Tag: round up

January 2020 Round Up

Things that are still endlessly weird: Writing 2020.

This month we kicked off with a post greeting 2020 into the world. It also covers this year’s wishes and goals plus an introduction. It also also includes a self-dedication spell for your new year’s resolutions at the bottom of the post. (Anyone fall off the wagon on those yet? It’s okay if you do! Just keep trying!)

We also reviewed The Witch’s Book of Self-Care by Arin Murphy-Hiscock which earned a 5/5 stars. (Also, a weird world intersect happened on twitter when a twitch streamer I follow (Kesselruns) apparently tattooed this author. Small world.)

We dove into some magical theory with handwriting as sympathetic magic. The post talks about how your handwriting and signature is as good as a poppet or hair in a spell. Also gives tips on how to disguise your handwriting / signature from this very thing.

Then there were the spells:

A self-dedication new year’s resolution spell (located at the bottom of the post)

Prosperity Bowl – a long term spell for prosperity and abundance

“I Want to Go There” – a travel spell

Just Peachy Health Spell – a health and longevity boosting spell, especially useful for the chronically ill.

Lucky Hands Soap Spell – a daily spell for boosting your general luck

Finally, I’ve decided to extend my 2020 New Year’s Ritual until mid February.

What is it? A series of spells and rituals cast in your name by me (a professional witch) for 2020. It’s designed to be relatively secular and integrate with your own magic and spells. The spells are meant to clear out the old from 2019 and bring in new energy. If you’ve done your 2020 prep and think you need a bit more of a push, this is a good choice.

The package includes the following:

  • Sigil made just for you
  • Energy cleansing of the home and body
  • Invoking purifying elements and energy
  • Banish negative elements, such as bad luck and negativity
  • Invoking protection, abundance, prosperity, good health, and good luck.
  • Blessings of the sun, moon, stars, and elements (earth, air, fire, water).
  • Handmade cleansing and protection herbal salt.
  • Handmade herbal charm to encourage abundance, protection, luck, and health.
  • Handmade blessed and enchanted unscented jar candle with light herbal elements.
  • Written detailed account of how the spells went when casting and what you might expect to see as a result.

If interested, snap up your spot today. There’s a limited number of slots available for this package.

Also, if you’re looking to find someone special for Valentine’s next month, consider the Beckon Me A Lover spell. A combo love attracting spell and ego-boosting confidence spell, the spell’s intended to draw a lover towards you.

To buy, you’ll need to drop me an email here. You can read more about the spells available for purchase or request a custom made spell here.

Patreon

If you haven’t popped over to the Patreon recently, you might want to. I’ve launched the first chapter of my Patreon exclusive novel Artifice. It’s a LGBTQA+ fantasy novel about magic, alchemy, court political games, and love. You can read a bit of it here.

Patreon members get access to short stories, novels, and the inner workings of This Crooked Crown. You’ll also get monthly exclusive spells, articles, energy castings, and divination readings.

Your support means I can spend days researching new topics and spells to give all of my wonderful followers and it’s always very appreciated.

That’s it for this month! I hope the start of your 2020 was wonderful. Don’t give up if things haven’t worked perfectly throughout the month. You can always start again! Best wishes and safe journeys! See you in February!

79 Tips, Tricks, & Spells for Halloween 2017 + Sale!

Bonfire by This Crooked Crown

Happy Halloween! Happy Samhain!

I hope you have some amazing plans this Halloween! I don’t personally celebrate Samhain but Halloween is my household’s favorite holiday, hands down. We have as much stuff to decorate for Halloween as we do Yule and it’s not enough.

I’m having a pretty low-key holiday myself. A fabulous witchy dress and hat, of course, but otherwise it’ll be filled with baking, some woo stuff, and passing out candy. It’s sort of a relief to have a quiet holiday. It’s been a crazy couple months and I just got back from a work vacation this weekend. I’m actually super happy to simply have electricity as many people nearby don’t.

Side story: I thank the dead for the fact that I usually have power when my neighborhood doesn’t. My house is, for some reason, on the same power grid as the funeral home across the street and no one else is? So while our power flickered, we didn’t lose it despite the massive storm that took out power for a good portion of our city.

Anyway, what I love about blogging around this time is EVERYONE is posting about spirits. It’s great. I can pick up all sorts of new tips and folklore that way. It’s also prime time for magical rituals and spells. This roundup guide offers tips, tricks, and links on what you can do to to make your night a little more magical.

 

Halloween 2017 Pin

Before you start

Before you get started with your spooky or woo related shenanigans, there’s probably some steps you need to take. My top seven tips and tricks for making contact or dealing with serious spell casting follow.

  1. Make a snack or meal to consume after your working. Carb-y food or sugar-y food is ideal. I typically grab a thick slice of hearty bread or some pasta when I need carbs and a big bowl of fruit and chocolate bits when I need sugar. Make both ahead of time.
  2. Drink water on hand. Getting thirsty during a working is the worst, especially if you’re chanting. Be well-hydrated before you start and make sure you hydrate afterwards. If you’re using alcohol to induce a trance, make sure you have water on hand after your session to hydrate.
  3. If it gets weird, get out. If you’re ghost hunting, contacting a spirit, or any other activity, you can probably leave right away. Thank any spirits for their attention and get out. If you’re in the middle of a spell, quickly but thoroughly finish it and leave the area immediately. Drink some water, take a bath, cleanse yourself, then go do something totally and completely mundane.
  4. Trance safely. Before you use any entheogens, psychedelics, or other trancing method, make sure that you write down what you’re taking and how much. Write down why you’re taking it. Leave a small sample of the consumable along with these notes. This allows emergency medical services to treat you quickly and accordingly if something goes wrong. It also allows you to recreate the circumstances again if you have a good experience that you want to replicate.
  5. Don’t go alone. If you’re doing an outside ritual, traveling, or ghost hunting, go with someone else. Bring a friend who can chill while you do your thing nearby if they’re not willing to lend a hand. Solitude more of your thing? Then make sure to text a friend where you’re going or when you’ve left. There’s a lot of people out there on Halloween and accidents are very common. Be safe.
  6. Practice fire safety. Candle magic is incredibly popular and common. However, practitioners can get carried away. Make sure that you’re practicing fire safety. If you have more than 5-7 candles going at once, keep a fire extinguisher or similar items on hand.
  7. Keep pets indoors. This is more of a Halloween-centric tip than a general one but with so many people out and about on Halloween, it’s a really good idea to keep your pets indoors during this time. I recommend keeping pets inside during outdoor rituals anyway – a dog barking during your chant can really break the mood.

Following those tips can help you out immensely, especially if things get weird and/or powerful. Another good idea is to go armed with lots of information. Here’s a bunch of posts that can help. I’ve also added some posts geared towards “new year” because for some people, they start or end their magical year on Samhain.

 

 

Hearth by This Crooked Crown

Constant vigilance!

Protecting yourself from dangers while cast spells or contacting spirits is important – but it can also be a hindrance. If you’re protected from spirits, then spirits will have a more difficult time communicating with you.

I do recommend protection spells but it’s not a requirement. I don’t use them on myself personally 99% of the time and never when I’m working with spirits or casting spells unless I feel like I’m in danger from something. But, uh, I’m reckless so it’s probably best to not be me and to cast some protection spells before you go out and about with your shenanigans tonight.

Candle Smoke

Getting in touch with a spirit

Getting in touch with spirits can be difficult, especially if you’re not use to it. Samhain often is said to be a thinning of the veil between the spirit realms and the physical world. While the veil between the worlds happens multiple times a year, this one’s pretty consistent.

The following posts should give you some tips to make contact to a wide variety of spirits and beings. They’ll also help you have a good experience and offer some pretty good advice too.

 

Spell and Herb Candle by This Crooked Crown

Spells to cast

You can cast any spell you want any time you want, according to my practice. Here’s a good long list of spells you can give a try.

 

For All Sorts of Money Powder by This Crooked Crown

Cleansing time!

Cleansing yourself after powerful magic or spirit contact is recommended but, again, not a requirement. I often recommend it especially if you’re dealing with multiple energies, like doing group tarot card readings or going to a haunted place with many spirits. It’s also just a good idea in general.

A Cleansing Ritual For House & Home (Spell Saturday #35) – A walking cleansing ritual for your house and physical spaces.

The Curse & Blessing of the Sun (Spell Saturday #49) – A spell that can be used as a curse or as a blessing, using the power of the sun.

 

Cleansing & Cleaning 101 – Because cleaning is a form of cleansing too!

Cleansing Yourself – Post on various methods to cleanse yourself from baneful energy, static energy, or other unwanted things.

Crown’s “Fuck All the Things!” Cleansing and Banishment [tumblr repost] (Spell Saturday #14) – Two spell variations used for cleansing and banishing both spirits and humans.

Simple Water Glass Cleansing for the Witch on the Run – A very simple but effective way to calm and cleanse the self with just a glass of water.

Uncrossing Oneself – Sometimes we repeat baneful or static patterns that are harmful to ourselves. Uncrossing is breaking that cycle.

 

Wheel of the Year wikipedia

Whew! That was a lot of links. I should be back to regular blogging in November. My burn out has abated so I’m back to writing, full-steam ahead. Which is good because NaNoWriMo is less than 24 hours away.

Speaking of writing, if you haven’t, go pick up my novel Spirit Walker. It’s about astral travel and revenge.

One last thing before I let you get back to your candy and binge-watching Hocus Pocus, This Crooked Crown is having a 10% off flash sale. Today (10/31) only. All readings and items in the shop are on sale, including the new reading Taming Your Inner Demons.

Happy Halloween & Samhain!

 

 

 

 

August Round Up

Oops, meant to post this yesterday. It’s a short post but meaningful so you get it for the first post of September instead!

August has been a hell of a month. With a ton of celestial events happening, it’s been a pretty awesome time to wander out and stare at the sky. But lots of scary things have been happening in the news. Remember to support those going through crisis right now, like the hurricane victims in Texas, the mudslide victims in Sierra Leone, and the victims of flooding in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Support those you can and if you can’t, reblog the above posts so the news gets to those who can help.

Things have been happening around here too. I published a book.

Spirit Walker is the first in a series. You can buy it in print or e-book on amazon or createspace. I’m really excited to finally be sharing this story with you all. It’s also a huge weight off my shoulders as I can now focus on other things.

When it comes to posts, it’s been pretty scarce. I spent a much of this month remodeling my mother’s kitchen (and we’re not done *cries*) and attending a ton of personal life events like birthdays and funerals. I had little time between book stuff, orders, and all that other personal stuff to write posts. I still managed to publish all four Spell Saturdays (which is an accomplishment I’m weirdly proud of) and a book review.

First, let’s cover the book review. The Creative Tarot by Jessa Crispin is a book I recommend you reading if you’re a creator and a tarot reader or if you’re a tarot reader looking for alternative views of the cards. I wouldn’t say it’s a tarot book, specifically, but rather a book about creativity and tarot. If that makes any sense at all.

This month’s Spell Saturdays was theme with celestial events! The luck in gambling spell By the Luck of the Moon is one that I quite like because there’s lots of association layers involved in the moon and gambling.

Star of the Apple’s Heart Faerie Love spell is such a mouthful but it’s a good love spell when you want to bring a lover into your life and you don’t much care the form they come in. It’s a tricky spell to perform, wording-wise, but worth it if you’re willing to give it a go.

The Sun’s Invitation is part of a series of spells that work the exact same way. All are invitation based spells using different planetary invocations. The Dark Moon’s Invitation was published back in January.

Finally, I wrote Cursed by the Stars which is, as the title may suggest, a curse. I really wanted to offer a curse this month due to all the hatred being spread so venomously right now and I also wanted to stick with the celestial theme. This spell’s based on another spell I wrote and haven’t shared but I like it.

Outside of that, it’s been a quite month. I’ve spent the last week trying to get my backlog of orders out to my beloved clients. September promises to be better, I hope.

March Round Up

We made it to the other side of March. Yay! This month has been truly insanely busy for me between medical appointments (everyone’s OK, no worries!), caring for sick people, chasing after paperwork, birthdays, funerals, and a small snowstorm. I signed up for a bunch of stuff that I’m now scrambling to complete because I can see the end of March and those deadlines are looming.

When it comes to the blog, I unintentionally took the first week of March off. I needed the rest but I truly dislike leaving everyone without content to enjoy. I’ll try not to let that happen again. The posts that did make it were more on the spiritual side of things.

 

Secular Witchcraft Defined by This Crooked Crown

 

Tumblr followers know I identify as a secular witch and this month tackled how I define and work within my paradigm to some degree. Secular Witchcraft Defined proved to be an interesting read and one I hope will help out new witchlings in understanding this newer form of witchcraft. To counter this, I talked about my current focus of Getting Back to My Roots on a spiritual level. I even offered an Awakening Spring Ritual for some ideas on how my witchcraft and spirituality are separated. For those thinking about working with spirits, which is a bridge between my witchcraft and my spirituality for me, How to Know What Spirit You’re Talking To might offer some insight for you. If you’re looking to see those beings, check out Enchanting Objects for Second Sight for a helping hand.

Spring is here in the Northern Hemisphere although the snow storm and cold snap recently sure doesn’t feel like spring here in Rhode Island. If you’re trying to counter the final winter push, try the spell Burn Away the Winter Blues.  If you need a push to get over that winter lethargy, give the Forged in Fire spell a look. It’s mean to kick procrastination in the ass and celebrated fifty Spell Saturdays. (There, uh, should be more but let’s celebrate our victories and not failures, OK?)

We also saw the Curse and Blessing of the Sun which is a spell that can be a curse or a blessing, depending on your intent. My brother the Necromancer has really been into the Sun as a being of worship recently so I’ve been inspired to create a shrine for him and some spells. By the way, the Curse and Blessing of the Sun has been updated. I originally said that you should create two boxes if you want a curse and a blessing at the same time but I don’t know what I was thinking. Clever wording can create both in one box so check out that spell for new tips.

 

The Curse and Blessing of the Sun Spell

 

I don’t really work healing spells too much so I rarely post them but the Sand Healing Spell is specifically designed for those with chronic illnesses that spend a lot of time in one place. It’s a jar spell and one that’s very low key. It’s not designed to heal you but rather focus on alleviating pain and symptoms. I hope it helps!

On a more practical and mundane front, I wrote a guide on Where to Buy A Tarot Deck which is a question often asked to me and others on social media. We also saw two reviews this month, one on the beautiful Scrying Ink Lenormand deck by Siolo Thompson, the creator of the Linestrider Tarot. There was also the book view for The Soul Searcher’s Handbook by Emma Mildon which scored a 4.5 out of 5. I love both of these things so I’m really happy to recommend them to you all. Speaking of things I loved I started a new mini series I’ve nicknamed “Obsession” which dives into what I’m currently working on or obsessed with right now. I hope this gives a fun insight into the everyday workings around here.

 

Heart

Heart from Scrying Ink by Siolo Thompson and Nourish the Sacred Feminine from Sacred Creators by Chris-Anne Donnelly | thiscrookedcrown.com

 

Other quick news for This Crooked Crown:

  • I recently changed up my newsletter to come out twice a month – once at the full moon and again at the new moon.The newsletters are smaller but contain mini divination readings for the current moon phase which is always fun.
  • Flying Salves arrived in the shop at the end of February and quickly sold out. I hope to have them in again by the end of May, if not sooner.
  • We reached out first goal over on Patreon. I’m always, always floored by the support I receive from everyone and cannot thank you all enough.
  • I received the absolutely amazing  Idiosyncradeck Tarot and the Amethyst Oracle from Jessica Bott who is probably better known as Cracked Amethyst. I’m absolutely in love with them both and can’t wait to do more readings with them.

 

Getting Back to Your Spiritual Roots by This Crooked Crown

 

So that’s what was up this month at This Crooked Crown. It was super busy in a way I wasn’t expecting but I’m thinking I’ve made the most of it. What were your favorite posts? What do you want to see more of? Planning on trying any of the spells? See you in April!

 

February Round Up

What a month.

This month has been a whirlwind for me. Posts were going great and I was doing really well on all the projects I had going. But then it suddenly became too much and by the third week of February I crashed entirely. I needed a break and anything I attempted to do except rest fell apart. Since my Silence Festival (three days of unplugged utter silence) was the same week, I just kind of disappeared from the world for a while.

On top of that I had some family stuff and projects that needed some attention (which will continue into March but it won’t be a surprise at least!) Plus I injured myself no less than seven times. My poor hands are covered in band-aids. On the other hand, I’ve recently achieved a small fitness goal so that was exciting for me.

 

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Cozy night in.

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That being said, look at the site updates! There’s new stuff! Well, kind of. I moved some menus around and cleaned up some back end stuff. Two big things is that I’m now accepting sponsorship and so on. This is more for fellow shop owners and indie deck creators that rather than some big corporation. No worries, this suddenly isn’t becoming affiliate link central. I also added an ongoing projects page. This is a loose timeline of when to expect certain products in the shop or certain projects to be up and running.

There’s going to be some new additions to the site soon that required this kind of sprucing up. Namely, I’ll be putting up a sourced correspondence page for you all. My biggest challenge right not isn’t the correspondences themselves but implementing them in a way that’s convenient and cleanly done. A huge long list isn’t super interesting to me nor is a million page hopping links. If you’ve got any ideas, let me know.

 

 

Oh! But a major score was to be had when I found an intact copy of my links from my tumblr resource page. Tumblr is where I originated as a blog and a lot of my posts were/are really popular there. About a year back, tumblr FUBAR’d page links and in an instant, everything was gone. I’m so excited to be able to give this resource back to the people. The posts may be old and rant-y but their tumblr originals.

The only problem is tumblr itself. It seems to really hate links in super long pages now so even copying and pasting the document over doesn’t work. New links were erased too. So I ended up keeping the page live here on my website and redirecting people here from tumblr so they can click a tumblr post and be re-directed BACK to tumblr. How dumb is that? At least it’s safe from the vicious tumblr gremlins I guess. Sheesh.

 

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This week's Free Tarot Tuesday Twitter Reading is up!

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Let’s get to the posts this month though, hm? This February was about love and divination. We started off with five divining techniques to discover your sweetheart and then discussed the spell / divination of knotting a garter which me and like three other people found interesting. Haha.

With Valentine’s Day smack dab in the middle of the month, I reviewed Edain McCoy’s Bewitchments which got a pretty great review. For the big night itself, Tarot Emulation Attraction Spell brought your favorite tarot card avatars into your personal closet. Be the High Priestess for your coven meeting then be the Knight of Wands or the Lovers for a night in with a special someone. That special night in could be even more special with the super popular Chocolate Rose Tea Love Philter recipe. If that special someone isn’t paying attention to you, the spell Think of Me or the readin Love Letter could be handy too

 

Chocolate Rose Tea Love Philter by This Crooked Crown

 

Love’s not all about romance though. Friends are important too! The Friendship Knot Spell is definitely something you might come back to when your current crop of friends are less than awesome.

I probably could have followed my own advice offered in five tips for loving yourself or gave myself a reading using the included divination spread Loving Myself. Or maybe I should have visited my astral friends featured in Spirit Destinations: Spirits Who Can Help. Instead I went to my old self-care habit of reading and writing (which isn’t bad either!)

The all-purpose spell Wish Granter, Bring Me A Wish is a bit unusual but might be worth trying if you need something. There was also a somewhat nasty curse using a plant’s growth that I’m kind of in love with. (Not sure what that says about me. Haha)

 

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Current library read 📚

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So it’s been a weird kind of month. Next month is definitely off to a better start already and I’m so excited to share some new stuff with you. Plus spring is so, so close and I’m really excited to ditch the winter blues. Thanks so much for reading and see you in March!

Decks featured:

  • Sacred Creators Oracle by Chris-Anne © Chris-Anne.com

January 2017 Round Up

January was a… rough month for me. Anxiety and helpless was a constant cloud over my head until my outrage over current events dispersed the cloud. It’s been the kind of month where instability is the norm.

 

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Drifting away

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I think this instability showed in my posts. There were some days where I didn’t meet post deadlines (sorry about that!) and other days where I rambled about messy lives and resolutions. I even re-posted a tumblr post about how to handle snow in New England. Weird posts but necessary while I figured out my emotional state.

But now I have a fairly solid plan for myself and how I can help others. Having a plan makes me feel far more secure, even if most of the time I completely ignore my plan and wing it. It gave me the ability to protest, donate, and help others. I even made a small post about it over on tumblr.

It’s been a good month for those interested in tarot and divination in general. I wrote up a review on the pretty Bleu Cat Tarot by Beth Seilonen and Schiffer Publishing. It’s a pretty deck I don’t see much of out in the wild and I just need to run around to all the cat lovers I know and show them these cards.

 

how-to-find-the-perfect-tarot-deck-for-you-by-this-crooked-crown

 

I also shook off my folklorist roots and posted about the myth of buying your first tarot deck followed by what you should consider when looking for the perfect tarot deck for you.

There’s more to this unofficial tarot for beginners series coming up so keep an eye open for more posts. Some will be geared towards beginners but there’s some that even old hats might find useful.

Weight loss is a huge new year’s resolution for many people so I gathered together some tumblr posts on the subject and posted them under Enchanting Your Weight Loss. Increasing my physical training is one of my goals for 2017 so you might see more of that kind of thing moving forward. Maybe not. What do you guys think?

 

enchanting-your-weight-loss-by-this-crooked-crown

 

Poppets are one of those things that I use a lot in my practice. I somehow ended up with a large amount of knowledge regarding puppets and poppets during my college years and it made its way into my practice. I shared some of that knowledge in a post brought over my tumblr about how you can make a house shaped poppet for spells.

My #SpellSaturday game was strong though. Even so, it took several hours to decide which spells I wanted to post when. I know from the recent poll many of you wanted to see more information posts, more transferred tumblr posts, more stuff. I’m hoping that this coming year’s content doesn’t disappoint.

 

wishing-stone-by-this-crooked-crown

 

i-want-to-go-there-spell-by-this-crooked-crown

 

The Wishing Stone is an all-purpose spell that can be done any time of the year. It’s a pretty classic “good luck object” spell but one that’s pretty useful and extremely low-key. I Want To Go Here is a travel spell that could be easily adapted for events and astral locations rather than a physical location. The original tumblr post had a curse counterpart that will appear here sometime this year.

Another all purpose spell is The Dark Moon’s Invitation. It’s a new moon spell that is designed to bring more stuff into your life – more money, more love, more good grades, etc. It’s meant to be tailored to your needs.

And finally here’s a spell that’s more in line to February’s general theme of love with Strengthening Love.

This is a difficult time in the world and many people are afraid. I plan on fighting. I plan on spreading love and kindness. I plan on being compassionate. I plan on protecting and defending people. Do what you can. Speak against the wrongs you see. Protest and donate. But spread love. Spread kindness. Spread light and hope. It can mean all the difference to someone who only sees darkness.

See you all in February.