Being a Witch IS Political

Witchcraft and spirituality are inherently political. To embrace these paths without acknowledging their history and ongoing struggles is to reduce them to mere aesthetics. True witches—and spiritual practitioners—understand that the essence of these practices is rooted in resistance, justice, and transformation.

Historically, witches were the wise women and healers of their communities. They tended to the sick, midwifed births, and served as the keepers of ancient knowledge. Their craft connected them deeply to nature, the cycles of life, and the unseen forces that govern our world. These practices often placed them on the fringes of society, not because they were wrong or dangerous, but because their power defied the status quo.

These women (and men) were political figures simply by existing. They challenged patriarchal systems, capitalist greed, and authoritarian control. When they provided herbal remedies or midwifed safely outside the church's purview, they defied institutions that sought to monopolize power over life and death.

The witch trials of history were political acts, targeting those who threatened established hierarchies. Witches were scapegoated for plagues, famines, and dissent, often accused because they stood up for their communities, demanded justice, or refused to conform to societal expectations.

Even today, to identify as a witch or spiritual practitioner is to take a stand. It is to honor the marginalized, to value the Earth over profit, and to seek balance in a world obsessed with domination. It is to embrace healing, not only for ourselves but for others and the planet—a deeply political act in a culture that prioritizes profit and power over people and ecosystems.

Being a witch means advocating for what is right, even at risk to our comfort or safety. It means standing against oppression, environmental destruction, and systemic injustice. To claim this path is to reclaim the legacy of those who came before us—the wise women, healers, and rebels who walked this path at great personal cost.

If you are drawn to witchcraft, spirituality, or paganism, understand that this is more than crystals and candles. It is a call to action, a commitment to live authentically and fight for a better world. Anything less is a disservice to the courageous souls who paved the way for us.

special reminder that sacrifices take many forms and don’t always require the death of something necessarily.

We live in a capitalistic society where money directly correlates with survival. Spending your hard earned money on supplies or offerings is most definitely a valid sacrifice. Most people do not have the means or skill to go out and properly/respectfully offer up an animal. The action of hunting, slaying and recycling is not relevant to most modern people anymore. We don’t hunt in fields anymore, but we do hunt for bargains at the grocery store. We do labor at our jobs for money. We exchange that labour for produce, meat, fruit, veggies and cream. Don’t feel like you’re cheating by offering a store bought steak to your deities just because you didn’t personally butcher the cow yourself. This all still counts even if it seems non traditional.

Time is a sacrifice. Dedicating hours to creating a piece of art for your deity, a song, a poem, or studying with them can count as a sacrifice of time. Time is a form of currency. Every living moment you spend honouring your Gods is a sacrifice.

Emotional turmoil or struggle can also be considered a sacrifice. Doing intense shadow work that brings you to tears but also allows you to overcome your struggles can definitely count as an emotional sacrifice, or a sacrifice of self comfort.

Working out and training your body is also a sacrifice of comfort, you’re literally offering pain and struggle up to your Lords as proof that you are willing to overcome adversity to become stronger and healthier. That is a sacrifice, one that most people (myself included) have a very hard time preforming.

A lot of our relationships with our deities revolve around transactions, giving offerings for example in exchange for blessings. Remember that even if you don’t have something physical to offer right now, there are always things that can be sacrificed or offered to the Gods that go beyond the physical. When we willingly put ourselves through strife in an effort to make positive changes in our lives we are making sacrifices. A part of us must be killed to create space for something new. Your Gods see your efforts and cherish them, do not underestimate their value.

I second this with addendum that sacrifices shouldn't be made at the expense of your health and wellbeing. Sacrifices need to be of importance and have meaning, yes, but working out to the point of extreme exhaustion isn't healthy. Spending hours in prayer and ignoring your other mundane duties and self-care all the time isn't healthy. Putting yourself through emotional struggle that leads to trauma isn't healthy. You have to be alive and well to offer anything to the gods or other spirits. Offer gifts with value and meaning for you. Don't put yourself in a precarious or unhealthy space. <3

Finding your Deity(ies) through your Birthchart

Hey everyone,

So today I wanted to share a technique with you that was shared with me through meditation. It is a technique that I have used for myself and many other people to help find Deities they strongly connect with using their birthchart.

Why use your birthchart for this?

While it is true that you can find your dieties that you are connected to through many different ways. I prefer using the birhtchart because our birthchart shows us all the energies that exist within ourselves. By understanding those energies we can also learn anything we need to know about ourselves and the enrgy we possess from that chart. Often times we feel a strong connection to a diety because their energy and what they represents resonates within us. Their energy connects with us and the energy we possess. We share common energies, traits, and characteristics. As within, so without.

So how do you use your birthchart to find your deity

There are four things I look at to determine what deities you naturally work with. Please remember that your birth chart or natal chart deals with lifetime energies. So these are deities you most likely will find you have a connection to throughout your whole life.

The first thing I was told in my meditation to look at was any planets that were in their rulership.

Finding the planets in rulership will show you which type of dieties you strongly connect to. The reason we look at planets first is because the planets are physical representations of deities (they were named after deities and embody their energy).

An example of this would be if you have the moon in Cancer. You most likely will connect to a lunar deity of some sort. (I personally don't like assigning genders and saying God or Goddess because many pantheons have different deities and while in one pantheon a lunar deity may be a goddess, in another it may be a god)

The second thing to look at is the sign planet is in. This will provide you with information about how this deities personality may come across to you.

The third thing to look at is the house the planet is in. (You do need to know your time of birth for this. If you don't know your time of birth you can skip this part). Looking at the house placement can tell you what area of your life they can help you with. As well as what area of life they connect with in general.

The fourth thing to look at is aspects. Anyalyzing the aspects made to this planet can help you understand what challenges you may have with this deity. As well as what this deity can help you with. What they can support you with and what they can help you grow with.

Last but not least putting all this information together and analyzing it as a whole can help you understand how to connect with your deity. How to honor them, and how to best work with them.

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For the time being, this is my list of discreet ways to worship Fenrir! I hope you found it useful. I'll likely add more to it later on. Take care, y'all!

Link to Subtle Worship Master list

troubleshooting spotty spirit connections/"godphoning"

This post is full of my personal UPGs and stuff. These are just my beliefs and what works for me. YMMV.

It takes them a lot of energy to come through to us. Feed them and help them get across the veil.

Have you ever done a big tarot reading and got really drained? Or focused really intensely on a spirit guide meditation that left you feeling lightheaded and hungry? When we connect to the spirit world it is tiring and energy-intensive. There is no reason to believe that connection on their end is any easier.

A lot of rhetoric gets tossed around that spirits and guides are so powerful and life-changing, etc. And this might be true, but I think it gets construed in a way where we assume that because they're so powerful, it must be very easy for them to appear to us - so any failure of communication is squarely on our shoulders.

This is unfair to both them and us.

Stop trying to talk to them all of the time.

Spirits are people too. They shouldn't be treated like invisible humans with cool new skins, but that doesn't mean they don't have autonomy and personhood.

Spirits exist independently of us and they don't disappear and go into the void when we stop paying attention to them. They are living their own lives. Even if you believe the spirits do revolve around you, at some point they have to leave to go find information you're asking about, or review the strands of fate to make sure you're headed in the right direction, or whatever.

You don't expect your human friends to be on call 24/7 and it's rude and inconsiderate to just assume all spirits are going to want to communicate with you every single time you want to communicate with them.

No, the point of this is not "you're clingy and the spirits need space."

The point is that if you're just picking up the spirit phone at any random time, of course some of your communication will "fail" because they're not free to answer!

You might be blaming yourself for having unreliable psychic abilities when the reality is that you're just sending a FaceTime request at a bad time.

It is my experience that this is true even of gods. Sometimes I walk by the shrine of my primary god and it's just empty - he's not there right now. It's not because he hates me or because my psychism failed. He's probably off chasing nymphs or something, he'll be back later.

Give them a good reason to talk to you.

There are many kinds of spirits. Some we primarily interact with as friends and companions. For them, the reason for them to talk to you is that you're cool, interesting, and they want to spend time with you (all your friends think that about you! I promise!).

Other spirits can hold a much more spiritual or tutelary role in our life. When they speak, they have something important to say - and they're not necessarily going to let that be drowned out by everyday chatter.

Have you ever done a tarot reading you didn't like or understand, and then re-drew the spread to ask again? And the second time made even less sense?

Talking to spiritual teachers can be like that. They tell you something important, and they're not necessarily going to rephrase it. The problem with spiritual teachers and guides is that you still have to be the student and the explorer.

I have often communicated with the gods and spirits of other people. In these situations, I do my best to give them a really good reason to want to talk to me. "Hello, gods and spirits of [client]. I am helping [client] with [their question/problem]. I will be empty, and you can speak through me. I'll do my very best to clearly share everything you want them to know."

No matter what, though, spirits might just not want to talk. And that's ok.

Conversational skills transcend dimensions.

There is a difference between requesting communication and just vibing with a spirit's vibes.

When you want to communicate with the spirits, do you actually think, say, or sign, "hi, it's me, I want to talk to you today about [topic]"? Or do you just kinda show up like, "I'm here, so... yeah."

I like vibing with the vibes. I like sitting quietly with people and spirits and just existing with them. But I wouldn't sit quietly in the vibes and then say, "okay, so you're just not going to talk to me??"

Other things like manners go an incredibly long way. Spirits have a concept of boundaries and politeness - some more than others.

Active listening and critical thinking helps a lot too (and it's a great way to strengthen relationships with other humans!). Make sure you're treating spirits like a conversation partner, and not a novelty toy that spits out mystic answers to your questions.

One of the best ways to bond through communication is to create the space for the other person to share their thoughts. It's more than reasonable to show up to a spirit with a question.

But if you redirect the conversation always to be what you want to talk about, think your senses are going haywire just because a spirit is showing you something that isn't what you asked about, or only want to talk about yourself or your problems - it's not reasonable to expect that 100% of spirits want to be a part of 100% of those conversations.

Interact if you work with Nature-focused deities, animal spirits, nature spirits or similiar!!!

Need more nature-related witches and pagans to follow! Also, tell me a bit about your practice in the comments if you want <3

Folk magic isn't just about (re)connecting with your regional or ancestral magic practices. That's just scratching the surface.

Folk magic is also learning about the biodiversity, culture, and political state of your region.

Hail Máni

Hail to the Swift Charioteer of the Night's Treasure Hail to the Keeper of the Night's Lantern Hail to the Bringer of Dreams Bless and walk with us this day

any witches have any alternatives to candles?

the place i'm moving to might not allow candles and i'm not sure they'd allow it if i said it was for religious purposes, since it's still a fire risk.

i tend to use my candles to body double with my gods and just try and have conversations with them as well.

that's all i got for now, hope i could help! <3

Sigrblót is the norse celebration of spring, which happens during the fourth full moon after the winter solstice.

In 2025, that's April 12th-14th.

Usually, harvest and fertility deities are honored during this holiday, but it can also be any other deity or spirit.

How to celebrate

(This is not the 'right' or only way. Feel free to personalize the experience to your liking.)

One

Enjoy the sun. Go outside if possible or sit on your balcony or in front of an open window. Do something you like, like drawing, painting, reading, or just sitting still with your eyes closed. Try to appreciate the fresh air, the singing birds and the warmth of the sun.

Two

Give offerings to harvest/fertility deities, or any deity or spirit you like. Offer something they are associated with or you think they will like, and something you made yourself like food, homemade ice tea, art, a plant or a poem. (The offerings do not have to be destroyed.)

If you have something to thank them for, feel free to do that.

Three

Eat something seasonal if you can. Work together with your loved ones to cook something that all of you will enjoy. If that's not an option, cook or order something that'll make you feel good.

Don't be afraid to make it fun! You can turn on some music and dance in the kitchen, or take way too much time decorating cupcakes.

Four

Say a few words about loved ones that have passed on. If you want, put a picture of them on the table so they can join you during the celebration. Share stories and maybe even give them an offering too.

Five

Share with your loved ones how you did with your goals from last year. Did you achieve them? Was it hard? What did you struggle with? Did you learn something new?

Exchange advice and knowledge. Everyone can learn something.

Six

Set new goals. Sigrblót is the new year's of the old norse people. This is when the world starts to come out of its shell again. Take advantage of that energy and write down some goals for this year. Meditate on them or manifest them if you want.

Please be aware that none of this is set in stone. You can celebrate however you want and it'll be just fine! This post is simply meant to act as a guide for those who are looking for ideas.

in criticism of #witchblr being predominantly beginner guides (of which i am a little guilty), here's a little thread of some more advanced witchcraft ideas i've picked up.

if you can't access any of these links lmk!

please reblog with your own! and add links or book recs if you have any.

the passage of time

critical understandings of myth

criticisms of paganism

*these are a collection of criticisms that i found interesting, and worth reflecting on. contrary to what tumblr thinks, there are negatives for (neo)paganism, and blind spots. being aware of them is useful.

tips for adhd witches!

[[before you expand: LONG text post!!]]

I got diagnosed only a couple months ago, but I have been practicing witchcraft for a little bit now. So in retrospect, here is stuff that I realized I have been doing to cope the whole time, and some new things I'm tinkering with :) Please feel free to leave your own tips or thoughts!

At all costs, avoid promising gods and spirits that YOU WILL uphold a rigid routine.

Just do not promise to give daily offerings! JUST DON'T DO IT. If you struggle with upholding a regular routine, do not promise gods or spirits you will uphold a routine for them. You should only promise things you are confident you can deliver. ((If you identify as a beginner witch it's my personal belief that you should not be promising anyone anything.))

Rigid routine is not the only way to get regular experience with magic, build relationships with gods or spirits, or improve in your craft! You simply do not have to promise yourself or anyone else that you will do X actions at Y times.

Instead of having "do X for Y minutes on Z days" routines, try developing a streamlined ritual you can fit in anywhere for the really important stuff.

Maybe there are some really important things in your practice that you want to do on a regular basis. Maybe these are things like:

Instead of saying "I'll do shielding for 5 minutes every day after breakfast, then of course my offering ritual-", you can put a streamlined (short, easy) ritual together where you do all four of these things at once.

Then, slot this streamlined ritual in before most practice activities. Like:

Or, use it as a sort of 'generic' access point of connection and perform this ritual:

Instead of forcing important actions into routines that may be hard to follow, find a way to carry these actions around with you in an accessible ritual, like carrying snacks around in a bag. This way you can use other exciting activities, or other life events, as a reminder to practice your ritual of important things :)

Build a clear system of omens for yourself. Omens can intrude on your daily life and get your attention.

Maybe you have alarm blindness, forget to do divination, forget to check in with spells - so asking for omens can be a huge help. They are spontaneous messages that catch your eye. Helpful!

Solid black pigeons mean a spirit wants attention. Seeing your favorite tree species means a spell was successful. Three gray dots means a spell failed. The scent of cinnamon buns means fortune is headed your way.

Perform a ritual announcing your chosen omens to the Powers That Be. Invite those Powers, Yourself, Life, the Universe, and Everything to send you true, accurate, and helpful messages through these omens.

Working with omens in this way is a skill that evolves over time. Your personal omen system will evolve over time if you use it. Think of it as another form of divination!

(Tip: Combine symbols with colors for an advanced system that's easy to remember. Oak trees are prosperity, but black means slow movement, red means powerful, and white means failure. After a spell you see a plumbing truck with a red oak tree logo; powerful prosperity. Etc.)

Build all your spells, rituals, and everything with the foresight that you are probably going to forget about it or not return to it for a long time.

Employ foresight and:

Assume you will forget about individual spells, that you will accumulate way to many spells than you can individually attend to, and that you may never take final steps like cleansing and deconstructing old spell vessels.

Poor plan: "And when this vessel runs down I will recharge it with the waxing moon as I stand under the orange tree-" More tenable plan: "And when this vessel runs down let it drink energy from my altar; let it take up any energy that suits it; let it feed on what is available to it, according to its needs."

Develop a visual language to remind you of what collected objects and spell vessels are.

This folds in real nice with a personal omen system!!

Use a combination of colors, established symbols (planetary, alchemical), and personal symbols to develop a visual conlang that helps you keep track of what things are.

Build a system that makes intuitive sense to you, perhaps folding in with your color correspondence associations, magical headcannon, or any other mnemonic device:

Your personal visual language will gain its own power over time if used regularly, in the way that egrigores or sigils can gain power if used consistently over time :) It can become a real magical tool, not just a mnemonic device!

During spirit work, just clearly communicate that your sporadic presence has nothing to do with your dedication 🤷

When you conjure/talk to/pray to gods, spirits, or anything, address the fact that your communication/rituals/etc ARE going to be sporadic. Explain yourself and ask the spirits to extend understanding.

At all costs, avoid making your path a carrot that you dangle in front of yourself to try and force yourself to fix your brain through sheer force of will.

If the way you talk to yourself about your path sounds like someone struggling with unhealthy dieting, maybe it's time to readjust.

"I just need to do my daily offerings, on schedule, for two weeks. Then I will have earned researching tarot spells."

Maybe it's not a good idea to intentionally include witchcraft in a cycle of reward and denial that will ultimately drain joy from the process until your passion is a withered husk.

Witchcraft isn't going to force your brain to change any more than Stardew Valley was going to force your brain to change. Or that time you got super into succulents. If your time spent studying wool quality in heritage European sheep breeds didn't cure your disorder, witchcraft won't either.

Witchcraft, I think, deserves to be something that is a part of your joy - not a part of a system of stressful attempts at making yourself into someone you're not because "real witches" all do such-and-such routine (I assure you, they do not) so you must force yourself to do it too.

(Incidentally, if you have a 'streamlined ritual for the important stuff' and it becomes a barrier that prevents you from practicing, then maybe that's not a good idea for you - or maybe it's not as simple and streamlined as you need it to be)

STOP trying to build a static path. Lean into temporary hyperfixations.

There is SO MUCH to learn in witchcraft. It's never-ending. The more you learn, the more doorways open for you with more things to learn behind them.

You know yourself better than I know you. Maybe wanting to slow down and engage in your focuses in a new way is the goal. Of course, listen to yourself first!

But if you have a temporary burst of energy and focus to learn a new skill, and learning that skill won't require you to make unhealthy personal or financial decisions, why not just lean into it and explore it moment by moment, wherever your interests take you?

I think you'd probably learn a lot more doing and undoing 20 glamours in a week, because you're freaking out about how fucking cool it is, than if you practice 1 basic glamor exercise once a day because that's what real disciplined witches do, and then 11 days later you forget it once and never do it again and now your interest has faded because glamouring is just another boring chore.

Invest some time and energy into figuring out exactly what your bare minimum of responsibility and upkeep actually is.

Feeling anxious or guilty over whether or not you're supposed to be taking certain actions is NO FUN.

It is much less fun if you don't actually know how often you need to do these things. Then it's just all guessing, all the time, and nothing is ever good enough.

If at all possible, avoid putting yourself into a situation where you feel that you are supposed to be doing something responsible in your practice, but you're never sure exactly what it is.

Spend some practice time, learn some skills, and make notes, to discover whether or not you do have any minimum engagement requirements in the style of practice you want. And most importantly, having clear 'deadlines' so you don't have to keep guessing at what you're forgetting about this time.

Book Rec - Land Healing by Dana O'Driscoll

For anyone looking to cultivate a deeper relationship with their local land spirits or to engage in more active stewardship of their local biome, I'd like to recommend Land Healing by Dana O'Driscoll.

A follow-up to her other fabulous book, Sacred Actions, Land Healing is a comprehensive guide to land healing for neopagans and earth-based spiritual practitioners who have a desire to regenerate and heal human-caused damage throughout our world. The book presents tools and information to take up the path of the land healer with care, reverence, and respect for all beings. This book also puts tools in your hands to be an active force of good and learn how to actively regenerate the land, preserve life, and create sanctuaries for life–in your backyard, in your community, and beyond.

Dana O’Driscoll has been an animist, and bioregional druid for 20 years and currently serves as the Grand Archdruid in the Ancient Order of Druids in America.  She is also a druid-grade member of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids and is OBOD’s 2018 Mount Hameus Scholar.  Dana took up the path of land healing because of the deep need in her home region of Western Pennsylvania, which is challenged by fracking, acid mine drainage into streams, logging, and mountaintop removal. Dana sees land healing as her core personal spiritual path, and has done both individual work in her home region as well as spearheading larger-scale land healing efforts at druid events and through the Ancient Order of Druids in America. Dana is a certified permaculture designer and permaculture teacher who teaches sustainable living and wild food foraging.  She lives on a 5-acre homestead with her partner and a host of feathered and furred friends.

You can find out more about her practices and her publications by visiting The Druid's Garden and you can also hear more on this recent episode of Hex Positive, where Dana talks about her newest book and the inspiration behind it.

Thor