Category: Divination


Ethics I’ve Learned

Filed under: BW Public Service Announcement, Divination, Pagan Life, Spells & Potions — Leave a comment
January 13, 2012

Ethics are very important in divination and witchery. Every new Pagan is going to have their run ins with ethics but they are necessary. Every Pagan is different and all Pagans are going to think differently as well as could perceive the same situation differently. As for ethics and divination, I have a strict set of rules to go by. Always have ever since I started at 17. These rules are to keep everyone involved safe and are only broken under the most severe situations.

Never make people pay ~ I don’t charge at all for divination. As a diviner, my job is to give you advice on what to do next, that’s it. I’m not drawing up haunting ghouls and ghosts to do my bidding, it’s purely me and what I can gather from the universe. I often tell people I don’t charge because they’re going to find out in about three months what their future is going to be anyways. I know some of my divination friends differ in opinion because they believe a service is given but for me personally, I never would pay for a reading and never have, why would I enforce something different? Plus, not everyone has the money to dole out but could use the help all the same. Besides, what would I do with the money? Nothing noble most likely, just squander it on food and lolita, not donate it somewhere or be useful with it. I am a very fortunate person and I am extremely aware of this. I feel that what I have is a gift to share and help people with, not take money from. I also feel that money can corrupt even the best of diviners because it’s very easy to get greedy and to take advantage of people in need. I will take snacks (I love me some red bean mochi and if you can spot me some good okonomiyaki joints in Maryland/DC, you can have any reading you want, as many as you like!) in exchange for readings if the person offered but no money whatsoever. Besides, I already have a job. I work at my university’s library so it’s not like I’m suffering. I feel best when I’m being selfless and helping someone because they need it, not because I want something in exchange. The only time I ever broke that was for the Divination Days held by my school’s Pagan Student Union and it was to raise money for our group, not a dime went into my pocket. We didn’t charge more than $3 (I controlled the prices) and I made sure all the diviners knew that their primary goal besides raising money is to help people. While I am perfectly fine with fleecing the rich kids, I don’t want anyone undeserving getting mixed up in it. Besides, I’ve gotten so much back in good fortune from helping people and I rather have that than money any day. In addition, nothing reeks “Potential phony” like a $15 price tag for a quick palm reading.

Keep it confidential ~ That’s right, I don’t say a word about another person’s reading because it’s no one’s business but their own. To be loose lipped can bite me in the derriere in ways I don’t think I need to explain. Often time I am sought out in confidante by people who are embarrassed or frustrated by their problems, concerned that they are breaking from their religious beliefs or worried that someone else may find out what’s going on. I understand keeping a secret if a secret has to be kept. I don’t break that unless the person exudes suicidal tendencies or may harm themselves in another way. Then I gotta start talking, usually to someone who cares deeply for them or refer them to a trusted professional. I know when people are feeling suicidal or want to indulge in self-injury, they don’t want to tell someone who they think is going to snitch but guess what, I have to. There’s no special oath a diviner takes before dealing with other people’s problems but we do have a conscience to contend with. I would much rather keep Jiminy Cricket quiet rather than grieving me all day about how I should have said something when there was a chance. I too have wanted to kill myself (and I’m not afraid to say that I still gripe with that a little now, I have issues just like everyone else*) and I know about self-injury from personal experience* so it’s not like the person is talking to some apathetic psychologist who knows only what the textbook tells them. However, I have to bring it to light that the person I’m reading for is in dire need of attention.

I’ve had the awesome luck to read for one of my favorite bands evar! My goodness gracious, I was doing natal charts (astrology) for two of the members. They happened to be the most popular members so of course people wanted to know what I found on them. I never said anything once that would discuss their personal lives or cause them harm from a crazy fan. Granted, I found out stuff about my favorites that, to be honest, I could have gone my whole life and about three more others not knowing about. *shudders* Talk about the saying about meeting your heroes. I wrote nearly twenty pages for each member (something else I’m not doing again unless I am working super close with the person, the fact checking and the checking-fact-checking was tedious!) so there was some pretty sensitive information but they were for those band members eyes only. I still feel wacktacular that I gave them such a rushed copy and never had the chance to share the refreshed and worked-through copy of their natal charts. I never got their responses back (it was a quick meet) and it still gives me chills sometimes wondering what they are.

Don’t read everyone ~ Every diviner, whether they make you pay or not, has the right to refuse a reading. I know I’ve done it before. It’s an added perk in not making people pay because it’s easier to refuse readings, yay for me! Just like I have the right to refuse readings, people have the automatic right in not being read. I can read hands/palms, faces, handwriting and auras but just because I can doesn’t mean that I should. It’s simply wrong. I wouldn’t want someone doing that to me, I’m not going to do it to someone else. While I can easily sneak a glance at someone’s hand to figure out some of their more basic life story, I don’t with everyone. I don’t do it to my parents, I don’t do it to those I look up to or appreciate. I see it like this, if my parents wanted me to know about a part of their life so much, they would tell me. I’m not going to pry about and wind up getting my feelings hurt because I decided to be snoopy. It may not be time for me to know or some things are simply better not knowing.

 As for those I appreciate [caution: fangirling ahead], it goes back to the “meeting your heroes” saying, you never know what you’re going to get and you really don’t know if you’re going to like what you find. In the entertainment industry, often there is a stage persona that is shown to the crowd and the presses, keeping the real person a secret. They go by other names, gimmicks and/or amiable personalities. We think we know everything about our idols and their lives but there are still some things that they (rightfully) keep under wraps for the sake of privacy. Everyone needs their privacy. For example, I love Janelle Monae. I could talk about her for hours on end; she’s such an awesome person in my eyes. I appreciate her style and she really means a lot to me as a Black girl growing up very different from the crowds. I would be devastated completely if anything were to happen to her. Though I find her to be an adorable little ball of energy, cute and with vibrant imagination, I love The ArchAndroid and bought The Chase Suite twice (a digital and physical copy), I’m not going to scan her hand in her photo ops. Firstly, that’s creepy. Secondly, I rather let her tell me her story rather than me find out for myself. How can I say that I care (in the way that a fan cares about a performer) about her well-being by being sneaky? I am confident she’ll speak for herself on whatever topic she has to. She’s a performer and I’m just a fan, nothing more. Plus, what if I find something I may not like that could bust my perception of her wide open? Ignorance can be bliss and I’m stickin to it.

Simply put, I don’t read others unless they would like me to, regardless of person. Unless it’s dream interpretation. That’s so fun and usually people want to understand the dreams they have so rarely does anyone mind me giving some input. It’s so fun to me! I used to have a dream thread back at Fortminor.com but that’s gone now (and I’m still grieving over it, 50+ pages gone, dang).

Can’t save everyone ~ This is the one that gets diviners with big hearts such as myself. Some people simply can’t be saved. No matter how many reading you give or how much advice you offer, some folks are too far gone. Not everyone takes advice when given and some people have terrible misfortune. All a diviner can do is to do the best that they can do and not guilt themselves when things still go wrong. I know I have moments where I still wonder if I did the right thing or made the right choice in helping someone but I can’t dwell in the past and I can’t save everyone. Not everyone wants to be saved and there are times where you have to save yourself. They’re very scary times but they do happen. All a diviner can do really is just guide best they can. At the end of the day, the person I’m reading for has to figure out what to do with their life, not me.

Don’t rope a person into doing witchcraft ~ You won’t believe how often I hear people who have met shady diviners and had to do some form of magick to make the bad thing go away. If it is against your beliefs to do magick, it’s against your beliefs to do magick. Be firm in your ideals. If the person says that you have to do it, know that you don’t. More often than not, a person is not jinxed* but with a case of bad luck (or a negative perception on life). Often these people are roped into doing dangerous things that doesn’t make sense like laying in a bath of lye for a month or foolish things like buying a $400 pair of leather shoes from Nordstrom (why Nordstrom, I dunno but that’s usually what I hear) to spit at or whatever have you. I never would tell a person to do witchcraft to solve their problems, often times that’s not what’s needed. If they needed magickal assistance, I would explain everything piece by piece so they fully understand everything and it’s usually small. Like smudging (cleansing) a house with sage if they think they really need it or anointing a dollar with bayberry oil for money (and a copy of the employment section with a red sharpie. Where d’you think the money’s coming from?). If a person is happening on bad times, I usually tell that person to solve the problem the way their religion sees fit. If that means they are to pray to their god for an answer, that’s what they’re supposed to do. I’m not going to drag someone waaaaaay out of their comfort zone and possibly get them hurt or mistakenly kill them. 

It’s up to the Pagan to decide what their ethics are, just know that it is important to have them and they’ll carve themselves out sooner or later. Books and teachings can only go so far, it’s up to the Pagan to live, learn and make mistakes. What’s the point of being Pagan if you’re living inside the velvet ropes of life anyway? Make mistakes but don’t be reckless, though. And don’t be afraid to learn from the mistakes of others.

That’s the BW column for this week! Next week is The Arts! Who’s being featured:

– Racist Political Ads
– Disoccupy
– Sh*t Girls Say (for Black girls)

And the week after that is Ask Black Witch! Get it goin’ and send in your questions!

And don’t forget to read my interview from Black Pagan

Also, please help this little kitty from the Charm City Animal Shelter named Little Mouserat. He was born with no eyelids and needs surgery. Without surgery, his fur will constantly rub against his corneas until his eyed are damaged to the point that they need removed (vet says 2-3 years). His eyes gets very dry from not being able to blink, too! Any donation will help, this poor kitty has already been through enough. Click here to donate and learn more. Thank you!

Comment

Be Honest, Why Don’t You?

Filed under: Divination — Leave a comment
December 16, 2011

So, in the world of being a diviner seems mystical, right? Some lady in a turban that talks with an accent and is never wrong, correct? Her glass ball is the mirror to the future and simple to trust. But what is forgotten often in that picture is how a diviner is a person and hence apt to make mistakes and bad calls.

Diviners, no surprise, don’t like to make bad calls. One outstanding reason is because it helps fuels the “Diviners are frauds and cons” stereotype but another is because a life just became affected and it sucks knowing you’re the person they went to and trusted and you let them down. It’s broken faith. But it happens for a variety of reasons: tiredness, second-guessing, knowing too much about the person which can color the reading, etc etc etc.

In university, a friend of mine was introduced to me via another friend and he had a vat of problems ranging from girl problems to illness and having some drama of his own between being Muslim and managing Jewish student groups in effort to bridge the interfaith gap. So, consistently he asked for a reading and since he was a friend, I didn’t mind obliging. I think there were only few times where I suggested otherwise when he asked for readings from other friends. Despite reminding me that divinations are considered sinful in Islam but he asked for a few readings for reassurance.

I gave fairly uplifting fortunes. That things would be okay for the most part, but not to assume that things are going to be – poof – all and well. It just didn’t match what I felt intuitively. What I felt intuitively was that good days were going to be a way’s off but I worried that maybe I’m just leaning too heavy on the doom and gloom and perhaps it’s not that bad. That and I couldn’t predict the global economic collapse which screwed a lot of people up, including my friend. I would see the signs but I’m not an economist so I wouldn’t have pointed to that but to personal circumstance. I couldn’t see the forest for the trees, so to speak. Hell, I didn’t even know I was in a forest, I just saw trees, grass and sky.

We fell out of touch and I always would worry about those readings with him particularly, worry about their validity and if they were true myself. As far as I knew, he had an illness treating him poorly and was easily triggered by stress. Had difficulty with energy, sometimes couldn’t hold down food, already was wracked with stress, I guess I subconsciously (and consciously) didn’t want to add to that. I wanted things to be better, so that’s pretty much what came out of my mouth. I also thought that I was teetering too much to doom and gloom and didn’t want to do that, figuring it was just me being weird. I think I should have listened and opened my mouth.

Thanks to Facebook, we managed to reconnect and talk for a bit and he told me how things turned south for him but with one piece of good news – he’s not sick anymore. Apparently he never was, it was a misdiagnosis thankfully. So he’s fit now but still dealing with the problems affecting most Americans now and wishes he had gotten a more proper warning. Now he’s sworn off readings, saying that they’re sinful in the eyes of Allah anyways. I think that’s a good call.

The part that bugs me most is that I wonder what would have been the response should I have said that something really bad was coming and with no currently foreseeable end. Most people don’t respond well at all to that, especially if they’re going through bad things already. It’s like “What if I’m wrong and I just stressed out a sick person for no reason?” Plus, back then I wasn’t so on the pulse of the economic climate of the world like I am now (still not (and don’t want to be) economist grade but am learning quickly) so even if I could feel something was amiss, I couldn’t tell what it was. I may have dreams about hurricanes before they come but I don’t dream about bankers the same – and even if I did, I just would probably have written it off as A) I should watch my spending or B) something weird about prosperity and the draining of it…I’ll watch my spending. Even my ex-boyfriend was struck with pretty much the full hilt of the housing market collapse and jobs being difficult, pretty much the poster boy of the victims of the economy but I still didn’t get it until way after the problems swallowed my relationship whole, among other issues ticking away at it. Still pissed about that one.

My friend is very hopeful of the future, and hope is good. But still it doesn’t shake how bad it makes me feel because geez, I would always think “Man, what if I said this?”, “Man, I totally missed that, should I say something?” I thought I would see him one day in the halls but that didn’t happen so I would always stay thinking. It sucks to second guess and worse not be able to help. Divination does open up the mind to the unconscious universe for an answer but with nothing for the diviner to connect to for themselves, bad calls are made.

It sucks to make wrong guesses but it important to express that the circumstances can sway even the best diviners. I think that it’s because diviners don’t live in a vacuum. We have good days, bad days, quirks, biases, moods and personality. We live in the same environment as everyone else, etc etc. A diviner should be as objective as possible so not to get the reading mixed up with emotions or personal thinking but still trip ups occurs.

Usually with mistakes, the most you can do is learn and deal but some mistakes are harder to just pick up and move on from. They’re the kind of mistakes that make you wonder if this whole metaphysics thing is simply parlor tricks like some people say or is the fault just theirs for being incorrect. It kind of reminds me of a volume of a favorite manga of mine The Tarot Café where Pamela, the main character, once read for a blind person and instead of saying what was really on the cards (whether you know tarot or not, some cards simply convey bad things are coming just judging from the art, 10 of swords or The Tower is a great example) she made up a happier tale that was completely inaccurate. Granted, the main character knew that crap was about hit the fan Mach 5 so she wasn’t second guessing and opted for the safer route like I did but I did understand that she lied only so the blind person could feel peace for once by simply being told what he wanted to hear: It’s going to get better. I guess I wanted the same and went for the “spared feelings” route.

Is it good to be honest? Oh sure, always shoot for honesty and go with your gut but know that you’re going to have to make a tough call sooner or later and you’re also going to slip up sooner or later. Not always but occasionally it’s better to go with the happier story that could give the person the boost they need to see through the hard times they’re already going through. Okay, not better. I think it is more accurate to say it’s human, not better. It’s more human to understand that someone is going through something terrible and is constantly stacking up and to want to ease things a little. Even doctors have done it, telling terminal and critical patients or their families that things will be fine simply out of human sympathy. Is it right? Depends on the person you ask but it’s completely understandable why it happens. It’s difficult to be cold and unfeeling, especially when using an ability that requires feeling something. This does mean you may have a reading you’re not so sure of nagging you for a few years only to find out that it didn’t pan out like you hoped it would and you’re going to feel crappy about it but at the very least, learn while you kick yourself. And keep those blind choices to a minimum – reserved only for the hard times.

Or better yet, you could just put down the deck and say, “I don’t feel confident in reading for you because I sense something that I’m not sure is accurate and I certainly can’t describe.” That’s probably what I should have done.

Comment

Ask Black Witch

Filed under: Ask Black Witch, Divination, Relationships and Dating, Resources & Information — 2 Comments
November 25, 2011

Ok so I know that on everything I’ve it says not to do a spell to influence another person’s thoughts or actions but how do I get my ex back for good I’ve been in a lot of pain and I want to just get her back I know about the karma thing but I’ve never done anything with black magic before so I wanna learn how it works to thanks for the help

– Landon D.

Before I continue, let’s see if this can put a stopper to potential future questions such as this: if you check my “About Me/Contact Me” page, you’ll learn that I’m called Black Witch because I’m an African-American person who practices Witchcraft, not that I jinx or whatever. So anyone who want to ask me such a question, just keeeeep truckin’. Or just be yourself, that’s probably jinx enough for anyone who have to interact with you. And if it’s for dating, just buy a Bruno Mars album and shrink into the darkness.

Alright, Landon, you’ve got the basic very correct: you shouldn’t influence another person. That means no matter what. You’re scorned over your ex, join the club. The mundane version of getting back at her would be to harass her all the time, at home, at work, at play. That’s illegal. And a douchebag move.

Black magick works in that you’re adding bad energy (sounds new agey, yeah, but it is what it is) into a person’s life to deliberately cause harm. A mundane comparison: Cutting someone brakes (intent to harm) versus not telling them anything and their brakes break (karmic). Then there’s the karmic retribution on you. It is sometimes declared as threefold, some say tenfold, I just say whatever it is you’re going to do, it won’t be worth it for what you’ll get back.

If you’re in a lot of pain, you’re no different from anyone else suffering from a broken heart. Most pop songs wouldn’t be on the radio if the singer didn’t whine about how bad they’ve got the she-left-me blues. It’s a part of life and you can’t get pissed simply because things didn’t turn out the way you wanted them to. When in a relationship, you do run a risk of getting hurt emotionally. It’s not fair and certainly isn’t fun, I can tell you that first-hand, but acting out on your grudge isn’t smart. Here’s why:

– You seriously think this is going to be the only time?: Relationships can suck, given if you keep dating the wrong people (which, I’ve noticed, plenty do). What if you get hurt again? Are you going to jinx the new chick too? Then you aren’t going to learn anything because it’s not like you’re perfect either. You’ll probably grow misogynist (“God, women are such gold-digging cunts. They’re so shady and freakin’ tricky.”) because instead of learning from your mistakes and dating better picks, you’re just going to rub salt into your own wound thinking that you’re dealing fair retribution. Not easy but you’re going to have to deal and find someone better.

– For good?: If your ex is such a terrible person, she’s going to meet her match. Either in the form of a wife-beater, terrible friends, people seeing straight through her or the worst of them all, the male version of her. It burns not to do anything but it’s better than potentially growing obsessed over a bad relationship.

– Relationships aren’t perfect: They’re not. Dan Savage wouldn’t have a job otherwise and love spells would be pretty pointless. Here’s the thing, you’re not perfect – I’m sure if I asked the ex, she probably can list some of your faults just as well as you can list hers – and the girls you’re going to date aren’t perfect. Nobody is perfect. Perfect relationships don’t exist because there are no perfect people. There are people perfect for each other but that doesn’t mean the relationship itself or the people in them will be perfect. There are high times, low times and times you wonder why you’re dating the person that you’re with. That means break-ups and barking up the wrong tree occasionally. They suck, they’re embarrassing as all get out and they promise Kleenex will never go out of business. The only safe route is to either imagine you’re in a relationship with a cartoon character, stay out of relationships or to be more careful dating by getting to know the girl longer and/or stating (and knowing) your deal breakers.

You’re not going to like the advice but move on. Seriously, move on. Take some time to get over the relationship, perhaps a few months or more depending on how long you dated. I didn’t like the advice when I got it but it’s the most that you can actually do to help yourself. Being vengeful feels good but nothing poignant is going to come out of it and you probably still won’t learn a single thing. And I mean learning something useful, such as “I don’t like when the girl I’m dating does this because of that” and so on. That’s actually useful, not hexing someone for breaking your heart.

I’m back with more questions. XD
 
The first few involve dreams. I’ve noticed that I can foresee events in my dreams; if it’s a planned event the specifics are more clear. Thinking back this has definitely happened before, but I haven’t really taken notice until I got interested in magick and I also haven’t really remembered my dreams. However, it’s been happening more often once I got a necklace with my zodiac sign (Cancer) and a faux opal.
 
~Is it possible that the necklace has something to do with the increase? It’s just a simple necklace from Avon.
 
~I plan on getting a dream journal to write down my dreams before I forget, but is there anything that would help me remember my dreams more?
 
The next question is about pendulums: how exactly do they work and how would they be used?
 
The last question is actually a Lolita question: What is your stance on replicas? There’s a lot of debate on them thanks to Dream of Lolita and I’d like to see a lot of opinions on them.
 
Thanks again!

– Bertina

I don’t mind getting repeat readers asking me questions, I quite like it. Means I’m not messing up. So long the questions remain good, I’m happy.

Precognition, I think almost everyone experiences it. It does increase with magick use because of the fact that you’re opening up your intuition more. Your necklace can aid in that because it provides a visual representation to keep your intuition up. Think of how people have pictures or statuettes of Jesus with them, totally not needed in that Christ isn’t physically in the picture and is not the statuette itself but a visual reminder. The necklace works the same for its own purpose.

When I write down my dreams, I keep the lights off, eyes closed and scribble in my dream journal in (which is nearby, or my BOS, whichever I remember is closer). You forget, I believe, 90% of your dream in a few hours and a pretty big amount within the first 10 minutes. Writing the dream down right after I wake up works for me and I’ve heard it is the best method. Don’t worry about lines running into each other or misspelled words, just write it down and review it later in the day.

Pendulums, very pretty and can be pretty annoying when not used correctly. Pendulums have two uses: answer yes/no questions and to find stuff. When using it as a divinatory device (to answer yes/no questions) you work with the pendulum to either with or without a yes/no/maybe sheet to see how it responds to questions on its own or “program” it to respond to yes or no as you desire. Protip: You have to be verrrrry still or wind up swaying the pendulum so lay your arm down somewhere if you worry this will be a problem. I find pendulums can be problematic because some questions need more than a yes or a no and if it’s for a question you desire a particular answer for, you may sway the pendulum. I know I have – oh, and if you’re practicing psionics (i.e. psychokinesis) then skip out on this divination form, you will affect the result. It is more useful, in my experience, to find lost stuff. I would ask my pendulum (I have several, including one that I think hated me) to swing in the direction of my lost object, saaaay, my glasses. I tell it to go in a circle (or become still) once in the general area and the stronger it responds, the closer I am. Again, be steady. It takes a bit of meditation and work with the pendulum enable to reduce the chance of false positives. The pendulums work by connecting with the collective unconscious of the universe and refined via intent either for an answer or to find something. Or if it hates you, like one of mine did, it’ll just steer you directly into trouble or screw with the answers even if you were as still as stone.

My stance on replicas – for readers who are not aware, replicas are dresses in the Lolita fashion that are replicated designs or prints of popular and expensive dresses in the fashion – is that I think they are useful gap fillers within the fashion. Not everyone is after a name; some like a dress because it is pretty, not because it screams “I have brand”. Some simply cannot fit the small size range of Lolita dresses. For example, I would need a replica of the Carnival Cards dress by Angelic Pretty because A) the color I want it in is sold out and B) I couldn’t fit it even if I could buy it. Since Lolita dresses constrict themselves into such a narrow size range, I don’t look down on replicas and they make some dresses more affordable. Also, there’s the issue with a lot of brand dresses getting ruined from simply coming in contact with water, which the replicas may not do. I know I have only gotten one replica dress, a black Sugary Carnival dress from Dream of Lolita, that has this problem. I hate it because there are mistakes, the fabric is terrible and it faded fast through washing. But it cost almost 1/5th the price of the original dress, which cost about $600, can rocket up to $800 secondhand. A person just has to look around for reputable replica makers such as Oo Jia. I would say look hard at reviews before committing to buy because while a replica dress may be cheaper than the original, it is not cheap by any definition as a whole.

I am getting older by the day, and because of this fact, I am wondering if I will ever find true love where there is passion on both sides and ultimately have a baby or two?
 
I have been meeting too many men who are just not my type or I am not there’s. Whatever the case may be, I am extremely tired of looking. Can you shed some truthful light on me and let me know if love and a family is something that is meant for me to experience or not. Is there a spell to improve my situation? I need to know.
 
Thanks!

– Cali

The subject of true love is a tricky one. I’ve tried to do a true love spread but it became a can of worms over the course of two years for me so I don’t do them anymore. I certainly don’t suggest spellwork because it will be more trouble than it’s worth.

Now, do you see a loving and passionate relationship as little arguing, the guy is just knows your needs or can read your body language like a book, things like that? Or do you see a loving and passionate relationship as something that’s going to have back and forth along with the happy times, you’re going to get on his nerves sometimes, he’s going to get on your nerves sometimes, you both are interacting with each other as people and as friends, etc etc etc? If you see it as the former, you’ll always be unhappy. The latter? You’re off to a good start but still that doesn’t promise marriage and the baby carriage.

Let’s define “true love”: True love, in reference to a person, does not mean they will be perfect in every single way, let’s get that out the way. No one is perfect. Not you, not the President, not the person who collects your bills, not your best friend, no one on this earth is perfect. Everyone is imperfect, has flaws, quirks and issues of varying shades and ranges. There are people who are perfect for one another (for example: your best friend is perfect for you, even if she or he gets on your last nerve sometimes) and that’s what you should look for. Look for friendship, not relationship, from the start. A true love is just a deeply and romantically loved friend that helps you grow, you help them grow and each of you bring something wonderful into the relationship.

I understand the problem that you have, I get the same issue but maybe you should try this: Don’t look. I understand that it can be difficult but it’s advice I get constantly and I hear from a lot of happy couples – they weren’t looking when they found each other. I can’t tell you if you’re going to have the happy family and loving relationship that we all want and I don’t generally do spreads or suggest spells for Ask Black Witch questions. Besides, even if I did, what help would it do? It wouldn’t say, “hey, you’re going to meet him tomorrow” and it won’t provide enough details for you to fully be satisfied. What if you learn you would meet this guy thirty years from now? It would just make you go mad. Just meet guys as you would want to make friends with so you can get to know him, he can get to know you, etc etc etc. There’s no spell I could give you, short of treading on free will, that would make you happy. You just have to let it come to you. You’re not going to like it (I sure as hell don’t, I’d gun down cupid with a scud missile if I could) but you’re going to have to just live your life, continue to improve your life so you’ll be happy – which is attractive, mind you – and meeting people normally.

Instead of waiting, improve yourself for yourself. Become happy of who you are, your accomplishments and etc etc. In focusing on yourself, you won’t be so stone-fast into getting a boyfriend (and ultimately husband and father) toute de suite and that means more opportunities can open up. Anyone, guy or girl, can be super easily turned off by the aura of “Can we date? Plz?” because it comes off as subconscious desperation and can make them feel trapped and suffocated, hence cause for bolting. Can’t force someone to love you nor do you want to coerce them. People like individuality, regardless of gender – and I think you probably would prefer a guy that doesn’t want a woman cling-on dependent (which is extremely different from basic mutual dependency, which is what you – and he – should want because a relationship can’t sail far if there’s no balance)- and it’s great when someone wants you for you and everything that you are. Just remember to improve yourself where you yourself think improvement is needed, enhance yourself for yourself, be happy with yourself, get to know people as people and not potential dating subjects. If it gets to where you like a guy naturally, make sure you have a basic understanding in what you want in a guy. Not surface stuff like money and looks but something that you know you would love to spend the rest of your life with, your deal breakers, etc. It’s not easy doing all this and there’s no promise you’ll die with a ring on your finger and/or a kid to carry on your memory so just live for yourself. It’s really the only thing you can do.

Last month, I had answered an Ask Black Witch about if grimores existed and I responded pretty much with a “Not the olden day kinds”. That was a derp on my part but Nkyinkyin caught my mistake. Here is what she wrote on her blog:

I appreciate many of The Black Witch‘s posts–she fills an important niche in the lives of the young and new, and also puts up with a lot of crap that I freely admit to not having the patience to deal with. I was disappointed with her answer to one of the questions in last month’s Q&A session, though. Someone was asking about the old grimoires and essentially the answer given was that they no longer existed. If that’s the case, then how is it that I have a copy of The Picatrix (the Liber Viridis version) translated by John Michael Greer & Christopher Warnock lying right by my feet now? What about my copy of The Black Dragon and The Enchiridion of Pope Leo III translated and compiled into the The Crossed Keys by Michael Cecchetelli sitting by my right hand? This collection of 50 books on a CD via Twilit Grotto Esoteric Archive, including works by Abramelin, Agrippa, John Dee, and Trithemius? You can check them out for FREE. Hell, even a quick google puts you at the gates of the Internet Sacred Text Archive, where you can also browse any number of famous esoteric and occult works, including The Key of Solomon. Also free, but I’m really sure they’d appreciate donations and purchases of the site on DVD and CDROM right now, just to keep up with the costs of keeping such an immense effort online. Unlike the Grotto, The ISTA is a treasure, a resource that isn’t limited to esoteric texts–you could literally spend the rest of your life browsing that site.

For the “witchier” texts, there’s collections of those too, like the 2 volumes of cds offered by the highly-regarded House of Eleggua‘s Carolina Gonzalez: CD #1 and CD #2. And that’s me just listing what I’m aware of in strictly traditional old school stuff, I’m not even getting into all the physics and history and natural sciences texts out there that I find absolutely necessary if you’re going to practice in the here-and-now and not have a root-bound practice based on and limited by ignorance.

We live in an amazing age, a time wherein pretty much everything anyone can think of has been made accessible to us–things that those old timey (whimey) mages, witches, philosophers, and scholars would have killed to get their hands on. Some of it you’ll find brilliant. Some of you’ll find worthless. Some of it you’ll think of one way at one point and change your mind later. The esoteric stuff is not that hidden anymore; I’ve been able to look up a significant number of titles and personalities on Wikipedia, as they also have a historical context. A lot of the originals of the old works are now public domain, and the stuff that isn’t is not being held hostage by collectors for hundreds and thousands of dollars (but hey, you can get fancy bound versions and classes on how to use them for hundreds and thousands of dollars if you want to do that!). And that’s beside all the individual magician blogs–notes by people that are doing the Work and posting what they’ve discovered.

The tools are out there. What are you gonna do with ’em? Welcome to the new old frontier.

She’s actually right. I had forgotten that while some grimores were destroyed and lost, some were very well recovered. Total derp moment on me but good to know my readers are willing to disagree and correct my mistakes! :3

Comment

Stop Asking Me!

Filed under: AfroPunk/The Establishment, Divination, Pagan Life — Leave a comment
October 7, 2011

The Establishment (Afro-Punk) Version

As a diviner, I love getting a plethora of questions – but not always. Sometimes I rather be much left alone instead of sought out for advice or getting a constant question and/or from a constant person which makes me wanna pack up and go home.

The question that I get waaaaaaaaaay too constantly as a diviner? Love or death but love has got to take the cake along with the pastry shop it sits in and the bakery it came from. Too many love questions, far too annoying. Look, I understand everyone wants to be loved but to constantly hear over and over, “When will I get a new boy/girlfriend”, “Should I date this guy/girl?” etc etc etc, it can be pesky. Why? Because the person will forever ask since they feel like they have a back-up system, namely the diviner they decided to latch on to give them the ethereal 411 on whether the person they’re dating or whether their health is up and running well (pertaining to the slew of death questions I get).

The problem with asking too much is just that, you’re asking way too much the same question or a multitude of questions enough that I would question if you’re capable of handling life without a helmet and a GPS sewn into your undergarments. It’s one thing when the person asking for a reading is friends with the diviner because there’s a background already established and the readings are just another element or resource in the friendship. The diviner is likely not to mind too much because as a friend, they want to see that readee succeed, be happy or do well for themselves. The readings are just another form of checking up on the readee/friend and making sure they’re making the right choices and foreseeing the bad ones. That’s a different take than some person who is contacting the diviner over and over because the diviner is, well, a diviner. There is no background and frankly, the diviner could be going through something serious in their own life but the readee would expect the diviner to put all that aside and get to work.

Media generally likes to tout diviners as mystical, magical creatures that are much like non player characters (NPCs) in video games and movies – they’re just sitting around doing nothing until that person who is in desperate need of having their palm read to make sure the girl they’re dating is the one they should or will marry bursts forth, foaming at the mouth in anxiety. Too bad that, according to my phone, email, work documents and other pretty realistic things, that’s not the case. The average diviner is not going to be waiting around for someone to run in like they’re on fire wanting a tarot reading just like the average diviner is not some creepy-looking Gypsy with a floofy turban and a crystal ball that’s ready to drain your pockets. Shucks, even diviners who are Gypsy aren’t creepy-looking Gypsies with floofy turbans and crystal balls ready to drain pockets. It’s stupid to say, “We’re people, too” but one would be stunningly surprised that it’s very commonly forgotten considering how many times I’ve had my phone blown up by people too paranoid (I like to call them “metaphysical hypochondriacs”) to live life on its own since they met me or anyone else who was remotely decent at offering advice towards the human condition.

When people ask way too much, it’s usually for things that can be solved with some common sense or a stern talking to. When it’s questions about love, I usually don’t have to do a reading, I just have to ask, sit, listen and respond because often time people play up problems far bigger in their minds than they actually are. It’s not a reading they need, just someone to sit there and listen/respond to their problems. However, it’s sadly not a soundboard these people want, oh noooo. Not “magical” enough, too normal. It’s got to be with something “unusual” such as playing cards or interpreting someone’s dream or handwriting. Something that may involve me wasting more time and effort than I actually have to all because someone is interested in seeing what they perceive as an interesting trick. This means I could tell them all the wicked nonsense I could drum up in my brain and so long I’m standing behind a tarot spread, that person just may believe me. It won’t matter if I’m right, wrong or just plain crappy at reading the future, these people will keep coming back because of the visual appeal.

And that can make any diviner moody.

Look, we diviners are good at telling the future because we worked pretty hard at it, believe it or not. Buuuuuuut we’re not fortune cookies and not fortune telling machines because life would be pretty boring to be someone else’s sidekick to their own super droll life. I try to make sure that I only have to do one reading a person because if you have to come back, that’s a problem. It’s one thing if a person I’ve read for comes back months later for a follow up because time has passed and variables may or may not have changed which could change the trajectory for the potential future but a person who consistently calls me because they want a reading a month later, a week later, a day later, an hour later – that’s real annoying. Like I said, it’s one thing if they’re a friend (especially since I’ve done this to my diviner friends in low times) but it’s another story altogether when it’s some person that I don’t really know that wants a reading. And another. And another. And another…

When it comes to subjects such as love and death, the future can change tons sometimes. And asking a diviner fifteen million times when “the one” is going to come by because the last reading wasn’t so positive doesn’t help nary a single iota. Yes, we know it’s a big deal, very important. Yes, it feel like no one is ever going to come in your life and hey, you might be right because not everyone falls in love. Yes, men/women can be weird/fickle/crazy/wack/[insert negative gender stereotypes and roles here], despite the glaring fact that the most common denominator of all these bad relationship is the person asking for the reading. But they have got to remember: divination is simply another way to give advice. It serves as a mirror of what’s going on, has gone on and is going to happen (with strong potential). The change lies within the person, not their ability in pestering someone to give constant and repetitive advice and that change takes time.

Yup, time. That little abstract concept that nobody who is waiting for something or somebody likes. Instead of being stagnant and nagging your local diviner with the same question over and over and over and over, create some change. Advice was given already and it’s not going to change because nothing incremental has happened. That means living life for itself and stop asking a billion questions on every minute detail, it doesn’t prevent mistakes, wack coincidences, freak occurrences and other things that are out of one’s control.

In short: once you get a reading, stop asking and start living. Unless you are friends with the diviner, then just gauge it out with them. And if you want love, adopt a pet. (And as an alternative, try the shelter pet project)

And now that it’s October comes the second annual Samhain Pickers Divination Giveaway! What do you get? A divination reading from me, Black Witch! Last year’s went ever so well, let do it again! All you have to do is submit an email with “Samhain Pickers” in the subject line and include in the email:

– Name
– Email address
– Type of divination desired (Choose from: Tarot, Cartomancy (playing card), natal chart, dream interpretation)

Your email is your entry form and you can only submit once. How the picking is done: I list the emails/entries as they come in so if you’re the first submission, you’re entry #1, if you’re the thirteenth submission, you’re entry #13. I use a random number generator (via random.org) to pick three winners on Samhain/Halloween. Acceptance for entries start now so submit! All readings are confidential.

Also there will be my second annual Black Witch Samhain Ustream chat which may be done via the Afro-Punk or Black Witch Ustream, also going to be on Halloween so be there! Times will be announced next week!

Comment

“I Dun Wanna Die!”

Filed under: AfroPunk/The Establishment, Divination — Leave a comment
August 12, 2011

The Establishment (Afro-Punk) Version

NB: I will be short on time to do the Ask Black Witch for this month due to the Afro-Punk Festival so if you have a question to submit, please send it now! Check the About Me/Contact Me page to learn how.

What’s a fairly common question I get when doing divination? Death. “Am I gonna die?”, “When am I gonna die?”, “Can you see when my death is?” Seriously wanna make you speed up the process while doing Darwinism a favor.

First and foremost: Yes, you’re going to die. Everyone is. It’s a terrible fact of life that is not easy to come to grips with but everyone you know and love, including yourself, is going to kick the bucket hardcore one day. It’s not a fun fact but a true fact. Unless someone’s got some immortality secret, everyone is bound to meet their Maker one day. The main question is whether it will be sooner or later.

I don’t do death divinations in that, no I don’t care to predict when or how you are going to die and frankly, I couldn’t care less. I know it’s a common thing in movies and television for some normal individual get a palm reading and the fortune teller says with a knitted brow that their end is very near, possibly at the hands of some very misfortunate events or a psycho-killer. Or maybe the normal person will get their tarot cards read and dun dun duuuuun – the Death card shows up.  Then the victim dies or escapes death or helps someone mistakenly die or escape death somewhere down the line in the script. Cut and scene.

What’s up with all this dying nonsense? Diviners aren’t death clocks. Unless reeeeaaaaaallllly close and possibly related to something very imminent such as health taking a turn for the worse or something like that, death isn’t that easy to spot and certainly something diviners shouldn’t be looking for. Besides, divination isn’t even that scary, not even the Death card.

Revelations Tarot

Let’s talk about the Death card, one of the most popular divination depictions in entertainment, especially when a plot twist or foreshadowing is needed to keep the story (and viewer’s attention) going. It’s card number 13 (XIII) in the major arcana in your average, run-of-the-mill tarot deck. Usually defined with a symbol of death almost regardless the deck so it could be a scythe, the grim reaper, a skeleton, etc. It’s always refers to death somehow. In the deck I use, The Revelations Tarot, the death card is symbolized by the Hindu death goddess Kali dancing while balanced on a scythe and a skull lingering in the background. Now, I’ve had this card show up in my readings for myself tons of times and haven’t freaked out once over it. It’s just the death card symbolizes more often than not a symbolic death instead of a physical death. It’s the end of something, a job, a relationship, education, etc etc. It could be downsizing at work, a break up or a graduation, something that’s going to bring the current or future situation to a stop. Nothing vicious there, everything has to end someday, especially for something new to come along. The Death card is more about transformation than someone simply croaking. The only way I would ever concern myself with the Death card and actual death is if the Three of Swords were right beside it because that’s usually symbolized with a heart that has three swords in it and that’s a little piece of lore that I was taught. Even then I wouldn’t say, “Zomgz! You’re gonna die! …Can I have your watch and tv?” but more along the lines of, “I think there might be a health warning in this spread, have you seen your doctor lately?”

If it’s not tarot, it’s palmistry I get the “Am I gonna die?” questions. I seriously don’t know why but I’m a-guessin’ it’s got something to do with stuff that’s either on the big screen or small screen. That and lore which floats around and tells you that you can be told of your death on the palm of your hand. Either that or people who probably have no lives that are desperately trying to come off as funny or cool but succeed only as coming off annoying and stupid sounding.

It is possible to find out when you’re going to croak through palmistry because unlike tarot, it’s a more expansive form of divination that looks at more the forest than the trees. If you can work the timing on your hands very well (a pretty tricky talent to hone), it is possible to learn of your death but I doubt those who are suicidal or have abrupt deaths all have short life lines on their palms, there’s more that goes into situations like that which would spell it out. Things such as proneness to bouts of depression and a complex that makes a person refuse help or deny acknowledgement of the notion that they need help in the first place (can lend itself to suicide), to have a run of bad luck or terrible coincidences, etc etc etc (could lend itself to accident).  Palmistry uses timing using either two things, the mercury mound under the pinkie finger, the venus mound resting as the padding of the thumb which measures the life line. However, I just about never do death timings because as I have stated before, I have no interest in them. Besides, you’re going to find out one day.

Even with the availability of being able to discover timing of death, it’s not all a sure thing. Just about nothing in divination is written in stone and hence has the potential to be avoided. Keep a healthy diet, exercise, stop smoking, etc etc, things of that nature which naturally extends life. Granted, there are some things that just can’t be stopped in life for some reason or another. Sometimes, something is bound to happen one way or another but hey, that’s life. Either way, yes, you’re going to die. Everyone you know is going to die. People come and go on this earth always, you and those that you know are no different.

It’s just a matter of when, where and why and that, you’re going to have to find out on your own.

Next Week on The Arts!: Short Films!!!!!!!!!!!

– Sijia Luo
– Vancouver Film School
– Wong Fu Productions

Comment

Back In The Day: “Faker Faker: How to Spot a Con”

Filed under: AfroPunk/The Establishment, Divination — Leave a comment
July 1, 2011

The Establishment (Afro-Punk) Version

I made these when I was the president of my university’s Pagan Student Union. This mini guide is basically for those who want to seek out a psychic parlor to get a reading and not want to be jipped. Now while I do personally suggest people simply learning divination on their own since it’s a lot cheaper and not that difficult, some folks would like to still go to a diviner for guidance. Here are the tips:

Faker faker #1: Conduct of diviner
Does the diviner act like a normal person or a car salesman desperate to make a deal? Some cons will bear down on you like a hawk or even try to give you some info about yourself that you probably already knew or that you gave away. For example, she may note that you’re a traveler or a big spender. You may think that’s novel but you could be using a very fancy and expensive phone or letting off that you like to be adventurous.  A diviner is a normal person, just like you, and should act so. If they act the least bit odd, walk out.

Faker faker #2: You seem to have to keep paying for more information
You originally walked in for a mini tarot reading for $5 and now you got yourself a full tarot reading with a special palm love reading, astrology job reading, a special good luck kit and what the weather is going to look like in the next month before you head to Sri Lanka, though you have no travel plans whatsoever. Total: $350 and counting. A diviner shouldn’t be pressuring you to pay for more than what you want. Sometimes you just have to be assertive and tell them that you just want the reading you asked for and that’s it but they will try to lure you with cliffhangers (“Oh! But I see this mysterious someone that could be coming into your life. S/he may be the one maybe, I could look further with a palm reading—but that’s aside the point…”) but don’t take them. It’s just more sensationalism to get you out your money. A good diviner usually does a reading without side commentary. All divination is, honestly, is to give sound advice. Nothing outrageous, just normal advice.

Faker faker #3: Gotta give up something “Cursed”
Somebody you love or you are gonna die! Quick! Fork over that heirloom diamond ring your mother passed down to you — It’s cursed! Seems like the more pricier it is, the more cursed it is. Capitalism sure can be a downer sometimes. However, be rest assured that most likely the stuff you own doesn’t have a hateful spirit or something bound to it. If the diviner is trying to give you a serious scare story for something in particular, chances are it’s expensive and can be pawned for a lot of money. I think you should call the cops on this one, this is racketeering.

Faker faker #4: Tricked into casting a spell/you’re “cursed”
Your ancestors somehow slapped Abe Lincoln and stomped on a dodo, now you’re paying the price as their kin. To correct the past, you have to buy $400 leather shoes from Nordstrom (can’t be from anywhere else), spit in them at 4 AM for a week and bathe in lye for a month. If what they ask you to do sounds against your religious beliefs, downright insane, illegal or something you would laugh at someone else for doing, you shouldn’t do it either. They’re pumping money out of you somehow and screwing you over in the process. The truth: Most people aren’t cursed, just a run of bad luck. People don’t really jinx each other that much. If the diviner says you’re cursed and want you to do unethical and pricy stuff to nix it, you’re probably not. Proceed with running and calling cops.

I’m not sure if many, if any, saw the old website or even read that part (it was all super glitchy) so I figured why not put it up here where it can be seen more? I wrote this after teaching Divination 101 classes for PSU after talking about it as a whole and noticing a lot of people have no exact clue how not to get hoodwinked.

In addition, I had on the “Truths and Myths about Pagans” page a small FAQ about diviners:

Firstly, I personally can see how divination can be turned into a cash cow. All you need is something people can’t entirely explain but believe works, desperate folks in need of guidance and those same people to have nice amounts of money (gullibility works fine too) and then you have religion—I mean a cash cow. 

There are cons in pretty much any field. Quack doctors, lawyers, priests, scientists—you name it, someone did it. Divination is no different and there’s plenty about. Cons, like Ms. Cleo, usually prey on people who they believe are in so much distraught they don’t think sensibly about the advice they’re given or money they’re about to fork over. Often a con uses what they see, what you say and fear tactics (“oh, so and so is going to die if you don’t…”) to get your cash.

So there you have it, a mini-guide on how to get your divination done and not to have your pockets done in. I still recommend my readers to learn divination themselves but if you don’t want to at least now there is a guide that can tell you what to look for and what not to go for. I’ve never gotten a reading in a psychic parlour before – I’ve been in them but mainly to mess with the pseudo-diviners for kicks. But many I know have and it’s unbelievable – and downright funny for some of them – how they got the wool put over their eyes and so soundly at that. Still got questions? Just throw them in the comments or email me or fill out an Ask Black Witch form or any other way to talk to me. As always, I answer them all.

Comment

Call Me Now For Your Free Reading

Filed under: Divination, Pagan Life — 10 Comments
June 3, 2011

First and foremost, I’m still hockin for votes and donations (only $500 left to go!) for the Black Weblog Awards, more details at bottom.

So I’m sure everyone has heard of stuff like The Psychic Friends Network, Miss Cleo and other pseudo-psychics. They’re funny for me to look at because they’re so full of crap but I wonder (and worry a little) for the people who really buy into them and call asking about their love lives, careers, so on and so forth. I feel bad for those people because they’re being fleeced and lied to at the same time – kinda like paying taxes.

I was watching The Bernie Mac Show one night and the Psychic Friends Network commercial came on. It was some lady that looked like – or actually was – Vivica A. Fox and a bunch of bright-eyed nobodies that were overly enthused by their “personal psychic”. You can call, text or email them day or night, whenever you feel (at a hefty fee, of course) and get the skinny on your life and your future. And you’re even going to get “world famous” psychics too! Ooo! Aaaaah!

Get real. Firstly, this thing is just a load of crap, you can tell by how the commercial is being conducted to sound larger than life and your only once-in-a-lifetime chance to get a lead in your own future with your own “personal” psychic. It’s like being a queen or a king with a loyal and powerful druid at your side. C’mon now, I’m a real psychic and I think even I have said in my very first post that I would set down ground rules about being called around the clock over some simple nonsense that most certainly can wait until I wake up and at least brush my teeth, go to work/school, have something to eat and perhaps look at something entertaining first. There is no psychic that I personally know that would like to have a doctor’s on-call schedule. We never would get any sleep, especially with the “right here, right now” consumer culture that dominates the Western world.

Since the psychic is your “friend,” I wonder if they would get a day to vent. That for a 30% per half-hour discount, you can hear about the psychic’s day and worries whenever they need to talk. Just because we can see into the future don’t mean things are any better. Hmmm, I see…a bill…from AT&T…it’s-it’s my cell phone bill and …and it’s gonna be hefty as usual, can I call up my non-psychic friend and whine about that? They’re already whining to me about their problems, why can’t I do the same? Oh wait, I do. I have real friends, the people these folks are talking to are just doing a job. No true interest except to keep the lights on.

I’ve never paid for a reading a day in my life. As a matter of fact, I never bothered with divination of any sort until I got into myself.  I noticed the Ms. Cleo commercials when I was younger and man was that chick off. I could tell myself and I didn’t know anything about tarot cards then! The meanings were super vague; she guessed her way through readings and still sounded correct. Shame on Ms. Cleo for running game on a fool but shame on that fool for getting ran on so easily.

If you’re getting a reading, the reader should be on point about what’s going on, not talking like a Sphinx or over-generalizing like “You will experience a downfall after much greatness.” They should also be able to talk about things that don’t have anything to do with money, love or career and not sound wishy-washy. This is not what is supposed to be coming out of their mouths: “Oh! You have a mysterious lover! He’s handsome, rich and famous!” or “There is this beautiful woman. She’s charming, mysterious and will subject to your every whim.” That sounds like a jip already because they’re playing to your (faulty) wants. Be realistic. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

While it is a special pastime of mine to poke fun at phone psychics, parlor psychics and mall psychics, some of these guys are real psychics who just want to pay the bills somehow while the others are just conning hard to get you to pay more. Then there are those who are good at what they do but simply became greedy.

One of my friends, Ro we’ll call him, got bit pretty bad by the economy. He was fired from his previous job at a nice metaphysical shop because the boss became jealous and petty, his fiancée was working at a job that didn’t pay enough to foot the bills and both were fresh college graduates. When Ro told me he decided to be a phone psychic, I laughed because I thought he was joking. They’re the very people we make fun of because they make real diviners look bad, he’s got to be kidding. Apparently he wasn’t, gotta pay the bills somehow and happy thoughts don’t count for currency. He didn’t like the job either because it was a bit sketchy, even in pay, but money’s gotta come from somewhere and it’s not coming from the sky anytime soon. That part I understood so while I didn’t get any nicer about phone psychics as a whole, I did respect and understand Ro’s choice to do what he could to make ends meet. He’s a great psychic; I relied on him when I needed some insight I couldn’t give myself so I knew he’d do fine. Ro came to me about the job because he needed references, just like any other job and he figured that I would be a good pick because I’m honest. I simply told him that this is fine, just keep it temporary and until he can find better work.

It wasn’t long before drama was happening with the new boss. Ro was a serious diviner and casted stones as his main way of divination, geomancy. My friend is always on point and this paid off well in the calls he got but pay was a little weird. There was competition and he wanted out because the people who would call him were pretty annoying. Thankfully this lasted about a half year to a year before he found something better, a stable paying and normal job to help himself and his fiancée with the bills and a better place to live. He too thought the phone psychic business was a scam but it also was the only paying thing so he went with it till something better came along.

I have to say, if you want to get a reading so bad, hang out at a metaphysics shop, form a friendship with a diviner and get a reading from a friend you trust. Oooooor you can teach yourself this stuff. I did and I’ve been doing pretty well. When looking at parlors and mall psychics, avoid anything that seems too overdone and stereotypically “magical”. Drapes with moons and stars on them, crystal balls (I still haven’t a single clue how to scry, especially in those things) and older women who got the aura of a desperate car salesman. Next time I’ll post my “Faker Faker: How to Spot a Con” that I wrote for my university’s Pagan Student Union. For me, I don’t mind doing spreads for friends, artistic favorites/people I admire or anyone who asks nicely (i.e., gives me an okonomiyaki) because it’s better than having them go to some con like a poor friend of mine did. I like helping people whenever I can and this is one way how I do it.

I used to run on FortMinor.com a dream thread that’s now gone (And I should have saved! *sob*). That was my interpretation thread. You post your dream in and I would interpret it for you. You could have me PM you if possible because you’re afraid of having stuff put out there but  that’s what I did for about a year. It was really nice the people that I helped over that time and they appreciated having a diviner around that knew what they were doing. In addition, I would also answer questions about how the brain worked during sleep, the function of dreams and other non-dream interpretation related things. I was often asked of the “devil sitting on your chest”, which is just sleep paralysis usually because your brain shuts down a sector that controls movement so you don’t go running about in your sleep and you pretty much woke up before your body does, thus the paralysis. And I would often get the “I never dream, so there” people. They really are foolish because you have a couple hundred dreams a night, you only can remember the last three or four because of the stage of sleep your brain was in. There is a science behind sleeping, y’know. I like studying psychology and biology so it works out for me in helping people and not sounding like an utter quack. What people often didn’t know was that I sometimes needed various dream dictionaries because different backgrounds interpret the same thing differently. There’s a dream dictionary for girls, Jews, Blacks, an all-around dream dictionary, there’s many different ones. I would tell the folks in my thread the books I use so they could use it too and even bother me less.

I think what gets people to call these phone psychics and visit overdone psychic parlors or mall psychics is the mysticism that they perceive diviners have. That we have powers from the “other side” and we live in a world completely separate (but parallel) to that of normal people. I’ve had people look at me sideways when I would read for them because they wondered why I wasn’t in special clothes like a cloak or anything. As much as I would like to look like I jacked Captain EO’s cape and sputter complete and total nonsense, I don’t think it would benefit either of us. It would be a disservice to the person I’m reading for and a complete waste of my time, I can act like a fool later. When I’m home, I’m doing divination in my pajamas and over a soda on my bed, not in some special place. Not even my cat is doing anything but being a nuisance by deciding to kick some of the cards out of order and then sleep on them. I write out the interpretations while watching “Everybody Hates Chris” and type them up on my laptop as I peruse YouTube, any lolita fashion site, and my livejournal blog. Not very mysterious now is it? It generally ain’t. My divination book, the “book” itself is just a green, three-pronged folder with paper in it (and Saul Williams’ autograph on the back pages! It was all I had at the time and wanted him to sign something because he’s completely awesome. Now my divy book is awesomer than before!) It seems like the less fancier the diviner, the better the reading because at least it will be honest.

A good diviner is not trying to trick you into anything. They’re not trying to rob you blind or scare you witless (in effort to rob you blind) but simply give advice. That’s all it is, advice given based on your current situation, what the past has brought and what the future might bring. A good diviner helps people because it is right but also makes sure to the best of their abilities that you don’t have to keep coming back again and again. If you have to come back to me about five times for the same issue, there must be a bigger problem at hand or you’re thaaaaat dense. You, the person getting the reading, should feel confident that the diviner isn’t a sham by fishing for information so they can look legit or trying to string you along. The diviner should be able to explain their readings clearly and answer any question that you may have to the best of their abilities. It’s your reading so you should be clear on what’s going on since it’s your life that’s being affected. The diviner shouldn’t be trying to rack you up a nice and hefty bill to pay, that’s scamming, and they shouldn’t be trying to scare you into giving over your goods, that’s racketeering. Basically, the diviner should act like a level headed person, not one of the greatest wonders of the world or a total schizoid.

If you find a good diviner, stick with them and don’t forget to treat them like a person. I personally like being bribed with snacks to do natal charts, help people interpret their dreams over bubble tea and I prefer to know a person beyond what I’m reading them for unless it’s strictly business, such as me divining for an event. If you plan on going back to the same diviners again and again, I would recommend making friends with them. It would really ease the bond and they could help further. Plus it won’t seem so much like work for them rather than helping out a friend – if they don’t mind turning a business relationship into a friendship, that is.

Welp, that’s the column for this week! I just want to say thank you to everyone who has voted and to please spread the word about Black Witch so I can take home the Black Weblog Award in Faith. This BW post has all the details about voting and donating and there will be a new post about it all in the near future. Only $500 dollars is left needed to complete the goal to send me to L.A. for the first ever Black Weblog Awards Ceremony. Any donations is kind, whether big or small it doesn’t matter.

If you don’t feel like looking at the BW post or already know what to do, go on and vote or donate.

Next week is the first year anniversary for Black Witch. I will be making a post to celebrate that, it’ll be fun. I wanted to do giveaways and vcasts about it but I’m not sure if those will be possible given I have had such a lack in time and opportunity. That also means the pre-orders for Black Witch’s first book Black Witch: Life From the Black Pagan Perspective, vol. 1 will be delayed to July 9th so I can get everything together better.

After that are the installment posts, The Arts and Ask Black Witch. You know how to submit to ABW:

Submit, vote, donate and be happy.

Oh, and if you already voted on computer but have a smartphone or tablet, use your QR Reader (Here’s a list of them if you don’t, I use Neoreader) and vote there.

Use the QR Code to vote for Black Witch in the Faith Category

 Is there any issues with the code or voting on your phone? Lemme know in the comments.

Comment

Love Potion No.9

Filed under: AfroPunk/The Establishment, Divination, Pagan Life, Relationships and Dating, Spells & Potions — Leave a comment
February 11, 2011

The Establishment (Afro-Punk) Version

Ah, oui, l’amour. Such a wonderful thing love is. Whether you get it from your kitty, your fish, your kids or your loved ones, love is a pretty nice thing. The world would probably be a happier place if the nasty people in it got a hug once in a while (some of them, preferably from a strait jacket). Everyone wants it and works hard to get it: go to the gyms, ask advice columnists what went wrong, wonder what that special gal or guy is like and will they ever meet The One.

Valentine’s Day is a day to show that love or it just stands out as Single Awareness Day where you want to shoot down all the heart shaped balloons, ship Cupid to a war zone and be the Grinch that hates Valentine’s. A lovely – albeit incredibly commercialized – holiday, it’s a day that everyone is a little more dreamy – or miserable.

How do Witches and Pagans celebrate Valentine’s Day? Meh, just like everyone else. Either we’re happy in love or sneering at those who are. While we cherish or suffer, we just get more people asking us if there’s any way they could get a love reading or even spell to see what their luck’s like in the world of hearts and cuddles. Ugh, walking reminders of whether you’re dating or not.

Love readings are sometimes a pain to do but mainly because they have a high chance of opening a can of worms (I learned that the hard way). Everyone, me included, wanna get the details on the who, how, when and where of the one person they are bound to spend the rest of their life with. Divination being such a fickle thing when it comes to love, it can be easy to be unsatisfied with what you get. It may not be the right time to know about who you’re going to end up with, you could wind up missing your chance by avidly looking for it, you may learn that it’s going to be a pretty long ways off before meeting anyone worthwhile. Having a particular idea of what kind of person you want (not always the kind of person that will work well with you) and then learning about your true love can prove vexing.

Before I go on, I would like to clarify that I believe true love is different from soul mate. A true love is someone who you are bound to spend your life with as a love partner for the rest of your life that you live and grow with in sync whereas a soul mate is just that, a mate for your soul to advance itself. That can be anything from a stray cat to the one co-worker that seems to always get you to the best friend you have.  Since I believe in reincarnation (a lot of Pagans believe in reincarnation but not all do), I believe that a true love is constant throughout the lives you live but it’s not a promise that you’ll meet them in every life because not every life has the goal or room for the pursuit of true love. Plus, it may not be right or the perfect time for them themselves to meet you.

Continuing on, I used to do this reading I would call the “true love” spread. In reality it was not one spread but a series and I used to do them for anyone that would ask. I didn’t really think much of it because, hey, everyone wants to know when that special someone is coming, why not? Yeah there was the chance that the person could find out that there’s no one for them this life but, hey, they asked. I have faith that my divination is pretty on point (I’m very rarely wrong) so I didn’t see much wrong with it. I would do a yes/no spread just to get it out of the way, a signification  spread to find out what kind of person the guy or girl will be and then a spread for the timing.

Y’know, it seemed not so bad at first – until people got really antsy about these readings. You see, when I first started doing divination for others, I thought that I would get a plethora of divination requests from jobs to life to love to general questions. I would set up my tarot spread request page on Mystic Wicks and wait for the diverse requests to come sliding in. What did I get? A bunch of love spread requests. Does so-and-so like me? Should I stay with this one guy who totally doesn’t make me happy but buys me lots of stuff? Will this random guy I keep seeing in the gym and I have a future together though I haven’t even said hi to him yet? All these love spread requests and they were my least favorite requests because I’m not really super lovey dovey and some, if not a lot, of the questions were a bit no-brainers. I guess I fell into creating my own love spread series because I wanted to kinda shut these people up in the first round if I needed it. I would of course do the spread they asked (I have a series of questions to ask when I do spreads just to get most of the trouble out of the way first) but if they would press on, hey! Why not do the true love spread! I would get it out the way and the end result would be a happy (or unhappy) person. I was in my late teens and impatience is a visible personality trait of mine so that didn’t bug me in the least bit. I didn’t do it super often though, plenty people were happy with the readings they got, not often did I need to go further. The True Love spread mainly came from trial and error instead of a perfectly polished product from the start.

The problem with love readings (spells and pretty much anything to do with matters of the heart ) is that people are very fixed on finding The One and have pretty idealistic views about who that person is supposed to be. If it isn’t what they imagined, something must be amiss or if there isn’t one at all, someone is not happy because let’s face it, everyone wants to be loved by someone. That means if they know someone who can give them the details (or close enough details), the requester sticks to the diviner like glue. That’s no fun. Consistent contacts, asking for a new reading every few days or couple of weeks, etc etc. That’s one reason why I don’t do True Love Spreads anymore, I like my breathing room and my inbox not flooding full with people who think I’m a genie or something.

Then I got kicked in the derriere myself with these readings. I always said I would never want one or get one but I guess I got wrapped up in doing so many love readings, I thought I should do one myself. Extremely long story very short, that was a total doozy and an experience I never want to relive. Like I said, I was impatient so I made all the mistakes that folks who asked me for love readings made: did my cards over and over again, wonder way too much what kind of guy my true love would be, where would I meet him and when. It got me into a lot of trouble, embarrassment, agony and serious heartache stretched over a few years that I really could have avoided. It was a Pandora’s Box – one of the biggest reasons of all why I don’t do the readings anymore. I got to sit in the recipient’s seat and saw it really was a nasty piece of work to be thrown in.

As for spells – if readings were tricky, spells certainly are. They’re one of the few kinds of spells that get a solid “Don’t Do It” from practically everyone in the Witch and Pagan community. No one minds spells casted for self-love or to heal from a break-up, not many find issue with casting a spell just to get a nice date for Saturday night but just about every Witch, Pagan and Wiccan I have met are staunchly against the stereotypical “make him/her come back to me” love spells. Why? It plants itself firmly in the field of manipulation, a big no-no regardless who you talk to.

Any Witch with sense wouldn’t do so but the average person doesn’t always see the harm. I just had to talk to someone who wanted to cast a spell to bring their ex-boyfriend back. There’s even a search term someone used to find my blog “I want a spiritual witch doctor to bring back my ex-boyfriend.” I believe I joked on Twitter in response, “Bring back an ex-boyfriend from the dead or bring him back into a dead relationship?” because while I understand how grave it must be to the inquirer, it’s a little silly and concerning to me. The reason being is that if the relationship is dead, it’s dead. There’s always a possibly for a relationship to bounce back but not for everyone. To cast a spell to make a lover come back even if they don’t want to and much rather move on is the exact equivalent of being an controlling spouse that will physically, emotionally and/or psychologically bar someone from leaving the relationship, no matter how much that tired partner wants to. A little Witchy rule of thumb: if it’s wrong through mundane means, it’s probably (read: 98%, leaving room for potential exceptions) wrong through magickal means. The same goes for casting spells on people that you like and want to make them love you back. Love has to happen on its own, not when you pretty much zombie someone’s will. That’s not love, that’s really scary.

Love is a beautiful thing but it can just as easily drive someone up and down the wall frustrated with the idea that in a world of six billion plus people, there’s got to be their perfect match out there…right? It sometimes seems like a sporting event for the gods: how many times can you bark up the wrong tree/date the wrong person/have enough broken hearts before you say “Forget it?” and become a spinster or hold out hope as long as you can ’til you find the right one who will make your heart sing – and for how long? It isn’t fair and no one is really alone in the matter, the idea of finding true love is a timeless topic. If only there was simply one database that everyone in the world could subscribe themselves to and find eternal matches that way, maybe lots of people would be happier. Finding love is important but what I think is often lost is the idea that the perfect person should be perfect for you and your quirks and shortcomings. Someone to grow and consistently modify yourself with and vice versa. I believe many forget that relationships are supposed to be balanced somehow and not in the 60/40 or 90/10 or 100/0 or 150/-50 way because that’s not a good relationship but one doomed to fail because both sides can’t grow together and possibly not individually either. No one is perfect so it would be foolish to assume that the perfect person that comes into your life will be too. It just means they’ll be perfect for you: know just the right way to work your nerves to finally clean up after yourself or know exactly how to piss you off in less than a minute over absolutely nothing – but also know how to make you happy and feel like all the time you spent on them is totally worthwhile. Relationships aren’t perfect, just like the people in them. All anyone can do is be honest, meet people, figure out what works versus what doesn’t and hope that someday you may have someone to spend the rest of your life with.

But if you need love that bad, visit your local animal shelter and adopt. You’re not the only one who wants to be loved.

Next week: The Arts! Who will be featuring:
– Savage Love
– Shihan
– Museum of Black Superheroes/Black Comic Book Convention

Don’t forget to send in Ask Black Witch questions! You know how to get them in: email, tweet, fill out the Ask Black Witch submission form, ask on the Black Witch fan page or simply comment.

Now, in case anyone is wondering why I don’t have up any special posts for Black History month, my answer is fairly simple: There’s no need. To explain for those who are probably making a frown or a look of horror, I feel that albeit Black History Month is something indeed important to highlight the multitudes of greatness for the Black race, I don’t believe that the expression of Blackness should ever reside in one month but all year round, Black is forever. I already am Black, I mean – even the column’s name is titled Black Witch, I shouldn’t have to necessarily dig out anything incredibly Black for the month of February when it already has a high likelihood of getting posted up here anyways because of that very fact, this is a Black blog after all. For this very reason, that is why there isn’t a special Black history month column up here on Black Witch. There’s a whole year and the rest of time to dedicate to the pursuit, successes and tribulations of the worldwide Black race. However, if there is someone special that you, my readers, want me to highlight or even consider, let me know.

There will be a series dedicated to not exactly or not only Black history but also modern day Black culture and society in March 2012 called “Comin’ Straight Outta Your Monolith”. The month-long series will discuss what it is and isn’t to be Black, the narrowness of the Black monolith and mainly the outsides of the Black monolith such as Blacks who are into cybergoth or simply those who do not want to become a stereotype. In addition, there will be a series in September 2011 titled “Black Diamonds and Pearls” which highlights Black girls (and guys) in Lolita fashion. These two are very exciting for me because these series allow me and others (a main feature of my series is that there will be guest writers and other voices besides my own) to examine the different sides of Black culture, Blackness, how do we perceive it, what are the flaws in our current perceptions, how we validate or don’t validate particular ideas of Blackness and what is it truly to be Black. This is why I’m not putting up anything particular for Black history month; we have all year ‘round.

Comment

Ask Black Witch

Filed under: Ask Black Witch, Divination, Pagan Life — 2 Comments
December 31, 2010

Can you recommend a tarot deck for a black pagan newbie? I cannot relate to the ones I see in the metaphysical bookstores where I live, as they are full of white images.

– Lynn

I personally use the Revelations Tarot made by Zack Wong and it’s perfect for me because it reflects the reversals, has amazing art and it’s fairly diverse (kinda) but it isn’t a Black deck. The best deck I can recommend to you is the African-American Tarot but it seems more of an African deck than African-American to me because the symbolism is greatly African. I’ve never used the deck but it’s worth a shot, the imagery seems very strong and well done. If this doesn’t suit you well, I would have to suggest you might have to learn cartomancy (playing card divination) which is a wonderful alternative to tarot cards. If you choose to try cartomancy, get Playing Card Divination for Beginners by Richard Webster. You may have to look high and low for that book at a reasonable price because I think it may be out of print, judging by the price hike for even a used book. As of this moment, I have not found another deck that reflects our race but if someone knows one, shout it out.

Okay, on the Black Witch Fan Page, I have received alternative tarot card suggestions from Renee D.: “I have the African American deck , and thought the art is nice , it doesn’t do anything for me as far as reading it. I agree with you BW, the images are more African , but then the images of famous AA’s in the background of some of the card…s don’t have any relation that I could figure out to the meaning of the card or the main image on it. I read with the New Orleans Voodoo tarot, but I’d like to recommend the “Tarot of the Ages ” as a nicely done deck that has a people of many different races in it. Aztec Indians are on the suit of cups, Northern Europeans are swords, Africans are wands, and East Indians are coins, while the major arcana has a mixture of ethnicities.” Good mention.
 

1. How do Black Pagans who aren’t doing vodun/candomble/ife, etc… dealing with the fact that lots of modern Paganism comes out of European beliefs and cosmologies, i.e. Norse/Greek/etc… or dallies with ideas constructed by Euro-Americans (Summerland?). Apologies in advance if this question has a lot of ignorance in it.
 
2. Do you ever feel that modern events and phenomenon (massive, i.e. 1M+ massacres, electromagnetic radiation, destruction of entire forests, poisoning/extermination of living areas, sheer population density, etc…) changes or mediates the way humans can engage the forces and bodies in the natural world? Thank you.

– Wesley

Well, I’m not vodun (Voodoo), Candomble or Ife but because I never really felt I clicked with the European pantheons for kinda obvious reasons (I’m Black) so instead I don’t believe in the Summerland (the Wiccan version of Heaven with a reincarnation twist) and even take a step back from the pantheons that honor Yule, Beltane or any Pagan/Wiccan holiday that’s actually Euro-Pagan rather than all-inclusive. Being Black and in Paganism, you don’t see much of yourself and your culture so you have to take a step back often and wonder what is in it for you. I like Yule not for the pantheon but because of what it represents, the winter solstice. I don’t really get into European deities much because they’re not my deities personally. Instead I would be more nature-focused rather than theist-focused with my beliefs because Paganism is way more than about Gods and Goddesses. Yeah I cringe (and rage a little) every time I see a White Isis with a ski-slope nose but Paganism is pretty Euro-centric without saying and because people perceive that to be “normal” Black Pagans often have to sit back and think a little more about their faiths and what is that really than their White counterparts. There’s no ignorance in the question, trust me. All you can do is make what you can from Paganism, it’s a very diverse belief system.

Do I ever feel that modern events & phenomenon change or mediates how humans can engage the forces and bodies of the natural world? Yeeeeeeees. We’re part of nature, very hard to say we play a separate and detached role when we humans are right in the thick of it. However, I think part of the issue is people (including Pagans) believing that our interaction with nature should stay on the surface, with happy feelings and “Green is the new black” bumper stickers, stuff that makes humans feel we’re affecting nature but to be honest, saying “Ohm” over and over doesn’t magically remove the oil from the BP spill and bring back the wildlife it has (and still is and will for a very long time) destroyed.

There’s this awesome word I learned back in an  Environmental Science class in college – Anthropocentric, bringing the human element into the environmental discussion because we are indeed part of the world, may as well act like it. It now is mentioned more and more with every natural disaster, natural benefit and little in-betweens that happen because just like nature moves with its own force, we’re also part of nature and affect or are affected by that force. I think people were originally pretty in tuned with nature (that’s kinda how Paganism came about, the personification of nature by man as he tried to understand this big ol’ scary world (in a very small nutshell)) but as technology got better and industry became stronger, that connection was kinda lost. Work with the earth? Hippie talk – let’s strip mine this globe till there’s nothing left behind! People do want what they want, after all. Even now you can’t really talk about environmentalism without people thinking you’re some barefoot airhead still thinking it’s Woodstock or some stuck up yuppie with an iphone and an app on it that measures their (and somehow your and the city behind you) global footprint. Personally, I believe that there needs to be some serious changes in governments around the world and global perception towards environmental problems and to be active in that is going to affect nature a lot more than doing a yoga pose on a 100% organic mat. Since nature has a way of balancing itself out (humans included), we should be fine but not by sitting about and waiting for the world to shake itself back in place (for us humans, of course, because what might be right for man may not be right for nature and vice versa). We can’t sit, wait and be fairly passive when nature can’t change itself or won’t be able to change itself well if we people simply resort to tactics that make us feel like we’re doing something but in reality, doing nothing.

To best work with the forces and bodies in the natural world in these changing times, work with the natural world. Learn about how the natural world works (that means staying awake in biology, chemistry, physics and environmental science classes or taking some of these classes) and the problems that impact it (ocean acidification, global warming, changes in biomes, etc etc) as well the political issues that are wrapped up in it (Monsanto, BP, Live Earth, Genetically Modified Organisms and Food (GMO & GMF) and how it affects nations). Actual awareness and knowledge is a lot more worth than just lighting incense and thinking happy thoughts – though incense and happy thoughts are nice for the stressful times, as well as the yoga and the “ohms”. Modern events and phenomenon are going to happen one way or another and how people will interact with nature is going to consistently change no matter what but there’s an option to either attempt to still maintain some sort of relationship with nature or treat it continually like a force to fight against. I would opt for the former, personally.

That’s all the Ask Black Witch for this month. Please do submit questions either through twitter, the Facebook fan page, Ask Black Witch submission form, email or even just in the comments.

This is the very last day of 2010 and I would like to say that I am very astonished at the success of this column (although I would like more Ask Black Witch submissions). This column has been seen over 2,000 times within nearly 8 months (on the WordPress side alone, more on AfroPunk), the Facebook fan page for Black Witch has grown incredibly in its very short existence and I have met a lot of different people and perspectives I would have not otherwise seen. I honestly didn’t expect this much success on the WordPress or AfroPunk side, I’m very pleased. I am very happy that I have Black teen readers most of all because I remember when I was roughly 15 or 16 (It wasn’t that long ago, I’m only 23) and figuring out what I believed with very limited but potentially bountiful resources. It’s already not easy being Black and a kid, being Pagan simply complicates things; I aim for Black Witch to simplify some of those complicated things and to give a hub of resources that they (and everyone else) can use to not feel so alone and to be more informed. So far it has worked, my site has added new links to the “Links of Interest” such as Greater Than AIDS, African-American Wiccan Society and God Checker but also there is the The Arts!: Samhain Edition post that is chock full of valuable information. I want for Black Witch to be a staple in the Black Pagan community and useful for any and everyone, even if they aren’t Black or Pagan.

What I would like to see for Black Witch in 2011, besides more Ask Black Witch submissions, is to expand it just a liiiiiittle more. BW is still in its first year so I still have a little more time to move and modify things about. I’ve been meaning to get to it sooner but I will be introducing occasional month-long series that may or may not be involved with the Black Pagan experience but relevant nonetheless. The will have guest writers, features and interviews. The first series will regard music culture, titled “Fandom and the Fan”, and showcase in March. Besides series, I will be having more contests and giveaways and Ustream chats throughout 2011. Not every month will be contests, giveaways and Ustream chats though, don’t confuse the two (you’d be surprised how often that confusion has happened) but I’m making sure these will be set as tradition. There’s already Samhain Pickers, the Halloween divination giveaway, but I would like to add a few more, just enough to give Black Witch a set motion for the years to come. Black Witch is currently in very good shape so the most that I hope for is Black Witch remaining useful as it goes through its first anniversary and beyond.

Happy New Year!

Comment

Can You Keep A Secret?

Filed under: AfroPunk/The Establishment, Divination, Pagan Life, Spells & Potions — Leave a comment
December 10, 2010

The Establishment (AfroPunk) Version

For any Witch, diviner or psychic that decides to do some social good, the ethics of confidentiality is always a big subject. Who do you tell, how much do you tell and how big of a mouth do you have are all important questions when it come to reading or performing spells for others. I can’t really talk about other Pagans because we can have such varying views but the general consensus is usually keep it personal and private unless in an emergency. I couldn’t agree more.

I have been doing divination for others since 2004, basically since I was 16. I’ve had countless requests, questions and reactions to my readings. Many were positive, some were bad, very few were wrong (I’ll talk about getting a reading wrong in future columns). I’ve helped out countless people with their lives and try to make sure they only will need me once. One reading to set them on the right track and not need coming back, I feel this should be the aim of all diviners. Often people would worry, especially when I inform them that I keep all natal chart data stored in my laptop and card spread interpretations in a handmade booklet (that Saul Williams signed, omigosh!), that their lives will be spread to unknown ears out and about. I have to consistently console many a person I’ve read for (I hate using the term “client” because I don’t treat my divination like a business…somewhat) that I don’t use their lives as my mini joke book and whatever comes up in a reading remains between us, emergencies being the only exception.

One reason I don’t talk about spreads and readings I have done in the past is, frankly, I simply don’t care enough to remember. I’ve done well over a hundred readings – I don’t even know who was the hundredth read or when it was – there’s no way that little snippet of your life story is going to intrigue me enough to tell others after my day or my job is done, they’re rather few and far in between. Have problems in your love life? You’re not the only one. Family issues? Plenty others out there just like you. Social issues? There’s a reason Facebook and Twitter are big hits. I have rarely came across readings that stood out to me so much they stick with me, there’s a reason why I keep a book full of spreads about. I won’t go, “Oh! You’re so-and-so with the boyfriend issue! How’s he doing?” if I run into that person again. If it was a short period ago I did a reading then yes, I’ll remember without much help but go a little longer than two weeks and you will have to jog my memory. The more diviners will do readings, the more they will forget them, hence why I tell plenty new diviners to carry around a booklet to write their readings in or they will forget. While it may be a blow to my querent’s ego to inform them this, it probably gives them some assurance that their business won’t be front page news somehow. If I do remember anything from readings, it’s how people have acted and reacted. I can tell you plenty of readings I’ve done for people who were eerily quiet, incredibly egotistical, unnecessarily religious (if you’re that, please let me get a taco, okonomiyaki, mochi or something first before you begin your diatribe  so I’ll be well fed while you convince yourself that you’re not betraying your God’s trust and forcing me to listen to it) but I can’t for the life of me remember what their readings were. I once read for some guy that had an ego that could probably best Kanye West, I forgot what I said but he was pretty quiet and humble at the end of the reading. Otherwise, just about everyone has the same reaction, sit and listen attentively.

I’ve never casted a spell for someone. I feel that if it is your life you want change in, it has to be your energy to be put in motion, not mine. The part I rather play is fairly instrumental, I rather be the informant telling what you’ll need, what you need to do and why. (The why is always important, gives the action more meaning than just “you’re lighting a candle and talking over it, the end.”) In addition, I usually make the querent perform the spell because I have learned the hard way that if you do the dirty work for others, they’ll always keep coming back mumbling out a new request. The average person is pretty spooked out to do any form of witchcraft so refusing to do the legwork for them means that person won’t do it much.

I will advise and oversee spell construction (the what you’re supposed to do and how) but only if the querent needs a spell. Mundane options have to be sought first, spells are last resorts so when approached with a spell request, I sit the querent down and pick their brain. I’m just making sure the person has a legit reason for spell casting (i.e. really terrible run of bad luck) and not using magick as an excuse for leg work or a “get out of jail” free card. I don’t make people fall in love, I won’t kill or hex anybody and the inquirer simply can’t keep coming back to me just because I let them try one spell. I’ve only had one jinx removal request and that was an adventure and a half…and one I rather not have again. Many times people won’t get the spellwork because they simply don’t need it. Upset you lost a job and wanna get back at the boss? America is going through a sucky economy, you’re not the only one. Wanna get that cute boy’s/girl’s attention and maybe a date? Have you tried talking to them? Works fairly okay. Poor health? What did the doctor say? (And did you go to the doctor at all?) Most spell requests can be solved with mundane measures, I don’t even often cast spells myself and I’m a practicing witch.

Even when someone does manage to get their hands on some magick, it’s never much, usually. I rather suggest simple things that are easy to do like prayer or affirmations. If anything beyond that is needed, then I craft a simple, cheap, one-time use ritual designed strictly for the inquirer that takes less than an hour to do and fairly discreet. The reason is often times the person doesn’t know a single thing about magick so it wouldn’t make a bit of sense to throw complicated works into the mix where there is a higher margin of error. Everyone knows basic first aid such as putting on a bandaid but not everyone knows how to stitch shut an open wound. Same thing with magick. I don’t want to weird the person out either so I keep it simple. It’s only if I’m getting spell requests from other Witches do I make the constructions more complex because I’m aware they know what they’re doing and they’ve taken all the steps they could prior to solve the problem. Witches and normal people combined, however, I barely get five spell requests a year, even lesser become actual spell constructions – if any at all.

I keep spells and divination under wraps for several reasons. The most prominent (but seemingly least obvious for those who I have helped) reason is I simply don’t care. Everything always looks scarier when standing in the center of the storm but to me, an outsider and seasoned diviner, it’s really not that noteworthy. I recommend that perspective towards divination and spell casting as well for other diviners, psychics and Witches because it’s less burden on the heart. To overly worry and care as if you know every person personally is going to wear very quickly because people are people and people are different. Some do need saving, some have to save themselves, and some simply can’t be saved or don’t want to be saved, just flail in the water for attention. The last two are the biggest reasons to be easygoing about readings because it is not the diviner’s or witch’s job to save that person, only help them. If they wanna continue screwing up even though they know there’s a brick wall ahead, let them. If they wanna keep coming back because they know someone is paying them the slightest bit of attention to their self-made drama, don’t feed into it and remain professional. No diviner or witch has an S on their chest so they don’t have to save anyone, just guide. I have had to tell many that, I’m not here to solve their problems, just let them know what they are and the potential solutions. I only get involved further if the person is possibly suicidal or making any other terrible mistakes. There, I make sure the querent has open venues to receive help and inform loved ones if at all possible. It’s not my job to save anyone but it would be against my ethics to simply let them destroy themselves.

Another reason I keep readings under wraps is because of the stigma that divination and witchcraft still has. Tell someone you’ve seen a diviner or witch and prepare to get odd looks. Either people will think you have lost your mind, become very desperate or up to no good. Then there’s religious implications that I simply won’t go into because they’re quite complex depending on the religion and I don’t always quite understand myself. Either way, I don’t announce to a crowded room, “Hey, Mr. so-and-so! I finally did your natal chart! Did you know you have a lot of placements that spell out divorce and failed relationships? I think it might have stemmed from your dad.” Whether the person I’m reading for believes in what I’m doing or not (not like that makes the reading any more accurate or not), embarrassing information is embarrassing information. Often I am telling sensitive information and if I wouldn’t want my business out there, why would anyone else? This is why I never publicize readings I have done for others, no one needs to know but the person I am reading for.

Regardless of what method of help is being sought, it is important to keep everything confidential. How can the querent trust their reader or Witch if they’re loose at the lips? Plus it can cause very unsavory rumors anyone would like to avoid. No matter how interesting someone’s life or problem may be, it should never be the subject of idle gossip or terrible stories. Confidential mean the inquirer can have confidence in the reader or Witch involved but that means the Witch/reader has to be able to keep a secret, which won’t feel like secrets after a while.

Hey hey, everyone! Black Witch is doing a bit of traveling! AfroPunk is having a Christmas Party in NYC on Dec 16th and I’ll be there! Come see me! I’ll also be milling about in Koreatown for a bit before I have to head down to Webster’s Hall where the event is. As usual, you’ll be able to keep track of me on my twitter (@thisblackwitch) and if you’re in the area and wanna hang out, let me know! And don’t forget to submit questions for Ask Black Witch! It’s coming up!

Comment