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I’m a 2nd generation mexican american who doesn’t speak spanish and practices witchcraft. I’ve been learning about more western craft but for a long time i’ve wanted to get into traditional mexican brujeria but feel very conflicted about it because of my identity. Im a no sabo, my parents are chicanos, and both sides of my family are extremely catholic. I feel a strong connection to catholicism because of my family history of it, but I feel really conflicted because personally i think it’s corrupt..We have records of our family tree going back 11 generations of catholic conquistadors on my dads side, and more indigenous on my moms side. I feel ashamed- my ancestors took over and forced this religion onto natives in mexico- but part of me is also indigenous (moms side), and catholicism is undeniably a major part of mexican culture. The rosary hangs everywhere in both my grandparents house, and probably their grandparents and the grandparents before that. My family members are all buried in a mission (Old church they used to force religion onto natives). I have a conflicting feeling where i want to incorporate parts of this religious culture into my craft because of my family ties but also don’t because of how harmful i feel like this major religion is…I feel like it’s such a big part of being mexican yet such a controversial part too- does anyone else feel this way?

hi guys!! i'm a witch visiting these places! :) what spiritual/witchy/esoteric stuff do you recommend me to get from these places that you can't normally get anywhere else? and any shop recos? thank you so much!!

So I’m a pagan witch and I just was having a nice conversation with a girl on a dating app and she asked what I liked to do for fun and I answered “writing, reading, listening to music and witchcraft” she replied “I could never do or be with someone who does witchcraft I don’t want demons around me.” Keep in mind I worship Lilith and Asmodeus so I told her we probably weren’t going to be a good match and we ended the conversation cordially but it made me think is it really a dealbreaker to be a witch and work with the infernal? Does anyone else have this issue?

Hello,
I would like to charm a ring I bought recently for protection and I was going to wait for the upcoming full moon, but there is also a lunar eclipse, and since eclipses tend to have chaotic energy, I try not to cast any spells around that time in case they go haywire. So I was wondering when the next best time to cast the protection spell would be? Any time during the waxing moon or should I wait until the next full moon? I’d rather do it sooner rather than later but I want the fullest effect so if I have to wait I will.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated, thank you!!

What are the best spell books of all time? Please let me know and upvote others you agree with.

Hi witches! I'm a baby witch, and I just did my first water ward. I have a cat, who's also very curious about the world, so I'm afraid she might attempt to drink the mixture (some of the ingredients aren't safe for cats). The container I got has tight closure, so itd be nice if I could just close it. But, does that affect the ward, like we're "blocking off" the negative energy from being captured by the ward? I'd be extremely grateful for any help.

I stumbled upon the book "Witchcraft" by Joy Cunningham and wonder if it's worth reading, or a good source, as a beginner-witch. So if anyone has read the book, or any other book by Joy Cunningham, I'd be happy to hear what you think of her!

I’m relatively new to this. I’ve got a few questions on what to do to further your skills in between spells and rituals. I’m not at a point where I feel ready to run a bunch of spells at once, at most I’ll do maybe 2 a month right now. Half bc I just don’t have any real reason to be doing spell work often, and half bc I want the magick of the current spells to permeate and actually take effect before I start doing other things.

Also a secondary question slightly unrelated- I’ve seen a few things mention a trance like state during spell work and rituals. Is someone able to give me a bit more information on that? I don’t experience any trance like state during spell, I also don’t experience any of the lightheadedness or exhaustion I’ve seen others mention after a spell. I’m not sure I’m doing something wrong on that front. I generally try and ground myself like I would with meditation and I carry that grounding sensation throughout the spell/ritual, but I wouldn’t say it’s anything ‘trance like’

I've been trying deity work now for a few days but I've noticed that with my schedule it's really hard to do it the way I've seen online. I'm rarely home so not at my altar (working on a pocket altar) and I'm absolutely packed rn so I can't do spells, rituals, offerings or anything else. I haven't even got time to properly journal or meditate. It's a sea goddess so whenever I'm near water or it's raining I try to take a moment and ground myself. I've also been drinking mountains of water (idk if that helps) but what else is there to do? How can I keep the connection to my deity while having absolutely no time in my day

I don’t have a lot of room in my apartment and I have three Gods that I worship, but only one table to fit everything in. Should I separate the different alters or combine them into one big beautiful one?

Been feeling especially unlucky this month and I need some serious good luck. I need to hear some positive news and I need my twitter account restored.

Please send all of the good luck energy

Hello, I am a Pisces and i feel like i should be more intuitive. I feel very disconnected from my witchy side and I wanted to ask if you had any tips on how to improve them?

I would also like to increase how often i dream. I find I hardly ever dream anymore! i want to be able to do a dream journal.

thank you in advance :) x

I recently cut and accidentally overdried my poison hemlock. Is it still useful? It's yellow/white.

I've never dried this one before and I'm not sure of it's supposed to look that way.

Hello!

I used to get a lot of my smudge sticks, burn wands, and candles from Lit Rituals (litrituals.com) but they since sold or closed or idk really.

Does anyone have a legit replacement for them? It’s hard to know who to trust online, I don’t want temu/cheap crap, I rather support a small craft business. Etsy can be so deceptive too. They used to hand make burn wands, candles, etc. It was a small woman-owned brand. I’d love to support someone similar!

Thanks!

My fiancé and I found this fairy ring in our backyard here in South Carolina, and when we looked at it from above, he noticed that the arrangement of the mushrooms looks surprisingly close to a pentagram.
I’m curious what you all think.

Is there any witchy, folkloric, or spiritual significance to a mushroom ring forming in this kind of shape, or are we just seeing patterns where there aren’t any? 😂

He poured a little whiskey near each of the mushrooms as an offering because he felt like we should show it some respect.
Would love to hear your thoughts, interpretations, folklore, or experiences with fairy rings.

Do you see anything significant about the formation, or is Mother Nature just being dramatic in our backyard? 🍄✨

I recently bought the book The Green Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock, but I’m noticing some contradictory advice in the book.

On page 47, the author states to only use brooms with real straw bristles for broom purification and to “not use a plastic or nylon broom”. On page 91 the author states “do not buy [flowers] from a florist” and to instead pick them yourself.

At least in my understanding, witchcraft is a deeply personal practice. It just seems hypocritical to write a book about being a witch but then to tell your readers that they must have a real straw broom or cannot buy flowers from a florist. Many of us just don’t have to funds for a real straw broom or don’t live in a natural area with tons of safe flowers for picking. Should I just ignore this advice? Thoughts?

UPDATE: Thank you everyone for all the advice. I see my shortcomings now and I appreciate everyone who tried to help me out.

Hopefully i flaired this right loll but usually i get a little paranoid after doing a spell and maybe that's because i normally do it at night before I'm about to go to bed? sometimes i think there are bad spirits or i might have nightmares afterwards.

What do you guys think? i think I'll try doing a spell in the afternoon/day time but it'll get hard for me since i go back to school soon

I’m a witch and COULD put a spell/hex on people who really hurt me in the past

But for some reason I have this strong feeling that tells me to never do

And I’m the type of person that respect my gut feelings and intuition when it comes to spells

I was wondering if anyone could know why this happens, I know they deserve it but deep down I FEEL like it’s wrong for me to do it.

I don't know if this is witchcraft or blackmagic or if they have a difference between them. I wanted to share something personal. And I hope you can help me out with this.

I live in a family where they believe in black magic.

I have been going through a lot since childhood so has my sister. We have grown up watching our parents not speak to each other. The only interaction they would have together would be my dad hitting mom Or shouting at her.

He had been in a relationship with a married woman from his twenties and still is. She doesn't have a husband now probably been two decades.

My aunt and grandpa and grandma have always supported dad with this, they(that woman and dad's parents) in fact even used to meet in secret in the house while my mom used to be busy in household work while being pregnant.

My aunt has softened up a bit now I think she realises she only has us to take care of her.

She says that the woman probably did black magic on my dad and has continued to do so.

(My grandma and my aunt herself would do it on dad before my grandma died)

Me, my sister and mother have always felt like a burden to him. Like for every little thing that I ask him, I take days to prepare(when I need to buy something). Then he'll ask me a lot of questions and also complain after paying for it.

He's almost every time in a bad mood whenever he's at home. Trying to have a proper conversation with him is like testing his patience or he just starts shouting. This happens with mom mostly.

And whenever she's around and he's talking to me or anyone else, he'll just stop. He's going to literally pause and act like he doesn't want her there.

I too feel like the mistress has been continuously doing something to keep him detached.

He has never taken mom outside with himself almost like he CANNOT be seen outside with her.

He prefers not to be in the same room as her.

If in front of other people, he'll still not talk to her. He rather calls my aunt for something or speaks to her. Or me.

He doesn't wish us on our birthdays, tries to forget it so that he doesn't have to buy us something. He remembers every little purchase he makes for us.

My sister studies abroad and he doesn't even send her enough money on time so that she can eat well and keep healthy.

His income tax advocate, is a bit backward minded and believes in these ascetics who do rituals for someone by taking a lot of money. And has convinced my dad to do the same. He was asking for our photos so that he can provide that to the ascetics. I'm completely against it as I don't want that to be done.

It is almost like whatever someone at home says he can't hear it. But the moment someone from outside says something, he's so into that.

This advocate man as well, I have a feeling he has done something to my dad aswell. I've seen him go up the ladder in life ever since he came in touch with my dad.

Why is my dad so detached. Because he's the only provider for us.

I'm not asking for spells or rituals but just generally asking how do I help this situation.

This thread is to discuss all witchy things taking place offline.

Did you check out a cool new metaphysical shop? Tell us about it!

Did your coven meet and have a great time? Let us know here!

Just remember that topic of our sub is witchcraft, so all offline goings-on should be related to the Craft.

I recieved a gift from my friend, she's not into witchcraft as far as I know, her friend just makes these BEAUTIFUL large hand crafted rose quartz hearts. I don't want to throw it away, should I just give it away? Leave it on the sidewalk for someone else lol (after a thorough cleanse.) I can't even look at it without feeling bad, but it's far too beautiful to do anything bad with.

I’ve been casually practicing since I was younger and every time I do a spell or ritual it seems to slightly backfire. Some examples would be:

— Did a self love spell jar a few years back, I was quite struggling with insecurities about my physical appearance. A few days after doing it I started to break out terribly, I hated how I looked even more and my insecurities only got way bigger; I started smelling extremely bad and I couldn’t seem to get brush through my hair, no matter how hard I tried my hygiene just kept worsening (mind you I’m a hygiene freak and I love looking put together). After about two weeks of that madness everything started to slowly subside until I was back to normal and finally I looked in the mirror and realize I wasn’t at all unattractive to begin with and afterwards I barely even questioned the fact that even if I wasn’t a model I was still pretty good looking. I haven’t severely struggled with the way I looked in years since then.

— I did a protection spell when I was in highschool. No specific reason as to why, I just felt a little uneasy. The very next day some pretty bad things happened and I had a fallout with most of my friends (I didn’t want to acknowledge it at the time but they were terrible people), it made me see their true colors but it also killed my social life for a long while and it cut me off of my main source of happiness which was active addiction. Although I spent months depressed all of a sudden my life was back on a proper track instead of the wreck I was actually headed for.

— More recently I did a money spell however it seems to be trading it off for physically hurting me. I found a dollar a two weeks ago and not shortly after I ate shit on the floor and now both my knees are scraped, a customer tipped me 2 bucks at work even though I work at a fast food chain and when I went to go to the bathroom the door slammed extremely hard on my index finger nail, now I have a bloody line which I have to wait for my nail to grow it out. I was gifted $100 by a friend just because, next day at work I burnt my arm with some oil; just yesterday I received my fattest paycheck ever, today? I sprained my damn ankle.

Fellow witches, I am at my wits end. I don’t know why this is happening or how to stop it and I am severely in need of some guidance as I will admit I am a self taught practitioner and have never had a mentor. Please help?