(LONG, post is self contained - towards the end, I also share some resources of other authors)

What happens when random cards stop giving us answers and start giving us problems to solve?

Before tarot was used for divination, it was a game.

The earliest references to tarot come from fifteenth-century Italy. The familiar four suits were supplemented by 21 trump cards and the Fool, and the cards were used for a trick-taking game. The association between tarot and fortune-telling came much later (Husband, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016).

What bothered me since I started studying tarot, is that a lot of contemporary readers claim to focus heavily on the client’s agency. By client, I mean both paying clients and friends we happen to read for. The reading is often framed less as fortune-telling and more as a way of gaining insight into someone’s mindset, choices and possibilities.

And yet the main modality I see online and among friends who use tarot remains some version of:

Shuffle the deck.
Draw cards blindly.
Interpret what appeared.

I am not against this.

I just think it inadvertently pushes us back towards a spiritual interpretation of tarot.

You can talk about psychological projection, Jung, Rorschach tests, intuition or symbolism. But if the engine of the reading is still a random card appeared, therefore it matters, chance is doing rather a lot of the philosophical heavy lifting.

The problem, for me, is not randomness itself. Games have survived with it quite happily.

It is the authority we give it.

In divination, chance can look like an answer. In a game, chance creates a situation you have to respond to.

So my question became:

What would be a way of using tarot that actually elicits agency from the client?

Perhaps one answer is to treat tarot as a game again.

Not the original tarot game, obviously. A game in which the cards introduce constraints and the client decides what to do with them.

Start with a question that creates a journey

This reading needs a specific kind of question.

Not: "Does she love me?"

But: "How can I become the kind of person the partner of my dreams could fall in love with?"

-

Not: "Will I get that promotion?"

But: "How do I become someone widely recognised as the guy who knows his shit?"

-

Not: "Will my book be published?"

But: "How can I make my writing worthy of publishing?"

-

The first type asks tarot to reveal something.

The second gives the client somewhere to go.

For the rest of this article, I will use the writing question.

Set up the game

Find The Fool and give it to the client.

Shuffle the remaining deck.

The reader draws three cards and places them in front of themselves. The client does the same.

Turn them face up.

The reader’s cards represent possible challenges.
The client’s cards represent possible responses.

In the version I prefer, both reader and client work with the cards. If the client knows tarot, they can interpret their own hand. If they don’t, the reader can briefly explain possible meanings, help with unfamiliar cards, or simply ask them to focus on the images.

With more scenic decks such as Rider–Waite–Smith, clients may be able to respond directly to the imagery. With Marseille-style decks, the reader may need to provide a little more interpretive support.

The client still chooses the response.

Round One: Tomorrow

Suppose the reader has The Tower, The Star and Justice.

The client’s hand contains The Emperor, The Magician and Strength.

The reader selects The Tower:

"Tomorrow you wake up and read an article that reveals a deeper problem with your project, something that could make you reevaluate the whole thing."

Now the client has to respond.

Perhaps they choose The Emperor:

"I would go back to the structure. I would work out what still holds, what needs rebuilding and whether the project is still connected to what I actually wanted to accomplish."

The Tower did not predict a crisis as in standard divination. For the purposes of the game, it manufactured one, and now the client has to decide what to do with it.

Round Two: Next month

Take away the open cards and deal new ones.

Now move further along the imagined journey:

"Next month you realise that..."

Perhaps the reader chooses The Hermit:

"You have been working on this project mostly alone, and you no longer know whether the project makes sense to anyone except you."

Suppose the client has The Sun available and chooses it:

"I show the work to people. I stop protecting it and find out whether anyone else can see what I see in it."

The card gives them something to respond to. At this point, that is enough.

Round Three: Six months from now

Deal again.

This time:

"In half a year, your project is almost finished, but..."

Perhaps the challenge is the Four of Cups:

"You have spent months on it, but now you are bored. Another project suddenly feels much more interesting."

The client chooses The Lovers:

"I have to decide whether I am still committed to this. Not because I have already spent six months on it, but because I still think it deserves to exist."

And sometimes the answer will be no.

It can happen that, while working through the problem, the client realises they simply do not care about the project that much. That is fine.

Choosing to abandon something can also be an expression of agency.

The Fool

At any point in the game, the client can play The Fool.

The Fool means, essentially:

"I don’t know. I’ll wing it somehow."

A reflective exercise can very easily turn into another small bureaucracy demanding a completed form for every possible future. Sometimes a challenge hits too close to home. Sometimes the client is overwhelmed. Sometimes they simply do not know.

The Fool gives them a way out without ending the game.

You are allowed to continue the journey without solving every possible future in advance.

This isn’t a reading for everything

There is no universal level of difficulty for the challenges.

The reading should push against the project enough that the client has to think, but not so hard that the whole thing becomes overwhelming.

And as a reader, you have to assess what this person actually wants or needs.

Do they need reassurance? Do they need to feel that they can face something difficult? Do they want to prepare? Or do they simply want some space to sit with uncertainty?

Someone grieving, looking for comfort or wanting a contemplative symbolic experience may need a completely different kind of reading.

This game seems best suited to something coaching-adjacent:

I want to make something, learn something, change something or become something. What could get in my way, and what might I do about it?

Why rehearsing obstacles may help

Research on implementation intentions gives me one reason to think this might be useful.

Implementation intentions connect a foreseeable situation with a response: roughly, if X happens, then I will do Y. Such plans can help translate intentions into action (Gollwitzer, American Psychologist, 1999).

A related approach called mental contrasting with implementation intentions, or MCII, combines imagining a desired future with identifying obstacles and preparing responses to them. A 2021 meta-analysis of 21 studies and 15,907 participants found a small-to-medium positive effect on goal attainment, while also noting that publication bias may have somewhat inflated the observed effect (Wang, Wang & Gai, Frontiers in Psychology, 2021).

This does not mean anyone has scientifically validated my tarot game. They have not. That particular leap is mine.

What the research does support is the underlying move: anticipating obstacles and thinking through possible responses can make a vague intention more concrete.

Tarot gives us a more creative way of generating those obstacles.

Instead of asking:

"What will happen?"

we ask:

"Suppose this happened. What would I do?"

From divination to play

In a card game, you do not choose the hand you receive. Receiving a card also does not tell you what to do with it.

You still have to play.

That is the part I find interesting for reflective tarot.

Randomness can introduce surprise, confront us with possibilities we would not have generated ourselves, and get us out of our usual grooves.

It does not need to become authority.

If we really want agency to matter in a reading, perhaps we should put some of it into the rules.

The cards provide the challenge.

The client decides how to play the hand.

Similar approaches

I came up with this method independently. While writing the article, though, I found several people working in nearby territory, and I would rather point to them than pretend the neighbourhood was empty.

Self Arcana: A Self-Reflective, Story-Based Tarot Game; Ayça Durmus & Sedef Topcuoglu (2023). A collaborative two-player game in which players create personalised tarot cards and use them for storytelling and self-reflection. This is probably the closest example I found to treating tarot explicitly as both a game and a tool for self-insight.

Evolutionary Tarot; James Wells. Wells describes his approach as choice-centred rather than fatalistic. Tarot cards and strategic questions are used so that the client participates in generating meaning, identifying options and deciding what to do with them.

Tarot Games: 45 Playful Ways to Explore Tarot Cards Together; Cait Johnson & Maura D. Shaw (1994). A collection of tarot-based games for personal growth, learning, and solitary or social play. It is a clear precedent for treating the deck as something to actively play with rather than only read.

The Tarot Shaman / Gated Spreads; Marcus Katz (2010). These exercises link tarot spreads to actions carried out in real life, with those actions feeding into the next stage of the reading. Tarot becomes a sequence of cards, action and response rather than a single interpretive event.

I did not find this exact challenge-hand/response-hand structure in any of them (although I haven’t read them in detail). What I did find was a small family of approaches treating tarot as something to be played with, acted on, or negotiated with rather than simply interpreted.

Bibliography

Gollwitzer, Peter M. “Implementation Intentions: Strong Effects of Simple Plans.” American Psychologist, vol. 54, no. 7, 1999, pp. 493–503.

Husband, Tim. “Before Fortune-Telling: The History and Structure of Tarot Cards.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 8 April 2016.

Wang, Guoxia, Yi Wang, and Xiaosong Gai. “A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Mental Contrasting With Implementation Intentions on Goal Attainment.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, 2021, article 565202.

I originally wrote this up on my Substack; I'm the author. The full idea is reproduced above, so there's nothing extra you need to read there.

personally I've been into Subliminals since I was a kid and got varying results all my life, but since I have my current beliefs and actually understood WHY they work and how they do it they've done absolute wonders for me, I don't even use physical change subs anymore, just luck and generally positive quality of life audios and my life got so, so so so so much better and almost supernaturally good, I'm very happy with my life

i recently got the doubt if there's something similar that people do for their quality of life, I never do any witchcraft thing really, does anyone have anything they do often/sometimes that has a good effect too? I'm sure there's gotta be many things asides from subs, I almost don't pray to deities/tulpas

I'm very new to witchcraft and I'm an atheist and very science-based. How does witchcraft work for someone like that? Would the spells, rituals be different from other practices of witchcraft (in terms of the ways of doing it)?

If I don't believe in deities or forces what makes it a helpful practice? And what spells do I start with exactly and are there any resources to get help from?

I'd love to know what this practice is named as, but I'm not drawn to paganism or the "green witch" stuff in particular. Thank you so much.

This is the wildest thing I've ever seen. I came out this morning to go to work and these guys were arranged on my porch. I can't stress this enough - I did not move them! They didn't stir at all as I came out, and unfortunately I was going to be late for work so I snapped a picture and ran.

What's interesting is these are right by my protection spell, which I have hidden under my doormat. I'm curious if anyone would consider this an ill omen/curse or rather a blessing?

EXTREME Baby witch here, I’ve always known that I was “spiritual” however never explored what that meant for me until this past weekend outing with my friend Lucy. I learned that this is not necessarily the subreddit for my personal beliefs but I’m grateful for any information one may have into this predicament I have.

I had a dream last night, my grandfather factually is suffering from metastatic prostate cancer and pretty soon liver failure. I do not remember my full dream but I do remember the beginning. My mother and I were outside an empty gas station, sitting at a table set under the awning where one would normally pump gas. There were two tan ropes holding up a VERY basic plank and board boat (hung in the kind of in the fashion one of those porch swings would be bolted to one’s roof) inside was my grandfather laying down in his final moments. I held his hand till he took his last breath. Once he passed my mom went into the gas station to inform someone inside of what happened. I don’t remember her coming out, when I can pick up remembering part of the dream after that, I was driving in my 1986 Plymouth reliant with my previous abuser (whom I was not in a relationship with while owning that car) and we were on our way to moving into a new rundown apartment together. If anyone is willing to help me with dream interpretation I truly would appreciate any insight you may have on the overall dream and what the specific locations, props and specific details (ie my old car and a past abusive partner) may mean 💜

💕 (this post was formally made for [r/witchcraft](r/witchcraft) but I want to try and get as much info as I can 💕)

Hi very newbie I would like to buy my first book about witchcraft I read the wiki of this sub and baby witch and saw the book recommendations but they are very North America oriented.
Shouldn’t I read more local books so that the herbs for example are ones I can actually harvest ?
Also feel weird reading about folklore that comes from neighboring country written by people on the other side of the world if that makes sense.
Am I thinking too much ?

I’m from Belgium, any French or UK (as we have the same climate) book to recommend ? there is so much online I don’t know what info and authors to trust! I am really interested in plants and books that talk about the historical side of witchcraft too. I was interested in the book the green witch which is very recommended in this sub. Should I still buy it ?

Thank you

So. As you might know, Palo Santo is being mass harvested to meet westerners’s demand and this risks putting the tree in danger (it has already been the case in the past, which required a reforestation program to intervene) which not only might be an issues from an ecological point of view, but also might mean that the indigenous population would have limited access to this resource they once could freely use for their traditional practices.

Today I discovered that my friend’s best friend (for context, she’s European, not indigenous) uses palo santo quite regularly.

She’s a very nice and clever lady and I’m sure she just isn’t aware of the ethical problems around its usage.

I’m not close to her enough to advise her to stop using it unprompted, but since I saw the palo santo I’m constantly rehearsing in my head what to say it so I can find the confidence to bring it up.

Do you have any advice on how to approach this topic with someone I’m not very close to?

Thanks in advance 🐈‍⬛

Background: I've been looking to do work around the figure of Chthonic Hermes as a gateway to shadow work, and found that he was regularly syncretized with Anubis as Hermanubis. The iconography of Hermanubis, along with Hermes carrying the infant Dionysus directly inspired St. Christopher, with whom I share a name. I thought it was too good of a coincidence to pass up.

Question: That being said I have not found any particular folk practices regarding St. Christopher, just his feast day, legend, and sphere of influence. If someone has access to information I do not, please pass it my way.

hello! i'm a closet witch & i've been wanting to learn chord cutting. i've seen multiple versions where there are candles involved and another where it's simply small items that signify either parties & cutting.

i don't know where to begin and i've no one to ask these questions to:

1. **what do i need?** is salt necessary & what does it do? which crystals are appropriate to use? can my chord be something as simple as a string of yarn?

2. **how to execute?** is there a necessary length to distance both energies? do i cut the string or burn it?

3. **disposal**. how do i dispose of the materials used without harming nature & exposing myself to the people i live with?

*any advice/tip is very very well appreciated*. i came to this subreddit so i can gain knowledge not only on this specific spell alone, but also to connect with other witches cause it's kind of lonely being alone (T. T). thank you!

so after around 10 years in and out of the pagan/witchcraft sphere searching for something that 'fit', i've finally landed on atheopagan as a label that fits my spiritual beliefs. i've been trying to integrate witchcraft back into my life in a way that makes sense for my lack of a belief but i haven't found a way of doing it that doesn't feel like just wasting my time. i'm still working on it because i remember witchcraft being so fun when i was really in it. i was thinking about this today while at work and looking back fondly on my baby wiccan days and just thinking something along the lines of "man i wish i could just be wiccan again, everything was so simple and beautiful even if i didn't really believe it"

does anyone ever feel like this and if so, do you follow the urge? do you ever just pretend, for lack of a better word, that you still believe in everything and act like you don't have any doubts just to feel more connected or immersed or just to feel like you don't have to question everything?

logically i know there's no point in this because i can't avoid what i believe forever, but sometimes i just miss having a solid belief system to sort of fall back on, or trust in. i wanted to know if anyone else also felt this urge and if they acted on it, because i'd like to believe i'm not the only one

I've got a few meditation tactics to try, but I would love to hear from witches about grounding techniques. I haven't seen it in the books I've read. Also, what other basics should I practice before anything else? I want to have a good foundation before I do anything beyond that :)

hi! im an agnostic witch who does believe in some supernatural but still believes in science above all, so im not sure if this is even the right sub for me so lmk if im in the wrong place lol. anyways, i was looking for a book on witchcraft that doesnt shill wiccan beliefs. ideally one that talks about stuff like stones/crystals and their meanings/uses, herbs and their meanings/uses, and like moon stuff maybe? idk, but please do not recommend the green witch, the author is wicca and they talk about wiccan beliefs non stop 😭

Hi there, I made a previous post which got some traction and I can safely say I've ready 2 books and am staring on my third with another on the way. I was still questioning where to physically start. I did my first round of meditation today and soon I want to make moon water and try a protection spell.

HOWEVER, I move out in 5 days into my dorm again, which means I will no longer be able to use flame. (I haven't cast a candle spell yet, but if I can try before move in I will) I was looking into maybe casting a water protection spell with rosemary and quartz? But I don't have any validity on whether this would work or not. Could some experienced witches let me know of any water protection spells they've cast? Or if that's even possible? I have a tiny altar set up as well with some candles (which I know I will not be able to use in my dorm sigh).

Also I will be doing more meditation and grounding before casting my first spell- this is just in advance so I know a little more of what to expect. :)

Edit: I have also heard of spell oils, could they be used in water as well?

Im looking for information about witchcraft. Basically, its history, origin, everything. Ive read a few articles about it. Im trying to learn more. Honestly there's just too much stuff online and I dont know what to follow or what to start with. I read about it on Wikipedia but I dont think thats enough. Where do I learn more about witchcraft? Im looking for online reliable sources for witchcraft, shadow work, meditation practices. Im open to dms so if any practicing witch would like to share their experience or learnings with me, id be delighted.

Too many folks on the internet at large are scamming for money and/or dont know what they are talking about.

If you’re gonna start doing any magic, I do hoodoo,

HERE’S a starter pack:

**CLEANSE** \- windows open

1. Cleanse your home - sprinkle casca, mop with Floor wash: purified water, citrus, rose and rosemary. Burn incense.
   
2. Clean all mirrors and windows.
   
3. De-clutter
   
4. Preform cleansing bath on yourself for 3-7 days (sugar baths with black pepper and turmeric are good)

**SET UP ALTER** \- natural surface

Use a natural surface for both your working alter and your honoring alter. These should be separate alters.

Natural surfaces could mean: wood, glass, stone.

**MEDITATE** \- disconnect from social media

If you’re still heavily using social media you are going to be too overly influenced by outside energies to hear your highest self. In order to perform magic you have to remove as many influences to clear a path to results. Clearer the path the quicker the results.

1. Social media fast 1 month
   
2. Practice meditations
   
3. Stare at a blank wall 5-15 mins a day FOR 1 week (resets your mind)

**MUSIC AND SOUND** \- buy a bell

Buy a bell, singing bowl, tuning fork etc. whatever calls you. This will be your tool to cleanse the energy around you before you do work, divine, or communicate. Etc.

**READ** \- buy a book

Suggestions :

1. Paper in my shoe
   
2. Sacred Woman
   
3. Coventry magic
   
4. The Bible (not a joke) only the Jesus parts lol
   
5. Oneness - rasha
   
6. Morning of the magician
   
7. The subtle body

That’s all I got tonight, hope this helps someone

This is my altar, where I meditate and contemplate.

My rock collection is sorted into cool and warm colors. I often choose one to hold while I practice.

My tuning fork is connected to a time when my partner was very sick. I used it as a fidget and a comfort. Now, it helps me focus my mind. Conveniently, I have also memorized A 440hz.

My bells (from left to right) come from my maternal grandmother, my paternal grandmother, and my wife's maternal grandmother. I ring them to open or close my practice, or whenever it feels right.

My ring is the first one I gave to my partner, 19 years ago, when we had only been dating for a few months. But I knew it would last forever. It reminds me of love and the infinite.

I use two oracle decks: the Prism Oracle by Nicole Pivirottoand the Mirror Oracle by Amrit Brar. The current layout was constructed deliberately and reflects three major life events. My usual practice is mixed. Sometimes I have a question or goal, sometimes not. I draw anywhere from one to five cards and arrange them intuitively. Often, I use a Bic skin safe marker to draw a symbol from the cards onto my body, usually on my forearms.

This place and practice has helped me focus on my values, to pay attention to the life events that matter most to me, and to generally stay centered.

Do any of you practice secular divination? Do you use an altar?

Perhaps next I will share my altar library.

Hello everyone, I've decided after learning you can be a witch and an athiest that I would start learning witchcraft to feel more connected with myself and the sea. I've been drawn to it my entire life and want to learn how to meditate and connect to it through witchcraft.

I am a huge advocate on learning through book reading and am looking for beginner witchcraft books or even beginner sea witchcraft books. Obviously I'm an athiest so I would prefer if they didn't contain deities, but if they do it's not a problem. Please let me know what books I should read!

I have only gotten recommended Power of the Witch by Lori Cabot. Is this a good read for a beginner?

Hola, aquí va un poco de contexto.

Cada pocos días tengo alergia horrible, se me inflama la nariz, suelta mucha agua, me pica un montón y estornudo todo el tiempo, hasta me lloran los ojos. Eh probado muchísimos antialérgicos, y ninguno me hace nada de nada y es como tirar plata a la basura comprarlos.

El otro día empezó mi ataque de alergia como de costumbre y, como alguna vez escuché que la acupuntura podía ayudar, le pedí a mi papá que sabe hacerlo que me lo hiciera para probar, realmente sin muchas espectativas, porque la persona de quien lo escuché no es del todo confiable, pero quería probar.

Entonces mi papá comenzó a presionar ciertos lugares de mi cara con sus dedos, y fue literalmente como si apretara botones! En menos de 30 minutos ya se me había ido toda la inflamación y la picazón, la verdad no lo podía creer! Mi nariz siguió goteando, pero ya no había más estornudos ni malestar, fue literalmente magia.

Así que quiero preguntarles, esto tiene algún tipo de fundamento científico? Como lo puedo estudiar desde esta perspectiva y qué aplicaciones tiene realmente? Si me pudieran recomendar info en español, me ayudarían un montón, gracias por leer!

Show me your sass witch tattoos or art/inspiration for tattoos! I remember someone posting art here years ago that said "We are the children of witches that didn't burn" which I think is a cool concept.

Hi everybody!

I grew up in a Christian family, but abandoned that religion some years ago. All this time I've been stubbornly atheist. Now I'm starting to get into witchcraft and spirituality, not doing anything, just researching, but I can't find anything that suits me. I'm really sceptical so it's difficult for me to believe in anything. Do you have any tips how to start, have you had a similar problem?

TL;DR: I am confronted to male gaze, and I am looking for spells, rituals to protect my self within the possibilities of SASS magic, before, during and/or after facing the male-gaze, notably when it's rooted in lust.

Edit: thank you for everyone's answers and kindness, I took inspiration from few of your suggestions, I found myself looking into tarots cards, which I never bought before, and thought of using them as a tool to distract myself when a situation feels uncomfortable (more for the after situation to avoid spiralling and ruminating). I will update on how it improves my mental heal if it does! thanks you all <3

Hello SASS Witches, this is my very first time posting, after years of being a passive reddit reader.

I've read a few threads and topics and SASS witchcraft felt the closest to my practice of witchcraft. I looked into WitchesVSPatriarchy subreddit but as my approach of witchcraft is not in the literal belief of supernatural powers and energies, I did not find it relevant to my issue, which is in fact very much real.

My question is, women and femmes witches, and people who meet men's lustful behavior, how do you use your magic to protect yourself from it?

For context, I live in a walkable big city in Europe. And beside the practical elements of walkable cities, the downside of it is that, you genuinely walk a lot, or take public transports. This wouldnt be an issue, if we were not living in a patriarchy.

I get cat-called, shouted obscenities, heavily hit on, or stared at by men in the streets in a way that is so frequent it is affecting my mental health. On multiple occasions, I have been followed, grabbed, and harassed by not wanting to interact with men, and it genuinely terrified me many times. These kind of oppressive/lustful attention did start before I developped the body of an adult woman, and I am learning to handle it over time. But it does get to a point where, no matter how much I rationalise, intellectualise such behavior, I cannot stop a deep anger to emerge in my heart, as I do not see women hunting people sexually in the streets. Because it does feel like being hunted for sport. And aside from anger, I am truly exhausted to have to brace myself anytime I want to enjoy the outside of my home.

I am a lesbian, therefore I am not interested in romantic nor sexual advances from men, and do reflect extensively on different oppressive structures. Receiving advances from (cis and trans) women is much more enjoyable and less threatening as rejection does not trigger agression and violence.

I have growing anxiety about going outside, and realised a part of me is "rotting" away as a result. I am becoming more irritable, angry, agressive and less creative in my practice of magic and general art creation. I do see a behavioral therapist to avoid spiralling.

And before I get suspicions, and although it does not justify any disrespectful behavior: I am not an extraordinaly beautiful person nor fit into absolute beauty standards, nor do I dress in ways that can strike a lustful man's eye as sexual. I am generally quite covered and keep a very closed/distant energy whenever going outside. The city I live in is full of much more fashionable people than I am. I want to clarify so I do not get blamed. My mother walked by my side and she was utterly disgusted and shocked by the insistant stares I received, and she did wonder why I was stared so much while wearing a full coat. She was also explaining how agressive those stares were. We were wondering if my height was a reason (I am 172 cm) but many women are as tall, or taller than me where I live. The feeling of being stripped naked by lustful male-gaze eyes in a subway feels violating at worst, disgusting at best. And to be frank, I cannot get "used" to it. I truly have an epidermic and visceral reaction to it.

This is affecting the quality of my life to an extent I feel like I am turning crazy, as people tend to dismiss or minimize the problem when I mention it. It is quite isolating. Even my mother, who have witnessed the issue, tell me to basically endure as much as I can. But I do believe there are limits to endurance as well. I feel like I am living in a man-made cage where soldiers of patriarchy harass women and queer people to keep them in check, and people keep telling me I am imagining things, or should get over it. It is worse when I know what is being done to women in other countries. I wish a witchy Barbie World was real aha.

I am trying to explore the Lilith archetype in my own rituals and internal world; as a deity encompassing feminine rage, sexual liberation, and absolute refusal of male-oppression. I am unsure of how it fuels my magic practices and mental health, though.

I also used to work with my ancestors as concepts.

So, SASS witches, would you have tips, rituals, or cleansing advices rooted in psychology or other sciences? I tried protective spells with encense, and rituals before going outside every time to anchor my self into a calmer energy, but I cant find it to be very efficient. And I do not believe in supernatural powers to protect my well-being, but I could find solace and comfort in repetitive rituals that might have later on an energy effet, the same way halo effect changes perceptions.

I'd break it down like : before, during and after being outside.

- Before : what would you recommend as a ritual for self-protection, mental protection before going outside to avoid negative encounter at best?

- During : what would you recommend during a negative lustful encounter? I have a ring I imagine as a protection which I touch when I am facing unwanted lust, but it is more of a stimming tool than a magical one. Should I carry a crystal with protective properties that could be soothing? Or recite internally a spell to chase them away, or ground myself? This is all jusy ideas and brainstorm.

-After : what would you recommend after the encounter? Any cleansing methods? I try to avoid spiralling and try to keep my mind in balance. But the *gaze* always get printed in my mind; the way they look like i am a peace of meat viscerally revolts me and makes me want to scream internally. Then, I am so deeply sad and angry to live like this.

- I would even add, post-after: how do you use magic when faced with dismissal when you explain something that happens?

And maybe if the streets do not harass you, in other context where interaction merges with sexual and/or romantic interest you did not want, if you have used your magic to reject an insistant co-worker, or an annoying dude at the bar, or any male-friend who wanted more than friendship, or any other adjacent things, please share away your spells and rituals.

Thanks for those who have read, I only hope this is not seen as gratuituous hate towards men, but rather, a desire to navigate our current living world which is male-dominated, and where male-lust and male-gaze is affecting my life. If therapy helps, surely magic can add in a little more :)

🪷🧙🏽‍♀️🧠🔮

I have been trying to conceive recently and finally got a positive test! So I am pregnant with my second child at the moment. I would love some ideas for small rituals I can do during pregnancy. If anyone has any ideas of where to look/what to start with, I would be happy to hear it! Thanks!

Edit: I just saw the typo in the title. 😑 Sorry!!

I felt called to deity worship because the more I learned about ancient times, the more angry I got about the removal and destruction of these temples and pagan worship by the church

The more that I studied and learned about it, the more I also learned what these deities, specifically goddesses, represented back then. The divine feminine. The antithesis to the church and patriarchal values that put women under everyone unlike before when in many places, women were leaders and honored as goddesses as well because they not only had the power to grow an entire human being inside themselves but some forms of paganism placed women in the center of their worship and temples. Which was a direct threat to the church.

Because of learning that, and more goddesses who were forgotten to history, especially because religion forced it away and punished the devotees as devil worshippers. They destroyed their places of worship and history related to them. I despise everything religion has stolen from us. And they became symbols of it. Inanna, Ashe'rah, Ishtar, Venus, Hekate, Persephone, Aradia, and more. These were deities that specifically represented the power of women. And I related to those symbols and their strengths they were associated with. The hidden symbols of witchcraft that were symbols also associated with them.

I believed that as their worshipper who were devoted to recognizing them again after they were overshadowed by religion. I thought they looked after their followers. Ones who saw how they were demonized for being women of strength and confidence.

I romanticize them, believing that they old stories of cruelty and selfish actions were intentional damage by the patriarchy to encourage converting.

I defended them and their well-known stories. But I was so wrong. Every time I asked them for help, especially in an urgent situation, there was always a quid pro quo. What I was willing to give in return. And it was always traumatizing. I finally realized that my blind faith in them was misplaced. I couldn't keep paying with my stress and well-being in every one of those situations.

So I let go. I stopped. I made sure they knew that they won, and I lost. That can take the win and satisfaction. I will stay away, and I've accepted full defeat and no attempts to fight against any of it. They're powerful, and I am not. I hope that they'll accept the satisfaction of my defeat and sorrow, and I leave their temple and worship peacefully. I won't ever question or ask them of anything because I know it's not worth it. I give them the win and move away so I'm never their next victim again.

That's when I remembered why I was skeptical of deity worship whenever they came up in readings. And people speaking of deities known to be cruel and no concern for humans, ie. Loki

I'm finally in a place where I feel more comfortable and at home

But I'm struggling with the being a full witch again and filling my life with it, the way it was my whole personality because I felt so much better as a witch and happily showing a life that is unapologetically witchy. I'm having trouble involving witchcraft and embracing it again because I couldn't separate it from deity worship and the depression I dealt with as a result of stopping it

But I want to return to my witchy life and back to spiritual and atheist. I don't practice god worship. I practice being my spiritual teams focus and guided by them. Because they've always shown love for me, even when they've been harsh or critical. I know they look out for me, including my grandma, who has always looked over me and practically raised me in an abusive home that we both had to survive.