I am a Solitary Eclectic Witch. I practice divination and have been for about 7ish years now. I am currently in a living situation where I can not practice my craft as openly as I used to, however, I am planning on still doing small things here and there.

Interested in witchcraft? Feel free to ask question!

Heyo! I'm a witch in training, so definitely not as experienced as you apparently are 🤩 I don't even know where I'd begin with questions though smxhejjcrn

@PlatonicPluto

What are you currently working on learning? Do you have a topic in mind?

@Rowan

Currently a little bit of everything since I too am very limited in what I can practice (and I mean VERY limited unfortunately), but I'd be very curious to look into some water/green witchcraft! I've also been trying to get familiar with tarot cards from the Major Arcana deck, but I've not been able to practice divination or of the like (yet!)

@PlatonicPluto

Green witchcraft is always so fun. I haven't been able to have a garden like I want (living in apartments left me with no space) but my fiance and I are looking for a house. We want to get one where I can have a large garden. I plan on filling it with herbs and the like so that I can practice not only green witchcraft but also kitchen witchery.

As for Tarot, I know a few good apps for learning the cards, well some apps for witchcraft in general if you are interested. Most of them I use myself. You can also use a regular deck of playing cards for divination as each one corresponds with a card in the Minor Arcana. If you need to keep it a secret that is.

@Rowan

Ooh cool! And I would be very interested in hearing those apps, that and the regular deck corresponding sounds so handy.

I did also managed to think of a couple more questions, if you don't mind answering some/any lol:

Do you worship any deities? If so, how and why? (ie. I have a little bottle of cinnamon for Loki, but I wanna find out more ways to give offerings, and idk if this can be done without throwing away consumables?)

Do you have any advice/tips on tarot cards, divination, or any practice, and what all that might entail?

Are you familiar with sigils? I did also see mention of runes in your divination shop, and was wondering what 2 cents you might have on learning either/both.

Do you have a familiar? How did/do you know when you['ve] encountered it?

What are some rituals/wards/spells for magick, or at least a learning source for some? Are you familiar with or recommend any? How do you recharge these items’ magicks?

What would you say is your favourite tarot card/deck and why?

Any other learning sources to recommend? ie. Books/apps?

@PlatonicPluto

@Rowan This was perfect! Thank you so much for the responses thus far, and so thoroughly too! :D Definitely gonna save these with my craft notes

Hope the honey bread turns out well too!

Honey bread doe not want to rise…. I think it may be too cold in here…..

@PlatonicPluto

Anyway! Books! I have a good number though I have yet to read them all. I do not have fully fleshed reviews about every book I have read (I am actually working on that) but the ones I do have I will add in so you get my full thoughts on the books.

Just know that just because I found these to be helpful, doesn't mean you will as our practices will be different.

Morbid Magic: Death Spirituality and Culture from Around the World by Tomás Prower, is a very good book if you are interested in this particular brand of magic. His other book La Santa Muerte: Unearthing the Magic & Mysticism of Death is another good one about that particular topic.

Utterly Wicked: Curses, Hexes & Other Unsavory Notions by Dorothy Morrison. A lot of people enjoyed this book so I feel obligated to let you know about it, here is my review on it, again I list it because even though I did not find much good from it you may and I do not like to keep the possibility of knowledge from people.

• I bought this book as a way to learn about darker magic as my practice is leaning towards the grey area. I had read a few reviews about it and believed it would be a decent start. The writing style is not a personal favorite, far too much anecdotal talk for me, though it is easy to understand. The book was going pretty well until we got into the appropriation points. She talks about using hoodoo and voodoo and worshiping deities from closed practices. Even going so far as having an entire section on Hoodoo and not once mentioning that it is a closed practice. She also states that she is a 'true child of the south' and her ancestors were confederates, so why would she use pieces of a closed practice that the slaves of her ancestors used? She also mentions dream catchers and making them, something that is part of Native American culture and, again, is closed. It could have been a great book, Dorothy kept out the appropriation. Some of the spells are interesting and do seem like something I could use. Truly the number of good reviews on this book is astounding considering all that is wrong with it.

The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year by Linda Raedisch. I loved this book, I am actually going through and doing a reread of it this month. It is jam-packed with information about this time of year.

Encyclopedia of Spirits by Judika Illes. This is not all-inclusive but it is a very good book with information on different spirits and beings with correspondences and the like. I use it pretty frequently for cross-referencing. Her Encylapidea of Witchcraft is good too. Again not all inclusive but a very good start and a great reference book for many topics of witchcraft.

The Great Wheel: Winter by Jo Graham is another reread I am doing this month. It too is good for information about this time of year. She also has a book The Great Wheel that I have yet to buy but have heard good things about.

Most witches will tell you the same thing, most of Scott Cunnigham's books are good places to start as well.

The Magick of Food: Rituals, Offerings & Why We Eat Together by Gwion Raven. One of my favorites as I love kitchen witchery. Has a lot of good recipes in it as well as general information on kitchen witchery and how we can use it.

Mary K. Greer's 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card as well as her Tarot for Yourself are good workbooks too. I am actually working through those currently. There is a lot of information in them.

If you plan on practicing the Sabbats, Llywellyn's Sabbat Essentials series is good for information n the Sabbats and ideas on how to celebrate them.

Arin Murphy Hiscock's The House Witch, The Green Witch, and The Witch's Book of Self-care are all pretty good. They are not my favorites but they hold some good information on the topics they are titled about. They also have some rituals and spell you can try.

Year of the Witch by Temperance Alden is a good one. I give it 4/5. My review is below.

• Going into my practice I was always informed about the 8 Wiccan Sabbats and that most everyone observed them. Not that I really knew if everyone did, but it was a widespread piece of information that, when you are first entering into the craft, you believe. Temperance Alden did a wonderful job of changing my mind about the Sabbats in the best way. She helped me to realize that I don’t actually need to practice the Sabbats if I don’t find myself attached to them. Not only does The Year of the Witch address that you do not need to celebrate only the Wiccan Sabbats, but it gives you insight into how to adapt the Wheel of the Year to your practice and make it work for you. There are my positives, there are a few negatives that I need to give as well. Yes, she helped me realize that I did not need to only practice the 8 Wiccan Sabbats, however, I am sure that other books say the same thing. The way it is written was a bit confusing for me. There is a lot of information but at the same time, everything is glossed over. Now that could be put down to just wanting to give an overview of different topics that can help one to form their own Wheel of the Year, but in some places, there was just not enough information to make it make sense. Following my point above nearly half of the book, 40% is about the 8 Wiccan Sabbats. I went into this book thinking that it was supposed to take us away from those Sabbats and the ways we can make our own Wheel. While it did this, it seems a bit redundant to make nearly half the book about the Sabbats themselves. Now I understand that she does celebrate 6/8 of the Sabbats herself, however, she states at the beginning of the book, “My goal with this book is to give you what you’ll need to create your own personalized wheel of the year. In the following pages, we will explore the basic concepts of intuitively guided witchcraft, its role in the wheel of the year, the traditional wheel of the year, climate change, and more.” Yes, she states that she will be discussing the Wiccan Wheel, however, I see no point in dedicating such a large chunk of her book to correspondences and history lessons about the 8 Sabbats that we can find elsewhere. The other information given is in such short bursts that it is hard to gather any information from them. There are a few points that she addresses that are longer and do delve deeper but they are few far and few in between and do not reach the depth of time that she put into the 8 Wiccan Sabbats.

Llewellyn's Complete Book of Correspondences: A Comprehensive & Cross-Referenced Resource for Pagans & Wiccans by Sandra Kynes. Buy it. Just get it. This has helped me so many times it is not even funny. Honestly, this is the one book in my collection that I wish everyone would buy. It is so useful.

Oh hello!

I used to practice and believe with more intensity in specific deities many years back, but have a bunch of leftover knowledge, books, and tools. I stopped due to personal issues with the belief behind the actions Lately though, I have been reflecting on the tangible results of not practicing some form of spirituality in my life, and I’ve been starting to think it’s necessary for me. In the same way that “affirmations” and “actively setting intentions” are touted as very helpful for mental health, it then seems to be identical to the act of magik. So, with that in mind, I would like to get back into it, to help align my headspace and get the feeling that comes with it, even though I personally don’t feel connection with any deities, I do feel a reverence for the universe and the gift of existence in general.

I think it’s important to mark the seasons, and as I’ve gotten very into plantkeeping over the last couple years, that is something I want to focus on! I need a better drying rack for the herbs I grow ahaha. I’ve also for a large collection of stones and crystals, and I’d like to use those more. I used to call myself a solitary eclectic witch as well, with a focus on earth / green magik.

Divination is something I have always been curious about, but it sounds overwhelming to learn! Thanks as well for all those links shared, I didn’t realize how many resources there were out there. And apps!!! We are in the future, ahaha.

Have any of you done things for the solstices and season transitions recently? I’ve been trying to get ideas on how I can make more of a holiday out of it.

@Rowan Ooh interesting reads! And yet again so thorough haha, thank you! ^^ Like Draco said, we are indeed in the future lol, but I'm glad it makes being able to share knowledge/experiences like this easier, especially when one's upbringing is… unfortunately lacking. But with witchcraft in general, I personally feel learning about/practicing it not only reminds us that there's other perspectives of the world around us, but also a magick in maintaining the wellbeing of the world and ourselves-- especially mental health, as that was an aspect my family's beliefs never taught me

Also RIP the honey bread dough XD

And also @Dracowolfie ‘s question: I unfortunately have not been able to myself, but that’d be a good idea to learn about and practice as well! For the moment though I'm just tryna survive college lol