Is anyone there?

Is anyone out there? Is there anything you want to see on here that you haven't? Do you have questions? ASK them! I urge you. I don't bite... very hard. If you want research done I'd be happy to help. You can email me at takkarigotitall@yahoo.com, taa3909@uncw.edu, or takkarigotitall@gmail.com or reach me just as easily find me on Facebook under Karipop Armstrong, or instagram as Karipop101 and Youtube as Rosemary1225. Another thing I might ask would you like it if I started Youtube videos, or nah? Don't leave me hanging! Love you, my pretties!

Barnes & Noble

Remember my post about Books-A-Million a couple of days ago. Barnes & Nobles of Wilmington (I don't know about anywhere else) is the same deal! This time however along with their massive expanse of Christian oriented bookshelves they did have an alternate Religions bookshelf. At first glance you see Hinduism and Buddhism but hidden cleverly in these shelves are more Christian-oriented books, matter-of-fact it's packed with it despite the Christian shelves. As if they've run out of room, and there were no Pagan books whatsoever. Finding the section was hard on its own because it's so in the back and the signs are hard to see but just a little quick note it was a sad a pointless trip that added up to disappointing discoveries similar to Books-A-Million but possibly worse. But then again this is all my opinion and I do live in a small-minded low tolerance old fashioned town.

Books-A-Million I Am So Disappointed In You!

Hi, I haven't posted in a while I've been thinking on what to post a lot of holidays have passed for us witches. I apologize before more can pass, I tell you now I cannot post ritual ideas or anything that I might do those days because I probably because of my situation will be unable to. But on to the real subject of this post now that that is out of the way.

I was going to therapy at my local Health Access and was dropped off by my father and some others and it turned out I didn't have an appointment that day. So I walked out a little sad and confused on what to do, because I do not have a cell phone call my father and tell him to come back. So I'm looking around and it's early-ish around 10:00 and so it dawns on me as my eyes fall on the building, why not go to Books-A-Million. I shit you not, I had never been. I was excited elated, I wanted to see if I could buy something. So of course, I began looking for the Occult or Pagan Section.
I easily stumbled across Religion but I was sad to find there were no books on Wicca and I didn't want to ask a clerk because I don't live in a very understanding town in my opinion. I looked up at the big signs and saw to my general surprise 2 to 3 entire full length bookcases with at least 3 to 4 shelves dedicated to Christianity. The Religion bookcase also filled halfway with Christian stuff only held a couple books on Judaism and Hinduism.
I searched for at least another half an hour before I found what I was looking for, and I can still say I am very disappointed. There was one or two sections on one or two individual shelves (very small like a hundredth of the Christian section) dedicated to Wicca/Paganism and it was mixed in with ghost stories and the paranormal! As if it's not a real religion and no offense to what authors were on the shelf none of them were actually good, they were all written by the kind of misleading authors who give you bad information. To be fair, there was one or two good selections I wanted to take home but not from there.
I get that the town I live in is very Christian-based but so is most of America and if someone wanted to branch from that they won't be able to because we're giving them bad books.
So to end my rant on how very disappointed and enraged I am towards Books-A-Million I must give you a side-note, go on YouTube. Find a YouTube-ing witch you like and write down books they may recommend or message them and ask. I'll do my own post on a renowned book pertaining to witchcraft I already read and if you want I'll post a video. But I'll let you fly off for now on a gnarled wood broomstick. Talk to you later, my pretties!

My Gods, yes plural there's more than two

Important NOTE: There is a difference in Paganism, Wicca, and Witchcraft. Quick explanation, Paganism is an umbrella term for things that aren't Catholic ( if I remember correctly); Wicca is a branch of Paganism where a person worships (usually not always) the god and goddess and they can also worship gods from other pantheons (or religions) such as the Greek pantheon, or the Egyptian pantheon, even Christian.

As of right now Christian wiccans are a controversial topic, but I believe you can believe in whatever, Wicca is your spiritual road not everyone else's.

Now on to the matter at hand, I follow both the Egyptian and Greek pantheon. I know the Greek Gods I follow but I have yet to know the Egyptian gods I will follow. In the Greek pantheon I worship the following gods:

Poseidon (God of sea, horses, etc)

Hades (God of "Death"  a.k.a the Underworld)

Persephone (not referred to as a goddess often, but she is to my immediate knowledge, think about it, her mother is a god, and she is wife to Hades)

Demeter (mother of Persephone, harvest, and most important change of the seasons)

Artemis (goddess of the hunt and wisdom)

Athena (goddess of war and wisdom)

Long list huh? Well what god you choose to worship should relate to you somehow. And though most find their reasons personal I will gladly share with you my reasons.

I chose Poseidon, or he chose me maybe as far back as my love of baths to the summer where I drowned. Yes, I drowned and in my eyes that day I died. I was being stupid and I went down the slide on the 9 foot part of the pool, and I couldn't swim, I sunk to the bottom and lost consciousnesses and swallowed a ton of water. I was eventually saved and resuscitated but it was practically a miracle I survived. Now I know you're thinking, what the... water almost killed you. But it didn't. And it's strange but when I was down there the water was almost comforting to me. Especially when no one came for me. That one is hard to explain in a way that you'll accept it as I've had.

I follow Hades because as a child even now I suffer depression, and I have always been fairly attuned with death. I hurt when I see roadkill and I believe in spirits passing on peacefully to wherever and I think it wonderful of Hades to take them where they need to go no matter where it may be. I deeply admire him, (sorry if that's weird) and I suppose most of the reasons I'll give you for these seem stupid or weird but I am a somewhat normal person just like the rest of you.

I follow and admire Persephone because she is the reason for changing of seasons but also because she is the wife of Hades, and a good God which is rare. Her only insurrection was that of eating of the pomegranate which only affected her, her mother, and gave us the seasons.

Demeter because I always wanted a motherly figure, I don't really have one although I have a mother, obviously. But I look up to Demeter and I know what a mother should be, and in a strange way through the tales I've heard of her she has been my mother, through my hard times.

I was called an Amazon for the first time when I was in elementary I took it as an insult but I didn't actually know what the word meant. But knowing it now I can agree I was a bit of an amazon without the height and I am most definitely a tomboy of sorts now. And Artemis believes in fiercely with what I believe in, that I'm a strong independent woman who don't need no man. Though one thing we wouldn't agree on, having a man to me still would be nice.

Athena because she is brave, she is a warrior and I have always been a fighter, she is also probably in my opinion one of the most influential woman role models in history even though she is deemed 'fictional'.

Well those are my reasons, however unusual they seem, but your reasons must be there, some feeling, or pull must be there . So don't go just picking names unless that's how you do things. And this is only how i went about it don't feel compelled to go about it the same way. Everyone its different no one is the same that's why everything is so unique and natural.

The Mysterious Art of Divination Part Two: Runes, runes, runes...

Meanings for the Futhark Rune alphabet:

Fehu: Money matters. Psychic energies.

Uruz: Physical health. Vital energies.

Thurisaz: What opposed you (perhaps physical).

Ansuz: Sources of inspiration and intellectual expression.

Raidho: Travels;inner or outer.

Kenaz: Creativity. Erotic relationships.

Gebo: What will be given to you.

Wunjo: Relationships, friends. What will give you happiness.

Hagalaz: Area of possible crisis leading to transformation.

Nauthiz: What resists you (psychically). Source of discontent.

Isa: What is constraining you.

Jera: Where rewards can be expected. Relationship with the natural environment.

Eihwaz: Hidden influences, state of whole being. Relationship with the numinous environment.

Perthro: How you will find joy.

Algiz: Thing that needs attention. Way to the gods.

Sowilo: What will guide you.

Tiwaz: Cognitive state. Legal matters. Ideals.

Berkano: What provides growth and beauty.

Ehwaz: With what or whom you should work. Erotic relations.

Mannaz: Overall psychic state. Attitude toward death.

Laguz: State of emotional Balance. What will test you.

Ingwaz: What you should contemplate.

Dagaz: Area of unexpected synchronicity.

Othala: Greater family matters. National or community issues.

Futhark using the Eight-Fold Wheel goes like this:

This is Practical Matter, dealing with practical or mundane matters hence the name:

Fehu - Financial strength and prosperity of the present and near future.

Uruz - Health matters.

Thurisaz - Conflicts and complexities of an aggressive nature; psychological problems.

Ansuz - Communications and transmissions; points things back to sources in the past.

Raidho - What is right or not right; what move to make; decisions; returns.

Kenaz - Opening up of new ways; opportunities; information.

Gebo - All matters of an exchanging nature; contracts; personal relationships.

Wunjo - Gain; accomplishments; that which is wished for.



This is Psychological Conditions, I think you get what it's about:

Hagalaz - The uncontrolled forces in the unconscious, which are usually of a disruptive nature and which usually originate in the past.
Nauthiz - Restrictive forces in the unconscious; fears, anxieties; feelings of guilt.
Isa - Blocks; stultified conditions; grievances; anything that the individual is not prepared to let go of; the formation of the personality; conditioning.
Jera - Hopes and expectations; turning points; gradual changes; results of earlier actions.
Eihwaz - The driving forces in the unconscious; motivation; sense of purpose.
Perthro - The deepest creative part of the unconscious; the hidden realm of higher material that is waiting to come to fruition and birth; hidden talents; occult or psychic abilities.
Algiz - The strong protective side in the unconscious; the influence which will protect you; religious aspirations.
Sowilo - Position of the higher self in relations to the unconscious; the direction in which you will be guided by the higher self; the ability to establish contact between the higher self and the unconscious.



This is the last Relationships, this is your relationship with other people and even the seual aspects of life, like our love life:

Tiwaz - Creative energies in the martial sense; where your strengths lie; where to direct your energies in taking initiatives; honor and justice, leadership and authority.

Berkano - Fertility; birth' rebirth; growth; maternity; family life; feminine mysteries.

Ehwaz - Adaptability; relationships with others; joint efforts; cooperation; sexuality.

Mannaz - People at large; attitude toward others; other people's attitudes towards you; legal matters, friends and enemies; intellect.

Laguz - Emotions; stability; imagination; psychic matters; affections.

Ingwaz - Integration; gestation; expectations; progeny.

Dagaz - Transmission; opposites; position between light and darkness; initiation; balance between the worlds outside time and space; cosmic consciousness; change from one thing into its opposite; new beginnings.


Othala - Home life; country; spiritual heritage; experience; foundation; fundamental values; establishing.

The Mysterious Art of Divination: Runes, runes, runes

From what I gathered runes are like tarot but they do not tell the future. Runes are called futhark after the first six letters and it is the Old Norse alphabet.

If you want the history here's a place to read on it:http://www.omniglot.com/writing/runic.htm

Now some witches go extra fancy with their use of runes and use it as a secret language for their Book of Shadows or to make their spell have a little extra kick write it out in runes. Only problem with that the Rune alphabet is not like our own. They don't have the same letters we do, so beware of that.

Now talks of three different Rune languages the most common I know of is the one i use and have seen most every other witch use and it looks like this:

Elder Futhark

I like this one but if you don't like this one and don't want to look at the link I'll post the others as well.

Younger Futhork

Elder Futhark was evolved all through Viking Era until about 1200 where they, the Danish etc. switched to the Latin alphabet.

Danish Futhark

Swedish-Norwegian (Short twig/ Rok Runes)

Norwegian Futhark

Gothenburg (Bohuslan Runes)

Now the last type of runes are the Medieval runes according to the website I linked, after the arrival of Christianity for the Scandinavians, and their alphabet was latinised and used for decoration, and here it is:

How to Cast Runes

I like the idea you can cast however you want and really you can. I've seen witches who just do a 'morning throw'. A literal throw on their altar nothing special, but if you want to do an official rune casting this is how I do it based on information I've gathered and just like to do it.

Okay first of all I like peace and quiet which is hard to find in my house because I have four sisters and a nosy mother so I'd probably go outside where's there's natural energy from the plants in our backyard where it is also private. Facing North just like you would for a Circle Casting I'd find a smooth surface to cast on maybe a tiny table or board. I'd reach into my bag shake it up a little, mix it real good ad while thinking of the question I have I'd grab a handful and throw them seeing which way they face up(if they're face down and I can't see the sign I ignore it). Up is positive, down is negative, it's really simple. Now some people do this on the cloth/surface as a boundary I like free range I may even draw three circles to separate the runes as a timeline.

Another way is to pick a certain amount of runes ( a good reason why your runes should be the same size and shape so you don't recognize any) and put them in any tarot order but I'll post some here I read about.

Casting the Norns

The Norns are Norse goddesses because runes are Norse but they can also be interpreted as the Three Fates and etc.This is probably the most simple just pull out three and if they're facing down flip them sideways 'like the pages of a book'. And once you set them down in a row, it's basically past, present, and future going from left to right.

Nine-runes Cast

This gives an detailed overview of a person's situation and progress on their path. Nine is a magickal number in the Norse mythology. Pick nine runes, focus on your question, then throw them. Read face up these are your current situation, runes can be read just about anyway but runes in the center are immediately relevant, the ones on the far outside are fairly insignificant. This depends really on how you read it, it's about what comes to you. Runes that are face down represent outside or future influences and are possible outcomes.


But anyway this is something you'll have to read on the fore-mentioned website. I'm too lazy too paraphrase this. All information gathered in this post is from that particular website which practically walks you through interpreting runes. In a part two post for this I will give you the meanings of the runes.

Why do I need a knife... Who are we sacrificing?

On your altar there is optionally what is called an athame or small black handled knife. That can be used in a couple different ways. So far I have seen it used like this:

• dipped in saltwater and used to draw pentagram at the four corners of a circle
• and to make the initial saltwater mixture... like a spoon

Important misconception to get out of the way, wiccans do not sacrifice living things, animal nor human not even dead. We give back usually by food offerings, wiccans aren't violent and are more fine-tuned with nature so why harm what's in it to honor it? It's be dumb. So no sacrificing sheep, that's not what the craft is for.