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our vietnamese tea ceremony

some may or may not know i just got engaged to a weird guy i met in college that (to put it lightly) i wasn’t too fond of but after like 2 years of snubbing him he somehow won my heart i guess

i scribbled a comic about it cause whenever people ask how i met him they sometimes get invested haha

some people also may have seen him on america’s got talent or cbs news or jimmy fallon or on tiktok doing his pizza man shenanigans lol

people often ask if he pulled me with his dough skills and i have to clarify i didn’t even know about the dough spinning hobby until after we started dating and he didn’t do the tv/media appearances until like 6 years into our relationship 🤣

my parents were both boat refugees from vietnam (they fled during the war when they were teenagers and met as adults) and i’m american- but we’re not really that “traditional” i guess

i think many viet people don’t get married or commit without having a tea ceremony haha

a hetero buddy asked who were my bridesmaids and when i told him i don’t have any he asked why and i just said “i like my friends” 🤣 (my childhood friends were there as guests though!)

i also didn’t want/ask pizza man’s family to bring the customary gifts cause i didn’t wanna cramp my style

basically the purpose of this event was for people to witness us getting engaged and be an opportunity for our families to meet one another!

5/23/2015 is when we started dating

for our first anniversary i got our initials and anniversary date stamped onto a penny and pizza man still carries it around 🥺

so 8 years later we got engaged on 8/5/2023

8 for august (8 years later)

5th of august (5 for the month we began dating)

year of 2023 (23 for the day we began dating)

i think people often go to a fortune teller or someone who knows what they’re doing to schedule important dates using the stars and other factors but my grandpa doesn’t believe in that and the rest of us aren’t really superstitious

we wore áo dài- it’s a vietnamese ensemble consisting of a tunic with a long front and back panel that is worn over pants

áo means “shirt/clothes” and dài means “long”

a lot of the time the bride wears red and the groom wears blue i guess but i wanted my outfit to look bridal when i imagine an american bride or a vietnamese bride!

i also wanted to wear a gold khăn đóng headpiece and to incorporate pearls to resemble what my mom wore when she got engaged to my dad

sunflowers are also my fav

(after we started dating i thought pizza man was tall and sunny like a sunflower haha 😭)

my makeshift shoebox altar- or as i like to call it: my “spirit pager” 😤

i think we were supposed to ask our ancestors for permission to get engaged or married or whatever but since my mom raised me to believe my life is mine to live i just announced it to em

as far as i know it’s not really a buddhist thing- ancestor worship is more of a vietnamese thing apparently

my mom said vietnam is a country with a lot of war and death in its history- so imo it makes sense how they incorporate the dead into their practices and traditions

the double happiness symbol is two copies of the chinese character 喜 (xǐ) which means joy/happiness and red symbolizes luck for the couple

after introducing each of our family members and friends- we lit a couple of incense to (casually) announce the news to our deceased grandparents and relatives

apparently burning incense is an invitation to ancestral spirits and to deliver wishes to predecessors

smoke from the burning incense guides people to safety or safe passing when they die- it also guides em back home on days like these

the spirit(s) depart when all of the incense has burned

next month is my grandma’s “deathiversary” so we’ll be paging her again soon

we used a tea set that was used to celebrate my 1st birthday to pour and serve (my pick) of vanilla caramel black tea to my grandpa and our parents

pizza man’s mom doesn’t like tea so i was happy i picked something she did enjoy!

but when my mom brought her family to america from vietnam- she asked them if they could bring a tea set specifically for me

my mom said it’s meant to be used to celebrate any of my special occasions

then me and pizza man said some nice words to each other and exchanged rings

my ring was pizza man’s grandma’s- his grandpa initially proposed with a smaller diamond but after he saved up enough he got her this bigger one

i don’t listen to any comments that suggest or imply this carbon rock is not humongous 🤣

pizza man paid to get it resized and to repair its prongs (it was well worn by grandma mercedes 🥺)

also found out my ring size is 3.25 (US) haha 😭

he also decided to get his grandpa’s ring resized and to wear it too!

my mom put this necklace on me- she says it reads “happiness” (i can’t confirm lol) but she received it from her mother-in-law when she got engaged to my dad

my mom was too scared to wear it after their tea ceremony cause it’s 24 karat gold and she didn’t wanna wreck it

she said 24 karat gold hasn’t been combined with other metals so it’s soft

i guess couples at viet tea ceremonies often get 24 karat jewelry- the idea is they can quickly sell it/melt it down for hard times

my mom also passed down her favorite jade bracelet and my grandma’s favorite diamond earrings to me 🥺

and on my 1st birthday my mom got a special ring made to celebrate my birth- she put it on a chain so the person i marry can wear it close to their heart

my mom also got a special ring necklace made to celebrate my sibling’s birth and gave it to their fiancée during their tea ceremony

it’s just the two of us so no more shiny token trophies up for grabs! 😤

i laughed when pizza man had to squat down so low so my mom could put the necklace on him 

after the ceremony i asked him if he wanted me to help him take it off (my sibling’s fiancée keeps theirs in a safe cause she’s too scared to wear it daily) but pizza man was like "no i like it 😄” and wore it to sleep and showered with it and hasn’t taken it off since 😭🤣

at the end of the ceremony we lit the candles on the altar to represent the union of our families!

then we ate lots of food haha

my parents both cooked! egg rolls, fried rice, lo mein, bột chiên (fried taro rice cake)

my mom was excited because she knew many of our guests weren’t very familiar with vietnamese food and wanted to share that with them 🥺

and my dad was just so excited for me and pizza man and had so much fun getting the supplies and decorations 😭

my aunt and uncle and sister-in-law brought vịt quay (peking duck), heo quay (roast pork), gỏi tôm (shrimp salad), bánh hỏi (rice vermicelli), xôi gấc (sweet red sticky rice topped with coconut, peanuts and salt)

and pizza man’s mom and family brought lots of desserts

we have always been so amazed with how good their sweets taste and look! 🥺

we also got an ice cream cake

i wasn’t thinking and asked em to write “nicholas and amy lễ đính hôn” and they called me and were like wtf is this and i was like oh no it’s ok haha don’t worry about it! 😭🤣

we had some photos displayed but my sibling took lots of nice pictures of the whole thing!

i was happy i actually got the chance to spend time with and talk to everyone who came!

it went so well and we had so much fun that we’re thinking of doing something similar for our wedding- probably a backyard wedding haha

i was telling pizza man apparently some tea ceremonies have the first half take place at the bride’s home and then the later half is at the groom’s home 🤔

anyway reminder that leftover egg rolls can be reheated in the toaster

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who's gonna tell him

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Heartbeat.

By Old Xian

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ALL OF TIANSHAN KISSES:

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Due to current world events, you may be experiencing depression or severe anxiety. If that’s the case, I am sorry. You are not alone, and you DO matter, even though you may not feel that way right now. It’s good that you’re in the world, I promise.

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I made dis

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like or reblog if you save it

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arctic monkeys - the ultracheese

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Protection Spells (and Hexes) for the BLM Movement

As promised, here is a list of protection spells and similar things that can be used for the BLM protestors, as well as hexes for oppressors, for any hex-friendly witches who wish to do so! All spells and info are linked to the original posters, so please give their posts some appreciation if you use them, too, and please don’t reshare their stuff without crediting them!

Protections

Using tarot to protect someone

Protection spell masterlist

Written spell specifically for protesters

In-the-moment protection spell

Crystals with protective properties

Candle spell for protecting others

Spell for BLM

Sigils for BLM

Emoji spell to protect protesters

Another emoji spell for protesters

Sigil to protect protesters

Spell jar for protection

Spell jar for protesters

Protection charms for protesters

Jinxes, Hexes, and Curses

A jinxes, hexes and curses masterpost

Tips for hexing and cursing

Curse for guilt

How-to guide to curses

Curse that’s fueled by rage

Materials list for cursing/hexing

Reflection hex

Candle curse

Revenge hex

Using tarot to avenge yourself/someone

How to cast a curse

As always, use your own judgement regarding your personal ethics and your skill level as a witch, before casting any spells. If anyone has anything else they wish to include, please feel free to add to this list, as it is by no means comprehensive! This is just some of what I was able to gather together for this.

I drew from a lot of sources for these and did my best to make sure they weren’t from any closed practices, but if they are and I missed that PLEASE let me know so I can either edit the post appropriately or remove it entirely. The same goes for if a post of yours was linked here and you wish to have it removed!

With that said, Black Lives Matter, and let’s cast some spells for them, witches. 

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Grimoire ideas

About you:

How you got started in the craft

Your spiritual journey

Things you connect to (animals, elements, plants, ect)

Types of magic you do

Your natal chart

Your deities (if you have any)

Correspondences:

Remember, you don't need to write down correspondences you will never need! So instead, write about...

Crystals you have/want

Plants you can grow yourself/already have around you. Check your spice cabinet

And list things to use those for! So that would be herb bundles to burn, salves, recipes, and so on.

Other things you can use in magic that you already have

This would be things like sea shells, snail shells, grass, dirt, candles. Get creative!

Other witchcraft stuff:

Your sigils

Planets

The sun/moon +moon phases

Zodiac signs

The elements

Symbolism (animals, shapes, and whatever else you wish to add)

Spells:

What makes a spell that works!!! This should help with making your own spells

What NOT to do

Different types of spells

Spells you will actually use

Divination:

A section on tarot cards and their meanings

How to use a pendulum

Meanings of oracle cards

Rune meanings and how to cast them

Lesser known forms of divination!!!

Mental health:

Grounding and centering

Burn out care and being energy efficient

A list of what motivates you to do your craft

Small spells for self care

Astral work:

Your astral space (a map, a description, drawings of important locations)

Your astral body, if it's any different than your physical one

A list of spirits and important information about them

Protection, sheilding, banishing, and safety

Manners when interacting with spirits and what NOT to do

Methods of projection/travel that work for you

Post-astral grounding methods

General spirit work:

How to interact with spirits and how NOT to interact with spirits

Protection, banishing, shielding, and other safety things

How to give offerings (there's more than one way!)

Methods of communicating with spirits

Signs of spirits

Ways spirits can send signs and messages (animals, dreams, and so on)

A list of different kinds of spirits you work with/have encountered

A section for research, especially if you're doing deity work.

Grounding, if it helps you afterwards

A log of interaction with spirits. This can be like a divination journal but with spirits, if that's what you do.

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Glimpses 🍂

Twitter | Instagram | Deviantart

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Do I Wanna Know by Arctic Monkeys, arranged for cello. From chromatik.

Download here and here.

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𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐍𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧🤍

000 -  The universe is letting you know that new beginnings will help you elevate your vibration and connect with your full potential 

111 - You’re on the right path to abundance, alignment, and creating your dream reality. You’re manifesting things with ease. 

222 - Trust you are on the right path. Stay focused on the things you want in your life rather than what you don’t want. 

333 - The Universe is working with you on making your dreams a reality. Belive in yourself and trust your intuition.

444 - Your being guided and supported through whatever you’re focusing on at the moment. Don’t stop, continue and keep going.

555 - A quantum leap is ahead, Embrace yourself for massive shifts. Be open to new opportunities in all areas of your life. 

666 - You’re distracted and need refocusing on your goals. The Universe is telling you to wake up to your higher self

777 - You’re in the frequency of manifesting your dreams. Good things are coming your way, let it flow your way. 

888 - Financial abundance is on it’s way to you. The Universe is letting you know you’re successful.

999 - You’re being told to embrace change and step into alignment with your soul purpose and higher self 

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hi i know i don’t use this account as much but this is urgent.

i’m a black trans person trying to move out of an uncomfortable living situation and i’m living on my own with no financial support from family. i need to raise this by September 1st. please rt im begging

https://www.gofundme.com/f/23prjwv2uo

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[tumblr] oh lol

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My friend from Lebanon wrote up a really good thread on Twitter I thought I should share here, just to clear up some of the inaccuracies floating around:

And here are some of the links they provided:

https://www.supportlrc.app/

https://www.gofundme.com/f/prevent-suicides-due-to-poverty-and-unemployment

https://www.gofundme.com/f/medical-relief-to-lebanon

https://www.gofundme.com/f/hope-for-lebanon

https://www.gofundme.com/f/lebanonneedsorg

http://www.caritas.org.lb/get_involved/donate

https://beitelbaraka.net/donation/pay/

https://gogetfunding.com/beirut-emergency-relief/

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lebanon-relief

https://www.givingloop.org/offrejoie

https://www.gofundme.com/f/beirut-explosion-emergency-disaster-relief