You know what's disheartening, I have been going to my local witchy shop for a year now, and fear I'm beginning to see some red flags. They asked what I was looking for one day, very friendly, no problems. I said I was interested in weather magic. Before I could finish explaining I have one book, but I was curious if there were any others, she looks me dead in the eyes, and says I wasn't ready for that kind of magic. Oh, okay. Then, she asked if I had a Grimoire. At that time, it was my 3 ring binder, it still is, but it's not the true definition of a Grimoire I guess. She says, "You call yourself a witch, but don't have a Grimoire. That's an insult to what it means to be a witch." I'm sorry, say what? But of course, the obvious red flag was how she preaches shadow work is required to unleash your true witchy potential.

Now, I like shadow work, I use it along with my daily journaling. It works for me because my form of journaling was already along the lines of shadow work without calling it that. It was very introspective and I asked myself the hard questions. I have more trauma from mental health professionals and people who said that they understand me than from myself.

But I digress, the point is, it's so hard to find witch shops that have good quality products that are responsibly sourced, support the makers and artists of the products, and is easy on the budget, but things like that have been said to my face.

The struggle is REAL!

Most witchy & metaphysical shops, unfortunately, bank on aesthetic rather than actual practice. Most are new ageists with a stark lack of education in what witchcraft may even consist of and how diverse it is.

It's why we see so many shops selling white sage, lepidolute and fluorite being sold as the same crystal with "different colorations," incense made with harmful chemicals, and so on.

These people are judgmental because they only know of one way to practice - their way, the popular guru blog post way. They aren't inclusive nor respectful simply because they're ignorant of how deep witchcraft runs in so many communities & personal crafts

They make their profits off of the cutesy books, the zealous altars, the 12 herbs per spell method. They care more about the look of a witch than the actual practice, as obvious with the whole "you should have a material grimoire or you're an insult to us"

They rarely open their eyes and explore witchcraft because sometimes they aren't witches, they're business owners

Sorry you had to deal with this, OP. It's unfortunately way too common. I recommend trying to find someone in a nearby city or online instead

For those curious (they blocked me so you can't see the post, but accountability is deserved):

Edit: I would also like to add that this user had all the TERF / Radfem tags. Noticed mostly after I reblogged haha Please stay safe if interacting with them Please do NOT go hate on this user, it does not spread the message of love

I don’t believe that Christians can be witches and I don’t believe that men can be witches either.

Misogynists stay tf out of witchcraft spaces you don’t belong here

Ignorance at its finest.

The intention is good, the knowledge is not.

Christianity stole from pagan practices, but witchcraft =/= paganism. Christianity stole witchy practices, but witchcraft is also inherent to the human condition. I talk about this often. Witchcraft is built on energy work, among other things, that are literally necessary to live, and involved in a variety of things we do as human beings.

Additionally, there are MANY cultural (including non-white) variations of Christianity that actually empower communities, empower their cultures, empower their witchcraft, etc.

I don't know how this user identifies, but this is the take of someone who likely has no knowledge of Christianity outside of their own experience.

Misandry doesn't block misogynists either. Men can be witches. Again, it's inherent to the human condition. But even if it wasn't. Witchcraft in general is not a closed practice. Anyone of any identity can respectfully learn.

Instead of shaming and oppressing people for their identities because of your own undealt with trauma and prejudice, how about you actually just target the people doing harm? Because yeah, so many (too many) men and Christians do harm to witches and witchcraft practices - but this bullshit your posting isn't helping. It actually gets a lot of people hurt - men and women, Christians and non-Christians.

I likely won't read OP's reply to this because people like this are typically angry at the world and I just don't have the time, energy or crayons for it. But, hopefully this helps those onlooking, because I know these ideas make people so uncomfortable.

Mothers should be allowed to teach their sons their practices. Native Americans should be allowed to reclaim their religious and witchy practices. Black people and masculine non-binary people and women and Latinas and SO MANY communities deserve to live their truth.

Spirituality, religion and witchcraft are deeply intimate and personal. Do not let people like this shame you. Their pain is valid, but misdirected. You are all beautiful and you are NOT harming a practice just by existing in it. Now if you were actively appropriating, spreading misinformation (like this user) that take away from centuries of traditions in various communities both prior to and after forced Christian conversion, if you were taking away from women, that would be another story - but if you're just a man and a witch, or just a Christian and a witch, you're fine.

There are truly hateful people in every community. Listen to your voice, lean towards kindness, and breathe. Love you guys

Got beads and string from my very Christian grandparents and the first thing I’m making with them is prayer beads to Nyx

I actually love this and the idea of (respectfully) mixing practices together. I be saying Christian prayers (buying rosary beads too) while calling on Energy Forces lmfao, playing Trini soca music and dancing when working with Greek deities, and applying my Indigenous philosophy to work with Roman deities and Japanese fae

I eat this shit up LMFAOOOOOOOOO

my tip to befriending nature spirits is to just like Go There and be around them. maybe sprinkle a few native seeds for the birds, give a squirrel a little pile of nuts, clean up a bit, sing a little, etc. they'll get used to you being around and be like "oh!!! the human who sings to us is back!!" its literally that easy. just do nice things and spend time with them, they'll warm up to you.

Not every spirit will or is going to, but some probably will, especially if you do it for a long time! If you are foreign to them, then it's important to present yourself as a friend rather than a foe. This means spending time with them, showing care, learning about who they are and what hurts / helps them and putting that knowledge to good use, being vulnerable with them, etc! Nature spirits are wonderful but they practice stranger danger too, especially because humans - especially foreign ones to them - have done so much damage to them, so treat them like the neighbors and valuable community members that they are instead! Even if they don't befriend you, it's the right thing to do <3 And if they do befriend you, even better! Make wanting to be friends a clear intention and if you're a good person and they vibe with you, many are likely going to befriend you! I would just say be careful of the fae specifically as most don't want to be friends. There's ways to befriend the fae too if you want though, it's just uncommon. Enjoy your time out in nature and hangin with the nature spirits! Some extra things you can consider doing are listed below and I hope it helps! Thank you!

SMOKEY QUARTZ, MY BELOVED

Another unpopular opinion! Since you all liked my last one so much, have another: Beginners doing divination isn't the end of the world, no, it isn't good for their journey, but that is their journey, not yours. Beginners doing divination isn't good but we shouldn't harass them about it, we should help teach them why, provide them sources to learn. It is not going to hurt you at all, if beginners do divination, don't act like its the end of the world. I promise, it is not.

Beginners doing divination can absolutely be amazing for their journeys, it just depends on how they go about it. I recommend they try to learn as much as possible or at least be guided, but I started out with divination as a cultural practice and a familial practice and now I am a Priestess carrying other statuses. Some people, sure, it's not the best, but it's not our job to police that, so I do agree with the rest of this post. It is their journey. We can offer advice and guidance, but at the end of the day, people are gonna do what they're gonna do, I just hope it works out for them.

It's just really disrespectful to put this monolith of like "divination isn't good for beginners." Like, so many cultures, so many practices, so many teachings, but (it sounds like) you just chalk it all up to the new ageists who learn tarot from a few blog-posts. It's unfortunate.

Not to mention, some forms of divination are not the typical tarot or throwing bones or what-have-you. Some involve making friends with the fire, so that you understand it when it dances. Some involves spiritual gifts our ancestors passed down to us and taught us how to navigate. Some involve talking to the tree in our backyard and learning how to match heartbeats by hugging it. These all are forms of divination, so this mindset - though I agree with the idea of letting beginners have their journey - is a bit narrow.

We can acknowledge that our truth or one truth doesn't apply to everyone. That's... actually a really good point you're making with the rest of your post here, you've just lost it with the whole "it's not good for beginners" thing. Truly, what isn't good for beginners, is them engaging in practices they don't understand and haven't thoroughly researched / been guided in. Important differences to note when many cultures are being erased on the basis of our divination practices.

I wish I could instill into people that your spiritual workings shouldn't really be separate from your "mundane" life. I don't know how the disconnect has happened so terribly.

Coming from a background where we are taught that the "spiritual" (for lack of a better word) and Divine are all a part of the same ecosystem, it makes me sad.

There's all these people going "I feel so disconnected". It's inside you, babe. It's inside you. That's why you feel disconnected. The disconnect is inside you. Bridge the gap!!!!!!!

We have a spiritual body as well as a mental and physical body.

We live in a world of knowns and unknowns.

Energy is already proven to exist. Crystals are proven to work. By western science, among many other sciences.

It's inside you. Your spirit seeks health just the same as your knees and teeth and brain.

Humans have naturally spiritual body parts that are scientifically recognized as such (sixth sense i.e. intuition).

Look inside and you'll find what you feel you're missing. Spirituality isn't always about the mystical or the worship or whatever people tell you is "hocus pocus" (though I don't think they're hocus pocus). Sometimes it's about grounding, connection, presence, finding what resonates with you, feeling balanced and whole, and practicality.

Honestly I'm a bit sick right now so this may not have been worded the best, but I hope that makes sense and helps somebody out there.

Look inside and look outwards. Connect yourself in mutuality and recognize our shared existences. It truly can make a difference.

People who have inherited divination tools, what has it been like?

I inherited my late aunt's tarot deck, and I wonder if others have had experiences with their tools that have been inherited

I never inherited the tools, but I inherited the teachings

And I cannot imagine how my life would have been without it

I fought for those teachings and love my ancestors VERY much <3