Every witch had their own way of doing readings. Me? I never‘picked’a card. I never even sat down with any intention of doing a specific spread. I simply shuffled until the deck spits out however many cards it felt I needed to see, and I would do my reading based on that.
Today, only one card showed itself to me, and a chill of apprehension rolled through me as I stared at the celestial design on the back of the card that had landed face down next to my stew.
“Pick it up, dear,” Astrid urged as she absently rubbed her swollen belly.
For some reason, a potent mix of excitement and dread rolled through me as I reached out with shaking fingers to pick up the card.
I flipped it over, and a ripple of anxiety shot through me as I stared down at the tower card.
I took in the violent bolt of lightning that struck the dark, ominous tower, disrupting the golden crown and sending its inhabitants tumbling to their deaths.
“Well, fuck.” I sighed to the deck, which seemed to be laughing at me quietly. All decks had their own personalities, and my grandmother’s deck was a little mischievous. However, it was always brutally honest and never shied away from telling readers the cold, hard truth.
My mother’s deck was a little more subtle and was often a bit gentler with readers, giving them the truth while spinning a more positive story.
Not grandma’s deck.
Nope.
Straight for the fucking throat.
“Shit.” I sighed, knowing in my heart of hearts that this was not good.
The tower card wasn’t alwaysbad, but it was a harbinger of great and difficult change. It didn’t show up in a reading when you needed a new haircut or were about to go through menopause.
It showed up when someone was gonna fucking die or your life as you knew it was about to be tossed into the meat grinder.
The positive spin—if there was one—was that after times of great strife and loss, your life was usually open and ready to accept new growth. However, it didn’t change the fact that pulling this card meant you wereabout to fucking gothrough itbefore you could get to the grassy green pastures on the other side.
The deck laughed at me again, and I scowled at it, flipping it off, before shoving the cards back to my grandma, who had a sympathetic smile on her face.
Astrid sat back in her chair, her lips a hard line.
“Well, I think it’s safe to say it might be a good idea to stay far away from the beings that introduced themselves to you today. Cat included.”
Fenrir snorted in agreement, and Sköll let out a low growl.
I rolled my eyes, staring at my half-finished stew.
Suddenly, I wasn’t feeling super hungry anymore.
After dinner, I took my book of shadows and made my way out onto our front porch to record the day’s events.
Keeping a book of shadows was a sacred practice most witches kept. It was similar to keeping a diary, just a little more magical.
Many human traditions actually stemmed from witchcraft. Things you would never think of, like blowing out candles on a birthday cake and making a wish, were derived from ancient pagan customs.
Charging a burning candle with an intention is actually a foundational piece of spellwork. The difference is a true witch would neverblowa candle out. You risk blowing the intention away if you do so. We usually used snuffers or wet fingers to keep the intention sealed in the wax. Some witches didn’t believe you should put the candle out at all but let it burn all the way down to complete the spell.
My book of shadows was where I recorded the events of my life, but it was also where I kept track of my own practice.
It was full of things like what each color represented for me in my own personal practice, little homemade spells and charms, and helped me keep track of the moon’s phases.
We were currently moving into a new moon, which meant it was a great time to set new intentions and work with magic that pushed things away. As the moon waned, the magic behind any spells I cast during this time would make the things I wished to banish wane as well.
All my crystals were freshly charged from the full moon the night before, so I was ready to work out what types of things I wanted to remove from my life over the coming weeks.
As I sat down, I had a feeling that this month would be full of protection magic, and I planned to work on strengthening my metaphysical barriers to protect myself from any negative energy these new threats might bring my way.
