I am staying at a friend’s house and I am the only one up. How does this one work? I looked online and it all says:
I can briefly hear a sound but then nothing.
Hi,
I need to contact Porter about a one-way flight in Canada this summer. My itinerary says that I have both a personal item and can take a carry on, but my confirmation email says personal item only.
I’ve called several times but the wait times are over an hour to two hours to have the call connected, call back won’t work on UK number and their phone number doesn’t work for me on any of the web providers I tried. I tried several emails and they all bounce back.
There is no chat function on their website either.
How on earth can you get in touch?
We are flying into the Metropolitan airport early morning and then flying out late that night from the International airport.
Am I correct to assume that from the downtown bus depot we can take a bus to the International airport? Is there anywhere to leave our luggage. We travel with hand luggage only, so our cabin bags.
Thanks for any advice. Not been to Montreal in 30 years.
I wonder if any of the older witches on here have thought about what they will do with the old "book of shadows" (here used as a general term to include whatever you call yours) and witchy notebooks when you die.
I'm 53 and I have no plan of kicking the bucket any time soon, but we recently sorted our Power of Attorneys and updated our wills and it got me thinking about the "stuff". And especially written words...
I've been practicing since my teens and I've filled quite a few. I just want to hear others thoughts about this for what your plans are.
We don’t have much “lawn” left as we keep planting things up and what we have doesn’t really constitute as lawn in the British sense.
And yet, we have a bit and we don’t mow the lawn in May (and beyond). We have lived in this house for 20 years and at first there was nothing in that lawn. So dead. Now, without helping much it’s just so full of life and what I find so fascinating as a witch is how plants show up that you “need” right now.
Plantains (here, Plantago lanceolata) are a native to the UK and used in herbal medicine for a wide range of uses.
I have a lot of them this year and as we will travel in the summer - a much longed for trip but also anxiety inducing - I keep smiling to myself because plantain is really useful as a protector for travel and to ensure travel “success” etc. So it showing up as abundantly as it does this year, is a bit of a nudge, “it will be fine.”
Note: I am in the UK, in the US, this is an introduced species and has the by-name “white man’s foot”. It may not have the right connotation to use it there. Not done extensive research on that since I don’t live in the US.
I wonder if you join me in playing a little “game” I like to play.
Go outside and find a plant that grows in your neighbourhood, take photos and try to identify it. There are so many apps now, Google image search or the old fashioned way a plant book.
Then find out everything about the plant:
-Determine both the common name and scientific name (genus and species) for accurate research
-Is it an annual, perennial, biennial, shrub, or tree?
-Does it lose its leaves in winter or stay green all year?
-Is it a native plant, or does it require specific conditions like a bog or dry rockery?
-learn about issues the plant face
-what animals (insects as well) rely on the plant, which predate on it
-look at the leaves, stems, how does it flower, will it fruit and/or seed, how does it multiply
-ideally visit the plant throughout the year and take pictures
Then:
-research folklore and superstitions
-medicinal uses and herbalist uses
And after all of that:
Research magical correspondences
And then make a list or jot down ideas how can use the plant in your witchcraft. You can do this in a BoS, witchy journal, dedicated plant journal etc. but the act of writing it down, adding photos if you have a printer or even drawing is good way to foster retention and train your brain to remember it.
Do one plant a week or a month. Trust me, especially if you are a beginner, this will make you a better witch. I have been doing this for years and years and years.
When you do this, you also know what you can access for your craft and you will eliminate the need to buy ingredients.
IMPORTANT: don’t pick anything until you have fully identified, researched both mundane and magical. Just don’t.
You don’t need to be a green witch to engage with plants. But if you don’t know the environment you live in, you limit your witchcraft unnecessarily. It’s also such a good practice for closet witches because taking photos of plants is at best a bit weird and being interested in them is usually socially acceptable (even if odd)
Go forth and discover your environment. Be witchy.
EDIT: the questions are not comprehensive, add your own, you will discover questions to ask as you explore.
EDIT 2: I personally would never use any herb or plant in my craft for which I don’t know all the above.
Last week before Bealtaine, I deleted TikTok for good and uninstalled instagram (can’t delete since I am a the owner of a local activist insta, so they need access, need to think about that a bit more).
I wanted to detach myself from all the unhinged witchcraft things I’ve seen daily on social media. It’s been a week now and it’s felt like the biggest “touch grass” moment.
I’ve been practicing witchcraft for more than 35 years and whilst I have learned and know that each witch has their own practice and that some witches are Wiccan, the whole social media influx of a certain type of witch has made me often sad, often triggered and overall quite worried.
Personally, it feels very end stage capitalism to me, all the tat that is being sold, witches and pagans using AI despite the detrimental effects on the environment, people running courses selling their “method” etc.
So not seeing this daily, has already made such a difference. Yesterday, I planted the peatfree herbs that I got over the weekend to replace the once that didn’t make it through the winter and I felt like a burden had lifted.
Perhaps social media is weighing me down more than I thought. Anyway, happy touch grass Tuesday.
I thought this might a good tip especially for beginners. I started a herb oil on Friday night that is infusing now until the New Moon. When it’s done I will put it into dropper bottles to use in magic. The oil is not for food use so no need for food safe bottles, so for things like that I re-use bottles like these. My friends know that when they have glass bottles with glass droppers to give them to me. I trained them well.
These are two I was given the other day. So how do I prepare them to make them my own?
The three step process I use is:
-clean
-cleanse
-bless
Clean
I remove the label on them. Probably need a hair dryer for one of them, nail polish removal stuff also works at times.
Then washing up liquid solution and a little bottle cleaner. I keep pulling up the solution into the dropper until I am satisfied it’s clean.
Cleanse
Remove any spiritual attachments.
I tend to leave them in a patch of grass in my garden overnight, then bring them in and wash them again with washing up liquid.
Then I smoke cleanse.
Then I put them in a dark cupboard for a week.
They will be perfect once I am done with it and my spell oil will have the perfect home.
Again: I wouldn’t put oil in there I intend to consume. But it’s fine for spell oils and skincare.
Don’t buy stuff when you can use something you already have or can obtain for free.
I have been making little maypoles for a long time and this is just an encouragement for all newer witches: you don’t need anything bespoke.
The stick in the middle I picked up after a stormy night. It’s oak.
I wrapped it in wool (am a knitter) and a ribbon (from a present I got).
The little dish it stands in is from a charity shop many years ago.
I keep ribbons and I have been collecting for many years so it’s easy to have enough now. My first ever one I used an old pillow case and ripped into strands and coloured them water colour paint, was messy but effective.
The wreath they hang from is made from little sticks woven into a circle-ish shape.
I attached some cord and the stick I found had a convenient fork to suspend it from.
I know it’s easy for us older witches to go on about how you mustn’t spend so much money on tat when we had a life time to collect trinkets and amass experience.
What I’d like to encourage you to do is to spend your money wisely and first shop in your home. What do you already have that could serve the purpose?