Getting past TikTok love witch aesthetics into the meat of Venusian glamour, beauty, & love magic?

[uralmaenad]

I’ve been a practicing polytheist for a fairly long time. 15ish years now, but who’s counting? I’ve been an occultist (practicing and armchair, at various points of my life) for about 10 years. I value both the academic rigour and intuitive nature that is required to have an effective polytheistic and occult practice. I’ve worshipped Venus and conducted Venusian planetary magic with great success in the past, so I have no idea why I’m having the mental blocks that I am.

I’m a happily married woman in my 20s following two separate currents of paganism kept apart from each other - one is my ancestral practice, and the other is heavily dependent on an amalgamation of Mediterranean and Near Eastern polytheism with my own explorations in magic/mysticism (which is the one I’m obviously talking about right now). I have this mental blockage that I seem to have difficulty in getting over when it comes to doing anything related to beauty, glamour magic, love, sweetenings, etc. I just instantly feel like I’m some TikTok “witch” doing things for the aesthetics of witchcraft with no substance behind them. I think that while this is partially warranted in this day and age, it’s also unfairly judgemental of me. Traditionally feminine, softer goals for magic are equally valid.

I’d love to partake in the above mentioned magic in addition to my worship of Venus(-Aphrodite) but these blocks are undoubtedly affecting my will and therefore, the potency of the work. I find that planetary magic helps bypass this if I put a significant amount of forethought into it (sometimes having to wait weeks to find the most auspicious time) but I don’t want to limit myself. My goals for this would be enhancing my own beauty (alongside mundane means), magnetism, and bringing in even more sweetness into my life.

Am I being unreasonable and almost elitist to a degree? Should I take these aesthetic witches a bit more seriously (since the many I see online do seem to be very beautiful)? Do you have any preferred methods of getting over mental blocks? Any resources for beauty magic to suggest to a grump like me? I think I may be too jaded for my age lol!

 

[Morell]

It's not about TikTok only I think.

Beauty can be integrated in magic quite fine. Actually it can improve it as it helps with putting your heart into it. Some of the stuff I use, is self-made and it gives me more of self-respect when I make for myself not only useful but cool and beautiful stuff to work with. Creating beauty along with making magic is helpful. I see no reason why it should be connected with feminity, though.

When I use pictures, I seek for artistic pieces that I enjoy. I have picture of Loki I used for concentration and it is so easy to concentrate on something that can catch your interest for long time, exploring and admiring the art piece. Became well enchanted and was easy to work with.

 

[Wintruz]

I’ve been a practicing polytheist for a fairly long time. 15ish years now, but who’s counting? I’ve been an occultist (practicing and armchair, at various points of my life) for about 10 years. I value both the academic rigour and intuitive nature that is required to have an effective polytheistic and occult practice. I’ve worshipped Venus and conducted Venusian planetary magic with great success in the past, so I have no idea why I’m having the mental blocks that I am.

I’m a happily married woman in my 20s following two separate currents of paganism kept apart from each other - one is my ancestral practice, and the other is heavily dependent on an amalgamation of Mediterranean and Near Eastern polytheism with my own explorations in magic/mysticism (which is the one I’m obviously talking about right now). I have this mental blockage that I seem to have difficulty in getting over when it comes to doing anything related to beauty, glamour magic, love, sweetenings, etc. I just instantly feel like I’m some TikTok “witch” doing things for the aesthetics of witchcraft with no substance behind them. I think that while this is partially warranted in this day and age, it’s also unfairly judgemental of me. Traditionally feminine, softer goals for magic are equally valid.

I’d love to partake in the above mentioned magic in addition to my worship of Venus(-Aphrodite) but these blocks are undoubtedly affecting my will and therefore, the potency of the work. I find that planetary magic helps bypass this if I put a significant amount of forethought into it (sometimes having to wait weeks to find the most auspicious time) but I don’t want to limit myself. My goals for this would be enhancing my own beauty (alongside mundane means), magnetism, and bringing in even more sweetness into my life.

Am I being unreasonable and almost elitist to a degree? Should I take these aesthetic witches a bit more seriously (since the many I see online do seem to be very beautiful)? Do you have any preferred methods of getting over mental blocks? Any resources for beauty magic to suggest to a grump like me? I think I may be too jaded for my age lol!

Male perspective (though a non-typical one): Venus, in one form or another, has always been a major focus for me, though one I don't talk about very much. In my late teens, I focused on Her (as Venus/Aphrodite) almost exclusively. These days, my focus is more on Her role in my birth chart (She's my strongest placed planet) but the work is essentially the same, and part of that involves things like focusing on aesthetics in many different forms.

In terms of your blockage, I think some counter-spells might be in order...

We live in a time when visible beauty, whether in a person or a place, is attacked on all sides and it's very easy to internalise these messages. The conventionally religious call it a "distraction" at best and a "temptation" at worst. Left-wing political activists dislike it because it was thought to be a hindrance to women being taken seriously and it was associated with capital in the broadest sense ("You make no contribution to your genes, yet you're given a boon through life because of this unearned wealth") and the beauty industry in particular. Then there's the social order at large where being physically attractive can present serious dangers, often because it induces lust or envy. Added to this the fact that every human being on earth has things they dislike about their bodies, that vanity can make a person, ironically, ugly, and it's not hard to see why, especially for someone sensitive, subconscious blocks may appear.

I think a healthier understanding was had in the ancient world and its residues in later cultures. In Hellas, the real gift of Aphrodite was not physical beauty but harmony. The thought was that harmony would manifest in the material order as beauty but that beauty would point beyond itself to the beauty inherent within cosmic harmony. In other words, physical beauty replicated and mirrored the work of religion: taking the physical and offering it up to the divine. Aphrodite Pandemos served Aphrodite Urania. It is for this reason that, in the Symposium, Plato recommends beginning with the contemplation of beauty and rising through it. There is no greater point of access to the divine.

In terms of your own work, you are not being shallow or flippant by engaging with appearance (when done with balance/harmony). You are actually honouring the divine and offering yourself up as a point of contact. If it's aligned with your nature, it's a vocation and a service. In other words, it's extremely serious work.

“Withdraw into yourself and look. And if you do not find yourself beautiful yet, act as does the creator of a statue that is to be made beautiful: he cuts away here, he smoothes there, he makes this line lighter, this other purer, until a lovely face has grown upon his work. So do you also: cut away all that is excessive, straighten all that is crooked, bring light to all that is overcast, labour to make all one glow of beauty and never cease chiselling your statue, until there shall shine out on you from it the godlike splendour of virtue, until you shall see the perfect goodness surely established in the stainless shrine.” ― Plotinus

 

[FireBorn]

I can’t write as well as Wintruz (that post was good, seriously), but I’ll toss in my two cents anyway:

I think glamour magick gets shoved into the “feminine only” box way too often, but let’s back up.

Why do we wear the clothes we wear? Why that particular deodorant scent or cologne? That’s not neutral, it’s spellcraft. Whether we call it glamour or not, it’s the same damn thing. We’re projecting, shaping, signaling. Everyone does it (occultist or not).

Men shave or shape the beard. Choose the fit. Walk with presence. That’s glamour. Hell, charisma itself is often just refined glamour, an energetic manipulation of how you're perceived. Men use it as much as women do, even if they never call it magick.

And a lot of women (like you) hesitate to use it because it feels unserious, or just following the trend. But if you ask me, glamour is one of the most underestimated and popularly used forms of magick in the Western world. It bends perception. It draws attention. It alters reality, because people treat you differently based on it. That’s influence. That’s spellcasting.

So if it helps: You’re not doing anything silly or shallow. You’re wielding one of the oldest and most primal forces we’ve got. Lions groom. Birds display. Humans enchant. We all cast this spell.

It doesn't have to be extreme or overt either. It can be subtle.

So what is the intent behind it? That itself might be the block, and the lesson. Just something to sit with.

 

[barb80]

I can’t write as well as Wintruz (that post was good, seriously), but I’ll toss in my two cents anyway:

I think glamour magick gets shoved into the “feminine only” box way too often, but let’s back up.

Why do we wear the clothes we wear? Why that particular deodorant scent or cologne? That’s not neutral, it’s spellcraft. Whether we call it glamour or not, it’s the same damn thing. We’re projecting, shaping, signaling. Everyone does it (occultist or not).

Men shave or shape the beard. Choose the fit. Walk with presence. That’s glamour. Hell, charisma itself is often just refined glamour, an energetic manipulation of how you're perceived. Men use it as much as women do, even if they never call it magick.

And a lot of women (like you) hesitate to use it because it feels unserious, or just following the trend. But if you ask me, glamour is one of the most underestimated and popularly used forms of magick in the Western world. It bends perception. It draws attention. It alters reality, because people treat you differently based on it. That’s influence. That’s spellcasting.

So if it helps: You’re not doing anything silly or shallow. You’re wielding one of the oldest and most primal forces we’ve got. Lions groom. Birds display. Humans enchant. We all cast this spell.

It doesn't have to be extreme or overt either. It can be subtle.

So what is the intent behind it? That itself might be the block, and the lesson. Just something to sit with.

I do agree with the power of Glamour, how often we have heard of people being 'bewitched' and their senses being 'taken over' by the way someone is dressed or a scent they carry. So true. How many ugly movie stars do we see?