Astro Calendar 2023

✨Astro Calendar 2023✨

⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊ Lunar Events: ⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊

● Jan 7th Full Moon in Cancer

○ Jan 22nd New Moon in Aquarius -  Lunar New Year

● Feb 6th Full Moon in Leo

○ Feb 20th New Moon in Pisces

● March 7th Full Moon in Virgo  

○ March 22nd New Moon in Leo

● April 6th Full Moon in Libra

○ April 20th New Moon in Aries 
◉ Total Eclipse

● May 6th Full Moon in Scorpio ◉ Total Eclipse

○ May 20th New Moon in Taurus

● June 4th Full Moon in Sagittarius

○ June 18th New Moon in Gemini

● July 3rd Full Moon in Capricorn

○ July 18th New Moon in Cancer

● Aug 2nd Full Moon in Aquarius - Supermoon

○ Aug 16th New Moon in Leo

● Aug 31st Full Moon in Pisces - Blue Moon

○ Sep 15th New Moon in Virgo

● Sep 29th Full Moon in Aries

○ Oct 15th New Moon in Libra ◉ Annular Eclipse

● Oct 29th Full Moon in Taurus ◉ Partial Eclipse

○ Nov 13th New Moon in Scorpio

● Nov 27th Full Moon in Gemini

○ Dec 13th New Moon in Sagittarius

● Dec 27th Full Moon in Cancer

⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊ Wheel of the Year: ⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊

✧˖°.☼.°˖✧Southern Hemisphere✧˖°.☼.°˖✧

Lammas/Lughnasadh  Feb 2nd

Mabon/Autumn Equinox  March 21st

Samhain May 1st

Yule/Winter Solstice Jun 22nd

Imbolc Aug 1st

Ostara/Spring Equinox Sep 23rd

Beltane Oct 31st

Litha/Summer Solstice Dec 22nd

✧˖°.☼.°˖✧Northern Hemisphere✧˖°.☼.°˖✧

Imbolc Feb 1st

Ostara/Spring Equinox March 30th

Beltane May 1st

Litha/Summer Solstice June 21st

Lammas/Lughnasadh Aug 1st

Mabon/Autumn Equinox Sep 22d

Samhain Oct 31st

Yule/Winter Solstice Dec 21st

˖⁺‧₊˚  ˚₊‧⁺˖Retrogrades & Directs: ˖⁺‧₊˚  ˚₊‧⁺˖

☿ Mercury

RX 29th Dec 2022 –> 19th Jan  //  20 Days

RX 21st April –> 15th May  //  23 Days

RX 24th Aug –> 16th Sep  //  23 Days

RX 13th Dec –> 2nd Jan 2024  //  19 Days

♁ Venus RX  23rd Jul –> 4th Sep  //  42 Days

♂️Mars RX 31st Oct 2022 –> 13th Jan  //  74 Days

♃ Jupiter RX 5th Sep –> 31st Dec  //  117 Days

♄ Saturn RX 18th June –> 4th Nov  // 139 Days

♅ Uranus

RX 24th Aug –> 23rd Jan  //  151 Days

RX 29th Aug –> 27th Jan 2024  //  151 Days

♆ Neptune RX 1st Jul –> 7th Dec  //  158 Days

♇ Pluto RX 2nd May –> 11th Oct  //  162 Days

* ⋆·˚ ༘ * 🔭 Astro Events to See:  * ⋆·˚ ༘ * 🔭

Quadrantids Meteor Shower 1st-7th Jan; Peaks on the 3rd. Full Moon

Venus Conjunct Saturn Jan 22nd

Venus Conjunct Jupiter March 1st

Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower 19th April -28th May. Strongest in Southern Hemisphere

Lyrids Meteor Shower 16th-25th April, peak on the 22nd/23rd

Venus near Pleiades & Hyades star clusters April 21st/22nd  (20 meteors per hour)

Venus-Mars-Moon Triangle May 23rd

Beehive Star Cluster near Mars & Venus June 1st/2nd

Venus-Mars-Moon Triangle June 6th

Moon Venus Mars Visible low in the west on the Solstice of June 21st

Delta Aquarids July 12th - Aug 23rd; peak 28th/29th July

Perseids Meteor Shower begins July 27th and peaks on 12th Aug

Blue Moon Aug 31st

Oct 14th Partial Solar Eclipse, visible to Southern USA; Gulf of Mexico

Leonids Nov 3rd - Dec 2nd; peak Nov 18th

Geminids Meteor Shower Dec 4th - 17th, peak on the 12th (120-160 meteors per hour)

Fetches, Familiars, and Fylgjur

These titles have seemed to have been blurred or the meaning completely lost in modern day because they are conflated to mean the same thing when they are not the same things at all. So this post is gonna clear all that up.

Fetches:

A fetch is in Irish and English folklore, the term for one’s Double, an apparition of a living person. The fetch is also called a “co-walker” in England. Seeing a fetch is a sign of ill-boding, although in Irish lore, to see a fetch in the morning means one will have a long life. When seen at night, however, the fetch is believed to foretell a person’s death.

Fetches are seen by persons with clairvoyant ability, or by friends or family of the living person just prior to, or at the moment of, that person’s death. As such, the fetch is the equivalent of certain crisis apparitions, a term applied in psychical research and parapsychology. Sometimes the fetch is witnessed by the person who is to die several days or weeks prior to his or her death. As such, it is similar to the Germanic doppelgänger and to some conceptions of the British wraith. Francis Grose associated the term with Northern England in his 1787 Provincial Glossary, but otherwise it seems to have been in popular use only in Ireland.

Corresponding to its contemporary prominence in "national superstitions", the fetch appeared in Irish literature starting in early 19th century. "The fetch superstition" is the topic of John and Michael Banim's Gothic story "The Fetches" from their 1825 work Tales by the O'Hara Family and Walter Scott used the term in his Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, published in 1830, in a brief reference to "his … fetch or wraith, or double-ganger".

Familiars:

Familiars are (usually animal) spirits that can guide us and aid our magical practice and rituals. They can appear in the form of animals we are partial to and will change their form to be a more comforting animal for us.

In European folklore of the medieval and early modern periods, familiars (sometimes referred to as familiar spirits) were believed to be supernatural entities that would assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic. According to records of the time, those alleging to have had contact with familiar spirits reported that they could manifest as numerous forms, usually as an animal, but sometimes as a human or humanoid figure, and were described as "clearly defined, three-dimensional… forms, vivid with colour and animated with movement and sound", as opposed to descriptions of ghosts with their "smoky, undefined form[s]".

When they served witches, they were often thought to be malevolent, but when working for cunning folk they were often considered benevolent (although there was some ambiguity in both cases). The former were often categorized as demons, while the latter were more commonly thought of and described as fairies. The main purpose of familiars was to serve the witch or young witch, providing protection for them as they came into their new powers.

Since the 20th century some magical practitioners, including adherents of the Neopagan religion of Wicca, use the concept of familiars, due to their association with older forms of magic. These contemporary practitioners use pets or wildlife, or believe that invisible versions of familiars act as magical aids.

(familiars are almost NEVER physical, so that cat you adopted from the shelter is almost certainly not your familiar. I have only ever seen one physical familiar in my entire life and it is an EXCEEDINGLY rare circumstance)

Fylgja:

Fylgjur (plural of Fylgja) (pronounced "feel-hyur" & "feel-hya" respectively) are supernatural guardian spirits, bound to a family line, who are said to accompany a person throughout life. Like many concepts in Norse mythology, the Fylgja is sometimes hard to comprehend or explain.

Fylgja, translated from Old Norse, means "someone that accompanies". They can appear in two ways.

The first is an animal form, which can be described as an extension of an aspect or characteristic of a particular family. They seem to embody the spirit, and guide the one they choose, or work deeds for them.

Maria Kvilhaug translated and summarised Professor Else Mundal's academic paper on the topic, “Fylgjemotiva i norrøn litteratur” (Fylgjur Motifs in Norse Literature):

"The animal fylgja motif is sometimes blended with the húgr-motif. [Húgr (masculine singular) means “intent”, “desire”, “thought”, “soul”, “heart” and seems to have been a part of the human soul that could move outside of the body in animal shape]. Manna hugir ["the intents of men"] sometimes replace the term manna fylgjor [the “followers” of men] and usually then appear in the shape of wolves. Wolves, being associated with fierce passion and desire (or greed and hunger) are closely connected to the húgr. The other animals appear as manna fylgjor."

The second description from “Fylgjemotiva i norrøn litteratur” explains how Fylgjur are female entities. They act as a guardian for a family, and attach themselves to an individual at birth, following through the generations down a certain lineage. They are likely to represent an ancestral mother. We know that the mothers were celebrated, with female ancestral spirits being described as "Dísir" (meaning "Ladies"). These female spirits are bound to a family of which they are matriarchal ancestors, and can be both benevolent or malevolent.

In the Anglo-Saxon and later English superstitions, an animal Fylgja became known as a fetch. Whether this was originally the same creature that appears in Icelandic literature, or whether this is a similar concept, it is hard to tell. A fetch in the British witchcraft tradition is an animal spirit, or living animal, that would allow its "owner" to travel with it or send it on errands for magical workings or spirit travel.

It is more common for us to see the witch's fetch depicted as a familiar; a physical animal that aids the practitioner in her works. Many folk tales describe how these animals might also be the witch transformed, and physical injuries suffered by the animal matching those of the witch once she is restored to human form. This shape-shifting also appeared as a Norse concept.

In modern reconstructed Heathen spirituality, a Fylgja can be seen as an attendant female spirit or animal, which may visit you in dreams, or appear if you are practising Seiðr, trance-working, or going on a spirit journey. People sometimes feel that their Fylgja has run on ahead of them when travelling in a physical sense.

Money Bowl:

•rice

•coins and money

•mint & basil

•green stones or finance related crystals (I used tigers eye, adventurine, pyrite & snowflake obsidian for a few different purposes)

•green candle

1. Fill your bowl with rice, place your coins and money around, place your herbs and stones

2. Place and light your candle with intention to bring in money!

Clairaudience Development Tip

One of the best tips i learned when developing my clairaudience was listening to music. When listening to music, just pick out the guitar, the drums, the vocals, the fuckin triangle in the back, just pick a sound an isolate it, listening only to that for a while. Then switch to a different sound to isolate.

Sound isolation is a MASSIVE help when developing your clairaudience so you can learn to isolate the sound of your deities/entities speaking to you so you can better hear them.

It works so well, give it a try and see what you think.

I love the tumblr witch community

Maybe I'm in a very pristine bubble in it but every witch I've met on here is so interactive, informative, and helpful. I appreciate how we're all trying to educate each other on helpful things.

And also saying fuck you to TERFs and other discriminatory bullshit

Witch in Lockdown - small things I do to stay connected to my craft on a daily basis

☕ Drink my daily coffee with a favorite flavor of creamer

🐱 Spend time with my animal familiars

🌲 Go into the woods

🏇 Exercise outdoors when weather permits

🧘‍♀️ Meditate

📚 Read

📝 Journal

🎶 Work on my music

🧙‍♀️ Network with other witches on social media

🕯 Organize my tools

🔮 Daily tarot card draws

💁‍♀️ Grow out my hair

💑 Spend time with my husband

💕 Spend time with my best friends when possible

💻 Witchy blog posts on Tumblr

📖 Research more witchy stuff