Witchcraft isn't all chanting around a bonfire, communing with the old gods, sometimes it's burning bay leaves in your kitchen while listening to Abba's 1976 hit: Money, Money, Money.

I went blackberry picking this week and turned them into a mini crumble I could cook in my air fryer.

Happy autumn equinox! 🍁

I've come to a point in the editing of my Theory chapter where I'm double checking my citations and seeing if I can do any better, find better resources, making sure I didn't do the source dirty ect.. And I'm stuck waiting for a new order of books to arrive and there's other stuff to do but it feels like I physically can't do anything else until then.

I'm paralysed waiting like:

Maybe I'm going overboard but would anyone appreciate if I went to obsessive lengths to document the origins of cats as a species before actually getting to the point of discussing their origins as familiars?

Grimoire Update

I only have one more section of my theory chapter to edit, but at this point i'm not sure if it's worth keeping.

It's my cats in context page and while I do like parts of what i've written I really half-assed other bits that I know will be a pain to re-do.

I definitely need to take a trip to the library soon, hopefully they have some resources but my local has an abysmal non-fiction section so I'm not counting on it.

Right now I'm using Google docs, I've been using it since college and it's the most convenient cloud storage I have since my grimoire is such a big file. Every drawing is done on Krita which I attach to my pages as a background free png that I store directly on my PC.

Before I write in my doc though, I usually make rough pages of research in a notebook for quotes, thoughts, doodles and various other annotations.

Then when a page in my grimoire is complete I like to print it off and put it in a folder so I have a physical copy, the change in format helps me with proof reading and recording for cross platform engagement.

I've also been using notion to organise all my digital resources like large pdfs and frequent website links but I've mainly been using the platform as a home base for life stuff and other hobbies.

So while my grimoire is primarily digital, I do have a physical version as well. It takes a bit of extra effort to keep multiple formats but that's how it turned out for me and somehow it makes sense.

When you're making your grimoire no way is right or wrong, if you require a specific method to accommodate a disability then it's the right way, if you want to incorporate other hobbies which requires a specific medium that's also the right way. You can't go wrong.

Grimoire (and other creative stuff) Update

So in an effort to cope with the long ass wait times for my GIC referral this year i've taking up bullet journaling.

It's so funny how similar the process has been to writing in my grimoire, I really like that. It feels great to put my thoughts and feelings down on paper, it gives them a sense of substance so they're less likely to be disregarded as me being 'ridiculous' or 'emotional' or being spewed any of that 'it's all in ur head, mind over matter' bs that always gets brought up.

I started a book journal to track my reading, my TBR and write book reviews, I've also started a life journal for everything else like yearly goals, housekeeping, laundry routines, dysphoria relief and safe places.

In grimoire news I'm making additional amendments to my section on queerness to cover section 28 and the impact that had.

In tattoo portfolio news I'm still trying to fill it. I'm in the process of designing some cute fuzzy moths and i'm currently on the hunt for mod podge to seal the front cover.

I really need to organise a better schedule to get things done because on top of my time spent at work I'm all over the place! Any recommendations?

i'm so close to finishing the edits on my theory chapter so here's a extract about Terf witches

I'm directly taking this from my grimoire Book of Magic (BOM), literally just copy and pasted. I'm sharing this page specifically because I'm trans and I experience this everyday so understanding the signs of TERFism in the witchcraft community was something I had to learn.

All references will be at the bottom.

-Feminism Appropriating Radical Transphobes-

TERFism (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism) and gender essentialist ideology in spiritual spaces are a common sight but often overlooked as a necessary part of spiritual practice. They’re not. There are some well-known dog whistles used by TERFs that are very commonplace; “we are the daughters of the witches you didn’t burn” “divine feminine” “pussy power”. Many TERFs deal with misogyny or internalised misogyny disguised as "pussy power girlboss" feminism.

The idea behind TERFism is that gender is a patriarchal construct and that your sex assigned at birth is the only thing that can tell you if you’re a man or woman. (Wynn, N. (ContraPoints). 2019)

The problem with that is that because no-one is able to tell what someone’s sex is at a glance, TERFs use gender essentialism and white centric stereotypes to point out who they think is a man or woman and often getting it wrong which puts both transgender and non-conforming cisgender people in danger, more so if that person is also a person of colour. Due to the racialization of masculinity and femininity and the pervasive white standards of beauty it makes it near impossible for feminine presenting people of colour to be perceived as such without leaning into hyper feminine styles akin to Barbie or Marylin Monroe.

How one would recognise a TERF out in the wild may be tricky considering many of them are self-aware enough to never share their true feelings out in the open. Many of them use covert statements or gaslighting techniques in order to portray the narrative I spoke about in my previous section on cults, a narrative of heroism. A TERF isn’t spouting dangerous ideologies that put transgender people at risk of political, medical, and social discrimination, they’re just looking out for what’s best for you, they want to protect young gay men and lesbians from being influenced by a predatory agenda and to fight for the rights of women. 

A TERF will do a lot to portray themselves as the hero of an oppressive regime in order to experience the power and respect they may have been denied in life due to their own minority status as women.

Examples of Transphobic/Gender Essentialist Ideology

(primarily: Cambridge SU. 2021-22. Other sources as specified)

TERFism in Spirituality

In the witchcraft and pagan communities TERFs abound spewing this kind of nonsense with a spicey, new age flavour masking the rotten fruit beneath. You can learn about how TERFism is portrayed specifically in Hellenism on another page but generally speaking a TERF witch is one who excludes the title of ‘witch’ to cisgender women, denying and demonising anyone adjacent to men and masculinity, including cisgender men and the whole transgender and nonbinary community citing the points listed above. TERF witches believe that this community is a super special ‘girls only, no boys allowed’ club which gives them power over misogyny and sexism that caused them so much pain and frustration in their life however they forget that everyone is a victim of misogyny and sexism, including men and trans people. 

I am using Lisa Lister’s book Witch as an -admittedly obvious- example of how TERF rhetoric is displayed in spiritual spaces. In their book, Lister outlines who is a witch and her power as a force of nature and a “creatrix” making constant references to “divine feminine” periods, wombs and using exclusively she/her pronouns.

The Introduction

“The part of us that was once anaesthetized, domesticated and kept numb by food (or by shopping drugs and media) is now awakening in each of us. It’s our wholeness, our intuition, our magic and our power - the power that lies between our thighs” (p xiii)

“Waking up and reclaiming the witch within us takes really big ovaries. It takes womb-deep recognition that you are: a woman who is powerful: you bleed for five days and don’t die. A force of nature who knows the ebb and flow of the moon, the seasons and mumma nature and her own body….” (p xiv)

The Witch Wound

“The pelvic bowl is a witch’s most powerful magic making tool, a place where we create, make life and connect directly to the source” (p 90)

Lister directly infers that the title of witch is exclusive to women and only the ‘working’ cisgender ones. This is dehumanising by reducing a person's power to their genitalia and only if it ‘works'. This correlates with the TERF belief that women are inherently more powerful because of a female reproductive system as opposed to women being powerful because of their autonomy as human beings. If the latter is the case, then what is stopping cisgender men or trans/nonbinary people from becoming practitioners? The answer is nothing. 

My thoughts

While a spell or task one may find in specific kinds of magical/holistic practices may call for the excrement produced by a specific genitalia -such as menstrual blood used as plant fertiliser- I firmly believe an individual does not need any specific anatomy or gender to practise witchcraft. However I also think that believing your magical power comes from your own sexual anatomy isn’t necessarily bad if that is as far as the concept is taken. As long as you don’t take it upon yourself to enforce that idea upon others and deny different concepts of power and magic, it’s harmless, even empowering.

I personally try to avoid any reference to power coming from genitalia as I find the idea redundant to my own practice. I believe power comes from individual autonomy and what the natural world provides but that does not make nature a mother figure in my eyes. Nature simply is, it is its own force, always creating, destroying and recreating itself, always demanding balance. It is sexless, genderless and bodiless but it is none-theless a god.

Finally I cannot emphasise this enough, you cannot ‘always tell’ when someone is trans. Butch cisgender women being perceived as predators and harassed for using the women’s loos is evidence enough. (Maurice, E.P. 2021)

*writes cute Pinterest aesthetic notes of the most horrendous shit you could ever think of*

Previously in the cult section of my grimoire I referenced Steven Hassan's BITE model. I had no clue until recently that in 2020 he said some nasty shit about us trans babes on Twitter and that made me feel real fukin shitty so I scrambled to change it.

I'm still referencing the BITE model because, I'll admit, it's everywhere. If you research cults everyone you look at is bound to know about it one way or another but before i get into it I threw down the critique on the smarmy boy. That has given me a whole extra page of just criticism and it was worth the pain because i know so much more now.

I'm gonna keep going on the cult page, i'm not done yet. I will be adding some info on Leon Festinger and cognitive dissonance.

New book 📖

From Yoga To Kabbalah: religious exoticism and the logics of bricolage by Veronique Altglas

How to reference in your grimoire

If you intend on sharing your grimoire with the public or you're a fan of a more academic style of writing then you're gonna want to reference your sources to avoid any kind of plagiarism.

You may have already learned how to reference at your college/uni, in which case follow that method, but if you haven't let me show you what i've been doing in my grimoire.

The referencing style I was taught in my degree is a form of APA 7th edition. This style is best for essays and small research papers and since my grimoire is essentially a bunch of mini contextual essays stuck together I thought it was appropriate.

Here's the format:

Author Surname, Author Initials. (Date of publication/release). Title of source: sub-heading/title of chapter. Publishing company/website. Place of publication/website link. [Format]

So for example, the book I'm currently reading is Buried by Professor Alice Roberts. If I were to reference this book in this format it would look something like this:

Roberts, A. (2023). Buried, An Alternative History of The First Millennium in Britain: Water and Wine. Simon and Schuster. London. [Book]

(Its up to you whether you decide to put the chapter before the book title, it doesn't make a difference, but I prefer doing it this way.)

This reference will need to follow an in-text citation. You can do that by adding a little number in parentheses next to your quote or paraphrase that corresponds to the number on your list of references OR you can make a mini reference following this method:

(Author Surname, Author Initials. (Date of publication). Page number if required)

So following this method an in-text citation would look like this:

(Roberts, A. (2023). p1)

Tips

If you are citing a source with multiple authors, organised them alphabetically by surname, your in text citation only needs to include the first one.

If you're referencing an online upload of an old source like Internet Archive or Project Gutenberg, include the original authors name first, uploaders name/ID second and mark which is which in parenthesis, then the date of original publication if you can find it, followed by the date it was uploaded to the site.

If you are referencing a film/TV episode, use the name of the director and include (Dir) next to their name.

If you can't find a date of publication/upload then write DNA instead.

Always put your references at the back of your grimoire. If your grimoire contains multiple chapters, group them by each chapter and then organise either alphabetically or chronologically. If your in-text citation uses numbers, organise your reference list chronologically. If you're using a mini reference, organise your reference list alphabetically.

This last bit is especially important for practitioners who intend to publish their work. Please please please do not skip referencing! I've read so many traditionally published witchcraft books who's authors don't do this or do it half-assed and I can't stand it.

Readers deserve to know where your information is coming from so they can be the judge on whether or not it's appropriate for them to practice themselves. Not doing so creates a cycle of ignorance among readers and new practitioners that encourages the spread of cultural appropriation, poor media literacy and poor historical and scientific understanding. Always cite your sources.

Digital Grimoire Update

After a long break while my friend offered to proof read I decided I'm going to scrap what I've printed for my personal folder so I can make some amendments here and there without worrying about page number and formatting.

I've been reading more so I've got lots more authors to draw from for quotes and want to be sure the context I'm providing is thorough and consistent.

You deserve the best and I want to make sure I can give that to you.

My Grimoire Research Library

this is a list of my major resource I've referenced/am currently referencing in my big grimoire project. For books I'll be linking the Goodreads page, for pdfs, websites and videos i'll link them directly.

There are plenty of generalised practitioner resources that can work for everyone but as I have Irish ancestry and worship Hellenic deities quite a few of my resources are centred around Celtic Ireland, ancient Greece and the Olympic mythos. If you follow other sects of paganism you are more than welcome to reblog with your own list of resources.

Parts of my grimoire discuss topics of new age spiritualism, dangerous conspiracy theories, and bigotry in witchcraft so some resources in this list focus on that.

Books

PDFs

Blogs and Websites

YouTube Videos

Other videos I haven't referenced but you may still want to check out

Happy late Beltaine I swear bird calls are sounding more and more like ring tones and car alarms

Sometimes I forget the absolute unhinged nutty shit that gets uploaded to Pinterest

Ignoring the casual gender essentialism, this is what I mean when I say conspiracy theories are rooted in antisemetism. Even the small stuff like this.

If you see shit like this don't let it slide. Report it.