spiritual practices

The LBRP — my experiences

/ Yvonne Aburrow / 5 Comments

Between 2004 and 2006, I experimented with the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP). I’ve often compared it to having one’s psyche scraped out with a rusty teaspoon—in other words, effective but somewhat abrupt.

This was well before any online discussion about whether using Kabbalah practices is cultural appropriation. I’ve already written extensively about cultural appropriation so I have only addressed one aspect of it in this post.

Thanks to Sorita d’Este for the writing prompt.

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Occultea 5: Conclusions

/ Yvonne Aburrow / Leave a comment

Joanna Wiedźma (polish.folk.witch on Instagram) has shared some prompts to get people thinking about online witchcraft community. To participate, use the hashtag #occultea and tag her on Instagram or Threads.

5. Conclusions

• What are some topics of conversation I’d like to see more of in our community?

• What are my community needs?

• Where would I like to be held and supported?

• Where do I feel like I’m not truly being seen by my community?

• How can we help each other in removing the external peer pressure and grow in community?

• How can we, as a community, come together more with constructive criticism without it seeming shady/passive aggressive?

• How can we, as a community, do better when we do receive criticism/feedback?

• Who are some community members that I look up to that are reliable resources and aspirations?

• Add any further thoughts/comments/prompt questions of your own/express further points/offer solutions.

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Occultea 3: Imposter Syndrome and FOMO

/ Yvonne Aburrow / Leave a comment

Joanna Wiedźma (polish.folk.witch on Instagram) has shared some prompts to get people thinking about online witchcraft community.

Topic 3: Imposter Syndrome and FOMO

• When I follow other creators in the community space, does it make me feel genuinely inspired and empowered or does it create feelings of FOMO and being less than?

• If I experience FOMO, has it ever left me feeling vulnerable to be taken advantage of financially, or otherwise?

• An example would be: the “need” to purchase the latest popular product or book to “fit in”?

• When practising my craft, do I find myself comparing what I do to what I’ve been seeing people do online?

• In what ways do I combat imposter syndrome?

• What would my practice look like without the social media influence of other creators?

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Occultea 1: impact on community

/ Yvonne Aburrow / 3 Comments

Joanna Wiedźma (polish.folk.witch on Instagram) has shared some prompts to get people thinking about online witchcraft community. To participate, use the hashtag #occultea and tag her on Instagram or Threads.

Topic 1: Impact on Community

• What is my personal reasoning/inspiration behind sharing my practice online?

• What am I looking to achieve by participating? Do I seek to educate, learn or connect?

• How do I believe social media, as a whole, has impacted the community?

• How do I think social platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube have each impacted education/sharing information?

• Is consuming witchcraft content becoming a substitute for practice?

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Despair and the inner life

/ Yvonne Aburrow

How do we continue with the inner work when everything is scary and bleak?

One book that really helped me with this question is Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit.

And I also think that it is necessary for activists to practice self care (in the Audre Lorde sense of self care, which is more of a communal and radical self care, not the commercialized version).

Sometimes, when things are overwhelmingly bleak, spirituality can seem like self-indulgence (especially when it doesn’t acknowledge the suffering of others).

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Coven leaders support groups

/ Yvonne Aburrow / 1 Comment

Other religious traditions have formal support groups for leaders in their traditions. In Wicca, we tend to have informal support networks.

Given the potential for stress and burnout, and the occasional need to discuss issues that arise in a safe and supportive space, I think it would be a great idea to organize slightly more scheduled and formal support groups.

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Be like trees

/ Yvonne Aburrow / 2 Comments

In the early 1990s when I was first starting out on my witchy path, I was taught that, whilst the Age of Aquarius (or whatever you want to call the post-capitalism world) is at hand, the old order won’t just disappear: it will fight tooth and nail to retain its grip on power. We are seeing that now: the genocides happening everywhere, the right introducing anti-trans laws, the overturning of Roe v Wade, the arrest and persecution of climate change activists.

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