Tag Archives: magic

Reading tarot and palms at Gemini & Scorpio Loft for Spellbound: Immersive Evening Transformation Through Ritual 10/26 & 10/27

Do you have Halloween plans? Here are some you’ll want to add to your list. Brooklyn’s Gemini & Scorpio Loft is throwing the best, two-night long party, Spellbound: Immersive Evening Transformation Through Ritual. I’ll be reading palms and tarot with Darcey Leonard (palms) and Éowyn Evans (tarot) from Tarot Society, both Friday and Saturday night, 8 PM-1AM (but the party goes till 4). This is what the event ticket link says…

An intimate, immersive evening of exploring transformation through ritual, with dreamy atmospheric music, magickal potions, and interactions both gentle and intense. Our first run of what we hope to bring you as a fully immersive magickal Halloween experience on Fri Oct 26th and Sat Oct 27. Tickets will be limited.

Begin at our welcome station with a ceremonial letting go of that which no longer serves you. Then lounge in our lush candlelit loft and enjoy the magic. Featuring: fortune telling talents of Holy Crow (palms), Jezmina Von Thiele (tarot and palms), Cara Kovacs (oracle cards, crystals & reiki), Fox Danger (tarot + ritual), Peri Lyons (tarot) and other masters of divination. Operatic opening ritual by Lacy Rose. Acts of magic by Nelson Lugo. Absinthe and unique green witchcraft potions by The House of St Eve. Live music by Echo of the Ghost: defying genres with ambient, EDM influenced songs laced with melodic synth textures and hypnotic violin arrangements. Witchy dance party follows.

Dress code: your dark, witchy best or your Halloween wear. Effort required / no casual wear.

In addition to the main event, you can choose to connect deeper via three increasingly intense interaction options. Choose the path that resonates with you. What do you need to let go of? What do you need to bring in?

Fate: confront your future; change your present. This path gives you two tokens for free readings ($10 otherwise), plus a one-on-one spiritual consultation with Tarot Society founder Darcey Leonard. Comes with a keepsake Life Tree pendant*

Sensuality: electrify your skin; ignite your passions. Choose this path if you want to push your physical boundaries in our secret sensory lounge. You can connect to just yourself or to others. Comes with a keepsake skeleton key pendant*

Death: look beyond the veil; face your fears. Who will you be when you come out on the other side? You are invited into the Psychomanteum, an interactive installation inspired by Cocteau’s OrphÃ©, where you can converse with deceased loved ones. Also includes readings from all our fortune tellers. Comes with a keepsake bird skull pendant.*

Do not be late for this one. All spirit stations operate 8pm-1am only. Tips for spirit stations proprietors are greatly appreciated.

*Same pendants as the previous Spellbound. If you wish to reuse yours, you’ll just need the correct color cord at the door.

Here’s the easy-to-share Facebook link too! https://www.facebook.com/events/1158789164288107/

Featured image: “The Witches Sabbath” by Luis Ricardo Falero, 1878

Castor Oil Beauty

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I use castor oil for almost everything, so I talked to The Vitamin Shoppe blog about how I use this wonderful and affordable oil in my beauty rituals. My hair is thick and tends to be try like a horse’s tail, so there’s a soft and shiny castor oil hair treatment in there. Lashes and brows? Covered. Lips? Sure. I’ve got castor oil tips in here from head to toe, and pretty much all of them gleaned from my ever-lovely Romani mother, the queen of natural, shoestring budget beauty. I even have something in here for scars. If you try them out, let me know what you think.

I also use castor oil as a carrier oil for my safe-for-skin essential oils, and I especially like to use it with tea tree oil for skincare, which I also discussed with The Vitamin Shoppe; lavender, and frankincense. If we’re talking about its witchier uses, then it also applies to my more magical oils and elixirs. It’s a thick, viscous oil, which makes it feel both tough and enveloping, so I like to use it in healing and protection rituals, and to draw in money.

Image from The Vitamin Shoppe Blog

Featured image by Karen Roe, 2012, “The Making of Harry Potter”

Weird Horoscopes–Week of May 20th, 2018

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#WeirdHoroscopes are here again for the week of May 20th, delivered by sassy, weird oracle through me!

Gemini: Learn everything now. In your solar return, you have the ability to know all things by staring directly at the sun for several hours, or at the sun’s nemesis, the moon. Perhaps the latter is safest.

Cancer: Venus asks you to perform love & self care. Do something fun like bubble baths, knife fighting, or ax throwing. & if your loved ones don’t accept the love you give, set a “Make America Great Again” hat on fire.

Leo: If you’re asking yourself, “What am I even doing with my life?” then it’s really important that you don’t listen to anyone. Instead, go deep in the forest, cover yourself with earth, & let trees & herbs sprout from your ribcage. Then you will know.

Virgo: Make up some business cards to promote yourself & your many talents. Now is the time! & enchant them so that they burst into flame once the recipient commits their information to memory. It’ll show how dynamic & fun you are!

Libra: Consider volunteering your time to spread your wisdom. Shepherd souls across the river Lethe to the underworld. Become a volunteer ghost hunter. Counsel vampires grappling with eternity.

Scorpio: You are so passionate that you have an actual fire inside you. Learn to breathe it at will so you can char things or people as needed & provide clean, renewable energy. Learn to blow smoke rings out your nose too because people just love it.

Sagittarius: You just returned from the Underworld this week. Welcome back! Remember that the peeps on this side need you to show up in a corporeal form & do love & intimacy or whatever. You’re not swirling in a cyclone of spirit anymore! Not right now anyway.

Capricorn: Time to play! The stars suggest laser tag, or something in which you shoot light from your body, symbolizing how captivating & piercing you are, thereby triple-charging your powers. Perhaps try something with electric eels.

Aquarius: You have been reanimated after you were encased in ice for a hot minute, & it’s time to re-learn how to move your fingers & toes & pump blood through your body. Nuzzling animals & tanning beds are a good way to warm the heart, but not simultaneously.

Pisces: If you’re experiencing flashes of rage, do something productive. Start with a series of interpretive dance and arson, captain an armada of space cats, & write a treatise out of swords to resolve remaining grievances. Then take an angry-nap.

Aries: Privacy is important. Consider becoming unplottable, wearing disguises & full body armor, & sequestering yourself in a tower owned by a grumpy bear who minds his own business. You will later become great friends.

Taurus: You now have the ability to channel ghosts & spirits, especially Prince. Use your power for sassy good, wear a raspberry beret, & tell it like it is through song & androgynous sex appeal. Prince has a lot planned for you.

Featured Image by Wellcome Images

Gypsy Holiday Ederlezi and Spring Purity

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This is pretty belated, but on May 6th I was lucky to perform at an Ederlezi celebration in Brooklyn. Sometimes the night is so good that you forget to document it until much later. Ederlezi is a spring holiday for Roma in the Balkans, and a variant on St. George’s Day. There’s a lot of singing, dancing, flower-throwing, and feasting of lamb to imbibe its purity and thus be renewed. Much of Romani spirituality centers on spiritual purification, and this holiday is a beautiful testament to this. Each activity cleanses the soul, and whenever possible, the holiday is celebrated by a river to bathe in and throw in flowers for luck.

My Romani family doesn’t actually celebrate the holiday because my ancestors settled in Western Europe, but I love the holiday and like to observe it in my own small way. This year, it was by dancing, singing, & invoking Sara la Kali at X Marks the Loft. So many thanks to JunXion for creating this beautiful event to celebrate the Balkan Romani holiday of spring and renewal. I’m also very grateful to the Bulgarian Voices Trio, who gave such a beautiful performance and then helped me sing “Ederlezi” because I’m not really a singer actually…. Check out their beautiful music. Joro Boro also provided us great music & energy, and a real love for the holiday and for the Romani people. I was also touched by the way Chef Davo prepared the lamb so mindfully, slaughtering it himself with the respect and solemnity the holiday calls for, and pouring his intention for the holiday into cooking a delicious feast. We talked a little in Romanes, though mine is very broken due to my family losing the language in the war, and I learned that he lived alongside Roma back in Bulgaria and has a great affinity for the culture. The whole night I felt the respect and love of Romani allies who really wanted me there and encouraged me to share part of the Romani community’s culture.

Also, t his is my favorite rendition of the song “Ederlezi” by Haimana Gipsy Band, featuring Tatiana Eva Marie

💚❤️💙

Beltane!

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Three of Disks

Today marks the Pagan spring holiday, Beltane, the time when the veil between us and the elemental spirits is thinnest. It’s the perfect time for divination, dreams, wishes, and making out. The holiday celebrates the divine, sexy union between the god and goddess, and the cosmic birth that follows, propelling the wheel of the year forward.

I pulled a tarot card to see what wisdom the spring will impart, and it was the Three of Discs. This card heralds cooperation amongst friends and colleagues to help you manifest your dreams into reality. It’s a good time for business growth and working on projects. Collaboration brings you and your peeps great success.

Here are some fun, simple things to do!

I made these midnight muffins

Make honeyed bread to celebrate the return of the sun, fertility (of all kinds), and sweetness. I used this flourless banana bread muffins recipe from Running with Spoons.
Buy flowers for your home, especially bright happy flowers
Make a flower crown and just own it. Check out this post by Arcane Alchemy about its history and how to make one!
Pull a tarot or oracle card and ask for a message for the spring. If you’re not sure what it means, you can look up definitions online. It’s also a great time to have your cards read by a friend or professional.
Tie ribbons on a tree or bush representing your wishes for the spring and ask the fae or earth elementals to help you manifest them, or make a wishing tree like this one from Mooky Chick.
Actually frolic around a Maypole
Jump over a small fire or candle for good luck, or a broom stick if you’re not feeling the flames. You can do this with a partner and make it sexy/a show of your dedication to each other.
Interpret your dreams
Make out with someone you like. It’s a total makeout holiday.

However simple or elaborate your celebration is, give thanks for the new surge of life coming your way, and enjoy the magic.

Featured image of tulips by shickadeaz

Flowers in Brooklyn

Weird Horoscopes Week of May 1st, 2018

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#WeirdHoroscopes Week of May 1st, 2018 by Jezmina Von Thiele

Taurus After the full moon, your dreams will answer your most pressing questions about love, magic, & adequate hydration. Yes, even that dream about harmonizing with an all-spider a capella group. Especially that one. Keep a dream journal bound in fairy spittle.

Gemini The great thing about being dazzling is that everyone is drawn to you, but the terrible thing is also that everyone is drawn to you. It’s the clove cigarette paradox. Consider dabbling in some well-meaning psychic manipulation. Read Circe’s secret diaries

Cancer Whether or not you meant to, at the full moon, you supped on the youth of the world’s children, & you will never age. However, now you have the whims & fancies of an unrestrained child, & you must do your best to indulge the delightful madness that ensues

Leo Forget burning your candle at both ends. You doused the candle pile in gasoline, struck a match, then stalked away in slow motion. Are you busting yourself because of your childhoo–NOPE. Don’t look back there. It’s haunted. Buy a citrine quartz & take a nap

Virgo Listen, Satan has crush on you. You’re that cool. Your phone has been oozing hell-slime off the hook & disembodied emails are scrabbling at your threshold. It’s vampire rules: Just don’t invite him in & continue to slay. But keep the baby bat. Sooo cute!

Libra When was the last time you read through your old grimoires? Pore over the centuries of spells & stream-of-consciousness punning in search of codes from your higher self. Practice deep listening & draw boundaries with a poisoned athame. Your needs come 1st!

Scorpio You are in love with the moon, & she is changeable. She gifted you oceans, but full of sea monsters. You gifted her the starlight you secrete from the special gland all Scorpios have. It’s ok to ask the moon for commitment, balance, & splitsies dinners

Sagittarius You have crushed every bad thing that happened to you through your powerful cocktail of battle strategy & black magic. Now that the past is literally dead to you, light an arrow on fire & shoot it into a forest. The tree it hits will tell your future

Capricorn Hold interviews for your dream coven by inviting your friends into your dreams using tincture of mugwort & blue lotus, & a portkey. Set them psychic tasks & only let in the loves who wow you with kindness & green witchery. You deserve stellar support.

Aquarius When your subconscious fears materialize as, say, spiderbears, hold the offal of your terror-consciousness up to the crystalline light that pours in through your ceiling. It’s there to remind you that you are wonderful & to destroy, say, bloodeagles.

Pisces The full moon calls you to create your own spirituality. You don’t have to start by summoning hot Jesus from the Madonna video but you can! You have already have divine spirits from ethereal realms speaking through you, so preach from here to the YMCA!

Aries You are illuminated from within, literally emanating silvery lunar light from your skin, highlighting all aspects of your life, truth, & the universe. You can’t look away. No one can. It’s part of the curse. Learn from your light as you hover above mortals

Romani Gypsy fortune telling, poetry, and family history interview with Agape Editions

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Photo by Viktor Pachas

I had so much fun being interviewed by Eniko Vaghy of Agape Editions for their series Cards on the Table. I discuss the relationship between Romani “Gypsy” fortune telling and persecution, my family’s line of Romani medicine work, eclectic witch magic, writing techniques using tarot, my rituals before reading for clients, and lots more! I loved Eniko’s thoughtful questions, and I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

Weird Horoscopes: Week of April 16, 2018

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Weird Horoscopes by Jezmina Von Thiele! Here are my best cryptic predictions to keep you healthy and whole this week.

#Aries:You’ve been bowing to the powerful specter who lives inside you for too long. No one tells you what to do! Not even your own specter. Now is the time to rise up inside yourself & implement a ruthless revolution. & then treat yo’self to a sheet mask or date night.

#Taurus: You need to build an R&R-burrow to do some feelings, & because you draw comfort from tangible things, demand that the spirits of ether manifest. Let the archangels burn with splendor! Because for you, it isn’t real unless it’s right there blazing in your self-care bunker.

#Gemini: All the shady AF creatures you invited to your glam nocturnal garden parties are kind of douchey, so you’ve whisked yourself away to smokier realms. Stick to high standards for your infamous social calendar from now on. Enchanted fawns and Sumerian serpent priestesses only.

#Cancer: Your ambition to build the best crystal-shell palace is admirable, & your often-unseen blood-thirst for success is Queenly. Make sure your creatures will aid you in your deeds, & support your journey to be better than everyone. The bonding that follows is transcendent.

#Leo: If you’re wondering if everything is a lie & your anxiety is manifesting as hoards of spiders crawling up the walls, you’re right where you’re supposed to be. The new moon is an excellent time to take up hatchet throwing AND and hatchet burying. & maybe buy a funky crystal.

#Virgo: Everyone is really into you telling them what to do. People will probably pay you to do it, so dig deep & sweetly delve into their childhood issues in the boardroom. You’ll have your CEO crying like a baby & handing you that promotion in no time. You’re THAT delightful!

#Libra: If you’ve been disappointed by people recently, they’re stupid. Appeal to the magic boar of the forest to bring your true peeps (alive). Y’all might be scared at first bc the boar is bigger than expected, but open your heart, for he is gentle, & will also bring scones.

#Scorpio: This week is all about rituals. Add a drop of dove’s blood to your bath (or pomegranate for vegans!) invoking the powers of sex and death. Cast spells from your desk with a discreet athame & that candle from Karen. Illustrate your grimoire with the black ichor of ages.

#Sagittarius: Have you been practicing your insect orchestra? The world is taken with your immense creative talent, as well as the thousand glittering eyes of your garage band. It’s time for you to monetize this. Humans & bats alike applaud your hard & unfathomable work.

#Capricorn: It’s like you’re writing your tell-all memoir to let people know what you will absolutely not tolerate, who should have behaved better, & who the real hero/ine is after all. & then a steamy romance novel about a tortured painter/werewolf lover that slowly comes true….

#Aquarius: To-do lists are too subtle for you. Now that you clawed your way out of darkness, you need totemic gauges in the altar you’ve made to your gods of blood, love, & magic. Hunt obscure ingredients at the new moon with the nocturnal gusto of a predator. This is #selfcare

#Pisces: Did you know that witches used “flying ointment,” an orgasmic herbal vaginal salve that made the user transcendent with pleasure? This is#goals for all areas of your life. You are in luxury so intense that it could be a religion. Do it up, merwitch style.

Featured image: Night Blossoms, 2018, Jezmina Von Thiele

Weird Horoscopes by Jezmina

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Hello friends! I’ve written out your week’s horoscopes because I want you to be happy, work your strange magic, and also not take this strange human flesh journey too terribly seriously, especially when things are a little wild.

Aries: Make manipulation fun! Especially retributive manipulation with an edge of altruism. But keep your Machiavellian magic in the workplace because your loved ones are already onto you.

Taurus: The cool thing about hating everything right now is that it’s so much easier to burn it all to the ground, organize your rebel band of merrymakers, and get shit done in the beautiful wreckage of your spoils.

Gemini: If you’re just returned from a harrowing-yet-sexy journey to the underworld, use your newly acquired necromancy skills for good. Bring some healing to this world.

Cancer: If an octopus can live in a friendship colony after a long day of solo hunting and introspection, so can you. Scuttle up to your loved ones and stare into their eyes until everyone’s intimacy issues combust in a stunning display of underwater fireworks.

Leo: The chaos in your life is nothing compared to the chaos in your heart. Treat yourself. Break all of your lover’s dishes. It’ll be wonderfully cinematic.

Virgo: So the Lord of the Underworld isn’t impressed with your good deeds or your new screenplay. Honestly though, his taste isn’t really that refined, and Persephone really digs your vibe. Keep up the strange work.

Libra: This is the week for you to get in touch with your feelings, like every single wretched feeling you’ve ever worked tirelessly to suppress. Go ahead, take a taxidermy workshop to meditate on the horror of mortality & make it your plaything! This is healing time.

Scorpio: Use your shapeshifting skills to tell any perceived weakness to go fuck itself. Try saying “fuck this” as a crocodile, a mongoose, or a narwhal, & step into your odd changeling power. Confidence is the ability to shed your flesh shell for a better one at will.

Sagittarius: Your mantra this week is, “I am ten thousand kittens in a trench coat. Human standards mean nothing to me, and I surge with the power of fluffy cuteness dressed for espionage and drama! THE WORLD IS NO MATCH!” Now deep breath in, and exhale.

Capricorn: Instead of throwing tantrums at work, pick up an instrument to release your frustrations. You can always throw that too. Screaming into the void never felt so good, because in your case, the void kinda has a crush on you.

Aquarius: You’ve been wading in the deep lagoon of mortal shame & suffering for too long. Towel off, don your fav dressing gown & nightcap, & carry a lit candle while incanting poetry to the masses. Make them too think about what they’ve done. It’s time for you to shine!

Pisces: You’ve always been funny, but have you been a loyal servant to the ocean & all of its mysteries? Use your charm to befriend new species this week, or even discover them. Bring out that inner sparkle that attracts marine life enmasse. Few can resist!

Featured Image by Ivan Pavlovskyy

Witches, Sluts, Feminists

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A while back I reviewed Kristen J. Sollee’s marvelous book Witches, Sluts, Feminists for BUST. In short, I loved it. “It’s a scintillating, wry, and accessibly academic overview of the witch archetype….” and I think if you’re digging the kinds of things I dig over here, then you’ll like it too. Check it out!