A project I wanted to do for this year is to make a mini book of cycles. Like I love following the seasons and the wheel of the year but we as a community need to realize the wheel really makes sense in like.. the UK.. and dassit lol. Also it has deep celtic roots that can somewhat be celebrated secularly but its kind of half assing the tradition but anyway I wanted to make this collection focus on the many terrains of the US (maybe all of north America but I like to focus on here first), make it focus on bioregional animism and maybe even leave room in case someone would like to overlap their religion onto it, though it will mostly be secular and focusing on the earth. I am going to pour into research of almanacs, local animals, plants and foods, and seasonal harvests and I am mostly at this point looking for witches to make a database so I can start out with a network!
So I will deeply deeply appreciate if you are a:
Swamp witch
Desert Witch
Appalachia Witch
Southern Witch (Like SE southern also including southern Appalachia and Virginia, that’s not in a swamp)
New England Witch
Pacific Northwest Witch
Prairie Witch
Rockies Witch
South Beach Witch (Please specify Atlantic, Pacific or Gulf)
Deciduous woodlands witch (Specifically the East like NJ, NY, Connecticut, Delaware. This might sound very specific but this area has its own vibes).
And if you live in a four season temperate deciduous woodland climate elsewhere just like, specify where since they might be very similar yet they have their unique qualities. (It’s why I also specified Pacific Northwest and Appalachia. I just can’t think of any other temperate deciduous woodland areas).
Also Tropics witch, though I don’t think the USA has any tropical territories besides those it seriously neglects (like Puerto Rico) HOWEVER the US has a lot of caribbean-Americans and many that I know use stuff from their home countries to connect to their heritage and magic so it would be cool to focus on that region too.
and like mention in the tags or reblog with what you are! Thanks so much!
I’d love to participate in this, as a witch who has never felt like I could relate to the Wheel of the Year.
I’ve thought about maybe starting with the solstices and equinoxes as my rough outline?
Under your list, I am a Southern Witch, but that feels strange to me because I just moved here, and I’m sort of on the border where people deeper South would say, “THAT’S NOT THE SOUTH!” XD I’m in Virginia, but I’m from Minnesota originally.
Pacific Northwest Witch right here!
PNW Witch as well
Yet another PNW witch here 🙂
This has been something I’ve focused on the last few years. I still celebrate the festivals that align with celestial events on their days.
But for the others I’ve started digging into what precisely defines that holiday, and waiting until I feel the energy is right 🙂 It has absolutely deepened my practice, and my connection to where I live.
The Wheel, as far as I know, doesn’t have deep Celtic roots. It was developed, I believe, by Gardner and then adopted more broadly. That said, I do think it likely that seasonal festivals were a part of older cultures. We as a people like to celebrate and mark things.
Heyo I live in New York and I’m quite near the deciduous woods you need, as well as the local pine barrens.
Upon request, I was to explain the DNA of my servitor I recently posted.
Anyway, basically, the symbol you see at the top is the “programming” symbol.
It is basically the servitor’s sigil, and on paper, it represents the servitor. Mine looks moderately like my servitor’s final form. You will put it on things instead of it’s name. You should put it on the housing unit.
The stuff that you are probably MORE wondering about is what I created institutionally. I took inspiration from a family tree and kind of chromosome they taught in biology. A road map. A recipe.
Each of the symbols represent something that makes up the servitor’s “physical” body. Basically, each symbol represents a combination of herbs and plants that will be put in its creation jar/housing unit.
The top two symbols are the very base of the servitor. The symbol on the left is the symbol for my mix of herbs. The symbol on the right is the programming symbol above, and in this case, it represents the very fiber of the servitor; basically the “brain” of the servitor, if you please. The personality center. The red line ties the two together and is the very base of the servitors everything. This is Level One.
The three lines coming from the base is the servitors jobs and main duty to me. It’s purpose in life. From left to right: protection, hunting, and friendship. Again, these symbols have a connected mix of herbs. This is Level Two.
So you see here how you have a red line connecting protection and hunting, with two lines leading to other symbols? The red line connecting protection and hunting is basically categorizing them and grouping them together. The two lines leading down are traits that the servitor will need to complete these duties. These are his abilities. The left one is strength, and the right one is courage. With the herbs mixes that correspond with the symbols, it will have its abilities.
The same is the case for the friendship duty. Since it doesn’t have something else to connect with, it is its own categories. The abilities the duty needs to succeed (left from right) are healing, happiness, and peace and harmony. The “ability” level is Level Three.
But if you keep going to the next level, you see that all of the abilities are linked/grouped together. Level Four are the symbols of the things you want to come out of the servitor using its abilities. By putting these in there, and by putting their corresponding herb mixes in the housing unit, it tells point blank the servitor it will get from using its abilities. A goal for the servitor basically. Mine are luck and success.
Now, look to the right and you see a red line from the servitor’s symbol down to the bottom, not connecting to anything else. Level Five is basically anything else you need to make your servitor successful. This can range, but I at least suggest manifestation as one if you want it around a while. From top to bottom we have immortality, manifestation, and youth.
So, in summary:
Level One: The brain of the servitor
Level Two: The duties of the servitor
Level Three: The abilities they need to do the duties
Level Four: What the servitor will get when they use the abilities
Level Five: Other things needed to make the servitor functional.
You can add/change the duties, abilities, the “prize” and the other functions, but Level One will ALWAYS be who the servitor is working for and the servitor.
FINALLY, you have the key.
Basically, the key has the meaning of the symbol, the symbol, and the herbs they represent.
So stay with me here. I’m not saying that science has sat down and claimed that they correlate, but I just wanted to talk about the reasons I personally think they go hand in hand. I also want to note that I myself am a witch and very much believe in magick. But, I understand that a lot of people find witchcraft interesting, but can’t come to accept it because they see no scientific evidence.
► Witches claim that life is all connected through the Divine.
☼ Science actually supports this by saying that everything is made of atoms, thus we are all just one big pool of atoms. So all life is indeed connected on the molecular level.
► Witches claim that reincarnation happens. (Not all believe this, but this is a basis of what many believe.)
☼ (I’m not claiming that science supports this specifically, but parts of science can support this theory.) Science says that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, which means that our personal energy does not disappear. So what happens to it?
► Witches claim that energy is the basis of their magick and what they manipulate to make changes in the environment around them.
☼ Science does say that everything has energy so there really isn’t much to say here.
► Witches claim that clear quartz is a cleansing crystal that helps cleanse energies.
☼ Science says that quartz are actually really useful in technology. Why? Because quartz are actually great at transforming energies.
► Witches claim that they can manipulate the energy around them to make changes in the world. Often witches do this by focusing on specific energies and do things to manipulate the energy to make these changes.
☼ Psychology says that people can change what happens around them by simply having a different mindset. This is called self-fulfilling prophecy and means that by predicting that something will happen it is more likely to happen. So when witches do rituals and spells they could be using the self-fulfilling prophecy method.
► Witches use meditation to self calm themselves and talk with their spiritual guides.
☼ Many doctors actually recommend regular meditation as it helps relieve stress, lowers blood pressure, and overall helps keep you happy.
Overall you can decide on your own what you think. However, I hope I helped some of you who are interested in witchcraft but need a bit of scientific support to really believe. Religion is all about what you feel like you need and if you don’t need religion that is okay too!
teakepp 