You win the internet today with this comment. I'm chuckling to this myself! We have a cat who sits down for a milisecond and starts licking me. My hand, my face, my nose (problematic when watching tv). Definitely an Overly Familiar!
Sometimes a pigeon will try to land on my face. That's a bit too bloody familiar as well if you ask me! They are allowed land on the giant's head, I tell them. They are even allowed to peck at the giant's teeth. But under no circumstances must they peck at the giant's eye(ouch!) or try to land on the giant's face with their sharp little talons(also ouch!) One very polite pigeon flies up and lands on my shoulder and waits patiently while I gather some seed to put in front of her. Her name is Luci and she is a very good pigeon. Not at all overly familiar like some of the other feathered lunatics.
I have a love/hate relationship with crystals, ethically sourced or not - we are ripping them out of the ground from mostly far off places (Asia/Africa/South America) and not giving anything back to the earth. Over the years I’ve realized there are beautiful rocks/stones/crystals right in my own backyard (New England). If I take from the earth I give back ( after asking if it’s ok to take the stone). I’ll leave food for the animals,pick up trash, plant something , etc etc. IMHO any stone can be magical and give you the energy you need. 😊. Love your channel! I’m binge watching!!
Chickens will stay in their coop when they feel insecure. They're in a new environment so they're staying in the only bit of familiarity, their old coop. If you or your neighbors have pet cats or dogs, that can add to their nervousness. They'll come around in their own time.
That's pretty much my experience too. I'm hoping that if they settle down, they'll feel a bit more confident about coming out! Tomorrow may be "tempt them with mealworms" day!
@@GrumpyOldCrone yay for the chickens! 🥳 I was just about to write and ask about them after watching the video but figured I should check the comments first! loved the video 💛
I'm four months late on this one (picking up your older videos as the fates and algorithm bring them to me), but I hope you're enjoying your obsidian sphere! I have had a six-inch silver sheen one for decades and love it. I don't use it for scrying, but as a protective center-point in our home. My dad was a wonderful woodcrafter, and he built it a tall oak stand of my own design with three legs and a small shelf a few inches below the carved oak ring it rests on (with a soft pad I made for it, so it wouldn't get scratched). On the shelf, a clear quartz point stands upright pointing into the bottom of the sphere, directing sunlight and energy into it. It's a very serious bit of volcanic material, but it does its job well and gets rewarded with a cleansing in the moonlight every once in a while. I hope yours serves you as well. And chickens... ahh the stories I could tell. I often come in from the coop shaking my head, and hubby will ask what the matter is, to which I can only reply, "Chicken politics." Best wishes to you and Mister.
This is the second video I've watched of yours (the 1st was on the bad resin fad) and now my pillow is soaked with tears. In part for the realizing I've been pagan my whole life. And in part for feeling like a witch for the very first time, after almost two decades yearning for it Not going into the details about my own issues with Christianity/religion here, but tonight was/still is a night of trauma release. Thank you. And thank you for the chicken story. Hearing about a hands on problem has helped And one last thing, before the video was even halfway through I started -hearing- the music I used to hear all the time. It's been notibly absent for years. Again, thank you
Sadly,There are a lot of crap books out there - just rehashing the same stuff with pretty covers and flashy titles. I started on the path over 20 years ago… I still go back to my Cunningham books for reference/guidance.
3:36 I popped into the British Museum this summer and found Dee's mirror (it's kept by his crystal ball); the very depressing but equally unsurprising thing i learned was that it had been stolen from the Spanish, who in turn had stolen it from - presumably the original owner - the Aztecs, who had used it in their own religious ceremonies. Sigh.
Not only are they the wholesalers but they dont have to pay a storefront rent with your individual crystal purchases. Its expensive to run a year round store in this economy and those prices are neccesarily passed onto us
I would call myself an atheist witch. For a while I was like Goldilocks, trying out all the pagan religions, and none was just right for me. Wicca, Norse, Celtic... until I had to be honest with myself that deities or deity work/worship just isn't my cup of tea.
I think there's a distinct pressure to "pick a deity", and honestly, why should we? So we can have a nifty statue? As a Gaian, planting a garden is an act of worship for me, and as close as I get, really. I do talk to ancestors and my Bwbach (house spirit), but that's more of a day to day thing for me, not a special event. Being honest with ourselves about who we are and what we want to do with our practice is the most important thing out there. Glad you've found a space to be comfy with yourself!
@@GrumpyOldCrone WitchTok really pushes the deity worship, and I had to block all those voices out and listen to my own. I took the nature and spirits route, and it's lovely.
Same here! I live in the woods, off grid. I am surrounded by trees and wildflowers. Well, no flowers now as we’ve already had a few hard frosts. This morning, I was watching the most glorious dawn and a herd of deer foraging. A few weeks ago, a gangly teen moose walked up the dirt road as I was having my coffee. In spring, I listen to the drumming of grouse looking for a girlfriend. I dance sky clad in the light of the full moon (because I can and am moved to), even in the snow, while the owls chat amongst themselves. When the Mother provides the divine all around me, looking for a deity seems both superfluous and an offense.
Your channel is so good, so down to earth. My practice is pretty laid back and realistic. I'm glad I found this. Thankyou for taking the time to do it. I wear alot of black because I'm messy with food and don't like stains on my clothes😂 I wore a nice light coloured linen top yesterday and dribbled my coffee down the front. Yes in public. Crones unite ❤
I love your entire clips, my mum who is a witch only wears black arva funeral otherwise she is in pastel florals and looks total twinset and pearls. I feel that the witchcraft I've been raised with is connected to intent and my craft is in everything I do from cooking cleaning and gardening to wish-making ❤
I don't know that I've ever subscribed to a channel faster than I did just now. I'm currently educating myself on the subjects of folk magic, druidry, and plant science, and it's so helpful to find channels that don't make me feel like I'm just consuming an aesthetic rather than wisdom. So thank you for that! I'd like to hear more about the 'it works' part, about what you consider magic to really be and how you came to the conclusion that it was a real and tangible thing. People always have such different answers, it's always so interesting to hear them.
To make the info at 14:45 even funnier I'd like to point out, many of the priests of the time did not want to be doing witchcraft. But many of them were. Because their congregations of converted/syncretized pagans demanded it.
Love this episode, chickens are both fearless and fraidy cats at the same time. 😂 as a younger person who was raised in a very religious household, I think a lot of younger folks fall for the trap of convenience and lack of real world experience when it comes to seeking out information and communities: we're an extremely online generation. 😅 that can be good for connecting people across the globe, but when it comes to local stuff we just don't know how to find it or where to ask (emberassing as it is). Maybe it's different here in the States too, people tend to be more disconnected. But basiclaly outside of going to the ren faire or a weed store I wouldn't know where to start finding real people to learn from or compare notes with. For what it's worth, I'm glad your channel exists!
Lovely talk, got me thinking about my crystals, which I rarely use now. Thanks for showing me Dee’s scrying mirror. I have been to the British Museum several times but I don’t think it was on display. I did love the Egyptian statues…very magical for me…and within one year I was in Egypt, stayed in the Great Pyramid over night…’95…one could do that with proper arrangements. Good information on the obsidion ball…perhaps I may try one some day.
I've never seen the mirror in person, but the British Museum is so huge.... Also, we didn't actually steal it from another country, so why display it? (I have opinions about historic British theft of artifacts....). Jealous about staying overnight in the Great Pyramid! What was it like?
That's what I thought too. I was debating putting it down and walking away to think about it, but I suspected someone else would have snapped it up if I'd let go!
@@GrumpyOldCroneBonus tip: Here in the States, there is often an exclusive section at a gem & mineral show just for merchants with even cheaper prices. But you have to be a merchant with a business/tax ID # to gain access. I found that out when I went to a show with a friend who had her own jewelry business. I don't remember what/who she asked but we were directed to a back area and she told me who it was for. The prices were even cheaper (because merchants buy more). I made out like a bandit buying my few bits because I was with her and she was buying a number of beads & cabochons.
@@peridot1706 I had no idea that was a thing!!!! If I ever get over the US again, I'm totally looking out for friends with business IDs and shows! (and maybe postal shipping back to the UK....)
Hi Sunshine, love your new babies you bought at crystal market, they are stunning. Enjoy them. Thanks for explaining the difference between wicca and pagan. As you might not know, I am neither - but enjoy your channel and the info you are giving. Love it, please keep it up. Yes, I know the feeling of buying something that does not fit through the door - reminds me when I bought a wooden bridge to put in my back garden, I too had 1cm too big. What a performance to get it in. Hope you had a good laugh after. Does help. Love and Light from Cape Town, South Africa
That's really kind of you! Shares really help me build the channel. Whilst I have no plans to monetise, bigger viewing numbers does get me through the checking and copyright process a bit quicker which means a lot to me
My “hate boner” is also aimed at Christianity and the potential for bags of trauma. I was raised Catholic, and yep, all the bad experiences. Collected the whole set. But I also have a hate boner for Wicca. Back in the pre-internet nineties, every source of information I could find in person or in print was polluted by Wicca, to the point that for many years some people would use “witch” and “Wiccan” interchangeably. (Edited to add that I’ve just noticed this has even happened in THIS comment section - argh!) It made any attempt to learn anything of use far harder and more miserable than it had to be, and it made solitary the only path forward in my area. Only now is that really beginning to fade in person, but I still meet - those - sort of Wiccans who get on their high horse about the language and practices of some other witches, claiming they have stolen aspects of Wicca, when quite the reverse is true - it all existed long, long before some bloke decided to create a new religion out of it in the 30’s. Social media is making this all worse again, of course. I know it’s not all Wiccans, just like it’s not all Christians, but it’s enough to count, just the same. There are enough books of supposedly traditional witchcraft full of not-so-stealthly shoehorned in Wiccan religious practices to still really get my goat. I also think that is quite possibly why this confusion that all witches are pagan and all pagans are witches still persists. In my case - witch yes, pagan no.
I enjoyed the video and agree with the majority of what you said however I think what you said about boiling marigold and saying a bad poem over it not being real witchcraft is partially wrong. Folk magic is a tradition in many cultures, including my own and I am an avid practitioner of folk magic which is often very simple including creating something easy and saying words over it. Sure if you just grab any old words off the internet and not actually put intent and energy into what your saying it's not going to work. Although simple, it can be just as effective. My favourite kind of magic is simple but effective kind, it's knowing how to utilize it that makes it work. Even if simmer pots are not something you've heard of, it doesn't mean it doesn't work. Energy goes into it's creation and mine have been successful for simple things such as cleansing my home or bringing a more positive energy into my home. Knowing what type of magic works for specific situations is key and making sure you understand how to put energy behind the physical creations is what makes witchcraft witchcraft. You can create magic out of anything, that's why I love folk magic.
I think we actually agree here. I practice a lot of low magic, and working with various plant matter is definitely a thing. I found out lots about simmer pots after my last video, and I do love a bit of new information! My issue is with people who have no mastery over intent and energy. They boil some attractive plant matter and solemnly pronounce a bad rhyming couplet and expect the world to change. But equally you can pick a daisy from backyard with enough energy work and intent and BINGO! It is why I put so much emphasis on meditation - that energy has to come from somewhere.
The Pagan vs Witch concept is important. I tend to view witchcraft as a metaphysical tech of sorts. It's a set of tools and methodologies rooted in various concepts of magic. Of course in the West in modern times, witchcraft is most widely understood in the context of Wicca which is a religion and one not very neatly classified along Christian and Pagan lines. It's certainly perceived as Pagan (or Satanic) by most Christian traditions and yet Wicca's rituals and folklore arise primarily from Christianized systems of folk magic and concepts of Kabbalah filtered through Christian mystical esoteric traditions of the 17th to early 20th Centuries. I came to witchcraft through Wicca as did probably most American witches of a certain age. I identified as Pagan quite early on but came to view the gods through a lens of true polytheism vs amalgamating them all into one God and Goddess figure. Not sure what sort of hybrid that makes me. My ritual and spell practice will probably always remain more Wiccan than anything else in form but my devotional practice might look more like what the Nordic Heathens call a blot.
I wish we lived closer. That sounds (a) awesome and (b) something I'd love to talk about over a cup of tea/large gin/craft beer. I am literally agreeing with everything you are saying here!
@@GrumpyOldCrone I am supposed to be in Cornwall at some point this coming year, so that might be possible. Not sure if that's even in your part of the country, but it's a lot closer than the midwest United States!
My dad used to be among management staff at a metaphysical shop in the early 2000s. If someone asks him, he’ll still (rightly imo) bitch about how the owners of the shop would put a 700% markup on some of their tumbled crystals.
i’m not a witch or anything but i am a casual rock enthusiast. in my home state, i can get some pretty decent raw rocks/minerals for a very reasonable price. in the state im in for school, i just went to the closest crystal store to me and what a ripoff!!!! overpriced tumblestones!!!! none of them said where they came from either. they had a sale for 25% off all crystals and i enjoyed the store atmosphere so i ended up spending quite a bit anyways but it was a lesson. too bad i don’t have a car and all the other stores are quite an expensive uber ride away.
I have a obsession crystal 🔮 and I love mine. And I also have a small rose quartz one my daughter and son inlaw got for me years ago. I have a lot of crystal because I just love them.
Hi 👋 Annie, I would really appreciate it if you please 🙏 do a video on meditation and raising and directing power. I do cast my own spells and use my own words not those out of a book. But I really want to know more about what you spoke about in today's video. When it comes to books what books would you recommend? This is important to me as I want to increase my knowledge and understanding of Witchcraft. Please contact me and let me know if you are willing to do this.. Love from June.
Hi June! Yup, I'm totally going to do some of that in video form! The book recommendations has to be the most asked question! I need to revisit some of my beginner stuff, so I'm not recommending dubious things due to my frankly failing memory... Watch this space
Lovely crystals! Nothing like an obsidian sphere! I have a smaller one but it has red flashes in it so i particularly like it. I probably have too many…if there’s such a thing. 😊
Hi Annie! I discovered your channel the other day and LOVE your content! I’ve been watching old videos and having a great time doing so. Your chicken story was the perfect morning giggle. Have a wonderful day and I look forward to seeing more of you!
Thankyou! I do have a story about a deer which only my close friends have heard. I might need to commit it to film. I will need to put a trigger warning on it, I think...
Can you stop being a witch? Isn't it a bit like how priests are still priests, even if they are defrocked and ex-communicated? I suppose it's down to whether or not a witch is something to that you "do", vs witchcraft being something that you "are" intrinsically? Be-ing vs do-ing. Do be do be do be do be do! Or a bit like the classic theological debate of faith vs works? Perhaps witchcraft is as much predestined as being saved? I wouldn't describe myself as an ex-Christian. I am certainly a very terrible, very lapsed apostate Christian, but Christian practices have informed much of my way of doing things. Animism best describes my magical perceptions. Animism with lots of birds and bloody celestials following me about whether I like it or not. And a healthy measure of cosmicism. And ice giants! PS. Good on you for being kind to chickens. They are lovely birds and exploited horribly by humans. Perhaps your agoraphobic chickens could be house chickens instead? PPS. Love the rocks. That obsidian is gorgeous. Just be sure to give thanks to the volcano gods, because you don't want to offend them!
I would say im pagan but not a witch. Im greatful that you explained. Ps i used to get labelled a witch for listening to cradle of filth and being goth 😵💫😊
People who label (and label badly, even!) are so dumb. Hurrah for a non-witch pagan! Do what thou wilt! Which includes not being a witch if you don't want to!
As a polytheist ("pagan") and witch, it's a personal pet peeve of mine when people think everything amounts to Wicca-derived Eclecticism. The Wheel of the Year is NOT universal, pagan traditions have their own festival calendars. They also don't celebrate esbats nor worship "THE" goddess & god nor do most utilize magic/witchcraft in their rituals. Another peeve: Claiming to be a [culture-name] witch because of whatever deities the person connects with. You're not a "Hellenic, Italian, Egyptian, Celtic, whatever" witch just because you have an affinity for those deities. Those gods are x-culture, you are not when you're practicing generic neopagan witchcraft. Ok, sorry...hopping off my soapbox. 🤐❤
It's a good soapbox. I'll get up there with you! My personal annoyance is the Love and Light Lot who say, "a horned devil has no part in paganism or witchcraft!". Well, yes, he can do. Trad witches absolutely embrace him. People who think their experience is everything. And yes, Barbara the Hellenistic Egyptian Priestess who lives in Wapping. *sigh*
Ah, the ol' horned god/devil kerfuffle. To be fair, there's incorrect info on both sides of that topic. As is often the case, people tend to rely more on opinion than history.
It's an excellent idea. I do actually have a wire pen, but it's behind the insane raspberry thicket of doom I have in the back yard. I need to cut them back and find it.... Chickies are now out, however! Although not today because it's raining SO HARD. They are staying inside and eating treats. Which - frankly - sounds like a life plan for all of us, I feel.
You just spoken of the equinox and me in a opposite hemisphere that sits within the timeline of the precise opposite spirit is a learning curve I've just come to the realisation of how much does a percentage of the rest of the world within the witchcraft of what's your reality and using the cycles of the seasons to what actually is your Agnes looking at the window what a whole big discussion in itself love and cheers out 💯🍻🥂❤️🔥💝❤️🔥🖌️🎨
Ah, yes, I wasn't clear there, was I? My house is a terraced house (I think they are "townhouses" in the US? The only way into the yard is through a passageway at the side of the house, and the door on that passageway is the problematical 73cm one!
Oh, no! Someone else said the same thing - I live in a terraced house in the UK. The only way into the back yard is through a passageway at the side of my house, which has a door on it :-). Chickens are in the yard!
i disagree re: meditation. i do not think that one must meditate in order to practice witchcraft. in fact, i'm not even sure about a book or even talking to anyone else. in my not very humble opinion, it's about *not* being a follower.
I'm all about not being humble! Also, we all have brains and our own ways of approaching things. I vent about my own opinions here, but I'm always aware that it's just that - *my* opinions. People (not you!) seem to think that anyone on a metaphorical soapbox is trying to change their minds. Not so much for me. I just like being opinionated in my own space and have a ton of time for people who have alterative opinions. (even if they're wrong! Only joking!)
@@GrumpyOldCrone ha! i''m very opinionated as well. wonder why i've always been told it's a negative thing 🤔 i'm more pagan than witch (for a very long time). in fact, i often wonder when that line was crossed. 💙
@@wren1019Being called opinionated, elitist, and whatever else to shut diwn and negate whatever the nsme caller cannot refute (feelings vs fact/reality) wasn't always the case. But like society at large, Paganism is rife with whingers who think whatever they want to believe should trump fact & uncomfortable truths. Back in the 1990s, you could still have real discourse and if a debate reached an impasse, someone would bow out with, "I disagree with what you say, but I'll defend your right to say it" (paraphrasing Voltaire). Now it's about who can shut down whom and "everyone sez X, so it's true" nonsense. On a good day, one might get a "agree to disagree" but that's a rarity now too.
Honestly, I like being opinionated! I spent so much of my younger years worrying so much about what people thought about me. My paganism and witchcraft intersect quite a bit these days, but I think it's important to understand that everyone is a bit different, and like you - it can be a moving goalpost that we're not even aware of ourselves.
THIS!!!!! Shutting down people who think differently is so prevalent now. I've been highly amused by the number of commenters who just want me to shut up because I think differently, and say it in a public place. It's not like there aren't a million other YT channels out there to pick from. Why are people so invested in shutting down the ones they don't like? Weird.
Without all of the endless chatter, it is pretty simple witchcraft is not a religion. However, if you choose to honor or worship gods or goddesses that’s completely up to you. Paganism is a term for non- Christian religions. I really don’t feel like you’re gatekeeping because you haven’t said or done anything in my experience after watching a few of your videos that has anything to do with witchcraft that I want to learn. You basically just get on the Internet to spew your judgmental view of other people and berate and belittle other peoples craft or opinions.
So you joined Facebook groups just to get content for your you tube channel ? maybe instead of being ignorant people are desperate if their family member has cancer, or friend is addicted to drugs.. maybe they need something ease their hurt? Why would you call them idiots.?
OP, would you be so defensive of the non-idiocy of those who, for example, go to a Christian faith healing group to seek the same types of help? Although you do raise a good point that those who are desperate will seek solutions desperately, there is a real issue with people seeking “feel good” solutions from conmen instead of “good outcome” solutions that may be more challenging emotionally. For example for a terminal cancer patient the feel good solution is to avoid modern medicine while seeking magic, while the good outcome solution may be getting the help needed to get a second medical opinion from a doctor who is more up to date on the research. Or for the family member with addiction the desperate seeker could ask for magical help getting the seeker (not the addict) into a position where they can help their beloved by paying for in-patient rehab. It’s idiotic to reject those more nuanced offers of real help in favor of a feel good lie, but there is room for groups to do better at guiding the new and desperate towards that rather than doing the online meme post version of newbies styling themselves experts looking up tarot in a book during a paid reading!
It's sad it needs saying, really. But yeah, doctors are a thing for a reason! Rehab is not a secondary option after the pocketful of quartz has failed....
One of my cats is very affectionate and I call him my overly familiar.
You win the internet today with this comment. I'm chuckling to this myself! We have a cat who sits down for a milisecond and starts licking me. My hand, my face, my nose (problematic when watching tv). Definitely an Overly Familiar!
@@GrumpyOldCrone That's just like my Sherlock.
Underrated comment!😂😂😂👍✌️🫶
Sometimes a pigeon will try to land on my face. That's a bit too bloody familiar as well if you ask me!
They are allowed land on the giant's head, I tell them. They are even allowed to peck at the giant's teeth.
But under no circumstances must they peck at the giant's eye(ouch!) or try to land on the giant's face with their sharp little talons(also ouch!)
One very polite pigeon flies up and lands on my shoulder and waits patiently while I gather some seed to put in front of her.
Her name is Luci and she is a very good pigeon. Not at all overly familiar like some of the other feathered lunatics.
I have a love/hate relationship with crystals, ethically sourced or not - we are ripping them out of the ground from mostly far off places (Asia/Africa/South America) and not giving anything back to the earth. Over the years I’ve realized there are beautiful rocks/stones/crystals right in my own backyard (New England). If I take from the earth I give back ( after asking if it’s ok to take the stone). I’ll leave food for the animals,pick up trash, plant something , etc etc. IMHO any stone can be magical and give you the energy you need. 😊. Love your channel! I’m binge watching!!
Chickens will stay in their coop when they feel insecure. They're in a new environment so they're staying in the only bit of familiarity, their old coop. If you or your neighbors have pet cats or dogs, that can add to their nervousness. They'll come around in their own time.
That's pretty much my experience too. I'm hoping that if they settle down, they'll feel a bit more confident about coming out! Tomorrow may be "tempt them with mealworms" day!
The chickens came out yesterday!!!!!!
@@GrumpyOldCrone yay for the chickens! 🥳 I was just about to write and ask about them after watching the video but figured I should check the comments first! loved the video 💛
I'm four months late on this one (picking up your older videos as the fates and algorithm bring them to me), but I hope you're enjoying your obsidian sphere! I have had a six-inch silver sheen one for decades and love it. I don't use it for scrying, but as a protective center-point in our home. My dad was a wonderful woodcrafter, and he built it a tall oak stand of my own design with three legs and a small shelf a few inches below the carved oak ring it rests on (with a soft pad I made for it, so it wouldn't get scratched). On the shelf, a clear quartz point stands upright pointing into the bottom of the sphere, directing sunlight and energy into it. It's a very serious bit of volcanic material, but it does its job well and gets rewarded with a cleansing in the moonlight every once in a while. I hope yours serves you as well. And chickens... ahh the stories I could tell. I often come in from the coop shaking my head, and hubby will ask what the matter is, to which I can only reply, "Chicken politics." Best wishes to you and Mister.
This is the second video I've watched of yours (the 1st was on the bad resin fad) and now my pillow is soaked with tears. In part for the realizing I've been pagan my whole life. And in part for feeling like a witch for the very first time, after almost two decades yearning for it
Not going into the details about my own issues with Christianity/religion here, but tonight was/still is a night of trauma release. Thank you. And thank you for the chicken story. Hearing about a hands on problem has helped
And one last thing, before the video was even halfway through I started -hearing- the music I used to hear all the time. It's been notibly absent for years. Again, thank you
Sadly,There are a lot of crap books out there - just rehashing the same stuff with pretty covers and flashy titles. I started on the path over 20 years ago… I still go back to my Cunningham books for reference/guidance.
3:36 I popped into the British Museum this summer and found Dee's mirror (it's kept by his crystal ball); the very depressing but equally unsurprising thing i learned was that it had been stolen from the Spanish, who in turn had stolen it from - presumably the original owner - the Aztecs, who had used it in their own religious ceremonies. Sigh.
The idea I go by and tell my children is "Magic is Science that we just don't understand fully yet". If you look back through history, it tracks. 🤔😁😘
Not only are they the wholesalers but they dont have to pay a storefront rent with your individual crystal purchases. Its expensive to run a year round store in this economy and those prices are neccesarily passed onto us
I would call myself an atheist witch. For a while I was like Goldilocks, trying out all the pagan religions, and none was just right for me. Wicca, Norse, Celtic... until I had to be honest with myself that deities or deity work/worship just isn't my cup of tea.
I think there's a distinct pressure to "pick a deity", and honestly, why should we? So we can have a nifty statue? As a Gaian, planting a garden is an act of worship for me, and as close as I get, really. I do talk to ancestors and my Bwbach (house spirit), but that's more of a day to day thing for me, not a special event. Being honest with ourselves about who we are and what we want to do with our practice is the most important thing out there. Glad you've found a space to be comfy with yourself!
@@GrumpyOldCrone WitchTok really pushes the deity worship, and I had to block all those voices out and listen to my own. I took the nature and spirits route, and it's lovely.
@@LavenderleFay It's a lovely path - I enjoy it and feel at home on it very much
Me too@@LavenderleFay
Same here! I live in the woods, off grid. I am surrounded by trees and wildflowers. Well, no flowers now as we’ve already had a few hard frosts. This morning, I was watching the most glorious dawn and a herd of deer foraging. A few weeks ago, a gangly teen moose walked up the dirt road as I was having my coffee. In spring, I listen to the drumming of grouse looking for a girlfriend. I dance sky clad in the light of the full moon (because I can and am moved to), even in the snow, while the owls chat amongst themselves.
When the Mother provides the divine all around me, looking for a deity seems both superfluous and an offense.
Your channel is so good, so down to earth. My practice is pretty laid back and realistic. I'm glad I found this. Thankyou for taking the time to do it.
I wear alot of black because I'm messy with food and don't like stains on my clothes😂
I wore a nice light coloured linen top yesterday and dribbled my coffee down the front. Yes in public.
Crones unite ❤
I feel your pain. I've permanently got food down my clothes. Whoops!
I love your entire clips, my mum who is a witch only wears black arva funeral otherwise she is in pastel florals and looks total twinset and pearls.
I feel that the witchcraft I've been raised with is connected to intent and my craft is in everything I do from cooking cleaning and gardening to wish-making ❤
I think that's a very valid way to approach your craft, personally! (I like the sound of your mum, too!)
I don't know that I've ever subscribed to a channel faster than I did just now. I'm currently educating myself on the subjects of folk magic, druidry, and plant science, and it's so helpful to find channels that don't make me feel like I'm just consuming an aesthetic rather than wisdom. So thank you for that! I'd like to hear more about the 'it works' part, about what you consider magic to really be and how you came to the conclusion that it was a real and tangible thing. People always have such different answers, it's always so interesting to hear them.
That is certainly on the list of things to ramble about :-)
To make the info at 14:45 even funnier I'd like to point out, many of the priests of the time did not want to be doing witchcraft. But many of them were. Because their congregations of converted/syncretized pagans demanded it.
Practical medical things CAN work WITH magic. But for the love of the God/dess, don't neglect science that works for spiritual work!
YES! Complementary healing. It complements the other healing that happens alongside it!
Love this episode, chickens are both fearless and fraidy cats at the same time. 😂 as a younger person who was raised in a very religious household, I think a lot of younger folks fall for the trap of convenience and lack of real world experience when it comes to seeking out information and communities: we're an extremely online generation. 😅 that can be good for connecting people across the globe, but when it comes to local stuff we just don't know how to find it or where to ask (emberassing as it is). Maybe it's different here in the States too, people tend to be more disconnected. But basiclaly outside of going to the ren faire or a weed store I wouldn't know where to start finding real people to learn from or compare notes with. For what it's worth, I'm glad your channel exists!
Ah yes! US version: if it moves and it shouldn't, duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, WD-40.
I hung about with bikers a lot in my younger days - this was definitely the approach to motorcycle maintenance!
Lovely talk, got me thinking about my crystals, which I rarely use now. Thanks for showing me Dee’s scrying mirror. I have been to the British Museum several times but I don’t think it was on display. I did love the Egyptian statues…very magical for me…and within one year I was in Egypt, stayed in the Great Pyramid over night…’95…one could do that with proper arrangements. Good information on the obsidion ball…perhaps I may try one some day.
I've never seen the mirror in person, but the British Museum is so huge.... Also, we didn't actually steal it from another country, so why display it? (I have opinions about historic British theft of artifacts....). Jealous about staying overnight in the Great Pyramid! What was it like?
That obsidian ball was a terrific purchase. Imagine what it would cost at the shop 'Crystals', for example.
That's what I thought too. I was debating putting it down and walking away to think about it, but I suspected someone else would have snapped it up if I'd let go!
@@GrumpyOldCrone I would snapped it up. I have always loved obsidian. Do you like snowflake obsidian as well?
@@GrumpyOldCroneBonus tip: Here in the States, there is often an exclusive section at a gem & mineral show just for merchants with even cheaper prices. But you have to be a merchant with a business/tax ID # to gain access. I found that out when I went to a show with a friend who had her own jewelry business. I don't remember what/who she asked but we were directed to a back area and she told me who it was for. The prices were even cheaper (because merchants buy more). I made out like a bandit buying my few bits because I was with her and she was buying a number of beads & cabochons.
@@peridot1706 I had no idea that was a thing!!!! If I ever get over the US again, I'm totally looking out for friends with business IDs and shows! (and maybe postal shipping back to the UK....)
@@roberthubbard3302 Love me a bit of snowflake obsidian! My daughter has a gorgeous chunk....
This really validates my feelings, and relieves some concerns about the practice. Thank you for giving us your wisdom.
Hi Sunshine, love your new babies you bought at crystal market, they are stunning. Enjoy them.
Thanks for explaining the difference between wicca and pagan. As you might not know, I am neither - but enjoy your channel and the info you are giving. Love it, please keep it up.
Yes, I know the feeling of buying something that does not fit through the door - reminds me when I bought a wooden bridge to put in my back garden, I too had 1cm too big. What a performance to get it in. Hope you had a good laugh after. Does help.
Love and Light from Cape Town, South Africa
We did have a laugh afterwards, when the chickens were safely put away. But as you say, what a performance!
Congratulations on 1k by the way! Love your channel so much! Shared it with all my friends who practice
That's really kind of you! Shares really help me build the channel. Whilst I have no plans to monetise, bigger viewing numbers does get me through the checking and copyright process a bit quicker which means a lot to me
My “hate boner” is also aimed at Christianity and the potential for bags of trauma. I was raised Catholic, and yep, all the bad experiences. Collected the whole set. But I also have a hate boner for Wicca.
Back in the pre-internet nineties, every source of information I could find in person or in print was polluted by Wicca, to the point that for many years some people would use “witch” and “Wiccan” interchangeably. (Edited to add that I’ve just noticed this has even happened in THIS comment section - argh!) It made any attempt to learn anything of use far harder and more miserable than it had to be, and it made solitary the only path forward in my area. Only now is that really beginning to fade in person, but I still meet - those - sort of Wiccans who get on their high horse about the language and practices of some other witches, claiming they have stolen aspects of Wicca, when quite the reverse is true - it all existed long, long before some bloke decided to create a new religion out of it in the 30’s. Social media is making this all worse again, of course.
I know it’s not all Wiccans, just like it’s not all Christians, but it’s enough to count, just the same. There are enough books of supposedly traditional witchcraft full of not-so-stealthly shoehorned in Wiccan religious practices to still really get my goat. I also think that is quite possibly why this confusion that all witches are pagan and all pagans are witches still persists.
In my case - witch yes, pagan no.
Thank you! I just found your channel, and look forward to seeing more!
Thankyou! Glad to see you here
Omg you are LITERALLY another version of me😂. Facebook is a den of dumbness. And don’t get me started on the title ‘baby witch’.
My main intrusive thought is “would annie piss herself if she saw me right mow?” Lol
The answer is...
YES
I enjoyed the video and agree with the majority of what you said however I think what you said about boiling marigold and saying a bad poem over it not being real witchcraft is partially wrong. Folk magic is a tradition in many cultures, including my own and I am an avid practitioner of folk magic which is often very simple including creating something easy and saying words over it. Sure if you just grab any old words off the internet and not actually put intent and energy into what your saying it's not going to work. Although simple, it can be just as effective. My favourite kind of magic is simple but effective kind, it's knowing how to utilize it that makes it work. Even if simmer pots are not something you've heard of, it doesn't mean it doesn't work. Energy goes into it's creation and mine have been successful for simple things such as cleansing my home or bringing a more positive energy into my home. Knowing what type of magic works for specific situations is key and making sure you understand how to put energy behind the physical creations is what makes witchcraft witchcraft. You can create magic out of anything, that's why I love folk magic.
I think we actually agree here. I practice a lot of low magic, and working with various plant matter is definitely a thing. I found out lots about simmer pots after my last video, and I do love a bit of new information! My issue is with people who have no mastery over intent and energy. They boil some attractive plant matter and solemnly pronounce a bad rhyming couplet and expect the world to change. But equally you can pick a daisy from backyard with enough energy work and intent and BINGO! It is why I put so much emphasis on meditation - that energy has to come from somewhere.
The Pagan vs Witch concept is important. I tend to view witchcraft as a metaphysical tech of sorts. It's a set of tools and methodologies rooted in various concepts of magic.
Of course in the West in modern times, witchcraft is most widely understood in the context of Wicca which is a religion and one not very neatly classified along Christian and Pagan lines. It's certainly perceived as Pagan (or Satanic) by most Christian traditions and yet Wicca's rituals and folklore arise primarily from Christianized systems of folk magic and concepts of Kabbalah filtered through Christian mystical esoteric traditions of the 17th to early 20th Centuries.
I came to witchcraft through Wicca as did probably most American witches of a certain age. I identified as Pagan quite early on but came to view the gods through a lens of true polytheism vs amalgamating them all into one God and Goddess figure. Not sure what sort of hybrid that makes me. My ritual and spell practice will probably always remain more Wiccan than anything else in form but my devotional practice might look more like what the Nordic Heathens call a blot.
I wish we lived closer. That sounds (a) awesome and (b) something I'd love to talk about over a cup of tea/large gin/craft beer. I am literally agreeing with everything you are saying here!
@@GrumpyOldCrone I am supposed to be in Cornwall at some point this coming year, so that might be possible. Not sure if that's even in your part of the country, but it's a lot closer than the midwest United States!
My dad used to be among management staff at a metaphysical shop in the early 2000s. If someone asks him, he’ll still (rightly imo) bitch about how the owners of the shop would put a 700% markup on some of their tumbled crystals.
Ooooof!!!!!!
This was my first visit to your channel, and I was busting out laughing. I love it 🙂
Thankyou! Good to have you along for the ride!
"A bunch of blessed wannabes." -- Willow Rosenberg on Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Am so glad I found you. Thank you so much for making me laugh.
I'm so glad!
i’m not a witch or anything but i am a casual rock enthusiast. in my home state, i can get some pretty decent raw rocks/minerals for a very reasonable price. in the state im in for school, i just went to the closest crystal store to me and what a ripoff!!!! overpriced tumblestones!!!! none of them said where they came from either. they had a sale for 25% off all crystals and i enjoyed the store atmosphere so i ended up spending quite a bit anyways but it was a lesson. too bad i don’t have a car and all the other stores are quite an expensive uber ride away.
“Altering reality and perception by force of will”
Love that!
(Hope it’s ok to steal it…..🤗)
I have a obsession crystal 🔮 and I love mine. And I also have a small rose quartz one my daughter and son inlaw got for me years ago. I have a lot of crystal because I just love them.
Ditto!
You are the best storyteller! 😂👏👏👏
Hi 👋 Annie, I would really appreciate it if you please 🙏 do a video on meditation and raising and directing power. I do cast my own spells and use my own words not those out of a book. But I really want to know more about what you spoke about in today's video. When it comes to books what books would you recommend? This is important to me as I want to increase my knowledge and understanding of Witchcraft. Please contact me and let me know if you are willing to do this.. Love from June.
Hi June! Yup, I'm totally going to do some of that in video form! The book recommendations has to be the most asked question! I need to revisit some of my beginner stuff, so I'm not recommending dubious things due to my frankly failing memory... Watch this space
Lovely crystals! Nothing like an obsidian sphere! I have a smaller one but it has red flashes in it so i particularly like it. I probably have too many…if there’s such a thing. 😊
Also I’m convinced I live for Samhain. I wait all year just for that time of year😆
Red! I didn't know that was possible! I'm totally looking out for that now. I just really like cool rocks. My poor bank account....
I, too, live for Samhain. It's our favourite family holiday!
@@GrumpyOldCrone *sigh* SAME
Hi Annie! I discovered your channel the other day and LOVE your content! I’ve been watching old videos and having a great time doing so. Your chicken story was the perfect morning giggle. Have a wonderful day and I look forward to seeing more of you!
Thankyou! I do have a story about a deer which only my close friends have heard. I might need to commit it to film. I will need to put a trigger warning on it, I think...
Do you have any particular book recommendations? (Particularly ones that aren't Wiccan, I'm definitely not the religious type.)
I'm also wondering this. I'm looking for some that aren't involving gods and goddesses
I think I'm going to need to do a book recommendation one. It's easily the most asked question!
I think I am\1. I need to go back to basics, though - it's been a while since I was reading stuff like that.
The list of really good books will be great help. Thank You.
@@GrumpyOldCrone I'd love to hear some of your favorites!
Love ya! xxx keep them coming Annie so entertaining and on point, huge respect x
Thankyou!!! I'm having way too much fun with this!
Good luck with the chickens!!🐓
Can you stop being a witch? Isn't it a bit like how priests are still priests, even if they are defrocked and ex-communicated?
I suppose it's down to whether or not a witch is something to that you "do", vs witchcraft being something that you "are" intrinsically? Be-ing vs do-ing. Do be do be do be do be do!
Or a bit like the classic theological debate of faith vs works? Perhaps witchcraft is as much predestined as being saved?
I wouldn't describe myself as an ex-Christian. I am certainly a very terrible, very lapsed apostate Christian, but Christian practices have informed much of my way of doing things.
Animism best describes my magical perceptions. Animism with lots of birds and bloody celestials following me about whether I like it or not. And a healthy measure of cosmicism. And ice giants!
PS. Good on you for being kind to chickens. They are lovely birds and exploited horribly by humans. Perhaps your agoraphobic chickens could be house chickens instead?
PPS. Love the rocks. That obsidian is gorgeous. Just be sure to give thanks to the volcano gods, because you don't want to offend them!
The crystal ball is beautiful! 💜💜💜💜💜💜
I'm very happy with it! Slight problem is that I've got it on my desk and keep forgetting to bring it into the circle with me when I do a ritual......
❤ so very refreshing ❤
Thankyou!
I would say im pagan but not a witch. Im greatful that you explained. Ps i used to get labelled a witch for listening to cradle of filth and being goth 😵💫😊
People who label (and label badly, even!) are so dumb. Hurrah for a non-witch pagan! Do what thou wilt! Which includes not being a witch if you don't want to!
As a polytheist ("pagan") and witch, it's a personal pet peeve of mine when people think everything amounts to Wicca-derived Eclecticism. The Wheel of the Year is NOT universal, pagan traditions have their own festival calendars. They also don't celebrate esbats nor worship "THE" goddess & god nor do most utilize magic/witchcraft in their rituals.
Another peeve: Claiming to be a [culture-name] witch because of whatever deities the person connects with. You're not a "Hellenic, Italian, Egyptian, Celtic, whatever" witch just because you have an affinity for those deities. Those gods are x-culture, you are not when you're practicing generic neopagan witchcraft.
Ok, sorry...hopping off my soapbox. 🤐❤
It's a good soapbox. I'll get up there with you! My personal annoyance is the Love and Light Lot who say, "a horned devil has no part in paganism or witchcraft!". Well, yes, he can do. Trad witches absolutely embrace him. People who think their experience is everything.
And yes, Barbara the Hellenistic Egyptian Priestess who lives in Wapping. *sigh*
Ah, the ol' horned god/devil kerfuffle. To be fair, there's incorrect info on both sides of that topic. As is often the case, people tend to rely more on opinion than history.
Thank you
Glad to have you here!
Awww Chickies! Maybe I'm a tit for saying try chicken wire? Like a little pen for them. Maybe they will feel safer.
It's an excellent idea. I do actually have a wire pen, but it's behind the insane raspberry thicket of doom I have in the back yard. I need to cut them back and find it.... Chickies are now out, however! Although not today because it's raining SO HARD. They are staying inside and eating treats. Which - frankly - sounds like a life plan for all of us, I feel.
You just spoken of the equinox and me in a opposite hemisphere that sits within the timeline of the precise opposite spirit is a learning curve I've just come to the realisation of how much does a percentage of the rest of the world within the witchcraft of what's your reality and using the cycles of the seasons to what actually is your Agnes looking at the window what a whole big discussion in itself love and cheers out 💯🍻🥂❤️🔥💝❤️🔥🖌️🎨
FB Witch and Pagan groups, yes, they are filled with very nasty people. I gave those groups up years ago.
The chicken coup is in the house? In the US we put them in the yard.
Ah, yes, I wasn't clear there, was I? My house is a terraced house (I think they are "townhouses" in the US? The only way into the yard is through a passageway at the side of the house, and the door on that passageway is the problematical 73cm one!
wait, a chicken coop in the house?
Oh, no! Someone else said the same thing - I live in a terraced house in the UK. The only way into the back yard is through a passageway at the side of my house, which has a door on it :-). Chickens are in the yard!
@@GrumpyOldCrone figured there must be some kind of logical reasoning. one does not want chickens in the home. 💙
I'd need to make them little chicken-knickers!
Get a rooster!
I'd love to! I'm in a townhouse though, so my neighbours might protest. Maybe I should try though....
🐔 🐥 😂
☺️👋
Thankyou!
i disagree re: meditation. i do not think that one must meditate in order to practice witchcraft. in fact, i'm not even sure about a book or even talking to anyone else. in my not very humble opinion, it's about *not* being a follower.
I'm all about not being humble! Also, we all have brains and our own ways of approaching things. I vent about my own opinions here, but I'm always aware that it's just that - *my* opinions. People (not you!) seem to think that anyone on a metaphorical soapbox is trying to change their minds. Not so much for me. I just like being opinionated in my own space and have a ton of time for people who have alterative opinions. (even if they're wrong! Only joking!)
@@GrumpyOldCrone ha! i''m very opinionated as well. wonder why i've always been told it's a negative thing 🤔 i'm more pagan than witch (for a very long time). in fact, i often wonder when that line was crossed. 💙
@@wren1019Being called opinionated, elitist, and whatever else to shut diwn and negate whatever the nsme caller cannot refute (feelings vs fact/reality) wasn't always the case. But like society at large, Paganism is rife with whingers who think whatever they want to believe should trump fact & uncomfortable truths. Back in the 1990s, you could still have real discourse and if a debate reached an impasse, someone would bow out with, "I disagree with what you say, but I'll defend your right to say it" (paraphrasing Voltaire). Now it's about who can shut down whom and "everyone sez X, so it's true" nonsense. On a good day, one might get a "agree to disagree" but that's a rarity now too.
Honestly, I like being opinionated! I spent so much of my younger years worrying so much about what people thought about me. My paganism and witchcraft intersect quite a bit these days, but I think it's important to understand that everyone is a bit different, and like you - it can be a moving goalpost that we're not even aware of ourselves.
THIS!!!!! Shutting down people who think differently is so prevalent now. I've been highly amused by the number of commenters who just want me to shut up because I think differently, and say it in a public place. It's not like there aren't a million other YT channels out there to pick from. Why are people so invested in shutting down the ones they don't like? Weird.
Without all of the endless chatter, it is pretty simple witchcraft is not a religion. However, if you choose to honor or worship gods or goddesses that’s completely up to you.
Paganism is a term for non- Christian religions.
I really don’t feel like you’re gatekeeping because you haven’t said or done anything in my experience after watching a few of your videos that has anything to do with witchcraft that I want to learn. You basically just get on the Internet to spew your judgmental view of other people and berate and belittle other peoples craft or opinions.
I mean, right?
So you joined Facebook groups just to get content for your you tube channel ? maybe instead of being ignorant people are desperate if their family member has cancer, or friend is addicted to drugs.. maybe they need something ease their hurt? Why would you call them idiots.?
Thanks for your input
OP, would you be so defensive of the non-idiocy of those who, for example, go to a Christian faith healing group to seek the same types of help?
Although you do raise a good point that those who are desperate will seek solutions desperately, there is a real issue with people seeking “feel good” solutions from conmen instead of “good outcome” solutions that may be more challenging emotionally.
For example for a terminal cancer patient the feel good solution is to avoid modern medicine while seeking magic, while the good outcome solution may be getting the help needed to get a second medical opinion from a doctor who is more up to date on the research.
Or for the family member with addiction the desperate seeker could ask for magical help getting the seeker (not the addict) into a position where they can help their beloved by paying for in-patient rehab.
It’s idiotic to reject those more nuanced offers of real help in favor of a feel good lie, but there is room for groups to do better at guiding the new and desperate towards that rather than doing the online meme post version of newbies styling themselves experts looking up tarot in a book during a paid reading!
@grumpyoldcrone Hi I just wanted to say that it's been a revelation for me how similar our views on witchcraft are, keep up the good work ❤
7:47 thank you SO much
It's sad it needs saying, really. But yeah, doctors are a thing for a reason! Rehab is not a secondary option after the pocketful of quartz has failed....