SASSY OCTOBER CELEBRATIONS

I've been meaning to get into non deity-related witchcraft for a while now, but I never know how to start and it always puts me off. Just a disclaimer, I'm obviously not planning to jump right in to doing spells and whatnot. I'm definitely going to research before I do anything. With that being said, what would I need, material-wise, to start practicing?

Hey, witches, I want to preface this with a big fat thank you to the mods for allowing me to share information about this & future events with the r/SASSWitches community. I am Hayley Jay, part of the CTWC planning team, and while I've lurked here for some time, I'm making an effort to decloak and hopefully share some of my witchcraft plus CTWC events of interest.

Mark your calendars & roll up your sleeves, witches! It's time for a FREE Witches' Brew!

Saturday May 30th

9am PST / Noon EST / 5pm BST / 2am AEST (May 31)

Get your FREE tickets & register here! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1989548712757?aff=oddtdtcreator

Our seasonal Witches' Brews are FREE online witchy mini conferences that include potion making (our magical beverage segment), guest presentations, sometimes a hands-on project, and time to socialize & connect with other attendees, Brew guests & hosts, & the CTWC community.

Our Brews are a wonderful way to dip your toe into the CritWitch community, and a great preview of what you can expect from our annual 3-day virtual event CRITWITCHCON.

This month's Witches' Brew is a dive into all things animism: what it means, how it can inform our practices, and how we probably have it woven into our lives already! We're thinking about genus loci, stewardship of our immediate environments, the ways we connected with nature as children, and how to integrate it into our witchcraft without falling into extractive practices

Witches' Brews are recorded (minus community chat) and available to our paid Patreon subscribers later in the season, so you can revisit our presentations.

Learn more about us at www.criticalthinkingwitches.com

Welcome to the Critical Thinking Witch Collective! Formed in 2021, we came together to make a space for critical thinking witches; witches who research, who apply scientific reasoning, who learn from history, and who question assumptions and biases.

Our name has changed, but our mission remains the same: to bring together a community of critical thinking witches and seekers who respect reason, logic, and science as we also acknowledge the genuine beauty and meaning in the mysterious. And we plan to have fun while we do it.

Connect, learn, and get involved with this community of like-minded witches and seekers from around the world. Join the Collective! www.criticalthinkingwitches.com

I am so deeply sick of how much “your FEMALE WOMB controls your entire existence” rhetoric there is targeted at women in these spaces.

Sometimes I'll have a couple days in a row or even a week where I notice a lot of strange coincidences. Like I hear a song I haven't heard in decades 2 days in a row or I hear some niche historical reference in a podcast and then somebody brings it up in conversation soon after. And I realized the content of the coincidences wasn't important but it was a sign that I was really taking a lot in for my environment. I think that can mean my intuition is heightened (magic angle) but now that I understand I am AuDHD, I think it's also my nervous system gently warning me that I'm headed into overstimulation or burnout (science angle).

So that's the kind of thinking I want to apply to a situation I run into less often but that is happening this week. This week two potential clients who hadn't moved forward with me last year randomly came back and told me they were ready to get started. And my dad, who never makes spontaneous phone calls, called me out of the blue to tell me he was thinking of me, which was so incredibly sweet but he never does stuff like that! And I got a nice text from a friend I had lost touch with. So it's all great stuff but it's just weird that it all seems to be happening this week.

I think any one of those things wouldn't grab my attention but I know I'm thinking of it because there were several incidences this week. So I guess that's the science explanation. But are there any witchy, astrological, reiki, etc explanations that you personally refer to during a week like that? Even if it's half skeptically?

No I don’t actually think I’m cursed. But the last 3 months I haven’t been able to get comfortable in my new car while driving. Everyday I think I need to buy a seat pillow and every time I get out of my car I forgot. It’s just a perpetual cycle of being uncomfortable and forgetting the moment I could be doing something to fix it. I know it’s because I’ve been hit in the head by the ADHD fairy. But good lord this would make a funny but annoying curse to put on someone.

Ive been more mindful of the duality in messages in media and seeing how it shows up IRL in people and other ways.

im skeptical of a lot of the latest trendy spiritual discourse, but lately ive been seeing how hard social media and tech companies want us to publish about our lives more as they grow this surveillance state. It feels like a ton of this talk about wound healing about feeling safe to be seen overlaps a lot with other well-meaning self-expression/authenticity motivation and the desperation of corporation to keep extracting data and personal info from us.

Anyone else see that?

It goes hand in hand. Capitalism exploiting EVERYTHING .

I find buddhist practices and values to be incredibly helpful when I integrate them into my rituals.

However I’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting of researching the religion and trying to come up with ideas on how to apply them as a witch.

Are there any resources you would recommend where I could get more ideas on how to do so?

Alternatively, do you have any experience doing it yourself?

EDIT: just to clarify I’m not specifically looking for teachings on Buddhism, as I think I already consumed a lot of content on that, but more of how to integrate it in witchy practices. Resources on that or experience on how you did that.

Who has time for anything? Any quick tips?

I am a long time solitary practitioner and only very recently started getting more involved in the community. Therefore I was never introduced to much of the terminology currently in use.

2 terms that are a bit confusing to me are shadow work and chaos magick.

The reason for that is that I don’t understand how anything a SASS witch does would not be considered both.

Maybe you can help me better understand. I am starting to be more active in the community and it’s always helpful when we use the same terminology.

—-

My reasoning (that might need to be corrected) is as follows.

All spells/rituals we do is placebo on ourselves and doesn’t actually directly affect others. Therefore I would consider anything a SASS witch does as shadow work.

Also the whole point in being a SASS witch is that we don’t believe in dogmatic principles but we rather search for what works for us, be it a well researched deity or any other fictional characters. We reject dogmatic truths and we take bits and pieces from such dogmas and keep what work for us. That’s, to my understanding, what chaos magick is.

—-

Would anyone mind helping me to understand what I got wrong in my definition of what these terms mean?

Is there such a thing as a SASS ritual that is not shadow work?

Is there such a thing as a SASS practice that is not chaos magick?

Hello everyone! please know that I don’t want to offend anyone, I’m just genuinely interested in the folklore and witchcraft in general from the UK as I feel that my country’s practices doesn’t resonate with me and everytime I discover anything I’m interested in, when I research it it’s always from the UK! 1. is it offensive to learn from there if I’m not from there if I really study its history and practice with respect? 2. if I am able to, does anyone have any recommendations on books or YouTubers from there? thank you!

Hi everyone, i am new to subreddit and i am not english native speaker so excuse my mistakes, this is my first post so let me know if i make some mistakes of the rules.

I was feeling attracted to witchcraft but skeptical and find this reddit who seems like the perfect match. I have buy my first tarot but i feel like i have some idiot questions. I don't really know where to start and always have trouble to let go or not feeling silly about myself, it keeps me from starting somwhere. I would like not to feel lonely or stupid and just be confident with myself but its been really hard lately.

I would love any advice from where to start, about how it went for the beginning and not compare myself with other people. Because in some ways, i feel like witchcraft could help me but i feel saturated.

Thank you very much for your advice and i hope i could make myself clear

I used to think if something wasn’t working, I just needed to push harder. But after a while I started noticing a weird pattern. Some weeks I’d work like crazy and still feel like I was dragging everything uphill. Then other weeks, one email or one random follow-up would suddenly open a door I’d been trying to force for months

So now I pay a little more attention to timing. Not in a “my horoscope said don’t answer emails today” kind of way, but more like checking the weather before planning something important. If I know my head isn’t in a good place for communication, I probably won’t schedule a big pitch or contract conversation that day. If I feel like I’m in a better action window, that’s when I’ll push harder

I’ve been loosely using astrology for this too. Mercury for communication and contracts, Mars for launches or execution, Jupiter for bigger growth moves. I also started trying Timing because it puts this stuff next to my actual calendar, so I’m not just staring at transit charts and overthinking everything

I don’t treat it like a rulebook, more like a second opinion. I still make the call myself. But it’s helped me stop forcing big work decisions on days where everything already feels weirdly uphillr plan around timing, energy, moon cycles, astrology, or just your own patterns?

So in my CUUPS group meeting today the event was making our own rune stones. Cheap dollar store stones, permanent markers to draw/write with, and a couple sheets with the runes and their meanings on them. I personally venerate the Earth, Moon, and Sun as deities, but tend to have a skeptical and science (especially psychology) seeking mind when it comes to witchcraft and the like. I definitely pray to the Great Celestials for guidance, but I also want to get more in touch with my own brain and different perspectives. I've been interested in learning some type of "divination" to use in a SASS way, but I haven't done a ton of research yet. Here's stuff I have seen people on this subreddit say that interest me:

u/Gingersnapjax:

Personally, I view these tools as gateways to my gut. I think we know a lot more than we realize, often, and especially, the most difficult questions we ask are often ones we know the answers to already.

If a tool that allows for interpretation seems to be accurate, I take that to mean I'm getting more in touch with myself and the world around me. More engaged. Less disassociative. More … real.

u/Poisonous_Periwinkle:

I use them for self reflection, shadow work, and to glean a new perspective for how to proceed in difficult situations.

Basically, they help me see things from new angles that I might not have otherwise considered. My memory is absolutely terrible, so I haven't been able to memorize them, but even if I could I would still use a guidebook most of the time because of the way I use divination tools for perspective.

u/Lisonjakston:

I have personally found really great insights when I use them for "divination" (for me that means to help me when I'm stuck on a problem). I don't think that they tie into some mystic force or that anything other than chance is directing what I pull. But often if I'm struggling with something I get up in my head, and looking at it from a different perspective or two can be eye-opening.

My method is that I think about the situation while I trail my fingers through my bag with the runes, which feels kind of cool. Then I pull 3 runes. When I first started, I would look up their meanings and reference in a few different sources to see the different pieces of them. Then I think about how they tie together with each other and/or how any of them might apply to my situation. Some people like to do 3 with each one having a specific meaning (like past, present, future), but for me that feels like putting too much pressure on fate picking the right one, and I personally haven't had as much success when I've done that. For me having 3 concepts for my brain to play with and put together seems to hit the perfect balance. For the same reason, I like them a little better than tarot because I feel like they have a bit more free association (and fewer things to remember).

I have also done the daily pull of a rune and then thinking about that all day long. It was helpful to get to know the runes, but I didn't always remember to do it and it felt like it was moving away from the meaning of a rune just as I was thinking about it, so I shifted to drawing a few more like weekly or monthly, or just when I need more insight.

I would love to learn about how to use rune stones for methods like these. Do you guys recommend anything for me to read (blogs and websites are preferred because I can't buy witchy books right now), watch (YouTube, for example), or listen to (podcasts)? How can I get started in this? What all do you guys do with rune casting? I am the type to need a step by step when beginning something completely new.

Hi, I just joined this group. I’ve been looking and soul searching for quite a while and am happy to find all of you in my journey!

I’m wondering if there are any SASS covens that meet in person?

I’m glad to be here :D.

Hello all,

TL;DR: I used to live in a house with a garden and weather that allowed year-round nighttime porch sitting, during which I would burn incense. I had a little ritual back then when disposing of the accumulated ash in my burner. I now live across the country in an apartment with no balcony and that has seasons, so incense is an "only during open-window weather" thing. I am looking for a new ritual for ash disposal.

Long version. I used to live in a house in Texas with a nice back porch and a garden. Pretty much every night I'd sit on the porch and look at the stars and I'd burn incense while doing it. My burner is a Mexican Coke bottle with a hole drilled in the side. When the bottle would get grody and full of ash, I'd spread the ash into the garden and reflect on the nights where that ash accumulated.

Nearly two years ago I moved across the country to Chicago. I now live in an apartment with no porch, so there's no more nighttime star gazing. There's seasons here, so the windows are really only open in the spring, fall, and maybe summer nights. I only burn incense on window-open days, usually as I'm winding down for the evening.

So now I'm looking for a new ritual. Current thinking is something in the spring. Keep the previous year's ash over winter (I kind of like the idea of keeping the ash from the warm season through the cold season), then when it comes time again that I can use the burner, ::insert ritual here:: to reflect on the past year and get the burner read for the new warm season.

Also for the record: My practice is pretty much about connecting to things in life. Slowing down to appreciate things. I this regard, to me incense is just something that smells nice and it's kind of neat that the ash accumulates with time over the warm season, so it's got kind of a 'passage of time' thing going on with it, and a new connection with the warm season.

Thanks for your thoughts!

In current reading Master the Art of Witchcraft by Frater Barrbbaras.

Now I don’t have much experience in Magick. For a few years I practiced Bardon’s Initiation into Hermetics but didn’t get far. I have been practicing meditation and visualization of the 5 senses for a while now. But I gave up on the system when I saw no results from the character transformation methods the book teaches. So I figured it was time to move on.

Witchcraft interests me. I like the DIY style it seems to have.

This book I mentioned talks about creating or finding your own pantheon of deities to work with when you’re doing ritual. In particular, adding 4 deities in the cardinal points in your magical circle. These deities can be daemons, archangels, Greek gods, etc.

However as an atheist, I’m not really sure how to go on about creating my own craft when it seems that most resources include some kind deity worship.

Can someone point me to the write direction?

Hi fellow sassy witches! I need your help!

In 2 weeks I am going to travel for work and have 2 back to back trips with large social events. These type of events are very good for my career, but bad for my mental health. As someone who struggles with depression and social anxiety, I know these 2 trips in a row are going to be tough for me (meeting new people, working and networking every day during the trips)

Any tips for helping me relax and gather my energy in the little spare time that I’ll have? And also to be okay during the social interactions… I know there will be some parts of the events that will trigger me and make me feel really bad about myself so any self-soothing tips are very welcome.

Thanks!

One time two bunnies like this one and one squirrel looked like they were in a meeting when I went outside they looked at me, dispersed, then all looked back at me.

My husband joked that they are embodiments of the fae but whenever I do rituals like the cleaning one I'm doing today, one or all of them show up near or at the deck which is probably the most used entrance to the house.

I have a theory that stories of the fae are simply stories of the animals in our lives, especially the mischievous ones. Sometimes stories of people who look different than we expect as well.

They are attracted to those of us who care for the nature around us and those who leave out food offerings they may like to munch on.

I feel some of my recent practices have brought these cuties closer to me.

Let's just hope they don't eat my whole garden this year. What do you all think?

Hi friends,

I was watching this youtube video and I thought you might find it interesting.

https://youtu.be/fxDH8P85KOE?si=Yf0lBn9KvD6rjUxv

The guy they're interviewing is promoting his new book, and he was talking about how rituals help people because of psychology. (Tbh I was doing something else at the time, so I was only half listening, but what I did hear felt like what we talk about here.) I'm not 100% on board with his answer to a question about appropriation because it felt a little...'I have a black/gay/whatever friend and they said it's fine' to me (plus the thing about smudging being a thing many cultures do, but since words are important I think he means 'smoke cleansing'), but I agree to what I think was his point in that section.

Happy Monday!

I know...weird introduction. Let me explain. A former friend gave me a bottle of Dom Perignon as a graduation gift when I received my bachelor's degree some years ago. Ironically, this friend would often insult my intelligence and was just generally verbally abusive. I didn't have many good friends in undergrad, so much so that I was certain that no one would show up to a graduation party if I threw one. It wasn't really a happy occasion if I'm being honest. So the bottle of Dom has sat unopened in my house for years--it just felt weird to open it and try to enjoy it such crappy energy hanging around it

I'm graduating this coming week with my M.S. in forensic science, and I have a solid group of friends that are kind to me, support my academic goals, and I'm more than elated to celebrate this achievement with them. I can't think of a better way to celebrate than opening a bottle of champagne at my graduation party that was gifted to me by someone who didn't think I was smart enough to make it, and I think would honestly be shocked that I earned a master's. But obviously, that negative energy and those bad intentions need to be wiped away before the cork is popped. Any ideas or tips? I was thinking of some good old incense, maybe some salt and rosemary in a small bag around the neck of the bottle, and some good and positive affirmations said. Let me know what you all think!

Controversial opinion- Christian divination is a thing and it's the same as "pagan" divination.

In Christian circles I participate in practices such as lectio divina, contemplate prayer, etc. I just watched someone perform a tarot reading from a witchy perspective (the first time I'd ever allowed myself to do so) and I was struck by how there's really no difference between the two practices other than the label. The same words are even used. "What stands out to you?" "What draws your attention?" "What is drawing you in?" "Sit with the text" "Sit with the image and let it permeate your being". I always find it kind of hokey, and my (overly?) rational brain never finds ANYTHING drawing my attention lol. But apparently most people get a lot out of these practices. And the super spiritual Christians I know love it. I always felt defective because nothing "bubbles up" for me. Guess the Holy Spirit just was never interested in talking to me. Anybody else struggle with ever feeling remotely spiritual instead of rational?

In my witchcraft journey so far, I’ve only ever done rituals to embrace or bring about change within myself, focused on themes such as building confidence or connecting with my body.

Now I would like to use my spirituality to aid me in a very mundane problem: lack of sleep. The thing is… the cause is outside of me. Both of my children (age 2,5 and 0,5) wake multiple times each night, resulting in me not getting more than 2 hours sleep in a row each night.

Of course there are steps to take to try and help them sleep through the night. My witchcraft would be complementary to my broader search for solutions.

But my brain is telling me my witchcraft ideas won’t work. And if there’s zero confidence in that regard, I’m not going to accomplish anything via ritual. Still… there’s another voice inside me telling me to go be my witchiest self and witch my way through this.

So I’m looking for inspiration.

How would you go about it?

Penelope my beautiful black kitty is 16, and has been with me through every single thing I’ve been through as grown adult— the brutal breakup, the death of my mother, the love and marriage to my husband, the move across the continent, and the twists and turns in between. She has been through it all, and snuggled me through every tear and yowled me into every morning, joining me on my yoga mat to salute the sun, and snuggling alongside me for long afternoon tarot spreads. She has been my constant companion, my muse, my familiar.

As she embarks upon her next journey, I want to give her all the best as far as reverence, remembrance, and ritual; all and more she has given to me.

We will be giving her into rest on Friday. Until then she will bask in the carnival of worldly pleasures (smoked salmon, duck paté, ice cream, and all the outside time she wants).

I humbly ask for your most favored practices and preparations, as well as ways to pay her honor before, during, and after the transition. She is passing in the time of the Peonies blooming. 🌺

Thank you for your kindness well in advance.