I May be a Witch, but I'm Definitely NOT a Cat Person

Many witches I know have cats as familiars. I've always believed that cats walk the line between us and the otherworld, and thus they are helpful in magic. If you can find a cat that will work with you, they can enhance your practice and strengthen your connection to the spirit realm. Here's a great article from Magical Recipes Online that goes more in-depth about cats and witches: <<>>

I, however, have the absolute worst luck with cats. For some reason, I never have been able to establish any kind of a connection with cats. It seems like most of them dislike me. Very strongly, actually.

Recently, I decided to try and change that. I thought, 'now that I'm a full-fledged practicing witch, why not get myself a cat that I can build a relationship with and add as a companion to my magic?'

So I started looking around for a cat that seemed like a good fit for my household. One day, I got a call from my sister. Her neighbors had moved away and dumped their furry little sweetheart (who was an all-time indoor cat) outside to fend for himself. She said this was the perfect cat for me. He was already full-grown and accustomed to life indoors, and he got along well with other animals. I scheduled a meet-and-greet for him to spend some time with me and my dog, and everything went exceptionally well. Based on his wonderfully chill attitude and his sweet, loving personality, I brought him home that day. And that is when the portal to the basement of hell materialized right in my apartment. 

The first day was fine. He explored his surroundings, had a nice hearty meal of expensive cat food, and made friends with my dog. He made a point to hiss at me after he finished his meal, which I thought was a real dick move, but I figured he just needed time to adjust. I named him Crowley and bought him a collar, which he wouldn't let me put on him. 

Each day got progressively worse from there. He seemed to be adjusting well, learning his way around, picking favorite napping spots, and playing with his toys. However, he was having frequent episodes of pure hatred and rage. He was bipolar to the strongest degree, and would snap with no warning at all and for seemingly no reason. He would hiss, spit, swat, and even bite. I didn't even have to be anywhere near him to provoke his crazy. If he was feeling angry and I wasn't within swatting distance, the little asshole would come find me. 

I continued to have patience with him, and continued to reward him for good behavior and shun his mean ass for the bad behavior. He didn't care. I realized that it was just me he hated when everyone else who came in my home got along with him just fine. He had no qualms with my visitors. Ever.

It wasn't until the night I had to go to the ER that I decided demon kitty had to GO. He attacked me and made my left hand look like hamburger helper. Almost two weeks later, he's in a new home and he's had zero issues with his new human. Zero. And my hand still looks like someone tried to hack it off with a fork. 

So, no. I won't be incorporating any cats into my practice any time soon. I'm a dog person and I should have known better than trying to befriend a member of the species that has obviously declared me a mortal enemy. Props to all the witches who do work well with cats!

Weekly Tarot 8/3/15

Weekly Tarot 8/3 Through 8/8 

The week starts off with a clean slate. The Fool indicates taking a really big chance on a mere leap of faith. This week is yours to make what you want of it. Don't hesitate when presented with the opportunity to steer things in the direction you really want them to go in. It'll come early on and you'll want to jump at it while it's hot!

As we move further toward the middle of the week, it's important that we don't keep our head too far up in the clouds. You might want to retreat to your fantasy world where everything is just the way you want it. It's good that these ideas are so prevalent, but it's important to remember that the real world is still chugging along around you. Instead of getting completely lost in your fantasies, use them to guide you in molding your reality the way you want it.

Toward the end of the week, you'll probably find that your home and/or family is in serious need of some TLC that only you can provide. Remember that being unhappy or discontented with matters of home and family can have very negative effects on other areas of your life, too. Make sure you take the time out to pour your energy and full attention into this issue so you can set it straight. Get it dealt with now.

Stuck In A Rut Tarot Reading

I've been AWOL for a while, I know. I've been super busy being stuck in a really weird rut lately, thanks to my over-enthusiastic nature. Go figure.

Being the person that I am, I just have to explore and learn and do everything. I have an interest in studying and mastering so many subjects related to the Craft that I just have to read anything and everything I can get my hands on. Do you have any idea how many books and articles that adds up to?

On top of that, I feel the need to share everything I learn with everybody else because they MUST be just as excited about it as I am. That means endless lists of ideas for blog posts and social media shareables. Not to mention all of the new items I'm learning to make and divination services I'm performing that I'd like to add to the listings in the shop.

Needless to say, I overwhelmed myself. I was surrounded by all of these ideas, study subjects, and things I wanted to create that I didn't have time to give any of them the real attention that was necessary. I got frustrated that I couldn't master any of the tons of things I was trying to juggle, and I ended up dropping it all. As a result, I spent the last three months thinking about what I want to do and not actually doing anything.

But that's ok. I'm finally ready to pull my head out of the couch cushions, get my shit together, and actually get something done! I decided it would be best to start with a Tarot reading to help me narrow my focus and figure out what I need to let go of so I can move forward. And, in true Azila fashion, I decided that sharing my Tarot spread would make a great re-entry into blogging! Chances are there's someone else out there who's trying to pry their own ass off of the couch, and this Tarot reading is exactly what they need to help them do just that. So, here ya go.

Stuck in a Rut Tarot Reading

I laid the cards out in the shape of an arrow that symbolized moving forward. It is the perfect spread for figuring out what's keeping you in your rut, what's bogging you down and should be ditched, and what you should be focusing on to pull through it! It's quick and simple, and provides exactly the information you need to get up and out of the black hole that is a rut!

*This reading is now available in my shop! GO HERE to have me do this same reading for you!

Hot Foot Powder

Hot Foot Powder is an old Hoodoo trick that is used to banish someone from your life or home. The base ingredients are usually salt (one or more different kinds) and peppers (ground habanero, cayenne, black, etc). Other ingredients might include iron shavings, red brick dust, brimstone powder, garlic powder, gun powder, or anything else that packs a significant punch.

The purpose of hot foot powder is to make the target feel extremely uncomfortable in the area the user is trying to banish them from. They'll feel a strong urge to leave, and won't be inclined to come back.

When I made some of my own, I did an internet search for common recipes. Many of them seemed too harsh for my liking, and I felt that many of the ingredients were overkill. I was worried that if the powder was too potent, I might risk bringing harm to my target. Obviously, that's not something I want to do. If someone is truly that bothersome and I wish to be rid of them, I want to simply drive them away without causing them any harm at all.

I used four simple ingredients:

• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• Sulfur

I mixed the ingredients and then charged the powder under a full moon with the proper intent.

Don't get me wrong, this stuff is nasty. It gets the job done, but it doesn't run the risk of bringing any harm or misfortune to the target. It just (slightly forcefully) persuades them that they need to get the hell out of dodge, now. 

Sprinkle the powder over the path of the person you want to get rid of. Wherever or however you administer the powder, just make sure they walk on it! Use it sparingly, though, a little goes a long way! Not only that, but you want it to go unnoticed by the target.

Be sure not to let anyone else step on the powder. This includes pets! Do not consume, or allow anyone else to consume it. Wash your hands immediately after use, and wash it away from the area where you sprinkled it after it has served its purpose.

Want a bit for yourself? Grab a small batch of my recipe here. 

Magic: Defense and Offence

Since the very beginning of my practice as a witch, it's been very important to me that my witchery does not affect the will of those around me. I don't push my practice on people, I don't do spells on behalf of others (unless I'm outright asked to do one, and it was entirely their idea), and I don't even attempt to manipulate the will or actions of others for my benefit (or for any other reason). While I don't follow a predetermined set of rules that govern my practice (like the Wiccan Rede, for example), I do have personal ethics that are very important to me.

However, there are always going to be situations that test your limits and boundaries. Someone may be blatantly trying to hurt you and your family, and in a manner that is sneaky and hard to counter by any mundane means. At some point you may find yourself caught in a real bind, with not much else to do about it besides some defensive magic. You may end up walking a fine line, but when it's either them or you (or your family), then you do what you have to do.

Whether or not you follow an established Rede, you have the right to defend yourself. There are infinite rituals and spells set up for defense, protection, warding, and the like. Are we supposed to shut those up in our Grimoires and never use them? I struggled with it for quite some time when I encountered the situation, but I eventually realized that I practice witchcraft for a reason. I couldn't just sit back and let my power lay dormant while someone was actively trying to take what little I had right out from under me. I did a shielding spell against any ill-intentions that may come my way. Within a week, everything was righted and my life was restored to normal. The offender had some serious karma to deal with shortly afterward.

But what happens when your defensive magic starts to cross the line into offensive magic? Where is the line drawn?

I have a neighbor who is not a good sort to live around. He lives in the apartment directly above me, and lets just say he makes his money in less than legal ways. His "clients" are rude, loud, and messy. Random traffic comes and goes during all hours of the night and day. Yet I chose to ignore him for almost a year because he mainly kept to himself and never said a word to me.

...Until I had to put my dog on allergy medication because of the constant marijuana smoke that wafts into my apartment. Not to mention the fact that my employer had asked me about why I smelled like weed one morning. And one of his friends removed a side mirror from my car to replace the one that was missing from his own, nearly identical car. This prompted me to start calling the cops, and reporting him to private security and management.

Well, he started retaliating against me for reporting him. Although he can't prove that it was me, he came banging on my door late one night and threatened me (if you're interested, there's more about this incident in this post). I put up shields and wards after that, but those only go so far. One of his frequent customers came to my front door one day and tried to get in. They make indecent comments to me when I pass them on the way to my car. I don't feel safe living here, and neither does anyone else in my building. Calling the cops, making reports, and any wards or shields I've put up clearly aren't enough.

I don't feel that everyone in my building should move out in order to feel safe and comfortable in their own homes. This one guy is a problem for everyone around him, so what's a witch to do?

It's times like these where I believe that a little offensive magic is permissible. My solution? A little hot foot powder on his front door step. I made the powder myself, so I can be sure of what it does and doesn't do. I designed it so that whomever walks over it feels uncomfortable being in that apartment. They'll want to leave, and not come back.

Since I began using the hot foot powder, the usual crowd hasn't been around. Things are pretty quiet here, and I've noticed he's had to venture out to the front of the complex or the street (where he's more likely to get caught) to make his deals. I was so worried about making sure the recipe was mild enough not to cause any real harm, that it seems it didn't have much effect on him. However, it definitely worked on his clientele.

*Update: The day after I published this post, I found out that my neighbor had put in his notice to move out.*

Now, you can argue that I did a really big no-no by using the hot foot powder. I used magic to alter the feelings and/or behavior of others. But I see it like this: I used magic in a kind of nasty way against a kind of nasty man to protect those in the area who are innocent. Karma may bite me in the ass for this, and I'll accept that if it happens.

What do you think? Would you have done the same thing? I'd love to hear opinions!

Torn Between Two Lovers Tarot Spread

I created this spread for a client several months ago who was having trouble picking between two potential relationships. I've since had to reuse this spread several times, so I decided I'd pretty it up and offer it officially as a spread option in my shop. This one's great if you need to lay out the pros and cons of two different relationships side-by-side.

 Torn Between Two Lovers Tarot Spread

1. Lover One- What they represent to you
2. Lover Two- What they represent to you
3. What you can get out of relationship 1
4. What you can get out of relationship 2
5. Problems that may arise out of relationship 1
6. Problems that may arise out of relationship 2
7. General advice for you in relationship 1
8. General advice for you in relationship 2

Before doing this reading, it's important to clearly distinguish which relationship will be represented by "1" and which will be "2." While I've never had to use it for myself, it's been a huge help for some of my clients and my friends who've been stuck in this situation.

Feel free to use this spread for yourself! Please be sure to credit me if you share it, though!

P.S. If you'd like me to do a Tarot reading for you using this spread, click here!

Relationship Problems Tarot Spread

Valentine's Day is coming up soon, and I'm well aware that not everyone is crazy in a perfect, endless love. In fact, some of us aren't really having the greatest time where relationships are concerned. I thought now would be the perfect time to go through my BoS and drag out some of the tarot spreads I've created for sticky love situations. I'll be sharing some of my favorites over the next week or so! Here's the first one.

 Relationship Problems Tarot Spread

1. The problem- what the issue really is.
2. How you contributed- yes, you contributed to this in one way or another. This card tells you what you did.
3. How they contributed- what they did.
4. What you can do to fix it- this is what you can do to turn this around.
5. What will make it worse- try really, really hard NOT to do this.
6. Ideal outcome- this helps shed light on what kind of a compromise will be best for both (or all) of you.

This is a good one for any kind of relationship. I created this one to help me out when I was having trouble with a family member I frequently butt-heads with. Since then, I've used it a ton of times for myself, for friends, and for clients. It's proven to be one of my go-to relationship spreads! Feel free to use it for yourself. But please credit me if you share it!

PS: If you'd like me to do a Tarot reading for you using this spread, click here! :)

Witchy Problems: Forgetting You're A Witch

If you've even glanced at any given page on my blog, you'll know I'm a witch. I practice on a daily basis. I'm pretty serious about my craft, and I admit that it spills over into just about every aspect of my life. I live and breath this shit.

Well, I was pretty surprised the other night when I suddenly forgot about witchcraft. I found myself in a rather scary situation. It was the one time that witchcraft was probably the only thing I had on hand that could have helped me, and I forgot all about it.

It was Sunday night and I was home alone (which rarely ever happens). The guy upstairs was causing problems in the apartment complex again, bringing his shady friends around and making the neighbors uncomfortable with his laughably obvious drug deals. Unfortunately, I'm usually affected worse than most others because I live directly below him. The noise of his friends banging on the door at ungodly hours is easily heard from my place while I'm trying to sleep. The smoke wafting into my apartment when he smokes (really bad) weed indoors up there. Not to mention the fact that he's really mean and his negative energy pollutes this whole building.

On a Sunday night when I'm home alone and have to work the next day, I really don't feel like being kept up by loud music and showing up at work in the morning with a contact high. So I did what everyone always does when they're tired of dealing with him: I made a report to private security. Almost an hour later he came banging at my door, which has never happened before. How did he even know it was me this time? When I didn't answer (home alone and in my pajamas? Hell no!), he started yelling that I'm too scared to open the door (no shit) and that I should be scared of him. He went upstairs and kept on yelling at me through the floor almost all night long.

The truth is, I was scared! I made another report to security about his behavior, made sure the doors and windows were tightly locked, and hunkered down in bed with a pocket knife in my hand.

For 2 days, I tiptoed around.  I was scared of running into him outside, and scared that he would know I was home and come to my door again. It took me forever to finally realize that even after I had exhausted all of my other options (complaining to management and private security, and making reports to the police), there was still something I could have done.

Witchcraft! What I should have done was cleanse the energy in my apartment right away! I should have put up shields so that his heavy negativity couldn't get to me, and I should have swept his energy off of my porch and put some black salt down! I could even have used some hot foot powder to ensure that he never comes back to my door again. But instead, I turned out the lights and cowered in a corner because mundane methods weren't proving effective.

As soon as it occurred to me, I took all magical precautions to protect myself and my home. I couldn't believe I didn't think of it sooner! Normally, I would have done some serious shielding and a banishing spell, at least. Then I would have consulted my tarot cards to figure out what would be my best game plan for dealing with the situation.

But for a minute there, it's like I completely forgot that I was a witch!

Happy New Year From an Unorganized Witch

I usually don't participate in the New Year Resolution craze. Normally, I set goals to get fit and give up drinking. It lasts for a month tops, before I finally realize that I'm only about ten pounds away from looking like I only eat bread crust and having to buy all new clothes that don't hang off of me. Screw that. And life isn't as fun without alcohol. So screw that, too.

After a while, I quit bothering. I got into the habit of living on a "here and now" basis. If I notice something that I think I can improve or I want to start doing something new, BAM. I make the change right then and there. This is an awesome habit to have, but I've been noticing in the last couple of months or so that my organization and record keeping are starting to suffer, especially where my craft is concerned!

It all started when I couldn't seem to find the notes I had taken for a spell I created last month. I have a BoS of course, but I don't usually add my spells to it until they've been tested and tweaked a few times, so they're perfect to my standards and I have a finalized draft. The problem is, my notes and research are all spread out. I have a mini BoS that I keep in my purse, a few notebooks laying around the house, some loose leaf sheets in a pile on my apothecary shelves, some random kitchen witchery stuffed into recipe books in my pantry, and several digital magic journals. Each time I want to review my notes, I first have to figure out where exactly those notes are located.

So this year, I decided it was appropriate to jump back on the New Years Resolution bandwagon with one very simple goal for the year:

WRITE SHIT DOWN IN AN ORGANIZED FASHION.

That's it. I went through all my notebooks and consolidated my notes into one binder that I keep right next to my BoS on a shelf. I also reorganized my online journals, tagged everything, and installed the app on my phone so I can access that from everywhere. Then, I vowed to write stuff down every single day. Dreams, tarot, scrying, spellwork, everything I do on a regular basis gets recorded and tagged so I can refer to it later. No more 'mental notes' that something happened. That's lazy witchery and doesn't make for a very learned witch. Believe me, I've learned the hard way!

And look here, on day four it's even spilling over into my blog that I've been neglecting for months! Sometimes a reset of the date and a 1/1/.. on the calendar really does make it easier to flip a switch and make a big change.

What about you? Did you make any witchy new year resolutions?