One of the whole reasons that people go to spirit shops instead of finding spirits on their own is because the spirits that they meet through shops are supposed to be pre-vetted, that is the shop owner takes the steps to assure that the spirit is safe to work with so that the customer doesn’t have to worry about the danger. It’s probably the most important responsibility that a shop owner has yet I’ve seen so many shops take short-cuts or have really low standards for the spirits that they vet. This is troubling because a shop owner is making the guarantee that the spirit is safe for the person that they are matching them with and when a shop has a lackluster vetting process, they are putting that person in danger.
This post was written by reading about and observing the vetting processes that the shops say they do and finding common faults in them. It was also made from people’s experiences where the vetting process of a shop failed them and put them in a dangerous situation. I collaborated with people who are even more experienced than me to write this ( @chaosjelly,@acakaos,@swimminginscales).
Understand that everything I list here is an explanation of the VERY BASICS of what a shop owner SHOULD BE DOING. Shop owners, don’t look at this and think “Well I’m doing most of it so I’m okay”. No. You SHOULD BE DOING ALL OF THIS.
Non-shopkeepers, read this and think about how many shops that you know fit these standards, think about the dangers that can come about if shops don’t consider the points that I mention in their vetting processes. Don’t just assume that shops are meeting these standards or are even coming close to them, even if you haven’t heard anything bad about them yet. Like I mentioned, I did info gathering on shops’ vetting processes for this post and believe me when I say that the majority shops don’t meet these standards.
The Longer the Better
Three months minimum. Yeah you heard me, three months minimum. That’s the amount of time needed to truly and effectively vet a spirit. The majority of the shops don’t even have them around longer than three weeks. Why so long? Because you can’t intimately know someone in any time less than that. I’ve had spirits turn on me after knowing them for half a year and longer than that and then there’s people posting up spirits that they met three days ago as if that’s safe. Even three months is a little too short and you really should be aiming for much longer.
And the thing is, you shouldn’t be rushing spirits out. If you’re so impatient to throw up the listing of a spirit that you can’t fathom taking the time to get to know them for three months then I have to question how much you actually care. It might seem mean, but a shopkeeper should be willing to wait months and even years to match the spirit with the perfect person. By the time you post the listing of the spirit, you should be close friends with the spirit yourself. How else are you going to know what would truly be best for the spirit if you barely even know them past superficial friendships? And how else are you going to ensure that the spirit is safe if you barely took the time to get to know them? You’ll soon see that there’s a lot that you should be doing in your vetting process and it’s hard to complete all of these steps effectively under three months, much less under three weeks.
More Than Just Bad or Good
Most shops only vet for whether or not the spirit is likely to harm their human companion, but there’s many other things that you need to look out for. However, before I delve into those I do want to take a moment to discuss the whole “bad vs good”. That is, there are shops that only look for whether spirits give them “bad vibes” as an indicator that the spirit is dangerous. Spirits with “good vibes”, spirits with “light” energy can be just as dangerous as those without. A benevolent “white arts” spirit isn’t always going to automatically be safe for a person, just look at the people who recommend others not take their medication or similar and believing that what they say is benevolent and not harmful. A “good vibes” spirit should be vetted just as much as a “bad vibes” spirit.
And while we’re on the topic, energy sensing must, must, must be more detailed than “light vs dark”. If you can’t see through thick glamours or be able to differentiate spirits species apart by their energy for example then you risk letting imposter or dangerous spirits through. Like you need to have some super in-depth energy sensing and energy work skills in order to have an effective vetting process. You cannot rely on appearance to determine a spirit’s identity. It’s very ineffective and biased to what you think a particular species should look like. Think about how police need DNA evidence in order to properly identify a suspect. Yes appearance helps, but DNA cannot be disputed so easily. Likewise, forms of energy aren’t subjective and a spirit’s core energy signature is very hard to change unlike their appearance. Light, dark, watery, fiery, earthy, airy, etc. are extreme oversimplifications of energy. They’re only one component in the makeup of a spirit’s energy and if you can’t go any further than that in your energy sensing then you’re nowhere near having advanced skills. For example, all insect spirits tend to have an earthy component to their energy but grasshopper energy is thick and dense, moth and butterfly energy are both soft but moth energy is just a smidgen heavier, dragonflies and damselflies both have lightweight energy but the energy of damselflies is slightly thinner, roach energy tends to be more fluid than the concentrated energy of beetles and beetle energy is heavier than grasshopper energy. I’m just barely scratching the of each of these animals’ energy signatures and I can go further to do things like differentiate the energy of a monarch butterfly from a swallowtail and differentiate two monarch butterflies from each other using their energy. This is the base level of energy sensing that you should be at to have sufficient ability for running a spirit shop. If you can’t even differentiate between the energy of a harpy and a siren, a sun elf and a woodland elf, a fire dragon and a volcano dragon, etc. then you’re not advanced, not even close.
But there’s more to take into account than just imposters and harmful spirits. Just like the human, a spirit needs to be sure that they’re ready for companionship. They can be in it just for the fun or because it seemed cool without considering the consequences too much just as a human can and the shopkeeper needs to make sure that the spirit is actually informed about what being a companion entails and is dedicated to it. Hence why waiting longer to get to know the spirit is vital to making sure that the spirit is ready for companionship. If they’re not willing to spend the time to be vetted and prepare with you, then they may not be very committed to it.
You also need to look at the spirit’s culture. I’ll elaborate more on that in the next section but for now, know that it’s good to vet the spirit based on their culture. While it’s good to be open-minded, you don’t want to unknowingly send a homophobic or racist spirit to someone because you didn’t pay enough attention to their way of life. Yes, spirits can be bigoted against humans and they can also be bigoted against other spirits. That’s something that is extremely important for a shopkeeper to find out before sending the spirit to someone that might already have spirits in their family. Sometimes it may not even be bigotry but just a dislike for them because of other reasons. For example, I’ve worked intensively with bug spirits for years and most of them would not like to be around bird/bird-related spirits because those are usually their predators. Yes most people circumvent that just by having potential human companions list the members of their family but it gives you an opportunity to learn more about the spirit and you could just put that in their listing to dissuade people with conflicting situations from applying. Although it is very important that I point out how a lot of these instances are not immediately apparent and that’s why you need to spend a lot of time with the spirit before you may start to notice anything questionable. They may have certain quirks or habits, while not #problematic, could cause problems for companionship and make them unfit to be a companion. It’s hard to learn about these quirks if you don’t live with the spirit for a few months. (Think about the mannerisms that you learn about your significant other once you’ve lived with them for a while compared to when you would just meet on dates).
Furthermore, you need to be assured that there are no extenuating circumstances that may affect them even after they’re matched and out of your fold. That is situations like a potentially harmful ex, illnesses, parasites, any past abusers, etc. that affect the spirits need to be taken care of by the shopkeeper. Once again, the shopkeeper’s greatest responsibility is to ensure that the spirit they are giving out is safe for companionship and that includes making sure that even months or years down the line there’s nothing that can cause the spirit or human harm that the shopkeeper could have prevented. Like if a companion picks up parasites after leaving the shop then that’s not something the shopkeeper could have stopped however, if the human companion starts being attacked by the companion’s abusive ex from before entering the shop then that’s something that the shopkeeper should have been aware of and taken the measures to prevent.
Along the same lines, the spirit’s motive for companionship should also be heavily vetted. For example, a spirit shouldn’t be allowed to use companionship as a way to escape a bad situation, like an abusive ex or politics. I know it’s hard not to help someone but unless the situation is completely resolved, the spirit will always attract danger to them and the human. Like a spirit that’s trying to escape slavery may continuously be hunted by slavers for the rest of their life or a spirit may be a political enemy that is wanted by their government or society. Not even looking at the danger that situations like that bring, it’s more likely that the spirit is using companionship for escape rather than genuinely wanting to be a companion. Best to provide refuge for spirits in those positions yourself rather than passing them off to people you’ve never met if you can’t ascertain that the situation won’t be handled and not affect the companionship in the future.
It is Imperative to Know the Species
It’s extremely questionable when shopkeepers don’t know much about the spirit species that they are giving out. People are giving out species that they are interacting with for the first time, species that they don’t have any intimate knowledge about besides appearance and likes and dislikes. What about their culture? How are their children raised? What is the range of their political beliefs? How are they educated? Even if the species doesn’t have complex societies, there’s a lot more to them than just a paragraph of information. I mean tigers aren’t that advanced compared to us yet whole books could be written on their species.
Mythology isn’t all there is to a species. A wikipedia article won’t give you all of the details that you need to know about a species and when it’s a species that you discovered or one that deviates from normal understandings (ex- different kinds of dragons), you better be the expert on them. Furthermore, many of the myths only talk about a select few individuals and not the species as a whole. Youneed to do research on your own to learn more about them and stop relying on myths and other people to do the work for you.
If that is your first time encountering a species then you should not give them out as a companion. Not even after meeting the second nor the third member that you come across. A single spirit cannot teach you everything there is to know about their species. You need to meet and learn from many different members. For example, you couldn’t tell a spirit everything there is to know about humans (the biology, the history, the anthropology, etc.) for you don’t know everything despite being a human. It’s like that bad sci-fi trope where an alien seems to every single ins and outs of their civilization. Most Americans couldn’t even tell you how many votes are needed in congress to override a veto (It’s ⅔ supermajority vote in both bodies fyi). So don’t assume that a single spirit is the master of knowledge when it comes to their species and recognize that you need to meet many more in order to fully be informed about the species.
If you don’t know the species of a spirit in intimate detail then you aren’t qualified to be giving them out as companions. Without knowing much about the species, how can you reasonably vet a spirit without anything to compare them to? You can’t ascribe any mannerisms that they have to simply the nature of their species if you don’t know anything about it, for example. Another example would be that you won’t know of any certain needs that they may need met or any conflicts with other species. Don’t assume that they would tell you all of that for they might not realize it themselves. And if this is a species that you discovered then you better become the best resource on that species before handing them out. Enough of these paragraph-long species descriptions and start doing research for the benefit of your customers who just want to know more about their companion.
It’s like if someone who doesn’t know much about dogs and different dog breeds besides one or two articles that they read online opened up a dog shelter and started to give dogs away as well as teaching people how to care for the dogs. No matter the personality of the dog, all breeds have specific needs that have to be met such as exercise level or medical issues. Someone without the proper knowledge of the breeds would not be able to assess the dogs correctly (ex- Hyperactive personality or just the nature of the breed?) nor pass on information that its new family may need nor be able to properly assess if its new family would be the right fit for it. Obviously that person is not qualified to be the owner of a dog shelter just as someone who doesn’t know anything beyond the basics of the species that they’re giving out isn’t qualified to be an owner of a spirit shop.
The Spirit Must be Self-Sufficient
If a spirit cannot function on its own without help from the human then they are not suited for companionship. First let us discuss baby spirits and why they’re should never be any baby spirits offered in a shop. Baby spirits are not much different from human babies in that they need constant care. It’s not the same as taking care of a puppy or kitten as many of the shops would lead you to believe; the human companion is responsible for the spirit’s childhood. If the baby is a predator, then they’ll need to be taught by the human how to hunt in order to survive for example. The human would also have to nurture the baby’s emotional development among many other things. Most people in the community are not old enough nor ready for the trials of childcare when it comes to human babies, spirit babies that they can’t even sense should be completely out of the question. Furthermore, very little shops vet the human that the baby spirit goes to. A beginner is not suited for a baby spirit no matter what and even many experienced people aren’t in the position to take care of a baby spirit either. Another thing that needs to be mentioned is that there’s many sexual predators and pedophiles in the metaphysical community. You don’t even need to get off of tumblr to find them. Just, stop giving out baby spirits y’all.
Another instance is if a spirit is dependent on their companion for anything then that’ll lead to an unhealthy relationship and bad situations. Illness is a big one, where the spirit can’t function unless the human takes care of them. It can even be as simple as “the humans has to do this one thing for the spirit or else they’ll die/become unhealthy”. This can lead to very questionable situations where the human feels constantly guilty if they’re unable to take care of the spirit as directed or where the spirit feels bad about themselves for having to rely on the human so much. Then what happens if the human goes through a fallow period where they can’t interact with the spirit to take care of them? Or if the human is just stressed and busy so they can’t help the spirit? What’ll happen to the spirit then? Not to mention how questionable this all is because the spirit surely survived fine before meeting the shopkeeper or else they would have been dead so they don’t need a human to take care of them. If someone suggests that a spirit won’t be able to survive without the human then that’s a strong indication that the spirit is not suited for companionship.
Past Life Spirits Need Extra Vetting
Many shops have services where they match people with spirits from their own past lives. While this is a popular choice for a lot of reasons, it is a dangerous one as many shops do not vet correctly for past life spirits. Spirits claiming to be from past lives should have EXTRA vetting, not less. This is because spirits masquerading as past life spirits to get access to someone happens extremely often and going through a shop just makes everything so much easier for them. The shopkeeper would have to take many extra steps to ensure that the spirit is not lying and sometimes, without knowing anything about the human’s past lives, it can be hard to tell what is a lie and what is truth. Even if they are a past life spirit, it will require a lot of diligent effort and time to properly verify that especially without the aid of the human companion as, to the best of my knowledge, most shops don’t consult with the human during the vetting process to make sure that the information they are receiving from the spirit is accurate to the person’s knowledge of their past lives.
But even if the spirit is a legit past life spirit, you need to make sure that they’re there not for malicious purposes. Many past life spirits end up trying to get back at the human for wronging them in another life or their former abusers that are trying to “reclaim” the human. Things like that need to be vetted for, just knowing a human in their past lives isn’t enough to conclude that they’re safe. If a spirit claims to be a past lover of the human then you need to vet that so hard. It’s very easy for them to manipulate the human if they’re given that role and you also have to make sure that they won’t try to force the human into a relationship just because they were lovers in the past.
(Everyone just do yourself a favor and search for past life spirits on your own, it’s so, so much safer than going through a shop).
Thoughtforms vs. Real Spirits
One of the biggest problem that is starting to arise is shops giving away unintentional thoughtforms that they don’t know that they created and believe to be actual spirits. This is usually caused by shopkeepers either not having enough experience to discern for the presence of an actual spirit or when they have the hero-complex that I’ve mentioned before in another post. While this has mostly been occurring with free shops, all shops should take the measures to prevent unintentional thoughtforms from getting through.
To vet for a thoughtform, one needs to have a good handle on reading energy. That is, they need to be able to really discern the details of the energy. I’ve seen people describe their way of differentiating thoughtforms along the lines of “their energy feels fake or artificial” but that’s not good enough because a glamour or something similar could easily be read as “artificial”, and because what even defines “fake/artificial” energy? Also, while a thoughtform’s energy usually lacks the depth of a non-thoughtform’s energy that doesn’t mean that it will feel artificial. In fact, thoughtforms made from you may take on characteristics of your own energy and their energy source. In this specific situation, there is no separate energy source because you are the energy source as well as the origin point of the spirit, but any advanced energy worker should be able to easily tell when a spirit’s energy characteristics are oddly similar to theirs. Furthermore, we already discussed the importance of knowing a species intimately and this is one of the reasons why. Once you have a detailed understanding of how to identify that species by their energy, it’s easy to tell when something is not that species. A thoughtform of a mermaid may have elements of water in their energy but it’ll lack the smoothness and the weight of a real mermaid’s energy for example.
Having Wards Doesn’t Mean That You Have Effective Wards
From what I’ve seen, some vetting processes are like 80% reliant on wards and very little of any of this other stuff. Wards are integral to the vetting process but just because you have wards, that doesn’t mean that they’re good. Wards that are made for conjuring and vetting spirits are of a completely different nature than wards made for keeping spirits out. They’re more delicate and there’s more thought and care that needs to go into curating them. You need to have advanced knowledge of how wards work in order to create proper ones for vetting.
First, they need to have many, many layers. I mean even basic protection wards shouldn’t only have one layer. Many people just visualize a wall of light or something along those lines to create their wards. That’s the extremely basics of warding and if that’s all you know how to do for warding then you need to buff up your abilities if you want to make proper wards for vetting spirits. I mentioned my beginner warding post how wards created around “only spirits with the highest good in mind may enter” and things like that are very easily loopholed and that also comes into play here. Your wards need to be tested and perfected before implementing them for your shop, you wouldn’t want an avoidable breach to happen especially when you’re responsible for someone else’s safety, not just yours. Furthermore, energy work is a lot more than just visualization. These wards should be able to take into account the entire range of energies. You should also be aware that whatever energy you use to create the wards can affect what can go through them. A spirit can use the light energy of your wards to break in for example.
The Vetting Must be Done by You
Many people rely on other spirits or deities to vet the spirits that they’re bringing in. While having an extra “layer” of safety by having others vet helps, there’s a lot of problems that can come through with this. Someone who chooses this method of vetting will have to ascertain that they avoid the situations that I will discuss and are not completely reliant on the spirits to do the work for them.
First of all, having a deity vet the spirit for you isn’t the greatest method. A lot of people have trouble or problems with certain deities that may have caused said deity to not like them. Said deity may be more willing to allow a questionable spirit through if they are at odds with the person that is being matched with them. If you think that deities would never harm someone like that and are all pure and good… well that’s a post for another day. Also, the person themselves may not be comfortable with that deity or religion and knowing that the deity had a hand in the vetting might make them uncomfortable with you and the spirit.
Second are the people who have their companions or other spirits vet the spirits. This is questionable as there’s nothing that qualifies a spirit to vet others. It seems like just the fact that they’re a spirit means that they have the skills and qualifications for this when in reality, that’s not true. Many spirits actually lack the abilities that an experienced shopkeeper should have. There’s also less transparency in the vetting process. Rarely will someone who uses this method describe what the spirit actually does to vet besides something like “they look at the potential companion”. Do they learn about the companion’s species? Do they take care of any dangerous situations? Etc. We just don’t know and if the shopkeeper never mentions doing any of those things then we really don’t know how the vetting is done which can be a cause for concern.
Of course you can have spirits help you but when it gets to the point where they’re doing most of the work it becomes questionable. Yourun the shop, not the spirits.You’rethe one giving the guarantee that the companions are safe and you’re the one who will get into trouble if a dangerous spirit slips through. You chose to run a shop so put in the effort to do so yourself.
Experience Required
We all know that you need experience before opening a shop but not just any experience will do. You could be a spirit companion or spirit worker for 10 years and still not have the experience needed to run a shop. One thing that I’ve seen happen is that people buy a spirit from a shop, then somehow believe they are capable of running a shop themselves. The problem with this way of thinking is that nobody seems to realize that owning a shop demands much greater skill than simply being a companion. Think about it, the shopkeeper is the one who put in all of the work for conjuring and vetting and if you’ve never really interacted with spirits that didn’t come from shops then you wouldn’t have any experience in vetting spirits before you began the shop. At most, companionship will help you learn communication skills. But can you differentiate the energy of species that aren’t in your family? Can you make advanced and intensive wards for vetting? You need to have analytical, intimate, and diverse knowledge of spirit work and energy work to be able to properly vet spirits. Working with only your spirit family for X many of years doesn’t give you that kind of knowledge. You’ll need to know how to read energy signatures (this goes far, far beyond “light” and “dark”), have intimate knowledge on the different species that you’ll be giving out, have a lot of experience with dealing malignant spirits, among many other things.
This applies to people who say that they’ve been practicing “all their lives”. To be honest, most people say that just to make it seem like they have more experience than they actually do. Only someone who is insecure about their actual experience level would hide behind it. Once again, you need to be practicing analytically for your experience to really help you and I doubt many people were doing intense investigations into spirits at ages 0-10 and into their teen years or if they were even doing anything at all besides “I believe in magic and spirits!”. Pro tip: Don’t falsely advertise your experience, it just makes you look extremely foolish to the people who know what they’re talking about.
Furthermore, unrelated experience doesn’t mean shit. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a witch for 5 years or are a Wiccan High Priestess, you need to have experience in spirit and energy work. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that because it all deals with the metaphysical that it’s all related, because it’s not. Astronomy and marine biology are both science fields however, someone who only has experience in astronomy would have a hard time using that to get a job as a marine biological researcher. They don’t teach the same skills, they don’t teach the same knowledge. You may know how to cast a spell for good luck but that has nothing to do with being able to read a spirit’s energy signature.
The only way to gain the experience is to practice and actively try to improve your skills. Emphasis on the word “actively” because, as I mentioned early, just interacting with spirits won’t get you the skills that you need for running a shop. This brings in the concept of deliberate practice, @chaosjelly wrote a good post on that here. Insecurity in your skills won’t go away until you take the time to focus on learning and improving more to the point of confidence. No amount of coddling and reassurance from others can make you skilled, you need to actually put in the time and effort improve.
While we’re talking about experience, I may as well point out that spiritual experience is not the only kind of experience that you need. You are running a business, even the free shops are, and you need to know how to do that. You must keep track of the spirits and who they go to, you must be willing to work with your customers without being rude or snippy (this is essentially a customer service job after all), you must know how to handle any bad situation that comes your way, and you must have emotional and professional maturity. You also need to think like a business owner, for example: excel spreadsheets with the transaction number, vessel, spirit name, spirit species, current companion name and how to contact them are a must. You should also know the community and have experience working with other shops. How else are you going to know the ins and outs of the community and how to run a shop if you haven’t been involved in everything for at least a year? Also, this will give you the opportunity to see the mistakes that others have made and learn from them when you open your shop. Furthermore, you must be aware of taxes and your state tax laws. This applies to both paid shops and the shops who only get money through donations. Ignorance of the law is not a suitable defense when you get in trouble for not paying your dues.
It NEEDS to be Intensive
You need to be extremely detailed and particular about your vetting process. The more attention, effort and time that you put in, the less likely a spirit that’s not suited for companionship slips by. However, a lot of shopkeepers don’t seem to be willing to put in this effort and instead cut corners so they can get spirits out faster and things like that. In fact, people who try to rush their RAs, listings, customs, etc. are usually the ones with problems compared to those who take the time to really vet the spirit. It’s cause they rush so much that they often miss a lot of the important things that they should know before matching the spirit.
But we also need to talk about an excuse that’s cropped up before in opposition to intensive vetting methods and that is how intensive vetting “hurts the spirit’s feelings”. If a spirit objects to undergoing a long vetting process then that should be taken as a red flag, not as you hurting their feelings. The intensive vetting is a necessity in assuring that the spirit is safe and when a spirit won’t agree to that then it’s easy to assume that the spirit wouldn’t be safe. Also, as mean as it sounds, the spirit’s feelings on whether or not they’re vetted shouldn’t matter. You have a responsibility to your customers to make sure that the spirit is fit for companionship, shirk that responsibility for any reason and you could very well be putting someone’s life in danger.
I once had a class where someone who worked for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency spoke to us and in their discussion they talked a bit about the background checks that they had to go through to get that job. The amount of work that the government put in to vet them was absolutely insane and some of the things that they were able to find freaked the person out a bit. However, they were fine with going through this process for they wanted the job and that’s the same with people who join the army and have to go through those background checks. These people understood why the vetting was necessary and were okay with subjecting themselves to it for they truly wanted the job. That’s how it should be with spirit companions, if they truly want to be a companion then they should be okay with an intense vetting even if it might make them a bit uncomfortable. I’ll repeat: you could very well be putting someone’s life in danger if you make your vetting process too weak.
You are putting a spirit in someone’s inner wards, usually a beginner’sinner wards, and they’re someone who trusts you when you say that the spirit is safe. Don’t take advantage of someone’s trust in you just because you don’t want to put in the effort for an intensive vetting process when you chose to be a spirit shopkeeper.
It NEEDS to Adapt and Change
The final section is a very important one for it is something that I rarely see. That is the fact that a vetting process should never be set in stone. By changing how you do your vetting whether it be by switching up your wards, testing the spirits with certain questions or something else, you make it less likely for an unsafe spirit to slip by. It’s easy for one to hide out and watch you as you vet the spirits in your shop, learning your wards and how you do things so that they can “beat” them and get matched with someone for malignant purposes. However, by changing up what you do, you can take measures to prevent this.
Furthermore, if you are ever in a situation where an unsafe spirit got past your vetting then that means that there’s most likely a flaw in your process. Many shops will just stick their tongue out and beg for forgiveness but go back to the same way of doing things when this happens.Then it occurs another time but they still are adamant about not changing what they do. It’s important to go back and reformat your vetting process if something went wrong. From the specific situation, you should know where you messed up and make sure not to make the same mistake again but you should also take the time to ponder any other “holes” in your system. Even if you personally haven’t let an unsafe spirit through yet, look at the situations where it happened with others and learn from their mistakes. Don’t stagnate your vetting process and then wonder why you keep having problems.
For clarification, by “change” I don’t mean something like “use wards one day, question them the next”. You should be doing everything no matter what every single day. These many layers are vital to the process and should be constantly present as long as you are working with spirits that you intend to match with others. When you change your process as I am strongly advising that you do, you are changing the integral parts of it.
The reason why I am closing with this section is because very little shops have vetting processes that meet these standards. In fact, I can only think of two or maybe three shops that I would actually trust (none of them are free shops/adoption centers in case you’re curious, not even close). But what I hope for with this post is that they’ll read it over and adapt the guidelines that I laid out for them into their vetting methods. Many of the problems that I discussed were taken right from their descriptions of their methods so hopefully they’ll also realize their mistakes and put in effort to do better. I also want non-shopkeepers to have higher standards for the shops they work with. Nothing will change, nothing will improve, unless we call for the improvement. Be critical of shopkeepers, don’t let them get free passes just because they own a shop and seem nice. In fact, I can say with great conviction that many shopkeepers aren’t as knowledgeable and experienced as they want you to think.
There’s a lot of work that needs to be done in the community, especially with all of these dubious shops, but here’s to hoping that this post will help people realize the importance of having an intensive vetting process and change theirs so that the community will become safer for beginners to adopt spirits!
*I’m using “spirit” to refer to all metaphysical entities, living and dead.
I think this is some really amazing advice that could only help shops be better and safer for the whole magic community!
Thank you for sharing this. As the ones that meet and greet all the wonderful things, it’s always so important that we do all we can and more to see they’re safe for others Advice is always welcomed and these are very good ones.
Let’s get out our routines today! The next time you have sex with your loved one (and I hope it’s sooner than later), I double dog dare you to try this little sex tip!
Sometimes we may think we know exactly what our partner wants, because what we’re doing gets the job done, but if we don’t mix it up from time to time, that’s exactly what it becomes…a job!
The next time you start to get down and dirty, I want you to ask your sexy-snuggle-muffin to tell you some new things that they would like to try. Then I want you to tell them a few things you would like to try. Finally choose one or two suggestions from each partner, and get down and dirty or clean or whatever you decide.
You don’t… You just listen and try to understand and if you have something very profound and metaphorical to say on the topic that MIGHT work but try to word it more as a personal motto that you hold for yourself than something you want them to hear cause there’s a chance advice will come off as telling them what to do if you don’t word it just the right way and you don’t want to end up having to stick your ‘Foot’ in your mouth
1. Focus on creating your own content. Even if it doesn’t get a lot of traction right away, it will get seen by some people and they will enjoy it.
2. Compliment and support other artists if you like their stuff. Don’t be clingy or fantasize interacting with other popular content creators, just support them like you would an artist or a writer in real life.
3. Be generally polite to your online peers and be careful with being obsessive. Understand that everyone has personal boundaries and they all vary from user to user.
4. Spread your interests out to keep from getting creatively burnt out on something if you want to focus on it long term.
5. Write down all the ideas for content you’d like to create and pick the top three you you want to do most. You’re not going to have time or energy to make everything all at once, it’s ok if you miss other ideas.
6. Try to finish projects but don’t feel guilty about posting small sketches or writing in small chunks or works in progress.
7. Don’t feel bad about stopping production of content if you’re sick of it and want to move into anything else. Fandom usually isn’t something you do for profit, and in the grand scheme of things, notes and reblogs won’t count for much.
8. If something stops being fun, enjoy what you did and move on. It’ll still be there if you ever want to go back to it.
9. Try to stay casually in contact with people you’ve interacted with, explain why your leaving or taking a break from the fandom, and support their works if you’re still on good terms with them. Even if you do leave their fandom, it’ll show good sportsmanship.
10. Take breaks from tumblr and share work over multiple platforms. Twitter, instagram, and Facebook are all good ways to get tranction for your content, even if Tumblr is the go-to for fandom interactions.
I love drawing characters, so it’s no surprise that they’ll usually take center stage. That is if I bother to give them a stage. Because most of the time, I’ll just leave them standing in the big empty.
⚡️Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!
hello, hello. this post will be mostly for my notes. this is something I need in to be reminded of for my business, but it can also be very useful and beneficial for you guys as well.
everything in life has structure and storytelling is no different, so let’s dive right in :)
First off let’s just review what a story structure is :
a story is the backbone of the story, the skeleton if you will. It hold the entire story together.
the structure in which you choose your story will effectively determine how you create drama and depending on the structure you choose it should help you align your story and sequence it with the conflict, climax, and resolution.
1. Freytag’s Pyramid
this first story structure i will be talking about was named after 19th century German novelist and playwright.
it is a five point structure that is based off classical Greek tragedies such as Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripedes.
Freytag’s Pyramid structure consists of:
Introduction:the status quo has been established and an inciting incident occurs.
Rise or rising action: the protagonist will search and try to achieve their goal, heightening the stakes,
Climax: the protagonist can no longer go back, the point of no return if you will.
Return or fall: after the climax of the story, tension builds and the story inevitably heads towards…
Catastrophe: the main character has reached their lowest point and their greatest fears have come into fruition.
this structure is used less and less nowadays in modern storytelling mainly due to readers lack of appetite for tragic narratives.
2. The Hero’s Journey
the hero’s journey is a very well known and popular form of storytelling.
it is very popular in modern stories such as Star Wars, and movies in the MCU.
although the hero’s journey was inspired by Joseph Campbell’s concept, a Disney executive Christopher Vogler has created a simplified version:
The Ordinary World: The hero’s everyday routine and life is established.
The Call of Adventure: the inciting incident.
Refusal of the Call: the hero / protagonist is hesitant or reluctant to take on the challenges.
Meeting the Mentor: the hero meets someone who will help them and prepare them for the dangers ahead.
Crossing the First Threshold: first steps out of the comfort zone are taken.
Tests, Allie, Enemies: new challenges occur, and maybe new friends or enemies.
Approach to the Inmost Cave: hero approaches goal.
The Ordeal: the hero faces their biggest challenge.
Reward (Seizing the Sword): the hero manages to get ahold of what they were after.
The Road Back: they realize that their goal was not the final hurdle, but may have actually caused a bigger problem than before.
Resurrection: a final challenge, testing them on everything they’ve learned.
Return with the Elixir: after succeeding they return to their old life.
the hero’s journey can be applied to any genre of fiction.
3. Three Act Structure:
this structure splits the story into the ‘beginning, middle and end’ but with in-depth components for each act.
Act 1: Setup:
exposition:the status quo or the ordinary life is established.
inciting incident: an event sets the whole story into motion.
plot point one: the main character decided to take on the challenge head on and she crosses the threshold and the story is now progressing forward.
Act 2: Confrontation:
rising action: the stakes are clearer and the hero has started to become familiar with the new world and begins to encounter enemies, allies and tests.
midpoint:an event that derails the protagonists mission.
plot point two: the hero is tested and fails, and begins to doubt themselves.
Act 3: Resolution:
pre-climax:the hero must chose between acting or failing.
climax:they fights against the antagonist or danger one last time, but will they succeed?
Denouement: loose ends are tied up and the reader discovers the consequences of the climax, and return to ordinary life.
4. Dan Harmon’s Story Circle
it surprised me to know the creator of Rick and Morty had their own variation of Campbell’s hero’s journey.
the benefit of Harmon’s approach is that is focuses on the main character’s arc.
it makes sense that he has such a successful structure, after all the show has multiple seasons, five or six seasons? i don’t know not a fan of the show.
the character is in their comfort zone: also known as the status quo or ordinary life.
they want something: this is a longing and it can be brought forth by an inciting incident.
the character enters and unfamiliar situation: they must take action and do something new to pursue what they want.
adapt to it: of course there are challenges, there is struggle and begin to succeed.
they get what they want: often a false victory.
a heavy price is paid: a realization of what they wanted isn’t what they needed.
back to the good old ways: they return to their familiar situation yet with a new truth.
having changed: was it for the better or worse?
i might actually make a operate post going more in depth about dan harmon’s story circle.
5. Fichtean Curve:
thefichtean curve places the main character in a series of obstacles in order to achieve their goal.
this structure encourages writers to write a story packed with tension and mini-crises to keep the reader engaged.
The Rising Action
the story must start with an inciting indecent.
then a series of crisis arise.
there are often four crises.
2.The Climax:
3. Falling Action
this type of story telling structure goes very well with flash-back structured story as well as in theatre.
6. Save the Cat Beat Sheet:
this is another variation of a three act structure created by screenwriter Blake Snyder, and is praised widely by champion storytellers.
Structure for Save the Cat is as follows: (the numbers in the brackets are for the number of pages required, assuming you’re writing a 110 page screenplay)
Opening Image [1]: The first shot of the film. If you’re starting a novel, this would be an opening paragraph or scene that sucks readers into the world of your story.
Set-up [1-10]. Establishing the ‘ordinary world’ of your protagonist. What does he want? What is he missing out on?
Theme Stated [5]. During the setup, hint at what your story is really about — the truth that your protagonist will discover by the end.
Catalyst [12]. The inciting incident!
Debate [12-25]. The hero refuses the call to adventure. He tries to avoid the conflict before they are forced into action.
Break into Two [25]. The protagonist makes an active choice and the journey begins in earnest.
B Story [30]. A subplot kicks in. Often romantic in nature, the protagonist’s subplot should serve to highlight the theme.
The Promise of the Premise [30-55]. Often called the ‘fun and games’ stage, this is usually a highly entertaining section where the writer delivers the goods. If you promised an exciting detective story, we’d see the detective in action. If you promised a goofy story of people falling in love, let’s go on some charmingly awkward dates.
Midpoint [55].Aplot twist occurs that ups the stakes and makes the hero’s goal harder to achieve — or makes them focus on a new, more important goal.
Bad Guys Close In [55-75]. The tension ratchets up. The hero’s obstacles become greater, his plan falls apart, and he is on the back foot.
All is Lost [75]. The hero hits rock bottom. He loses everything he’s gained so far, and things are looking bleak. The hero is overpowered by the villain; a mentor dies; our lovebirds have an argument and break up.
Dark Night of the Soul [75-85-ish]. Having just lost everything, the hero shambles around the city in a minor-key musical montage before discovering some “new information” that reveals exactly what he needs to do if he wants to take another crack at success. (This new information is often delivered through the B-Story)
Break into Three [85]. Armed with this new information, our protagonist decides to try once more!
Finale [85-110]. The hero confronts the antagonist or whatever the source of the primary conflict is. The truth that eluded him at the start of the story (established in step three and accentuated by the B Story) is now clear, allowing him to resolve their story.
Final Image [110]. A final moment or scene that crystallizes how the character has changed. It’s a reflection, in some way, of the opening image.
(all information regarding the save the cat beat sheet was copy and pasted directly from reedsy!)
7. Seven Point Story Structure:
this structure encourages writers to start with the at the end, with the resolution, and work their way back to the starting point.
this structure is about dramatic changes from beginning to end
The Hook. Draw readers in by explaining the protagonist’s current situation. Their state of being at the beginning of the novel should be in direct contrast to what it will be at the end of the novel.
Plot Point 1. Whether it’s a person, an idea, an inciting incident, or something else — there should be a “Call to Adventure” of sorts that sets the narrative and character development in motion.
Pinch Point 1. Things can’t be all sunshine and roses for your protagonist. Something should go wrong here that applies pressure to the main character, forcing them to step up and solve the problem.
Midpoint. A “Turning Point” wherein the main character changes from a passive force to an active force in the story. Whatever the narrative’s main conflict is, the protagonist decides to start meeting it head-on.
Pinch Point 2. The second pinch point involves another blow to the protagonist — things go even more awry than they did during the first pinch point. This might involve the passing of a mentor, the failure of a plan, the reveal of a traitor, etc.
Plot Point 2. After the calamity of Pinch Point 2, the protagonist learns that they’ve actually had the key to solving the conflict the whole time.
Resolution. The story’s primary conflict is resolved — and the character goes through the final bit of development necessary to transform them from who they were at the start of the novel.
(all information regarding the seven point story structure was copy and pasted directly from reedsy!)
i decided to fit all of them in one post instead of making it a two part post.
i hope you all enjoy this post and feel free to comment or reblog which structure you use the most, or if you have your own you prefer to use! please share with me!
if you find this useful feel free to reblog on instagram and tag me at perpetualstories
Follow my tumblr and instagram for more writing and grammar tips and more!
Have created a new novel-writing approach for myself that I am calling Very Gentle Writing. Very Gentle Writing is an approach for people who live nearly every waking second in self-castigation and actually need peaceful slowness to unleash their creativity.
Very Gentle Writing does not set staggering word count goals and then feel bad about it. No! Very Gentle Writing for me sets an extremely low word count and then feels magnificently productive when the low bar is exceeded (which is easy…it’s a low bar, I mean really low).
Very Gentle Writing is about saying hey yo maybe I just want to listen to a chill playlist for a while and feel one sentence spill out. Go me!
Very Gentle Writing is kind of about realizing I have a really limited amount of time to write in between work, and adulting, and taking care of a thousand life responsibilities, and trying to heal&deal from trauma in 2020. So I want that writing time to be….just…..nice.
Very Gentle Writing means I have a goal of enjoying every single time I sit down to write. Really. I use all the fun words first.
Very Gentle Writing came to me as an idea when I started to think about how as someone actively trying to recover from a lot of lifelong trauma, the usual word harder!! Work harder!! mantras in the world of “people doing hard things” didn’t motivate me at all, they only hurt me. I truly need a voice saying work less hard, personally.
advice for artist studyblrs from an old broke artist: study the shit out of color theory. really. Because not only it will make everything you do more engaging, but it will save you SO MUCH MONEY IN THE FUTURE because you can go by with 4 or 6 basic pigment in your palette and still mix everything you need.
(I say 4 or 6 based on what media you’re using, you can either go by with a cyan-magenta-primary yellow-black like printers or for a wider range for mediums like watercolor and acrylics and oil you can go with a cerulean, cadmium red, cadmium yellow, hansa yellow, quinacridone and ultramarine…)
Really, I’m thanking my teacher every day for those extenuating color mixing exercises because otherwise I’d go broke with buying those goddamn expensive silk colors….
Those who actually want to invest a lot (really expensive), there’s this industry-level course (which means the teacher is art director at dreamworks and worked in disney as well, so yeah, expensive) but REALLY worth it: Designing with color and light by Nathan Fowkes
One of the best exercises you can do to learn how to mix traditional colors properly is take a magazine, cut pieces of paper from it, they must be flat colors! any flat color, the more small pieces the better. then glue them all on a sheet of paper and try to mix pigments to copy that color. The more you try to copy the easier it will get in the end. obviously.
Being creative means sometimes you’ll get competitive and start comparing yourself to others. It’s not healthy and sometimes causes you to burn out, stress and doubt your own creative abilities.
A part of the process in learning to heal is to not only forgive the people who made you feel so competitive and bad about yourself and work, but to forgive yourself.
Here’s a personal story. A few months ago I was extremely competitive, so much that I ended up burning myself out and stressing people I loved. I’m not a huge YouTuber, and I’m not a typical gamer either. My channel took a huge amount of time to get where I wanted it to be, becoming so many different things at once instead of focusing on one main goal.
To be honest, it really bothered me (to the point of almost quitting) that so many newer girl gamers got so much recognition and support after only being on YouTube for a few months. They jumped on trend bandwagons and acted like every other girl gamer out there (oh heck you know how they act, let’s be real), considering themselves to be “original”.
Of course everyone has their own cup of tea, but to see them gain 1,000 of subscribers for even producing something that wasn’t even high quality, getting the amountof support they did hurt me so much.
Was I wrong to think that way?Yes.Should I have let it bother me? No. The content I produce is high quality, taking days to complete with the team I have put together over the last few months. Am I proud of that? Yes.
The advice in this video isn’t coming from someone who has that huge following, but does that matter? No. I’m still human, consider me a friend if you’d like. Numbers shouldn’t make me think any less of my content because I know I did my best and that looking at someone else’s work shouldn’t bother me.
I’ve been able to connect with an amazing audience, have helped others and charities and have really made some awesome friends along the way. Today I still suffer from my competitive nature, but I’m beginning to forgive myself and others. It’s a beautiful feeling to have once you just wake up one day and say, “You know what, I just don’t care anymore about what others have. I’m me, and no one can do what I do and that’s that.”
Trust me, I’m still trying to better myself and I know it’s hard. I’ve been on both sides of the fence. So maybe one day you and I will both be better versions of ourselves. Let’s keep on doing our best and never give up.
For people with anxiety about filing taxes, here’s what things that happen when you make a mistake on your tax return:
- it gets corrected
- you get a letter in the mail either asking for some additional information or a letter showing the adjustment
- you pay the amount (there’s options for payment plans too!) or get a refund
Things that do nothappen
- you’re “in trouble”
- you are charged with fraud
- you go to jail
I know that most people are probably just joking/exaggerating when they say a mistake on their return means they get thrown in jail but when I worked with the public I always would encounter people who believed that would happen and they would be panicking about it. So I like to put this out there every year because if I can even prevent one person from feeling that way, it’s worth it
Also the IRS will NEVER cold call you. If you get an upsetting phone call about your taxes it is a scam.
The first step is figuring out how behind you actually are. Will you get anxious? Yes. Will you panic? Most likely. However, brace yourself. You got yourself in this, so make sure you get yourself out too. If you don’t, nobody else will. Grab a paper or open a document. And do the following:
List all your subjects
Mark what you will be evaluated for. Is it an essay, presentation or your good old theoretic exam?
For each item that you have to deliver write down the following
Essay: How long should it be? Is it a team project or individual? How
Presentation: Is it an individual presentation or with a partner?
Theoretic: How many chapters will the test be based on?
Don’t panic. Prioritize.
I’m not going to lie, you WILL be overwhelmed once you finish that list. However, you are not obligated to do all of them. What do I mean by this? Well, why don’t you try to make a couple of them during resit period? I started a whole semester late, I had double the exams than my peers. Is taking all the exams at once doable? Certainly, but you will have to sacrifice your sanity and be content with a passing grade. However, I am not the type of person that is satisfied with a passing grade and I am also kinda lazy so I would choose which exams I would take in the examination period and which ones I would take in the resit period. That way, I didn’t overload myself with stuff and ensure a high grade nonetheless. Work smarter, not harder, kids.
This is where prioritizing came in handy. Based on the previous information gathered in the first step, filter which exams are the most important. Do you have a subject that requires an essay, presentation and a theoretic exam? Make it a priority. Is that theoretic exam feared among all students for being hella difficult? Make it a priority. As a rule of thumb, make all team projects a priority. So, then… What do you leave for resit? Is it an individual paper that does not require a lot of work or cannot be too long? Resit. Is it an individual presentation? Resit. Is it a simple test in a subject you are confident in? Resit. Although I do recommend trying to take all the written exams in the examination week. However, if you see that the workload is too much, move one to the resit.
Create a Master Calendar
Now that you know what you will be prioritizing, it is important to create a master calendar that will help you catch up. Here are some guidelines on how I do it.
Mark off all your deadlines first
Per subject divide the study material in tasks: What chapters do you need to study? When will you outline your paper? When will you write? Revise it?
Schedule the most pressing or time consuming assignments first
Assign 1 or 2 study subjects per day
If you work with programs such as Notion or other software that helps you with project management, doing a big backlog can be a game changer. Want more in depth information? I wrote a blog just about that here.
Have a structured and mindful study routine
I was surprised at how much I improved my study when I implemented a study routine. Before having one, I would spend hours and hours on one thing, or I would start reading about something and quickly started doing unnecessary research on what I’ve read. I thought I was being productive but truth of the matter is that I wouldn’t finish what I actually HAD TO do. Some weeks back, I shared my study routine with you. Having a study routine is important, if you want to ensure you are completing your tasks. Pro-tip: use the pomodoro technique or set a specific time for you to finish each of your tasks. You’ll finish more things that way.
Have a partner to keep you accountable
Finding a study buddy is one of the best decisions you can make when you are behind your studies. BUT make sure they are serious. This helped me so much back in my minor, I teamed up with another classmate and we created a shared doc where we each assigned a chapter to summarize. We would then come together and explain the chapter to each other. Thus cutting the time we spent reading and writing the summaries in half in order to focus on learning. Try to come up with ways to divide the workload between the two of you and then explain and discuss about it. This is a more interactive way of learning and is sure to keep you more engaged and help you remember it afterwards.
Since a major symptom of ADHD is never knowing how long a task will take you, routines can really help you get your stuff done. So how to trick your brain into making (and keeping) one?
Write your routine down!
Be flexible with times. Some things may have really rigid times (like class times, meals) but when it’s hard to know how long stuff takes, getting a general idea is better than stressing out trying to guess how long it takes to do your class readings etc
Have time for “busy work”— bad short term memory means that you forget to answer important emails, make appointments, do forms. If you set a specific time for this type of thing, it’s like a built in reminder to go deal with it.
Sometimes you just can’t focus as well as you’d like. Sometimes you get distracted talking to friends. Sometimes you randomly get invited to do something fun. Have times that are intentionally flexible, for work if you’re hyper focused, or fun if you need a break
Remeber that a routine is to provide sweet sweet structure, not to provide stress and guilt. It’s a guideline to help you, and you don’t have to feel bad if you don’t follow it perfectly.
Personally, this is the most effective one for me. All you need is a blank piece of paper. Pick a sub-topic that you are doing e.g in biology a topic could be immune system and the sub-topic could be antibodies and antigens. If you want you can create some questions for each sub-topic and on your blank piece of paper, using questions as a guide, write everything you know about that sub-topic without your notes. After get your notes out and check and correct with a different colour pen. Watch this video to get a better understanding
2. Flashcards
I recommend you use written flashcards, unless you have vocab or definitions in which case digital ones like quizlet is fine. You should have questions on one side and your answers on another - i’ve heard people say the answer shouldn’t be long but i find that the more detailed it is the higher marks you score in the exam - of course summarise don’t just copy from a textbook or there is no point in doing this. When you test yourself try to do something else other than reading, for example write the answer down and then check and correct.
3. Spaced intervals
No point cramming for an exam. Yes it might have got you an A* in GCSE or other lower level exams but it’s certainly not going to get you an A* for a-levels or other higher exams. Space your learning out and if you can try and revise everyday, even if somedays are just for half an hour, DO IT! It will help you in the long term. Don’t revise one subject/unit for a whole day, space it out. For example don’t revise like this: AABBCC, revise like this instead: ABCBCA or something along those lines.
4. Mind maps
My favourite revision source!!! For some reason in an exam ( i only use mind maps for essay based subjects) i can remember where i put each point on my mind map which helps me write my essays and retrieve my information more in the long term! Don’t make it boring by trying to be ‘minimal’ - ADD COLOUR !!! But to stay within limits, too many colours can make it look overwhelming and confusing !
5. Teaching someone else
Either teach your younger siblings or pretend you are teaching to an imaginary class - while it may seem crazy it works, trust me. Use a whiteboard to help you illustrate your ideas! This method will help you identify any gaps in your knowledge and you’ll truly see if you know something well enough to explain it. If you cannot explain it to a six year old then you truly have not got the grasp of it, as Albert Einstein says!
6. past papers
Honestly, this should be the last thing for your revision, unless you have not left enough time to revise all the content and you are running out of time then past papers should be the first thing you do. Do these properly, don’t do it just to see what gaps you have in your knowledge- genuinely do it as if it is a real exam. This will help you see how well you can apply the content you have memorised for an exam. It will also get you familiar with the mark scheme which will help you get as close as full marks !!!
