When Ma’at Becomes Isfet 2

The funny thing about life is how easily things can turn around. One day you’re totally doing the right thing, the next you realize you’ve made a horrible mistake, or what you’ve been doing backfires spectacularly. Maybe you were using a routine that worked perfectly, and now find it doesn’t fit you anymore. This certainly ties into my last post, and I’m starting to think I’m in that changeover phase. I’ve realized things are no longer working how they were before, and it’s time to change. Will that mean that I’ll permanently not consider myself a Kemetic anymore, even though I still strongly identify with the religion and its tenets? Possibly, or this could be a pressured sort of situation.

By that I mean, multiple things have come together to force the old out and cause change. I’m a little complacent, yes, quite lazy at times, just as much as I’m dealing with a broken brain and an uncooperative body. Last night I was pondering meditation and came upon why, even though I can meditate, I don’t like to. This train of thought was born of reading a post by someone else (another point I’m going to make later was inspired by reading a post this evening) about movement and dance. Ironically it was not, in fact, Devo, but a witch I follow on tumblr. It made me realize that I also have difficulty quieting my body, much moreso than quieting my mind. It’s not that I can’t sit still, it’s that I have physical problems that make it uncomfortable to sit or lie in certain positions for extended periods. Further, while I can quiet my mind if I try hard enough, I don’t actually want to.

It is almost physically painful for me to quiet my mind. I am a thinker and a dreamer. I have a very loud brain, and it loves to craft ideas. More importantly, it’s depressed and anxious, it’s also angry (that’s what happens when you are told repeatedly that your emotions are too intense, invalid, shouldn’t exist and then heap abuse on top of it). It’s quite painful to have my brain sit still for any extended length. Even when I’m going to sleep, it’s busy. It’s also boring, but that’s something else entirely. I never really considered it that deeply before, but there it is. Am I willing to do it? Yes, I’ve meditated successfully before with visualizations. Even then, however, we can see that I’m not sitting in the total silence, blank mind sort of meditation.

As I said in my last post, I don’t intend to drop Anpu. I don’t intend to completely abandon what I know and love. Perhaps I should do some divination (something I’ve been avoiding because I’m nervous. I can tell that I’d get better readings if I worked intuitively instead of with the cards’ ascribed meanings, but I know I have sock puppet syndrome sometimes, and yay anxiety for making everything hard). Perhaps I should just poke around or toss a flare into the netjeru’s space. Lost puppy to a good home. Bakes. Has cat. Stubborn, not terribly consistent, easily bored, skittish. It would certainly be something, but I don’t know yet.

Starting on a new path and maintaining it was ma’at. It is now becoming stale, burdensome and useless. Isfet. I must either change my path or abandon it entirely, I must maintain ma’at.

I already elaborated on the biggest pain in the ass part of my life. I’d like to touch on some other things here. First about this movement as meditation part. I don’t know if that’s a good alternative for me. For one thing, I don’t have a lot of space, and anyone who has ever done yoga with pets knows that they get in the way. My kitten, for example, loves to be underfoot for reasons we can’t comprehend. We’ve nearly hurt her more than once because she walked right up behind us and under a raised foot. Really though, lack of space is a big factor, along with self-consciousness. I was thinking for a while that I could sing, but that takes more effort than one might think, and I’d potentially be doing it for several songs. Even just the change over would be distracting. Then I was thinking meditating with my plants, which I will likely give a try at some point. I’m going to keep trying to come up with other ideas as well.

Then there’s still magic. I plan to work more extensively with my plants and hopefully find info on devas and individual spirits. Water is a harder one for me, I don’t live objectively close to any bodies of water and I know that physical proximity helps me a lot. I recently found some nice sigil resources and need to go through those. I’d also like to learn more about clairsentience (touchy-touchy me) and other touch-based magic, therapies and divination. I also need to play around with what I’ve got, since I can feel in my bones that I’d get better readings from my cards if I did it by intuition.

Shadow work. I know I need to do shadow work. I will be honest and say I’m afraid. I’m also stubborn, because in some ways, for some things, with certain people, I don’t want to let things go. Very common thought process, I’m sure. Perhaps this is also why my practice and relationship went sour. Anpu did mention shadow work quite frequently. Even Dapper has scolded me for avoiding it, not that he should talk. I have very intense emotions. For someone who wasn’t taught healthy ways to handle intense emotions, trying to confront them and the fact they’ve been pent up and compounded for years is terrifying. It’s also angering, because I shouldn’t have to do this. I shouldn’t have to do this and the people who hurt me should be sorry and should have been sorry sooner.

I see why Kali wants me. She certainly knows all about getting carried away by strong emotions. Anpu is a god of change, which I brought up a few posts ago. Perhaps these things will get sorted out once my house is whole and calm and aired out.

I mentioned that there was another post I had read. This was about cocoons and change. I wasn’t expecting it, but it was certainly timely. It described reasons why one might feel a witchy change, a witchy cocoon phase, would be happening and the “symptoms” you might feel as it happens. I certainly feel like I’m going through that right now. It’s difficult.

I still feel like I’d benefit from a louder, more active god and more structure. It’s hard to find structure that works when your mind is very fluid. It’s always moving and always wants to move. Crochet is probably the only thing that really matches both structure and fluidity, but at the same time it’s very stimulating and creative. I suppose I could try that, since I do like making simpler things with the knowledge I know as opposed to following complex patterns. It depends on my mood. It just seems both difficult and silly to really meditate or even try to astral while crocheting. There are moments of focus necessary, even with simple designs and stitches. Won’t hurt to try though right?

Any suggestions for me out there? For example, where can I get a decent, tiny cauldron? Like, just bowl sized or something. Also, someone remind me to get cheap red pots as well, and a red pen, and ingredients for baking and yummy foods. I intend to celebrate wep ronpet this year, because I honestly feel like I need to. New year, new path, new god, new me. I may also reach out to Aset, I hear this is a special week for her. I haven’t talked to her in a while, and perhaps she or one of the other goddesses can help me here. I admit freely to being too scared of Kali to work with Her, it has kept me out of shrine honestly. They say all goddesses are one goddess in Hinduism, and there is quite a bit of overlap. I imagine it won’t hurt to ask Kali to be a little less frightening, or gentle, to give me a nudge or something in the right direction. A few hints perhaps of where or how I should look for information. (HINT HINT KALI, HINT HINT ANPU, HUMANS ARE HARDHEADED)

I love this religion a lot. I love these gods a lot. I love this community a lot. I just need more help. Something to go on, some direction, something that even my stubbornly fluid, lazy brain can happily latch on to and do. Or at least relentless pursuit and nagging until I get shit done (jk, that doesn’t work that well). I’m tired of long ass Fallow Times. I’m definitely tired of being unable to contact Dapper. I am tired of this cluttered apartment in this cluttered city where my windows view concrete and asphalt. Where are my plants, I need leafy hugs.

I do wonder what I’ll accomplish if I start working with my plants. Finding information on working with plant devas and individual plant spirits is a pain. Most green and plant magic is all about herbs and oils and whatnot. While I don’t mind that, I don’t have the luxury of doing that type of spellcraft, because I don’t have space for the plants and I don’t really cook with fresh herbs. My typical seasoning is mixed, so kitchen witchery is kind of weird. I can’t afford to just buy things willy nilly either. It’s so hard to really figure out what I want and what I need. I really just don’t know what I need and can’t articulate it.

Until then I’ll play around and just focus on planning for wep ronpet. Mayhaps I’ll finally join the KO beginner’s class. I don’t like their application honestly. I can understand it, and understand the reasoning for the questions on it. I just don’t like being asked those questions. They’re difficult to answer (which I suppose is the point), but they’re also often used to judge me and make things unnecessarily difficult. Sort of like “why do you want to work here” at job interviews. I’m lost and need help, y’all have pre-established structure and stuff. It may be time to break out Eternal Egypt again. Been a while since I read that. I’m ok with that though. Now if only I was any good at song-writing or music making and then I could sing.

I’m also wondering if I could make it a habit to pray or otherwise give offerings at sundown or something. Sundown is a little inconvenient, if only because it often happens around dinner time, which would be good for offerings I suppose. There’s always dawn and sunrise, but I’m not a morning person, and further I’ll be starting school soon. Sunset may be better. We’ll see, I may give it a try. 21 days to build a habit right?

Now it’s getting early, 5:33 am. I’m gonna play with my plants and cards for a bit, because why not? I am a horizon child, this is my time.

Pondering

So, I was having some thoughts about sound and song with my magic. It occurs to me that I suck at using sound on the astral. I’m not that kind of learner, that’s a type of focus and processing I need help with (which probably means I’d be better off with a data entry or non-phone customer service job, but that’s neither here nor there) so it’s not a viable option for the limited astral control I have. I figure that working on waking astral travel is the better bet, which hopefully will enable me to figure out my strengths, especially as a healer and for fighting.

As far as the strengths go, it seems likely that I’m some sort of line walker. That is, I can squish, split, crack and merge planes. I seem to be really good at working in two planes at once, with the possibility of being a soul diver like Devo. I was talking with Cloudi about that and, after suggesting I could probably merge soul pieces with the right training, I got the thought that Anubis works like that. He’s a soul fixer, mending ibs and bodies, using proxies (like scarab amulets and false parts) to create a complete body. He heals by binding and merging, he kills by rending and cracking. As a liminal deity he walks between worlds, able to operate on two or more planes at once because he is between them, because he has brought them together. If he was so inclined he could teach me more about all of these things.

Back to the physical world and my magic though. I’m still puzzling out the best way to handle things. Whatever has me jiggling and wiggling seriously impedes my magic. I had trouble before anyway, since everybody only ever seems to use earth energy and it just doesn’t agree with me. However, I feel like sigil work may be useful. It moves my body out of the equation by making something else (in this case a grid, matrix, circuit, or diagram) the main energy conduit. I’m also still looking into water magic but it’s slow going. The other day though, I was singing and decided to specifically focus on helping Dapper feel better and have some energy as well as strengthening the wards.

The results were noticeable. The focus itself helped a ton and I honestly wasn’t expecting to raise so much energy so fast. While we are talking rock music, a naturally powerful and high energy genre, and my favorite group, and the wards are programmed to absorb energy from music, the effects were so palpable that I was having a hard time singing! The wards also held the energy in so it got more concentrated, but it didn’t affect my body all that much and I was still able to direct it, though I will admit it was fairly wild.

This could potentially be a good avenue to pursue and explore, after all I adore singing and my control is present Here. It makes me ponder what I could do with different genres. I always sing rock and the band I love is a source of comfort, so as expected I was able to use the energy generated to soothe despite its fierceness, however I might be able to achieve greater effects with gentler songs and genres. At the very least it will be personally useful even if I don’t pursue it for wide-range magical purposes. What would happen if I raised energy in a circle and used it with sigils or a traditional spell? The wards can absorb any excess, the song energy isn’t inclined to do more than fall away once I stop singing. It could be useful.

Thoughts. Many thoughts.

Password Protect Your Perils

This is hardly the first time this will be mentioned, nor will it be the last. I’m hardheaded and stubborn, so naturally I didn’t really take the advice seriously to use passwords in my practice. I didn’t think I would need one. Little me doing spirit work or flouncing around on the astral? No chance.

Oh naïve me, you’re a dumbass.

I’ve seen a bunch of great posts on passwords in a practice, but something bothered me. There didn’t seem to be anything reminding people that they don’t have to be actual words.

Maybe I’m just blind and forgetful. What I mean is, it can be several words, it can be a phrase, it can be a sound, sight, smell, touch. A memory. It can be an idea or subject, it can be a specific use of magic or illusion, or manifesting a particular thing in a particular way. A literal secret handshake even.

All these thoughts came to me while trying to make up my own password. I don’t know what other beings see when they look at me, so I had to be cautious not to pick anything too obvious or that could be easily guessed just by looking at my energy or companions. I worship a Jackal and I bangs with wolves Over There (for those of you unfamiliar with AAVE, “bangs with” means friends with, chills with, greatly enjoys, has great affection for, hangs out with, etc). At this point I’m practically part of a pack. However, because of how brains work I now could only think of pretty straightforward stuff, like wolves or jackals, and I even tossed out anything that had to do with kids or healing. Can’t do water or scorpions, snakes or anything like that either.

Since I didn’t want it to be too difficult or too much effort, I left it off for a moment and one of my songs started playing on my phone and I had my answer. I have several favorite songs, but I don’t sing in the astral (would be interesting though). My “password” is to sing a favorite song. Since I sing those songs IRL for fun, as offerings, to power my wards, to entertain, and to soothe myself, Z and Dapper, it seems like a good deal. They know at least three each, so there isn’t a reason they can’t sing one. Since there’s more than one, if I’m still suspicious I can just ask for another.

All in all, don’t be a stubborn dummy like me. Passwords don’t have to be actual words, and they can be helpful even in the event of shenanigans on this plane. Use your imagination, play on your strengths as well, keep your practice safe.

Magic Considerations

So, I’ve been thinking extensively about magic recently. I’ve always been interested in magic and witchcraft, but so far I haven’t really found a system that works for me. Some of it is laziness. I don’t want to remember all these words, or gather all these materials, and perform all this ritual (don’t get me wrong, I love ritual, but I’m not inclined to do it for spellwork). It’s also expensive (and yes, I know there are plenty of inexpensive substitutes for things, but it still costs me money and pulls from household resources that have to be replaced). All the pomp and prettiness is actually fairly distracting, and it often puts me off wanting to do it at all. Questions of effectiveness pop up as well. Further, I have a cat and boyfriend to worry about, and nothing is more distracting than other creatures wondering what you’re doing and is it possible for you to make a snack. (I kid, Z is actually really good about that stuff, especially if I warn him beforehand. Though, he has been known to be mega distracting if he’s very bored and/or hungry.) So, doing more “traditional” spellwork is difficult, because getting the stuff and doing the ritual is tricky. Not to mention, keeping all of that stuff out of the way where my stupid kitten can’t hurt herself on it or injure it. I had to move my feather representing ma’at because she played with it when I wasn’t in the room.

This complicated relationship with more traditional, physical magic has made me consider how to make my own shit up. I was pretty successful with the last couple batches of heka, but I still feel like doing more. I’m still working on heka usage and how to make it work even better, especially because I do still need some physical component. I know, I’m difficult. The other thing is I’m still not really sure what will actually be useful to me. For example, the popular visualization of connecting with roots to the earth and drawing up earth energy, as well as popular grounding techniques, don’t work for me. Earth energy leaves me feeling wired and sick and I can’t get rid of it, no matter what I do to ground. I simply have to wait for it to dissipate, which can take a couple of days. This is also my problem with heka, I somehow manage to draw up too much energy and then can’t get rid of it all. Maybe that’s more about the common heka practice of identifying oneself with a god and commanding from their authority, but it’s still an issue. Another issue is that, since my hospitalization last year, my body has a lower tolerance for anything woo or magical. Most magical systems don’t/can’t take this into account, and often don’t have suggestions for those who find themselves incompatible with the energy used or getting sick from trying to use it.

And now I realize that I’m complaining about ableism in magic and paganism. Hmm. So, I’ve been trying to think of ways to overcome these obstacles and figure out magic that will work for me. I’m very much a physical and intuitive touch person. Especially in the astral, I will know you more by your energy and other incorporeal sensation than by your face or voice. I have excellent visualization skills, but even that ties into my sense of touch (feeling my visualizations gives more clarity). I also know that this quirk does mean I need something physical to help focus and such, but I don’t know what to use yet. Also still puzzling that out, but it does make crochet magic fairly viable. There’s limitations even to that though, because not all crochet projects can be done in one sitting, and it’s tough to maintain focus for extended lengths, especially if you’re using words. On top, distraction also plays a role here, because cats and yarn, and because humans need/want stuff and crochet can be put down mid-stitch. This can all serve to derail crochet magic in progress, especially if it’s a larger or more complex project.

I was thinking of doing more research into elemental magic (it works well for me, but earth magic isn’t compatible with me), especially because plants are very helpful beings and I have plants. However, finding info is hard and it often still requires more physical objects and ingredients than I might like. I also want to learn more about healing, on this plane and in the astral. Recently though, someone brought up some different ideas. False doors (a common thing in ancient egypt) and mirrors. Now, I don’t know much about mirror magic but it’s an interesting thought. I do know a little about false doors. Mirrors so far seem to be excellent for traveling and trancing, protection (mentioned specifically for warding a false door) as are knives. I don’t know how to safely do anything much with knives, it was just a thought that came in handy during an astral trip and I stabbed the shit out of a vampire. Obviously knives are also excellent for protection.

The other thing is I was thinking of poppets more. I mentioned a little while ago, probably on my tumblr, that I really liked someone’s suggestion of using stuffed animals as guardians and familiars. I’ve been thinking about this for quite a while, mainly about what I’d want the animal to be and what I’d want them to do. I also recently thought of using poppets and sympathetic magic more. Something I definitely need to learn more about, but it’s a start.

The problem, as I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, is finding something I can do with low energy and difficulty concentrating. The fact that my body does not react favorably to magic (or at least what I’ve been trying) and astral traveling or such while awake is a major roadblock. I can’t get through as much of a book or focus on research in one sitting as I used to. Having the eternal struggle of rpg, video games and fiction coming up in search results makes it even harder to effectively utilize when I do have energy and focus. The fact that the vast majority of magic information resources don’t consider those who are chronically ill, fatigued or otherwise lacking in mental or physical stability and ability, if they don’t outright tell us to go away until we get better. Yeah, yeah, I’m not mentally stable, my low energy and asthma and pain and whatever causes this twitching and shaking makes me mildly disabled, but I’m not going to not do magic. It’s seriously ableist and a major dick move to tell sick people they can’t do cool, interesting, and fun things simply because they aren’t healthy. To tell someone who is chronically ill and will probably never 100% recover, if they ever started in “optimal” health to begin with, that they aren’t allowed to do something and will be refused knowledge, is an asshole thing to do. Give us warnings, teach us how to be safe and utilize our limits, don’t just shun us. Unfortunately, even in magic and paganism, neurodivergence, chronic illness and disability is still shunned and ignored. Hence my problem.

So, what say any of you? Any ideas for me to try? Books or other resources to recommend?

Knotsense

A while ago I discussed the idea of crochet magic as a form of knot magic. To be a woman of my word and because it’s a craft that’s easy for me, that I already have plenty of supplies for, I actually did some crochet magic.

Now, because I’m Kemetic I used heka to enchant a pair of gloves I was making for Zolfyer. Since we’re moving and a lot of complex things are going on with our finances, I focused on blessings, prosperity, strength and creativity (because he’s an artist). It worked wonderfully, since I was basically mumbling and focusing over the gloves the entire process of making them, they exude energy and magic just picking them up. I am very pleased with the success of binding magic to the crochet. I have to admit I’m a little concerned that I charged the hook too though. I’m not always going to be enchanting things after all.

The crochet hooks are useful conduits, and I don’t particularly have to direct energy through my fingers since you hold your project, your hook and your yarn with both of your entire hands. I can’t say whether some materials are better than others as far as hooks go. I only have metal and plastic hooks (and bamboo, but those are a pain in the ass to crochet with because they provide friction. Excellent for beginners or with slippery yarns, not so much for more experienced crafters like me and less silky yarns. Gods help you if you’re using acrylic or cotton). If someone else uses other materials, like different woods, glass or something, let me know if you notice a difference yeah? Also, if someone both crochets and knits, I’m curious if the different crafts have different ease of use with enchanting.

Here’s an annotated version of the heka I used. It can be modified to directly bless hands, and if you throw arm related words in, it can be used to bless arms and arm-related things. Just the same, this heka can be used for anything worn on the hands. This is not exactly what was said, since I’m writing this down after the fact.

You are blessed. Your hands are full of blessings. Prosperity pours down on you. Your blessings are so great as to overflow. They pile into your hands until they are full, and fall at your feet to bless your home. They bless the very ground you stand on, and even your feet. Your whole life is full of blessings. Prosperity comes to you. It surrounds you and fills you up. You never lack for anything.

Your hands are powerful and full of strength. Your hands are that of Atum. They are the hands of Ra. Your hands are those of Ptah. You create your world with your hands. They are mighty and powerful. You are Khnum, who crafts his desires and breathes life into them.

You are Wepwawet, who scouts ahead. You find the best path to your goals. With your hands you open the way, you destroy the obstacles before you. You crush your enemies with your mighty hands. Obstacles fall before you, powerless to stop you. You find the best way, with your hands you open the gates to your desires. You are the Mighty God. You are He with a Strong Face.

You are Anubis, who protects. You are He Who is One with Ma’at, your hands are full of ma’at. You protect those you love, with your hands those you cherish are protected. You bless everything you touch, your loved ones are blessed by you. You exude ma’at from your fingers, prosperity leaks from your fingertips. Your hands are Anubis’, you bring calamity upon your enemies. You destroy those that stand against you. You bring calamity on the enemies of your loved ones. You are the strongest god. You are Lord of Heaven and Earth, Lord of Light.

You create the prosperity you seek. With your hands you create your blessings. Like Khnum creates with his hands, so you create what you seek. You make new what is broken, you replace what is lost. Like Anubis your mighty power binds what is broken.

You are Ra, who drives the sun boat. You brighten the world and drive away isfet. Your power is the mightiest. You are Set, the powerful god. You drive away isfet with your powerful hands. With your hands you slay the Demon Snake. You drive away the Snake of Isfet with your power. Isfet falls to your feet, powerless. The Snake is crushed between your fingers. Your enemies cannot stand against you. Obstacles fall away with no power. You are He Who Protects the Barque, and isfet flees before you. In your presence, isfet cannot stand.

You are Djehuty, the wisest god. With your hands you make powerful plans. Your plans are wise, they are full of ma’at. You make ma’at with your hands, you make your plans succeed with your power. Your wise plans succeed. Your mind is full of creativity. Inspiration comes easily, it overflows. As Djehuty your hands perfectly execute your plans. Your creativity is expressed beautifully with your hands. Your hands make true your inspiration. Your wisdom is shaped into reality. You succeed in bringing your thoughts to the world, you express your thoughts as you see them with your hands.

Your ideas are blessed. You bring your loved ones into your prosperity. Your blessings overflow from your hands and bless others. You create your blessings, prosperity is poured into your fingers. Only ma’at falls into your hands, your hands only spread ma’at. Isfet is not here, you receive no isfet, you give no isfet. It is defeated, it cannot stand against you.

 

(At this point I was almost done the glove. I then enchanted it with a way to maintain and strengthen the spell).

This spell will not fail. It cannot be broken, even if the threads unwind. It is strengthened when you are happy. When you are blessed it grows stronger. When you are prosperous it is renewed. When you succeed it is refreshed. This glove cannot be lost. If it is lost, its twin will find it, it will find its twin when it is lost. They cannot be separated. When its twin is refreshed, it is refreshed; when it is refreshed, so is its twin. When it grows stronger, its twin is strengthened; it is strengthened when its twin grows stronger. It renews its twin when it is renewed, when its twin is renewed, so is it. They cannot be lost, they will always find you. If you lose them, they will find you, if they are lost, you will find them. They bless the one who finds them, they bless the one who returns them to you.

After this, make sure the gloves know their twin, and make sure they know who their owner is, otherwise there’s no point to most of the last enchantment. I suggest having whoever you’re giving them to verbally claim them and wear them soon after they’re made and given to the receiver. Unless you’re making them for yourself, in which case claim them and wear them. Happy enchanting!

Unconventional Magic

So, recently I’ve been ruminating on magic. Aset made it clear that She is feeling ignored and I know that although both my gods are very magical, she is particularly and exquisitely good at it. So, I took an “other people are doing it” approach and figured I could honor Her by getting into magic. I already dedicate “wifely” duties like cleaning house and cooking and baking (I happen to like being traditionally “wife-like” since I was raised in a traditional gender role family, so don’t get hung up on that, it brings me pleasure to care for others in such a way) but I can understand why She isn’t feeling enough attention. Anpu gets more direct praise and contact since He’s my main deity, and He’s trying to get some plans moving for me. Maybe She’s jealous, I dunno, but I think She deserves something more direct.

Anyway, I had been thinking about magic because of some things going in my life. I’ve done magic successfully a couple times, though one particular spell was successful in a way I wasn’t expecting. It did exactly what I wanted it to, I just didn’t realize it would accomplish it in the fashion it did. A couple days ago while I was napping I called up Dapper and asked his opinion. He suggested doing what others had suggested (giving Aset specific offerings just for Her, spending more prayer and shrine time with just Her) and he also suggested doing magic with Her. My first response was I didn’t have what I wanted and he very promptly told me I was making my own life difficult. It doesn’t need to be that deep, or complicated, he told me. It’s supposed to be simple. Well, I don’t always like people poking me and telling me the truth that I’m just being a difficult brat (I am a really spoiled whelp actually) so I rather sarcastically asked him to show me what he meant.

I remember something about hands. Like I see my hands and his hands and energy, and he showed me how to hold and manipulate it. He further described what the energy was and how to use it. I also remember him laughing, probably because I was complaining about how he was supposed to be teaching me, not letting me sleep.

Anyway, after I woke up I had in mind knot magic. I don’t know why knot magic, that’s just what I was thinking about when I woke up. I also was thinking of crocheting due to a joke on one of my friend’s Facebook pages (the irony of listening to music generally not considered relaxing while doing something relaxing). It occurred to me that knitting and crochet use the same materials, well gee, why not crochet magic? I honestly don’t know how it would work, it would be similar to and related to knot magic, but such crafty magic as knitting and crochet and needlepoint would definitely be different. After all, you don’t undo your projects after like you would undo knots. Of the resources I’ve seen on knot magic, they categorize it as magic to store or extend spells and spellcasting. While knitting and crochet would likely be excellent for storing magic and perhaps for warding, it wouldn’t be good for releasing spells because that would require unraveling the work. And like hell is any crafter going to want to do that! However, perhaps for a slow release spell, continuous spells, protection spells, healing spells, warding, attraction and repelling spells, it could very well work.

Knitting and crochet is versatile and stable, sturdy and flexible, you could wrap a lot of magic into it in theory and it would last a long time. You could use it to store magic to draw from on days you’re tired, or recharge spells from it. As an added bonus, you could give them away. If you’re making a protection spell for a baby or a healing spell for someone who is ill, you could bind it into a baby blanket or scarf and it’ll last a long time and provide continuous help to them. When that toddler feels scared, they’re comforted as much by the familiarity of their blanket as the symbolic and magical protection it provides. As the sick person stays warm with your scarf the magic helps too, and it will help keep away future illness. In addition if someone is learning magic, well you could give them something full of magic so they can learn what it feels like and could draw on it as they learn to manipulate energy and raise their own. A magical doily or altar cloth could be a fabulous gift, with magic to encourage the success of their spiritual and magical endeavors, or protect them and their sacred space. It could be made with a look-away spell or something if that person is in the broom closet and needs their space not to look really suspicious or simply avoid being examined or messed with. A really adventurous person could even work sigils into their crochet and knitting. Such sigil crafting would be really easy with needlepoint.

Since most people want warding and protection spells to be at least semipermanent, you could design projects with that purpose. Although sewing and needlepoint would likely be easiest for this task, one could crochet rugs for warding entryways, doilies for windows and tables, blankets as mentioned, scarves and hats, and anything that could be worn or used as a decoration. Harmony spells could go in your tablecloth, purification spells in washcloths, dream and relaxation spells in pillows and stuffed toys (and yes everything I have thus far mentioned you can make with knitting and crochet). If you want it to be strong, stable and long lasting you could theoretically put it into a crafting project.

A friend mentioned to me that he never saw anyone being “edgy” with magic, in the sense that there don’t seem to be a lot of artists taking artistic license and being creative and inventive with magic, trying to make new magical systems and new uses. Well, I certainly hope we can take knot and crafting magic to a new level and start inventing!