now that i’ve begun working more with energy, i wanted to share my methods of casting circles! when i first started working with energy, it was really hard to find references for casting circles, especially ones not dealing with the traditional Wiccan god/goddess. here are some methods and uses of casting circles!
Why Cast a Circle?
the primary reason i cast circles is to protect me from outside energy influences. most people associate circles to protection from ‘malevolent’ spirits, however, it’s just a great barrier in general!
here are some following scenarios i cast circles:
divination- to protect me from energies that might influence my cards or my interpretation o the cards
spellwork- pretty self-explanatory. i cast circles to protect from energies i don’t want in my spells, or from potential spirit attraction.
meditation- again, for energy use and to also not be disturbed from anything spiritual.
Methods of Casting
1 - Invoking Elements
a very basic way, if not the go-to way, of casting is to place each of the four elements at each of the cardinal directions. Earth at the north, Air in the east, Fire at the south, and Water in the west.
fire
Candles (color them for intent if used in a spell! alternatively, electric tea lights work fine.)
alternatively, any of these could be replaced with a tarot card of the corresponding suit! (wands for fire, cups for water, pentacles for earth, and swords for air).
to close the circle, walk clockwise starting in the east (air) and complete a full walk around the circle. do this as many times as you feel needed to envision a complete circle! after your use for it is done, unwind it by walking the same number of times counter-clockwise.
note:if you live in the southern hemisphere, you may want to reverse fire and earth in your directions and walk counter-clockwise to close the circle, and clockwise to end it.
2 - Envisioning
this is a very, very simple way to cast a circle! if you have very little time, simply imagine a ring of light around your workspace. you could align color to purpose as well.
the only downsides to this method include the fact that it may not be as strong as a physical circle for beginners especially, as i have learned many times over as i find energy that i don’t want in the circle. on top of this, to make it very successful, you may have to keep this image in your head throughout your spell or energy work, which may distract or hurt your concentration.
however, like i said before, it’s very easy, discreet, and requires no clean up! with practice, it could be very easy to maintain.
3 - Salt Circle
by simply spreading salt in a circle clockwise (or counter-clockwise depending on your location), you can create a strong barrier. as you walk around, envision your purpose of protection and safety.
if you are working outside, do not use salt. it will kill plant life! instead, consider alternatives such as: egg shells, diluted salt water, crushed herbs, flower petals, etc.
if working inside, consider setting out foil, cloth, or a tarp for easy cleanup.
4 - Cleansing the Room Itself
if you find that you for some reason cannot cast a circle, or maybe are just starting out, consider cleansing the entire room instead!
some methods include:
smoke cleansing (NOT smudging. please do not call this action smudging unless it is part of YOUR culture.)
salt or protective mixture
dance/song
salt/water spray
incense and candles
for smoke cleansing, light your bundle and start facing eastward, spreading the smoke and asking for protection from either the corresponding element or any deities/spirits/etc. you worship. move clockwise or counterclockwise.
for salt or protection mixtures, simply place a small pile in each corner of the room or at the cardinal directions.
dance and song can celanse the room when accompanied with smoke especially.
the salt water spray can be used similar to the protection mixture – spray a little in each corner or at the cardinal directions.
incense and candles can be placed in corners, the directions, or just throughout the room to act as protective energy.
Final Notes
make sure to remove your circle after you’re done!! leaving it up isn’t safe and could be draining on your energy or health.
try not to leave the circle in the middle of your work, if it can be avoided. ive had to do it before and nothing bad happened, but sometimes it ocould break the circle, or bring unwanted energy or precense in.
do your absolute best to have all your materials in the circle before you cast it. bringing items that were not in the circle before could carry energy that you just do not want in your circle. i’ve messed up plenty spells because of it already. if it is really necessary, cleanse the item as thoroughly as you can (quickly if you need to), and enter the circle from the east.
if these methods don’t work right away, don’t worry! these take lots of practice. some easy ways to try casting daily include:
cast a circle before you meditate
cleanse your room before you do homework for a safe space to work
if you have a form of divination, cast a circle before drawing a daily reading (i do this in the morning to see how the day will go or seek advice for the day!).
It is a simple way to charge up and cleanse your crystals without having to focus on visualisation. Simply put your crystal in the center of a piece of paper, and write around it two categories of words: the things you want to fill your crystal with, and the things you want out of them. Then draw arrows pointing into the crystal for the positives, and away from it for the negatives.
This is a visual way to charge/cleanse without having to maintain focus. I’m certain it could work for any object you want to use, not just crystals!
Good idea!
This is brilliant!
This would be especially useful for beginner witches who are learning. Use it as a visual aid.
I’ll be honest. As soon as someone says “Antheia, think of a bright light between your hands,” I’m out. While visualization works very well for me when I’m grounding, meditating, or shielding, I find it hinders rather than helps when I get to actual spellcraft and more complicated energy work. While visualization is a skill that is very useful and good to practice, here’s a few solutions.
Do something physical. When you’re putting up your shields, lift your hands with your shield. When you’re cleansing yourself or something, rub it down as though you were washing mud and grime off of yourself/the object. Imagine the heat of your skin is the energy that you’re putting into something. While you might feel a little silly at first, I’ve found that doing something along with your energy work can be really helpful in putting you into the right mindset. In terms of spell craft, sometimes making something that you can hold physically will help, as well.
Command it. You will do as you please. Saying it out loud can also be helpful if you’re having trouble visualizing. “I’m raising my shields/My shields are up.” “The energy will…” “My intent is…” Simple commands can be very effective, just don’t get too caught up in having good grammar or anything. Sometimes one word works. Sometimes you might want to dictate what you feel or what you want to happen.
Do some breathing exercises. These are not for everybody, but again, something physical for you to do. A very simple exercise is to imagine your shields swelling big big bigger when you inhale, and then coming in tight around you, right against your skin, when you exhale. Works with energy, works with some spells, helps with meditation and grounding.
Close your eyes. Sometimes, especially when you’re a beginner and can’t see what you’re doing, just closing your eyes can make a difference. By taking away that sense, you sharpen your other senses a little more, and it gets a lot easier to practice. When I’m in a very high or low part of my mood disorder, I have a lot of trouble concentrating on magic and on energy. I find that closing my eyes can help me by disconnecting me a little from what I’m seeing and I can pay more attention to what I’m actually doing.
Again, these are things that I do when I’m having issues with visualization. If they don’t work for you, try something else! These aren’t the only ways, and you can combine them however you’d like. I’d also love to know the practices that other people use in energy work, be it visualization, one of these techniques, a combination, or something else entirely!
I’m really good at visualizing, but I understand that some people have a harder time with it. This is for those people. :)
If you’re reading this post, there is a good chance you are a beginner. At this point, you may not even be certain that you believe all this “energy stuff”. My opinion is simple: give it a shot. Read through this and truly go for it. Give it at least two weeks of daily practice. Chances are, you’ll get some results by the end of those two weeks. When you finally make your first psiball, the excitement you get makes it feel like you’ve just created a cure for the common cold. You’ll be so amazed that you were able to do it, and even more so amazed that it’s actually true. But keep in mind: results come from practice. You can’t expect to make your first psiball without having practiced for anymore than 10 seconds. I expect you to sit down in a quiet place, relax, clear your head, and then attempt psiball creation for at least fifteen minutes every day. But believe me when I tell you, the practice more than pays off at the end.
If you’re wondering why you should make psiballs and what energy can do, there is a plethora of uses for them! One example is creating protective wards.
I often mention the action of charging or empowering an object with your intent. Every time I use it in an answer to an ask, I feel like I should explain exactly what charging is.
I want to point out that this is simply my way of charging an object. Some witches will do it differently, and some witches don’t even charge objects at all.
WHAT IS CHARGING? Charging is, in my opinion, filling up an object with energy. Charging an object with your intent means to fill it up with a certain type of energy that relates to what you’re doing or what you’ll use the object for (i.e. taking an amulet that you want to help attract love and filling it with “romantic energy”). It is also known as empowering.
Think of it as giving an object a purpose. The object itself has its own energy, but this energy can be changed and added to (i.e. a piece of string has energy like a blank slate, and charging it will engrave something onto it; however, remember that it isn’t as permanent as engraving). Some objects already have purposes, such as gemstones (i.e. rose quartz is used for love). When charging these objects, you are basically specifying exactly what you want them to do (i.e. rose quartz can be used for friendship, romance, lust, family relationships, etc.).
I like to think of the object being blank and aura-less when I start. But after I charge it, it has a glow around it. The colour changes depending on my intent (i.e. pink for love, red for lust, black for cursing, etc.).
WHAT OBJECTS CAN BE CHARGED? Literally speaking, every and any object can be charged. Stones, boxes, cups, even people. Usually, people only charge things that will a) be used as a ritual or witchcraft tool, such as a wand or an athame, or b) be carried around as a charm. The most commonly charged objects are:
witch bottles
jars
sachets
amulets
charms
candles
water
Like I said earlier, you are giving objects a purpose. If I need a candle for luck, I’ll charge it with green light and the feeling of success and good luck. This, in addition to dressing it with luck-drawing herbs and oils, will cause it to promote and draw in good luck whenever I light it. The same goes for wearing amulets, using water (i.e. purifying water, to me, is sort of like reverse-charging, where you’re cleansing it of all purpose so it’s sort of a blank slate again), and especially carrying sachets or charms.
WHAT DOES ENERGY LOOK/FEEL LIKE? That’s an opinion question. It all depends on your experiences. Here’s what I’ve experienced.
I see energy as light. The image above is a good example of the “energy bubble” I talk about in the next section. However, I see it as a little more solid than light. I often imagine it as something from a video game. If you’ve played Skyrim or World of Warcraft, you’ll know that spellcasters can conjure up different spells (such as fireballs and lightning bolts) in their hands. It sort of springs from their palms as a bolt or string, very solid and opaque as opposed to loose and transparent. That is how I see energy.
Some people see energy as the image above. Smokey yet coloured with their intent. Some people also see it as electricity or as strings. All of these are correct. Nobody is wrong when it comes to how they see and feel energy.
To understand how energy feels, rub your hands together quickly and for a long time. Your hands will get hot and tingly. Spread your hands apart slowly. You will feel a bubble of energy form. That is what energy feels like.
HOW TO I CHARGE AN OBJECT? Charging isn’t difficult if you have good visualization skills and a good grip on energy. Here is how I charge objects:
Before you begin, you may want to cleanse the object in question of any other energies that are clinging to it. This is optional.
Ground and centre. Breathe deeply, in through your nose and out through your mouth. Let all of your muscles relax. Try to be seated on a solid surface, the ground being the best option.
Have the object in front of you. If you’re on the ground, have it on the ground too. If you’re seated somewhere else, place the object on a flat surface.
There are three ways of going about charging, all of which are great:
This way is great for beginners. Rub your hands together quickly. They’ll get hot and tingly, but that’s what you want to happen. Close your eyes and keep rubbing. After a moment, slowly spread your hands apart. You should feel a bubble form between them. This is the energy you’ve just produced. While it feels stretchy (and it is), don’t suddenly fling your hands far apart, especially if it’s your first time doing this. You’ll have to start over. In your mind, see this as a simple transparent bubble between your hands. Now, begin to concentrate on your intent. Murmur what you want the object to do, focus on what you want the outcome to be. You may want to move your hands while doing this, feeling the bubble. As you focus, the bubble changes colour. You can decide the colour (i.e. pink for love spells, green for money spells, gold for protection spells). Once you have this image clearly in your mind, push that energy bubble into the object. Holding your hands over the object, visualize the energy entering it. Feel it leaving your fingers. When finished, imagine the object glowing with its light.
This way isn’t for beginners, but for people who are familiar with charging. Close your eyes and concentrate on your intent. See the desired outcome in your mind. Now hold your hands around your solar plexus area as if you’re saying, “The fish I caught was this big!” Your inner wrists should almost be touching your ribs. Now, begin to move your hands as if you’re feeling a bubble form in between them. As you focus on your intent, the energy begins to manifest itself in your hands. Its colour depends on your intent. You can feel the energy, and it starts to take bubble form. Keep going until you feel like you’re holding a ball. Next, hold your hands over the object and visualize the energy entering it. Feel it leaving your fingers. When finished, imagine the object glowing with its light.
This way is more for people who have good visualization skills. Take the object into your hands and close your eyes. Concentrate on your intent. Visualize your desired results. Let yourself feel the emotion closest related to your intent (i.e. if you’re cursing, let yourself be filled with hate; if you’re creating protection, let yourself become shielded and feel safe). Breathe in deeply, and as you do so, visualize energy being created either in your solar plexus area or your forehead area. This energy glows with whatever light you imagine. As you concentrate on your intent, visualize this energy travelling slowly to your hands. Next, imagine that energy going into the object through your hands (i.e. strings of energy flowing through your palms to the object). Once this is done, visualize the object glowing. The light streams through your closed fingers, and when you open up your hands the light shines in your face. Open your eyes. The object is now charged.
Grounding and centring afterwards is recommended. This can take a lot of energy to do, and is especially draining for beginners. The more you do it, the easier it will become. The smaller the object the faster and easier it will be. I still have trouble charging objects bigger than my fist.
I hope this answered your questions about charging. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me. Happy charging! :)
Ingredients: Blue candle Red candle Purple candle knife
Steps: Arrange the candles in a triangle around the knife Light the candles Sit in front of the knife and focus on all that you might need protection from, and put that energy into the candles Use the knife to put out the candles so that it can know how to protect you from all your worries
Three weeks into December already! Where has the time gone?
This was a very low spoons week for me, which you’ll see reflected in this update. I hope everyone is taking at least a little inspiration from my Winter Witchery Challenge!
December 15th: Spirit sensing. I didn’t get much for sensing my spirits individually, but did notice their energies as a whole. I made the mistake of lying down…
Hello everyone! Micah here with an update on my Winter Witchery Challenge. We’re a week into December, so here’s a quick summary of what I’ve done for each day so far:
December 1st: A brainstorming day for where I wanted to go from here. I asked myself 4 questions: what do I want to continue or resume in my Craft? What would I like to explore? What do I want to do more of? What do I want to do…
This is a quick little spell for releasing sadness. Witchcraft is of course not a replacement for medical professionals of any sort. Seek help if you need it. I dreamed up this spell in as I was trying to fall asleep one night. For this spell you will need:
an envelope paper something to write with basic energy work skills a match or lighter, and a safe space to have open flames…
Secular witchcraft as “I don’t believe in spirits, only energy”
:/
Okay, I am definitely the first and not the second. But what is wrong with the second? Is this post people saying, “I disagree with that outlook,” or is it people saying, “I believe that outlook is wrong and your craft is lesser if you practice that way?” Because that’s kinda rude.
It’s fine to believe whatever you want, but let’s say you don’t believe in God whilst calling yourself Christian. Using the correct word is important because words mean things. You can’t take away the core and have it remain the same.
Fair enough. So what do we call witches who work with energy?
Several self-descriptors from such practitioners come to mind, such as energy worker, energy healer, light worker. It’s different from witchcraft and is a discipline unto itself. Just as I cannot call myself a lawyer for not having been to law school, the same goes for them and “witch.” Our skillsets are different, and that is something to recognize on either end. I certainly cannot say I am trained or learned as an energy worker.
Ah, so we’re just garden variety gatekeeping witchcraft. Good to know my initial instinct was correct.
I mean if you say so? There’s nothing wrong with a spiritual/magical/energetic practice that isn’t witchcraft. There’s loads to choose from! But it does no favors in naming your cat “dog.”
And that’s for them to decide, not you.
They aren’t gatekeeping though? Nothing about this has been gatekeeping. They aren’t saying energy work isn’t valid. They aren’t saying that certain types of people can’t be witches. In fact, they’ve super polite and supportive about people practicing these other disciplines!
All the OP is pointing out is that witchcraft is historically tied to spirit work. There are multitudes of other forms of magic that go by various names. And those practices are valid! They’re fabulous! And it’s okay if it’s not labeled as witchcraft.
Words have meaning. Using the proper ones are important. At the end of the day, people can call themselves whatever they want. It’s no skin off my back. But it does a disservice to the hard work that goes into the respective practices of witchcraft and energy working. And it also makes it harder for people to find the kind of information they might be looking for.
And crying gatekeeping even at posts that are nothing like that diminish the calls of gatekeeping when it’s actually happening.
Are you a witch, wizard, or other practitioner of magic or scholar of the occult? Do you want to share your knowledge with others and help them on their path? Would you enjoy working with an engaged and dedicated team of mentors and magic practitioners? Then you should consider becoming a mentor with Acturian Academy! What is Acturian Academy? Acturian Academy is an online witchcraft and magic academy dedicated to supplying free guidance and information on a wide variety of occult and magical topics. We are not affiliated with any religion or form of practice and accept students and mentors from all paths and belief systems. Our semesters last 10 weeks at a time and are hosted on Google Classroom. Our next semester will begin in early February. We have a community set up on Discord as well to allow students, staff, and faculty to engage with and learn from one another. Requirements for Mentors Prospective Mentors should have two or more years experience in their field of study, be 16 years of age or older, and must undergo training and pass with an 80% or higher. Once a mentor has signed on with Acturian Academy, the contract being signed holds them to a standard of teaching which states that they must have a semester or more of their class ready before their class will be listed as available to take. Areas of Interest We are currently looking for mentors to teach classes in the areas of -Deities -Self Love Witchcraft -Energy Work -Weather Witchcraft -Demonology -Glamours/Glamour Magic -Death Magic/Death Witchcraft/Ancestral Magic -Grimoire Design/BoS Design -Spoonie Witchcraft -Sea Magic -Sex Magic (18+ applicants only please) While these are our most sought after needs at the moment, we also welcome you to teach your interests! Mentors may teach multiple classes at once as well, as long as they can complete lessons on time. If you are interested in joining us at Acturian Academy, please fill out our application at https://acturianacademy.typeform.com/to/tew3VQ If you have any questions, please feel free to message us, send an ask, or email us at [email protected]. Hope to be speaking with you soon! ~Mentor Sydney, Head of Student Affairs
Are you a witch, wizard, or other practitioner of magic or scholar of the occult? Do you want to share your knowledge with others and help them on their path? Would you enjoy working with an engaged and dedicated team of mentors and magic practitioners? Then you should consider becoming a mentor with Acturian Academy!
What is Acturian Academy?
Acturian Academy is an online witchcraft and magic academy dedicated to supplying free guidance and information on a wide variety of occult and magical topics. We are not affiliated with any religion or form of practice and accept students and mentors from all paths and belief systems. Our semesters last 10 weeks at a time and are hosted on Google Classroom. Our next semester will begin in early February. We have a community set up on Discord as well to allow students, staff, and faculty to engage with and learn from one another.
Requirements for Mentors
Prospective Mentors should have two or more years experience in their field of study, be 16 years of age or older, and must undergo training and pass with an 80% or higher. Once a mentor has signed on with Acturian Academy, the contract being signed holds them to a standard of teaching which states that they must have a semester or more of their class ready before their class will be listed as available to take.
Areas of Interest
We are currently looking for mentors to teach classes in the areas of -Deities -Self Love Witchcraft -Energy Work -Weather Witchcraft -Demonology -Glamours/Glamour Magic -Death Magic/Death Witchcraft/Ancestral Magic -Grimoire Design/BoS Design -Spoonie Witchcraft -Sea Magic -Sex Magic (18+ applicants only please) While these are our most sought after needs at the moment, we also welcome you to teach your interests! Mentors may teach multiple classes at once as well, as long as they can complete lessons on time.
So for reference: I’m autistic, have ADHD/depression/anxiety/insomnia, and have mobility issues, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia.
My witchcraft is more recent than all of these (about 3yrs now), so I’ve not really adapted a practice to my limitations, but I’ve created my own practice which thus works around them. It’s hard to know what qualifies as a ‘hack’ when you’ve never really known anything different, but I’m going to see what I come up with.
Timing is Flexible
I guess one of the things that makes the biggest difference for me is being flexible about time. Wanna do a full moon ritual but you just don’t have the capacity to do so in the hour closest to its peak illumination? Anywhere within a few days is cool - I know considering 3 days as full (ie the night closest to 100% and the night either side, but some also consider 5 days (at which it’s still 98%+ illumination), or even 7 (still over 95%)!
Likewise with your seasonal celebrations, it doesn’t have to be on *the* date! Nature doesn’t flick sudden switches between seasons, so the energy of a certain celebration or event doesn’t suddenly appear and then disappear after 24 hours. There’s often up to a week between the traditional and astronomical dates of the sabbats, and honestly, I’ll do whatever I’m planning within up to a week either side of that. If there’s a few things I want to do, they they don’t all need to be done on the same day, either. You don’t need to do everything at once, and you don’t need to do them at the exact time/day.
You don’t have to do All The Things!
I especially see the stress of this from younger and newer witches, but you really don’t have to do everything. Sure, it might be nice to do an elaborate ritual every new moon, full moon, and sabbat, but that’s a LOT! And that’s even a lot for someone young, in good health, with lots of energy and minimal external commitments! Maybe you still want to observe all these, but all you can manage is 5min meditating near your window or lighting a candle to acknowledge these - that’s rad, and totally counts!
Magic + Self Care = Win
Honestly there are so many books on how to inject magic into your self-care routine*, but witchcraft has literally been the best thing for my self-care game. Learning to connect with myself and the natural world around me has been the best thing I’ve ever done for my mental health. Plus it’s an easy way to implement the things you’re learning! I incorporate colour magic into my clothes/makeup selection, medical and magical herbalism both inform my tea selections, perfume and bath salt blends, and charm my food/drinks.
* My fave book on the topic so far is Light Magic for Dark Times by Lisa Marie Basile (she’s also chronically ill).
Nature is Everywhere
I literally live in the very centre of my city - I can’t drive, how much I can walk is pretty limited, and even spending much time on public transport wipes me out - but nature is still EVERYWHERE! Even excluding the herbs growing in pots on my balcony and and the pothos in my bookshelves, an urban space still has nature. Without leaving my apartment I can still see a few pigeons/crows/etc flying past occasionally, and a few paperbark trees, plus the roses and crepe myrtle in the garden of the old building across the road.
If you don’t have 4 different species of street trees growing on your block or any parks/gardens nearby, what plants grow in abandoned spaces, or force their way through cracks in the concrete? What birds are around? Is anyone nearby growing plants in window boxes or balconies? Even on a terrible day, walking past the paperbark tree across the road when it’s covered in flowers brings me a moment of joy.
Meditation Isn’t That Hard…
… But it still kinda is. Literally the main purpose most folks are using meditation for is to train their focus. All that needs to be is picking a focal point (the breath is a common one, because it’s always available) and focusing on it - your brain will absolutely wander from that, that’s just when you gently nudge it back to your focal point. That’s literally it! Over time, your brain will wander less often, and return back where you want it more easily. It’s not supposed to be easy straight-up, otherwise there wouldn’t be any benefit to it - it’s a skill you practice to get better at, like any skill.
You don’t need to sit any particular way - if you have pain/fatigue, you can lie down (just ideally somewhere you’re not at risk of falling asleep), if you have ADHD or are otherwise hyperactive/easily bored, you can combine it with movement (stretching, walking, running, you can honestly meditate while smashing out your cardio at the gym). There’s lots of ways you can adapt the basic premise, and it’s totally fine to use guided meditations if you get caught up in your own mind and need external reminders to prompt you back to your focus.
ADHD Note: Meditation is literally THE most effective non-medication way to improve our focus! The down-side is that our brains are dopamine-deprived/seeking and meditation doesn’t tend to give us that dopamine hit it wants, which can make the executive dysfunction a massive block to actually doing the thing. I’m pretty stuck here myself, particularly with my physical health stuff ruling out anything particularly physical/active.. I might need to see if I can find something high-dopamine to do afterwards as a bribe?
It’s Okay to do Your Own Thing
Throw out any idea of what your practice “should” look like or include and just roll with what works. If you’re physically disabled and struggle to leave the house, feeling like you need to do you rituals in a remote forest is probably going to mean you don’t get to do many and then feel crap about yourself - craft a ritual you can do sitting in bed! If you’re asthmatic, perhaps using candles, sprays, or bells would work better to cleanse your space than burning incense or herbs. If you have poor fine motor control or impaired vision, maybe you find it easier to record your journey digitally! Doing something “differently” and being able to do it is far better than doing something “properly” and just.. literally never being able to do it.
You’re Not Alone
There are honestly SO many disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, and mentally ill witches out there. We’re really often drawn to witchcraft, and there are some folks putting out some great resources on how they adapt their practice - like @heatherwitch’s“Bedridden Witchcraft” series. Quite a few popular witchy authors are chronically ill as well, like Lisa Marie Basile, Juliet Diaz, and Arin Murphy-Hiscock. Don’t let anyone tell you that your can’t practice witchcraft unless you’re physically and mentally well, it’s bullshit, and we’re all living proof.
Love this! I have a lot more posts than just my bedridden witch ones, although that’s my most extensive series :)
I’ve been having a lot of trouble summoning the energy to do even basic elements of a daily practice for weeks now, and it’s kind of upsetting me that “I can’t get into it” for various reasons.
Doubt, sometimes I get angry and just think the old ways of practice are pointless, and just don’t want to do dailies, like tarot pull for morning and night, and pendulum stuff, and making sigils all thetime. I’ve been having trouble thinking what to even bother sigilizing for..
I guess I’m at a point where I’m somewhat skeptical, and wonder if magick really works, then I feel it, and know it does, but I just sometimes think even if abilities of healing and such are possible… for others.
I don’t see myself as being worthy or being able to truly perform acts of magick that are significant. I’ve just been feeling very “blah” lately… I have very poo self-esteem and thus poor self love and just dont think I deserve anything, intrinsically to some degree, it’s been programmed into me.
Directing energy involves concentration, focus and energy. After raising energy, it can be taxing. It’s important for the beginning practitioner to pace themselves. Baby steps lovelies, there’s no shame in it.
After raising the energy, focus on your intent. Infuse that intent with the energy you have and begging ‘moving’ it towards your goal. There are many mediums in which to achieve this; charging an object, casting out, imbuing it in a tool (poppet, charm, etc.) or simple a direct method.
Charging objects is an easy way to begin. Hold a stone or an item that represents your intent in your hands. Close your eyes and visualize the energy pouring from you and into that object. Hold the visualization, allowing the energy to become strong within that object. I like to use obsidian, charged with neutralizing energy and carry it with me, I touch it when I feel overwhelmed and allow myself to be neutralized.
Casting out requires a good deal more focus. I learned to cast out in a previous coven of mine. It works well when you need energy to reach someone or something you cant have contact with. Such as a sick loved one who lives far from you. Find yourself in a comfortable position. Visualize the energy forming almost solidly around you. Keep your intent in you thoughts. Begin visualizing that energy rising up into the sky or earth depending on your preference. As it rises, allow to to begin traveling in the direction of your intent. Release it and hold your focus for a few more moments, then rest, ground.
My personal favorite is to create a medium for directing energy. Such as allowing the energy to travel through a wand. Creating a doll, charm or other such item is a great way to continue sending energies certain way. I like to see poppet dolls for certain needs. With each stitch I can focus on my intent and imbue it with energy. Its almost as if you fill the object energy and it releases it slowly. Or quickly sometimes. These items will eventually become ‘empty’, usually after your goal has been met.
What I do for “Grounding” Is very different ( I think) then what others do. But I do call it Grounding. What I do, Is stand, Or sit still, Close my eyes and visualizemy Energy Field. When ever i ground it is to release unwanted energy so i often envision a grey cloud surrounding me.
Once I have a clear image of my body, and energy field around myself, I imagine a strong wind coming, And as soon as the wind touches me I give myself “goosebumps”.
(I can not at all begin to find the words to describe how I do this, I just imagine that it is something we all do, But don’t have the words to describe.)
I imagine that my congested energy is being carried away in the wind. Sort of like how this picture shows with the leaves.
After that I dust myself off, And what I am left with in my mind is a clean, Translucent energy field.
How to Raise, Move, and Throw Energy: A Practical Guide
One of the most common questions I get is “Ash - how do you ACTUALLY, PRACTICALLY move, throw, and raise energy? A lot of those guides seem to be missing some key steps!” I hear you - and I’m here to break it down.
Below is my own method, slowed down piece by piece. Remember - raising and using energy is a personal matter/varies from person to person, so feel free to adjust, change, or discard any part of this guide to suit your practice!
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1. Raising Energy
With a combination of physical action, “psyching yourself up”, verbal action, or psychological methods, raise your adrenaline, emotional, or excitement levels in a way that gets more intense the more you do it. E.g., chanting until the words start to lose meaning or you get into a trance state, dancing around the circle until you get a runner’s high and start laughing/having fun and forgetting yourself, and then basically keep performing that action until your emotional/excitement/adrenaline reaches a breaking point. The best way to describe this is escalating excitement. If you’re into EDM, this is how it feels when a beat is about to drop and keeps escalating. This should feel physical and psychological - literally like hitting a runner’s high when you’re exercising, or getting so excited about a date you start to shake. The easiest way to do this is to raise energy with physical activity or chanting. You can enhance this action by doing it moving in a circle around the object you’re going to put energy into.
Many sources cite a series of ways traditionally used to raise energy, which are practical actions to be used in conjunction with the above, as a focus: Raising power with chanting (sub in your own belief system in what you choose for the chant), dance, or singing is common - you can stick with praying too, just be sure to raise and escalate, just to name a few.
2. When you’re sufficiently pumped, keep going. Now, let’s THROW!
At this point, you have two options: Physically moving the “energy”, or achieving “gnosis”. (This is the beat drop.)
A) Gnosis
Gnosis is (oversimplifying) the moment when you fully forget yourself and the energy takes over. Basically, you lose sight of where you are and what you’re doing and there’s a moment where everything snaps into place. A real-world example would be, if you’re raising energy with sex magic, the moment of climax. A SFW example would be - this should feel like, when you’re staring at a magic eye painting, after a long while of staring it “clicks” to form an image. Physically IRL, this should feel like - for a split second, even - you do not have control over your energy or emotion. When achieving gnosis, look at (direct your attention to) the object you are raising energy for.
B) Moving or “throwing” the energy
Moving or Throwing is a little more abstract, but I’m going to guide you best as I can. By now, you’re buzzing with actual physical energy, like before a birthday party (nervous jitters OR excitement), or like when you’ve just finished a workout. Take a moment and feel the physical and mental effects of this. Do a body scan if helpful. (The reason why visualizing is helpful is that you can visualize this buzz as a physical thing, once you sense its effects with a body scan, for the next part.) You’ll now need to “direct” the energy. Try and physically move your body to “gather” all your energy up (moving your arms to see how far-reaching the effects of the buzz are, then experimenting by moving your body to see if it changes the scope of the buzz). Then, physically thrust your hands or arms (or your body parts of choice) at the object you’re directing energy to. Do this by performing a strong, firm, decisive physical action, and, if it helps, visualize the energy flowing from your body into the object like a giant blast of fire/light. If done correctly, YOU should no longer feel a buzz - the buzz should now be entirely within the object. If you still feel full of adrenaline, try again - perform a physical throwing movement or (sorry for the dumb example ahoy, it’s 9AM) Dragonball style kamehameha at it. You know how when you’re really upset or nervous, and you shake it off or primal scream and your energy dissipates? Do that, but this time, using a combo of physical actions (and if you wish) visualization, instead of shaking it off into the air, “shake it off” into the object. Try and repeat until you feel like you can appropriately “transfer” the energy using physical movement, and you are able to reliably A) create the physical emotional buzz, and B) use physical actions to move that buzz into something else, removing it from yourself.
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Over time, you’ll become adept at not only raising that energy, but physically sensing it and acknowledging it, and then you’ll get quite good at being able to move the energy around without using visualization at all, if you wish. It does take practice and it is rather abstract.
A great way to practice this sort of energy movement is (and I’ve seen folks bring this up on witchblr lately!) tai chi (with love, your favorite Cantonese witch). Your local park should have approximately 20 aunties doing this at any given Sunday morning.
There are a LOT of you guys now. What Is Magic took off beyond my wildest dreams, in fact I thought it was going to be my least popular post. Instead we’re only a little less than 24 hours in and already over 150 notes! By the time I post this we’ll probably hit over 175 and I will die of Positive-Reinforcement-Overload.
This morning, before I logged on to see a sea of amazing people coming and reading my posts, I did a lesson on Energy Healing. Specifically in relation to creating balms and bandages, knowing what to use for each situation, and how to triage them! Without further ado, the lesson!
1. Balm Types
I call it energy balm because that’s sorta what I make it as, it feels like a balm to my hands when I use it. Before I show you all how to make the balm, I thought I’d tell you a little about the types I combine when I make it.
I use 6 colours to represent the types of energy for mixing the balm, and 1 colour to make the bandages afterwards. The energy types are: Burning (Burns out bad energy) Protection (Protects the wound) Cleansing (To cleanse the energy of the area withoutburning) Healing (Heals the wound) Soothing (Astral painkillers/aloe vera) and Restoring (Sets the patient’s energy to rebuild itself).
Between these six colours you can pretty much mix together a balm for almost any problem, and I’ll be talking about a few mixes I use later.
2. Making The Balm Pt 1 (Colours)
I always get people to make the balm by first taking white light energy, then splitting it into the traditional colours of the rainbow. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.
The reason that I use this system is because it lets me use six of them for the six types of energy I want to use, then the remaining one I can use for bandages. It all depends on what you associate the colours with or what colours you want to use! One of my students used a blue-green spectrum instead of a rainbow, and then related the energies to that. I’ll put my system below as a quick guide on how you can relate colours and energies.
Red: Burning, I associate red with burning so I just picked that. Orange: Protection, I don’t know why but I always think of magic shields as orange. Yellow: Cleansing, it’s a very pale yellow which I normally use for cleansing myself. Green: Healing, it’s just a heal-y colour. Very life related. Blue: Soothing, blue is always a mentally soothing colour to me. Indigo: I use it for bandages. Purple: Restoration, again, no idea, but it always felt like the right colour for it.
As you can see, I use emotional associations, but I don’t really know where all of it came from. So do what works for you, it’s all about giving intent the easiest path.
3. Making The Balm Pt 2 (Mixing And Changing)
To make a balm, start by picking out which energy types you need. Then, I get the colour spectrum my splitting an energy orb of white light into the colours of the rainbow in the spectrum. Then, pick the colours which you associate them with. Make sure to keep them as energy and not a balm consistency for the next bit.
Take the colours one at a time, we’ll start with how to do the first two: Pick the colour orb and use your intent to encode the command into the energy, a lot like when you’re making energy constructs. Then get the next colour you need and do the same thing, now you have to mix them together. Merge the orbs but make sure they stay different colours, a mottled, spiralled, or striped effect will work best for this. Then take the other required colours and mix them in!
The energy ball you have now should include everything you need! But it’s still not a balm, so you have to change it into one. I change them into a balm by visualising the energy slowing until it’s a balm-like consistency. That tends to work.
Now you have an energy balm! To apply it to people simply use some bilocation to put it on their wounds.
4. Bandages and Triage
To make bandages, start by taking the leftover colour of the rainbow, or by taking any colour you associate with bandaids, and start spinning and stretching it out into a long piece of cloth. After that, you should have some bandages to put on someone if needed.
I have a triage list when it comes to a group of injured witches. Mainly because I act as an emergency astral first aid and protection contact. It goes like this:
1. Unknown Unidentified Pain 2. Parasites 3. Extremely Bad Cuts 4. Cuts and Scrapes 5. Burns 6. Broken Bones.
The first one can be treated by looking for reasons behind the pain as quickly as you can. It’s best to deal with this early, it could be anything from void energy, to a curse, to a continued attack from an entity. Parasites can be removed, burned, and then assisted with the Burning energy to make sure you have everything related to them out.
5. Some Quick Recipe Mixes
It is always best to make the mixture on the spot rather than keeping it. But here are a few recipes to remember.
Here’s a real tip for all you baby witches out there, diving into spellwork before anything else: Spells aren’t as simple as going through the motions, and a spell probably won’t work if you don’t understand how to use your Will.
This is what I’ve been taught by my mentor who has been a witch for 25 years. You have to set your intentions and use your Will to match. What is your Will and how is it different from your Intention? This post may get long, but it’s important and I haven’t seen any others cover this, so please don’t give up half way through!
Basically, it’s like this:
Intention: your reason for a spell, your goal/what you want + ingredients to match
YourWill: the Power you put behind your spell or working
The intention part is easy. You figure out your goal, pick a spell or create a spell that uses ingredients or actions that match your intent, and then you perform it. This is what most of Tumblr will teach you how to do. While working with simply your intent can sometimes work, it’s more like a coin toss because you’re not actually making your spellwork as powerful as it could be.
But your Will, as I’ve been taught, is the most important part of any magick and is the most often overlooked. You can make magick with nothing but your intent and your Will together. Did you know that? What is your Will? It’s the power you put behind your intent. Your Will is your Power.
That’s right, baby witches. You have to learn how to tap in to the power around you as well as the power within yourself. This is why spells are never as simple as you think; if you can’t add your Will to a spell, it will never be as powerful as you want it to be. This concept can prove difficult, so I’ll try to break it down as simply as I can.
Your Will comes from the energy within you, but you can also tap into the energy around you to add to that power. This means that to find your Will you have to first learn how to:
Perceive Energy
Feel Energy
Feel your Own Energy
Touch Energy
Gather Energy Inside and Around You
Manipulate Energy
Infuse Energy with Intent
This is the basis for finding and understanding magick. Magick is all about energy, and the sooner you learn how to do these things, the sooner you’ll start to realize your power as a witch. And this is why I say that spells are not as simple as Tumblr makes them; at least, they shouldn’t be.
When you’re performing a spell, you should be raising energy and infusing that energy with your intent. You could be adding energy to your ingredients, or simply raising it and holding it, to be released into the world when the spell is finished. That’s your Will; the energy you add to your working. The stronger the energy, the stronger the spell.
A simple way to put it: Intent + Will = Power
So please do yourself a favor. Research energy. Find it, figure it out, feel it within you. Take your time to truly understand that power so you can properly perform powerful spellwork.
Learning all of this can take time and that is fine. If you take your time to work on this, you will be grateful for it in the long run. Feeling the energy that surrounds you and that comes from within you is such a beautiful thing, I promise. Energy is wonderful.
Many people often are very confused on how to start working with spirits, I always recommend a general servitor to start with. This post is on what a servitor is and how to make one. As always there is a short selection of books at the bottom which I have cited from that you can read for yourself on this subject.
A Servitor is an astral entity that is consciously created by the power/authority of the magi using evocatory techniques. Servitors are created for serving their creator with their intent or goal, there are also servitors that are found naturally and you do not have to “create” but this post will focus on work with created servitors. Servitors can be usefully deployed to perform a wide range of tasks or functions on the creators’ behalf. Servitors can be created to work with one particular situation, event, intent. or alternatively servitors can be created which have a general provenance in one area, such as divination, healing, conjuring etc.
How do I start? A contract NEEDS to be made in order to create a servitor. I created an example of a contract down at the bottoms of the post. You give life into your servitor, but this also means you have to give them a personality, voice, and a list of what they can and cannot do. (All of this should be in the contract.) This also means the more complex that you make them the harder they are to create and control. They will just fill in their personality from your unconscious intent and feelings if you do not create a personality, this could be bad and a good thing If you are worried about a certain attribute you are thinking about adding into the servitor, do not do it, until you are versed in working with servitors and banishing rites. The contract needs to state when they will be created, who created them, for what intent are they made for, a timeframe needs to be made out for how long they will serve their creator, how they will feed, how will they be departed and destroyed, their name, their material base, and whatever else you feel like is important. In my experience (and that of my peers), the more work that is given to a servitor, the more “powerful” it becomes and the more likely it is to become self-aware and “evolve”, into something greater and more powerful (see egregore). The “contract” is not just a “contract”; you need to bind the servitor into an object in order to give them life ei the contract. If you bind them into the contract rather than a common object then you will have even more of a sway over the spirit, because the contract should state what they can and cannot due. For example, when you feed you should put the contract with the sigil of them next to or near the object they will feed off of, when you want to destroy the servitor you should burn or destroy the contract. A shape of the servitor would be a good place to start when writing the contract as well because otherwise the servitor would just be a blob of energy and intent.
The servitor’s “sigil” I use quotes around sigil, because in this section I will refer to the activation of said servitor after it is created. The sigil is how you will active the servitor after its creation, it is how you will call it in need, it is how you make it do its task, it also gives you power over the servitor. Now when you create the contract, somewhere on that should be the sigil that is made from the servitors’ name. There are many many ways to create sigils but it does need to be created by you so don’t bastardize a sigil from somewhere else it takes five minutes of you time at most. Some say the best way to create a sigil is to draw it from your subconscious mind in a gnosis state because that is where all of your desires comes from.
The name of a servitor A name is important when creating a servitor, some servitors I have encountered do not like having a name, but a name is very important especially if something goes wrong with the servitor and they go haywire, because with a name they would be easier to banish and have control over. For example, if you were in a group of people and you wanted to speak to this one and they were running away how could you get their attention?
Creating a servitor The initial charge or “feeding” is the most important of the creation of the servitor, usually one does this in a meditative state whether it be a trance or gnosis or within your astral state is up to you, all one needs is complete focus on what you are creating and why. The “initial charge” could be from anything that is a massive amount of energy that is direct at the conjuration of the servitor, this can be done in a multiple of ways with bodily fluids like; semen, blood, spite, and this can be done in many meditative states. In many books you will see creation of servitors from sex magick or blood magick as both of those produce a lot of energy and can easily be controlled and focused.
Feeding a servitor A servitor is a spirit, spirits are alive, so they must feed to stay alive. This can be done in a variety of ways, but the way you feed your servitor should be in your contract otherwise it could potentially feed off of other energy and becoming self-aware (see egregore below) A servitor can feed from essentially anything that has an energy if you (the creator of the servitor) have the knowledge to make it so. You could even make it drain the energy from batteries if you put it in your contract and have the know-how.
Issues With a more generalized Servitor, anyone who knows its activation sequence (such as a mantra, sigil, or visualization sequence) can employ it to work at a given task. Which means whoever does know whatever activates said servitor can use it against you. Remember any decent magi needs a few well-kept secrets for their own safety. Planets going into and out of retrograde, as well as astrological events can cause problems with servitors, this can be best shown if a servitor was created for communication and mercury then goes into retrograde. Many people especially when they first get into working with servitors quickly becoming overwhelmed by them and make too many servitors, and cannot feed all of them or care for them. Other people become too dependent on servitors for simple magickal acts and therefore cannot function without that servitor, and then when that crutch is eventually gone they cannot stand without them.
Destroying the servitor Now knowing what a servitor is I must ask, what will happen if a servitor dies? When a servitor is destroyed or killed by their creator(s)’, energy is thrown out into area from the astral body and the contract or object (if the binding is done in a certain way). Now, if recalled and destroyed correctly you should be able to reabsorb any of the energy collected by it plus the invested energy. This is why many people just make a servitor and then destroy it in a week or two.
Servitor versus an egregore A servitor is a simple spirit that is designed to do its task and nothing more, if a servitor is self-aware then it becomes what it known as an egregore. This can be done upon creation on purpose, but most of the time this happens when you have a servitor for so long and it accidentally finds loopholes in the contract and uses them, thus becoming self-aware.
Servitor vs “God Head” “It is not unknown for powerful entities to survive the death of their creator. The more people that “create” such an entity also enhances its survival and capacity to store information. In these terms, it is easy to see how a small spirit may, given time and the energy input (directed through ritual and other techniques for directing energy) by enough people, could become what we commonly assume to be “gods”.” (Phil Hine aspects of evocation) Just as a fetish is a talisman that is created by many people a God-head is an entity created by many people
Example of a contract This is a contract for the man made servitor Bob, created by the Magi _____ by the power of them in the hour of Saturn on the day (date) Bob is a simple servitor; they are an extension of my will and are used as a foot hole into the other etheric realms. (this would be the intent and why they are created) Their sigil is (picture of sigil) They will be bound into this contract and will be feed by quartz soaked in my blood on every full moon. The crystal will be placed on the sigil I have created on the contract. (feeding example) They will be destroyed when this is chanted and the contract is burned, until then they will remain an extension of my will and will serve me in that way. Bob looks like (a shape will help them in form otherwise they would just be a blob of energy) At the end of the contract would be a good place to put anything extra like, if anyone who is not me tries to activate this servitor then the servitor will indeed go to them, but they will drain their energy instead of listening to them.
Warding is considered an energetic field one creates through ritual and other means to protect themselves, their home, and their scared places. Warding is used to keep out negative and malicious intents or things specific to your intentions.
Do I have to learn how to Ward as a baby or intermediate practitioner?
You don’t have to learn anything you don’t want to. However, warding is a major staple of protection work. Learning how to protect yourself magically, I believe, is one of the first things someone should learn. I say this because you don’t know who might be unhappy with you and try to throw a curse your way or what malicious spirit might attach to you. Your wards will act as your first defense, as a wall between you whatever negative energy is trying to come to you.
Do I have to Ward everything I own?
No. Generally, one ward over your home can protect most within it and protect from things try to come in. However, warding is something that should be kept up with and maintained often. Energy dissipates and those who do not practice energy work often, might struggle with the long term up keep.
Okay, I’m convinced I need Wards. What now?
You start by grounding yourself and your magic. You always want to ground yourself before doing any kind of spell work. Next, you want to cleanse your space, self, or object that you want to protect. You don’t want to trap negative energy or anything you don’t want inside the wards. The next step is to figure out a method that works the best for you. Over time, I’ve taken bits and pieces from different methods and that is what has worked the best for me. This may not be the case for everyone so, please experiment and figure out what works the best for you.
The method I first started with was Incense Warding. With this, however, I created a sigil that was specific to me and my cause for warding. I drew this sigil by doors, windows, and the main corners of my home to create a ward that would match the shape of my house. I put emphasis on there I needed the wards to be the strongest. If you cannot use incense, you can use water and essential oils to spray VS walk the smoke around.
Now, for a small object you’ll want to spray or hold over the smoke of the incense. Reach out and feel the object and try to connect with it. You’ll want to begin to imagine a field of energy incasing the object snugly, protectively. You’ll want to put your energy and intent to protect from XYZ into the ward. Be as specific as you can be - warding from negativity may not necessarily ward you from danger or from mischief. Repeat until you feel your message has gotten through the ward is staying put.
The method for something larger stays about the same but you walk around and spray or walk the smoke around multiple parts. If you’re warding your home or something large, be sure to ward not only a wall barrier but create a floor and ceiling for it. Completely incase the object.
Don’t be afraid to do layers! Layers are good and will provide more of a defense.
Does it matter what direction I go in when I Ward?
Yes. As a preference, I start North, but no matter where you start you want to make sure you move around clock-wise; to the right. By doing this you’re essentially promoting progression and creating things. By going counter clock-wise, you are doing the opposite - destruction and reserval.
Do I have to ward to keep everything out?
No. You can ward out whatever you want. You can be as specific as you need or want to be.
What incense, herbs, or essential oils can I use?
You want to use things that protective properties such as…
Bay leaves Cinnamon Black Pepper Mustard Seed Black Salt (non-ingestible) Vervain Mugwort Rosemary
Do my Wards last forever?
Unfourtently, no they do not. Energy dissipates over time and your wards will begin to grow weak before completely going away. However, if someone or something in particular is trying to bring down your wards, this will also weaken them and cause your wards to fade.
How do I keep my Wards from fading?
Keep an eye on them and do routine maintenance on them.
All in all, wards are a practitioner’s best friend, next to cleansing and grounding of course. It’s one of the fundamentals everyone starting out should learn to some capacity. There are billions of ways to ward, you just have to begin experimenting with what works best for you! Not everybody’s practice will be the same; as it shouldn’t be. If anyone has any questions about warding or more, please send me an ask!
Sometimes, those you care about are having a rough time. And you want to help! It’s natural to want to use what you know to help others. Here’s a spell I use to do just that.
What You Need:
turquoise
amethyst
lavender
rose petals
red candle
Now, set it all up. Candle in the middle, I sprinkled the lavender and rose petals around said candle. The lavender is to help soothe my particular person’s deep sadness, while the rose petals symbolize my love for them.
I held the amethyst in one hand, for protection and clearing mind clutter, allowing for clarity and healing. Turquoise for another type of protection, more physical. Both to help clear the person’s mind and aid them.
Then, I focused. Focused on how much I cared for the person, how much they meant to me, times we’d had in the past that meant so much to me. I thought of how my strength was given to them and how I wanted them to be better and safer and feel loved.
After a little while of this, I bottle the exact lavender and rose petals I used to give to the person at a later date!
This meditation is meant to help beginners who struggle to focus during meditation, assist those who wish to learn how to manipulate energy as well retrain those who may just need a refresher.
Start by getting into a comfortable position either sitting up with your back straight or lying down, whichever is easiest for you. Calm yourself, relax and softly slip into a meditative state, train your focus to your physical body, become aware of how relaxed and almost numb you become, then lift your focus right above your skin, feel and visualize your personal energetic field above you and all around you. Take in it’s shape, color, texture and the way it moves around and within you. Is it right above your skin? Or is there space between your physical self and your energy? How much?
Take a moment to answer all these questions and take note of them, becoming intune with your personal energy is of high importance for this exercise.
Once you are comfortable and aware of your energetic field, begin to become fully aware of your breathing, breathe softly but deeply, note it’s rhythm, the rise and fall of your chest, and link your energy to your breath. As you breathe in, visualize, feel and allow your energy to expand and swirl larger around you, and as you breathe out, shrink your energy back to you. Keep this up for as long as you can hold, or until it feels like second nature.
This may take a few tries if you’re new to energy work or tend to have very unruly energy. And this is okay. Good luck, and stay safe!!! Many blessings to you!!
Energy work and meditation with anxiety and attention or focus issues can thoroughly be frustrating. I personally have suffered from the same struggles, however the one type of meditation/energy work that I found easiest to keep my focus is what I’d consider ‘interactive meditations’. My personal favorite being the energy breathing technique.
This technique is learning to focus on your energy and breath and expanding your energy as you breathe in and shrink ingyour energy as you breathe out.
You can come up with your own or find others that incorporate your continued focus and practice with those. Remember that starting slow and with short goals is always important. Set a timer for one to three minutes at first and get confident in that, then continue to slowly add more time to your goal.
*Side note* Don’t be hard on yourself when you lose focus, just breathe and reground yourself and refocus, even taking a break and going to drink some water can help too! Just be kind to yourself. <3
When I take showers I imagine the energy that comes with the water flowing through me and mixing with my energy to pick up impurities/bad energy and wash it down the drain at my feet.
This one is a bit harder but I read signs in the energy field in the general universe when I take tests if I don’t know the answer on a test. The energy feels different on right answers (again this was is very difficult and I in no way have perfected it, but on several tests I changed a wrong answer to a right answer through this)
Reading people’s energy. I have never had to deal with fake friends and being betrayed because I can very easily read the energy of other people when they are around me. I can feel the difference when someone is being fake or toxic. To be fair there are still “friends” that have this energy, I’m just not close to them cause I can feel their intentions are not good.
Nature’s energy. Just feeling the energy of changing seasons. This isn’t really using the energy in any way unless I am doing a ritual that requires that energy or using it to charge/cleanse items which brings us to the next topic
Cleansing. This is the easiest way to use energy work, and this is the main way I cleansed things when I don’t use moonlight or sunlight. Its simply using your energy (and the energy around you) to pour into an object (like tarot cards or crystals) and burning out the bad energy. I’ve also gathered bad energy into my hands, like when I’m cleansing a space like a room or altar, and push it lut the window. The bad energy will be naturally cleansed by the environment
Spells. Most of my spells are energy work more than anything else since my spells focus on sending some of your energy with what you desire (you’re reasons for doing the spell) and the universe using that energy to make it happen in your life.
Energy work helps a lot on your life once you learn how to use it! The best way to learn is a lot of practice with meditation and visualization in order to feel your own energy. It is nearly impossible to do energy work if you cannot feel your own energy.
To be grounded and centered is necessary to be mindful in your daily activities. It is also crucial, as we know, after a spiritual practice or after magick working. And in an overall view, to be grounded is good for you, as you can be a better version of yourself. So let’s tap in. Here are some grounding techniques which works for me:
The basic grounding technique is mindful deep breading.
Wherever you are, preferably in a quiet place, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Feel the fresh air filling your abdomen, your lungs, and your throat, then exhale slowly. Repeat until you feel connected.
If you’d like to deepen the effect, add a visualization.
Sit or lay down comfortably, eyes closed, and imagine that you are on the ground. Feel the soil beneath you, and imagine a flow of energy coming down your body and connects with Earth’s depths. The element you’ll be working with is obviously earth, so you may imagine yourself as a tree, deepening its roots into the ground.
Another option is using crystals.
Basically, any black, brown, or red crystal will do the work, as they refer to our first, root chakra which connects us to the physical plane of being. Personally, I prefer tiger’s eye, black onyx, and red jasper in my practice. As you meditate, place the crystal of your choice in your left hand (the ‘energy receptive’ hand), take deep breaths, and sense the crystal’s energy, let it ground you.
Note – make sure you’ve cleansed the crystal before use.
Foods and herbs for grounding:
Grains and their products.
Vegetables and berries.
Basil, oregano, thyme, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, and rosemary.
Bonus–
Grounding herbal tea recipe:
1 cup of boiled water
1 cinnamon stick
3-4 slices of ginger
1 lemon slice
1-2 tsp. of honey
Mix the ingredients (except the honey) and leave it under a cover for 5 min. (so the essential oils won’t evaporate). Add the honey and enjoy your tea.
There is a common misconception that only certain people are intuitive, that it is purely a metaphysical skill. A quote that really changed my perception of intuition was discussed by an author who gave a discussion on the different books on intuition and witchcraft she had written, “Intuition is a muscle”. But this would mean that everyone has this muscle! Many people feel barred from even trying to do magic, pick up a tarot deck or rune set, communicate with a passed relative, or even consult with their deity or god because they believe they are not intuitive. Coming from someone who is naturally gullible / somewhat naive, I want to talk a bit about what intuition is and how anyone can become more intuitive.
What is intuition?
The best way I can define intuition concisely is the ability to understand or know information immediately, without any conscious reasoning or evidence. The ability to know something without being told or being shown proof. This may sound completely foreign or impossible, so let me provide some context. Have you ever heard the phrase “The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife”? Have you ever gotten a “bad vibe” from someone and avoided them? That is your intuition at work! Even interpreting emotional context based on someone’s vocal tone, pitch, body language, are forms of intuitive understanding.
It may seem strange to think social nuances we have been trained to observe and interpret since the day we were born could involve intuition, but think about it. Is there any physical evidence or conscious reasoning to explain tension that is literally palpable? Is there physical proof that when someone speaks in a certain tone or pitch, or moves in a certain way, that they are angry? No, these are just things we have trained ourselves to understand. A form of intuition. But of course, this may not translate over to tarot, or spirit and deity communication as easily as one would like.
How does intuition work?
When discussing how intuition works exactly, we have to discuss what exactly someone who is intuitive actually senses. I look at intuition as a form of energy work. Lets briefly discuss the “Thick Tension” example. Tension from a conversation is not a physical concept in that it is not a literal brick that has weight when held in someone’s hand. But the conversation still disrupted the surrounding area, due to the energy that conversation created. Think about how different emotions feel like different things. Many describe anger as sharp, jabbing, thick. Sadness is often equated with water, such as when someone is “pouring their heart out”. Although emotions are not bricks, the energy they have creates a physical disturbance. intuition includes being able to interpret those energies even though they can’t be given physical evidence of existing.
There are a variety of different ways to sense energy, many of which include employing clair senses. Clair senses refer to the ability to have intuitive understanding through our senses, the discussion of which could take up many more posts, but I will link resources at the end of this post. Some of the kinds you may be familiar with include clairvoyance, clairaudience, claircognizance, and clairempathy (also known as being and “empath”).
So how can I improve my intuition?
Well, it depends on what you want to be able to do! But I will link and discuss a multitude of different exercises and things you can do to improve your intuition.
Be aware of physical sensations when speaking with others or entering situations. Do you feel at ease with someone even though you don’t know them? Or do you have a sinking feeling in your stomach that you are trying to ignore? Listen to your gut! More often than not, you will find your “hunch” being right, especially as you practice.
Practice divination! I am not just saying this because I love divination, I’m saying this because I primarily improved my claircognizance through using divination. I used to not really have hunches, but now I have extremely accurate ones after 3 years of practicing tarot reading and other forms of divination.
Keep a dream journal and try to start interpreting your dreams. As nonsensical as they may seem, if you research symbolism, you may begin to see patterns in your dreams that reflect the main problems or situations in your life. I know I have! And I rarely remember my dreams.
Practice identifying objects without looking at them. This is a fun sensory game for most, but with time and more difficult items, you may be able to sense the energy of the item itself, see an image of it in your minds eye, hear a sound it makes, etc. If you want to amp this up, close your eyes and walk through a room while trying not to bump into anything! This is great for practicing sensing the aura’s of objects, and the more you can sense, the more you can try to interpret.
The next two exercises I am taking from Ellen Dougan’s book “The Natural Psychic”.
The first is practicing using your senses, and requires you to journal for four days.
Day 1: Seeing day
You should focus on your environment as if you are seeing it for the first time. When you enter a new room or landmark, you scan teh area to get a lay of the land, right? Take time to notice colors, shapes, people and items that catch your attention. How do these make you feel? Write down what you notice.
Day 2: Hearing day
No background music today! We drown out a lot of the sounds in our environment to focus on individual tasks. Today, spend time listening to your environment, what do you hear? It would be great to go to a nature location during this day. Take note of what you hear and how it makes you feel.
Day 3: Touching day
At this point, you should be getting the drill. When you touch items today, really spend time touching them. Feel the fabric of your clothing as you get dressed, your keyboard and mouse when you type, feel your own pulse, pet your animals. How do you feel when touching different items, and how does touch impact others, such as your pets?
Day 4: Sensing day
Today we focus on our emotions, and how our environment makes us feel. Take note of how certain environments, certain people, make you feel. You can do this with plants as well! Take note of what you sense.
The second is the ace of spades exercise, and requires a deck of cards.
Take the ace of hearts, the ace of diamonds, and the ace of spades out of the deck. Place all three face down on a flat surface and then mix them up before lining them up in a row. Go over each card one at a time and try to figure out which one is the ace of spades. Turn it over to see if you’re right! For a trial run, do this no more than 10 times in one sitting, and note how many times you were correct. This is a great way to identify what clair senses you may be employing. Answer these questions about the times you were correct,
Did you “just know” it was that card, a feeling in your gut?
Many thanks to dislocated-cannibal here on tumblr, who is my mentor for energy work, as well as other things, who discussed the concept of emotions creating a n energy we an feel with me at length. Please check them out! http://dislocated-cannibal.tumblr.com/
