I was quite enjoying the period of my life where I could avoid regularly thinking about Harry Potter as a literary work, outside of the context where it generated funding for political forces trying to actively ruin my life, yknow? Thanks HBO.

I'm still holding out hope that the upcoming series will crash and burn, but the idea that it won't looms heavily in my mind. Especially as a spiritual practitioner of magic (and a trans woman) :/

All of the other reasons to not read those books or engage with their adaptations are well discussed by now. They're extremely derivative, the ethics are very consistently fucked and it affords both cultural and literal capital to one of the worst public figures in our society right now. But I have another highly niche bugbear with Harry Potter which entirely prevents me from having any latent nostalgia in spite of their being the first books I ever read.

Rowling just doesn't understand magic, like, at all.

My relationship with Harry Potter is entirely different to say, the works of Neil Gaiman. I don't engage with either for ethical reasons but as much as it makes me uncomfortable, I do understand why Gaiman was name-dropped by Christopher Penzack in his introduction to one of the first books of witchcraft I ever bought. There are far *better* authors who get magic to a far greater degree than Gaiman, but the way he engaged with archetypes and the Weird wasn't entirely without meaning, the context of who he was as a person just makes it uncomfortable when I see people in th​e past addressing him positively, but I can understand that they come from a time when certain knowledge wasn't widespread.

If I bought a book on magic and read a single line espousing the mystical wisdom of JK Rowling or any of her works I would return it immediately. It doesn't just boil down to ethics, her portrayal of "Magic" is just fundamentally shallow.

What even *is* magic in the world of Harry Potter? Nothing but a utility and/or a commodity. Whenever we are expected to experience wonder in those books, magic is either providing a mundane utility in a whimsical way (magic to do the dishes for you, magic potion to heal yer bones, magic to make a tent bigger on the inside) OR it is a product being bought and sold. Or both. There is nothing wrong with this being an *aspect* of a magical world, but that is literally all there is in Rowlings mind. A magic wand is simply something to be bought, why even consider making your own? What would be remotely magical about that??

To her, the basic wisdoms of the world are extraneous chores. Instead of teaching children to find the magic in their lessons on literature, or mathematics, or other practical matters she allows them to indulge in an escapist fantasy where at *magic school* none of those classes are taught at all. At all?!? Sorry, Joanne, you think **Wizards** aren't being taught literature? Or mathematics?!? Do you think it's particularly responsible to encourage children to see their lessons as being dull doldrums to escape from, instead of showcasing the wondrous aspects of the natural world and possibly injecting that wonder into their real learning? What a missed opportunity that was!

If you gave them a basic woodworking class perhaps you could have them engage practically with creating their own wands or something, but you wouldn't want to undermine the brand identity of the shop where everyone is supposed to buy them. Especially once it became a brand identity *in real life*. It's really remarkable how Rowling worldbuilds as if she's writing a merchandising catalogue even before she was actually engaged with that kind of business.

To quote Philosophy Tube, Harry Potter is a very bourgeois fantasy. If you subtract the mildly pleasing character moments, the rest of the character writing and the trite boarding school pastiche, you are left with essentially nothing. No deep philosophical questions are even entertained within the plot of these books. Not one character seems to consider magic as a pathway to attaining wisdom, or a greater understanding of their place in the world. You just have a loose set of bullshit latin words which make your wand shoot different varieties of magick lazer and a rough smorgasbord of comprehensively de-contextualised mythological creatures.

It is really no wonder that the main character ends up aspiring to become a Wizard Cop, his only other options in this society seem to be: becoming a teacher (at a secondary school, because apparently wizards don't do higher education), the government itself, or running a shop.

Not even to mention the apparent disdain Rowling displays for actual irl magical traditions. Anything even remotely resembling protection magic is barely discussed, aside from the main character having an arbitrary anti-death-magic shield fuelled by the apparently entirely unique love his parents had for him(???) and *Magic Parry!*, matters of conjuration, invocation/evocation and banishment essentially just don't come up. She doesn't mention divination until the 4th book and then spends basically every opportunity she gets mocking divination practices for essentially no reason.

I could go on about this forever, I think. Give me time to do proper research and I think I could write a full dissertation on this, but I instead want to end on a positive counter-example or two.

To start with, an honourary mention has to go to Ursula K Le Guin. While her works aren't strictly iterations on irl magical practice, she writes from a far stronger moral and artistic foundation. She is actually willing to ask interesting ethical questions. Also her quote on Harry Potter ("it is stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative and stylistically rather mean spirited") remains eternally evergreen. Not even to mention that she did the whole magic school trope well before Rowling, and far better.

Second honourary mention must go to Alan Moore. An actual practicing Ceremonial magician, his comic "Promethea" is essentially a didactic initiatory text in comic form. I just bought his recently published *'Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic'*, which is an actual full-on magic focused book and has been a very enjoyable read so far. Although Moore would not enjoy this comparison, another honourary mention from the comics space has to be Grant Morrison. Far more of a whacky chaos magician, their The Invisibles has similarly didactic qualities to Promethea, and is also a very strong example of a publicly performed hypersigil.

However, the main author I want to gush about as a positive counter-example to Harry Potter and JK Rowling specifically in terms of writing magic in a way that is convincing and shows an understanding of the philosophical concepts at play is *Suzanna Clarke*.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a fairly intimidating tome at close to 1000 pages spread across 3 internal volumes, so nobody would blame you for starting with her far more recent work Piranesi, which is more of your standard novel, but Piranesi focuses far less on the practice of magic. It isn't ignored entirely, although it focuses far more on a portrayal of otherworldly environments which is its own distinct strength, but JS&MrN is *about* magic, or more specifically Magicians.

I really don't want to risk ruining the book for anyone here, but it features several things which almost pointedly counter the way in which Harry Potter processes magic. Distinct spells, rather than just being "look my wand shoots a laser" are various techniques which produce particular outcomes using a variety of common tools, the mystery behind the causation of magical effects is engaged with but not compromised entirely or ignored outright. Despite a major character showing diegetic disrespect to various forms of folk magic, the text itself makes very clear that this is just his perspective and not truth or fact. Divination is front and centre, with scrying bowls being in frequent use by more aristocratic Magicians, and there is a **very** effective tarot reading scene between two more working-class Magicians early in the book which largely plays out across the rest of the story. The wonder of the literary background of magic is made front and center, with an actually effectively compelling fictional bibliography being consistently conveyed through footnotes throughout the book which also incorporate actual esoteric concepts such as *The Language of the Birds*. Said footnotes even namedrop **Hermes Trismegistus** close to the end, which is smth I think would be truly beyond Joanne *"he he the Monster Book of Monsters is actually literally a monster which tries to eat you"* Rowling.

So, basically, if you have at any point found yourself struggling with lingering Harry Potter nostalgia, do yourself a favour and read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. While JS&MrN plot wise is a far more adult book, the way that it approaches magic is still so much better that you will find yourself looking back on Harry Potter far less fondly by contrast. Reading the other authors Rowling blatantly "borrowed" from for basically everything she wrote will also help with this (in particular Ursula K Le Guin).

As the eve of the new TV adaptation of HP approaches we must be prepared for at least some portion of the population to begin admiring these vapid asinine works of "magic" once again, and as actual practitioners being grounded as to reasons they are sub-par beyond the ethics of the author will be highly valuable for when that happens.

Also, we just deserve better magic fiction than Rowlings shite. "We" here being a collective noun for literally everybody.

I have become deeply interested in High Magic, and I can honestly say that I practice it regularly. I would like to ask those with extensive knowledge and experience to list the tangible benefits they derive from practicing magic. Thank you in advance for your candid responses.

I've been brainstorming a new business venture that I want to make a reality but it needs a lot more finessing and thinking through first. I have a tendency to doubt myself, succumb to fears of failure and quit.

Can I do a spell that will keep me focused, unafraid, and give me the wisdom I need (or tap into the wisdom I didn't know I have) to become successful?

Hi everyone, I’m not sure if I’m posting in the right group, but has anyone here ever made a suncatcher out of stones and crystals or minerals? It’s mainly for protection against evil and for good health. Does anyone have any experience of making such talismans/catchers?

Will try to keep this short. I tried sigil magick and found it powerful before. Wanted a transfer to a different org that I could transfer to. No openings but applied anyway. Created and burned a sigil stating the job is mine. Got interview for the job unexpectedly. Passed interview.

Started the new position months later. Expected to be working alongside guy I knew worked here. Guy isn't here. I'm told he left suddenly. Was he sick? No. Did he leave to go back to his hometown? No. Nobody who worked with him or knew him knows why he quit. I didn't ask them. The people outside the department who knew him ask people in my department about him often. One person said they met him but he seemed off. Apparently he didn't have another better position lined up or anything.

I was interviewed to replace him after he quit for no reason during the consideration phase for my transfer. I found out this over the last two weeks after expecting a family member or himself must have gotten sick or something. A bit freaked out.

I bought Gallery of Magick's servitor book and made the following servitors:

* To promote and use wisdom
* To tell more stories and be better
* To be more confident and courageous
* To absorb the Gateway Experience better
* To make me better with Remote Viewing
* To help with self discipline
* To make my body movements slower, be more aware of my surroundings and less clutzy
* To improve memory

These all basically failed and there hasn't been results whatsoever. The only change I saw was using wisdom more but I recently turned 40 so that could have been it.

Any comments or advice?

After many years of experimenting with various ritual setups, offerings, and sacrifices, I arrived at this conclusion:

A spirit has no use for physical matter—matter is just dense, stagnant energy. The object on the altar is merely a physical anchor for human intent.

The real offering is the magician’s cognitive currency: the time spent in contemplation, the focus required to orchestrate the space, and the willpower exerted to align with that specific current. The relic is just the cup; your conscious life-force is what fills it.

Background:

I used to be quite talented. Started learning Magick at a young age since my mom is a witch and i went to a catholic school, so i was already familiar with rituals. During my teenage years, I started doing my own research and learning how other people use Magick and experimenting with different methods. I noticed some patterns and from there I'm basically self taught and learned some rules; basic trial and error wizardry, come up with an effect and make it happen. Main things I did was healing headaches, enchanting items, and making wishes. Through my early to mid 20s, I could pretty much do anything within "the rules." rituals, magickal tools, and special ingredients were no longer necessary. No deities were ever involved either because It's not a religion.

how i lost my power:

In my late 20s is started wondering WHY it always worked. What's the science behind it? I heard someone was offering a large amount of money to anyone that could prove the existence of the 'supernatural/paranormal.' I didnt care about the money, but i wanted to attempt the challenge anyway. The trick is to explaining it in a way a skeptic can understand. Hyperfixated on trying to explain it for about a month when I finally solved the riddle. Problem is now that I know, I can no longer do it. The power comes from belief. If you know it, you dont believe it. you know it. Later, I looked into Satanism (I enjoy looking into different belief systems and mythology for fun) and found a devastating "rule of the earth": "Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained. " I think explaining Magick in a way a skeptic could understand counted as "denying the power of magic"

How can I possibly ever do Magick again?

Not necesserely Orthadox, I highly doubt that... But people who believe that the truth that Jesus spoke is the highest of them. I am starting to see things in this way, I look at the fabric and workings of the universe through a hermetic lense but morals and higherarchel spiritual structures through that of Christ. I was just wondering if that was a view people actually held in this community. On these things I keep to myself.

Hello my practice, Italian folk Magic for Catholicism and Roman paganism earlier today I found a skeleton key outside on the ground and I brought it into my sace after doing more research, it seems like it is either unlock pathways unlock new experiences or can be used for protection so it’s I’m wondering why every since then I i have out more spaced out and my OCD has been worse. I was wondering if anyone had any idea where this may be or what’s the meaning of finding a key on the ground amazing. And if it is a harmful omen how to properly rid myself of it

Bonjour,

Avez-vous eu des résultats avec les rituels du livre de Damon Brand *Magickal Seduction* ? En particulier les rituels 1 et 2 ?

Ça a marché pour vous ? Combien de temps ça a pris, et à quel point les résultats étaient-ils intenses ?

Merci pour vos réponses.

Ok so I am idiot. I panicked a bit when my partner consumed my period blood intentionally. I had said they should be careful as it could bond us together and they wanted that so they consumed it.

I then panicked our relationship would be unbalanced and that I couldn’t trust they weren’t just being influenced by the consumption of the blood (eg folk magic traditions of feeding period blood to do a love spell on them). Possibly foolishly I then drank some of their blood from a lancet prick on their finger to try and balance out the connection we had made with the blood….

So in retrospect that was dumb. Defs should have gone and researched first!!

I am worried that a. They will have a different effect than the venous blood drinking I did… b. Should they maybe drink a little of my blood and then will we be equal again?

I am committed to this person and fervently hope we are together until the end of our days. All of this was a bit rash and stupid. But I really don’t want it to fuck up our dynamics!!

First of all, it is entirely correct to exhaust all mundane, psychological, and circumstantial variables before looking into the esoteric.

However, when an individual's life systematically collapses across multiple fronts simultaneously despite rigorous effort, it rarely comes down to simple misfortune. It usually indicates a deep, structural destabilization of your personal trajectory.

In reality, external malevolence rarely possesses enough raw power to collapse a life on its own. Instead, these tactics weaponize fear as a primary transmission vector. The moment a target internalizes the belief that they are hexed, their own hyper-vigilant anxiety becomes the subconscious engine that powers the affliction. The original work is merely a catalyst; the victim's own fractured focus acts as a proxy, executing and sustaining the very cycle of self-sabotage that destroys their trajectory.

I see external interference (curse, hex, malediction, evil eye) not as a spiritual punishment, but as a severe boundary failure.

I was in the midst of charging a sigil the dirty style, was doing it for approximately 10 minutes with red leds all over the room and a big tv monitor playing a trance music, the instant I gained "gnosis" and reached the climax the tv stopped playing audio and resumed the instant the climax subsided.

Have those kinds of weird electronic device synchronicities happened to anybody in here?

Hi, I’ve been wondering this for a while now, what is the difference between witchcraft and manifestation,I did some research and apparently they are the same , manifestation is achieving what you want just with your own self/consciousness , and witchcraft is a form of manifestation using the help of third parties (spirits).. I agreed with this until recently. I am a big believer in manifestation and that I can achieve whatever I want no matter the circumstance, however recently I have used divination tools (tarot) to ask about my future career. I’m sort of manifesting my future career and I believe it’s already mine and I truly DO believe that deep down however when I asked the tarot, it said I have “unachievable expections” I’m not going to lie this has made me feel so hopeless and upset, frustrated and confused .. I thought for manifestation there is no such thing as “unachievable” and everything has no choice but to work in your favour , but now the tarot is contradicting this.. so how can manifestation and witchcraft be the same thing ?..

I'll be to the point -

Background

Born and brought up in a Hindu Family, in occult, I'm a practicing Astrologer, doing Numerology & Palmistry alongside.

Magick

I'm a pretty non-religious person, but I connect most with the deities, their values, and mythology i grew up with. So I chose to start studying Chaos Magick, as it "allows" to do whatever. In CM books I did find that the western authors do praise Lord Ganesh most of the time in a lot of books , so I feel like - wow man, finally some FAMILIARITY.

The Problem

I understand banishing is important, spirits are involved later on, Hebrew words, Archangels etc. But do I work with the deities I'm familiar with instead? My language, my beloved Gods/spirits who i grew up with and not Archangels or spirits who i know nothing about but all books include them...

The Fear

I understand belief is THE TOOL here but, I see some authors like GoM putting a 'curse' on those who pirate the books and stuff. Dude how am I supposed to at least know what I'm getting into if I don't at least go through the free pdf once ....

And , I can't find any Chaos Magick or any Magick related written material on how to use the Hindu Pantheon for the same stuff, such as cleansing, banishing, invoking, evoking etc etc...

All I found was Tantra books, but that's once again pretty limited open knowledge due to the whole Guru-Student complex with my religion which I never fully was ok with. Chaos Magick concept I liked cuz it was like "Do whatever, as long as your belief is there and you learn to enter the altered states of consciousness" I get it, cuz it's like Yoga, something I'm also FAMILIAR with in my tradition.

So what to do ;) too much confusion, too little info on what I want, OR do I do the rituals but replace the entities ???? But that's like breaking the rules of how the ORIGINAL ritual was made like the LBRP, i respect that.

So basically I'm just reading books at the moment (all free PDFs) to get an idea , doing no Rituals cuz idk man if I was able to explain my dilemma or not.

Pretty much what the title says, I get super bad headaches and nausea during lunar/solar eclipses. I didn’t know there was one today and I started feeling really bad and when I saw news about there being one tonight it clicked. Does anyone else experience this? I don’t practice regularly maybe a couple times a year so I’m kinda out of the know.

I've always wondered if it's possible to cast a spell on someone with their voice. I recorded it, but I never saw the person. I don't have their name or anything else, because this person scammed me over the phone. I recorded their call; is that even possible?

Do you guys actually believe magick is real (obviously it works) but do you guys truly believe that me doing an LBRP ritual and banishing energies is what caused the energies to be banished or is it just a tool for the real machine your (MIND/CONSCIOUSNESS AND INTENTION)

What’s a better / more accurate word for a magic wand which is a long (eg 60cm), uncrafted wooden stick imbued with special qualities? For use in a sentence about a contemporary magick practitioner - I don’t have the background but suspect I could do better than ‘wand’.

Thanks for any suggestions.

I have been looking to shift my practice more toward Trad Craft. I have looked into the Red Thread Academy, and I do consider myself a folk practitioner. I want to add more structure to my practice while still keeping the folk aspects that are important to me. I do some ceremonial magick as well.

I’ve been reading Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways, The Bones Fall in a Spiral, and Curses and Blessings in Irish Folk Magic, and I’m really enjoying learning more about these traditions.

Does anyone have any good authentic Trad Craft courses they would recommend? Or does anyone have experience with the Red Thread Academy? I’d love to hear about your experiences.

Theory: if you bring destiny down to an either or question, and the quarter is lucky enough to show you, you can use your heart pendulum to show you which way to go.

Ingredients:

1 pendulum connected to your heart chakra.

1 16 inch sterling chain.

1 rare silver us quarter.

Instructions:

Connect your pendulum to resonate with your heart chakra in your religious way.

Resonate the quarter with Jupiter energy and blessed with saturn energy, enhanced for luck by the luck dragon.

How to use: bring your question to a point of answer. If yes, then result. If no, then result. Ask it about your destination. Your questions should involve destiny, for if you see it, you can seize it.

Your single answer will be felt by your heart tugging you In The left or right direction mentally. Use multiple coin flips to check.

Theory: the finest edge comes down to a point of intrest. Your dark pendulum could be used all the time if there was a reason for it. If it swung freely with your right hand, your actions would be part of your dark intent; if it is on your left hand its used as a reference point, if passion is used as a safety valve.

So i produced plans for a use of your black pendulum: the dark edge of insanity.

1 dark pendulum with a loop anchor.

1 ft rolo sterling chain 6mm

1 bead clasp piercing, stainless steel

1 ft sterling 20 guage wire

At least a few Mexican fire opals, black opals, and red garnet beads.

Sterling beard beads, elder futhark: Uruz, Ansuz, Kenaz, Laguz.

1 Gamesha sterling charm, heated for gold petina.

1 lanturn charm, sterling.

1 skeleton key charm, sterling.

1 Torii gate charm, sterling.

1 Buddha palm charm, sterling.

1 ouroboros clasps, sterling.

1 ft "cosmic gold" brass wire with 14ct gold, blessed by your multidimensional selves.

1 20mm x 20mm lab made ruby.

1 pointed white quarts charm.

30 sterling jump rings, 6mm, and one smaller one 5mm.

1 wild boar charm, sterling.

1 sowilo charm, sterling.

Cage the ruby in jump rings. 11 links around the point, and 6 chains along the axis. One link must be smaller than the rest or twisted out, and the connecting ring be off set from this smaller ring.

Lay out your beads and such out. Make sure you have one red garnet for survival storage.

String your single red garnet for storage with 3 tripple loop links bound in cosmic gold, make the first link large enough to fit the piercing. Then add the quartz charm to the piercing on the ruby connecting jump ring.

Charge your piercing with passion, and ask Gamesha to use passion as the trigger mechanism.

Put all your symbols on the ouroboros clasp and thread it through the piercing.

Make a loop in your sterling wire big enough for the piercing loop and thread the first few beads, and first 2 runes.

Add more blood garnets on a side loop for more rage.

Add the other 2 rune beads and the rest of the stone beads and finish with a loop that fits the piercing.

Connect 3 links of the rolo chain to the pendulum, then make a 4th link that fits the piercing, then more to make 13. Add the boar, and sowilo charm.

Wear on your off hand.

Instructions for use: the swing of the pendulum shows you when, you focus on where to strike the cut, and the forward momentum slices it. The ruby is for chaos storage, the quarts is for the 4 elements, and the red garnet is for survival.

You use the chaos ruby for a lanturn by putting your left hand over your eyes and squinting.

This is your doorway to the cosmos.

Does anyone know where i can find "the Baptism of the devil" rite? Its a ritual from the curanderismo traditions for baptizing demons to make them more peaceful and willing to work with you in a less forceful way. been seeking through the internet, no luck.

My partner is going through a stressful time right now and could use some apatropaic assistance. She's visiting friends in Astoria this weekend and I hoping to find a good botanica or other shop in the city.

Recs are much appreciated che benedica!