Even In The Best Of Times, Connecting With Other People Can Be Difficult. That First Electric Spark Of

Brain fog lifting

Little witchy ways to help with brain fog (UPG). Brain fog is basically when you struggle with mental clarity, memory, focus, low energy, grumpiness, and the like. It’s often associated with chronic or mental illness. It’s no fun!

Using Crystals:

Pick a clear crystal, like quartz. Hold it to your temples/forehead and let it draw out the fog. Picture the fog being pulled from your head and swirling into the crystal, and the coldness of the crystal bringing clarity to your mind. (You can also do this by touching a crystal in your pocket if you’re in public!)

Using Water:

Dip your fingers in snow/moon water (tap water will do if needed) and touch any points on your face that you feel like the fog is affecting it (if that makes sense?!) I like to do: a drop on my chin, a drop on each cheekbone, one on my forehead and on both temples, and on my eyelids as well. With each drop, say a word you would like to bring back (clarity, focus, understanding, comprehension, memory, retrieval, ~ability to see~).

Using Air:

Get fresh air (even through a cracked window) and breathe deeply for one minute. Envision it swirling in your mind and clearing away any muckiness. 

Using Sigils:

Find sigils for brain fog, clarity, memory, etc. and draw them in a place that you feel connects to your mind. For me, it’s my pulse points on my inner wrist (since drawing sigils on your face can be a hassle!

Non-witchy advice:

(Aka boring “have you thought about changing your entire lifestyle?” stuffs)

Evaluate your diet, and consider if there may be any foods influencing it. Have you been tested for food allergies? It’s worth considering!

It can be influenced by other physical or mental factors, and is worth talking to a doctor about—especially if it’s unexplained or a new symptom.

Try to do light exercise at least once a day. For me this involves a little extra walking on campus, or some stretches in the morning.

Less sugary drinks, more water. 

Give yourself at least 10-30 minutes before bed to wind down/think about the day/de-stress - even if it means you go to bed a little bit later. It can help sleep if you’re really busy and stressed.

Get a planner/make a to-do list. 

Getting up at the first alarm is better for your clarity than hitting snooze six times (but I am guilty of the latter). 

I am once again, and again, asking witches on Witchblr to please not tag my posts with "Wicca".

I am not Wiccan. I have never practiced Wicca and I never will. My witchcraft posts have nothing to do with Wicca.

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Hand Tapping Sigils

This is a sigil method that I have made, and I’d like to call them hand tapping sigils. Hand tapping sigils are sigils that are made from statements of intent, and are acted out through the tapping of certain spots on your fingertips. Certain spots of a finger will correlate to different letters allowing the practitioner to tap out their intention, so that they can send it out into the universe, while also reaffirming their intention in their subconscious. This sigil method is charged through your own energy, and focus, and will be activated and sent out by the act of you doing it. These sigils are versatile, and can be used anywhere without tools, or attracting attention.

1) First, like usual sigils you need to make a statement of intent. I will be using this one as an example.

“I Am Protected”

2) Next you’re going to want to shorten that statement of intent a lot.  hand tapping sigils can get quite complicated, quite fast. So in order to keep it on the simple side we need to only used the letters that really speak to your intention. It is primarily going to be the first letters of every word, or any other letters that you deem usable. It is really up to you what you want to use, but it should end up to be a small amount of letters, so that you can actually perform the hand tapping sigils. Feel free to put the letters in any pattern that you would like in order to make the sigil more personal and unique to you. This is what I ended up with for this statement of intent:

“A I P”

3)  Now that we have our letters we are going to tap them out on our fingers. In order to do this you’re going to need to use the chart below, so that you know the correct position to tap for each letter correspondence. Now you are going to want to put your hands palms facing each other, and in order to tap the letter you are going to push it with your opposite hand, much like you’re using your fingers as a keyboard on the correct position that corresponds to the letter that you want. This would be like if you wanted to tap the letter ‘R’ you would take one of the fingers of your left hand, and touch it to the middle finger middle position, or ‘R’ spot in order to tap it. You would do this with every letter left from your statement of intent, so that you can cast your sigil. The letter that is tapped will be the letter receiving the pushing force. This is so letters that are on the same position on the opposite hand are not mistaked for the tapping of one another, especially after a quick succession. This could be used in order to discern things like a 'B’ tap from an 'I’ tap. You would most likely not only tap the sigil out once, but do it multiple times much like if you were chanting silently with your hands. that’s all there really is to hand tapping sigils, and they are simple, but effective tools that can be brought into your working, and could be quite useful from time to time.

🌌 Witchcraft PSA: The Chakras & Cultural Appropriation ❌

Warning: This is probably the longest post I've written so far, so be prepared for a VERY long read.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert, a historian, or a theologist. I am simply a witch, a student, and a POC living in the United States where many aspects of pagan spirituality are often appropriated from other cultures and perpetuated through simple ignorance. I'm sure this post will generate some type of controversy, but I do not mean to attack anyone or their beliefs with this post.

So. Here's the big one, guys. The post I've been dreading making but have really wanted to write for a while.

Cultural appropriation is one of the hottest topics in the modern witchcraft community, and the discourse about it on tumblr is far-reaching and incendiary at best. The problem: Where should witches draw a line between explorational spirituality and cultural appropriation?

I'm not here to lay down laws of morality. I'm not the cultural police. But I DID have a very eye-opening experience recently that led me to create this post.

I'm a white-passing minority, and I won't pretend that this doesn't lend me a degree of privilege in America. Especially as a witch, many doors are open to me. Just within the witchcraft community, I look white enough to be welcomed whole-heartedly into most neopagan circles. That's not to say that blatant racism is abundant within the pagan community, but we can't deny that many non-white cultural practices are heavily stigmatized. For instance, as SOON as any of my "light worker" friends hears that I have a family background in Santeria and Brujeria, the FIRST thing I hear is, "Oh, I don't mess with that dark stuff," or "Well, I don't like the idea of hurting animals and other people." And don't get me started on the ignorant conversations one of my dark-skinned, Vodou-practicing friends has had to sit through before.

Like, what?

Because of this, I'm often the first person within my social circles to stand up for cultural barriers and denounce cultural stigma. Above all else, I try to respect the hell out of closed cultures and educate myself about cultural appropriation.

So, it was much to my dismay when I discovered that I have been culturally appropriating the chakra system for the last 11 years of my witchcraft practice.

The chakra system and its use in western occultism is one of the most heavily debated topics in the witchblr community. A simple search will yield dozens upon dozens of posts, each filled with witches claiming that usage of the chakra system either IS or IS NOT appropriation. For the most part, I've tried to stay out of this debate. I've incorporated the chakras into my practice since I began, but I thought my oriental heritage and my "thorough" understanding of the chakras made this okay. But, lo and behold, I was sorely mistaken.

So, after some deep research into this topic, and after talking to several Hindus and Buddhists, here's my attempt to shed some light on this issue.

What are the chakras (according to Western occultism)?

As a brief overview, the chakras are believed to be spiraling energy centers that exist within the subtle body. There are seven of them, and they lie along the spine in places where large amounts of nerves and vital organs exist. Similar to the way our brain is a large compilation of nerves, these chakras are believed to be the intersection points of energy currents within our spirit.

Each chakra rules over a particular psychological, physical, and spiritual state of being, and disruptions within the chakras are believed to lead to different types of mental, emotional, and physical illnesses.

These chakras are depicted as lotus flowers with varying numbers of petals, and each is represented by its own color. Each one also corresponds to a Sankskrit syllable mantra which is believed to activate the chakra when spoken aloud.

In order, they are:

❤ Muladhara - The Root Chakra - Connection to the Earth and the Self - Located at the base of the spine - Depicted as a red lotus with 4 petals - Mantra: LAM

🧡 Swadhisthana - The Sacral Chakra - Connection to sexuality and instinct - Located near the sexual organs - Depicted as an orange lotus with 6 petals - Mantra: VAM

💛 Manipura - The Solar Chakra - Connection to will and identity - Located in the Solar Plexus - Depicted as a yellow lotus with 10 petals - Mantra: RAM

💚 Anahata - The Heart Chakra - Connection to love and relationships - Located in the heart - Depicted as a green lotus with 12 petals - Mantra: YAM

💙 Vishuddha - The Throat Chakra - Connection to voice and communication - Located in the heart - Depicted as a blue lotus with 16 petals - Mantra: HAM

💜 Ajna - The Third Eye Chakra - Connection to spiritual awareness - Located above and between the eyes - Depicted as a purple lotus with 2 petals - Mantra: OM

🌈 Sahastrara - The Crown Chakra - Connection to Source/the Universe - Located at the top of the head - Depicted as either a purple, rainbow, or white lotus with 144,000 petals - Mantra: Silence

Along with these associations, each chakra is often associated with various crystals, herbs, and spirits.

What are the chakras within their original cultural context?

The concept of 'chakras' arose from a practice known as Tantric Yoga. This was a spiritual system that began to gain popularity in India and other eastern cultures between 600-1300 CE. Up until this point (and concurrently as well), most types of spirituality in these cultures was very transcendental - that is, they had a fundamental belief that the Divine was transcendent and inherently 'above' the natural world. Therefore, in order to commune with the divine, it was believed that the material world had to be renounced and denied, and higher states of consciousness had to be achieved in order to commune with divinity.

Tantric spirituality flipped the script. It adopted the idea that divinity was an inherent quality of the natural world, and that a person could freely commune with the divine by opening themselves up to the world around them through mindfulness and all-embracing compassion.

The philosophies and teachings of tantric yoga (loosely known as 'tantras') became extremely widespread throughout this period and dramatically shaped many emerging sects of Hinduism and Buddhism. As this philosophy spread, many different types of specific spiritual practices arose, many of which can be recognized in our Western ideas of holistic meditation - such as mantras, mudras, mandalas, and even modern Western yoga.

One such concept that gained popularity was the idea of chakras - focal points of spiritual energy in the body. However, these chakras were very different than what Westerners think of today.

There were a LOT of different traditions that arose from Tantric teachings, and each one had its own unique belief about chakras. The most obvious difference between these chakra traditions was that each one believed in a different number of chakras. Some systems had three, others had six, others had seven, others had nine, others had 10, others had 21, etc.

Each one approached the chakras a bit differently, and so each one believed in a different number of chakra centers.

What are some of the primary differences between Western Chakras and Tantric Chakras?

The most eye-opening difference for me was that Tantric chakras have none of the associations that Westerners believe in today. Original practitioners of Tantric spirituality did not associate specific colors with each chakra, they did not associate physical or psychological states with them, they did not associate any herbs or crystals or planets with them, and they did not even associate Sanskrit syllables with them. What's more, they didn't even believe they were located in fixed points on the body.

Loosely, they believed that the chakras - like all things spiritual - were very fluid. They could often be accessed through general areas of the body, but they definitely were not stagnant, fixed points. This also accounts for the varying number of chakras, because it was believed that the chakras would manifest in different ways depending on what traditional practice you used to approach them.

Many traditions did believe that these chakras could be depicted as lotus flowers with various petals, but these were not meant to inherently describe the individual chakra. Rather, these depictions were meant to serve as a visualization for a person to meditate on when trying to access a specific chakra.

Along with this, these traditions did not assign specific names or syllables to these chakras - at least not the ones we use today. Rather, it was believed that Sanskrit syllables carried an inherent magic or divine energy within them (similar to Kabbalistic views of the Hebrew language), and they assigned various letters and syllables to the petals of each lotus flower, which corresponded to various energies in nature.

The symbols, names, and Sanskrit syllables popularized in the West today don't even correspond to any kind of Tantric chakras. They actually correspond to the elements within certain traditions of eastern spirituality. They also are not meant to be uniquely associated with any individual chakra. Rather, these syllables were used in meditation to invoke specific elemental energies into different chakras depending on the situation.

If your tradition believed that the heart chakra could affect the relationships in your life, and your personal relationships happened to be very stagnant, you could vibrate the syllable for the Wind element and invoke that energy into your heart chakra to help your personal relationships become more dynamic. Etc.

This brings me to the final thing I'd like to talk about: Westerners are NOT using the chakras for their original purpose.

The only concrete associations that tantric traditions had for the chakras were deities. These traditions believed that each of their chakras was associated with a specific Hindu deity (though the specific order or deities listed varies between tradition and time period).

The original purpose of 'working with chakras' was to eventually invoke the energy of these specific deities into a person's chakras in order to become closer to these gods and goddesses and emulate their behavior and teachings in daily life.

How did the original concept of chakras get misconstrued in Western culture?

Oh, boy. This is a tough answer that's soaked in 1000 years of colonialism, racism, cultural and linguistic barriers, and simple misunderstandings.

But, simply put, the appropriation of tantric chakras can be narrowed down to four specific individuals.

In 1577, a spiritual teacher and academic named Purnananda Yati wrote a treatise of tantric teachings called the Shatchakra Nirupana, or roughly 'An Explanation of the Six Chakras'.

In this treatise, Purnananda lays out the modern framework we see today - six chakra centers within the human spirit, with an additional seventh chakra above the head that connects the spirit to the divine source. He based this concept off of an earlier writing from the 13th century, which also details this framework but openly acknowledges that this is just ONE tradition, and that many other traditions also exist.

In 1918, a British scholar named John Woodroffe translated Purnananda's treatise from Sanskrit into English, and unfortunately, there were many mistranslations in Woodroffe's version. This translation was what eventually gained extreme popularity throughout academic and occult circles in the West.

Throughout the 1930's, 40's, and 50's, the renowned European psychologist, Carl Jung (who you might recognize from your Psych 101 class), became fascinated with the idea of chakras and their relation to consciousness. Throughout this time period, Jung wrote extensively about potential connections between the seven chakra centers and various psychological states. This is where the chakras became associated with different states of being, such as instinct, will, and sexuality.

Finally, in 1987, an American occultist and spiritualist named Anodea Judith published a book entitled Wheels of Life. In this book, Judith talks extensively about the seven chakras, and even lists correspondences between the chakras and various herbs, crystals, elements, planets, tarot cards, deities, and archangels.

Her book became wildly popular within holistic and spiritual circles, and set in stone the way that modern neo-pagans view the chakras in the West.

So, are chakras part of a closed culture?

Yes and no.

Chakras as we view them in the West are, at best, a distorted and bastardized version of a beautiful, ancient belief. They were studied and theorized by many traditions for over a thousand years, and many of these traditions still exist today. Most commonly, they are still used in Shaivism, which is one of the most prevalent forms of Hinduism in the East.

Many of these living traditions ARE, in fact, closed. But more than that, to perpetuate (and worse, claim spirituality from) a distorted, white-washed version of an Eastern religious belief is just plain disrespectful and potentially racist at its worst.

That being said, though, there are certain living traditions which ARE NOT closed, such as the exceedingly popular Tibetan Buddhism. These traditions recognize many of the same teachings and are freely shared with people of any nationality or background - as long as you put in the work to learn about them.

The Main Takeaway

The chakras, as viewed in the West, are incorrect. This is not to disclaim any type of spiritual experience Westerners may have had by utilizing chakras in their practice, but I'm of the opinion that Westerners should recognize that the "chakras" they believe in don't actually have any basis in ancient spirituality.

That being said, the concept of a subtle body and energy centers within the human spirit is not unique to the Far East.

The concept of currents and centers of energy within the body can be found in cultures the world over, from India to Japan to Korea to Africa to the Middle East, and even among the Native Americans who never came into contact with these other cultures (as far as we know).

The human soul, the subtle body, and spiritual energy are concepts that supercede cultural boundaries, and if studying and utilizing them is an integral part of your craft, then I encourage you to follow your personal path and find connection with the Universe in whatever way you feel called to.

But. Perhaps developing your own unique system and beliefs about the energy centers within the body is the best course of action for us Westerners. Until we ourselves make the effort go join one of those (open) traditions, subscribing to the modern Western system of "chakras" is, in my opinion, cultural appropriation.

• • •

Brightest blessings, and best of luck 🌙

🔥 ✨Burn it Down: Banishing Yule Fire Burning Bundle✨🔥

Because this year’s Yule fire is a funeral pyre. Burn it down.

This is a bundle of herbs similar to what you’d normally use for smoke cleansing, only instead of lighting the end, this one is tossed into your Yule Fire.

If you don’t have the ability to have a fire large enough to toss herbs into, you can instead make this into and infused oil to anoint a Yule candle with or whatever you may use to represent the burning of the past year. ***

Gather:

🔥 Something that represents what you want to burn down and leave behind in the dark. It could be anything from a piece of paper with things written on it, to a cord with knots tied in it each representing a different thing to burn, or a tarot card that represents what you’re moving on from (though keep in mind, whatever you use will be destroyed in the fire.) 🔥 Pine or fir boughs. Enough to suite the size of your fire. I usually use 6-8" pieces for a campfire. Or, if you’re making this into an anointing oil, enough needles to fill your jar halfway. 🔥 Hawthorn thorns. For heart protection. Any funeral pyre brings grief, regardless of what’s burning down. Protect your heart and keep your boundaries with thorns enough to lay throughout your bundle. 🔥 Rosemary Sprigs. Banishing, cleansing, clearing the mind. 🔥 Cinnamon stick(s) - banishing but also sweetening the energy, softening the blow. 🔥 Black Candle 🔥 Natural cord of some sort, twine, cotton cord or hemp.

- Light your candle and do whatever ritual openings you usually do.

- Lay your thing to burn down, evergreen boughs, rosemary sprigs, and cinnamon stick(s,) out so that they’re in a ‘log’ or bundle shape that you could get your hands around tightly to bind it up with a cord.

- Start by tying the cord around one end and then slowly and snugly wrap the cord around the bundle working from one end to the other and back. You can tie knots along the way to help keep it securely bound together. As you wrap the cord around, every so often lay a hawthorn thorn into the bundle, careful to place them in a way that you won’t prick your hands.

- After it’s all bound and finished, drip wax from the black candle all over the bundle. Caution of the hot wax on your skin though, unless that’s your kind of thing.

- Then at whatever point in your Yule fire ritual it’s appropriate, toss in the bundle and watch it burn.

- Alternatively, if you’re making an infused oil, it’s best to dry your plant material first to avoid mold growth in your finished oil.  Cinnamon is a possible skin irritant so if you plan on using this anointing oil on your skin, either do a test patch first, or skip the cinnamon stick. Steep the herbs in enough apricot kernel oil (or other carrier oil) to cover the plant material by an inch or so for 4-6 weeks, then strain out the plant material, and you have a shelf-stable anointing oil for candles or your body (external use only.) Apricot kernel oil will go rancid in about a year, so only make as much as you’ll use up! You can further preserve your oil with vitamin e or other skin-safe preservative. Use this to dress your yule candle and witch it burn all the way down.

- You could also grind the herbal ingredients, along with the ash from burning the ‘something that represents what you want to burn down’ in your yule fire, into a powder and use it as a powder if that suits your needs. Though evergreen needs are /very/ resinous, so if you’re using an herb grinder of any kind, keep in mind it will get sticky and is difficult to clean afterwards. Which is why I have one electric grinder for coffee, and one for medicinal/edible herbs, that way my coffee doesn’t taste like pine in the morning.. though that doesn’t sound terrible in all honesty. 

*** Always practice fire safety! Know how to anoint candles with oil /safely/ and have a fire extinguisher near by because oil fires can’t be put out with water. If you’re having an outdoor fire, make sure you’re following your region’s bylaws and have water near by!

Stay Curious, Witches

witch tips

Friendly reminder to all my withcy folk out there

 VENTILATE YOUR SPACE PROPERLY WHEN BURNING SHIT

you need to be opening windows, doors, making sure you get proper airflow in a room where you are burning aboslutely anything, herbs, candles, incense, bay leaves, hell even paper. ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE PETS. the smoke is very harmful to your pets, and can be harmful to yourself. 

I love it as much as the next guy but your pets and your own health needs to come first !!!!

Samhain Facts✨🎃

2020 is the first year since 2001 that we will have a full moon on Samhain. Before 2001, it was 1955!

Samhain is celebrated on the sunset of October 31st to the sunset of November 1st, almost halfway between the autumn equinoxes and the winter solstice.

Samhain is pronounced “Sah-win” or “Sow-win” and means “summer’s end”.

Some of Halloween’s most common traditions are rooted in Samhain’s harvest festival roots, such as the carving of pumpkins and turnips, bobbing for apples, bonfires and dressing up.

Rituals surrounding Samhain include bonfires, healing, dancing, thanksgiving, and honouring of the dead.

During the pre-Halloween celebration of Samhain, bonfires were lit to ensure the sun would return after the long, hard winter. Often bones of cattle would be thrown into the flames and, hence, “bone fire” became “bonfire”.

Some celebrate Samhain with a ritual to guide the dead home by opening a western facing door or window and placing a candle in the opening.

It is considered a time when the veil between life and death grows thin. Food is set aside for ancestors and lost loved ones as gifts, and rituals honouring the dead take place.

Moon Phases

There are 12 Full and New Moons a year (13 every now and then due to calendar synchronisation - called a Blue Moon) this means there is no need to rush intentions and manifestations, spend time practicing, learning and getting things wrong.

New Moon

→ setting intentions and plans

Waxing Crescent Moon

→ relaxing into and accepting intention

First Quarter Moon

→ take action and push forward

Waxing Gibbous Moon

→ observe, align and trust your intention will form

Full Moon

→ harvest intention, reap rewards or accept intention was not the best for this time, take in the new energy

Waning Gibbous Moon

→ turn inwards and reflect on your intention, or be grateful for the outcome

Last Quarter Moon

→ release old or harmful energy holding you back and give back from your abundance

Waning Crescent Moon

→ reflect with thanks, rest mind body and soul, take peace in the emptiness

Merry meet,

Atti <3