@ErgiWitch uh
no

@kara_dreamer sorry that's me channeling the immense paranoia I have because of trauma into Jokes

@ErgiWitch no, it's fine! I was trying to work out some less direct way in my head to get you something on the list. tempted to get you the NERV emblem but that's not exactly witchy...

@kara_dreamer why would you get me anything??? I'm a stranger?? Though I'll appreciate it obviously, especially witch stuff bc I want to find something more spiritually fulfilling than atheism or the Dad Religions

@ErgiWitch dunno! I just feel like it. I'm trying to get into witchy stuff myself, so I'm sympathetic to the cause of nudging you in that direction...

@kara_dreamer well either way I've made a mastofriend, which is good all on its own. How do you deal with the outsized terf presence witch/neopagan circles seem to have? Because I'll be honest it's held me back

@ErgiWitch I know what you mean. I've been going in for a highly idiosyncratic practice as a result, avoiding the neo-pagan mainstream. Wicca's got its charms but it's really gender binaristic and (for me anyway) too rigid in its symbolism. I've been working out on my own what symbols mean the most to me. "Chaos magic" is a term that's been used for that sort of highly individualized approach

@kara_dreamer I was thinking of combining the roles and symbols of priests and priestesses and spitting in the eye of anyone who complains

@ErgiWitch a wise approach! like...don't ever forget that Wicca isn't really all that old. there's a difference between worshipping ancient deities, and actually having an ancient tradition. and why should we stick so closely to tradition anyway? so if anyone gives you shit about not being "authentic" or something, just tell 'em you haven't time for old stuff that doesn't work for you. if you ever feel like you're _forcing_ yourself to regard some spiritual practice as meaningful when it doesn't actually sit well with you, throw it away because otherwise you're not gonna get anything out of it

@kara_dreamer the only twitchy things on there, I guess, are the two witchcraft books, the rider tarot deck, and the world of darkness rpg books. Last one is dubious obviously

@ErgiWitch blech, how do I actually send stuff as a gift? I've never actually done this before, and I'm afraid of accidentally sending something to myself. I thought the whole point of Amazon was to make this stuff easy. maybe I should just paypal you twenty bucks XD

@kara_dreamer I don't really know. Findom is the only sex work I never did and I've never had regular fans to buy me things so it's never come up. This list is just something to throw at relatives who don't know how to shop for me

@ErgiWitch *nods* well, anyway, I _am_ prepared to get you a deck of tarot cards, anyway, if I can figure out how to get Amazon to do it for me. I figure everyone should at least have a deck of tarot cards.

@kara_dreamer I pared down the delivery addresses on my account to one and set a default

@kara_dreamer I had one a while back but I found out they don't count unless someone gives them to you so I passed it on to my sister. Never did much with it anyway, but I was younger and foolish

@ErgiWitch I feel like it's possible to build up an equivalent "bond" with a tarot deck just by working with it enough, but yeah, there's always going to be more power in a deck that's been passed on. there's a special magic in that.

@ErgiWitch @kara_dreamer Who told you that?

@Laurelai @ErgiWitch to be fair I've heard a somewhat different version of the idea, don't remember where

@kara_dreamer @ErgiWitch ive been doing witchy stuff since i was 13 and im 35 now and ive literally never heard this, in fact ive heard warnings to not let anyone other than you use your deck and not to let anyone even touch your deck unless you are reading them right then, and that you should cleanse the deck after

@Laurelai @ErgiWitch really! but that's not what this is about. this is about handing on a deck when you're not going to use it any more.

@kara_dreamer @ErgiWitch Well thats just good practice to prevent waste :)

@Laurelai @ErgiWitch but what I'd specifically picked up somewhere, don't remember where, is that it's better to get a tarot deck that someone's handed down, rather than just buying one

@kara_dreamer @ErgiWitch Weird. Honestly though what you believe about it is more important than what someone else says about it. So do what works for you :)

@ErgiWitch @Laurelai oh, agreed. to me it's all about building a sense of meaning, and meaning can come from many places. @kel, my familiar, happens to attach particular significance to objects and events that come to us by chance, for example...but one doesn't often just FIND tarot cards (maybe at a thrift shop)