Do you want to practise witchcraft but don't know where to start? Do you find it all too confusing? Maybe you've been practising for a while and want to go back to basics. Or perhaps you're a seasoned witch and want to explore more ways of practisin...
Internet synchronicities: Be cautious of interpreting "synchronicities" you come across when browsing the Internet. Social media sites are literally designed to show you content that will interest you. You may think, "Well I've never searched for that," but sites will analyse how you interact with certain things and track your activity with third-party cookies. If you've ever used TikTok, have you ever stopped to wonder how it shows you content you like without you ever searching for it or following specific creators? The TikTok algorithm analyses how long you watch things for and what kind of content you skip. Slowly over time the app learns about your preferences and shows you more of that content. So if your newsfeeds are suddenly filled with snakes and signs of Loki, that doesn't mean Loki is reaching out to you, it just means the algorithms have worked out that you like Loki and the things associated with him (and if you really like Loki that much, maybe you should just try contacting him instead of waiting for a sign). So I recommend only using Internet synchronicities to support other synchronicities, but not to stand on their own. Opening up your awareness and observing patterns will help you to separate meaningful synchronicities from algorithms just doing their thing.
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Omens
Omens are another extremely basic form of divination, so basic in fact that you might not consider them when listing divination methods. Regardless, you have almost certainly seen and interpreted omens long before learning about witchcraft. A black cat crossing your path is bad luck, Friday 13th is unlucky, finding a four leaf clover is lucky, a sparrow in the house is a death omen, a broken mirror is 7 years bad luck, etc.
Omens may seem silly (and a lot of them are) but some of the most famous omens actually originally had opposite meanings. Black cats are notorious for their omens of bad luck, but in Celtic and Japanese folklore they are an omen of good luck. And we all know how much the Ancient Egyptians revered cats. Black cats were very widely accepted as good omens until they became associated with witches during "The Burning Times" (1) (often accused of being witches' familiars).
Similarly, many witches associate Friday 13th with good luck due to its associations with female deities and feminine qualities. For example, 13 is the average number of menstrual cycles in a year and the moon has 13 annual cycles. In ancient Israeli and Egyptian traditions, 13 was sacred. 13 is a number honoured in Chinese tradition too. Traditional Wiccan covens are comprised of 13 members. In Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, Icelandic, and Teutonic cultures, Friday is associated with the female goddess Freya or Frig, goddess of love, fertility and creativity, and is where we get the word Friday from. Likewise, Romans believed Friday was Venus' day, the Roman goddess of love and beauty (think, Vendredi in French and Venerdi in Italian).
We have Christianity to thank for Friday 13th's negative associations. 13 people sat at the table on The Last Supper, and Jesus was crucified on a Friday. The day of Original Sin is said to have been a Friday too.
Whether you believe in omens or not, they can serve as a useful divination method, especially if you look up their origins and alternative meanings as demonstrated above. Omens can also be personal, similar to synchronicities. For example if you work with the god Loki then you may associate snakes with him, whereas snakes to someone else may be an omen of bad luck.
