Any witches here?

[speakout]

Or Wiccans. or Pagans?

I was raised as a witch- my grandmother was born in 1890 and taught me how to scry, knotwork, many magical activities. She was a dresser of the dead and a lay midwife ( before the NHS).
I now practice my craft with enthusiasm.
A little tricky as my extended family are not supportive.

waves Im a witch. I know things before the happen, or while they are happening elsewhere. I feel spirits. I stopped doing witchcraft for a long time but in the last couple of years I've started a little bit again. These days I mostly just meditate on my intentions, so I'll meditate on wanting to protect a person and I'll surround them with a protective light, etc.
The women on my mum's side of the family are a bit witchy in my opinion. We will walk into each others houses and start talking about the exact thing that they were talking about. Also, I think I must just mentally scream because my ex/fwb/whatever often answers things that I've only thought. He's a skeptic so I haven't pointed out to him that he's doing it

Actually, while I'm here, I have a friend who's had a run of bad luck and illness. I don't know if someone is sending negativity her way deliberately or what. I suggested a witch bottle to provide some protection. Any other smart, simple, ideas for anything that might help? I'm going to try to go round next week and smudge the place. She is a sex worker so has a lot of strangers in and out of her home and I wonder if there's a build up of their energies that is causing her illness and crappy time?

Thank you all for being so kind I don’t dare repeat the story in RL as people are too keen to give alternate explanations for everything.

Sometimes it’s just better to believe that there are things going on that are much bigger than all of us, makes the every day problems seem insignificant and gives me a feeling of security.

Looking forward to checking in on this thread regularly

She is a sex worker so has a lot of strangers in and out of her home and I wonder if there's a build up of their energies that is causing her illness and crappy time?

I think so unfortunately.
And I mean that with no moral judgement- simply the act of aligning our sexual energies will allow negativity from others to invade her.
She won;t even know the energy she is inviting into her body and home.

Unless she has the ability to protect herself, to banish and cleanse then it could well be the reason for her bad luck.

I entirely agree with speakout. When we sleep with people our energies align with theirs, and we can pick up stuff that is not ours and carry it around with us.

If she is going to continue the work, she will need to learn to protect and cleanse herself. I have found cord cutting to be helpful, to free myself from ties I picked up before I learned how to protect myself. I called on Archangel Michael to help with this, because I work in the Spiritualist tradition (and he is an amazing protector/banisher of evil and mischief), but I would guess that others who follow other paths could request help from the deities/guides/helpers etc they usually work with or who resonate with them.

I think in her line of work she needs to be healing herself too. Clear boundaries and stuff. Maybe she gets people coming with wrong intentions too.

Maybe she gets people coming with wrong intentions too.

Unfortunately I can't imagine many coming with "good" intentions.

Hello, can I join you please?
I wouldn't call myself a witch because I don't wish people to define or make assumptions about me from what they think a witch is.
I see myself as a very natural, feelings and intuition lead person. I feel the power of my intentions coming to fruition when I focus on them and see and feel sign posts in life that guide me. I love cooking, baking and creating things from plants that I've grown or foraged.
I respect other people's religious views but for me the idea of gods and goddesses are more useful imagery and metaphor to visualise our intentions and the energy in the world. I love science and the idea that we are constantly learning and gaining more understanding about the world too so I guess my beliefs sit somewhere in the middle.
I also get the thing where people answer my question when I've only said it in my head. I'm also able to make myself 'invisible' in that if I want to keep to myself I can make it so that people don't notice me. Not great for others when I eventually do want to interact and I startle them! I'm always making my OH jump!
A few years ago I became a mother and it's been a tiring transition into this stage so magically I've been rather quiet while I grieve for my maiden stage and learn to embrace being a mother. I knew I would only have one child so I put a heck of a lot of energy and effort into making him including mediating on my body choosing all the best genes to use making him and that he would be a sagitarian. I wanted him to have the very best of everything I had to give if that makes sense and I suffered with both physical and spiritual exhuastion for quite some time.
I was wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences and would mind sharing anything that helped them transition from one life stage to another?

Billydessert hi and welcome.

I am a scientist, an atheist and a witch.
I do work with god and goddess and god energies but as archetypes.

I am in transition from mother to crone- and it's a very exciting time for me.
Transitions can be hard, it was hard for me to move from Maiden to Mother too, I can only suggest that you nurture yourself, drop your standards - a perfect mother is neither attainable nor desirable.
Over time I found motherhood was the most nurturing time.

In nurturing my children I found myself nurtured too and am coming to the end of this stage having had a profound personal transformation.

Thank you Speakout.

Don't worry, I'm keeping my standards in check! I'm naturally a perfectionist but I've learnt over the past few years that less than perfect still has worth and can sometimes be preferable.
That's a great point about nurturing oneself. It can be easy to forget when you're mothering and nurturing someone else I think.

How's the weather for everyone at the moment? Here we've had a week of heavy oppressive air which breaks out as storms every few days. The storms and the rain have felt wonderfully cleansing!

Billydessert weather here has been cool for most of the week- no storms unfortunately, but dense mist which has lingered for most of the day all week.
We get great banks of haar ( sea mist) rolling in from the sea here ( I'm in the North East) so that has kept temperatures cool.
Also unspeakably beautiful sunrises as the watery sun creep up beyond the treetops and the mist cloaks everything.
Sun has just popped out now- and it's nearly 6pm!

I have recently become a mother and find it such a magical time.
Creation > Nurturing > Him living off my body (bf) > growth.

Totally exhausted but more fulfilled

cheshiremama89 yes I found it magical too- growing a baby, giving birth, making milk to feed a baby.
All miraculous. I found motherhood increased my personal power profoundly. A transformation that has been a permanent change.

Congratulations!!

Fertility and fecundity are at the heart of goddess energy after all, so no surprise we can feel her energies so strongly at this time.

The Haar sounds beautiful. I'm in the midlands so miss the sea and influence.

Cheshiremama, yes it's definitely a fulfilling experience and empowering. So glad you are enjoying being a mother. A wise man once told me I needed to look after myself even more now I'm a mother and he was so right.

@speakout @Billydessert thank you both.

Wise words, I do try to look after myself but it's so hard as I can't help but put him first.

I'm trying to nourish my body with good food and am treating myself to a long shower when my mum can watch him for 30 mins

Any magical tips on how I can look after myself/him and my family would be wonderful.

Since having him I've felt very protective and have had some frightening dreams.

cheshiremama89 I used to ( and still do) punctuate my days - however busy- to nurture myself.

Food and sleep are important, but also are little ways of reminding yourself that you are important too.
In fact we become better mothers if we nurture ourselves too.
So take a second to put on some soothing music, light a scented candle, put a few drops of lavender in the bath.
I know it's very difficult to find time as a new mother, but just a few small gestures to ourself remind us that we are important.

The dreams you speak of are not unusual at all when we have a baby- and many new parents have disturbing, violent dreams or even thoughts about our new baby coming to harm.
I have spoken to other new Mums about this and it seems a common thing.
I think it's just part of our subconscious trying to make sense of this profound shift and massive emotional situation that new love for a baby brings.
I told my OH of these feelings a few weeks after having our first baby- I was confused and upset for even thinking these things.
OH confessed to having similar thoughts, and once we had a discussion and acceptance of our feelings and dreams they stopped.

I am sure the bad dreams will stop for you too soon.

And we have had a thunder storm today - so exciting!!

Thank you @speakout it seems you know exactly what I mean.

I will try and incorporate more things for myself in every day life, I've just bought a new book and reading used to be my favourite pastime pre baby, and so any moments I get I'm reading!

Looking forward to this storm! I hope it's over where I am! X

Hello folks,
On Sunday I got to go to one of our local stone circles, Boscawen- Un (pronounced Boskanoon). It's a very powerful place, and you can feel the energy coursing through it - it's actually on the Mary strand of the Michael/ Mary ley line, and it was full of bluebells. It's always my "go to" place when asking for a relationship, probably because the standing stone in the centre looks like a great big dick . Last time I asked it for something, it was to get laid again, and it worked within weeks! This time I asked for the right person to enter my life, so let's see, shall we....

Hi, I have been reading this with great interest and was hoping that I could ask a question - if you cast a spell and it works how/who can you thank?

This is a fascinating post thank you so much for starting it. Just marking my place while I go back and RTWT!
Like some of you, there's a female history in my family of various forms of divination (tea leaves, playing cards etc) and just knowing! I have tarot, have done spells in the past (drew my ex before I met him- since learnt to be careful what I wish for!), like crystals, the moon, nature etc. It's a private thing for me too.. right, going back to catch up before I carry on! Thanks again for the thread 🙏

Currently holed up in a great B&B in mid Wales. Looking forward to the Occult Conference in Montgomery this weekend.

Genghis. Who or what you thank depends on who or what you used! If you asked a deity or ancestor etc
for help then obviously you thank them. If it was just energy manipulation then there may be nothing to thank.

Hi, thank you for answering I asked for luck and confidence to help someone pass their theory test. They had not studied and they were panicking and it was very doubtful that they would pass. I asked for help and they passed . I am amazed and feel that I should thank everyone in this post for the positive vibes on this post and maybe someone or something "higher".

Genghis- I agree with Elphame- there is not always someone or something to thank.
Sometimes there may be if you are working with deities.
I don't give thanks after spell work, but I do mark the sabbats as a way of giving general thanks for my life and abundance.
I will mark festivals by giving offerings - I light a candle, pick a few flowers, herbs, incense etc and lay them on my altar, you can use a window ledge or a table if you don't have an altar.
I celebrate some of the bigger festivals by having a special meal, making special food and having friends around, I may decorate the house and porch too.

I see this as a way of thanking the Earth, the Universe, deities, ancestors and all us living things.

someone or something "higher"

Many of us don't think there is anyone "higher".
We are all immanent.
We are the goddess.