Transcript
Speaker: Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft and the occult but feel lost on where to start? Then welcome to Get In, Loser of We're Doing Witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey. Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we've learned about the craft. So get in witches as we discuss all the things we wish we knew before starting our magical journeys.
Speaker: Have you guys watched Fallout? Yes. It's pretty good. I've never played the game. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love the game. I was confused at the beginning. I was like, what is happening? Yeah. Is it 200 years or is it not 200 years because? Just keep watching. I'm not going to explain. I'm not going to explain. I'll be okay. Yeah.
Speaker: I love that show and it just because I loved that game. I love that game so much. Oh, it's so good. And even I feel like even though obviously technology when it comes to like
Speaker: these video games like the game because this game I can't remember exactly when it came out but it was pre Emily like I think a year or two before Emily because I remember playing before I had her and obviously like the quality of like this the animations and games has improved but that yeah game still stands like uh we still like Mike because Avery we only let her watch bits and pieces of it because obviously it's not like super appropriate um
Speaker: But she was just like, oh my gosh, I want to see this game now. And so Mike's been playing the game again. And I'm just like, oh my god, I love this game so much. And it was so well done. And I just, oh my gosh, it was just amazing. All these little Easter eggs from the game you see, even though it's a completely different storyline, and it takes place in a different time, and it's a completely different
Speaker: vault everything than what happened in the game. It is so good. And they did such a fucking amazing job on all the details. It's been renewed for the next season. I cannot wait. I loved that show so much. We just loved it. And yeah, it was really good. I was cracking up because there's that meme going around where it's like every woman in America wanting to fuck this ghoul.
Speaker: Right? What's his name? Walter Goggins with his no -nose? With his no -nose, yeah. Oh my gosh, and they did such a good job on his, I mean he, I mean I don't even know what you would call, he's not really even a morally grey character, he's just like a grey character. But they did such a good job on him and he's such a good actor because up until the very end I'm just like, I fucking hate this motherfucker.
Speaker: Yeah, up until the end just because I'm like, he's just me for no reason. I liked it though. Like it made sense with like, I hate
Speaker: Maximus. And if somebody could just fucking kill him, I would be like, I was so excited when I thought he was dead, when she left him at the end. And then he came back and I was like, no, goddamn it. Why? Just fucking die already. I'm not a fan of his either. And I don't like, I mean, his, his storyline, like it, it makes sense within the game and everything like that. And
Speaker: But I'm just like, man, I did not like him. But I knew, I fucking knew that was her mom sitting at that table. I just knew it. I was like, that's her mom. And then it came out that it was, and I was like, you piece of shit.
Speaker: I love it. That show is really, really good. But I feel like with his character specifically, Walter Goggins or whatever the fuck his name is in real life, they did such a good job portraying the fact that like, this is not only like, so we still don't even know, know, know what happened. You're still missing a huge chunk of his storyline, which I think even more sense, but it made so much sense at the end, like,
Speaker: okay, it actually has been 200 years. And this has been like 200 years of him not dying, trying to find his family, getting harder and harder and harder as a person. And even though he was a good person to begin with, you see this progression and it makes sense 200 years that he would not be the same fucking person he was.
Speaker: Well, something I don't understand and it could be something that's explained in the game that's not explained in this is like how, like I get how everyone, like the vault, whatever it is 31, like they're all like basically cryogenically frozen and only being brought out like one at a time essentially when it's their time. But how is everyone else from then still alive? Right. I don't know. Like, like I hope that we get more information because in Yeah.
Speaker: in the video game, I don't think because these are different characters than what was in the video game, like it's not super lame. I don't know if it was like something in there, but like the ghouls, like, do they just live forever as long as they're taking that serum? I think so. Yeah, I think that was the other thing is like, he's been out doing stuff this whole time. Because he like, it leads to at one point he wore the suit, the brother suit, you know, but
Speaker: I feel like also something that I think made me like that show is that I could see this happening. I don't think America's far off from this. No, it's not. The only thing that's like... Well, because we were talking about Black Hawk, how Black Hawk owns fucking everything, and it was essentially the same thing with those
Speaker: companies that came together and like did this vault thing. Yeah. And it's like in the, in the games, like it's not like the, I guess, Canon that you see in the show is a little bit different than in the game. It's not like fully, fully, fully like fucking fleshed out in the game where it's like, Oh, Hey, like this company is actually like, you kind of know that it's like a bad company, but you don't know the specifics of how they literally started this fucking war. Like,
Speaker: and it started the apocalypse and stuff and it's like you can't see this happening. It's filmed where Anthony and I grew up.
Speaker: Really? That's awesome. I went to Cal State Bakersfield, my first year of college. We grew up there. We thought it was really funny when he was like, we should buy this little plot of land in Bakersfield. And we both looked at each other like, what Bakersfield is he talking about? Because it's a shithole. Yeah. That was pretty good, though. We started Jack Reacher today.
Speaker: Reacher? I think it's just called Reacher. I don't know. You know, those old Lee Child books. Yeah. They're like written by an ancient old man and it's like old men that buy them. Oh yeah. Is it good? I mean, it's, it's good. It's very over the top. Okay. Yeah. But we're not talking about shows and movies and video games. What are we talking about today?
Speaker: We're talking about things we wish we knew before we started out. And I love this podcast topic. This was fun. Yeah.
Speaker: I like this because my week's been crazy and I didn't have time to do research. It all comes from this little brain. Yeah. It all worked out perfectly like pre us like I don't even know months ago whenever we set the podcast schedule. We really knew that this week was going to be shit for you and we needed something a little bit light.
Speaker: Yeah, I definitely needed something a little bit light after this beautiful week that I have had. And it's only gonna get better from here. Everything's gonna be great. I mean, today I'm actually in a very good mood though because I have convinced Anthony to not only buy tickets to go see The Mother, Courtney LaPlante with Spirit Box, but we're also going to see Ice Nine Kills this summer. What?
Speaker: And I mean, we're seeing spirit box with corn, hopefully they're decent live. We saw them like years and years and years ago, and they were okay. Yeah, but we've not heard great things coming out of their tour. That's who spirit box is going to be playing with. And I don't care if they're shit. I just want to see spirit box. Yeah, hopefully. I love that. Maybe it's like a situation of maybe like
Speaker: They just needed to get... Well, multiple members of the band are now super Christian too. Oh no. We'll just play the music that we liked. I know, I know. So we're like crossing our fingers that they'll be decent, but I don't give a fuck as long as I can see Spirit Box and see Courtney do her amazing thing.
Speaker: And then I signed kills, I've been wanting to see them for so long. And I didn't think it was going to be as easy to convince him to buy those tickets right after purchasing Spirit Box tickets. Because those tickets were a little pricey because of corn, of course, because corn's headlining it.
Speaker: But I was like, Hey, uh, I sang kills is playing in Sarah broken, which is like 40 minutes from us. And I was like, the tickets are only $49. Yeah. And he was like, immediately. I was like, or, or we can get $180 VIP tickets. And part of the VIP package is that you get a photo op with the lead singer and he'll choke you stab you or
Speaker: I was like, I could pay $180 to have Spencer choke me to death in a photo. He was like immediately by. Yes. Oh my God. I love that for you. Oh, we're not doing that, but we just got the normal tickets, but it would be really funny. That would be funny. I love that. So while I did have a shit week, it got better today because
Speaker: I'm already going to see sleep token. We were able to get those tickets months ago. Yeah. And then I found out the spare box was coming out here and I was like, please. And he's like, fine. He's like, I don't really want to buy tickets for corn, but I was like, it's not for corn. Yeah. It's for spirit box. No one cares about corn at this tour. Okay. Yeah. But enough about music.
Speaker: Let's get into the episode. Just to start this out, this is going to be a little bit different than most of our other episodes, basically all of our other episodes. It's going to be more like a conversation feel because we didn't really research anything. This all came out of sitting down and thinking about our own experiences, our own paths,
Speaker: And for each of us, even between me and you, our journeys are completely different. The things that we really wish we knew starting out might be totally different. I have no clue what your notes are. They're actually pretty close to a lot of yours. I was looking at yours when I realized that you did notes. I was like, oh, I literally just have this bullet list on my phone and my notes app of things that I was like,
Speaker: As I would think about them, I would put it in my notes. I love that. And they're very vague. So it'll mostly just be me being like, what was I thinking when I wrote this one? We'll get there eventually. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys know it's always a mess. Yeah.
Speaker: While some of the things too might even feel like common sense to some of you or maybe some of these things that we wish we knew you already fucking knew and it didn't matter or something that you never even thought of before. We just hope that this episode is fun and informative and maybe you can identify with some of the things that we talked about
Speaker: when we were just starting on our path, the things that we knew. But that is this episode and let's I guess get into it. For me, one of the things that I think is a little bit different than maybe some who have found themselves on this magical journey
Speaker: I grew up in a home where magic was practiced. This is something that we've talked about on the podcast before. And some of the things that I wish I had known starting out are a little bit different, but most of them are pretty much in line with anything that anyone would want to know whenever they're starting out. But the first thing that I, when I was reflecting on it, was I wish I could go back and tell my younger self, it's okay to be different. Growing up in Oklahoma,
Speaker: if you're not familiar with the Bible Belt or just Southern America, it is like peak Bible Belt. And being the only pagan family in an area of evangelical Christians is very intimidating. And I had a very hard time with it because I spent so much time of my childhood and adolescence hiding that part of my life and my family.
Speaker: Because I was so worried about the backlash being told that I was going to go to hell. Because for those of you who are not familiar with the Bible Belt, Christianity is ingrained into every facet of life in Oklahoma. And there's church upon church upon church. You'll have three churches right next door to each other. And churches across the street from that. And every corner is a mega church. And it's insane the amount of churches there are in that area. Yeah.
Speaker: It really is. And it's so ingrained that being asked what church you go to and when and if you were baptized are normal entry -level conversation topics when you meet someone new. And looking back now, I realize how crazy that is. But that is just how life was or is. I'm not sure because I've not lived in Oklahoma in the last, what, 10 years. But I'm sure it's more exciting.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, it could be. Hopefully not. I'm like, Oh, I hate that. But yeah, I would hope that would be more accepting to just say like, we don't go to church as like a follow up question or follow up answer when someone asks like, what church do you go to? What religion are you?
Speaker: Um, but at the time I was, when I was growing up, it was like, I didn't know what was worse, like saying we weren't going to church or saying like, Oh no, we don't go to church because we were pagan. Like both were equally like super shunned. And it was so ingrained that like, even like, say if I, you know, because, you know, when you're a kid, you always want to be the pot, like part of the popular crew or I did, but like, it was so ingrained in our schools, like church and shit that like,
Speaker: all of the popular kids, their parents all knew each other because they all went to church together. So they all had this whole support system, and they all knew all the popular kids from all the different schools. And so I had to create this fake persona, basically, of I had this fake church, I had this fake date of when I was baptized, and then the
Speaker: that would be my go -to answer and so like in high school and stuff like I wasn't like the most popular kid in school but I feel like I ran in some of the same circles with a lot of the popular kids because I was a good person let me be honest and then also I'm funny as hell so why wouldn't people love me but it would be funny like we would talk and they'd be like oh you know so and so they go uh to this school and I would be like oh no I don't and they're like oh but they go to they went to uh false creek like that
Speaker: church by the summer camp or whatever, but they all would know each other and have this whole fucking just, I don't know, cult. Anyway, I'm going off to it. I was born in Oklahoma, raised in California in a very different environment, but we lived in Oklahoma. That was our first duty station.
Speaker: It was very much so we were constantly asked to go to church with people. It is those questions like, what church do you go to? When were you baptized? What denomination are you? And we've always just kind of been like, oh, we don't really go to church. It's not really our thing. I have one of my uncles as a pastor
Speaker: at a church out there. And then now too, like seeing my brothers that are out there, their kids are growing up and it's very like my nephew is in high school and I have him on my Instagram and I see his stories and it's all like men's Bible study camps that he goes to like church concerts. And it's like him, all of his friends, they're like the popular kids at school. They all go to this like gross mega church.
Speaker: like huge like stadium type mega turds. And it's just like that's normal out there. And I, Anthony and I are like the black sheep of my family. Like we when we go out there is like, oh, the heathens are they actually call us heathens and like, make jokes about it. But like,
Speaker: they'll still be like, Oh, do you want to go to church? Oh, we're gonna pray. Like, I don't know. Yeah. Oklahoma is a weird place. Like, it doesn't seem real. It's fake. It really does. And like, I've even seen like, my niece is there and she's in high school now and she's, you know, a cheerleader and she plays basketball and she's very much in this popular crowd. Well, now I have her on Instagram too. And she's constantly posting like,
Speaker: stories of being at this mega church with her friends. And it's just like, that's the thing you have to do in some of these spaces. Yeah. And it's sad. Like, it's really sad. And so I'm really glad, like, looking back now that I'm out of that, and then I'm able to raise my kids in a very, like, not religious environment. Like, I don't push anything related to paganism. I don't push any religion onto them. And I thought it was funny, just as like a side note, Emily was in my room the other day and she said, Mom,
Speaker: When I think about it, like, when I think about Christianity, I just don't understand how anyone can be Christian and actually think that the Bible is written by, like, it's written by men, mom. Like, why are people so fanatical about it? And I'm like, I didn't even tell you that. But like, I love this. I love that you have the wherewithal at 13 to be like, this doesn't make sense.
Speaker: and have an open mind about it. I love that. But funny side note, I had to put a Bible into the system at the bookstore the other day and I text Anthony and I was like, who do I put as the author? He was like, obviously the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. I was like, I'm so confused right now. I was like, do I put an author? Author unknown. Too many people. Possibly a deity?
Speaker: God? God is a woman? I don't know. What do I put here? Fantasy. Yeah, right? Shelves it in fantasy fiction. Yeah. Puts it in the Christian fiction section.
Speaker: All that to say, and just to kind of tie it back to the topic. Growing up, I really felt like I was living a double life because I was so drawn to magic and the occult, but I felt so much shame and guilt, even wanting to learn and observe my dad's practice because it wasn't Christian.
Speaker: But this caused a lot of turmoil in my life, especially in my 20s and early 30s. And I didn't even come out of the broom closet until my early 30s. It's just crazy thinking back on how much time I wasted.
Speaker: where I could have just been myself. But all this to say, if you're living in a space where you are in the broom closet, I'm not trying to say like, we're not trying to tell you to completely burn it down, because you have to do what you have to do for your own self preservation, for you to be safe, for you to feel accepted. And we're not saying like, you should never be in a broom closet. But I wish I would have known that it's okay to be different and to believe differently. Mostly, you know, because what I found is
Speaker: all of my really like Christian friends, and they're still are very Christian, still live in the same space, but most of my close friends from junior high school that I still talk with, that like maybe we're acquaintances now and we don't really interact as often as we could, but we were really close then. When I finally did come out as like, hey, I'm actually not Christian, like I am pagan, this is how I was raised, like this is something that I've kept very quiet for all of my life until recently, they were all like incredibly supportive.
Speaker: And it wasn't like, Oh my God, there goes crazy fucking Sam, like posting bullshit on Instagram. Like they were very supportive. And even if like, say you come out and say like, I'm pagan or I'm a witch or like, whatever your path is, you like tell people and they react in that way where they're like, Oh my God, what a fucking crazy person. That's a reflection of them and not you. Like, yeah. But as I mean, younger selves,
Speaker: And I love that.
Speaker: you growing up, that's a very, I think, tough age to be able to be so open. You don't know that you can just be yourself and half of those people aren't even going to matter when you turn 20, 30, 40.
Speaker: those people, most of them won't even be in your lives anymore. So right? Yeah. So just as like, if you're listening to this, and you're just starting out and say you're living someplace like Oklahoma, or like a very conservative part of California, and like, you know, you're struggling, because you feel like you're never going to be accepted, just know like, you will, like, yeah, it is fine. And if you have to be in the room right now, that's okay. Like, yeah, we're here for you. Yeah.
Speaker: bow show for sure. I was not raised in a pagan household that I knew of. But I did a lot of things. It kind of was. Yeah. Because I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and so and we have talked about that on the podcast too where I was doing things with my grandpa who was telling me, don't tell your mom about this. And I'm like, okay. Because like my mom, like our whole family, my grandpa is
Speaker: from Europe. He's Dutch and German. And he was very eccentric anyways. And so anything he did, it was like, oh, he's just weird. And so when he would tell me these things as a kid, because I'm influenced by the rest of the family, I was like, it's just grandpa. He's just weird.
Speaker: Yeah. And then I became an adult and was like, yeah, no, I totally used to do that. And Sam's like, Hello. Yeah. Yeah, that's actually very common and pagan households. I was like, what?
Speaker: I felt like that Brooklyn Nine -Nine episode where Andy Samberg is trying to pretend like he doesn't know something, like that he got told a secret and it came out and he's like, what? That was my reaction.
Speaker: Yeah. So the next thing that I would say that I wish I could go back and tell my younger self this is that you don't need any of the fancy bullshit. You don't need it. Nope. And this, I mean, this is something we have talked about multiple times in the podcast, but I feel like it is something that needs to be reflected on more. So I'm just
Speaker: I'm gonna do it, so. I have a huge paragraph in my bulleted notes about this. A huge thing, like, so I'm just letting you know. And something that like, when we think about it, it seems common sense, right? We, you know, think, well, of course we know we don't need all this, like, amazingly curated things. But even growing up in a pagan household, you would be surprised how much I was sold on this idea that you need all the fancy shit.
Speaker: My dad had tons of fancy shit, lots of books. His altar was amazing. The statues he had and the different types of like tarot cards, like sacred tools, symbols, everything was so, so amazing. And I thought, especially starting out that if I didn't have these things, I was a phony, like you have to have these things and you have to have this image in order to actually be a witch. And that is not fucking true. And
Speaker: What you don't see, especially like, for instance, in my dad's situation, when you're starting out, you're looking up to someone who has been practicing for years. You don't know how long it took them to accumulate the amount of things that they have.
Speaker: That's years and years of foraging, going to thrift shops, estate sales, or buying shit online, whatever it is. That took them massive amounts of money and massive amounts of time to accumulate these things, and it probably did not happen overnight. But what we're constantly being sold on the internet is that you have to have these things or you're not XYZ.
Speaker: And you don't need it. Even if you have been practicing for years and years, you don't need all of the shit. You don't need an accumulation of shit. You can be a fucking minimalist and practice magic. You don't need any of that.
Speaker: You know, this goes back to many times we talked about how intention is so important on the episode, aren't all of our episodes on the podcast. And it really is 100 % like you have to have the intention or it's not going to work anyway. So like having that intention is like 80 % of your job already done. And everything else is just condiments. Like it's not the main meat of -
Speaker: I think we've also said this on the podcast multiple times too. It's like magic comes from within yourself. You are the magic. So we preach this all the time that you don't need anything but yourself when it comes to witchcraft. But you also don't have to spend tons of money on magical items and courses or textbooks or whatever. Because there are those people out there that sell
Speaker: witchy courses and I get it, make your money, but some of those can be outrageously expensive. You don't need to do that unless that's something that you're like, I just want to do that. I have the funds to do it. It's not going to make or break me. Like I can do that. Then you know, by all means do it, but you don't have to spend the money on things like that.
Speaker: Like only buy what you feel is necessary to your own practice. You literally just need yourself. It's easy for us to get caught up in that aesthetic or what influencers are pushing because that's just common in today's society. Everything is pushed on the internet. You get on social media and everybody's selling you something, but you don't need those things unless you want those things.
Speaker: So yeah. And even with like whenever you look online, some of the things I found too is like whenever I am crafting a spell, sometimes I will look online and see how other witches do it and just be like for like motivation or inspiration or like, like maybe I want to do this spell and then, you know, see how it works for me as opposed to like actually taking the time to really think about it and then write my own. But one thing I found is in a lot of even just like
Speaker: Instagram reels or TikToks or whatever. Some of the spells that these, you know, Instagram or like, I guess just influencers, like which influencers will put out are so fucking too, it's too much. Like it's just like, it's very over the top, you know, it's not sustainable. So it's like, even if you are, say, like, you know, you don't need all the things.
Speaker: and you're trying to look for different types of spells or how to do XYZ because you've never actually maybe done this type of spell book. Just try and look at whenever you are looking at these reels of Instagram influencers or TikTok influencers or on YouTube, whatever, look at it from a lens of like
Speaker: This is their 24 -7 job is to make this type of content. And so you don't need all of the fucking things that they say that you have to have for this spell to work. You don't need that. Like you could literally just sit there by yourself with an intention and fucking project the shit. And that'd be your spell. You can add all the little things if you want to.
Speaker: but you don't need all of the things either. People make it seem like you have to do this step and then this step and you have to do it in this specific way with these specific tools. You don't need it. No. This is something I've watched this video. I believe it is. It's the green witch.
Speaker: which we've talked about her on the podcast before. We've used her as a reference before. I absolutely love her channel. She has the most soothing voice, like calming voice in her videos. But I remember watching this video that she did where she was talking about how like, when you're trying to figure out your practice, you have to figure out who you are. Like, are you the person that wants to do all of the ceremonial magic and practice every day? Or are you the person that you know that
Speaker: that's not going to be sustainable for you. And that like, you just kind of find something that you enjoy doing. And it's not like a labor intensive thing anymore. Like for her, she does a lot of stuff in the kitchen and working with herbs and stuff, which is another reason why I love her because that's kind of like where my practice lies. But like for her, it's just like, I'm going to create a salve or like a tea or whatever. And that's her magic, you know, like,
Speaker: that she knows that that's sustainable for her. She knows that she'll be able to do that without stress because witchcraft should never be stressful for you. It shouldn't be stress inducing. This should be something that makes you feel good and brings you happiness and brings you peace. It shouldn't be something that you're constantly stressing because it's like, oh my God,
Speaker: I haven't practiced today. Should you practice often? Sure. But what is often for you? Is that once a month? Is that once a week? Is that once a quarter? Only you can determine that. And she also talks about, she said this in several videos of hers that I've watched where it's like, when you're starting out, just understand that you can't really mess it up. The worst that's going to happen is that nothing happens. So don't be afraid to
Speaker: try things like trial and error should be part of your practice so yeah and i think that's a really good point too because oftentimes i feel like starting out people might be super intimidated by the fact that they think that if they do this wrong it's going to be like really negative consequences on yeah and it's like no that's not the fucking case like no this isn't hollywood like you're not going to accidentally hex yourself
Speaker: What I would say though, if you're entering into any sort of work and you're like have negative intentions for somebody else, that's when I think like obviously you could bring that negative energy back on you. But as long as whatever you're doing is to benefit you and to make a situation better or brighter or
Speaker: like more loving like having like putting something light it back into the world. You don't have to worry about bringing any sort of negativity back on you. Well and like not only that but like witchcraft is so personal and there's so many different paths and practices and ways of doing things like there should be trial and error in your own practice for you to really
Speaker: hone who you are in your magic. Like, right? Like, you're not going to do everything perfect every time. And sometimes you're going to be like, I think I really want to, you know, work with herbs or plants, or, you know, I think I'm a green witch. And then you start doing it. And you're like, I hate all of this. And I don't know what I'm doing. And I'm messing it all up. And then you learn, you know, you try something different. And you're like, Oh, this is actually my path, whether it's like, candle magic, or, you know, like, whatever it is, there should be trial and error, because a,
Speaker: If you don't try it and mess it up or find that you don't like it or hate it or whatever, you're never gonna try something different. And you're never gonna figure out exactly what it is that you enjoy doing, what kind of fits your skills that you already have and just your everyday life. Because it should be part of your everyday life too, something that you're already kind of into and that would make it easier for you to
Speaker: practice more often and practice more authentically. And so there should be trial and error and you should make mistakes because that's where we learn. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So moving on to my next little bullet point that I have is
Speaker: all about protection. One of the things I really wish I would have spent more time honing and making sure I was very comfortable with was protection work. Protection is literally witchcraft 101, and it's something that you will need to do over and over again consistently. It's something that can be highly scrutinized, especially online by practitioners, depending on what they believe in.
Speaker: Because there are so many different types of protection, there's many different ways to actually do it. I say try a lot of them, basically going back to what you just said with trial and error.
Speaker: Try a lot of different types of protection magic and then find the one that works for you. Because if you are just going through the motions and doing, okay, well, this witch that I follow on Instagram says that I need to do protection work like this. But you don't actually, you don't have the feeling behind it. You don't have the thought behind it. You don't have that intention.
Speaker: It ain't gonna fucking work. It's just gonna be worthless. You're just wasting your time. But if you find something that really resonates with you that you really enjoy doing and you believe and you know that it is going to work, then do it consistently. Make it a habit.
Speaker: and take the time and just build up like not just the protection around you, but it's also like working on protection around your home and your family and just having that I think is so important. Agreed. I think this kind of ties into the next one really well because one of the things that I really wish that I would have spent more time
Speaker: sitting with and understanding starting out is how much magic there is in the mundane. And this is something that I feel like it takes a lot of people a lot of time to grasp. And it's just this understanding of how magical the mundane could be. Yeah, like it's just magic and witchcraft are such personal processes. And it requires you to really get to know yourself, be comfortable in the uncomfortable,
Speaker: It requires you to work through your shit. And because of that, we tend to think that for it to be magical, it has to be this well thought out ritual, playing spell craft. And that's not always the case.
Speaker: There is so much magic in the mundane and you're not less of a witch if you only work in the kitchen or your garden or by putting intentions in your household cleaning. That doesn't make you any less of a witch than anyone else. It can be something super simple and basic as just mopping your floor and putting some herbs into your mopping water.
Speaker: that be your practice. It doesn't have to be a full on fucking bonfire ritual with 15 of your best girlfriends or anything like that. It can be something simple. Taking a bath, self -care. Yeah. We've talked about a lot of very simple mundane practices all throughout our episodes, I feel like.
Speaker: We did an episode on just mundane magic though, right? Okay. Again, we've done so many episodes at this point. I'm like, did we do that? Or was that something else? So we have done an episode on that, but things as simple as like the way you stir your food or your coffee or your tea or, you know, like blowing out candles or cleaning, just cleaning, mundane, everyday cleaning.
Speaker: can be magical in and of itself. And even bathing your kids, this past week Avery was sick and one of the things that I did was I had given her a bath but I wanted her to soak and I put lavender in it and chamomile in it and then a little bit of Epsom salt and a little bit of oils. And she was in there, she's like, it feels like I'm in a pot, like I'm being
Speaker: cooked, or whatever, and with all these ingredients. And I'm like, yeah, you're basically - Essential. ... your children. Yeah. And just putting that intention into the fact that knowing that these herbs that I use help with her to relax because she wasn't feeling well, and she really needed a good night's sleep, and knowing that the Epsom salts will help with any sort of body aches that she was having.
Speaker: just putting those intentions, as I was putting in there, knowing that these specific herbs correspond with these specific things, and then putting that intention into the bathwater. Even just that, like that, right there. Fucking magic. Yeah. Love it. Yes. I love simple things because look,
Speaker: I got a busy fucking life. I have a lot going on. At the end of the day or the end of the week or whenever you choose to practice, you're not always going to be like
Speaker: amped up and pumped and ready to do this like 20 step process or spell or ritual or whatever. Sometimes you just need that simple like, I use these specific herbs and dinner tonight because they fit the intention and like what I'm trying to manifest.
Speaker: You know, like sometimes you just need to light a candle and let that shit burn. And it's okay to do those things. That doesn't make, I think it's important, especially when you're starting out. Cause I know like once I started reading things and being like, okay, I think I am pagan at the very least, but I've also done some of this stuff. Then it became like, well, I need to learn it all. I need to learn everything as fast as I can. And like, I'm gonna, I have to be good at everything that I do. And it's like,
Speaker: No, I wish me at the beginning of this process knew to just take your time. There's no rush. You're not going to learn everything. This is like a lifelong process, practice, whatever you want to call it. You're never going to be the expert in witchcraft. There's so many
Speaker: things, so many paths, so many things that you can do and ways to do something. And it's so personal that there isn't a way to master it or whatever you want to call it. It's a really personal journey. It's something that you should spend time...
Speaker: figuring out that one or two things that you just really want to focus on and it's like it's okay to be eclectic too like you don't have to pick a certain path you can pick a couple different things from different paths that you like there's no like pressure to be like
Speaker: I have to learn this one thing and then I need to learn this next thing. And then it's do what you want, do what feels right, do what you enjoy. And then it will just come naturally at that point. Yeah. And also note too, even when you read comments on things, just let it flow past you because even comments on say somebody is just posting for information, this is a spell that I did.
Speaker: If you read the comments, like, well, but did you bury the remnants in your backyard? And then someone will be like, I heard you're supposed to bury the remnants in your front yard. And then someone will be like, I heard you're supposed to put it in the trench can. Yeah. You know, we're supposed to put it in running water underneath the full moon on like the seventh full moon of the year. Like, yeah, crazy shit.
Speaker: don't fucking pay attention to that bullshit. It never makes sense to you. If it makes sense after a spell to like, you know what, I'm used up all my energy, I'm just gonna throw the shit away, fucking throw it away. Everything, again, this is such a personal thing. There's really no right or wrong way to do it because it should be coming from you and your intuition and
Speaker: however you think. Are there some guidelines? Sure, but that's all they are. They're guidelines. There's correspondences that work for things, things like that. But again, even with that, it's like, oh, you don't have a black candle or a purple candle or a green candle. You can use a white candle. Or you don't have these herbs. You can use rosemary. It's such a loose, fluid practice to begin with that if you are like, I want to do
Speaker: a spell for whatever, whatever it is you're trying. And in your mind, you're like, okay, I'm going to do this, this, and this, and this, I'm going to close it. That's your spell. It doesn't have to be the way that Suzy on
Speaker: Instagram did her spell or like Becky and her fucking comments told her she needed to do it like however, it's Natural to you to do it do it that way because that's how it should be Absolutely. Yeah, just do whatever makes you fucking happy end of the day
Speaker: But my last topic that I wanted to cover, I don't know if this is yours too, but like the one of the last things I wanted to cover was specifically shadow work. Shadow work, it sounds like such a mysterious and off -putting thing, especially when you're first starting out. It sounds awful. Yeah, it really does. It sounds like black magic or like, you know, just like your terrible self, your dark self, your shadow self. And it's like,
Speaker: it's not that bad. Yeah, it sounds like a painful magic is what it sounds like. It sounds awful. But that is one of the things I wish I knew more about like our new how important shadow work was. I wish I would have known that. I mean, to add to that, like, it's not just about like,
Speaker: running from shadow work and just only being like, oh, I'm only gonna do this so I don't need to do shadow work. But also at the same vein, understanding how important it is to seek professional help if you need it. It's not okay to just put these emotions and shit that you've been dealing with and trauma that you have just on a shelf and you'll deal with it later. Shadow work should be integral to magic. And one of the things that we've talked about so many times on this podcast
Speaker: is this correlation between sociology and psychology and social work with magic. And there is such a correlation there. And this ties in specifically with shadow work. It's such an integral part of the process when it comes to magic. You can't have the light without the dark. And to me, you hear this all the time. This quote to me doesn't mean that you can't have good magic without bad magic. That's not what this quote means. This quote means to me that
Speaker: You can't have light and just manifestation. I'm going to put this intention out for X, Y, and Z. You can't have that without actually working through your flaws and working through your shit before you can have that highest self -actualization.
Speaker: You can't do it. And so, you know, if you're newer to the craft, we do have an episode on shadow work already. But, you know, if this is something that you don't understand and say you've listened to our episode or you did a little bit of research on shadow work and you're like, oh, this sounds like, you know, kind of too much for me or like maybe I should talk to a professional, make an appointment.
Speaker: with a therapist just as a check -in. It can even just be like, hey, I just want to have maybe a couple of sessions and see how I'm doing. Making sure I'm working through things in a healthy way, but most importantly, take time to yourself and get to know yourself. That, I think, is essentially what the core of shadow work is, is making sure that you are okay within yourself and you're working through your shit. Yup. With that, and we talked about this in our shadow work episode,
Speaker: Keep a journal, write things down because you know, maybe in that moment you're thinking through it and you're just kind of like whatever about it, but you might go back to it later and realize something you didn't realize before or it might just let you like process that a little bit deeper if you're like not in the moment of trying to like think about it and write it out.
Speaker: going back and like rereading it. It might like connect things later when you're you know doing something completely different or working on some kind of spell or manifestation or whatever and then it like jogs something in your memory. So just like always write things down and that should be with like your spellcraft too. I mean that's the point of a grimoire right to like have all your magic in one place so that you can reference it and look back on it and reflect on it and then just like
Speaker: of a final reiteration. None of this should be stressful. This should be a very stress -free thing for you. And I think that's something that, especially if you're new to the practice or the craft or whatever you want to call it, don't stress yourself out trying to do everything or
Speaker: trying to be a specific way. Let things come naturally. Do things that you enjoy in your mundane life and connect the magic to that. Just let it be something peaceful, something calming for you, something you enjoy. Because if you're stressing out about it, you're not going to do it. You're going to dread doing it. Your heart's not going to be in it. At that point, it's almost pointless to really try to do that because if you're not
Speaker: not necessarily excited about it, but if you're not putting that right intention into your work and you're dreading it and there's negative feelings about it, it's not going to do what you're wanting it to do, if that makes sense. I'm tired, so my brain is a little bit slow right now. It doesn't work good.
Speaker: That makes perfect sense. Yeah. And just know too, if you are just starting out, we've all been there. We all have all the questions and we all feel like we're imposters 90 % of the time and everybody goes there. Even now, I'm just like, oof, I don't know everything there is to know about X, Y, and Z. Should we even talk about it? Yeah.
Speaker: is a learning process for everyone. It's a personal process for everyone. Just know if you're starting out, it's okay to not know everything. You're not ever going to know everything. Yeah. Yes. If it feels right, do it. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it. That I think is a big takeaway. Trust your instincts. Trust your gut. That is what we wish that we knew before we started. If I could go back,
Speaker: Find sites always 2020. It really is, but you know what? All we can do is move forward with the information that we know. Yes, and grow. That's it for this episode of Get In, Loser. We're doing witchcraft.
Speaker: You can find our source material for this episode linked in the show notes. If you love this episode, we would be forever thankful if you leave us a five star review on wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you really love the show and want more Get In Loser content, check out our Supercast link provided in the show notes or search the Supercast website for Get In Loser We're Doing Witchcraft. There you can purchase a membership to our podcast and obtain exclusives like in episodes early, shadows in the show, access to our Ask Me Anything forum, our monthly newsletter, promo code for merchandise and more.
Speaker: You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Get In Witches, or email us at we'redoingwitchcraft at gmail .com. Join us next week as we talk about retrograde, what it actually means, and how retrogrades can influence us. Until then, bless and beat witches.
