🌙 Unconventional Ideas To Include In A Book Of Shadows ✒

Tarot Through a Jewish Lens (Part I)

Is Tarot Jewish?

No. Tarot was not a Jewish creation and nor does it come from Kabbalah. When Waite made his famous RWS deck, he was a Christian occultist/magician and part of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and also formed his own Fellowship of the Rosy Cross. He was a Catholic involved in ‘western esotericism’ and fell under the learnings of Eliphas Levi. Eliphas Levi was not a Jewish man. He was a French gentile occultist who changed his name from Alphonse Louis Constant to Éliphas Lévi Zahed – why? He wanted his magical works to sound more authentically exotic (aka, Jewish) because he appropriated from Jewish mysticism and skewed it for his own wants. He believed that Kabbalah was the “linking factor between the Old Testament and the New Testament”, and that is rooted in Christian supersessionism, a violent ideology that has resulted in many murders of the Jewish people. Another example is the french occultist, Court de Gébelin, who claimed that the Major Arcana were numbered to correspond to the 22 letters in both the Egyptian and Hebrew alphabets. It didn’t seem to trouble him that at the time different versions of the deck that was in circulation sometimes had more than and sometimes less than 22 Major Arcana cards. Or that ancient Egyptians didn’t use an alphabet. 

So no. Tarot was created as a playing card game, sprung up in Italy, Germany, and France. It was not intended for 'occult’ use until much later. And still, in no way shape or form, was it ever Jewish in origin. In the Torah, besides certain kinds of divination/tools, divination is forbidden and Tarot is considered avodah zarah (idolatry) because it is a non-Jewish practice.

Now I’m sure you’re asking: Well you read tarot, why are you telling me this? Aren’t you incriminating yourself? I’m telling you because I want to stress and push back against cultural appropriation and Christian supersessionism that is rooted in these beliefs, and I want to make it clear that the relationship between a Jew, halacha, and G!d is on them - but to not fool oneself claiming a non-Jewish practice is actually Jewish. That, I think, is more ludicrous than just using tarot.

Alright, now onto the fun parts and what you are here for.

My Jewish Theology with Tarot

Keep reading

good questions to ask tarot

in my opinion you can ask the tarot anything, but here are some ideas for those who don’t know where to start

Love/Relationships:

- What kind of partner would be best for me?

- How will I know when I’ve found the right person?

- Is my heart ready for a relationship?

- Is the person I’m interested in right for me?

- Is there anything I need to know about the person I’m interested in/dating?

- Are there any red flags in my relationships that I’m oblivious to?

- Is the person I love deceiving me in some way?

- What purpose does this relationship serve in my life? 

- How can I build more emotional intimacy between me and my partner?

- How can I attract love into my life?

- What’s the biggest obstacle in my relationships?

- What stops me from getting emotionally vulnerable with my loved ones?

- How can I be more sensitive to my loved ones needs?

Career/Life Path

- How can I become more open to understanding my life’s purpose?

- What would be the result of pursuing the career I have in mind?

- What should I do to figure out which career path is meant for me?

- What obstacles do I need to overcome in order to achieve my goals? 

- Are the goals I’m working toward right for me?

- What can I do right now to better align me with my life’s purpose?

- How can I unlock my hidden talents?

- What skills do I possess that I can utilize to get closer to my goals? 

- What’s the best strategy to advance in my career path?

Feeling Stuck/Depressed/Anxious

- What is the root of my emotional turmoil?

- Why am I still carrying this emotional baggage?

- How can I let go of emotional burdens stopping me from being my best self?

- What is the reason that I feel stuck and directionless right now?

- Where can I find my next new adventure?

- Why does _________ bother me so much?

- What can I focus on to clear my mind of what’s weighing me down?

- What action do I need to take to be more emotionally balanced?

- How can I find what makes me happy?

Relationship Troubles or Break-ups

- What is the root of the problems in my relationship?

- When did these problems start to cause conflict?

- Should I try to stay and work things out or should I just move on?

- Is my relationship causing more harm than good?

- I know this relationship is bad for me but I don’t know how to leave. What should I do?

- What purpose did this relationship and its ending serve in my life?

- What was I able to learn from this experience? 

- How can I ease my mind and let go of my grief?

- Why did this break-up have to happen? 

Spirituality

- How can I become more aligned with my spirituality?

- What purpose does spirituality serve in my life?

- What does my higher power look/feel like?

- What does the universe want me to know right now? 

- How can I open myself up to receive messages from the universe and/or my higher power? 

- How can I gain more awareness of my subconscious mind?

- What’s blocking my intuition?

- How can I become more in tune with the universe’s vibrations?

- How can I find my spiritual purpose in my life?

- What action can I take to strengthen my spirituality?

You!

- What’s something unique about who I am?

- How can I gain more awareness of my identity?

- What best describes my personality?

- What is a trait that others can see in me that I’m oblivious to?

- What kind of hidden talents do I possess?

- How can I unlock my true passion?

- How can I be more confident in my self-expression?

- What’s a good way to learn to express my true emotions? 

- Where do you see me in the future?

- What do I still carry with me from the past?

I n t r o d u c i n g

          Witches Against White Supremacy

As the current political climate worsens and the #BLM protests continue, I wanted to become more politically active and help support protestors as best I can from where I live. In an effort to do this, I started the sideblog, Witches Against White Supremacy.

The premise of this sideblog is to help aid the bail out funds across the United States and help anti-racism and anti-fascist efforts.

How does this work?

Easy: donate a minimum of $5.00 USD to any of the fundraisers listed in our Navigation, submit a photo (blurring out any sensitive information minus your name OR receipt number) to our blog confirming the amount donated, and you’ll receive a divination reading by one of our moderators. Once you’ve submitted this, send us an ask stating that you donated, the amount you donated, along with your blog URL so we can verify your donation. Once you’ve done so, one of our moderators will claim your reading and we will queue the reading. Readings will be published 4 times a day. If you have any questions, feel free to send us an ask but PLEASE do not submit Anonymous questions for the donation verification.

Can I state a preference for a reader?

You can! If you’d like to state a preference for the deck used as well, check out our Moderators page for a list of decks each moderator will be using.

If you have any questions about this project, please send an ask either to my personal blog (pastellewitchcraft), OR to witches-against-white-supremacy. If you’d like to volunteer your time for this, please send an ask to my personal blog and we can coordinate!

Can I commission one of the mods to do a divination reading?

Short answer, yes. Long answer, no-yes? It’s up to the moderator to accept a commission or not and their prices can be regulated on their own terms. If you want to commission a mod, send the blog an ask and they’ll reply to you when they have the chance!

Moderator Position Regulations:

1. Must have a tumblr blog 2. Must have a Discord (for coordination purposes, I’ll be hosting a Discord server to coordinate reading claims) 3. Must be above the age of 21. 4. Must be Intermediate to Advanced experience with divination and witchcraft.

Note: Readings conducted are for entertainment purposes only! We will not conduct readings about legal matters, health, or third party members.

“She was extraordinary - a genuine witch. She had powers. Unusual powers. Extra powers. She kind of knew things before they happened. She loved a full moon.”

_Kenneth Anger describing Marjorie Cameron

witches don't gatekeep knowledge or little aids, so I hope this cheat sheet is as helpful for you as it is to me.

🕯 Jewish Entities 🕯

Many folks know that Judaism is a closed practice, but don't always know how to spot appropriation. Here is a list of Jewish entities that aren't shared with Christianity, meaning they are closed to non-Jews.* This list isn't fully-comprehensive, but I've marked some of the more popular ones. (For Jewitches, this could also be treated as a list for Jewish spirit workers who want to reclaim some of these entities as part of our own path!)

*Note: Some of these entities ARE shared with Islam (another initiatory tradition,) so they would still be open for our Muslim friends to work with but still restricted to the general public. Those entities are marked with an asterisk*.

Angels

Erelim

Hashmallim

Ishim/Eshim*

Lailah

Metatron*

Se'irim

Demons

Agrat bat Mahlat

Alukah

Lilith

Mazzikin

Naamah

Samael

Tanin'iver

Creatures & Monsters

Broxa

Chalkydri

Dybbuks

Estries

Golems

Re'em (Unicorns are okay, just don't call them Re'em!)

Ziz

Wordpress still won’t reconnect to here for some reason!

Therefore I’m sharing with you all here a much ancticipated and requests blog post!

How to Write Your Own Spells

Every time I open my asks on Instagram I probably get 8 messages about this topic.

So… here you have it. The topic is written!

I hope you enjoy!

Little witchy books written by me and only available on floralsgifts.com 🙊✨

*Not a pendulum question* but how do you figure out what deity you’re connected to?

I personally like to flip through a big book of deities, and I land on a random name and choose that way. I made a bunch of cards with names of deities on them, and I will pull random ones from that as well. It is kind of like tarot where you need to focus and really choose carefully so your result makes more sense. Also, sometimes deities from around the world are called different names but are the same, like how Venus and Aphrodite are virtually the same aside from cultural differences changing the story a bit. That is controversial and not all believe in that, but it applies to hundreds of other deities and anthropologists who have studied ancient world religion think that a lot of the deities are the same with different names. That is really magickal if you think about it that way though, because it means that their divine nature impacted the entire world. Other people just had different names for them. I hope this helps!

witch shit

Improving your Intuition

There is a common misconception that only certain people are intuitive, that it is purely a metaphysical skill. A quote that really changed my perception of intuition was discussed by an author who gave a discussion on the different  books on intuition and witchcraft she had written, “Intuition is a muscle”. But this would mean that everyone has this muscle! Many people feel barred from even trying to do magic, pick up a tarot deck or rune set, communicate with a passed relative, or even consult with their deity or god because they believe they are not intuitive. Coming from someone who is naturally gullible / somewhat naive, I want to talk a bit about what intuition is and how anyone can become more intuitive.

What is intuition?

The best way I can define intuition concisely is the ability to understand or know information immediately, without any conscious reasoning or evidence. The ability to know something without being told or being shown proof. This may sound completely foreign or impossible, so let me provide some context. Have you ever heard the phrase “The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife”? Have you ever gotten a “bad vibe” from someone and avoided them? That is your intuition at work!  Even interpreting emotional context based on someone’s vocal tone, pitch, body language, are forms of intuitive understanding. 

It may seem strange to think social nuances we have been trained to observe and interpret since the day we were born could involve intuition, but think about it. Is there any physical evidence or conscious reasoning to explain tension that is literally palpable? Is there physical proof that when someone speaks in a certain tone or pitch, or moves in a certain way, that they are angry? No, these are just things we have trained ourselves to understand. A form of intuition. But of course, this may not translate over to tarot, or spirit and deity communication as easily as one would like.

How does intuition work?

When discussing how intuition works exactly, we have to discuss what exactly someone who is intuitive actually senses. I look at intuition as a form of energy work. Lets briefly discuss the “Thick Tension” example. Tension from a conversation is not a physical concept in that it is not a literal brick that has weight when held in someone’s hand. But the conversation still disrupted the surrounding area, due to the energy that conversation created. Think about how different emotions feel like different things. Many describe anger as sharp, jabbing, thick. Sadness is often equated with water, such as when someone is “pouring their heart out”.  Although emotions are not bricks, the energy they have creates a physical disturbance. intuition includes being able to interpret those energies even though they can’t be given physical evidence of existing.

There are a variety of different ways to sense energy, many of which include employing clair senses. Clair senses refer to the ability to have intuitive understanding through our senses, the discussion of which could take up many more posts, but I will link resources at the end of this post. Some of the kinds you may be familiar with include clairvoyance, clairaudience, claircognizance, and clairempathy (also known as being and “empath”).  

So how can I improve my intuition?

Well, it depends on what you want to be able to do! But I will link and discuss a multitude of different exercises and things you can do to improve your intuition.

Be aware of physical sensations when speaking with others or entering situations. Do you feel at ease with someone even though you don’t know them? Or do you have a sinking feeling in your stomach that you are trying to ignore? Listen to your gut! More often than not, you will find your “hunch” being right, especially as you practice.

Practice divination! I am not just saying this because I love divination, I’m saying this because I primarily improved my claircognizance through using divination. I used to not really have hunches, but now I have extremely accurate ones after 3 years of practicing tarot reading and other forms of divination. 

Keep a dream journal and try to start interpreting your dreams. As nonsensical as they may seem, if you research symbolism, you may begin to see patterns in your dreams that reflect the main  problems or situations in your life. I know I have! And I rarely remember my dreams.

Practice identifying objects without looking at them. This is a fun sensory game for most, but with time and more difficult items, you may be able to sense the energy of the item itself, see an image of it in your minds eye, hear a sound it makes, etc. If you want to amp this up, close your eyes and walk through a room while trying not to bump into anything! This is great for practicing sensing the aura’s of objects, and the more you can sense, the more you can try to interpret.

The next two exercises I am taking from Ellen Dougan’s book “The Natural Psychic”.

The first is practicing using your senses, and requires you to journal for four days.

Day 1: Seeing day

You should focus on your environment as if you are seeing it for the first time. When you enter a new room or landmark, you scan teh area to get a lay of the land, right? Take time to notice colors, shapes, people and items that catch your attention. How do these make you feel? Write down what you notice.

Day 2: Hearing day

No background music today! We drown out a lot of the sounds in our environment to focus on individual tasks. Today, spend time listening to your environment, what do you hear? It would be great to go to a nature location during this day. Take note of what you hear and how it makes you feel.

Day 3:  Touching day

At this point, you should be getting the drill. When you touch items today, really spend time touching them. Feel the fabric of your clothing as you get dressed, your keyboard and mouse when you type, feel your own pulse, pet your animals. How do you feel when touching different items, and how does touch impact others, such as your pets?

Day 4: Sensing day

Today we focus on our emotions, and how our environment makes us feel. Take note of how certain environments, certain people, make you feel. You can do this with plants as well! Take note of what you sense.

The second is the ace of spades exercise, and requires a deck of cards.

Take the ace of hearts, the ace of diamonds, and the ace of spades out of the deck. Place all three face down on a flat surface and then mix them up before lining them up in a row. Go over each card one at a time and try to figure out which one is the ace of spades. Turn it over to see if you’re right! For a trial run, do this no more than 10 times in one sitting, and note how many times you were correct. This is a great way to identify what clair senses you may be employing. Answer these questions about the times you were correct,

Did you “just know” it was that card, a feeling in your gut?

Did you know it was the card when you touched it?

Did your inner voice tell you which one it was?

Did you feel an emotional response?

Did you see the card in your mind’s eye?

Other Resources: http://www.okinhealth.com/articles/10-clairsenses-intuition-emily-matweow

https://consciouslifenews.com/8-simple-way-to-boost-your-clairvoyant-abilities85450/1185450/#

“The Natural Psychic” by Ellen Dougan

https://powerpriestess.tumblr.com/post/176034234934/clairvoyance-101

https://ghosthuntingrebelwitch.tumblr.com/post/169571479633/developing-your-super-senses-in-particular

https://messageinthecrystal.tumblr.com/post/178155680555/empath-info

http://rosymystic.tumblr.com/post/177522966777/smalls-ways-to-develop-intuition

Many thanks to dislocated-cannibal here on tumblr, who is my mentor for energy work, as well as other things, who discussed the concept of emotions creating a n energy we an feel with me at length. Please check them out! http://dislocated-cannibal.tumblr.com/