#city magic

[thevirginwitch]

City Magic: Painted Rock Wards

This post was released a week early over on my Patreon! You can subscribe for free to be notified of important projects announcements, or subscribe for as little as $2 a month to gain early access to my content, exclusive access to research/reading notes, and free digital goodies! Your support means the world to me and helps me to continue doing what I love.

We’ve all seen those pretty painted rocks over on Pinterest, right? These bad boys? Or perhaps you’ve even seen them around your neighborhood/public parks.

Traditionally, these are meant to be painted (sometimes with words of encouragement) and left in public spaces for people to take home, as an act of kindness. Some others paint them for their garden, either to deter pests with vibrant colors, or they’re used to label whatever’s in their garden.

Now, if you live in a big city, you probably have felt a disconnect from your craft or your practice. It’s difficult to connect with a nature-oriented spirituality, such as witchcraft, when you live in a concrete jungle! But there are many, many ways to feel connected to your craft, even if you don’t live in the middle of the woods or have a lot of nature around you. One of these ways is to connect with your neighborhood.

Your neighborhood has mass significance to your life, whether you realize it or not: this is where you live, where you work, where you breathe, where you practice your craft – you must make yourself known, and make the neighborhood known to yourself as well. One of the best ways to do this is to take walks!

Whenever you’re ready, take a walk through your neighborhood and bring a map, notebook, and a pen. As you walk, observe the behaviors of the residents around you. Do they seem to be struggling with anything? What kind of people are they like? Write these characteristics down. If you notice any parts of your neighborhood that evoke any specific emotions (such as unease, happiness, peace, or anxiety), mark them on your map. You might also notice some “problem areas” – perhaps some patches of the road or sidewalk are horribly paved and need to be repaired, or there’s a lot of loud dogs constantly barking at the end of your block. Mark these areas on your map as well, and report back to your home when you are ready.

Picking Your Purpose

Now that we’ve identified a few “problems” and made observations within your neighborhood, we can decide what we want to do. Do you want to protect against thieves? Ward against illness for one of your elderly neighbors? This is the time to select the primary purpose for your ward.

Picking The Area

Take the map that you marked up during your walk. Connect any common points you see (for example, connect up the "peaceful" areas you marked on your map, or connect any points that have a common theme). What kind of shape does it have? Does it remind you of any popular symbols? Can you use the general shape of the area to generate a sigil or symbol that represents the area? What area(s) would most benefit from your rock wards?

Here is an example of how I created a sigil from a fictional city map I found! Obviously, play around with this idea until it makes sense to you. You can connect up different routes, or perhaps create a border around the areas that feel safest to you.

Now is the time you also want to pick where you want to place your wards - you can use your neighborhood sigil to influence where you place them, or, place them based on intuition or based on need. For example, placing a rock ward at the end of the noisiest block, or in the middle of the block that has the most number of children in the area.

Creating and Using Your Sigils/Symbols

Now, you want to develop symbols or sigils for your purpose. You can use any method you’d like! You may wish to incorporate your neighborhood sigil into each one you create, but ultimately the design is up to you. This is also the point where you would “charge” your sigil, with whatever method you see fit - as long as the design, intention, and charging method makes sense to you, that’s all that matters!

Painting Your Rocks

Finally, onto the fun part!

Now, you could simply paint your sigils on your rock and call it a day. Or, you could paint your sigil, and layer a more “mundane” piece of artwork on top of the sigil, leaving the sigil hidden underneath. This technique works best if the “mundane” artwork connects with the ward’s purpose in some way (for example, if your ward is for protection against nosy neighbors, you could paint eyes; or if your ward is for health, you could paint green colors, or even a red cross). I definitely recommend this “layering” method of painting your rocks so no one in your neighborhood ends up reporting any “suspicious looking rocks” with “satanic symbols” on them to your local Facebook groups!

Materials

acrylic paint

rocks

paint brushes

toothpicks (optional)

paint markers

outdoor/water-proof sealant such as Mod Podge: Outdoor

Instructions

Lay out your rocks and other materials

Seal your rocks with a coat or two of your sealant before you begin painting. This is an important step, since rocks are porous and will suck up any paint you try to apply!

Paint your rocks to your heart's content! If you are layering paint on your rocks, please make sure each layer is dry before painting the next.

Once your rocks are completely dry, seal them up with your outdoor/water-proof sealant so they don't get damaged in the elements.

Lastly, take another trip through your neighborhood to place your rocks. Converse with the neighbors if you feel inclined, and make double-sure of the locations you chose for your wards. I recommend taking regular walks throughout your neighborhood to check on these wards, and make sure they’re doing their job. You may wish to refresh the wards with a new coat of paint, or replace them with something new if the situations within the neighborhood change.

Ultimately, magic is what you make it, especially when you live in a big city. Warding your neighborhood and showing care for the people that live there is one of the many ways you can connect to your neighborhood on a deeper level and feel more connected to your practice locally.

Recommended further reading: Urban Magick by Diana Rajchel

#thevirginwitch #witchcraft #witch #witchy #witchblr #witches of tumblr #city witch #urban magic #city magic #witch crafting #witchcrafting #rock painting #crafts #diy #crafting #ward #warding #baneful magic #baneful witch #protection magic #wards

[dimalink]

Between houses it is opening a fairytale view. Tree is just like from autumn, with leaves with yellow color. Red building is in a far. And yellow bricks houses are around the sides of this space. Amazing – is near. Beauty things of city landscapes. City – it is unbelievable mix of houses, different colors and trees! Trees are playing not a small role in the city, by the way!

City - it is an excellent place to have a walk. To walk and observe what is where. What is here. What is there. Lots of interesting places to observe. There are calm locations. With their own interesting places. And every time it will be something new and different.

So, this picture shows how I imagine autumn. Something that is multicolor. Yellow, red. Such a hurricane of mix of colors. Yellow, orange, red. But this photo is made in the end of march. But anyway, it looks also like autumn. And good to be a spring. Also, I cannot not to remember how beautiful looks autumn forest in computer game Heroes of Might And Magic 2. Very remarkable game screen it is possible to make. Also, such houses are there, around autumn forest. Unbelievable fantasy. Autumn – it is also like fantasy story. Or early spring.

#photo #photography #street #city #city landscape #city magic #city fantasy #autumn #spring #go round #walking around #heroes of might and magic 2 #fantasy #fairytale #yellow leaves #tree #house #building #yellow bricks #red bricks #city style #area #location #street photography

[ancat-dubh-old]

made my first throwing-bones-style divination set! out of stuff I pulled out of the river, from an osprey talon to a 16th century clay pipe.

I’d had the idea knocking around for a while, mostly to give myself something to do with all the shit I end up with from my on-again-off-again mudlarking hobby lmao, but had been psyching myself out a bit with execution and the potential to overcomplicate (you mean you don’t want a customised 50+ piece divination set that only makes sense to you on a good day??). in the end I ended up making a super simple one for a coven friend’s birthday – seven pieces, handwritten guide, and whatever magic he wants to add to the baseline.

if anyone’s interested in making their own, for me it roughly looked like:

cleaning and magically cleansing (with salt and rosemary) some objects from my mudlarking collection

spreading out a major arcana tarot deck I use specifically for big magical work and tossing the pieces over the deck. whichever individual cards they landed on became rough guides for simple, big-picture divinatory meanings rather than exact tarot equivalents (metal ring/Query, broken shell/Querent, osprey claw/Transformation, old nail/Collaboration, clay pipe/Joy, hagstone/Natural World, pottery shard/Human World)

doing a few practice queries about issues I know very well and working backwards to narrow down the pieces’ meanings, noticing what felt like intuitive ways to look at a spread and how the pieces fit together

developing a basic inside-out reading system with a few variables (objects that touch are mostly immediately relevant to one another, double-sided pieces have different, more nuanced meanings e.g. the Natural World piece can mean the material natural environment vs. nature magic/spirituality, pointy objects indicate direction or relationships between pieces) + leaving plenty of room for the new owner to develop his own reading style

charging the pieces with a few magical tools from my/my friend’s local practice to fix their meanings and connection to place, then leaving them out on the altar with an offering to the city

honestly kinda amped to make more of these!

#bone divination #found object #my stuff #divination #city magic

[falasteeniferret]

Moodtober Day 23: City Witch

#city witch #city magic #witchtober #Moodtober #inktober #halloween #my moodboards

[rosasyruda]

City magic 🧿🏙️

#city magic #evil eye #sacramento #urban magic

[z0urcherri]

#youtube #les dudek #city magic #70s music #70's music #hand-picked music

[sbeep]

Where's my chinhands and kicky feet emoji, I need one.

#Halsin #BG3 #baldur's gate 3 #Druid #Wood Elf #Hey you all should take Halsin and Karlach to the magic shop in the city to hear them say Haunted Poppet~~~

[holdoncallfailed]

here is the life i've always longed for.....!!

#idk i just like this picture #sometimes when i'm sad i try to look at the city thru the eyes of my 13 year old self and everything becomes magical again #personal #nyc

[kimjonestheone]

Your favorite girl

#black stories #black woman appreciation #black girl magic #black girl aesthetic #black tumblr #ebony #sexy ebony #entertainment #love #self love #black beauty #beautiful #black women #blktumblr #city

[arcusxx]

gordi art

#dark art #dark photography #dark illustration #dark aesthetic #mood #atmospheric black metal #atmosphere #ambient #dark ambient #dark city #city #rain #shadow #black and white photography #bnw photography #occult #magic #demon #ritual

[augustswife]

jt.

#black beauty #melanin #pretty #black girl magic #black tumblr #city girls #jt city girls #black girl moodboard #black girl aesthetic

[thevirginwitch]

city magic tip!

if you need to banish something big from your life, attach it (either physically or mentally) to a bus or truck route that runs counter-clockwise through the city.

(source: Urban Magick by Diana Rajchel)

#thevirginwitch #witchcraft #witch #witchblr #witchy #witches of tumblr #witch tip #city magic #urban magic

[beautyxcharms]

JT FACE CARD😍😍

#jt city girls #city girls #melanin #black is beautiful #black girl magic #black girl makeup #black girl moodboard #black girl aesthetic #black girl luxury #rapper #female rapper #it girl #soft black women #feminine aesthetic #feminine black women

[ukulelegodparent]

The connection between a person and their nearest river growing up is literally so special

#like you can feel it in the way they talk about it #the Danube has a magic to me that the Rhine or the Elster or idk the Elbe could never have #I go to a city on the Danube and even if I've never been there I will still feel somewhat at home bc that's my river. #it either passed by or will pass by my home #i cannot explain it

[shitpostingfornow]

#dimension 20 #lou wilson #Brennan lee mulligan #fantasy high #fabian seacaster #the unsleeping city #the unsleeping city 2 #kingston brown #fantasy high sophomore year #d20 fantasy high #a crown of candy #d20 acoc #acoc #amethar rocks #king amethar #misfits and magic #dimension20 #mismag #neverafter #intrepid heroes #whitney jammer #a starstruck odyssey #dimension 20 starstruck #d20 starstruck #dimension twenty #starstruck odyssey #a court of fey and flowers #acofaf #lord squak airavis #squak airavis

[rosasyruda]

I live in a city next to a river. It’s called the city of trees. It’s a ten minute walk from my house to the river where I can also see downtown. I’ve seen a coyote out here before and lots of different types of birds. A mixture of concrete and nature. I’ve been to this river hundreds of times but recently I came to a spot where it was more quiet and away from the noise. I was reminded of the suffering that occurred on this land. This is Nisenan land and there’s a story of pain here. Being in Northern California, the greed of the gold rush brought devastation to the Nisenan people and their lands. It’s clear to me how important it is to honor what has happened here before getting more acquainted with the spirits. I can feel a sadness when I sit with the river. There’s so much that the trees have to tell.

#trees #nature #spirits #witchblr #witchcraft #city magic #magic