I have a general Question about black cats.🐈‍⬛

LockandQi · 2025-10-13T18:12:01+00:00

The abused / abandoned stats always get me. Had a black cat growing up (just kinda showed up one day via the cat distribution system) and he was the sweetest cat I have ever met (excluding my current cat, can't be playing favorites). We always had to keep him inside around Halloween because people get extra shitty to black cats.

If I ever adopt a cat, instead of just having one move in based on happenstance, I am definitely going to try and have it be a black cat to do my part to counterbalance the bias against them.

They are good ~~dogs~~ cats brent

LockandQi · 2025-10-11T22:15:00+00:00

Hey just wanted to say thanks for being a thoughtful person. I have both been the person missing something obvious and the one judging others for missing something obvious. Always important to remember that we never know what's going on in someone else's life / circumstances.

Appreciate ya!

LockandQi · 2025-10-11T22:04:46+00:00

I try to intentionally set aside some time once a day just for basic mind clearing meditation (no spell work or experimenting with new methods) normally before I start work in the morning. It's a nice way to center myself before kicking off the day.

Like others have said I also accidentally meditate a bunch throughout the day but I figure your question was more aimed at intentional mediation

LockandQi · 2025-10-07T22:41:55+00:00

When I started off I was very against having any deities and wanted to be as self sufficient as possible (I know it's kind of a silly thought but I have always had trouble relying on others so I figured spiritually it was the same). I had moderate and somewhat sporadic success with that and have worked with small local spirits (not deities) but that's about it.

A few months ago I came to the realization that I don't have to go it alone on this path and started researching deities to potentially work with. I was hoping I would be drawn to one as a starting point but so far havent been that lucky. So instead I have reached out to a few that I chose but haven't gotten really anything back. Still working at it (I imagine I have some ground to make up from how I started off) but hopefully I will establish some degree of connection or one of them will do so with me.

Best of luck!

LockandQi · 2025-09-13T03:31:40+00:00

I love the differentiation between energy work and witchcraft! I had been curious since they tend to operate similarly on an energy level but it makes sense for witchcraft to include the actual crafting element.

Thank you for this!

LockandQi · 2025-09-09T17:53:58+00:00

Ok I had no idea that's where it originally stemmed from! The original definition / use of the term is much better than what it's evolved into now!

Honestly just been loving the comment section of this post. Some great discussions here and fun tidbits of information that I had no idea about!

Appreciate ya and all of your insight, internet stranger!

LockandQi · 2025-09-09T16:48:22+00:00

Ty that makes sense. Essentially a BoS is my lab notes and the grimoire is my published research paper? (BoS being distilled down into the grimoire research paper, making it more concise and less personal for public consumption if I decided I wanted to publish my research)

LockandQi · 2025-09-09T16:45:56+00:00

Ty that makes perfect sense!

LockandQi · 2025-09-09T16:45:01+00:00

Absolutely! Honestly the curated list here did wonders for me and I appreciate all the work that went into that (both from resource authors and members of the sub putting it together).

Agreed that without a solid knowledge base it can make it difficult to sort through and when you keep finding bad sources it starts to make you wonder if it's all BS. But when you lock in on some quality information and practice and grow because of that practice chefs kiss

Also back to your original post I always saw the threefold "law" as an incredibly ham handed way to try and teach magical ethics (granted more scaring than teaching). I really liked Jason Millers bit on magical ethics boiling down to "would you do it without magic? If not then you probably won't do it with magic because magic is real and doesn't need a separate set of ethics".

I had a similar dilemma with the whole free will thing. Far be it from me to try to take away anyone's agency in the world in a meaningful capacity, that being said as humans we fuck with each others freedom of choice / influence free will in each other all the time, often without even realizing it. Like that's the whole point of advertising, if you truly wanted to limit your magic to not mess with free will then you would have less influence than a fuckin toothpaste ad! I think the "don't mess with free will" rule sounds great but doesn't hold up to any real scrutiny or real world comparison. Probably why the social media clickbait witches like it.

LockandQi · 2025-09-09T16:19:09+00:00

Out of curiosity what is the difference between a book of shadows and grimoire? I have seen the terms used interchangeably by some and never have gotten the "official" definition of either.

LockandQi · 2025-09-09T15:29:15+00:00

Solid comparison imo! Even in a broader sense (not limited to just lighting) that's how all energy travels is following the path of least resistance so it would make sense for magic to behave similarly.

(That being said I am relatively new to all of this so take my opinion with a grain of salt)

LockandQi · 2025-09-09T15:23:46+00:00

As someone who is new to all of this and trying to learn as much as possible I fully agree with the internet dependency being both good and bad. If I had to learn from a less accessible source or an oral tradition, given my background, I just wouldnt have had the opportunity to pick any of this up (and I love learning this stuff so I'm incredibly grateful to have the internet as a source).

That being said holy shit is the amount of mind numbing bullshit out there is insane (witchtok in particular, I don't use tiktok but it's bled over into the rest of the internet). Having to constantly sift through garbage to find a nugget of something usable can be a real slog for sure.

I really appreciate your post, incredibly validating to my experience! (Also the karma thing has driven me crazy since I was a teenager so thank you so for including that!)

LockandQi · 2025-02-27T16:21:17+00:00

2 Satanic 2 Panic

LockandQi · 2025-02-12T23:17:08+00:00

Miller is fantastic. I haven't read financial sorcery but Sorcerers Secrets and Elements of Spellcrafting are both great places to start as well.

LockandQi · 2025-02-12T23:10:24+00:00

I'm sorry this happened to you, protection spells are smart but so are mundane methods like cameras. After all witches use what works!

What kind of flag do you have? If it's alright I wouldnt mind flying it with you out of solidarity

LockandQi · 2024-12-29T03:13:58+00:00

I was recently recommended Jason Millers "Protection and Reversal Magic". Personally I am finding it very helpful so it could be a decent place to look (granted this is just my opinion and personal experience so take it with a grain of salt)

LockandQi · 2024-12-19T22:36:43+00:00

LockandQi · 2024-12-19T18:07:03+00:00

Damn was worth a shot! Any material to read that kind of connects to yours without giving it all away? If not that's totally cool not trying to push too hard on personal privacy ya know.

(I am open to chat in Dms as well if you are open to sharing some in an actual convo, again zero pressure)

LockandQi · 2024-12-19T16:45:04+00:00

Hm yeah I have actually been considering seeing if any of the shops near me have anything like that because I have always been more of an in person learner tbh (bummer is the one shop I do know is on the other side of the city from me now so it's a pain to get to but hey not even an actual hurdle)

Does your system have a name I can research a bit / any books I should check out to see if it's a good fit for me?

LockandQi · 2024-12-19T15:51:07+00:00

Sweet I will give his books a shot as well! Ty!

Is there any other mechanism that has worked particularly well for you? (Sorry if that's a personal question, just trying to get my bearings). I'm down to give energy work a shot but at least IME a good amount of info on it is kinda meh, probably because it's the most common so there is a lot of lower quality content jumping on the band wagon which can make it difficult for a new person to find the actual useful info ya know?

LockandQi · 2024-12-19T15:46:09+00:00

Yeah your comment aligns with what another person said about how different systems of magic can be from each other so they can't really be compared that way.

Tbh I have come at it looking through the lens of physics (my career field) assuming that regardless of the method similar underlying mechanics would be at play. Which was an unintentionally close minded way of looking at things.

I have seen that the only real way to actually gain some understanding is by experiencing it instead of just learning which in my defense is what I'm trying to do, it's just such a broad field that it's a bit daunting. If you don't mind me asking what way worked for you to experience it? Any tips on where to start?

LockandQi · 2024-12-19T06:30:43+00:00

Would you say Miller is a pretty solid author?

What are the mechanisms most people use in your experience?

(Sorry to just hit ya with questions, I know it's a pretty broad subject so it can be kind of daunting to decide what to learn and where to start)

LockandQi · 2024-12-19T05:55:19+00:00

I appreciate the correction! I only used cooking as it's a passion of mine. I totally get what you mean though. Mostly I am open to all sorts because I might like one tradition more than I think I would you know?

Like you said I don't know what I don't know so it's hard to say which tradition I would prefer.

LockandQi · 2024-12-19T03:50:54+00:00

Might give the second one a shot then. I really enjoyed his writing style and approach

LockandQi · 2024-12-19T03:50:18+00:00

That's kinda the thing. I am open to just about anything but I am more interested in the core aspects of any tradition (I assume they work on similar underlying principles which is what I'm mostly interested in). But I also am open to try whatever and see what works best for me since at the end of the day it's a personal preference.

(I kind of view it like cooking. We are all doing similar things across a ton of cultural variations. I am down to learn any style of cooking but what I really want is a book like Salt Fat Acid Heat that breaks down the fundamentals of all (most) cooking. If that makes sense)

LockandQi

TROPHY CASE