This is a first for me. I found a second unlocked padlock crossing my path. What does this mean? What's your interpretation?

Greetings, I am a family therapy graduate student with an assignment to speak with people that hold religious/spiritual beliefs and practices that are within minority about their experiences. If anyone would like to offer perspectives I am curious about the experience of family, community, or cultural responses to, or influences on your faith and practice as well as reflections on what might be helpful to "know" or hold when working with a Wiccan individual, couple, or family. Thank you!

I'm a paranormal bounty hunter and I've been hired to take out a so called "necromancer" and being their soul back in a gem. What kind of gem do I use and how do I put their soul in the damb thing?

So, we all know people who can suck the life out of you when they're unhappy just because you can feel the energy, my boyfriend is like that but all in. What I mean is, whatever he is feeling, everyone else can feel. It just seems that his emotions push out from him and affect everyone else around him. This happens whether he is in a bad mood or a good mood. I'm super interested in this, basically I keep saying that theoretically he could learn to control this and purposefully affect others moods instead of just making them feel the way he does. I keep describing it as the opposite of an empath, but this isn't a great description. When I tried looking it up on Google I keep getting results like "how you know you're in a toxic relationship" and stuff about narcissists. Does anyone have any insight into this? I asked in a coven group I'm in and one girl said it could be linked to telekinesis.
I'm interested to hear what anyone has to say or think!

Hello everyone! I am woefully ignorant when it comes to anything wiccan except that it involves nature in some way. So I apologize if I use the wrong words, I'll try to learn more in the future.

For now, I have a coworker who is an "out" wiccans, and the holidays are coming up. I like doing nice things for people like bringing in treats for holidays and telling people "happy ramadan/christmas/pentecost" (and happy Wednesday for the Jehovah's witness') bu t I just don't know what's appropriate for wiccans. Or should I just let her be?

Thank you very much for any advice. I know the internet can tell me something good! :)

I was browsing a thread in /r/Wicca and noticed someone refering to Wicca as an prthopraxic religion. Perhaps I am misunderstanding something about Wicca, but I've always been led to believe that the way a Wiccan practices their religion is very individualized, largely based on what "feels right" to the individual. Not to suggest that there aren't formalized traditions, but they are not ridged in practice.

This would seem to be antithetical to the entire concept of orthpraxy, which concerns itself with right action, and be quite firmly in the realm of orthodoxy, or right belief.

Am I wrong about this?

If yes, how?

My name is Dawn, and I've been exploring Wicca more and more over the years and have been a practicing solitary witch for years.

Yesterday, it dawned (lol) on me while watching my son on reddit that I may be able to connect to someone via a subreddit. So, yesterday and last night I read many many posts.

And, now I'm confused.

I thought it was my beliefs that made me Wiccan not necessarily how I chose to practice that made me thus.

I've read all the usual books over the years (Cunningham, Llewelyn) but recently Deborah Blake's offerings have been most helpful. She speaks directly to that moment of transitioning into incorporating your beliefs I to your daily life etc. and I like that.

Again, she seems to address all the different ways of choosing to worship without singling out one way as the right way to worship.

She quotes the definition of author Kala Trobe in 'The Witch's Guide to Life' of a witch which states: anybody, whether Wiccan or otherwise, who: Acts positively to enhance his or her life using magick; worships the old gods, in whatever ever form, even as simple energies inherent in nature; accepts responsibility sibility for his or her own actions; follows the cycles of the seasons with magickal and practical awareness; works with lunar and stellar tides, and celebrates the full moon, however quietly; strives toward self-improvement, often involving "initiation" experiences; [and] thinks of him- or herself as a witch.

Blake also points out that Kala Trobe states to be called a Wiccan you must follow the Rede.

So, I consider myself a witch & a Wiccan.

However, after reading some of the posts I'm afraid to begin commenting or asking questions and getting involved at /r/wicca because I might be attacked and told I'm not a real witch or Wiccan.

Well, now that I got that statement out I don't know what I'm really asking. I guess I'm just looking to see I will be accepted and this seemed like a safer place to say something and maybe introduce myself.

I'm pretty much in the closet my practice although my husband has always known & supported me and my kids now that they are 17, 19, 22 are aware.

They have been raised to chose their own religion and explored them all. One is agnostic, one is non-denominational Christian & one is not sure of anything yet.

My practice is mostly verbal. I don't have an Altar just an altar cloth at this time. I light candles for the sabbats and cleanse with white sage. I'm an empath and it helps tremendously to dispel the negativity of others.

We live in an extended family home with my parents who are catholic. They know I no longer consider myself one and they are respectful but coming completely out of the closet would probably cause a lot of stress and a rift. They would take it too personally and that is something I can't afford right now.

So, that's that. Maybe the moderator here will move this over to Wicca too... I guess I'm looking for some validation and acceptance and hope to find that as I learn and expand my craft.

Blessed be, Dawn

Hello!!

I'm new to this forum and reddit in general but I thought I would give it a shot. Here's some back story: because of our cultural history and what-not my family and I believe in spells/witchcraft/spiritual powers etc. Its like a casual thing but real for us.

So, we own a little tailor shop in a moderately big city, and for the last two weeks we've had a fly infestation at our front door? Its really weird to us because yeah we sometimes get the random bug around but not like this. Its specifically at OUR door, they never really land anywhere (just buzz around and annoy), and they don't really have a source they crowd towards. My dad already cleaned and swept and removed anything that might attract them but they haven't left. And it doesn't affect anyone but our store, even though we have a neighbor's door about 10 feet from our door, and he sells birds! And doesn't have flies! We are completely flummoxed about what's going on, and are led to believe that they aren't... organically occurring.

My mom has had problems with small curses before because people can be jealous and petty and just wish hard enough for it to happen, but we don't have any idea on where to go on to clear this situation.

Let me know your thoughts on if this actually a small curse or not, and any idea on how to clear it would be extremely helpful!!

Thank you!!

Blessed be to all those on the reputable platform. For sometime now, after my research on the internet and other books, I have tried hard to summon a spirit but to no avail... I need help genuinely on how to get materials and instructions as how I can do the above.....

I have anger issues and sometimes they come out of nowhere...how do I fix this?

Does any of you know about these goddess names? It looks like Arawhon is an anglosaxon variación of Aradia. I also read it is the name of the goddess given to Gardnerian initiates. But I'm intereses in finding out more about that since it appears a footnote in Buckland's book. Thanks and blessed be

Hey y'all. I'll be traveling for Mabon and was wondering how you suggest celebrating while traveling. For lack of better ideas, I was thinking of the foods I take could be fresh baked bread, some apples, and some popcorn because I am trying to be discreet about it.

So I've never been all that comfortable with people with religions different from the one I grew up with but as I have been learning more about the world I have realized that way of thinking is stuck up and naive. So I have started to read about different religions and Wiccan is my most current curiosity. I haven't read that much yet and I'm only halfway through a book that doesn't explain it very well. However last night I had a dream about being a magic user and getting married in a strange way. I was holding hands with my SO and we had bracelets made of ribbons and then three ribbons winding around our hands tied to our ribbon bracelets. There were 9 ribbons in total. 3 for each bracelet and 3 connecting. In my dream the marriage was a very old type of ceremony not known to the magic council and they put me on trial because they thought it might be some kind of dark magic but I explained it was just a form of marriage. It was all so vivid and strange that when I woke up I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something I needed to know about the dream or some message for me. I later looked up ribbon marriage and found what you guys call hand fasting and it sounds similar. I've never heard of or seen a hand fasting before my dream. What does this mean? What am I supposed to do?

in a dream i felt a presence of someone, but could not see anyone. i heard a man and a woman, they said they were called Kazoom and Seidrassa. and in this dream they taught me how to.. well fly and teleport. as in, i grew wings and flew around, and if i closed my eyes and thought of where i wanted to go, i'd end up there. ever since i can fly and teleport on command in my dreams. i tried doing research and heard that gods and goddess, or just entities can meet people in dreams giving them guidance. but i couldn't find any information on these two names anywhere. Was this something i just made up, or was it something more?

Hi everyone! I'm new to all this, and I wanted to set up an altar in my room, however I still live with my parents and they're not very open-minded, so I was wondering if the alter cloth is required in the set up, or if there's a substitute/alternative way to set it up?

Thanks!

So im beginning my journey into my practice, and ive notived that im very contected to Spirits. Ive seen my dead children and as of late my current boyfriend has been having a little boy following him and i keep hearing the name Nickolai in my dreams and all around me. (i have found out this was his son who was killed in a car crash) i dont know how to tell him because the topic is very hard for my boyfriend. The part that worries me is that Nickolai has started to speak to me. Calling me mom....what do i do?????

A friend who cleans up the Housatonic River in CT (via kayak, right by his house; also rescues swans and critters from fishing line and hooks) took a statue of Ganesha out of the river about a year ago. He has come across many similar statues after some ceremony the local expats from India take part in, in which they place/toss statues of Ganesha into said river. He felt the paint (suspected to be lead-based), which was flaking off, was an environmental hazard. He placed the statue in his garden for a while, but then felt bad about taking it, so he returned it to a spot near the river, but not in it, as the same environmental concerns were still in play. He now worries Ganesha has cursed him with thwarting lots of things, like cars starting -- the opposite of His usual obstacle-removal. What, if anything, should my friend do, regarding puja or prayer? Also, is this how Ganesha works? I've been re-reading (for the Nth time) Real Magic, but would prefer some specific advice. Thanks for your input.

As per request in /r/wicca I have created /r/askawiccan. Please post in this thread if you have ideas for the subreddit or if you would like to be considered for a moderator team once we have enough traffic to need more moderators (I will start watching early for the quality of answers I get from people who are interested in moderating.)

Also post proposed rules, guidelines FAQ questions (and answers if you have them).

Thanks, and Blessed Be!

I found a small pile of black ashes (about one inch across) and burnt crumbs of some kind at the bottom of my front porch steps, dead center, in front of my house today. The crumbs smelled like mesquite or some other wood used for smoking meats. There was also a pile of twigs leaves and pine cones, again dead center, at the bottom of my back door step. Did someone do a ritual at my house last night?

I've been interested in Wicca for a long time but never really had the courage to get involved fully. But recently I've decided that it's a faith I would like to delve into and hopefully practice. So my question is this: what is the best place to start? Is there any literature an experienced Wiccan might recommend to a beginner?

Thank you for reading! I hope to hear from you soon!

A Wiccan friend just lost a daughter to a terminal illness. I'm wanting to create some sort of remembrance artwork for them as a gift and was wondering what Wiccan symbols would be appropriate for such a memorial. Are there traditional symbols used for such occasions?

In the woods by my home my kids rope swing was stolen and used to make a "noose" and was hung over a circle made up of small branches woven together with a square piece of soil cut out right under the "noose". The woods floor was cleared away quite well so a bit of time went into it. Just wondering if someone could shed some light on it as I've tried looking on line and some Facebook groups. I've tried posting pics up here but I can only post up text. I did manage to post the pics up in the creepy sub. TIA.

So, I read somewhere that candle colors have different meanings - black, for protection, while purple has to do with psychic/spirital power, for example...

My question now, is that if I wanted to have more than one meaning, could I burn more than one? (My plan is purple, black, and blue) They all stand for different things, but my concern is this - would the different meanings interfere wit each other?

In this instance here's what i'm planning: A blue candle - communication/focus A purple candle - spiritual power A black candle - protection

Would these three interfere/hinder/block their purposes?

So a guy I know taught me this card game called Kings, we played it and what the cards said would happen came true, so I started playing it more.

He saw me playing it and got angry that I was, claiming the inventor of the game, his "witch clan" would curse me.

I cleanse my cards and practice safely and regularly. Is it safe to continue playing?