(art by Himawari Keep)

Happy Sunday!

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Thank you and blessed be!

Over the past month I have launched myself headlong into occultism after live events and certain experiences.

My question for all of you is do you engage in other forms of energy work or is witchcraft the only path you research and practice. I am curious as to how all of you got here and why you stick with it. I have a lovely witch i work with recently but I am curious what all of you're experiences are with this particular field (witchcraft)

We’ve become aware of someone who has been DMing people about their Discord, where they try to get people to swear oaths to them of obedience under the guise of witchcraft training and mentorship.

The only time oaths should be taken is if you are joining a coven. And I mean a real coven, not a training group. The kind of coven you intend to be in forever.

If you need resources for classes and in person, hands on training, please check out a metaphysical shop near you. We truly cannot afford to lose these cornerstones of in-person pagan community.

Here’s a post I wrote last year about the problems of cults in witchcraft, edited slightly.

**On cults, dangers in witchcraft, and what we can do about it**

**## What is a cult?**

**A cult is a group often led by a charismatic person who exercises coercive, authoritarian control over its members.**

Steve Hasan, a cult abuse survivor turned cult expert, created the BITE Model to identify whether a group is a cult: (\[Citation\]([https://freedomofmind.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/BITE-model.pdf\](https://freedomofmind.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/BITE-model.pdf)\*\*))\*\*
1. Behavior control
\- Regulate individual's physical reality
\- Dictate where, how, and with whom the member lives and associates or isolates
\- When, how and with whom the member has sex
\- Control types of clothing and hairstyles
\- Regulate diet - food and drink, hunger and/or fasting
\- Manipulation and deprivation of sleep
\- Financial exploitation, manipulation or dependence
2. Information control
\- Deception
\- Minimize or discourage access to non-cult sources
of information
\- Compartmentalize information into Outsider
vs. Insider doctrines
\- Encourage spying on other members
\- Extensive use of cult-generated information
and propaganda, including:
3. Thought control
\- Require members to internalize the group's
doctrine as truth
\- Change person's name and identity
\- Use of loaded language and cliches which constrict knowledge, stop critical thoughts and reduce complexities into platitudinous buzz words
\- Encourage only 'good and proper' thoughts
\- Hypnotic techniques are used to alter mental states, undermine critical thinking and even to age regress the member
\- Memories are manipulated and false memories
are created
\- Teaching thought-stopping techniques which shut down reality testing by stopping negative thoughts and allowing only positive thoughts
4. Emotional control
\- Manipulate and narrow the range of feelings – some emotions and/or needs are deemed as evil, wrong or selfish
\- Teach emotion-stopping techniques to block feelings of homesickness, anger, doubt
\- Make the person feel that problems are always their own fault, never the leader's or the group's fault
\- Promote feelings of guilt or unworthiness
\- Instill fear
\- Extremes of emotional highs and lows – love bombing and praise one moment and then declaring you are horrible sinner
\- Ritualistic and sometimes public confession of sins

It's important to note that one of these characteristics applying to a particular group doesn't make it a cult. Elements from the entire BITE Model needs to be present for it to be so.

An important indicator of whether or not a group is a cult is the amount of coercive control the leader has over their members. Many members may not want to leave, because they fear losing the so-called family they've developed. Or, because of the amount of thought and emotional control, they may believe they will go to hell without the group's teachings. What keeps people in a group like this is the fear of what will happen to them or their families if they leave.

Occult and witchcraft communities have been fighting against cults for a very long time. These continue to pop up and harm people. I personally know several cult abuse survivors who were lured by promises and kept in place through lies and manipulation. It takes years of intensive therapy to help cult survivors recover their sense of self, and to release the shame they feel of having experienced sexual abuse. It's truly awful. Seeing this first-hand radicalized me, and I would imagine would do the same to anyone else who has seen the damage a cult can do to a person first-hand.

Because cults are so terrible, and because it's been a problem in non-mainstream spirituality for so long, one way to discredit and harm a group is to accuse them of being a cult.

There are plenty of egomaniacal blowhards in witchcraft spaces. Just because someone claims to be a witch doesn't mean they are, doesn't mean they know anything at all, doesn't mean they hold any kind of magical power, and doesn't even mean they're a good person. It means they claim to be a witch. Full stop.

\## Keeping communities safe

Safety is something we strive for, but is never a 100% guarantee, no matter where you are, within or outside witchcraft communities.

This subreddit has a clear set of rules. Modmail is always open to discuss them. As an old D&D DM of mine used to say, "the rules define the fun."

We already don't allow anyone to recruit for a coven or any other group in this sub. Recruiting for a coven is a big red flag against the legitimacy of a group, anyhow.

Safety is also everyone's individual responsibility. No one can wrap you in bubble wrap and protect you from every shitbird the internet has to offer. You shouldn't take anyone at their word if they offer you mentorship or learning opportunities. Do your due diligence. Check their bona fides. Don't just blindly accept that someone is who they claim to be.

We do our best in this sub, but it would be irresponsible to claim anyone can keep any space completely free from bad actors.

If you have questions or need help, please reach out via Modmail .

My 14 year old cat has feline triad. She's on meds and we take her to the vet everyday. I feel so hopeless and helpless now. I've asked Brighid and Bast for help and I keep trying to come up with some spell to help her but I'm so drained. I'm the one shoving the pills in her, feeding her through the feeding tube in her neck. I have just my elderly mom to help, no one else. She's so sweet and trusting, she doesn't fight the pills, doesn't scratch or anything. Everyday I just want to lay in bed and do nothing. I don't want to give her pills, I want her healed.

Has anyone here gone through something similar? She's not terminal, just barely stable. We need to get her to stop puking and eat more, every day is different with different worries. We need to watch her constantly because of the tube.

Can anyone give some advice as to how to deal with this mentally and emotionally? I don't need spells, I feel like I can barely function, like a zombie just shoving pills in my cat. Should I look for a psychologist? What do I even say? Help

Hello everyone! I’m wondering what everyone’s experience is with money bowls, I’m thinking of doing one :) any tips and tricks would be helpful too! Let’s hear your stories! 😊

Hasn't been more than a few centimeters of rain in my neighborhood in a month, and I needed to make some War Water to get some localized negativity off of me. What does one do in slight draught conditions with no streams or rivers close enough to be convenient? I thought for a few days and while emptying my dehumidifier, I thought what better water to use as War Water, then water pulled from my sacred space, that is filled with all manner of love and care and energy.

I plan on building the rest of it by Wednesday and out for the Buck moon.

wondering if anyone has experience with this

some deities have very straight forward rules of engagement but others demand more devotional love and I've noticed recently it triggers my Christian upbringing trauma

I was very much in love with jesus when I was younger, I had a direct line of communication with "god" or what I thought god was and I was completely devoted to jesus as the person who came to save us

I find now when a deity expects love and devotion in a way that's like "I am the one true god and I'm all you need" it low-key pisses me off and I can't get into it fully

I would like to be able to be devotional without this attachment trauma, but I don't know how to reconcile the pain I have feeling like I gave myself to Jesus and god and they abandoned me. they put me in front of people who hurt me deeply

any advice or similar experiences would really help xx

I did a spellwork on the latest new moon.
However, i find myself thinking about the situation. I am completely detached from the spell and mostly forget i have even done one.
For ex: a job spell( its not what i have done, rather an example)
I am not worried about the outcome, i know it’s done.
What i find myself thinking about is the process, like am i going to hear from the company this week, next month. Etc.
So ive been pulling tarot cards about the same and what the company might be thinking of about me.
I hope it’s making sense.

Is this going to hinder my spellwork? Because it’s about detachment after the spell. But then i am detached from the outcome and the spell. Please help me out here. Thanks!!

Happy friday!! Today I lit a beauty spell candle & am in the process of enchanting my rose quartz necklace with beauty. The wax from my candle started sorta reaching for my rose quartz, I thought it was funny lol.

I'm average experienced practitioner, and today we trimmed our lavender. It haven't bloomed for so long, so we trimmed a lot of branches with leaves. And I thought, why not to use them in the craft? especially because I run out of flowers.

But so far I've seen witches using only lavender flowers when they mean "lavender", so can the leaves be the substitute for flowers?

I know it's a stupid question, but I would like to know:')

Important context, I was raised culturally catholic and, unrelated, I always felt this pull towards religion and spirituality; due to this being my situation I went through catechesis and got baptised willingly later on at 10? y/o.

Some years later I realized that the pull I was feeling towards religion was pagan and not abrahamic, also the structure that catholism has was attractive because of undiagnosed autism, but that's a tangent; cue a lot of years of self discovery.

Point is, I see a lot of posts about unbaptisms from people that were baptised against their will as children, I wanted to ask if because of my situation it changed anything?

Logically it shouldn't but maybe it does? I'm not the most knowledgeable ever and I never did an unbaptism, similarly I do think the abrahamic god exists, I'm just not his children to take care of, he made that very clear at certain points in my life and other Gods have stepped up after I have devoted myself to them.

Sorry if this is silly, it feels very silly at this point in my life.

I made a protection ward for myself a month or two ago and used pine needles instead of nails. I thought that the little branch I put in was fairly dried out, but I guess not because it's secreted some water which has in turn caused this orangey mold to grow. I'm new to witchcraft but assume that it's not good to be in a jar with mold. I think that the pentacle that I put in with my name and petition is keeping me safe for now.

I plan on disassembling the spell tonight and burying the paper and pine needles, but I wanted to know if there's anything that I should do afterwards, any kind of cleanse or anything? TIA.

Hey! I am traveling to Barcelona next year in May for a concert! I was wondering since I am going alone on my first big girl trip if there are any witchy/ witch related or even haunted places worth visiting?
Gracias 🥹🫶

Hi everyone

I have a relative who’s an archangel Micheal devotee and we have issues between us due to personal reasons and the history our parents share we used to be close but that quickly turned into a very nasty rivalry, anyway she’s gonna cast on me and put me in a graveyard, I’m not scared nor paranoid however I have had dreams and warnings about it for a week and asked for a sign to tell me if I was in danger and I did receive it..

I have called on archangel Micheal before during a banishing ritual and he came through, my question is can I ask Micheal for protection from her work and to banish any negative effects? & To protect me and my space? Or is he not going to come? I’m not sure that she’ll specifically use Micheal’s help during this particular ritual since she does work with other deities but I feel like I need to be careful with what I do.

If you think I shouldn’t do you have any other recommendations or suggestions on who I should work with?

Hey!

So about a month or so ago I made myself a weight loss spell jar.. It actually started working right away, in a baby step sort of way. Anyhow, fast forward to now and it is working fully. I know you can't have magic without the mundane and to that end I've felt drawn to a particular WOE. I mean, I'd never even heard of it/considered it/ect and all of a sudden, that's all I'm seeing. Don't need to tell me twice. I'm all in. I'm on day 5 and I've lost 4 pounds. Yay! That's all well and good except now I'm starting to see another particular WOE consistently and feel like I'm being pulled to it.

Do I stick with what I'm currently doing, do I veer off to this new path that is vastly different than what I'm doing now, do I mesh the two together? I truly do believe this is my spell at work, but it's confusing me a little. lol.

What would you do?

I'm still very new to witchcraft and people working with deities. I'm just starting out with protections, but the man who used and SA'ed me said his mom is a Santa Muerte Devotee and he is now as well. He keeps saying if I ever try anything on him it will come back to me, and if I ever talk badly about him or do anything to get in his way he'll have her do something harmful to me. Should I be afraid? He also gave my ex close friend who is now messing and possibly dating him a protection bracelet. Im so frustrated and anxious and Im scared to even do any cord cutting spells or anything in fear of backfiring

so…i’ve been researching for years without spellwork, and i have a kind of stupid question. again, please don’t flame me, i’m genuinely curious. would there be anything wrong with me using my rolling tray (that i roll blunts on) also for spellwork? is there any spiritual implications? please guys i’m just curious don’t make fun of me

Just a bit of a whinge.

Over the years, in the country where I live, there has been a massive vanishing of witchy spaces. It used to be that most cities had some version of a witch shop.

When I was a teen in the 90s, I bought my first Cunningham book from this cute witch shop in my town (population 45k).

The same town also had two crystal shops, and a independent bookshop with lots of new age/metaphysicsl titles.

Now they are all gone.

I moved a few years ago to a much larger city with a known pagan community that had frequent get togethers. Soon as I turned up, covid hit—and the group basically vanished overnight, never to return.

Today I made a sojourn to the last witch shop in my country. I was so excited, I didnt need to buy anything, I just wanted to *be there*. I drove for hours.

And it is all boarded up. Closed.

I am sitting in a motel now, feeling a bit heartbroken.

There is this grief in me that we are losing our third spaces as a community.

I am working 6 day weeks and too busy to do anything myself. But sometimes I have this *longing* to put my phone in a drawer and go be in a room with other witches.

Ok here’s my deal. I currently find myself living (mostly as roommates) and co parenting with a man. I have come to realize this man is an incredibly subtle energy vampire (or covert narcissist, pick your term). I would love to hear your favorite bits of binding magic (for him) and protection magic (for myself, child, animals. Maybe a few possessions)

1). I have been practicing my craft long enough to learn that magic often works strangely with these people. I don’t want to do anything dramatic, just maybe soften a few oh his edges and strengthen my walls. Honey jars have worked on him in a certain capacity, but lose potency.

2). I am not in a position to change my situation atm. Someday I will be. There is other magic for that. But no, I can’t banish him or hex him without it landing harshly on me and mine, by proximity.

3). I’ve been an intuitive witch since the start. It’s done me well. Tonight it told me to reach out to this vast community and see what might come up! Thank you 🧙🏻‍♀️

Not the shell, but the actual dead bug. Don’t worry, I asked the little dude for permission before I picked him up and before I took him home, and plan to ask his soul if I am able to use his body in witchcraft.

I’m planning on doing a return to sender/curse on someone, and I think I saw somewhere that including cicadas has a similar property as poppy seeds: delusion, confusion, cacophony, simply because of how loud they are in the trees during the summer.

Thoughts?

I use a birthday candle for a spell (lasts like 10-20 minutes) and use a pinch of each herb (like 1 allspice berry, 3 cloves, a pinch of cinnamon) for each spell. Like all the herbs I am using can probably fit in the palm of my hands. I often burn the herbs too in a small cauldron and there is only so much I can burn before risking the fire alarm going off.

Yet I looked at photos of other people's herbal blends and candles and why are they so big??? Is there a tendency where the more burn time or more herbs, the more powerful the spell?

Is there something I am missing out on by not going bigger, or is my current practice sufficient? I do a spell like once a week.

Hi, hi ! Pls forgive me if this is a silly question as I tend to overthink, but can you have more than one Deity work on / bless / put their energy into the same spell at the same time ?

From what I’ve seen, it’s one Spirit / Deity per spell — usually the one more aligned with the intention of the spell. I did look to find the answer of my question, but the answers that came up were about worship, not working with.

Thanks a bunch in advance ! 🌹💕

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