Cat’s Rants: Confessions of an Occult Mastermind

Everything you ever wanted to know about Hoodoo, Rootwork, or the Occult! The internet’s longest running occult blog, established 2004

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“I’m Cat, and for a long time, Cat’s Rants, the longest running occult based blog was over at TypePad – since 2004. Sadly, TypePad shuttered permanently as of September 30th 2025. Please be patient while I export 21 years of blog posts over to my new WordPress location. With a much easier url to remember and all your favorite posts all the way back to 04, Cat’s Rants should hopefully improve over its former location.” Cat has practiced and studied the occult, tarot, and spellcasting for over 35 years, and has shared her expert teachings on how to cast your own spells, including original spells and recipes on the Cat’s Rants blog since 2004. A professional tarot reader since the 1990s, she’s also an internationally-known psychic reader and tarot expert. As a published and respected occultist for over two decades, and an expert in the fields of rootwork, hoodoo, and Catholic folk magic, she continues to serve the public by teaching authentic spell casting and offering readings and services.

  • The Importance of Learning Tarot Using a Spread

    Hey kids,

    So because I come across so much ignorance on the topic lately, I figured I'd write briefly again about tarot, which having read the cards since I was 12 or 13 (and I'm almost 44,) leads me to believe I may just be an authority on the subject. 😛

    For starters you DO NOT need to be gifted your tarot deck. Were that true, it sure as hell would be inconvenient for someone who reads cards professionally when they need a new deck. You don't even need to be gifted the first one. I'm unsure who's saying this but I run into it frequently enough to need to take a stand and say that is utter and complete HOGWASH. 

    While you can technically "pull a card" much like you could draw a rune, you, in my educated opinion, should not actually start out learning to read tarot that way, nor is it a practice many people keep up when they actually learn to read the cards. So, when I see a novice reader pull a card out, then try to interpret each "question" with another card, I die a little inside. I really do. This means if I don't quit a few subreddits and a Facebook group, I might not last the year. 😉

    Now, remember, your spread is like a structure of a sentence almost. It's important, and this is why just "pulling a card" for each question can just make you more confused. A single card has a very broad meaning and it is meant to. This is why I pull ten cards and don't require "Clarifiers" more than once in a blue moon, whereas others are like "I asked if my boyfriend of three days loves me and I got this and this is a clarifier and then I asked how long it will last, and then I asked what the issues between us will be and then I asked…" Now see, if this novice reader came to me, and asked "Where are things going with this young gentleman I have been dating for three whole days?" and subsequently asked me all those questions on top of that, I would have drawn ten cards, one time, and could answer all of her questions.

    But I understand that the Celtic Cross can be complex for the ten positions being…well ten positions. Try starting out with a THREE CARD DRAW spread if it is easier.

    So back to our example – someone comes and asks me what is going on with this three day boyfriend. If I draw three cards it is in a line left to right, position one past, position two present, position three future. While this person is fictional I pulled three cards for her and got 1. two of wands, 2. three of cups, 3. 7 of cups. From this I assess this is a likely short term entanglement, which is in the midst of the infatuation phase, and will be hot and heavy for about 2-3 months but ultimately when the infatuation wears off, she will find that  this guy is not Mr Amazing. The two of wands lets me know she has really wanted a perfect functional relationship and has not really had a great time in her dating life, however has likely been spared any severe dating traumas but the 7 of cups is not a good sign this will work out whatsoever. The happiest time is in the present for her. Does three day boyfriend love her? He's clearly infatuated and enjoying the present, but if they've been dating for three days I'm going with no (and that's not psychic,) ultimately this relationship just won't work out, so it's likely he won't fall in love with her. The issue (seven of cups) is that they are just not compatible. 

    All that fucking information from three cards. THREE CARDS. 

    And let it be said that I could get a hell of a lot more from properly reading a ten card spread. If I can get MORE and COHERENT information using a spread, this might be a suggestion as to why you don't just pull a card for every question you have. The cards will ANSWER SEVERAL QUESTIONS with just one spread. 

    Then there is "It fell out of the deck" cards. Look, kids, I'm not sure if I have some gigantic mega hands over here, but judging that my ring size is relatively small, and I've never been told I have gigantic hands, I'm going with no…. So if you read "it fell out of the deck" over and over, I call bullshit. I'm shuffling my old deck with parrot bites out of it and torn edges and nope, no cards falling. So, if you're too clumsy to handle your deck and cards fall out, I recommend you pick them up, reshuffle, and lay down the cards. That these "it fell out" cards tend to be cups when I hear these stories, and the questions revolve around love is no surprise. 

    See, the problem with trying to read a love problem for yourself is you generally can't detach yourself from what you WANT the cards to say, and this can even affect which cards you put down, but it CLEARLY affects the interpretation.  I have seen SOOOOO MANY people trying their hardest (clearly from using a book or site to know all meanings the card MIGHT have) to put a positive spin on something that clearly is not a positive outcome when reading their cards. And I understand it, because when I was a novice (and I was DAMN YOUNG when I started reading cards,) I often naively believed this one was The One, and could not bear bad news and had done the same thing here and there, though at this point in my life, if I saw disaster when reading my relationship w the cards, I'd probably be like "Yeah, that figures," and not be too disturbed (even though I love Future Mr NinjaCat with all my heart.)

    Anyhow, hopefully this helps some of my readers who are trying to learn the tarot. 🙂

    ~Cat

     

  • “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”

    Hey Occulties,

    The above is a quote from Henry Ford, (albeit, I am working for memory, so hopefully that's verbatim,) but it really lends itself to what I get so frequently asked – how is it that I can stop lust for results? Well that anxious obsession is the child of doubt. Now, I'm not going to tell you that you should place your desired manifestations so far outside of the Sphere of Availability as to be ridiculous (example – just magically knowing calculus without ever having studied it,) but if you truly are so far into doubt that it seems impossible to you that someone might call you tonight because you did a spell to reconcile them, or that you might get that job you wanted and you have a spell to ensure that, and these doubts cause you great anxiety, leading to you obsessively overthinking, then realize, this is you believing that you can't, not believing you can. 

    So if you want my advice on how to stop lust for results/thinking your work to death, that's it – realize that if you believe you can, you're right. 

    ~Cat

  • Obsession Spell

    Hey Occulties,

    So if you ever read my book, you may have come across this one. I figured since y'all want someone to be obsessed all the time, you might enjoy it here for free. 🙂

    You will need:
    A pink figural candle in the sex of the desired target
    13 pins
    Poppy seed
    Licorice root
    Tobacco
    Come to Me
    Love Me
    Follow Me (Boy/Girl)
    A sock or undergarment belonging to the target (unwashed)

    Set the figural candle as described here. You will want to place pins in the heart, in the groin, in the buttocks, one in each eye, one in the throat, one through each hand, one in each foot, one in the belly, and one in each knee. As you place each pin, say “(Name of target), have no rest, have no peace, be tortured and be pained in your (body part being “pinned) until you come to me full of love and passion and desire!”

    Anoint the candle with each of your oils (you may need to use a Q-tip or swab for this. It’s kind of annoying with the pins in,) anointing up (base to wick) and sprinkle this with your herbs. Place the figural into a fire safe container, and light it. Holding your hands on each side of the candle, envision purple, red, and pink energy swirling from your palms into the candle while trying to keep the image of your target in your mind’s eye. If this is difficult for you, place an image of your target near the altar. Try to keep this in your mind for at least thirty seconds and say “(Name of target,) have no rest, have no peace, take no drink, nor eat no food. Find no pleasure, find no joy, and be with no other sexually or passionately until you come to me. Spirits of this place, seek (name of target) out and drive him/her mad with the need to see me, hear me, taste me, and touch me. Drive from his/her eyes, drive from his/her ears, and drive from his/her mind any other person who is not me. Obsess and control and torture and push and drive (name of target) to me. Fill him/her with want of me. Fill him/her with desire and love for me. Oh, (name of target,) I conjure you here at this moment at this hour to be tortured until you come to me and that all your thoughts be of me and know you are mine and mine alone!” Now wait, still keeping the image in your mind’s eye as described above. The will be something. A sound, perhaps, or a feeling, or any small sign like a pop. It might take 5 minutes, but it will come. When you get that sound, feeling, sense, etc, say “It is mine, as I have willed it! So be it!” Allow the candle to burn out. When it has, take the pins out of the wax and place them into the unwashed sock. Keep this under or near your bed until you tire of your lover’s obsession. When you tire of them, remove all pins from the sock and throw both away.

    Let me know if you have questions,

    ~Cat

  • Mercury F**king Retrograde

    Hey everyone, 

    Guess what time it is? It's time for Mercury Retrograde…(coming on Sept 27, but you're probably feeling it now because of the "shadow phase, and until October 17.)

    This means you can expect problems with electronics, electronic banking, devices, accounts, and all sorts of weirdness (as someone who deals directly with payment services and who's business phone has been ridiculous for the last 2 days, I can assure you, yeah it's going to be a fun one,) and you should be careful about starting any NEW business ventures. 

    This also means you might have someone from your past contacting you, or many someone's, yes, even your ex. It also means it is a great time to revisit old contracts and restructure businesses and re-establish contact with people from your past. 

    IT DOES NOT MEAN TIME TO PANIC. I find mercury retrogrades can be annoying, but my main annoyance with them is virtually always to do with like weird issues with apps and electronic accounts and electronic finance, and of course I have Spectrum for my business phone, so I have more issues with Spectrum. I do not find I'm suddenly fighting with everyone or being misunderstood like some people fear.

    One thing that I could do without is also I tend to have a few exes pop up and be like "Hey, girl," which I do not really need. HOWEVER, I have more than one client who would LOVE their ex to get in touch.

    Remember SATURN is still retrograde until the 10th of October, which means that you may find yourself re-examining old contracts (probably part of the fuel for my Cat v Greasy Landlord issue,) as well as hearing about some marriages either getting closer or starting to fray, and long term friendships doing the same. So…while we wheel into Mercury Retrograde in a Saturn Retrograde (it's been retrograde since May 23, so you may have already notice it,) we can't forget that…

    Jupiter is also retrograde (since June 20, and til October 17,) which is not actually a bad thing…because one thing I like about Jupiter retrograde is it's a really great time to bring all those things you kept trying to manifest into your life prior to the retrograde into fruition. However, you may find you are having a hard time growing wealth if you tried to initiate growing it back in June. Think more…long term goals that fell flat early in the year even though you got part way there are really good to revisit and put a boot in the ass of the problem and bring it to fruition. 

    Neptune is also retrograde (June 25-Dec 1,) which means many of us are probably getting really sick of seeing things how they are, which is it's beauty… I like to think of a Neptune retrograde as being when we all take our rose colored glasses off, and see that things aren't as awesome as we have been telling ourselves, but that we can see past our hopes and desires and work with what we have to improve our lives and bring ourselves to a better place (then comfortably put our happy rose colored glasses on.) For some people the ugly truth might be too ugly….if you find yourself feeling a bit uninspired and a bit ground down, just remind yourself it's only temporary…because guess what else? 

    Since August 19 and going into January 18, 2022, Uranus is also retrograde. All this means is do not do any action which you say the words "Fuck it," before you take said action or act on your impulses easily. Think things out. Uranus is far enough away that this is a bit like "Hey look, Neptune is already retrograde and you're seeing things for how they are without the sparkly veneer, but when that pulls direct, there's a chance I'm going to send you a crazy impulsive decision moment, and it's going to be a bad idea…ha ha ha, just wait and see," so in a way, that Neptune retrograde is helping us, but there's going to be basically a time during the holidays where everyone's going to be thrown a few bad impulsive decisions and you should not just act on them.

    So…yay, practically everything is retrograde, kids… and while I'm sure many of you are like "HOLY SHIT," I'm over here like "Let's use this shit and cast spells on everyone woooooooo," which isn't even an impulsive decision on my part, because I've been waiting for this to happen and enjoy using retrogrades to spur my magic. With Neptune retrograde sending clarity to my vision, you bet your ass I'm going to kick asses and take names.

    ~Cat

     

     

  • QYAM: Red Flags Article Edition

    Hey Occulties,

    I told you this article would cause some upheaval, so let's look at some questions I received (some in multiples,) shall we?

    Q: Was that article written about me?

    A: It's possible you have engaged in one or more of the many bulleted points, however, considering about 20% of my clients do, that would point to the article not being written specifically about you, but rather about several people like yourself who, during almost 20 years of being in business for the public, have displayed one or more of those behaviors at any given time. While I do apologize if you feel "called out," realize that you should consider I'm calling out about TWENTY PERCENT OF MY CLIENTELE, which means there is going to be some fallout when I do, however, since many of the bulleted points are things which if the client would STOP ENGAGING IN UNHELPFUL BEHAVIORS DESCRIBED, would lead to faster, stronger manifestations, the aim is to HELP and not cause unnecessary melodramatics. Also, people who read that article and see themselves before hiring me will be discouraged from hiring me – at least while in the throes of such a mental state as to engage in said actions/behaviors/etc, which in turn leaves me more time to spend with people who do not engage in those behaviors. 

    What is really the interesting point is that I HAVE ALSO ENGAGED IN EVERY SINGLE BEHAVIOR LISTED AT SOME TIME OR ANOTHER (except perhaps excessive crying), and yet because I recognized what I was doing, I generally turned things around and learned NOT TO BEHAVE AS SO, thus ensuring my work for myself manifested amazingly, instead of sputtering during my own obsessive anxiety meltdowns, BUT in the 2 instances regarding matters of the heart wherein I could not turn myself around and fell victim to my own lust for results, I did not get what I wanted in the end, so I can totally relate to where you are right now…because I've been there myself. :/ The only one I think I avoided was the excessive crying one, so I get where you are…except in believing a lot of tears are helpful, but again, I wasn't raised to believe that they really ever are.

    Q: I asked you all about how x would happen once, but never asked again, – does that make me obsessive?

    A: No, if someone is being obsessive, it's always more than once or even twice, the person is very fixated on specific details (ex. I say probably will happen in a restaurant and then it happens at a bar/nightclub, so they assume I'm "wrong," for the trivial change therein, or I say something like their ex has a blue shirt on but it's red when the event happens, etc,) and it's always a fixation on a specific time frame often paired with fixation on specific elements to an unhealthy degree. Think of it like someone demanding to know what the name, date of birth, blood type, and marital status of every delivery driver involved in the delivery of their package is ON TOP OF the exact second it will arrive on the exact day vs I order something and it says by Sunday, but I get it the day after and I forgot when it said it would be delivered so I'm just as happy…one is the obsessive one, the other is your average Joe. 

    Q: I asked if someone loved me and what they felt before – do you hate me?

    A: Again, no. It's very normal to ask me this, it is the frequency of the question which is one problem, and the other problem is that if you're hyper sensitive, you probably won't want to know the triggers which create the desire to come to you. I am not exactly blind to that one feels insecure about another's feelings when doing reconciliation, but if you're really raw, it can be hurtful to find out that their reasoning may have underlying sycophantic or narcissistic features or may be based off of reasoning which one might not find exactly romantic. 

    Also, love is not often nearly a relevant thing in the course of "will they be good to me," or "will they come back," – just because a jerk loves you, it doesn't make them not a jerk. So asking "does he/she love me," and then weeping while saying I must be wrong because then they would totally treat you right is perhaps cathartic for you, but it really doesn't help us find out the information we need to get to how you can take actions (be that to recognize that this person is a big piece of shit and you're better off without them, or that if you take specific actions you can have them back,) to create the best outcome for you. So, while I understand you want to know if they ever actually loved you, asking me this repeatedly is generally going to give you a yes they do, and still won't be the solution to any of your problems. 

    Q: I suspect that entire article was basically an attempt to avoid any responsibility when something doesn't manifest, so why publish it?

    A: Because you would be wrong in what you suspect. If anything, I underline that I often end up spending my own money to recast, even when I can clearly find specific behaviors and actions which were detrimental on the part of the client towards the spell, often in the belief that anyone can mess up once, and that, through mutual effort on my part and on the part of my client, I should not expect a repeat performance of said troubling behaviors or actions. It's the third time that they do where I'm quite resentful if I am being blamed. I'm not trying to shame people as much as alert them that they've fallen into a bad way of thinking, and if they do not themselves realize that they are, I am trying to discourage them from making any purchases of services which will not help them because they refuse to believe that they could be the author of their own problems.  

    If this means I'm avoiding responsibility in your eyes, then by all means, move along to someone (and I know of know legitimate worker who thinks like this,) who thinks it's perfectly fine if you work against your own spellwork and complain constantly and never take responsibility. 

    I honestly try my damnedest to help the people who have hired me as much as I possibly can, which even comes down to the ones who absolutely cannot stop engaging in unhelpful actions and behaviors. 

    Q: Am I getting too many readings? 

    A: Possibly. Have I said you are? Have I suggested that they are not helpful and are making you feel worse? If yes, then yes, you are. I try not to foster a dependence on them, and keep an eye on someone's well being. If they make themselves more anxious and upset when they get a reading, I will actively discourage them. 

    Q: Can I turn things around if some or most of this describes me?

    A: Sure can, but you have to want to change, so it will require a bit of effort. 

    Q: Do you think my beloved is a narcissist?

    A: Possibly. If I said that they were, then yes. 

    Q: I can't help but be disturbed by the fact that (spell target) is dating (rival,) and I think it's weird that you say I should not be. Are there really people who can just be like "Whatever" when the person they like is dating someone else?

    A: Yep there are definitely people who are pretty chill about possible rivals, sometimes even moreso than I am. For me, the fact that someone fucked my beloved is a whatever sort of thing, but I have been known to get angry in certain cases. Everyone knows about that creepy girl who never have I ever once met in person, who yet still dated FOUR men (after I did, though not always directly after,) that were long-term boyfriends of mine. If that bitch appears again, I can't imagine I'm going to be sad, but I might finally have to ask some real questions like what is it that she likes so much about a guy with a manhood which was previously marinated by my ladybits, or is it that she actually wants to date me, because I think she's creepy and I will not accept such a proposal. 

    Look, you're a human being and so it's normal to experience some jealousy or anxiety when you want to be with someone else and it seems like they are interested in another. It's when it's overwhelming and always on your mind that it starts to affect your emotional well being as well as your spellwork, and so…you have to remind yourself "This isn't about me," because usually it is not. Do not compare yourself to that person. I have never loved anyone the same way as I loved the man I dated before him, so stop assuming they have something similar and this person is merely your replacement or substitute, when generally they are neither. That's bad thinking. It's not about you. What happened between you and them is about you, not what's between them and another. 

    Q: So, basically readings are bad for spellwork?

    A: It depends on who is getting the reading, honestly, but they can cause more harm than good in some cases, yes.

    Q: Am I emotionally-damaged?

    A: Here's a test. Are you 25+? If you are, then there is a 99.9% chance that you are emotionally-damaged. Are you 21+ but under 25? If you are, then there is a 97% chance of yes you are. Pretty much everyone is emotionally-damaged. It's OK. Now, if you choose to let it define you – your emotional damage and trauma, then that's probably not good. Like it's okay to know that you have PTSD from a traumatizing event, it's another thing to be completely defined as that person said event happened to.  Did you want to forever be defined as "The person (your love interest) dumped?" or is that not appealing? I'd much rather be "Cat" than "The woman who divorced a person with bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder who thought she was controlling the entire world and tried to kill her," so I'm assuming you would just like to be you, too…not those shitty things that happened to you, but you. If you agree that yes, you would rather your identity not revolve entirely around a traumatizing event, then it's fine, we are all emotionally damaged, and sometimes it comes out in quirks, but most of us move on from it and don't let it define us. 

    Q: How do you avoid crying a lot? I sometimes think I'm just too sensitive. 

    A: I'm a lot more sensitive than people might realize, but I come from a generation that a good part of the anthems of my youth involved feeling crazy for emoting. Literally "I have emotions, I must be crazy, my parents will send me away!" was a pretty big theme. So, some of this is when I was raised. And then there is the experience of being incredibly traumatized and feeling extreme turmoil, and still having to make sure the lights stayed on or that food was in the cupboard and not having the luxury to feel sorry for myself very long. Bills still needed to be paid, stuff needed to get done, and me crying or feeling sorry for myself did not negate my responsibilities, and took up time so now I had less time to do things I had to. It made things worse, in my experience. 

    That aside, there was the time I got drunk and made a whole taco dinner, but the stupid taco kit did not include taco spice and though I normally keep taco spice packets ready AND have the spices to make my own, I lacked chili powder, and had no packets of taco spice, so I threw the entire taco dinner into the trash and then cried about it, which Future Mr NinjaCat got to witness and was like "are you fucking crying about taco spice?" I was inconsolable. My first husband would tell you about a similar incident in which I had a full meltdown because I wanted a cheeseburger from McDonald's and we were at a barbeque party for a friend's birthday…and I'd been drinking hard liquor in the direct sunlight for about 6 hours. I was also inconsolable, and I did not hear the end of the jokes all my friends made for seeing me have a complete histrionic meltdown about a McD's cheeseburger while my friend Eric kept trying to push a paper plate with a cheeseburger at me and assure me he did a super nice job grilling it. Clearly, if you mix hamburger meat, alcohol, and a lacking ingredient, this causes a full meltdown in me, so it's not like I don't cry, it's just often very embarrassing and I whoever witnesses it reminds me of it for many years to come. 😛

    I do not suggest being like me. I'm clearly emotionally-retarded and when I do have an emotional outburst, it often is related to food. 

    However, I would say there are more effective methods of expressing distress and being upset, and would point out that often it's better to cry to our closest loved ones if we are crying at all. Crying in private because you're frustrated is actually quite common, too, so if you get that way sometimes and you check and your life is currently being super frustrating, and it's not full on ugly crying for a half an hour, (more like 5ish minutes of light crying by yourself) that's just a reminder that you are human, really. It's OK. Did someone really hurt your feelings and a few tears escape…shit, well as long as it wasn't snot running, shuddering crying, you just are pretty much reacting normally like you would if you really got physically hurt…you aren't likely to have a full meltdown, but a few tears (generally in private,) aren't exceptionally odd. We all secretly cry a little sometimes. If, however, you find yourself crying a lot to acquaintances and frequently, and for extended periods, you probably want to talk to a therapist. Having frequent episodes of full on sobbing can be indicative of mental health issues which are better addressed by a licensed therapist to help you get past that point, and maybe even to a place where you also might only experience full on tears when some hamburger-based dinner is denied to you when you are cataclysmically drunk just like me. Then everyone will suspect you may be a stoic badass except when it comes to what's for dinner. ;) 

    Alright kids, this is what I have for answers to the current questions but if there are more, let me know. 🙂

    ~C

  • Red Flags on Love/Reconcilation Cases

    Good Morning lovies,

    Since I'm clearly a masochist who loves punishment (or just want a lot of crying in my inbox), today I'd like to answer a client's request to know how it is I can "just tell" when a reconciliation working or love working (or, honestly any working at all, just people tend to forget that most thinking work to death and spell harming behaviors really do revolve around love matters,) is going to fall flat. I will answer this with a focus on love matters because in some of my bulleted points, it is a psychological point rather than psychic/occult. 

    *You persistently ask me when a specific event will happen which is directly tied to your spell, and ask after intricate details as to how and why. Don't get me wrong, this is a very common question, and 4 out of 5 times, it's relatively harmless, because the person asking it of me does not constantly ask it of me, and schedule time to re-ask me, and demand more specifics of this event and more of them and more and more and more and to be sure on the date, and then they mark the date down and get a case of vapors when their "death clock" causes it to fall flat. 

    Now, as I am the person who literally brought "thinking spellwork to death" and "lust for results" into the lingo of modern spellcasting (even people who have no fucking clue who I am use my terms now, and it's discussed rather than just a brief mention like I had in my novice days, if you even got that back then,) as you can imagine I can point out what is lust for results and the above is clearly so. It is TOXIC THINKING right there. So, when I cast a spell, I put an order in for a specific thing. HOW or WHY I get that specific thing should not be in my mind at all. Why? Because if I start trying to suss out HOW AND WHY prior to the spell manifesting, what I do is I am doing the equivalent of driving a car with say a full tank of gas up and down several routes to my destination, trying to figure out the best one, and when the car runs out of gas, I am bitching about how it died before I can get where I wanted to be. This is because thoughts have energy, and when you think about how and why it would manifest, as well as how and why it can't, you are running the energy out on that spellwork because the spell will take the path of least resistance (let's compare this with your car automatically knowing the best route) and generally speaking, it's usually a relatively obvious course of actions that will happen for that spell to manifest, BUT you will often be a bit surprised that it never occurred to you that some parts of it were how it would. So going back to our car example, let's say you get in the car, and it has the ability to allow you to drive, or you can just program your destination in. You program your destination, and then keep changing it to manual to look and see other routes by self driving it. The car runs out of fuel before you reach your destination. I, on the other hand, sit in an exact replica of your car, and I program in my destination, and then I play a game on my phone, occasionally looking up at the road, while the car drives me to where I want to go. I end up arriving quickly and with fuel to spare. Most people are going to unintentionally "divert" the car to peer into other routes to their destination (routes to manifestation,) but will not do it so often as to run out of fuel. 

    Why do some people become addicted to asking this question? Mostly it springs from anxiety and seeking control, but also it derives from being quite uncomfortable or lonely or sad, which are all emotions most of us want to remove ourselves from. They feel if they have a date to set failure by (ie a death clock, or let me know exactly when this will happen,) and some foreknowledge of how and why a spell will manifest, this offers security and comfort. Would that it were spells agreed with you on that. 😛 Instead you decide this has failed by (date) so now you're manifesting a delay by using a death clock, and any anxiety or distress you tie onto it not manifesting exactly as predicted (so even the slightest deviation is going to upset you,) will also drain energy from the eventual outcome.

    So, if you frequently want to know "is this going to happen, and how," that is a red flag that you are going to experience spell failure. 

    What is truly aggravating is that it is not a weird question to be asked so if it comes up to me once in the entire manifestation process, it's actually not a problem. It's pretty standard. It's when it's frequently asked that I put a much higher probability on spell failure.

    *You frequently ask me about your love-target's emotional state. Wow, huh, what? Isn't that what love is? Knowing that you ARE loved?

    No, not really, because as any psychic who is worth a shit will tell you, love does not mean that they are coming back or that they will treat you well, or that they will stay, or anything other than they love you. "Does so-and-so love me," is most psychic's least liked question, particularly because it has little relevance other than that person loves you (not if they are coming back, not if they will be nice, not if they will behave, etc, etc.) 

    Furthermore, I really recommend that if you are feeling super-sensitive right now that you not ask WHY someone is coming back (ie "what triggers this? how do they feel about me right now? What are they thinking?"), because in 30 years of doing readings, rare is it that their motives are pure or what you'd hoped, but tend to be selfish, and uninspiring, and to be fair at least twice a week someone is reduced to tears or anger when the motivation is sycophantic, selfish, shallow, or just not "because I love and need so and so," at least when it begins to take root in the target. It is nearly always something you are better off not knowing what triggered it. But of course, I get to be an empath and experience all your pain and sadness and misery getting intentionally triggered by you when you ask this, despite my many, many, many attempts to remind you that it isn't often anything that will improve your outlook. 

    Again, this isn't exactly surprising and it's a common question. It's the people who keep asking it that tend to be the ones with a problem. 

    Allow me to let you in on something…you really don't want to know what people are thinking, because people are disgustingly self-absorbed creatures as a biological necessity. Add in the additional problem that spoiling children and giving them as little responsibility as possible has become the standard for parenting in the Western world, which in turn since spoiling children tends to cause narcissism, you have a recipe for a lot of people who are not exactly the self-sacrificing noble types as being love-targets. So when it comes down to it, if you want your rude, selfish ex back, expect your rude selfish ex to have all their reasons for coming back to be rude and selfish. If that's going to upset you, don't ask a question you don't want answered. 

    *You fear your perceived "rival" for your beloved's attention. Wait, huh? Of course if my intended is paying attention to another that's going to upset me, right:?

    If you choose to let it. See, the problem you are having is one anyone with any psychological knowledge will tell you is that anything your EX does with someone else is none of your business. That's a hard lesson to learn but you will be happier for it. If my ex husband wants to date someone else when we break up, this likely has nothing to do with me….is this person my best friend? Are they even a person I know? No? Then it's not based on any feelings my ex has for me. It is about the two of them. I should not try to learn more or even believe it has anything to do with me.  

    The person who is bothered by this often has one of two problems – you forget that you do not OWN anyone. This person is not yours. If they were in a coupling with you, then, assuming you had no agreements to have any open ended type relationship, of course this is troubling that they are CHEATING. The thing is, if they aren't your partner, they cannot cheat on you. Your relationship is over and reconciliation can grant you a chance at a NEW relationship with the person, but that does not mean in the interim that the old relationship is still in existence. 

    Furthermore, the level of histrionics rivals and perceived rivals cause only strengthens their relationship. THOUGHTS ARE ENERGY, and you can MANIFEST WHAT YOU FEAR because FEAR DRAWS TO YOU WHAT YOU FEAR. So, now because someone is so invested in what their ex is doing (it's generally an ex but sometimes a rival for love-interest's attentions,) with the rival, because they can't stop thinking about what went on or is going on, they then rile themselves into a bad emotional state whilst also often pushing a formative relationship into more. 

    Love rivals are a huge pain in the ass for a spellcaster for hire. People have such a hard time letting it go or not overindulging in fantasies of what might be going on. They social media stalk, they constantly let it get in their head….it's a huge annoying problem and a lot of people have a hard time with it. You try to blow up any feelings the two parties have for a each other to please your client, and then the client adds strength to the undesired coupling by being afraid of it and manifesting strength for it. Yay. 

    *You believe everything will go back to how it was. I don't even have to expound on this for more than a few sentences. If you believe that if I cast a spell that everything will return to how it was before your emotionally traumatic break changed you and then time passed and both of you changed than you are fooling yourself and will be dissatisfied with the outcome. Time passes and changes us. You must accept that. 

    *You start getting angry about the time, money, and energy YOU invested on getting someone to come to you. Look, you and I understand each other here, because you bet your ass I invested a fuckload of my time, my money and my own energy working on this person (or on a personal target,) and I'm getting angry if you're ruining my work then complaining, but often am in a position where I'm trying to coach you through these bad behaviors you can't seem to shake, so now we are both probably a bit pissy. So if you start getting fussy to me or complaining that after all this that the target owes you something, I assure you, you are at a point where you likely are past help. Wait, what? 

    Imagine you break your leg, and I put this leg in a cast for you. I tell you that you will need to be careful on that leg and not do anything to harm it (so this is like me telling you not to engage in spell killing behaviors,) and then you go and decide to go rock climbing the next day, break the leg worse, and come to me and demand I fix your ruined leg and cast for free, since clearly I did a shitty job. Of course, you didn't follow my instructions and went rock climbing (so this is like social media stalking, obsessing, or, I mean several lust for results behaviors, etc,) but I must just be the worst doctor ever if my cast for your leg isn't made of some adamantium metallurgy that nothing can get through and not you who went out rock climbing on it. SO unless I fix your destroyed cast, I'm going to have to hear how I'm a scam doctor. If I dare admonish you for your bad behaviors, again, I'm a scam doctor. Because the vast majority of my patients can follow instruction and do not engage in cast-destroying (spell killing) behaviors, I have enough to pay out of pocket to put another cast on (cast another spell.) Now you go skydiving the next day, and again complain of my shoddy work (that you destroyed again) and your grand investment. 

    Yeah, I hate watching you destroy my work, too. 

    Or maybe it's not that. You believe you caring about something and you spending money on it means you are owed something. So, you are the person who if you're caught holding a bloody knife while standing over a dying person who points at you and says you did it when the police show up, believes that since you spent money on a really good lawyer, you should be acquitted because you spent money. So if you work against the spell and act like a jerk to your "intended" since you spent money, that means you are owed their love and it's not fair if you don't have it. 

    So, let's say my parent's dream for me was to be a rocket scientist. Fuck that I have no proclivity towards this, they just decided I was to be one. They invest money in the best schools and tutors and force me to repeat and repeat classes for something I don't really have the skills for, then say it's not fair when I don't get a job in it, because they cared so much for me to be a rocket scientist and invested so much money on my being one. Sure, every step of the way I was clearly not intended for such a job, and yet because they WANTED IT and INVESTED MONEY TO MAKE IT HAPPEN, they are "owed" it. Well when I graduate and prospective employers see I suck ass at rocket science, all that want and money…it amounts to nothing. And life is not a vending machine. You do not put money into it and something pops out. 

    So if you believe you want a thing, but you are going to be defensive and rude and decide you are owed something, especially in a case wherein your intended did not ask you to invest time or emotion in getting them back, and you entirely ignored my instructions and persistently engaged in spell killing behaviors, and then think it is acceptable to get angry at your ex or at me, the person you need to get mad at is yourself. 

    I think I have about ONE case a year where I'm stymied as to why it isn't coming together. Usually it still resolves and myself and the client are both surprised by the block. Most of the people who start complaining about all their "hard work" and their investment are virtually always engaged in obvious spell killing behaviors.

    *You are too much when your intended comes to you (or returns.) This is kind of an easy one to figure out….instead of being a bit detached and allowing a gunshy cautious person to come to you, you smother them with well-meaning, but off-putting behaviors. You overdo it, in other words. You're overwhelming. 

    *You cry all the time. Say what you will about my outlook on crying, and you're right to believe it is the product of when I was raised, when we were taught that outside of a few specific situations that crying around others was an embarrassment and generally a waste of time as is (even on your own,) because you still had to do all you were obligated to, except now some people might think that you are mentally unwell (if you did it in front of others,) and you have a headache. It is a hugely pointless endeavor, and while it may get some pity, pity is not often useful. People feeling sorry for you is not people respecting you or caring about you. So if you think "I'm crying over (event,)" is in any way a useful thing, then I assure you, I don't want you to be uncomfortable or upset enough to engage in tears, of course, but it won't help anything. It is something I politely wait for you to stop doing so that we can continue, or you're basically wasting energy on it and now you have a headache and need to still do all things expected of you otherwise.  

    Everyone cries, and there's nothing wrong with that you became frustrated every once in a great while and erupted into tears while by yourself or with your bestie or someone that it is situationally- or always- "appropriate" to share that with (again, we are falling back on my childhood having taught me that this is a small number of people, and particular situations like death of a loved one are far more appropriate than "my ex got on tinder" for public displays of tears.) However in saying as much, I've yet to find the client who thinks frequent crying is normal who actually got what they wanted. It's usually driving themselves to a panic and then having a meltdown which is implicative of anxious obsession, which is in turn lust for results. If you are frequently crying, you probably will be disappointed. It's a huge red flag for me. 

    *You read this and believe that spells are impossible to manifest, then. Look, the average person asks me to get them something, has a few moments of wondering how it will happen, or asking me "unhelpful" questions, or even does a few of these behaviors minimally in the course of a love working….and yet this is NOT something which they suggest is normal, helpful, or even expected of everyone to engage in. They really do just let it go, and come back with great news about the work manifesting. If you don't feel you can do that, I strongly suggest you avoid love/reconciliation magic altogether. 

    I can't wait for the inevitable backlash from this article, but I'm hoping it's helped most of you! 🙂 No this isn't about one person, because I see the above behaviors in about ONE IN FIVE LOVE SPELL CLIENTS so it's relatively frequent. 

    ~Cat

  • Jar Spell to Improve Communication with your Partner

    Hey there Occulties,

    Phew, this week was definitely crazy, but I think it's starting to normalize. I did check the news and a planet has not blown up as I suspected might be the problem, haha.

    Anyhow I know a lot of you have missed some fun spell articles so I'm here to remedy that. 😀

    So a lot of the time people complain to me about a situation which, if I'm being fair, is rooted in POOR COMMUNICATION. I've told people for years that if everyone suddenly improved their communication skills, yours truly might be out of a job. Now, while this certainly won't solve all of your issues, the following is a very helpful remedy when you're arguing with your romantic partner too much and you feel the problem is stemming from – you guessed it – poor communication. :P 

    You will need:
    Deer's tongue herb (not actually a deer's tongue)
    Tobacco (preferably sweetened tobacco from a super cheap cigar,)
    Honey (or sweet syrup)
    Pink rose petals
    Three pieces of cloth ribbon (one of each) in orange, light blue, and pink of equal length (about a foot each is more than enough)
    A hair from your head (you may also use the lining of a hat only you wear, or failing that, spittle on a napkin)
    A hair from the head of your partner (or the lining of a hat only they wear, or failing that, spittle on a napkin)
    A medium to small jar with a lid
    A package of pink birthday candles*
    A package of blue birthday candles
    A package of orange birthday candles
    Love me or Love Drawing oil 
    Chuparosa oil

    Keeping in your mind's eye, the image of you and your partner happy and getting along fine (it's OK to use a picture and keep it in front of you to help your visualization,) anoint your fingers with the Love Me and Chuparosa oils (adding more to your fingertips as needed,) and braid your three ribbons together, weaving the hair (or hat piece, or napkin piece,) into the braid as you do. Secure the braid on each end by tying a knot. Place this into your jar, along with a few drops of Love me and Chuparosa oil, tobacco, rose petal and deer's tongue. Use as much or as little herbal matter as you'd like, but try to keep it to equal parts. I put probably about 2 tablespoons of each into my jar. Pour in honey to fill the jar and seal it. 

    I know not everyone feels they can send energy into a thing, but I recommend holding the jar in both hands and trying to fill it with orange, light blue and pink energy, while still keeping in your mind's eye yourself and your partner getting along and happy, until you feel the jar is full. If you do not feel like you can do this, merely sit for a few minutes visualizing while holding the jar. 

    Starting on a Wednesday, and working every Wednesday, Friday, and Monday for so long as you want (or until the problem is remedied,) you will burn a pink, blue, and orange candle simultaneously each time on the lid of the jar, saying "(Name of partner,) speak to me sweetly, speak to me kind, talk to me from your heart, always happy that you're mine," as you light each candle. You can secure the candles with their own drippings and it's OK to say the chant while you are so doing. Once you have lit and secured the third candle, after saying the chant the third time, you say "As is my will, so be it" and allow the candles to burn out. 

    This works marvelously well with arguing couples. It's very simple to make and it's very simple to do. When you are not burning candles on the jar, the jar itself is giving off energy to keep you sweet and loving and speaking – the candles are like a little booster to that energy. Most people remark that the situation has improved within the week.

    Store the jar in a dark private place when not burning candles on it, and remove the wax debris as needed to prevent fire accidents. 

    Since I'm always asked, when using lunar cycles, the best is the day after the new moon to the first quarter to begin. 

    ~Cat 🙂

    *chime candles may also be used. 

  • My Mistake, September is not Slow

    Hey Occulties,

    I'm sure I've told you that one high maintenance client takes the time of 10 clients. So, when I say something like "What a nice quiet September it is," and then at least three-quarters of my active client list flips the "high-maintenance" switch on, that can be a bad thing for sure. I did it to myself. I've been saying for two days that I must never tell people I have free time, because when I do, this sort of thing happens. 

    So, while I know many of you will not mind this, please keep in mind the following… If I tell you not to do a thing – be that not to engage in a behavior or an action, – then you do that thing, and it slows your manifestation or kills it, this actually is very upsetting to me because it's the same as you asking me to make you a beautiful work of art, and when I do, you smash it to bits, but what's even more infuriating is that you want me to console you for destroying it, and then encourage you while I try to make you that same lovely work of art again…often free of charge for you, even though you went against instructions that would have stopped you from destroying the very thing I put so much effort into. Clearly I run a figurative chinashop and am currently suffering from an infestation of furious enraged bulls (well, more like depressed if I'm comparing what I'm getting with clients,) in my figurative china shop. 😦

    I promise, I will try to avoid telling you I have so much free time again, because I don't want a repeat of this week. The amount of emotional turmoil and time spent reassuring people for self-made problems has really taught me not to do that. I pinky swear. 

    I mean, damn, it's only Wednesday. I normally have 50-75 active cases and my current 15-20 load is mysteriously taking more time than my average caseload at the moment. Please kindly stop getting distressed all at once. Is that even possible? I'm sending out an anti-distress-signal either way. I'm not sure if some astrological thing happened like a planet entirely exploded, but I am pretty overwhelmed in the last few days with all of the emotional turmoil and distress brought on by engaging in behaviors/actions I've repeatedly said not to engage in. It's not like you were told to stop eating or drinking or sleeping, but if you really can't stop obsessing or social media is that irresistible…maybe you'd benefit more from Xanax than my advice. I'm legitimately concerned here. This is pretty epic. Are you going to be OK?

    Like if it was just 2 of you, that's normal. Did a planet explode? I better check the news. Ugh. 

    ~Cat

  • Temporary – Not Available for International Readings for Those outside of North America

    Hello lovies,

    So, while I normally wouldn't even bring it up, due to some tech issues (basically me waiting to get an iPhone I can hear on, and I really want a new one, so it might be a week or two, heh,) I am not able to perform international readings outside of North America at this time. For reasons only known to God, I've had an 800% increase in international requests lately, so I figured I'd let everyone know. :/ 

    The problem will be solved when I get a new iPhone, which I've been long overdue in doing already (the phone has been awful to try to hear on for over a year, but I could still hear you.) It's looking like late September or early October should be around the time the issue is resolved. :P 

    If you are an international client who currently has a reading scheduled, I have made arrangements so I can perform this, so please keep your appointed time. 🙂

    ~Cat

  • Little Problems That Delay/Impede Manifestations

    Hey Occulties,

    Just a brief little article for you on this beautiful September Sunday.

    So I frequently get questions regarding why this or that isn’t manifesting, and as you guessed, nine times out of ten (if not closer to 49 times out of 50,) it’s lust for results. We’ve been over lust for results so many times that I’m reasonably certain you are all ready to die if you have to read about that again, ha ha. However, over the years, I’ve identified a number of subtypes of this phenomena and I think I have a new article to help everyone quit engaging in those anti-manifestation behaviors (including some which may not fall under the lust-for-results umbrella,) so let’s discuss getting your spellwork to manifest, shall we? Both of us will be happier when you start getting results with your spells (regardless of if you’re casting or I am!) because then I won’t get the same questions/problems in my inbox so often.

    Problem #1 – you’ve already decided what your outcome will be (and it isn’t what you wanted.) This may seem bizarre but I get a strong number of people who come to me with a dark and sour demeanor, who are like “I know this won’t work,” or are acting clearly as though they believe they will not get what they are spellcasting for. This might surprise you, but you’re manifesting failure before you’ve even started! Don’t do that! When we “know” some outcome will be bad, we are literally drawing that bad outcome to us. While some people try to argue to me that they are merely prepping themselves for possible failure, I disagree that is true.

    For example, let’s say you start dating someone new. You have a long history of choosing partners who eventually cheat, so you “know” this person will cheat, too. You start becoming insecure, demanding, accusatory, and eventually this new partner gets sick of being accused of cheating when they aren’t. When someone new and more patient catches their eye, they text you to let you know that they are leaving you for (new person’s name,) and you say to yourself “Well, I knew that would happen, – everyone always cheats on me!”  Well, if you hadn’t become so insecure and demanding, that likely wouldn’t have happened. Most people cheat for one of two reasons, – either they can never just have one partner (and you can usually identify these people well before the relationship gets serious, and choose for yourself if you still want it to be serious once you realize they are this type of person,) or because they lack something in their relationship. Believe it or not, lacking the trust of your partner is definitely lacking something and that might drive someone to cheat. 

    So if this can happen in the mundane – you convincing yourself everything is doomed and then beginning to behave in such a manner that it makes doom and gloom actually happen, – it shouldn’t surprise you that you can do the very same thing to a spell! If I say “I know this won’t work,” then my very doubt and negativity create a “make this spell not work,” energy. Look, I don’t think if you suddenly convince yourself that you can fly that you will actually begin flying, or anything like that, – I realize the power of the mind is not the only limit in life, – but I do also know that spellcasting requires faith. If you’re always negative and believe it won’t work…well, there is now a far stronger chance it won’t – at least while you’re fixated on it. See, the funny thing there is, I also have a fair share of clients and readers who spellcasted and spellcasted for a thing, and when they got sick and tired of “being disappointed” (which was generally them obsessing and feeling a lot of self-pity,) and moved on, suddenly all their spells started to manifest. :P 

    And before anyone tells me I’m being judgy, guess who does this to at least 2/3 of her money spells? Me. I am so acclimated to my money spells manifesting after I needed the money, that at this point, I’m like “I guess I’ll get this fecking money after the due date of needing it comes and goes,” and of course, that is very often what happens, hahaha.

    Problem #2 – You expect immediate gratification. People are sometimes surprised to know that spells often do not work overnight. Even if this isn’t news to them, they will think they are exception to the rule. I am here to let you know that no matter how good you are at spells, the vast majority of them do not work overnight. Hell, the vast majority seem to take over a week to manifest. There’s even that personal target I had who took 60 days almost to the minute to have a spell manifest on him almost every single time I cast a spell on him. 

    So while this is all good and fine, and it never hurts to remind ourselves to stop being so impatient sometimes, this also can make people do more and more spellwork while they wait for the spellwork to manifest. I am also prone to doing this, so you aren’t alone. That’s all great and fine until you (and I) realize….

    We just did the spell-equivalent of using a stick of dynamite to kill a bug.

    And that might also be just fine because too much of a good thing can be an even more good thing, but sometimes you just wanted to sort of nudge something in your direction, and the more subtle nudge would have been better. For example, some years back, I jumped right into a love drawing on a young man I’d been dating for all of about a week. The next thing I knew he was saying I love you and telling me I was his dream girl and he introduced me to his parents – which would have been fantastic if he wasn’t actually kind of creepy and didn’t have a severe Oedipus complex like calling his mom directly after we fooled around to tell her play by play what we did while I was standing in his kitchen just looking disturbed. Clearly, my spells were doing all I wanted and more, except I didn’t want those things now. 

    I often see this with lust and with cursing. Either someone becomes downright rapey because they are so lusty for you when it all hits, or you just wanted your enemy to have bad luck, and now you feel awful because you absolutely exploded their life into smithereens and it’s showing no signs of stopping.

    And also some people who expect instant gratification are sometimes just as immediately downtrodden and then become “problem #1,” too, so there’s that.

    Problem #3 – You confuse modern technology and convenience with actual magic or actual divination, for the sake of convenience, of course. Let’s just get this out of the way – no there is no such thing as a tarot card app that works. There, I said it. I’ve been reading cards for over 30 years, and I don’t even think an unseasoned deck works very well but it would work at least better than something you can’t physically hold. No, I am not being old and grumpy. If you are not attuned to your method of divination, it’s not apt to work. Random number generating algorithms and overly positive descriptors are not how you read cards or any method of divination.

    I’m not saying technology can’t advance to where we might be doing magic through a computer, but rather I see people literally getting spells off of memes from a dubious source and telling me if they spit hot pepper spit in someone’s direction this meme told them that this will curse the person. I personally think if you’re the one spitting scotch bonnet pepper juice, you’re more cursed than your enemy, but then I also know that you’re not casting a spell as is. If someone can post it on a meme, you might want to disregard it. I know we all have to learn somewhere, but I’d actually suggest you try the written word – some blogs and sites exists, like mine but also others, where there are myriads of spells and occult literature for you to learn from, and I also recommend these weird rectangular things we all used to enjoy back in the day called books. I have yet to see any YouTube or TikTok videos where I wasn’t laughing at the end because they were that…um, not informative, and often made by someone who shouldn’t be instructing others at this point in their learning, but I am a big enough person to assume there are some kickass videos online somewhere…just that the amount of bad ones I’ve seen leads me to believe it might be some years before we have a good source for me to point you in that direction. I much more trust the written word over any other method of finding good spells. If you want a meme or a video, you probably haven’t lasted this long in reading this, but frankly if you want to learn real magic, at this writing, I’d stay as far from those video sites as possible. 

    And if you want a spellcasting app…I’ve seen a few programs that were supposed to be just that, but for the time being I also think the classical methods using an altar and real herbs and candles and roots and physical items and etc are the way to go over using any app. That said, I’m not a master of psionics, and people who are practitioners of psionics might be able to help you with an app as that suits with their paradigm. I practice hoodoo which is pretty big on physical ingredients.

    Problem #4 – You have unrealistic expectations. This is really a multitude of problems. On the one hand, someone might have the expectation that if they burn a birthday candle once and ask for money that they should expect a windfall amount. On another hand, someone might think they can be as bad and mean and awful as they want to be because they did a reconciliation spell, and so their ex will come back to them no matter what. On yet another hand, you might have someone who sees what they want coming into fruition, but doesn’t like HOW it’s happening (example, the client I had many years ago who wanted her ex to dream about coming back to her as being why he returned telling me I failed her because the guy did return to her but not because of any dreams – he didn’t remember his dreams!) 

    Look, magic can really change your life for the positive, but having unrealistic expectations of spellwork can be damaging to it manifesting as well as to your psyche. We get to put in “the order” for what we want. How and why it manifests remains a mystery to us until we get what we want. We need to keep within the sphere of availability (so sometimes this requires a few spells like one might take a few steps to solve any large problem,) and we also have to keep in mind that if burning a freaking birthday candle won anyone the Powerball lottery, we’d all be doing that all the damn time. Money work tends to manifest as money owed coming to you and more business or a raise, and gambling spells are much better used on games of chance which have far better odds than lottery wins. Also if you work against your spell, you’re the reason that manifestation is taking so long (if not happening,) so blame your damn self, and not the work.

    Your old friend, Cat is here to tell you what you can expect, and how to help your spells manifest if you’re ever curious, but for goodness sake, please ask before you might engage in some self-defeating behaviors! And STOP ASKING HOW AND WHY it would happen. I can always tell something is going to fizzle when I get “I just don’t get how there is any reason this could happen,” because you are obviously THINKING THE SPELL TO DEATH trying to suss that out without remembering that you will know how and why it manifested when it manifests (and I guarantee 99 times out of 100 it makes so much sense once you get what you want that you are pleasantly surprised that you didn’t think of it!)

    Problem #5 Everything is always bad news (sort of related to problem #1 but not,) until you get manifestation. If you’ve ever worked with me, you know how much I resent when people come in every day and need me to put a positive spin on what’s going on in their situation. I realize we all get overwhelmed sometimes and need a cheerleader or someone to help us see a silver lining, but if every time something happens that you didn’t expect (and sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s blah, and sometimes it what’s I term a “false negative,”) you fall into negative thinking, complaining and asking me if you should just “give up,” you’re going to drive me insane. In fact, you’d drive everyone insane.

    This is where I give the old “roll with the punches,” speech: Look, you ultimately make the decision whether or not to panic or be miserable, and while I think any of us can stumble and fall and need some encouragement, if you constantly become noticeably upset or angry or freaked when something happens and demand others try to encourage you or reassure you, you’re going to run out of friends, and you’re never going to be able to hire me after you get what you want because I have a limited amount of time and patience, too. It is ultimately up to you to stay upbeat or not become dark and brooding and nasty. That might mean avoiding known triggers to this behavior, that might mean telling yourself to calm down when you get upset by a trivial occurrence like a “favorite” or “like” on social media, or it might mean clearing your mind instead of inventing hurtful scenarios in your head then getting mad at someone for things they never thought nor did. If I get bad news when I’m working on a situation it can unbalance me, too, but instead of sitting there and fussing on it, I get back up and steady myself, – and more often than not, the manifestation still happens, and shortly thereafter, – the difference being I didn’t stress myself out or start thinking my work to death in the interim. This is what I call rolling with the punches – it means even if you get knocked off balance, you balance yourself right back as fast as possible.

    Problem #6: You were absent that day that they taught that one of the KEY requirements to spellcasting is to “Keep Silent” until the spell manifests. Why are you posting a picture of a spell casting for a spell which hasn’t yet manifested? You do know that you just let however many people looking at it think it to death alongside you, right? And if you’re in some group where that isn’t discouraged? Leave the group. Whoever is running it should discourage showing images of active, non-manifested work to a large chat group, and if they don’t, they don’t know magic. 

    I don’t think it’s mandatory that no one know, but keep the group that does know small (not like 100 people certainly, even over 5 would be a stretch,) and keep it to yourself until it manifests. Everyone who knows about your spellwork can think it to death with you.

    Alrighty that’s it for now kiddos. And pre-emptively, no this isn’t about any of you. There is this fear of becoming a blog topic, and frankly this stuff is so common for me to see, I’m not at all trying to call anyone out. If I avoiding discussing problems I see frequently everytime one arose, I’d literally never be able to publish any of my articles more or less ever again.

    ~Cat