🕒 Weekly Witchy CHALLENGE ~ Catch-Up!

[Artemisia]

Challenge Entry - Catch Up #1
🌌 Weekly Witchy CHALLENGE - Astrology: Reading the Skies) - Astrologer

I chose to look more into the combination of my moon sign (Sagittarius) and my sun sign (Aquarius).

1. Intellectually Curious and Visionary: Both Aquarius and Sagittarius are signs that thrive on intellectual stimulation. You’re likely to be someone who is always looking forward, interested in new ideas, and innovations, and exploring different philosophies or cultures.
2. Independent and Freedom-Loving: Independence is a key theme in both signs. Aquarius values individuality and non-conformity, while Sagittarius seeks freedom and adventure. You probably cherish your freedom and are uncomfortable with restrictions, whether in personal relationships or your career.
3. Humanitarian and Idealistic: With Aquarius’ humanitarian streak and Sagittarius’ optimistic and ethical nature, you’re likely to be idealistic and concerned with larger social issues. You may be drawn to causes that aim to make the world a better, more equitable place.
4. Sociable yet Detached: Aquarians are known for their friendly yet detached nature, and Sagittarians are known for their outgoing and gregarious personality. This can make you sociable and well-liked, yet you may maintain an emotional distance and value your personal space.
5. Adaptable and Resilient: Sagittarius is adaptable and resilient, and Aquarius is innovative and resourceful. This combination suggests that you can easily adapt to change and are not easily deterred by setbacks.
6. Philosophical and Reflective: The influence of Sagittarius may bring a more philosophical outlook, complementing the Aquarian tendency to think deeply about things. You likely enjoy exploring different belief systems and may have a unique or unconventional worldview.
7. Restless and Seeking Variety: Both signs are restless in their way. You might find yourself constantly seeking new experiences, ideas, or even places, making you a lifelong learner and explorer.

I see some truths in there and some that don’t fit quite right.

1. I am absolutely one of those people who love new ideas and exploring new cultures and religions.
2. I also am someone who cherishes my freedom.
3. I’m not sure that I consider myself a crusader or ardent about social justice, that’s not to say I don’t care about the welfare of the world and of the people who live in it, just that it isn’t my life’s goal.
4. Ding Ding Ding! I enjoy being social on my terms and enjoy alone time to recharge and create.
5. I find that I am not immediately adaptable - meaning that I like making plans and the plans going accordingly, and when things change, I am initially resistant and upset but after my little “pout period” I am fully capable of replanning, changing course and adapting. Some changes I am more mournful about what I’ve lost but I do keep moving forward.
6. Spot on.
7. I would say this is probably the least like me. I am not one with wanderlust and a desire to always be moving and seeing and doing new things. I do like routine for the majority of my life, but I also do like learning and making new crafts be it sewing, metal clay, or weaving grasses into brooms.
   

[Artemisia]

Challenge Entry - Catch-Up! #2
Love Magick – Lovely Witch

After the week I’ve been having, anxiety has been rearing its ugly head with self-doubt and blame, so this is the perfect time for A self-love appreciation break

Which was an absolutely perfect way to end my evening

[Artemisia]

@Phoenix_Fire

I think the great thing about the challenges is it opens you up to more possibilities to practice in so many different ways.

I absolutely agree! When I first started doing the catch-ups, I realized I was avoiding certain ones since they perhaps were outside of my current knowledge or practice. Using a random number generator to pick mine, has broadened my practice as I go by the ones it picks. Always a fun surprise!

[Cosmic_Curiosity]

CHALLENGE ENTRY 2 - Teas and Infusion

My partner often suffers from a bloated stomach. I made this “bloaTEA” which seems to help so thought I would share incase it helps others too.

Ingredients

Thumb sizes piece of ginger🫚
Cinnamon stick
6 cloves
Lemon
Honey
Loose tea (optional)

1. Cut the ginger into slices. I then press the knife down on the pieces to release the juice. Add to the teapot.
2. Add the cloves and cinnamon stick. I tend to crush the cinnamon stick
3. Add a slice of lemon and a squeeze of juice from the remaining lemon.
4. Add a teaspoon of honey
5. Add a teaspoon of loose tea if using.
6. Fill the teapot with boiling water.
7. Allow the tea to brew, or as we say in Scotland “mast” for 10 minutes. I have a metal teapot so tend to do this over a low heat on the hob.
8. Pour into cup through a strainer.
9. Add a slice of lemon and extra honey if desired.
10. Serve and feel the benefits

Ginger has compounds that can help relax the muscles of the gastrointestinal tract to help reduce bloating.

Cloves have carminative properties, which means they can help relieve gas and bloating.

Cinnamon has long been used to support digestion and to relieve bloating, gas, and indigestion.

Lemon contains citric acid, which can aid the production of stomach acid and promote the breakdown of food.

Blessed be

Alan

[BryWisteria]

@suzanne7

thanks for clarifying, I’ve not participated in a catch up before so this is good to know.

It’s no problem at all, Suzanne Welcome to your first Catch-Up Challenge, I hope you have lots of fun with the process- enjoy!

@Phoenix_Fire

the challenges open up new possibilities of how to practice, gives you a chance to try out and share n see what others share and decide whether it was just fun experience to try or something would like to include in practice

Exactly this! You worded it beautifully, Phoenix- it’s kind of like an open workshop or group class in this sense. It’s a judgement-free zone to dip into something new, experiment, and potentially find a new area of the Craft that brings joy and value. At the very least, the challenges are a place to swap ideas and share inspiration around!

I’m really happy that you enjoy the challenges, Phoenix- thank you!

@Medea

If I miss another one, I don’t know I’m going to have to go do something drastic.

No need for anything drastic, my friend- that’s why the Catch-Ups exist! They are kind of a breather- a chance to catch your breath and look back on any topics that were missed. And there is always another one near on the horizon- we do a Catch-Up every 10 challenges, so opportunities will always exist. No stress and no pressure!

@Artemisia

Using a random number generator to pick mine, has broadened my practice as I go by the ones it picks.

This is such a clever idea for choosing topics! And I have to admit I’m always excited to see which challenges the generator picks for you!

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Look at all these fascinating entries right off the bat- you are all amazing! I’m gobbling up all of the wisdom, ideas, recipes, spells, and more. Catch-up challenges are my favorite- it is so much fun to see everyone’s beautifully diverse practices on display!

[Artemisia]

Challenge Entry - Catch-Up! #3
Giving Gratitude - Blessed and Grateful

I chose to do

Artemis’ Gratitude Devotional Prayer

as my entry.

I set up an altar, picked a flameless candle for Kitten Safety, used Cypress essential oil instead of incense, and used a lioness figurine as my offering.

Hear me, Zeus’ daughter, celebrated queen,

Dionysian and Saturn, of a noble mien.

In darts rejoicing and on all to shine,

Torch-bearing Goddess, Martian divine;

Over births presiding, and thyself a maid.

To labour-pangs imparting ready aid.

Dissolver of the zone and wrinkled care,

Fierce huntress, glorying in the Sylvan war.

Swift in the course, in dreadful arrows skill’d,

Wandering by night, rejoicing in the field.

Of manly form, erect, of bounteous mind,

Illustrious dæmon, nurse of humankind.

Immortal, earthly, bane of monsters fell,

‘Tis thine; blest maid, on woody hills to dwell.

Thank you for all that I am and all that I have

Thank you for the wind that caresses me

Thank you for the sun that keeps me warm

Thank you for the food that I have

Thank you for the water

Thank you for the seas

Thank you for the sunsets

Thank you for the sunrise of a new day

Thank you for the grass

Thank you for the plants

Thank you for the flowers

Thank you for all the beautiful aromas

Thank you for my strength

Thank you for the fire

Thank you for the earth

Thank you for the home where I dwell

Thank you for the sacred temple that is my heart

Thank you for the trees.

Thank you for my breath.

Thank you for my life.

Thank you, Artemis

Foe of the stag, whom woods and dogs delight,

In endless youth who flourish fair and bright.

O, universal queen, august, divine,

A various form, Cydonian power, is thine.

Dread guardian Goddess, with benignant mind

Auspicious, come to mystic rites inclined

Give earth a store of beauteous fruits to bear,

Send gentle Peace, and Health with lovely hair,

And to the mountains drive Disease and Care.

[Kasandra]

Okay, I decided to do the magick in the arts challenge and receive the art witch badge a second time.

[starborn]

Challenge entry #1

Multilingual Magick

I can manage in a few languages: Macedonian, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese. And I can probably survive in a whole lot more than that. I love learning bits of different languages, even dead ones like Latin and Phoenician. I think improving my Chinese and Russian are next on my list, though. My Chinese is alright, but I can’t write a serious paper like I had to for university anymore, so I would like to get that back at some point.

Recently, I tried translating some Polish using knowledge from the languages I know and online dictionaries.

Slavic Witchcraft: A Samhain Spell and a Meditation to the Goddess & God

Continuing the discussion from Spells8 Book Club XXX - Readers' Reviews!: So, @BryWisteria brought up an interesting book on Slavic witches: Słowiańska wiedźma by Dobromiła Agiles. It’s written in Polish and I thought it would be fun to go through it and see what I could translate and share. Yes, you’re welcome to share a spell! Given that Samhain is coming to for many in the coven, I thought that’s where I’d focus my efforts first! And so, here we are. …

When it comes to the demonic side of things (The Demonolatry Experience for some context on why I think of demons at all), Latin seems to be the number one language of rituals and spells. The Light Bearer’s Call, for example,

Ut patet viam meam dimitto ceteris
Aperi tu cor meum ut lucifer audite quaeso
Meae voca ego offerre mea erga obsecro incipere

(Don’t worry, you haven’t summoned Lucifer by reading that in your head. But I blurred it anyway. )

So, I thought I would try examining these things a little more closely. In doing so, I went through a lot of interesting little rabbit holes.

One thing I noticed is that in a rite to Beelzebub written in Greek, Thanatos is called upon, and there’s no mention of Beelzebub himself. Now, Beelzebub isn’t known for any connection to Thanatos. He’s thought to be derived from the Canaanite god Baal, to whom the Egyptian equivalent is thought to be Set, whose Greek equivalent is thought to be Typhon.

But, that is perhaps taken too literally. For the text actually evoked the “Angel of death,” which, in Greek, is “θανάτου” (thanátou). Just because Thanatos is the personification of death, because it’s in lowercase, it could simply mean “death” in any personification and not be referring to him. I’m not sure I’m explaining this clearly… But it’s basically “death anywhere” versus “this specific Death.”

On the other hand, I can’t find a single example of Ancient Greek that actually uses case. It’s all “uppercase” in everything that I can find. Which leads me to believe that the only way we can make this distinction is actually through context. Given the context, I would have to assume that it is not necessarily Thanatos himself, but whichever spirit of death heeds the call.

For my fellow language nerds, you already know that thinking about this is fun. But for those of you scratching your head and going, “Okay…?” just chalk it up to a language nerd thing. I’m already fighting the voices of others in my head who get angry and say, “Who cares?! X is X! End of story!” I’m chuckling at the image now, but it actually is really frustrating to have my curiosity shut down so hard all the time.

But yeah, that’s part of what I’ve been up to recently (outside of my 9-5, Etsy shop, moving arrangements, and life with my partner and cats).

In other news, through various other threads, I learnt the proper pronunciation of Hekate (heh-kah-tee), besom (bee-som), and Samhain (sah-win). I think that alone is a win, but hey, that’s just me – I like all victories, big and tiny.

[nicola6]

Spell Jars & Witch Bottles - Spell Jar Specialist
Hi Everyone! This will be my first challenge - im really looking forward to it!
Ive come a bit late to the party, but im going to work my socks off to meet the deadline!

[starborn]

Challenge entry #2

Technologic & Modern Magick

I live with technology so closely that I thought this would be a fun challenge to see how to inject something new into my normal. My day job is programming, and my hobbies include website development and (computer) gaming, so on most days, I spend almost every waking hour at the computer. I’ve even got a witchy website in the works, with a focus on those practicing in Australia.

My initial thoughts

I don’t think technology is necessarily harmful to nature—it’s a tool and if we use it to harm, that’s on us. After all, electricity itself is an element of nature. A computer is simply a massive collection of little on-and-off switches powered by electricity. The internet and other methods of connecting things are also combinations of electrical pulses, energy waves, and so on. The materials are mostly metals and glass, with plastic shielding. The latter isn’t great, but plastic is still just super-refined oil. A really shitty, super-refined oil that refuses to return to nature. But still.

What I’m getting at is that it’s all nature harnessed in a way that looks or feels unnatural, but it’s no more or less harmful than what nature already throws at us. (That being said, I live in Australia where everything is trying to kill me, so take that with a grain of salt.)

The highly technical nature of using such devices probably makes them feel overwhelming. Even though it can ultimately all be simplified down to easy singular processes and steps, we tend to think of everything as a whole and overwhelm ourselves before we begin.

Despite finding them to be simple in their complexity, I try to keep communication between my devices as simple as possible. That means avoiding wireless, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in the home. My mouse, keyboard, and printer are all USB-connected. My internet, all ethernet cabled up. No IoT stuff like smartwatches, other connected appliances, etc. My fridge will never keep track of its contents, and my cat litter will never log the time my cats last did a poop. I think it’s in conveniences like this where the actual pernicious nature of technology use starts to reveal itself.

But anyway, I take this approach in the kitchen, too. For example, the first thing I learned to make for others was cupcakes. I’d been cooking for myself for a while, but it was only ever for myself. Once I developed a good recipe, I started sharing my creations with others.

Then, my family bought an electric hand mixer. I tried it. My cupcakes suddenly didn’t taste as good. Why? Back then, I didn’t understand. It didn’t affect other people’s baking like it did mine. For example, my father’s girlfriend’s stuff all tasted the exact same as before (not that it was ever great, but still); it was just easier for her to make.

So, I manually mix with wooden spoons and knead with my hands, whether making cupcakes or bread. I manually grind everything with a stone mortar and pestle. (Which, yes, is technology itself, but not as “advanced.”) It’s more effort, but no one can replicate the things I make, even when I teach them to do the exact same things. Even my partner, an amazing cook, who taught me every professional technique that I know. I know something is going on there — it’s not that I’m the best cook I know; my partner is (and they’re good enough to be a chef, so it’s hard to compete with that). So I don’t know what it is. But it’s something.

That being said, I do use technology in my craft all the time. I print things with my printer; I listen to things via my computer or smartphone and either speakers or headphones; I research, write up, and organise my own writing, books, and other things on my computer; I even use apps to improve my writing or understanding, like Grammarly to improve my English and Google Translate to help me understand things people are saying in other languages; and so on.

Let’s get exploring

How can I incorporate these two worlds more? Can I write digital spells? So, a spell must be understood by a computer to be digital. That means any incantations can’t be spoken, they have to be written. (Well, they can, but I have no interest in digitising my voice right now.)

Wait a minute! I do that five days a week. Software engineering is writing words that are turned into computer language and impact the digital realm. I’ve kind of been digital spellcasting this whole time!

Okay, so how can I do this more intentionally?

Can I write a protection spell? First of all, what would such a script do to protect me? It would shield me from harm by others. Okay, many forms of protection are already covered, from firewalls to anti-viruses (not that I use any). They would only protect my computer, but they’re still there. They’re like spiritual guardians but of the digital realms.

Perhaps I should shift my focus to look for ways to make the two realms cross over. I can already do many things with a computer that fulfil what many use spells to do, whether creating opportunities for wealth, hexing others, or spiritually healing people. I’m really struggling to think of something I’d use a spell for that I couldn’t easily do otherwise.

What have other people done, then? Maybe I can get some ideas from there. They’ve made sigil generators, online tarot readings, and even digital altars.

Could we achieve more with collaborative rituals? Where people can visit some living digital space and contribute their energy towards it and also draw from it. Oh, we are already doing that with the healing circle.

What about a digital spirit guide? Where people can talk to it, ask it to help make spells, and so on. It’s not the most interesting idea, but it could be useful and would let me work on my machine learning. I suppose this kind of exists with AI, but none of them have “a memory” or the whole personality of being a spiritual guide. So that could be interesting to work on.

My thoughts after

Finding something I can use magick for is a lot harder than I thought it would be. There’s so much I can already do with technology that I’m not surprised that the modern world has become less interested in magick. After all, why rely on the divine for what we can achieve ourselves? Isn’t that the reason we have free will? So we can take charge of our own lives? (Or do we have it at all? I’m not convinced that we do, but that’s the most common belief.)

Perhaps the digital realm is just another plane of existence. While we exist in the material place, many believe we can visit others, such as the astral, and the experience there is entirely different. They also believe that they can be harmed by other entities in the astral, just as we can be here. So perhaps that parallels the digital more than I originally thought.

On the other hand, perhaps the digital realm is just a combination of the various elements, and I’m more of an elementalist than I previously thought.

[tracyS]

@starborn I love this. I remember one of my teachers at The College of Psychic Studies in London said that spirit and deities love WiFi, they use it all the time to communicate with us. I know Loki loves tech. Really interesting entry

[georgia]

@starborn

What about a digital spirit guide? Where people can talk to it, ask it to help make spells, and so on. It’s not the most interesting idea, but it could be useful and would let me work on my machine learning. I suppose this kind of exists with AI, but none of them have “a memory” or the whole personality of being a spiritual guide. So that could be interesting to work on.

Yeah! I’d like that. Give an AI an image- angel, animal, whatever. Let it trawl the internet for wisdom posted in places I wouldn’t think to look, and see what comes out of it. I did see something similar, once, but it misread an attempt to get to know its personality (I didn’t know it was an AI) and answered with an egoic superiority which turned me off. Thus, avoid the image of a deity or oracle.

[Medea]

Thank you so much but I never get my hands dirty

MOTE IT BE
Medea

[georgia]

Aww, but sometimes we need to get dirty to get wise!

[Medea]

I like it that’s a great idea! I do have a site that’s called Angel talk but it’s not AI. Starborn, I really enjoy reading your challenges and feedback and posts you’re quite knowledgeable and why not have a relm that’s digital. The world changes why not the realms. Do they change as well? I guess we have to go there to find out after I practice astral projection a little more…lol.

Blessed Be
Medea

[georgia]

@Medea

I do have a site that’s called Angel talk

And where might I visit?

[Medea]

I’ll drink to that…lol

MOTE IT BE
MEDEA

[Medea]

It’s fun. I have days for certain Angel talks or Talk To The Angel (take your Angel everywhere with you) I had to put an ear piece in because people thought I was crazy talking to my self. Information day and so on…

I’ll messenger it to.

Thank you and Blessed Be
Medea

[georgia]

@Medea

I had to put an ear piece in because people thought I was crazy talking to my self

I resemble that remark. The talks are part of the reason I have a bird: people think I’m talking to my pet so they don’t think I’m insane!

[AIRAM]

Of Goals and Intent 1
target money-money spell
cauldron laurel paper pen green candle
write down the amount [a reasonable amount]
ok…no house in switzerland…yet…later maybe
I also write it on paper
I have lit my candle
I meditate out loud
the money is here
With the power of the four elements from the four corners money comes to me
in the here and now!
so I said so it will happen!
burn laurel and paper in the cauldron
I throw the ashes on the threshold of the house