Holey Stones

signs you are an earth angel

♡ you are quiet and quite introverted, you love time alone to recharge yourself and heal

♡ you feel like helping people, serving them, is your main purpose. you feel joy by helping other people

♡ you are an empath, and have a deeply strong sensitive heart. you can almost feel other people’s pain

♡ you love animals and nature a lot. you feel safe between the whispers of the trees and the birds singing

♡ you dislike violence to humans and to animals. most earth angels are vegetarian/vegan

♡ you have/had imaginary friends

♡ you are deeply psychic and you are prone to spiritual or paranormal experiences

♡ you are also spiritual

♡ you feel like you are here for a purpose but can’t wrap your head about what it is

♡ you are an old soul and you adore vintage treasures

♡ that said, you dislike the modern world and/or don’t feel connected to it

♡ you have felt like an outcast most of your life or you had the feeling of not “fitting in”

♡ animals and intuitive people feel attracted to you

♡ you adore plants, and have your house filled with plants and flowers

♡ you are fearless or have few fears. death doesn’t scare you

Magickal Research List

Written by your Coven Leader, Chance

ASTROLOGY ~Houses ~Signs ~Planets ~Aspects ~Constellation Shapes ~Natal Chart

CRYSTALS ~Crystal Uses ~Crystal history/origins

HERBS ~Medicinal Uses ~Spiritual Uses ~Poisonous Herbs ~Edible Herbs ~Local Natural Herbs ~Pollinator Plants

TAROT ~Meanings & Associations ~Reversed Meanings ~Spreads ~Playing Card Meanings ~How to use Tarot in Spells ~Color and Number Symbolism

PART TWO COMING SOON! Happy Witching!

Die Welt der Natur ist eine wunderbare Quelle, die jenen hilft, die sie achten und respektieren, und jene bestraft, die selbstsüchtig handeln und andere ausbeuten. Alle Wesen sind mit allen ihren Teilen heilig, und dazu gehört auch unser Selbst. Deshalb versuchen wir, uns - alles an uns - kennen zu lernen, zu lieben und zu verstehen, Geduld und mitGefühl aufzubringen sowie Geschicklichkeit und Humor zu entwickeln. Wir bemühen uns zu lernen, wie wir ganz wunderbar für uns selbst sorgen können - so wie wir für ein geliebtes Kind sorgen würden, so wie die Natur für uns sorgen würde...

Historical Witchcraft 101: Familiar Spirits

I’m sure you’ve all heard of the witch’s familiar. Nowadays, a familiar is considered to be an animal that has an unusually close bond and a spiritual connection with its owner. This animal could be a cat, a dog, a mouse, a toad, a rabbit, or even a fly; and birds such as owls and ravens could also be considered familiars. The familiar’s function is to aid the witch in their craft, accompany them on their travels, as well as provide general companionship.

[Image description: Frontispiece to Matthew Hopkins’ ‘The Discoverie of Witches’. Matthew Hopkins, witch finder, stands at the top. Two witches sit in chairs either side of him, naming their familiar spirits, which are shown at the bottom of the print.] [Image source]

A physical familiar is certainly one form a familiar can take. Looking at the records we have, it’s often suggested that the familiar is a spirit (often referred to as a devil, imp or a fairy) that is seen as taking physical form. The witch is sometimes said to possess their physical familiar and go out and perform magic. (This will appear again in a later post on shapeshifting)

The idea that familiars were spirits that took physical form could be part of the reason why it was commonly believed that witches fed their familiars blood, as blood would be necessary to give a spirit physical form, although obviously a desire by the elite to make witches seem as horrific as possible plays a large role in this as well. Other food/ payment for familiars includes milk, bread, leftovers from your plate, and in the case of a ‘fairy wife’ (we’ll get onto that), sex.

The practice of feeding familiars bread and milk in particular points to a different type of familiar: a familiar spirit, or a fairy familiar. This is especially resonant of the practice of leaving out bread, milk, beer and/ or water in the kitchen in case the fairy host visited your home overnight. These familiar spirits play a more active role in aiding the witch with their craft, often performing tasks, acting as a spy, or even teaching magic to the witch. They were often described as either very small or very tall, wearing black, white or green (all fairy colours, especially green).

A final type of familiar is the ‘fairy wife’, or fairy lover, I mentioned earlier. The best example of this is probably Tam Lin, or perhaps the Queen of the Faeries in Thomas the Rhymer. The fairy wife often takes humanoid form, sometimes with some small marker such as horns or animals to show that they are more than human. They give the witch magical knowledge in exchange for sex. For example, Aberdeenshire cunning man Andro Man claimed that the Faery Queen was his lover, and he had had several children with her. In witch testimonies, this is normally sex with the Devil, and could even extend to marriage: Rebecca West, in Essex, claimed that the Devil promised to be her loving husband until death.

Familiars can be obtained in a number of ways. In some stories, they appear to those in need and offer assistance, such as appearing to those who are hungry and offering to teach them skills that can help them make a living, typically healing and the power to locate lost objects. For others, familiars are granted by the Devil when they first become a witch, at their initiation. Another common theme is hereditary or bloodline familiars, which are passed down between family members and sometimes covens. For example, Elizabeth Francis confessed to receiving her familiar, a white spotted cat named Sathan, from her grandmother.

In all these cases, there is an implicit or explicit contract being made: freedom from want, assistance, knowledge and companionship; in exchange for food, good treatment, sex, the renunciation of one’s faith, and/or the witch’s soul.

Sources:

“A Note on the Witch-Familiar in Seventeenth Century England”, F. H. Amphlett Micklewright

“The Witch’s Familiar and the Fairy in Early Modern England and Scotland”, Emma Wilby***

“Concerning the familiar spirit”

“Familiar Spirits”

“Of Imps and Familiars”

“Familiars and familiar spirits”

“The Witch’s Familiar”, Charlotte Smith

‘Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits’, Emma Wilby***

‘The Visions of Isobel Gowdie’, Emma Wilby

‘The Element Encyclopaedia of Witchcraft’, Judika Illes

‘The Discoverie of Witchcraft’, Reginald Scott

We love to worship and revere our beautiful and magnificent Gods, but did you know historically, on a day to day basis there were other entities more routinely worshipped?

Meet the Landvættir (nature spirits),

the Landvættir (nature spirits),

the Disir (female spirits),

the light elves (ancestral spirits),

the Fylgja (spirit animal),

Trolls (spirits that assist with magic),

húsvættir (house spirits)

fjallvættir (mountain spirits), 

sjóvættir (sea spirits), 

skogvættir (forest spirits),

vatnavættir (guardians of the specific waters),

and the Dwarves (underground spirits that are experts in crafting).

So what can this tell us?

Via Telegram

Lughnasadh, 31st July - 1st August, the birth of Autumn.

"Ah, never of a summer night Will life again be half as sweet As in that country of delight Where straying, staying, with happy feet, We watched the fire-flies in the wheat.

Full dark and deep the starless night, Still throbbing with the summer heat; There was no ray of any light, But dancing, glancing, far and fleet, Only the fire-flies in the wheat.", from The Fire-Flies in the Wheat, by Harriet Prescott Spofford.

"If all must leave me and go back Along a blind and fearful track So that you can make anew, Fusing with intenser fire, Something nearer your desire; If my soul must go alone Through a cold infinity, Or even if it vanish, too, Beauty, I have worshipped you.

Let this single hour atone For the theft of all of me.", from August Moonrise, by Sara Teasdale.

✨ 2020 Witch Tips Masterpost ✨

Blessed Yule and Happy New Year 2021! 

I’m so happy to have so many new followers, so here’s a summary of all the posts I have written this year. Feel free to use all of theses resources for your grimoire or book of shadows 😊

–

Witchcraft 101

🔮 13 goals of a witch

❌ Closed practices & cultural appropriation

✨ Daily rituals using the 4 elements

🧹 Home cleansing using the 4 elements 

🃏 Tarot practice for beginners

✨ Tips for stressed witches

📚 Witchy Study Tips

📅 Weekly Rituals

🧼 Witchy Reset Day

🎧 Witchy Podcasts  

–

Witches Sabbats

📜 Sabbats journal prompts

💀 Celebrating Samhain

🎬 Movies, podcasts and TV shows for Samhain

🃏 Samhain Tarot Spread

✨ Samhain Ritual: Dumb Supper 

☁️ After Samhain: November 1st

❄️ Celebrating Yule

🌨️ Winter Spells & Rituals

🎁 Festive Gifts for Witches

🍷 Witchy Mulled Wine Potion 

🎄 Practicing Witchcraft during Christmas

🃏 Yule Tarot Spread

🎅 Celebrating Yule and Christmas alone

🎆 Celebrating New Year’s Eve as a witch

🕯️ Celebrating Imbolc

🐣 Celebrating Ostara

🌸 Celebrating Beltane 

☀️ Celebrating Litha 

🌽 Celebrating Lammas

🍂 Celebrating Mabon 

–

Types of Magic 

🕯️ Candle Magic

🔞 Sex Magic

🌿 Tea Magic

🩸 Period Magic

🌊 Water Magic 

💻 Tech Witchcraft

–

Moon Magic

🌙 Full Moons of the Year 

🌑 New Moon Magic 

🌒 Waxing Crescent Moon Magic 

🌓 First Quarter Moon Magic 

🌔 Waxing Gibbous Moon Magic

🌕 Full Moon Magic

🌖 Waning Gibbous Moon Magic

🌗 Last Quarter Moon Magic

🌘 Waning Crescent Moon Magic

–

Let me know your posts requests for 2021, I would be happy to share the knowledge I have as a practicing witch for almost 6 years! Love you all ❤️

dreamy recipes 

♡ lilac cream tarts

♡ honey lilac posset

♡ rose honey rice pudding 

♡ plum blossom honey panna cotta

♡ wild violet sweethearts

♡ white clover pudding

♡ lavender tea milk punch

♡  dutch puff pancake with lemon curd & primrose cream

all recipes sourced from gathervictoria.com, which also has loads of interesting information on ancestral food traditions, herbalism, and women’s history ❦

🧚🏻‍♀️Protection From The Fae🧚🏻‍♀️

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Iron

Iron in any form or shape has always been considered the very best protection against fae – in almost all legends, the metal is like kryptonite to Superman. If you kept an iron nail in your pocket, you couldn’t be carried away by them. Sometimes iron nails were sewn into the hems of children’s clothing for that reason. A pair of iron shears hung on the wall near a baby’s bed was said to prevent the child from being swapped for an ugly fae baby.

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Steel

Steel is also effective against the faeries because it is created from processed iron. If a faery is cut by a steel or iron blade, the wound will not heal or will take a very long time. In some stories, the Fae is slowly poisoned by such a wound. Steel or iron weapons are among the few things that can actually kill a Fae being.

However, unless it was plainly self-defense (and sometimes even that wouldn’t help your case), you could expect the rest of the faeries to exact a terrible retribution!

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Horseshoes

You can put one above the main entrance of your house and it will help protect the entire home. For added protection, put iron near any opening a person could go through. If you have large windows, you may want to place some nails near it to make a barrier. You can do the same with your dog’s house to keep the fairies out.

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Bells & Chimes

Bells were also said to have frightened off evil faeries in Medieval Ireland and elsewhere in Europe. Specifically the big, deep-sounding Church bells that would ring to draw the people to Church. So this theory can be applied to your home by hanging deep-toned chimes on your front or back porch or by using deep sounding bells during magickal ritual.

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Food

Traditionally, bread and salt provided protection from the Fae. Carrying yeast-risen bread with you had a two-fold effect. It would repel some faeries. Other faeries would accept it as an offering and leave you alone.

My gramma taught me a Welsh tradition of leaving a saucer of milk and a slice of bread or some bread crusts on the back porch as an offering to the faeries, so they wouldn’t play pranks on the family or trouble the livestock. Sometimes, if you were seeking the faeries’ aid, you might add berries, honey, or cheese.

Even humble oatmeal was believed to be a fairy repellent. You could carry a handful of dry oatmeal in your pocket or sprinkle it on your clothes. As long as you didn’t mind looking flaky, you’d be safe.

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Salt

Salt’s association with purity made it an excellent tool against otherworldly beings. Spreading salt across the threshold and along the windowsills has long been the primary method of keeping faeries, demons, and spirits out of houses. If you had to carry food to the farmhands in the fields, sprinkling it with salt was said to keep the faeries from taking it – or from extracting the nourishment from it unseen!

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Offerings

Leave a pail of fresh milk, butter, or cream outside of your front door on the eight holy days to appease the fae and keep them from wreaking havoc on garden and home. Leaving faery offerings and libations dates back hundreds of years, and if you have any Celtic ancestors, you probably have ancestors who partook in this tradition. Some people in Europe still do! This is a preventative method of protection from trickster and evil fairies. Make them happy at the back door so they don’t intrude.

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Plants

Historically, garlands were often made of marsh marigolds and hung over the barn doors to protect the horses from being ridden to exhaustion by faeries in the night. Flowers, especially primroses, were spread over windowsills and hung above the door-posts of the house for safety. Your best bet, however, was a plant called St. John’s Wort. Wearing it was said to provide strong protection from fairy magic and mischief.

Fairies could vanish at will and remain invisible to mortal eyes for as long as they pleased. Carrying a four-leafed clover would allow you to see the faeries – but only once. A Celtic tradition was to sew several of the clovers into a tiny bag to be worn around the neck. You could then discern the faeries once for each clover in the bag. In some legends, the clover was said to allow you to see through fairy glamors and magical disguises.

Red berries were believed to keep fae at bay, especially if they were from rowan trees, mountain ash or holly. So did red verbena (a flower). Daisies were often tucked into children’s pockets or woven into fanciful chains to wear around their necks to prevent them from being taken away by the fae. And if you were walking through the woods, it was best to carry a walking stick or staff made of ash or rowan wood.

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Protection Charm

At this season, the Winter Court is in rule and you will want to look out for malicious, harmful beings in your interactions with the fae. You can make yourself a protection charm using:

St. John’s Wort

Sea Salt

Lemon Zest

Rosemary

Eggshells

An Iron Nail

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Ancestral & Deity Protection

One of the MOST effective forms of protection against evil faeries (and other spirits in general) is to invite your ancestors and gods into your home. Once your guides and guardians take up residence in your home, they do most of the work of keeping out negative forces like evil fairies and the like. In fact, my ancestors are SO good at protection, I have to ask their permission to allow any other spirits inside the home!

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Faery Box

Decorate a small box by painting it and gluing on glitter or plastic gems. Inside place leaves, pinecones, crystals, and plants. Add a piece of felt or fleece in the centre as a soft bed you can add essential oil to. Draw a sigil on it that will protect you from harmful fae. At night, light a fake candle by the box, and leave out some food.

Make sure to protect yourself from negative influence. Then invite those of good intention to see the place you’ve prepared for them to rest in, and stay with you through the night if they wish to. Leave the candle on, as long as it’s a fake one, and then go to bed.

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The Circle Of Light

Another effective yet simple technique of faery protection consists of using one’s mind and energy. If you are used to using visualization in your meditations, rituals, and spells, this method of fae protection should be familiar to you. It’s what I like to call the Circle of Light.

You can do this visualization exercise any time of the day, any day of the week and as often as you’d like. For me particularly, I do it every night as I’m lying in bed and before I go to sleep to continue to build the circle’s strength around my home

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Running Water

Fae folk are unable to cross streams and rivers, so in any pursuit leaping from bank to bank will be a sure escape for the hunted human. Water courses running south are said to be especially efficacious.

Oddly, nevertheless, fae seem to have no objection to still water. They actively seek it out for washing themselves and they are from time to time associated with wells. For example John Rhys in Celtic folklore (1901, p.147 & chapter 6) notes the existence of several ‘faery wells’ in Wales which demanded attention from local people, in the absence of which they would overflow or flood.

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Hag Stones

According to John Aubrey, if a person could locate stones through which natural erosion had created a hole, they could protect their horses from night-riding by fae by hanging the stones over each horse’s manger in the stables- or by tying the stone to the stable key. The fairies would not then be able to pass underneath.

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Sources : http://aminoapps.com/p/4sn2it