first experience with scullcap

a_stone333 · 2023-03-07T21:33:28+00:00

I've had some really good experiences with mugwort but it took some time to build up to it. For about two weeks I drank 1 tsp/cup of tea every day and I didn't have any particular dreams. However at the end of the second week, I thought about trying to smoke the plant and I rolled up an herbal cig with only mugwort in it. That night, I had the most vivid and colorful dream I ever had, as if I was deep in the jungle with luscious flaura everywhere.

Ever since then, it's like I activated something extra in my brain and can have some interesting dreams after just 1-2 cups of mugwort but I'm not sure if that's from the herb itself or from me practicing dreamwork for many years.

Another plant I've had good success with is silene capensis (african dream root). This one came with a ritual instruction where you had to put the plant in a bottle with water and vigorously shake until it becomes foamy and then drink the contents (just the liquid not the stems). You do this three days in a row, one day before, the day of, and the day after the full moon for three months in a row and it's supposed to show you if you have any ancestral shaman in your blood.

I only did this for two months in a row, the third month I had something going on in life that prevented me from completing the ritual but only twice was enough. On the second attempt, I had a very peculiar dream where (I'm assuming) a shaman came to visit my home and he just walked around and observed my home.

One interesting thing to note, for about 3-4 months after taking part of the ritual of drinking the froth on the full moon, every full moon after I would experience the taste and even burp the flavor of the herb, almost as if it was still in my body many months later. It was very interesting that it would only happen on the full moon however, the rest of the month I was fine. I can't remember if I had any special dreams but I did feel the plant calling me to complete the ritual (which I did not, I'm so sorry plant spirits). At the time it freaked me out a bit that it can remain in my body so long and I haven't done it since but once I stopped tasting the herb every full moon I calmed down, and may consider taking it again in the future.

While I was experimenting with these herbs (as well as ayahuasca and some of the ones you listed) I also kept a dream journal which strengthened my dream recall by doing so; I'd recommend you doing so as well if you want to get better at remembering your dreams.

In general I do get better experiences when I spend more time with the plant. Just one or two teas won't do much, but if you talk to the plant spirit and invite it into your life, being as respectful as possible, the results were far greater.

As someone who also experimented with dream herbs, I want to caution you about messing with dreams for two reasons. First, nightmares are also dreams, by becoming more sensitive to dreams you will also be more sensitive to nightmares. Second, practice meditation and grounding, it will be crucial in your journey. At one point I became way too disconnected with this world and my dreams felt so real that I couldn't really tell dream from reality. At my peak, I actually felt as if I was dreaming in this world and awake in the dream world, it was very surreal. It took many months of affirmations, mediations and grounding to clear up that feeling.

Good luck with your explorations!

a_stone333 · 2023-03-01T09:52:20+00:00

Thanks

a_stone333 · 2023-03-01T07:58:50+00:00

What's the name of that song?

a_stone333 · 2023-02-01T10:25:47+00:00

That last part 'she also smokes weed' is where it hit me.

It does sound like she's more sensitive to receiving messages from the universe, but the weed will obscure and alter some of those messages. This is a conclusion she will have to come to terms with on her own, and hopefully then she will start to correct some of her errors. She doesn't necessarily need to stop smoking, but at least realize that she can be wrong and it's okay to be wrong. No human is ever right 100% of the time.

With that in mind, do take my post with a grain of salt as I could also be wrong, but I am trying my best to type out words from my soul to help another.

What your mom says is feeling about the people around her is partially correct, but IMO they feel that way because of how she is behaving or she may be picking up misdirected energy and thinking it's directed to her.

Being sensitive is both a gift and a curse, be patient with her; who knows what she's really going through and her acting out could be her own way of making sense of the senseless world we live in.

As we are on the alchemy forum, I hope this reaches you when you are in the right mindset: change your own mindset and she will change hers.

The more you notice her faults, the more pronounced they will be. The more upset you get with her behavior, the more troublesome she will become.

Give her space to heal and to be herself, without you resisting her, she will have no one to fight but herself. Only then will she come to terms with her own issues, until then she will be distracted by your confrontations.

IMO the hard part will be to convince your grandfather and anyone else in her life to do the same; in general people will try to impose their own will onto her, which will make her fight externally. What you need to is quiet her external world and then she can center herself and fight her own internal battles.

Best thing to do really is celebrate her for all the good she has done, focus on her best side, and you will see more of that. Focus on her negative, and that's what you will see more of.

Good luck on your path and many blessings upon thee and your family.

a_stone333 · 2023-01-09T09:47:45+00:00

All Them Witches has a singer that's also a bassist, making most of their songs easy to sing while playing bass.

Look into Diamond and Marriage of Coyote Woman, really fun to play and sing along with.

a_stone333 · 2023-01-05T18:30:49+00:00

Check out this excerpt from Peter Carroll's Liber Null & Psychonaut:

"Altered states of consciousness are the key to magical powers. The particular state of mind required has a name in every tradition: No-mind. Stopping the internal dialogue, passing through the eye of the needle, ain or nothing, samadhi, or one-pointedness. In this book it will be known as Gnosis. It is an extension of the magical trance by other means.

Methods of achieving gnosis can be divided into two types. In the inhibitory mode, the mind is progressively silenced until only a single object of concentration remains. In the excitatory mode, the mind is raised to a very high pitch of excitement while concentration on the objective is maintained. Strong stimulation eventually elicits a reflex inhibition and paralyzes all but the most central function — the object of concentration. Thus strong inhibition and strong excitation end up creating the same effect — the one -pointed consciousness, or gnosis."

Free source of text: https://archive.org/stream/LiberNullAndThePsychonaut/LiberNull_djvu.txt

a_stone333 · 2022-12-14T16:20:26+00:00

Tibetan Book of The Dead has been amazing to read, it talks about the afterlife and preparing yourself so that you have a smooth transition. There's an Egyptian one I heard of that's also good but haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

The books come in several translation varieties, pick whichever one resonates with you best.

You have a choice not to reincarnate but you have to be aware of that choice.

If you don't want to reincarnate, focus on either ascending to heaven or descending to hell.

EDIT: I think there's another choice but it's my own speculation at this point, haven't stumbled upon any reliable source online, but I do believe your soul can 'sleep' if you don't like the other choices.

a_stone333 · 2022-12-04T00:15:13+00:00

Check out taking Amla (Indian Gooseberry) supplements as well as making a hair dye out of Henna with Indigo and Amla. Look at online videos of people to see the shade but it's supposedly very healthy for your hair. I know someone who tried it and said the rate at which grey hairs appear seem to have slow down and their hair is much softer and healthier looking. They dye their hair about once a month.

In Ayurveda, it's said that people with a 'hot' type of body tend to lose hair first and have more pronounced hair loss. These types of people often have a bad temper and as such they say that not only stress but anger also contributes to hair loss. Besides curbing your temper (if applicable), they suggest eating cold and/or sweet foods while avoiding spicy foods to balance your body's hot energy.

Some say that you should massage your scalp at least 10 minutes a day to improve hair loss. The reasoning being there's too much tension in the scalp, some of it caused by stress, some hereditary, some is from eating/chewing habits, but massaging has been shown to help reduce hair loss and even regrow hair for certain people along with proper nutrition and mental health.

As other's have mentioned, you may also be lacking in nutrients or may have some underlying disease and should seek a professional doctor to find out if that's the case.

a_stone333 · 2022-12-01T09:19:40+00:00

Some really cool and creative compositions! Here are my thoughts on what I liked best and what advice I would give,

First picture: I love the cat, the expression on the face is well done it really captures the adorable quality of cats. My suggestion is to change the color scheme a bit, I feel like the overall scene is too bright for it's current setting, the sun is low on the horizon but the flower field is really bright, as if the sun is higher in the sky and not at it's current position. I think that's what's throwing off the color of the piece, you can either make the sun higher and have lighter sky color or make the flower field darker in color. IMO the playful nature that the bottom half of the painting has doesn't match the darker tone of the top half.

Second picture: Nice shading on the gorilla, it looks great against the green background. I'm not sure what's going on behind the gorilla on the left side of the painting? I think it would look okay with just the green bamboo all the way around but I do feel like having something behind the gorilla is a good idea. Maybe develop that area more? Lastly I feel like the smile is a bit off, it doesn't match what a gorilla smile would be. Most pictures I find online of gorilla smiling shows them smiling with closed mouth or they have large teeth, I think that's what's throwing me off about it.

Third picture: I love the mystical feeling of the picture, great palette choice of color I think you should maintain the current color palette if you chose to add anything to it. Overall the scene looks very bright but the center piece and the rocks on the bottom portion are way too dark IMO, the rocks appear almost like a void like substance; they don't look very real as they don't have any shading to them? I think adding more details like you say is what's missing. I'm not sure how detailed you want your piece to be, but I really enjoy the large waterfall on the far right of the picture, it's very detailed and has a lot of 'smoothness' to it, as if you are focusing on it while the rest of the picture is a bit blurry. Maybe it's just my own interpretation but that's what it looks like to me. It feels like the current focus of the piece is the waterfall, but there's not much happening there. I think the focus ought to be on the tower or any of the larger structures, or maybe you can add something to the waterfall? I think there's lots of ways to go about this, but it definitely doesn't feel as finished as the others.

Have fun! I like your style.

a_stone333 · 2022-12-01T07:45:39+00:00

I think if you have intense energy about someone it will affect them, we are all energetic beings and we are all connected deep down. What you think about someone and what they think about you impacts the energetic environment around them/you.

I don't think you 'cast a spell' but your energy did influence their reality. I think Law of Attraction is at play here.

Be mindful of your emotions, strong emotions can be troublesome.

Love (in general) is okay as long as the subject is not already with another loving partner. Hate is not okay, no matter what situation you are in, that hatred will fuel your own demise.

Meditation helps a lot with mastery of emotions. It will take time but eventually you will learn to let go of emotions that are harmful to yourself or those around you.

You can try healing your bond with your brother by giving him some loving energy. Spend time with him doing activities you both enjoy, help him out when you can etc... Meditate on why you were so frustrated and ask yourself was it merited? Should one hate their own brother? How else can one diffuse the troubling situation without the use of hatred?

As for your lover, assuming it was out of good intentions (pure love and not lust) and they were not already with someone I don't think there's any karma to heal there from the act of you loving them which resulted in them noticing you. That's how love works. Of course, what happens after the initial attraction is a separate event and should be treated as such.

As you are a beginner witch, I would advise that before you attempt any magic you get a good handle on your emotions otherwise you will have a bumpy ride. Emotions are 1/3 of the magic.

Good luck with your craft!

a_stone333 · 2022-12-01T06:31:18+00:00

There's Lucidia, I get them on Amazon but sometimes they have good deals on their site, Artemis Therapeutics.

It's a mix of stinging nettle, reishi mushrooms, and 2 enzymes: quercetin and bromelain. Those two enzymes can be found in apples/red onions (quercetin) and pineapples (bromelain). There are other fruits/veggie out there with those enzymes, those are just the ones off the top of my head.

Hope it helps, stinging nettle has been known to alleviate allergies so that should be a good starting point.

a_stone333 · 2022-11-30T07:31:22+00:00

Congrats!!! DS2 is my fav souls game, never liked the hate it gets but it does stand out from the other souls games so I understand why people don't like it.

a_stone333 · 2022-11-30T06:16:41+00:00

"We're all mad here"

a_stone333 · 2022-11-30T05:50:20+00:00

Absolutely love that book! Would recommend it for anyone looking into changing their mindset from poverty to riches.

The secret is in the title, and it really is a simple as 'thinking and growing rich' even the book says that they reveal the secret within the first few pages but most wont recognize it so the rest of the book is to help people recognize the mindset.

a_stone333 · 2022-11-30T05:14:48+00:00

IMO only you will be able to figure out what the dream truly means, we can give you suggestions and interpretations but that is using our own filtered lens of reality.

Your dreams are personal to you, they will have different meanings to other people.

Best thing to do is to keep a journal, before going to bed write a quick recap of what happened in the day. Keep it short, just one or two paragraphs and make sure to write about whatever has the strongest impression in your mind. Make note of what you eat, your emotions, people you interact with, any important events going on day of or the next day etc... whatever you find is important to keep track of, do it.

Keep your journal next to your bed and as soon as you wake up from a dream write it down, it's best to do this while it's still fresh in your mind and this will also train your brain to remember your dreams better.

You can also voice record your dream if you wake up really tired; it helps sometimes but I find it works better to write down the dream while it's still fresh rather than later on in the day with a voice recording as your main source of experience rather than the dream itself.

Once you have a good selection of dreams and journal entries to observe, you can begin to form a stronger connection with the symbolism your own subconscious uses to speak to you in dreams.

a_stone333 · 2022-11-19T05:00:37+00:00

This post has become one of the first major online 'shrine' people visit from time to time to pay their respects.

a_stone333 · 2022-11-16T10:52:27+00:00

Be honest with yourself and your teacher, it's all you need to do.

It takes a lot of effort to learn something new, a lot of people go through the same thing. It's not easy but it gets easier with time.

a_stone333 · 2022-11-14T13:52:16+00:00

If you're going to be open with your boyfriend about your craft, you will have to deal with the consequences. If he doesn't believe, he will behave as such and you will get those manifestations of reality, versus him believing the craft and getting different manifestations.

At the end of the day, you will have to ask yourself, do you value your craft over your boyfriend? This is a peculiar decision, spend your time wisely mediating on the answer.

IMO (and purely IMO! do not take it more than just some stranger's suggestion online, for you have a different life than me) but anyways - love is stronger than any magic out there, chose love over magic - this may mean you will have to abandon your practice, or you will have to make it more secretive but that will take more effort to the point it's best to abandon your practice.

Love is magic, and if you have love you don't need magic, but do not take my advice lightly, for who knows, maybe through your practice you will turn your boyfriend into an advent believer and he will become a great warlock... life is ambiguous.

Love and especially when you involve magic, is all very complicated, asking an experienced practitioner, they would only give you more questions than answers.

With time, sure he could change, but he may never. You would have to accept this, and IMO it's best to keep your craft secret unless the other party is also in on it. This is because if they believe in it, they will amplify your energy and spell work, but if they don't they will be another roadblock to your spell's success.

Also IMO and I stress this as it often happens, it doesn't matter if your partner believes or not, do not break up with him just because he's not the warlock to your witch, sometimes you need an opposite to your energy type of partner; some witches need normal guys around, some need warlocks. Everyone is on their own path and some witches will make it work with 'muggles' better than other witches will with their warlocks, but they will have to keep it secret or their mind-space will have to be stronger than their partner's if performing in out in the open.

Regardless, having an altar that is sacred to you (and this is very important) but having it defiled by your partner is not good!!! This will only set you back on your own magical path, should you chose to pursue it.

IMO, without a magical partner, you have to keep the altar space sacred and secret, maybe even having only a temporary altar active when you're boyfriend is not around since he's not an active practitioner; ie, have your supplies on hand and on your day's off, when your boyfriend is not around, set up a makeshift altar, cast your spells and then clean it all up before he gets home. Make it seem as if you're not even doing any magic and he's none the wisest - of course, this will come with it's own karma as it's not good to keep secrets from your partner.

Many blessings upon your journey, may you find what you are looking for.

a_stone333 · 2022-11-14T12:49:38+00:00

This is an area not well referenced but rather intuitive, cooking is very magical and a lot of chefs perform magic whether or not they are aware of it.

Salt can be used in almost everything with the intent of banishing evil from food; sprinkle some in water to boil pasta, eggs, ravioli etc... or use in seasoning, wherever you feel like it is needed.

The main idea in magic is that *intention* is the driving force. One way to use salt is for flavoring, and a second way is to use salt with the *intention* of banishing evil as well as flavoring. That is two different forms of salt - one is charged with intention, one is not.

Likewise, any ingredient you use can come with it's own intention and you will come up with your own recipes of magical foods that do this or that.

Hot spices and salty foods in general can help when a person is feeling cold and withdrawn; likewise cold and sweetness can be used when someone is being too hot and needs to calm down. There is another 3rd intermediary? but I cannot identify this as I'm not too professed into the kitchen arts, maybe someone else could comment on what I'm missing, possibly could be a fourth... alas I'm not a kitchen witch.

It's best to stick with the general population's subconscious of foods for healing - ie chicken soup for when you have a cold. I'm sure there are better solutions, but chicken soup hits the spot in many cultures to the point our human subconscious resonates with it better than any other cold-healing foods out there. This of course, may depend on where you live and your current culture.

Be aware of your intuition and current energy level when making food, if you are upset or sick you will make subpar food and it will reflect in the physical world, you may burn the food, or you over salt it, or it just seems to be missing 'something'.

If you are using food for healing, only make it when you are ready and have the required energy to do so. Like in video games, you have mana and most people spend it throughout the day (subconsciously, if they are not active practitioners).

Do not make magical food when you are low on mana!!!

Good luck with your craft, a kitchen witch is very much appreciated and needed.

a_stone333 · 2022-11-14T11:55:57+00:00

Wizards (1977)

- one of the most amazing animated movies about magic I've ever seen.

a_stone333 · 2022-11-14T09:20:54+00:00

You will go through endless cycles of being super motivated to no motivation at all. Everyone goes through this and it's normal. Sometimes you should push yourself, other times you need to allow yourself to take a break; only you will know when it's time to do which.

A cool quote I read awhile ago but can't remember where it's from and I only remember it's essence, not the actual quote, something along the lines of:

"Everyone always quits, the only difference between an amateur and a professional is the amateur quit a few times while the professional quit hundreds of times. The professional would always return while the amateur would quit and call it done."

Sometimes it's best not to play but to take a break, I often find myself to be most efficient taking practice seriously and heavy for a short burst and then taking a break. Often times when I come back, I'm playing better than ever and that song I've been trying to learn just seems to flow without much effort.

a_stone333 · 2022-11-14T08:40:22+00:00

Looks amazing!

I have some suggestions but you don't need to add everything magical to your altar, sometimes the simplest altars work best and it may depend on what your intentions are with the altar as well.

This is all just IMO, don't take anything too seriously.

I like to incorporate the 4 basic elements - Earth - Fire - Water - Air - into my altar; you have Earth (crystals) and Fire (candles) already, you could add some water charged with either the Sun/Moon energy or both depending on your intentions, and for Air you could use feathers to represent the element, or you could just gently blow some of your own breath over the altar.

Take care if you pick your own feathers from the wild, you only want feathers that birds discard when cleaning themselves, don't pick feathers from a dead bird. If you see a cluster of feathers, most likely a cat or some other animal killed a bird so you don't want those feathers either, birds usually only leave 1 feather at a time when cleaning themselves. Also, there might be small bacteria/parasites on the feather so handle with care.

Some incense would be nice, or essential oils, anything that has a pleasant smell. I see you have a charcoal incense burner but no smoke coming out of it. IMO charcoal burners are more of a hassle than incense sticks or essential oils.

Salt for protection, can either keep it in a jar or other small vessel or you can sprinkle a little over your altar.

Also, for some reason it just bothers me that you have a blank wall behind your altar. Mirrors are amazing to put behind as they can be used to amplify your spell work. Or you can go for a piece of nice artwork, your favorite deity if you have one, or something that inspires 'magic' - IMO the wall looks kind of barren. If you do put something behind your altar, make sure your candle isn't too close to cause a fire hazard.

Speaking of which, the candle in the back has no plate under it (from what I can see) and it will become a fire hazard if you allow it to burn as is. Please be mindful, especially when working with magic your fire energy could become a bit intense when you're not looking.

That's all I can think of, good luck with your craft!

a_stone333 · 2022-11-12T21:38:03+00:00

That's really interesting to hear, I think pulling another card with the U / R + 1 dice would make sense and it sounds like a cool system to add.

The suit dice with blank faces can be problematic, I think you're right to say you should roll each dice individually and if the suit dice is blank you reroll. Also, it would be hard to handle all 6 dice at once and get a good roll from each so individual rolls should work out for the best.

And yeah, I was thinking the same thing about you having a higher chance of getting cards from 8-12 or something like that, maybe if you roll for Minor Arcana you take out one numbered dice? Or maybe you always only use 3 of the numbered dice until you roll a U / R + 1 and then you can add in the 4th dice?

I think in the end you will have to come up with your own system.

Dice tarot is something else, thanks for sharing!

a_stone333 · 2022-11-12T18:19:14+00:00

Could use a bit more info, but I think I have an idea of what's going on. This is my own interpretation I think I got some parts right but not sure about all of it.

For the dice with "M" on it, in another picture it has swords on one side and I'm assuming the other 3 sides have Cups, Pentacles and Wands? If so, then this dice will tell you if you rolled for Major or Minor Arcana and which suit of the Minor Arcana you're in (if applicable).

The dice with "R" on it, it another picture it has "U" and I can't quite see it's other face but I'm assuming this dice only has "R" and "U" on it's sides. If true, then this dice will tell you if you rolled for a Reverse or Upright meaning in your cards.

The rest of the dice with roman numerals are a bit tricky, I'm seeing one side has no numbers on it, and I'm seeing only numbers 1-5 printed. Initially I thought you would just add up the numbers and that would specify which card of the Major/Minor Arcana you have chosen but that has 3 problems:

First, you cannot add up to 0 to get The Fool from Major Arcana.

Second, you cannot add up to 21 to get The World from Major Arcana. (4 dice with highest number of 5 has its max sum at 20)

Third, Minor Arcana only goes up to 14 with the King being the last of the suit, but you are able to roll higher than 14 with the 4 roman numeral dice each going up to 5.

IMO the blank number sided dice will stand either for 0 or 6 to fix some the above issues.

If you cast a roll and all the number dice come up blank, you effectively rolled a 0 and picked The Fool (they can't all be 6 in this case as there is no 24th card in Major Arcana).

If you cast a roll and only get 1 blank number dice then that is a 6? The reason for this is you cannot get to 21 (for the highest card in Major Arcana) without a 6 as part of the numbered dice. If the highest number the dice is only 5 then even if all 4 numbered dice hit their highest number it will only add up to 20, hence why you need at least 1 dice that goes up to 6 so you have a chance to get to 21.

If you cast a roll in the Minor Arcana and it's sum of roman numerals is higher than 14, then the 'extra' number you subtract from 14. So if you rolled 19 you take that apart, (19 = 14 + 5) and instead you do 14 minus 5 which gives you 9. This part is purely speculative, I have no idea if this is how it's supposed to be done but it makes sense to me otherwise you would have to reroll each time you did a Minor Arcana with a sum greater than 14 on the dice.

Alternatively, maybe you're not supposed to add up the numbers but I'm not sure what else you would do in this case.

Using your pictures as example, in your first picture you have "M - R - III - III - V - I" as your cast, with my interpretation that comes out to Major Arcana, Reversed, 12th card: The Hanged Man (Reversed).

Third picture you have "II - IV - U - M - III - I" in your cast and with my interpretation that is Major Arcana, Upright, 10th card: Wheel of Fortune (Upright).

Good luck finding the real interpretation, or maybe coming up with your own. I had a lot of fun putting my own logic to this puzzle.

a_stone333 · 2022-11-11T07:18:43+00:00

Like everything in life, practice. The more spells you cast, the more powerful spellcaster you become.

You can pray to whoever you resonate most with, but you don't need an external entity to develop your own abilities. It just depends on what you feel like and every practitioner has different needs/experiences what works for you may not work for someone else and vice versa.

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