haven, ey/em, disabled and queer and having a pretty good time, all things considered
hi! my name is haven. i’m genderqueer and i use plural ey/em pronouns (like they them without the th).
i am disabled (i have hEDS and some other undiagnosed stuff we haven’t figured out yet). i like writing, and making art, and recently- getting back into witchcraft!
i’ll be putting some things on this blog for archiving purposes as well as sharing my personal spells and sigils and stuff, specifically stuff that’s catered to disabled people who need accommodations in their witchcraft. asks and submissions are open for anyone to share their own disabled/broke witchy ideas!
common tags here are #haven chants (for when i say stuff), #disabled witch, #broke witch, and #spoonie spells (specifically spells intended to help disabled people).
also, this is a side blog, so i’ll follow and like from my main, @hghrules.
Set an alarm so you remember. Pick a specific time you’re going to worship, because “later” never comes and “sometime this evening” rarely does either. Instead, set an alarm so that you already have that time set aside in your mind, and so that you don’t mentally blow past it when that time arrives.
Keep everything in one place. Keep the offerings near where you would offer them, as well as anything you might need to do it, like matches or lighters. Make it so there’s as little travel time as possible between you and what you want to do.
Think through the ritual setup beforehand. Sometimes the offering part is easy but getting to that point is overwhelming, especially if your tradition involves ritual purification or invocation rituals. Boil it down to the bare essentials and capture the essence in a way that doesn’t have so many steps, if you can. (Ex: Is that personal purification rite just an ancient way of washing away germs, and if so can we just mindfully wash our hands and fulfull the rite’s function?)
Start with something little. Getting started can be the hardest part. If you don’t have the energy for an entire offering ritual, break it into pieces. Just do the setup and approach the rest later if you need. Or just put on a playlist to get into the mood for now. Or take a couple deep breaths to refocus your brain. Ease into it as slowly as you need.
Think ahead with your offerings. Will you have the spoons to clean up after? If you’re like me and run the risk of not removing an offering for days (or weeks…) then think ahead to what can stay there a long time, just in case. Nobody likes cleaning up the altar and finding mold in the offering dish. Incense, water, and dried plants tend to work well, as do nonphysical things like music and poetry.
“While I’m at it…” If you catch yourself in a spot with good momentum, try to get a rite done while you have the energy instead of putting it off. It can be something simple, but use the energy and the drive while you’re on top of it since we can’t always guarantee it will be there in even an hour.
Keep things similar so that you don’t have to rethink every step, every time. A rock solid routine with what a ritual looks like helps it become a lot more automatic, and therefore a lot easier to actually do. Routine becomes habit.
Remember that something is better than nothing. Anything that helps you touch base with your Divine and keep them close is a good thing, and most people don’t give an offering every single day. Don’t waste time beating yourself up for not performing at the level you wish you could. Instead, celebrate the love it takes to do something at all for them through your Executive Dysfunction; you’re already pushing yourself and striving to do your best for them, and that’s incredible. Hang onto that.
A collection of tips and suggestions from and for magic practitioners who have POTS!
*To be used in addition to proper medical care, medication and mundane efforts, not as a sole alternative.*
Salt + electrolytes:
As you take salt pills, say a spell or blessing.
Incorporate salt into general health, wellness, and energy spells.
Draw sigils on your salt shakers.
“I drink a lot of electrolytes, and Pedialyte to help with orthostatic issues, and I will cast over my drink much the same as I do for tea, coffee, water, etc. So any spellwork for drinks could easily apply to one's electrolytes or water.” (x)
Tips and tricks:
Ask for specific strength to your blood vessels and brain.
Draw sigils on your medication bottles and mobility devices.
Carry around a resilience sigil or a sigil to keep your heart rate and blood pressure at a more average level.
Do little enchantments on your compression stockings and put them on a windowsill to charge with solar energy.
“Keeping all of my ingredients in easy to reach spots has also been a big help, specifically places that are low to the ground and don't require me to do much standing or walking around.” (x)
“When using counter maneuvers for POTS, visualize yourself being grounded & connected to the earth.” (x)
“I find time in nature also tends to ground me better, which can help if stress is a trigger for POTS.” (x)
“Pray to Apollon and Artemis for help at the start and end of the day. Again, this doesn't replace medical treatment, but it can certainly offer a lot of comfort, especially in the middle of a flare-up. For me, stress is a major trigger of my POTS, and I find that praying to my deities makes me calm down much faster, thereby allowing the flare-up to be a bit shorter.” (x)
Correspondences:
“Keeping a lot of bloodstone and rose quartz around has been helpful to me.” (x)
“As far as wandwork correspondences go, I like to use my mangrove wand for POTS-related work, bc of its unique adaptations to a salty environment. (Mangrove has a lot of health correspondences for me, but POTS and menstruation related issues are the two biggest.) Aspen, bloodwood, ebony, lignum vitae, redheart, and willow also have various health-related meanings for me, so I sometimes use those too.” (x)
In case y'all haven't noticed, I love apples. Apple juice, applesauce, apple crisp, apple pie, apple crumble, apple cider... it's absolutely one of my favorite fruits (second only to strawberries). But other than being delicious and nutritious - it's also superstitious.
Okay, that was a bad word to use, but I really wanted a rhyme.
Let's get down to the basics. Apples represent a whole ton of good, wholesome things. As seen in my Apple Cider Homesteading Spell post, we know that apples represent love, luck, prosperity, and healing. But what they can also represent is garden magic (which is exactly what it sounds like), fertility, and in some cases, lust/sexual tension. Apples are often offered to gods and goddesses of fertility.
But how do I use apples, Ander? Well for one, you can make me a pie. And for two, that's a great question. Let's make a quick list of ways I enjoy using apples in my witchcraft.
Kitchen Magic. As you all know, I am most aligned with being a Green, Kitchen, or Herbal witch. Cooking is a love language and so is infusing my food with magic to help those I love. Make an apple pie for your partner, made apple cider with your best friend, bake apple dumplings for your sister. Food can be infused with your intentions just like any other tool.
Offerings. For a house blessing, cut an apple in half. Eat half of it, and place the other half outside your front door. This will invite in a good future for your home!
HangingBlessings. If you have a dehydrator, thinly slice an apple into slices and let them get crispy. You can add whatever you like! Orange slices, cloves, nutmeg.... you get the idea. Once they're all dry, string them onto some twine and drape it across your doorway to invite love, luck, and friendship into your life.
SamhainBurning. With preferably dry apple pieces, burn them after a silent dinner to honor those who may be reborn in the spring. It's a sign of respect and thankfulness.
As always my lovely creepy crawlies, practice in a cleansed space and be safe! Blessed be
For folks who have limited mobility in their hands due to pain, weakness, shakiness, or anything else. These are a range of ideas, not all of them may work for each person, but hopefully they’ll spark something that will!
Looking for broader low energy, low mobility or bedridden ideas? Check out my bedridden witch series (click here!)
Tarot:
Tarot apps are a great way to pull a card with a tap or two (Labyrinthos and Galaxy tarot have been recommended).
Place your deck in your lap. Feel for any loose cards, then pull them.
Split the deck (doesn’t have to be even). The cards on either end of the split are the cards for your spread.
Spread the deck on a flat surface, and move your hand over to pick (let your hands sense the energy), or pick based on intuition.
If gripping/managing thin paper is tricky, some people use other objects for tarot readings. I’ve seen jewelry charms as a common one, but the possibilities are endless (cardboard, wooden blocks, etc.). >Here are some printable decks!<
You can do more than readings with your cards. Pick one per day and just spend time with it. Look at the art, pay attention to how it makes you feel. Learn the meanings of the card.
A lot of witches use their hands to focus energy during spellwork and other magical doings. While this may be helpful, it’s not necessary!
Focusing energy can be helpful. Use a crystal or other object and touch it in some way (with your hand, have it in your lap, whatever works for you). Use the crystal/object to help channel and amplify your energy.
I usually draw energy up from the earth (even while in bed) by placing my palms flat(ish) towards the earth by the sides of my body. So if I was lying down, my arms would be at my sides with my palms facing down.
Use visualization! A LOT of my magic involves visualization.
Candles and Incense:
Himalayan salt lamps are a great way to bring a similar energy that a burning candle would.
I honestly really like electric candles, but I know they’re not everybody’s thing. Plus sides: if you forget about them they simply run out of battery, can be decorated–tape with color correspondences, sigils, spells, etc. (you could even print something and tape it on).
Reed diffusers. Get the yummy smell that candles or incense brings without the flames and smoke. Plus you can ignore it for months!
Essential oil diffusers. Great way to get the correspondences that incense often holds. (please use safely and not around your pets).
Room spray. Store-bought or self-infused natural sprays are a great way to add good smells and/or correspondences.
Recording information:
Voice text or dictation software are often accessible, though not always perfect. It is a great way to get things down that you don’t want to forget/want to reformat later.
Typing can sometimes be easier than writing, and journals/grimoires in documents are easy to organize, and to read.
I’m a very tactile person and enjoy writing (even if it hurts/is difficult). My tarot journal is filled with terrible handwriting, random shorthand, and codes I came up with to shorten things (ie. a little symbol for each suit, then the card number). It doesn’t have to be an all-day process.
I’d imagine that some tarot apps record which cards you’ve pulled, or have an option to save it.
Odds and Ends:
Use compression gloves or other gear to support your hands? Add sigils or enchant them!
Same goes for any lotions, creams, balms or medications used to help; sigils, charging, enchanting, etc. are all great ways to incorporate magic.
Teas are an easy way to get multiple herbs + their medicinal values without needing to do anything!
Into kitchen witchcraft? Using electric mixers can be very helpful.
Create sigils using a phone app (touchscreen) and your fingers rather than holding a pen.
Do none of these posts meet your needs after perusing? Send me an ask, I’m always looking to fill the gaps when it comes to accessibility and witchcraft!
This genuinely might make me cry. I already deeply appreciate King Arthur for making the best GF 1 for 1 flour. And having good recipes. But an article posted by them from someone with disabilities about how to do the thing even with disabilities? That’s just genuinely lovely. I know that my bad there is low, but it’s low for a reason and hopefully stuff like this can continue to raise that bar for disabled people like me.
Do you ever get super exhausted after rituals or spellwork? Half way through or at the very end I always feel exhausted an on the verge of a headache. Is there any explanation for this or am I just boring myself to death via ritual lmao
That used to happen when I first got into ceremonial magic. I wasn’t that great at drawing power from external sources rather than myself, so I ended up expending way more energy than need be. Now though, I just get really hungry. Chances are you’re not boring yourself to death, anon, you just need to work on bettering your techniques / power-raising, at least in my opinion.
All magickal acts require energy.
Whether it is doing a tarot reading, casting a spell, or making a potion, magick requires energy. Intent and will and powerful sources in ourselves, and using them is like exercising a muscle. And no matter how strong this muscle is, (ie, how long you have been practicing witchcraft) it will always expend energy to work it out.
OP mentioned external sources of energy. A good example of this is a candle. Instead of only relying on your own energy, you can draw energy from the element. There are several things you can use for external energy. Crystals are another example.
Self care is important after spellwork, especially something as intense as a ritual. It is also important not to perform a ritual when you are already low on energy, emotional, etc.
I like the general vibe going on here, and I know this person's trying to be helpful, but I consider the practice of magic comparable to my writing habits: if I waited for when I had the energy to do it, I would almost never actually practice.
I also think it's important to evaluate your own boundaries and limitations though. If you have a chronic illness, or something else that regularly limits how much energy you have, then the amount of magic you can push yourself to practice is going to be significantly different from what I, personally, have evaluated myself to be able to manage efficiently during my lowest points.
That being said, external power can be harnessed in a wide amount of ways through various mediums, which is why I left my answer so open-ended originally. Candles, for example, and especially tealights, simply do not significantly enhance my magic, so through the use of experimentation and personal evaluations, I've been able to go through and find what best works for me and most freshly store bought candles do not qualify for me. This addition, while meaning to be helpful, doesn't mention that step in the process, which I feel is the most important aspect of raising power. It is always going to be dependent on which mediums best work for you and, while it is an ideal thought to ignore this, sometimes you just have to work with and around how much energy you already have, whether that be little to none to overwhelming amounts.
Anyways, I would just like to reiterate: I like this addition. It's a solid little glimpse into possible explorations into bettering your techniques and dynamics, but I would only add:
You have to work with what you have sometimes, and
It takes time and experimentation to discover what means will work best for you, but little starter lists like this can be helpful!
You wanna step into kitchen magic but are not sure where to start? Let's try something simple; easy switches that you can make to step into the world of kitchen witchcraft.
Tap water -> moon/sun water
Kitchen herbs -> altar herbs
Plain cooking oil -> blessed oil or herb-infused oil
Storebought stock -> homemade stock made with moon/sun water infused with intention and ingredient properties
Plain spatula/spoon -> wooden spatula/spoon with runes carved in or drawn on it
Dried herbs -> fresh herbs (Farmers' markets often have affordable herbs!)
Rinsing produce in tap water -> rinsing produce in moon/sun water
Slicing a line in homemade bread dough -> carving a rune
Growing flowers in your garden -> growing kitchen herbs in your garden
Boiling in tap water -> boiling in moon/sun water (You can make moon/sun water in gallon jugs!)
I have a whole bunch more of these, so let me know if you'd like another post like this one! As always, do your research, be safe, and blessed be.
i want to get a couple houseplants soon; i feel like it would be good for me to have something to keep alive, especially if i keep water by the pot and the pot near by bed so i can care for it and feel accomplished even on days when i can’t get out of bed!
