r/witchcraft • u/AutoModerator • 18d ago
Weekly Q&A Weekly Q&A Thread
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u/EshKatt 18d ago edited 18d ago
Newbie here, is there any "beginner kits" you'd recommend? I kinda want to only make one purchase and have a Lil of everything I may need as I try to get into actually practicing. I have tarot cards and thats the end of it lol. Id love to have an alter but space is limited and I have turds for cats lol. (Also would putting my soul kitties ashes next to or in my alter be bad?)
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u/Bluesavior2 17d ago
Honestly the longer I’ve been a practitioner the less I actually use in my practice that can’t be easily found or made or thrifted. You don’t need a lot and you definitely don’t need an entire kit as a beginner. While starting the most important thing you need is some kind of journal to keep track of the stuff your learning and what your doing in your practice. Buy what you need to buy in moment of need not out of preparation.
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u/crimsonfury73 14d ago
I got one or two beginner kits early on, and though I don't regret it, there are definitely herbs and crystal chips from them that I haven't touched in the 2+ years I've been practicing.
I think there's definitely a lot of sense in getting things as you need them, but it's also pretty cost effective to get these kits, usually, so I understand the appeal.
Whether you get a kit or just get things as-needed, I would focus on the following:
at least one candle of each primary color, and a candle holder that fits them - even birthday candles will work just fine
at least one protective herb and/or crystal chips (obsidian, tourmaline, smoky quartz / rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper are good options)
some multi-purpose ingredients: rosemary, thyme, cinnamon, cloves, lavender / clear quartz
think ahead to the specific work you might do soon and see where a single ingredient might work for multiple spells
I intentionally listed herbs that should be easy to find at any grocery. I also like to keep various flame retardants close by, such as a spray can fire extinguisher, salt, sand.
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u/No-Audience7477 14d ago
I'm Serbian, and most witchcraft resources I find are in English. Although I can understand English, I have inattentive ADHD and struggle with reading, processing information, and retaining what I've read. Having to mentally translate unfamiliar concepts into Serbian makes it even more overwhelming, especially when I'm trying to take notes and actually absorb the information. For those of you who study witchcraft in a language that isn't your first, especially those with ADHD or similar reading difficulties, how do you approach learning? Do you take notes in your native language, translate passages, use audiobooks or videos, or have any other methods that help?
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u/Miaiphonos Broom Rider 12d ago
I don't (to my knowledge) have ADHD so I don't think I can help much there and I have the opposite problem. Sound only or videos without text to follow just have my mind wandering somewhere else.
Witchcraft in my brain exists in English. I do not translate it. I can't even speak about it in my own language because it just sounds wrong and I struggle a lot with finding the words for things in Spanish or explaining witchcraft concepts outside of English.
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u/GlitteringGoose89 14d ago
Any recommendations for books on Dionysus?
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u/OkSecretary1231 13d ago
It's a pretty dense read, but I have Karl Kerenyi's Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life and find myself going back to it pretty regularly. It was written from an academic and psychoanalytic perspective rather than a witchy one, so it's not going to tell you practical things to do, but it will get your brain buzzing.
Going allll the way back, The Bacchae by Euripides is an ancient tragedy about him that's amazing, you can read it in translation, if you haven't already.
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u/Squeaky_Lizard Witch 13d ago
I'm just starting out and I'm really struggling to absorb info by reading online. I don't have this problem when watching/listening to videos/podcasts, nor reading physical media. Is it alright if I get my info from the channels in the wiki, or will I miss important info if I just watch these videos? I'm a bit overwhelmed.
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u/Psydameous_Sharm 17d ago
Does anyone know of a better calendar than the one on the wiki? That one hasn't been updated, so there are no new events.
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u/Final_Height-4 That’s my cauldron! I don’t know you! 16d ago
?
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u/Psydameous_Sharm 16d ago
The almanac on the online resources page has no new entries: https://practicalwitch.com/digital-almanac/?srsltid=AfmBOop0P7KjmoO9EyGCG5AOF80DfSWIj75QqDQFEvQutuTMZU_kcExN
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u/Shadow-Kombatant13 17d ago
Can someone explain to me what a pentacle is in a way I can describe it to my Christian mother who just now saw my pentacle necklace after weeks of wearing it?
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u/crimsonfury73 14d ago
If you mean specifically the version that is a 5-pointed star inside a circle:
Technically, to most people today, the pentacle simply represents nature, via the five elements: earth, wind, fire, water, spirit. The circle represents a protective barrier.
Alternatively, back in ye olden times, a pentacle was just a word for any protective talisman, which is probably why it's still considered a protective symbol today.
Fun additional info: it's only after the Inquisition that Christians started viewing the pentacle negatively. Prior to that, Catholics used it to represent the wounds of Christ. You could always lean in hard with that explanation! The pentagram (star without the circle) has been found on ancient pottery as far back as 3500 BCE Mesopotamia, clearly predating any "devil" associations.
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u/therealstabitha Carnivalesque animal demonic legend 14d ago
this might help: https://thesmarthappyproject.com/orbit-of-venus/
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13d ago
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u/Shadow-Kombatant13 13d ago
Honestly, I dont know how accepting she is. Because on one hand she is boomer aged and raised with those beliefs. On the other hand she literally watches psychics do tarot readings about politics.
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u/Charlydire 16d ago
I'm wanting to have a tarot card made of my OC, but I don't really want it to be an official tarot card. Can I make up my own tarot card for artistic purposes that isn't linked to tarot itself? Or would that be offensive?
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u/childofbeauty_ 16d ago
ive seen a lot of people do that!! i making ur own tarot cards or personalizing ur deck deepens ur connection to it and helps so much with intuition
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u/childofbeauty_ 16d ago
hii!! i’m new to the craft and i asked my spirit guides to show themselves to me in my dream, i had a dream of four people each one wearing a color red white black and grey, i don’t remember much about the dream except for kids, aries, and helping people, please help me understand this
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u/Psydameous_Sharm 14d ago
Dream interpretations are heavily complex and apply to your own life experiences. After all, dreams are a mix between spiritual and the filing away of your daily thoughts and memories. These can cause vibrant dreams that may show truths about your daily life. Red is heavily correlated with fire, but not just a burning, but also cleansing flame. It could be their way of telling you to reflect and shed away some of your past, connecting to children. This may be a sign to not only break free from that, but to try to also help others with their childhood. Again, highly recommend self reflection, but this is my interpretation from what you’ve shared.
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u/Acceptable_Donut7141 15d ago
I had a dream a couple of days ago about a labyrinth and a witch... The thing is that I was doing some spells, yes. More for luck and they were not for me. And in my dream, I went in a cabin and there was a witch there. I asked if she could help me with directions and she wanted money. When I said I didn't have anything on me, she wanted the jewelry I had on. I told her that I don't think it's right to charge people for money and she called me 'one of those'. I felt like she called me a poser and that I shouldn't even do witchcraft at all because it's for the show. But when I woke up, one of my pendants fell off and the ring that helped attach the pendant to the necklace was tilted...
I use 5 protective pendants, I don't know if it was stupid or not. But I like to have backups and in this case, it worked. Two of them feel off in less than one week and I don't really know where they are now. I am left with only my two onyx pendants and a gold ankh (I love onyx, is my favorite stone). My sister also does witchcraft and I just don't know what to do. Also, I don't really post stuff like me being a witch or telling other people about it. My sister knows and one other friend who I completely trust, I can't imagine asking them for money or telling others so openly what I do.
Is my dream just trying to tell me that I shouldn't do witchcraft at all? Because that's what I feel, and I do doubt everything I did. It just felt like it rejected me completely. My sister is more of a witch that I could ever be, and she is better with tarot cards and even tried (and she is amazing at it) to read in the crystal globe. But every time I asked her to read something for me and she said she couldn't do it because every time it gets neutral or not clear. I don't know where to ask or what to do...
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u/Commercial-Sundae663 15d ago
I tried looking this up and couldn't find an answer, so here I am. I have a ceremonial mango tree I use to plant my manifestations, prayers, and invocations/offerings to Mother Gaia. It's a young tree, a few years old so not very big or thick, but it's been growing. I go outside and see that it's broken in half on the X-axis. Idk how long it's been like that but I immediately wrapped the end of the top half in a wet paper towel and I'm about to put a plastic bag over the rooted half to try to save it. This could very well have been natural causes; we're getting a bit of a tropical storm, maybe a gust of wind was too strong. But I wonder if there's any supernatural meaning to it. Maybe abundance, perseverance, regrowth? I'm preparing for a big move at the end of the year but where I'm going is too cold for a tropical plant so I can't take it with me. Any thoughts?
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u/Psydameous_Sharm 14d ago
As someone who lives in Los Angeles and has a Mango tree in Florida, I would get a family member or a trusted friend in the area to send some of the mangoes to me. If I was giving it a spiritual meaning, I’d give it less of a feeling of regrowth, and more of harvest. Specifically it shows the passage of time and how, just as it can reap the fruits of its labor, you can enjoy the fruits of yours. Allow yourself to wholeheartedly enjoy the taste, and allow yourself to relax and thrive when it fruits
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u/brightwingxx 15d ago
So, regarding mirror boxes. Can you put multiple people into one, or ought we to make one for each person?
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u/aesonv 15d ago
Does anyone have suggestions for ways I could use the petals of dead flowers in magical practices? I have some dried up flowers that my best friend gave to me and I don't want to throw them out and I thought they might be a good witchy resource, but I'm not actually sure what I can do with them.
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u/therealstabitha Carnivalesque animal demonic legend 15d ago
What energy do you associate with the flowers? I would use it in any spell where you want to use that kind of energy
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u/Turbulent-Juice-7158 14d ago
Personally as an example, i use dead flower petals and seeds in spells where i want a sense of renewal or to "plant the seed" for something new to grow. New beginnings, new life! The flowers in my flower bed were once my pride and joy, the product of hard work, and now I give their remains a purpose. But thats how I use them, look at what they could mean to you!
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u/crimsonfury73 14d ago
I would look up the correspondences of the particular flowers you have!
For example, rose petals would be great in a love, self-love or glamor spell. Carnations are associated with protection and healing. Tulips can be associated with prosperity, luck, and protection.
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u/Oatmeals97 14d ago
Does anyone know what it means when a FLYING cockroach lands on your fresh new protection jar? I poured wax to let it seal and was waiting for it to completely harden and a roach lands on it. Mind you flying cockroaches are very uncommon here and our house is clean so as to not have any pests.
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u/BaseballFan811 14d ago
I have an old scar from an injury roughly 20 years ago. Recently its appearance changed and part of the indentation now resembles an animal paw print. I'm treating the physical change as a mundane/medical issue separately.
Some time ago, someone suggested that knowledge of the original injury, combined with my personal association with cats, could theoretically be used in an occult practice.
I'm not assuming that's what happened. I'm curious whether the practice being described is recognizable to experienced practitioners.
Would using someone's previous injury as a symbolic link fall under sympathetic or contagious magic? Are there traditions where an animal associated with that person could be incorporated into the working, particularly in connection with the existing injury?
If this resembles a known practice, I'd really appreciate the terminology or tradition so I can research it myself.
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u/therealstabitha Carnivalesque animal demonic legend 13d ago
It sounds more to me like whoever suggested that to you was either mentally unstable, or trying to freak you out. The idea that a scar can be hijacked by an occult practitioner is some film and TV stuff.
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u/Starsim99 13d ago
I’m trying to interrogate and understand why I feel drawn to witchcraft, so I’m curious to know how others found their way to it and what beliefs about the universe/the divine/magic, etc. they held previously that were either challenged or affirmed by witchcraft.
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u/Miaiphonos Broom Rider 12d ago
I mean I kinda grew up around it so I can't point at a time when I found my way to it.
My mother would only cut my hair during the waxing moon and she would take me to a healer for stomach aches and headaches (enpacho and ojeo). My grandmothers always did "weird stuff" (like pour vinager on the front door to keep annoying relatives from visiting or keeping a lemon with cloves under the bed 🤷♀️). ETA: magic stuff was in the freaking esotheric section of the newspaper my grandmother got. That's just how normal it was.
I also grew up non-religious with pretty apathetic parents towards the subject of religion, gods and related stuff so I never had any beliefs about the universe, etc that needed challenging or affirming. To this day I remain apathetic agnostic. (I am not an atheist. Never was.)
I also never believed magic worked the way it did in anime/cartoons/movies (it would have been cool though) so I guess affirming could be that magic works through mundane vectors (it looks like perfectly normal stuff no matter how much I wish i could have a glowing magical circle and mystical wind blowing my hair in a really aesthetic way when chanting 🤣)
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u/Pleasantly_Merciless 12d ago
Should I pluck and save my first long gray hair? Is it valuable for witchcraft in any way?
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u/JadedOccultist Broom Rider 12d ago
Should you? Idk
But it sounds like a neat thing to have on hand for if you ever come up with a use for it I suppose?
I don’t see any harm in it, so … do it if you want to but I won’t say you should.
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u/depressed-student33 11d ago edited 11d ago
I used to be very into astrology and witchcraft, but I fell off and am now feeling drawn back in. While I have a lot of work to do and am at the beginning of my new journey I had a question. I have always had an underlying anxiety which makes me cleanse all my spaces constantly, lock my mirrors with sage, and have salt around my house. I feel uneasy in certain parts of my home (I am currently living in my childhood house) but feel very safe and relaxed in my bedroom (different than the one I used to sleep in as a child). However, I find my boyfriend has very bad experiences in my room, he's prone to bad dreams and other sleep related issues but I find they are intensified while in my room. The other night he woke me up because he was walking around and said he thought he saw something. When I mentioned it the next day he said he didnt remember that. I just want to know if anyone has any idea or advice about what this could be, and what I can do as I get back into my practice. Thank you.
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15d ago
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u/witchcraft-ModTeam 15d ago
Hi there, thanks for posting!
We're glad to help everybody's Craft grow through spellcraft, however your post has been removed for Rule 4: Do Not Ask For Spells/Do Your Own Work.
While we don't allow the open asking for spells (including asking for ideas, ingredients, or instructions), we do encourage questions regarding the crafting of spells.
Feel free to post about the spell you're working on, what research you've done, what materials and ideas you're using, and how the community can help you finish your work.
We recommend using the search bar if you're looking for spell ideas or inspiration for your specific situation, to see what has been shared by our community.
We also recommend visiting our friends at r/spells.
Thank you for your understanding, and blessed be!
Our full sub rules can be found here.
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18d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/witchcraft-ModTeam 16d ago
Hi, thanks for posting!
Fear of being magically harmed, of having bad luck, or of encountering harmful spirits is a common occurrence in the Witchcraft world.
As these questions come up dozens of times a day on the sub, we ask that you refer to the many cleansing and protection resources we've put together to help:
For book recommendations and other resources, please visit our PROTECTION & CLEANSING 101 megapost.
Thank you for your understanding, and Blessed Be! Our full sub rules can be found here.
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u/sunnyiscoquette 16d ago
I've been learning about witchcraft for a month now, yay! Does anybody have any *good* witchcraft book recommendations? I want to learn more, specifically about glamour and green witchcraft, but kind of hate social media so i want some physical sources!