Alright brujitas, I’m not quite sure how often studyblr would cross with witchblr. But what I do know is a lot of witches, me included, have limited space and need our precious tables or nightstands for our every day objects. Altars are traditionally a desk of some sort, with flat surface space for all necessary items and a storage space for items not currently in use (spare candles, matches, etc).
I want to say that a lot of the “best” and idolized altars are giant wood desks with statues and figures, crystal grids of all specimens, and candles upon candles with plenty of space for a thick grimoire. But this isn’t necessary, it’s difficult to maintain (especially college kid witches, apartment dwellers, and more), it also isn’t really better than any other altar. What works for your space and your abilities is what is best for you! For some of us, a cork board altar would be a great place to start.
How to use:
I say “altar” because it could be used as an extension to your grimoire, if you are someone who loves theorizing then it could easily be used to connect and visualize your thoughts or findings before you write them. If you have an altar with limited space, having a cork board near the altar for current spell workings would also be fantastic!
*Make sure your cork board is properly secured to the wall, and that your pins are sturdy
What to pin:
Any papers relevant to your studies is an obvious go to, but here are some tips to make it a bit more unique and witchy:
Pouches: Small pouches meant to be stuffed into gift bags or for herbs would be perfect to store here. They don’t weigh a thing and be easily secured with pins while maintaining easy access to the materials inside. You can store herbs, flowers, some offerings, crystals, or various candles in these pouches. If you find pouches small enough, you could also make a quick crystal grid.
Sigils: Cork boards are perfect for sigils, and you have wider options than just pinning up one drawn on paper. You can make your sigils from formations of the pins (and when the pins are actually used and the sigil is broken up, you can consider it activated then). Or, if you like being crafty, a really quick string art of your sigil can be done in seconds (all you need now is embroidery floss).
If you do happen to be studying for something, you can use your cork board to post all of the needed information and use it as a charging station to aid in your studies. Part of being a witch is to set yourself up for success after all, and having your information in a location you are going to visit every day is a pretty solid step to take.
And of course, images. You do not need a big fancy statue, when you can easily find a historical art concept of your deities. Or brilliant pictures of the animals, planets, etc that you use in your craft. This is a much cheaper alternative and easier to move on from if your craft is ever adjusted. Tip – make a collage on your cork board as an offering to one of your deities.
Don’t forget the decorations! You can also add strings and ribbons, dried flowers, pendants, among other things to the board.
being a witch and living in a tiny dorm or apartment is a hassle… but here’s some (cheap and easy) tips to make your life a lot easier coming from a college witch!
quick note: if you are a student, you can get six months free of amazon prime with a student email account, and from then on out prime is only $50 instead of $100! amazon is a great place for tons of cheaper witchy resources (and really worth it for textbooks).
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crystals! whether you’re sharing a room with someone or in a room by yourself, plenty of people collect and use crystals. check for local flea markets or see if there is an occult shop in your area, there’s bound to be some there. great starter crystals are clear quartz (an essential crystal), amethyst, and rose quartz!
📚 the library! your school library will have some sort of resources. also don’t worry about people thinking you’re strange for checking out books on magick… i promise they don’t care!
🕯 candles and incense! when i lived in a dorm, i hated not being able to light candles and burn incense. invest in some battery powered candles! you can get packs at local dollar stores or walmarts. as for aroma related magick, purchase some oils and mix them with some salt water and spray them around your room! oil warmers or wax warmers are also wonderful alternatives.
📖 a grimoire/book of shadows! i highly suggest keeping a personal book. no, you don’t have to get some elaborate leather bound book that came straight out of hocus pocus for it to be legit. you could find a sketchbook somewhere, use a three ring binder, or buy a hardback book at a thrift store and paint over the pages! your book is what you make of it. it is your own novel of personal magical experiences and knowledge, so make it your own!
🌵 plants! invest in cacti and succulents especially if you are a beginner or live in a tight space, they’re easy to manage throughout the rough mishaps and late nights of school work. cacti are great for protection and banishing negativity, where succulents bring love and healing. both plants can represent the ability to survive through conditions others cannot. if you have a balcony, take advantage!
⚗️ jars! now is a great time to collect containers from thrift stores, gather old pickle jars, and look for sales and coupons craft stores may have since most of them will have all sorts of neat jars.
🔮 an altar! if you don’t have a roommate to worry about, great! do your thing. if you do (and the don’t exactly seem cool with the whole witch thing), you can make a subtle altar of candles, crystals, and some plants or flowers. they don’t have to be elaborate. you could keep a small altar in a shoe box or draw one in your bos/grimoire! get creative!
✍️ sigils! use sigils. abuse sigils. put them everywhere. write them in binders or on your skin, write them on sticky notes or ripped paper and put them places you’ll see them or bury them outside. sleep with a protective one under your pillow. there’s so many things to do and its so easy to use them!
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get creative! you can make crystals out of salt (another thing you should invest in), learn how to read playing cards if you can’t afford a tarot deck, and never forget you can find the coolest things at thrift stores. paint can be your best friend!
☕️ tea and coffee! a keurig is a wonderful investment. whether you like coffee or tea, it gives you boiling water fast without leaving a dorm. enchant your keurig and remind yourself of the properties in your drink to help you learn.
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decorating! take advantage of things like twinkle lights and washi tape! if you don’t know about washi tape, its a decorating tape that does not damage walls. create constellations or sigils with washi tape on your walls! amazon also sells many cheap tapestries. give yourself a comfortable and pleasant space to live and work!
⏳ plan! enchant your planners to help you remember due dates, and while you’re at it, keep track of moon phases and other events! many calendars will tell you when full moons are.
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meditate! this is something i find very important to stay sane during hard semesters. if you have a roommate, maybe meditate in the morning or late at night laying in bed. you could also meditate when they have classes. its okay if you cant every day, but its important to remember to save time for you.
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walks! if you live in a dorm there’s a big chance you’ll be walking to class. enjoy these walks with nature, read outside every now and again, but make sure that you are always safe.
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take your time! you do not have to collect all of these things in a week, month, or even year. witchcraft is all about intent and energy. you hold the power, the items are only there to help. manifest your own power, collect at your own pace.
🔎research! always research properties of things. buy cheap dried herbs from grocery stores and work with them, figure out what to put in your coffee to help you with your day, and learn how to enchant crystals to help you feel a little more confident about your studies. most importantly, learn to balance your studies and your witchy research, and don’t let witchcraft get in the way of your schoolwork. school should come first always!
i hope this helped some of you college witches, new and experienced! i am always open to answer questions! happy casting!
Magic resources for all my student witches out there! Remember, magic isn’t going to save your grades if you don’t also put the effort in. But it can certainly support you through your journey as a hardworking student ❤
I want a college course that’s like “History: Whites Lies” that goes and talks about all the stuff aboriginal and eastern cultures found out before white people
Like I just read that mathematicians in India found out the earth spins on an axis and revolves around the sun long before Copernicus and Galileo
Like
Why can’t I learn this instead of white washed history
it’s finally back to school time for most of us and, at least for me, it’s also time to start good habits, crack down on the bad ones, and just begin to prepare for the year ahead. i’ve been in school for a couple of weeks now and, so far, i’m doing pretty good. below, i’ve compiled some simple tips that help me in day to day life that i would love to share. so let’s get cracking:
prepare outfits and pack your backpack on sunday instead of in the morning. i know for a fact you have more time on sunday to prepare your outfits and pack your backpack than on monday morning so planning in advance will most definitely benefit you. instead of running around in circles trying to find that shirt, hang them up in the front of your closet or place them in the top of a drawer on sunday. and instead of throwing random pens in a bag, pack your backpack and put it in front of your door. it’ll save you time to do other things such as eating and washing your face.
prepare and eat a breakfast. whether it’s some cherrios in a bag on the way to class or eggs and bacon cooked that morning, eating will definitely benefit you. you’ll have more focus in class and it’ll get your metabolism going. if it’s easier for you, think about preparing your food the night before and packing it in bags or tupperware.
have a tray by the door to put small things in. oh, how many times have i forgotten my earbuds or keys. keep yourself organized and not calling your roommate to get an extra set of keys by just having a tray on which you can put smaller things you don’t put in your backpack. then, just grab them before you leave and voilà! you aren’t locked out.
on sunday, do your meal preps, weekly spread, and clean your room and workspace. i am such a procrastinator during the weekends and there have been so many days that because of that, i am trudging through knee high messes in my room because i just won’t pick up. i also commonly forget to plan the week and prep my meals and then boom, it’s monday and i’m a mess. so don’t be a mess like me, do it all on sunday.
have a letter tray to put class handouts and old assessments so you can put them in binders later. using a letter tray to collect handouts and assessments can be so beneficial to keeping your desk clean. and without it, i tend to throw out old graded assessments i could study instead of putting them in binders. keeping all those papers in one binder is super helpful, so put them in a binder and finals won’t be your doom.
have a bedtime routine. having a bedtime routine can increase your productivity and sleep time because, one, it can help you stay organized and, two, it helps put you to sleep. the more your brain associates doing certain tasks with sleep, the faster you’ll be able to drift off. so be smart and enjoy an extra hour of sleep.
have one journal for in class notes and one to retake and organize your notes at home. in class you do not have time to keep your thoughts organized. with tangents from your teachers and questionable notes, its best to just use a pencil, pen, and highlighter to make scratch notes in class and then come home and organize it into something that you can study from. this idea has kept me afloat time and time again.
talk to your teachers. do yourself a favor, ask and answer questions in class and go to your teachers’ office hours if they have them. if you do this, your teachers are more likely to recognize you and will be more lenient with your grade (since it shows you’re engaged and involved). you don’t necessarily need to like the teacher, just pretend you care. smile and nod along as you ask about their lives, questions about the content, and for advice that you are never going to take. this is a pretty slytherin thing i’ve been doing for years and it has got me so many half points back, especially in math and science.
use quizzes and tests to study for finals. as i stated earlier, it’s important to save your assessments to study, and that is especially true during finals. teachers commonly use similar questions on the final as unit tests and quizzes. think of how many more points you can score on that final if you just study your tests.
make a study group. find friends and people in your classes that you would like to study with and meet up! they’ll definitely be able to help you understand topics and it’ll be more fun than holing yourself up in your room. also, explaining concepts to others will help you better understand them and answer those questions on your tests.
make a weekly to-do list. some of you may already do this in your weekly spreads, but it’s important to make to-do lists of goals and tasks you need to complete. this isn’t necessarily studying and notes but things such as cleaning your room, watering your plants, or going grocery shopping. make lists, organize yourself, don’t be a mess like me.
reward yourself for doing well. whether it’s talking to your teacher or scoring straight a’s, we all work hard. so why not treat yourself to a nice dinner or relaxing bath? have fun, relax, and don’t let yourself get too stressed. remember to unwind.
sit up front in class. i know, i know, you don’t really want to, but think about it. if you’re up front, you are going to be 100% more engaged and paying more attention. and this will make your teacher remember you, which you now know the benefits of. you will also be able to see the board easier, get your questions answered, and hear what is going on.
talk to the people around you in your classes. jeremy from physics sneezes on you and suddenly, you’ve got the flu and can’t make it to your lit lecture. what are you going to do? text that new friend you made from lit that sits next to in the lecture hall of course. simply talking to people on your first day can help you stay on top of class in case you miss or can help you study before the test. never doubt the benefits of knowing people.
if there’s an opportunity for extra credit, take it. i don’t care how good you are in that class or how perfect your grades are, take the extra credit. those few extra points could be the ones that take you from a b to an a. just do it and don’t question it, you may need them.
outline all papers and presentations. you have a draft due for your class in a few hours and you open you computer and prepare to type. but where to begin? what are you writing? how do you want to phrase it? well, you could already know that if you had outlined it. take the time to research, write a thesis, and fully understand your prompt before you write. especially if this is a persuasive essay. do this as well for presentations and visual assignments so you say every fact and point you want to.
keep your test dates by you at all times. no matter who you are, you need to know when tests are coming up. and, as someone who tends to leave things at home sometimes, i may not have my planner with those tests dates next to me when i need them. but what do i have? my phone. i use the app My Study Life to keep track of those dates. i explain that beautiful app in this post.
have a ‘school survival kit.’ by now i think you’ve caught on to the fact i can be a bit forgetful. so i like to have a little bag with me that has things i may need that i could have forgotten. this includes a pen, pencil, highlighter, a few pads, some mints, pain medicine, allergy medicine, tissues, band-aids, hand sanitizer, tide-to-go (stain remover), and other such items. i may make a list of these items at another time.
if you have a question, ask. i’ve already gone over the benefits of talking in class but it’s also extremely important to understand your content. it’s better to ask than not know, even if you think the question is dumb. there’s a good chance someone else has that exact question. it’s also better to look stupid than have that count against you during assessments.
if your university, college, or high school has a writing center, use it. i work in a writing center and we are here to help. we do nothing so much of the time and you coming in makes our day. contrary to the popular opinion, we aren’t going to judge your writing or insult you (unless you ask for it). but we also aren’t going to correct your entire paper, we want to help you learn how to edit your papers and make sure you’re fitting the requirements. and this goes for all tutoring centers; if they’re an option, use them.
Change the background colour of the pages to a mint green shade.
It is said that green is a calming colour, however, the main reason why I like this, is because I can write for a much longer period of time now, as a white background I used before made my eyes dry and exhausted after just a few hours of working.
It is basically much more soft and careful to the eyes. I can’t precisely explain why that is. I think it’s that by making a pinch softer contrast of the text and the background, your eyes does not get exposed to as much light.
Just make sure to not make the background too dark, or else your eyes will get exhausted do to over-fixating the lack of contrast between text and background.
And maybe you find a nice pastel/light background shade that fits you; give it a try.
Different things work out and fits for different people. And I just felt like sharing this.
Here’s the shade numbers I used to get my preferred colour:
Thanks for reading.
DUDE
You just solved a very real problem for me! Thanks!
For those who might not know where to find this: It’s in the Page Layout tab.
I had no idea this was possible before today!
you can also do this with google docs under FILE > PAGE SETUP !!
I’m currently in PA school with close to a 4.0 GPA, and with college and back to school starting up, I’m dropping some tips for y’all. A hoe gotta get bomb ass grades if ya want a bomb ass career and to be successful af. So let’s get it✨
1. Write out your notes. Have two notebooks: one for when you’re in class (this one can be messy) and one for at home (this one is the neater one, for color coding, formatting, and all that organizational jazz). Writing things out is proven to enhance memorization 7X more than just reading is.
2. Have a go-to format for your notes. Numbering, bullet points, whatever floats your boat.
3. Type out your notes. I use Google Drive, because it automatically saves all your shit, and you can access your notes via your Google account literally anywhere. Typing out your notes does the same thing writing them out does, as far as helping you review the material.
4. Use Quizlet. Quizlet is a free flashcard website/app that allows you to type in all of your flashcards and definitions, and gives you review options like matching, testing, flashcard mode, and more. This shit made me my high schools valedictorian, no lie.
5. Keep your old quizzes and tests. Often times, teachers will ask similar questions on finals.
6. For math-based subjects, always always always show your work in your notes. I try to explain each step for a math problem in the margins of my notes, and generalize how to do each problem at the end.
7. Do practice problems consistently.
8. For my college hoes: never take an 8 am class. You think you can do it because you did it for high school, but I promise you will regret it. If there’s no avoiding the 8 am lecture, bring coffee and skip any makeup/hair that day. Sleep is too important.
9. Make flashcards. The night before my exams, I like to try and fit everything I need to know for a specific chapter/topic onto one flashcard, in order to weed out main ideas.
10. For essays, easybib.com is amazing with free citations to avoid any plaigiarism or incorrect bibliographies.
11. Rent👏your👏textbooks👏. Unless your teacher specifically requires you BUY it, you likely won’t need the actual textbook. Buying access codes for the book online is hundreds of dollars cheaper.
12. If you do get your textbooks, a lot of them have chapter summaries at the end of each chapter. Be sure to write out/type out/review those summaries.
13. For science labs, if you are allowed, take pictures of any models or slides you need to know for your exams. Pretty much all labs won’t let you take pictures of cadavers or animal dissections, but plastic models and microscope slides should be fine.
14. If you have a question, ASK YOUR TEACHER. It is better to look stupid in class and get your clarification, than to look stupid when you get your exam back and actually have it count against your grade.
15. Do study groups. I have two nursing friends in some of the same classes as me, and we’d always meet up before exams to go over the material. We would bring dry erase markers and map out shit in empty classrooms, taking turns explaining shit to each other until we nailed it.
16. Try to teach the material. Like I said in #15, study groups are great for this. By teaching the material out loud, you are subconsciously reviewing it yourself. This is a HUGE help.
17. Take breaks. You cannot exhaust yourself and expect to still recall anything you learned.
18. I know everyone does this and there’s no avoiding it sometimes, but DO NOT CRAM. Gradual learning is most effective.
19. Have one day every week where you don’t do any schoolwork. You need time to reboot.
20. Use your phone’s calendar/task checklist app for all major assignments, due dates, exam dates, study plans, appointments, etc. Set reminders as needed.
21. Charge your phone in another room while studying. No distractions.
22. Rainymood.com is a free website that plays a 30 minute loop of rain sounds. It helps me focus like nothing else, especially in my loud ass household, and every time the loop stops and replays, I know to take a break between 30 minute study sessions.
23. Feel distracted at home when studying? Try studying in a library, cafe, or even at school. I find that going somewhere else to study actually forces me to pay attention to what I’m doing, for some reason.
24. Reward yourself for good grades. Buy yourself a slice of pizza or a new highlight, have a netflix marathon, go to a party, or take a nap. Whatever conveys a job well done, do it. It’ll make all that studying feel that much greater when it’s over, and you’ll have a goal to work towards.
25. Sit in the front of the classroom as often as possible. You’ll be forced to pay attention, be able to actually see the board, hear the instructor better, and you’re more likely to have your questions answered quickly because your teacher will actually see your hand go up.
26. Caffeinate. I prefer tea because it’s healthier, but coffee works too. Ya girl is NOT a morning person, but my morning tea at least helps me pay attention during earlier classes.
27. Keep all of your school shit organized, together, and labelled.
28. Do NOT skip a class just because you’re lazy or don’t feel like going. The temptation is real sometimes, but a hoes gonna be pissed when ya see your participation average decline.
29. This may just be a psychological thing, but I love to use the same colored/brand of pen for all of my notes/assignments/tests. It just makes everything seem more uniform, and I’m able to recall information better.
30. Trouble taking tests? For any multiple choice question, read the question and try to answer it first without reading any of the options. If your answer doesn’t match the options, then use process of elimination to find the best answer. For true/false questions, write out justifications for each answer (you can also do this for multiple choice). You’ll be acing your exams in no time.
31. Chewing gum during class/studying, and chewing that same flavor gum during the exam, has been scientifically proven to boost your memory recall.
32. Literally any time you have the opportunity to do extra credit, DO IT. Cherish that shit.
33. If you aren’t doing so hot in a particular class (literally any math class for me lol), schedule a private meeting with your professor and go over test questions you missed, or topics you didn’t get. If you know your professor is a flop, or can’t get an appointment, meet with a tutor or another professor of that same subject. Sometimes another voice can shed new light on a difficult topic.
34. For essays, readable.io critiques your writing for free based on readability, grade level, formality, tone, grammatical errors, etc. Seriously a life saver.
35. Also thesaurus.com is ya bff for fancier words/phrases to make your writing more eloquent
36. Always make an outline for every essay or project to organize what you want to say. This will keep you on track, and help you work around any quotes or sources in you writing to make sure your writing is hella organized.
That’s all I can think of for now, please please please feel free to add and share. Enjoy those 4.0’s, hoes💞
teakepp 