Rb This With Ur Opinion On This Shade Of Pink:

types of dark academia

classic academia: beige trench coats, wool sweaters. plaid skirts. think femme fatale, but educated. sobbing in bed late at night over the secret history or dead poets society. tea with milk and sugar. subsequent tea stains.

darkest academia: running through the rain, dimly lit by streetlights. brown tweed jackets, dress shoes. cold fingers and colder gazes. french-pressed black coffee, piping hot. dark, candlelit rooms with ancient wood floors/walls. 

light academia: white cable-knit sweaters, sparkly eyes and foggy glasses. going to art museums and falling in love with every portrait, every sculpture. caressing the petals of a rose, hearing the crinkle of leaves underfoot.

witchy academia: burning candles while reading or doing homework. black turtlenecks, velvet skirts. walking through the forest in autumn. passing a graveyard and feeling a greyish presence. waiting anxiously for samhain.

romantic academia: writing flowery poetry about someone you’ll never speak to (guilty oops). a cozy alizarin sweater, pleated skirts. slow dancing around your room to the beatles. curling up with warm, pallid cups of tea and a book.

scholarly academia: impeccable notes in class. leather bound bags crammed with textbooks and pens. lots of coffee with scones, and even more late nights. a wide vocabulary (that people constantly comment on). lives in the library.

theatre academia: shakespeare, all the time - quoting, reading, praying for a school production of a midsummer nights dream. or the crucible. memorizing lines in the wings. taking on your character’s traits, even outside the theater.

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In case you missed this heart warming exchange

so who’s gonna tell him?

Centering, Grounding, and Shielding

- From my Grimoire

A Preface

Something that I don’t think enough people cover when it comes to The Craft, is how to keep yourself protected when doing spells and rituals, or communicating with spirits. This is a very basic aspect of witchcraft, so I’d like to take a moment to go in depth on the topic to make sure that as many people as possible, can find something that will work for them! Of course though, there will be some methods that I either don’t have experience with or may have simply forgot to mention. Find what works best for you and your practice, and look at some other articles or books as well!

Centering

First off, what is centering? This is basically you preparing yourself and getting in the mindset of doing a spell/ritual. This is taking a moment to yourself to make sure you’re intentions are in the right place, and everything is set up and ready to go. Centering isn’t too difficult to do, so there’s honestly not too much to say on the topic.

Method I like to begin centering with meditation. Relax yourself and get into the “witch headspace”, if you will. Cleanse yourself, and maybe even take a shower or a bath. Next thing is to gather your thoughts, write some questions down on a piece of paper or on your computer and answer them. Things like “What is my motivation?” “What outcome do I want” “How do I want to do this?” If you really take a moment to understand what you’re doing and where your heart lies, your spell will be at it’s most effective.

Grounding

Grounding is an important thing to do after any spell you perform. While it doesn’t necessarily hurt to do before a spell, it can limit your meta-physical performance. Grounding is connecting you back to the earth and bringing you back to your physical body, getting your head out of the clouds if you will, and sometimes when performing a spell that’s where you want your head to be. If you’re working with any earth based magick though, this can greatly help, so just figure out what works best for the kind of spell you’re doing.

Methods

Roots - This is my covens favorite method to ground. This is basically where you have a meditative moment, plant your feet on the ground, and “sink your roots in”. First thing you wanna do is get in some kind of contact with the ground or floor, just anything that is a solid foundation. Plant your hands or feet flat and start by breathing deeply. You wanna really take in the energy from the earth, pay attention to all of your surroundings and take in the moment. Next close your eyes and start focusing your energy at your hands or feet. (You may feel your hands start to tingle or even go mildly numb) Lastly, release that energy and push it into the earth. Let it soak in deep, and if visualization helps, imagine your roots growing down.

Going outside is another very good method to reconnect with the Earth. If at all possible, I like to go outside barefoot and feel the grass on my feet. Really connect to the earth, take in your surroundings and walk around as much as you feel comfortable.

A Dump Stone - Just about any stone will work, but generally stone that come from bodies of water, have holes, or are green or black tend to work the best. Basically just hold the stone in your hand and let any and all negative energy flow out from you into the stone. Stones can handle quite a bit of negative energy so don’t be afraid to let it all come out. After you’re done though, you’re immediately going to want to cleanse your crystal with whichever method works best for you. I prefer to let mine sit in salt overnight, or until the feel done.

Drinking a cold glass of water, splashing cold water on your face, or even taking a really quick cold shower is also a really good way to ground yourself. It’s all about being present in your body, and nothing can bring you back into the now like some cold water can.

Shielding and Wards

Shielding yourself is important when it comes to any kind of magick, because there truly are negative entities and energies out there that like to take advantage of people. It’s a sad truth, but this is why we learn to protect ourselves spiritually. Putting up a shield or ward isn’t difficult, and sometimes you do it without even realizing!

Shielding Methods

Visualization - This is my favorite method to teach beginners because it doesn’t require any tools just you, and yourself. The begin, start by getting into a calm relaxed state, maybe even meditate before hand. Next, imagine a ring of light around yourself starting at your feet. This light can look like anything, be any color, and be any shape so the only limit is your imagination. Once you have the ring of light, imagine it slowly coming up around your body, let it fill your heart with warmth and let it remind you that you are safe spiritually and no negative entity can harm you. Once it has made a complete bubble around yourself, say some affirmations and remind yourself that you’re strong and can handle anything. The more you believe in yourself, then the stronger this shield will become. 

Smoky Quartz or any other black stone, when kept on the person or placed at the feet can create a ward as well. For those less imaginative, this is a very good alternative because you have the crystal to support you as well. 

Magick Circle - There are many ways to open a magick circle, but heres a really simple method. Hold one of your hands out, palm up and focus your energy in your hand. (You may get that warm, tingly, or numb feeling, if not though thats okay!) Really let it bubble up into your fingertips, and once there, point a finger out and draw a circle around yourself and say some simple affirmations of safety and peace. Just like the visualization method, this works best the more you have faith and believe in yourself. 

Simply stating that you are, or feel safe is another way to shield yourself spiritually. You remember how when you were little and alone in your room at night and you thought you heard something scary? You covered your head up with a blanket right? Do you remember how safe you felt after doing that, like how nothing could get you? That was quite literally you putting up a shield. Remember your intentions and feelings are the most important thing in magick, always keep that in mind!

Warding Methods Wards are another variation of shields, but these are things you put on the physical plane rather than a spiritual one. 

Runes/Sigils - A really good way to set up a ward is to carve or draw some runes either into the side of a doorframe, a candle, or even on a piece of paper to burn later! If you’re going to carve them into wood or draw them, charge the tool you’re going to be doing it with. If your going to use a candle, burn the candle whenever you feel like you need it most! And as for burning paper, keep the ashed around and maybe even sprinkle them into every corner of the room.

Salt - Put lines of salt on the top of your door and window frames, and sprinkle some in every corner of the room.

Stones - Certain stones are said to be warning stones and will break if danger is near by. Malachite is one of these stones, and is fairly easy to get your hands on. Place this stone above door and window frames as well. 

Holy/Blessed Water - A drop placed in every corner of the room creates a barrier around the room.

Brooms/Staffs - Place in the corners of rooms, and said to fall over if danger is near by.

Black Candles - Burning a black candle is said to bring protection and keep a room hidden from spirits. 

interiors in Genova, Italy, February 2018

So there’s this huge dudebro in my class, who, yesterday, sat next to me. And I’m sitting there sweating because like… I’m wearing my shirt with the lesbian flag on it, and he’s the most popular jock in school, and always has this look on his face that say ‘I can and will kill you’. He looks me up and down, stares at me for a minute and then goes, “So. Girls in skirts and long socks, am I right?”

To which I nodded solemnly, both out of agreement, surprise and also a healthy amount of awkward fear. He nodded and went, “You get it.”

I said, “Yep.” He fistbumped me, and on went our lives.

Corpse Bride (2005)

being compassionate to yourself involves making it a discipline to do the things that you love, no matter how many times you attempt to convince yourself that it’s no use. being compassionate with yourself involves sitting down and writing, even when you feel insecure about the work you’re producing. being compassionate with yourself involves taking a walk outside because you haven’t had any fresh air the whole day. being compassionate with yourself involves committing yourself to learning something new even if it hasn’t gone well many times before. being compassionate with yourself is about committing to the discipline of self-betterment and healing.

reblog for a perfect second semester

the universe knows you will learn from your first semester mistakes

second semester is when we all get 4.0s

we got this. 

reblog to help a friend

Baby Witch Bootcamp Masterlist

Baby Witch Bootcamp began as a series of informational videos on my YouTube channel. This series is my attempt to meet a need for free, accessible, and well-researched information about witchcraft and other forms of magic. My background is in journalism, and this is the approach that I take with this series – I try to be as transparent as possible about where I get my information, which means including lots of quotes and sources. I also try to keep this series as objective as possible – my goal is not to convince you to practice witchcraft a certain way, but to provide you with the tools and resources you need to create a magical practice that fits your own beliefs, values, and spiritual needs.

Part 1: Basics of Magic and Energy

Chapter One: What Is Magic? Why Does It Work? [Video version on YouTube]

Chapter Two: Meditation for Witches [Video version on YouTube]

Chapter Three: How to Ground Yourself [Video version on YouTube]

Chapter Four: How to Find Good Witchcraft Books

Chapter Five: The Ethics of Witchcraft [Video version on YouTube]

Part 2: Spellcasting

Chapter Six: How to Cast Spells That Work [Video version on YouTube]

Chapter Seven: What Are Correspondences and How Do I Use Them in Spells?

Chapter Eight: Using the Elements in Your Spells

Chapter Nine: Magic Herbs You Can Find at the Grocery Store

Chapter Ten: Add Some Oomph to Your Spells with Magical Timing

Part 3: Divination and Psychic Abilities

Chapter Eleven: Tapping into Your Psychic Senses

Chapter Twelve: Divination Basics

Chapter Thirteen: So You Want to Learn Tarot

Chapter Fourteen: Psychic Protection

Chapter Fifteen: When NOT To Trust Your Intuition

Part 4: Engaging with the Spirit World

Chapter Sixteen: Intro to Spirit Work

Chapter Seventeen: Working with Spirits

Chapter Eighteen: Communicating with Spirits

Chapter Nineteen: Banishing Nasty Spirits

Chapter Twenty: Pathworking and Astral Travel

Part 5: Incorporating Witchcraft into Your Everyday Life

Chapter Twenty-One: Little Acts of Everyday Magic

Chapter Twenty-Two: Building a Magical Home

Chapter Twenty-Three: Magical Journaling

Chapter Twenty-Four: Kitchen Witchin’  

Chapter Twenty-Five: Practicing in Secret

Part 6: Controversial Magic

Chapter Twenty-Six: Using Human Body Parts in Spells

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Blood Magic

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Curses and Hexes

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Conjuring Dark Spirits

Chapter Thirty: Sex Magic

Part 7: Social Issues

Chapter Thirty-One: Cultural Appropriation

Chapter Thirty-Two: Magic vs Medicine?

Chapter Thirty-Three: Keeping Consumerism out of Your Craft

Chapter Thirty-Four: Earth-Friendly Witchcraft 

Chapter Thirty-Five: Witchcraft and Activism

Other Helpful Links for New Witches

Why the Law of Attraction Is an Unhealthy Mindset

How to Recognize a Cult or Cult-like Group

How To Find a Safe Witchy/Pagan Teacher or Group

Why Spells Don’t Work