban to-be & it bans citing sources. In all different forms of media, from links, videos, music, pictures, etc etc. Pretentiously it’s supposed to help pay content creators. In reality it halts sharing & collaboration/working together.
So this was a really personal project for me, after listening to TAZ i wanted to do something to show my love and appreciation for it, as well as get the chance to say goodbye to all the characters again. Hopefully that comes across (wow this is truly the dorkiest thing I’ve ever done)
Anyway feel free to ask why i picked which character for each Tarot card (trust me i thought way to far into it) and please listen to taz if you haven’t already!
– They clean your air – They give you something to name – They give you something to take care of – They teach you about care, needs, and resources – They make you look like you’re good at decorating
Here are some of mine:
But some people, because they’re overwhelmed or simply can’t figure out how to start, think that plants are out of their reach.
Candlelight-magick 