#psychism
PYRITE
Folk Names: Fool’s Gold, Pyrites, Iron Pyrite
Energy: Projective
Planet: Mars
Element: Fire
Powers: Money, Divination, Luck
Magical/Ritual Lore:
Pyrite was used by ancient Mexicans in fashioning polished mirrors, which may have been used to divine the future. Pieces of this strange mineral were also placed in American Indian shamans' medicine bundles, perhaps to lend extra energy.
In ancient China this stone was used to guard against crocodile attacks, a problem which, fortunately, most of us seem to avoid without the stone.
Magical Uses:
Popularly known as fool’s gold, pyrite is often found associated with real gold. So who, exactly, is the fool?
Because of the yellowish shimmer and shining nature of this "stone,“ it is used to draw wealth and money. Set five pieces of pyrite on your altar. Surround them with five green candles. Light the candles and visualize money coming your way, fulfilling your monetary needs.
Pyrite is also carried to bring money and luck.
A flat, shimmering surface of pyrite can be used as a magic mirror to awaken psychic impulses. Carried, it is a luck-bringer.
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LODESTONE
Folk Names: Magnetite, Magnet, Way Stone, Magnetis (ancient Greek), Loadstone, Shadanu Sabitu (ancient Assyrian), Heraclean Stone, Piedra [man (contemporary Spanish)
Energy:Receptive
Planet:Venus
Element:Water
Associated Herbs: Sandalwood, Rose, Yarrow, Lavender
Associated Star: Polaris (the North Star)
Associated Stone:Coral
Associated Metals: Iron, Copper, Silver, Gold
Powers: Power, Healing, Attraction, Friendship, Love, Fidelity, Male Sexual Dysfunction, Will, Protection, Business, Money, Games of Chance
Magical/Ritual Lore:
Legend has it that the ancient Romans had a statue of Venus made of lodestone and an image of Mars fashioned of iron. When the two statues were placed near one another in the temple, Venus attracted Mars.
Tales (never substantiated) also sing the praises of a statue that was permanently suspended in the air through the use of lodestones.
The stone was associated with the hero Hercules in times past and so came to be a symbol of strength and invulnerability.
In contemporary folk magic, the lodestone is thought to be alive. It is placed in a small bowl of water on a Friday to allow it to “drink," then laid in full sunlight to dry. When dry, iron filings are sprinkled on it as "food.”
Though there are variations on this procedure-some keep the stone in a red bag and sprinkle water and iron filings on it once a week-it is a common belief.
Several hundred years ago it was believed that it was dangerous to carry a lodestone during a thunderstorm because it attracted lightning.
A knife rubbed with the stone was not only magnetized, but any wound inflicted with it, however small, was thought to be fatal.
The lodestone was once believed to be stripped of its magnetic as well as magical powers by the mere presence of a diamond or garlic. Giambattista della Porta, in his monumental 1558 work, Natural Magic, said he had disproved such beliefs.
Nevertheless, some still believed this was true. Fortunately, there was an easy way to restore the lodestone’s powers. It was anointed with linseed oil, placed in a goatskin bag and covered with dirt for three days.
Its use to strengthen virility and to cure male sexual dysfunction (impotency) spans the ages. In ancient Assyria it was used in a sexual rite of pure sympathetic magic. The man placed a lodestone in oil and rubbed the resulting “infusion” on his body and penis to ensure satisfactory sexual intercourse. The woman rubbed parzilli, or iron powder, on her body to enhance her attractiveness. Thus prepared, couples three thousand years ago magically (or psychologically) released their inhibitions and shared pleasure.
Comparatively recently, in 16th-century India a king ordered his cooking utensils to be fashioned of lodestone to ensure his continuing virility.
Prostitutes once used lodestones to attract customers, and thieves relied on them to hide from authority.
All this lore has sprung from the lodestone’s natural magnetic quality. It and artificially created magnets share the power of attracting iron. Five hundred years ago this was a magical, miraculous property, and many believed a spirit or demon lived within the lodestone and gave it power.
Though scientific investigation has explained magnetism to a certain extent, the lodestone continues to be used in spell and ritual.
This is especially true in Mexico, where it is sold in botanicas along with candles, incenses, religious medals, snakeskins, oils and various other occult goods. Similar stores are found in many parts of the United States where Spanish-speaking peoples live.
Mexican street vendors who deal in magical supplies also sell lodestones. A few years ago I bought one from a woman who sat on the curb in a Tijuana district unfrequented by turistas.
It is also well known in Hoodoo and other American folk magic systems. Lodestones are sometimes painted green (for use in money spells), red (love), and white (protection). Painting them is not, of course, magically important unless you deem it to be so.
Magical Uses:
The lodestone is a power stone used to strengthen spells. It is added to sachets or herbal amulets, placed on the altar, or worn to increase the magician’s ability to rouse and release energy.
In ceremonial magic of the Middle Ages the lodestone was engraved with the figure of an armored man. This stone was utilized during rituals to empower magic.
The larger the stone, the more inherent power within it. While this is true of all stones, it is especially important with the lodestone, for the greater its size, the stronger its magnetic force.
Lodestone’s basic use in magic is attraction. Because the stone is a natural magnet, it is manipulated in ritual to draw objects or energies to its user. Thus, it can be used in any type of spell.
A simple example of this: A lodestone set in a man’s belt buckle draws success in all undertakings. This is probably because of the stone’s attracting qualities as well as its placement near what some call the ‘third chakra’, located about two inches below the navel. This energy center is associated with personal power and the will. When it is stimulated by the presence of the lodestone, it expands the will and therefore ensures success.
This spell, by the way, is of Mexican origin.
The lodestone, owing to its magnetic powers, is used to draw out disease and pain from the body. True healers, who send energy into a sick person to speed the body’s natural healing powers (or, specifically, to correct imbalances or blockages in bodily energy flows), may use the lodestone as a focusing device for their energies.
The stone can be passed over or placed directly on the afflicted part of the body. This is particularly true of pain in the hands and feet.
It is also carried, often anointed first with a healing-type oil such as sandalwood. Any lodestones used in healing rituals to absorb disease should be cleansed after each use.
It is said to be effective in treating rheumatism and headaches, and in healing wounds. Placed in a black bag which was suspended on a black ribbon around the neck, it was a specific for gout a few centuries ago.
A small lodestone set in silver was thought to sharpen the sight. Set in gold, the lodestone strengthened the heart. A folk spell designed to heal the body of any illness is quite simple: Hold the lodestone in your hands, then shake it vigorously while visualizing your illness draining from you and going into the stone. Bury the stone in the earth for a week following the ritual.
Any lodestone used in healing rituals to absorb disease should be cleansed after each use or, if worn, every week or so.
The lodestone is also worn or carried to attract friendship. If you’ve just moved to a new city or have started a job among unknown people, wear or carry a lodestone to meet new friends.
The lodestone is also utilized to attract love. It is thought to be a magnet for hearts as well as for iron, especially when worn in a ring.
Place a pair of the stones within a circle of pink or red candles while visualizing yourself involved in a relationship. Feel the strong contact, the mingling of energies that comes with love. Visualize as well.
Two lodestones are also often carried in small red bags for this same purpose, sometimes mixed with love-attracting herbs such as rose, yarrow, and lavender (as well as copper, another love-inducer).
The lodestone is also worn to smooth over troubles in a relationship, especially arguing. Its basic function is to cool tempers to allow true communication.
A coral necklace with a lodestone suspended from it was once worn to facilitate easy childbirth.
In American folk magic, women wear lodestones to ensure that their wandering husbands will return home; thus, it stimulates fidelity.
Since this borders on manipulation, as does all fidelity magic, it deserves a few words here.
When you begin a loving/sexual relationship with another person, and especially when children result, you have relinquished some control over your life to your mate and family. This is part of the giving involved in strong emotional ties.
At best such fidelity magic should be used to gently remind your partner of his or her obligations. If a relationship has ended, that's that-all the spells and lodestones in the world won’t recapture the ecstasy, quiet peace and emotional fulfillment that love produces.
Psychic or magical enslavement isn’t love.
The lodestone’s ability to overcome impotency has been mentioned above, but such drastic or complex methods needn’t be used.
A man suffering from sexual dysfunction can hold the stone in his receptive hand, visualizing satisfactory, complete, joyous sexual relations.
Once this is done, he can carry the stone with him or place it beneath the mattress to release its powers. The stone and the visualization work toward rooting out the underlying cause of the sexual dysfunction.
The lodestone has also been utilized as a protective amulet, being worn, placed in the home, or carried. A large lodestone surrounded by flaming white candles emits guarding energies throughout the house. It absorbs negativity but does not return it. Because of this such stones should be cleansed in salt water every Full Moon.
Some carry two lodestones at all times-one to protect, the other to bring good luck. In ancient Spain carrying a lodestone was thought to guard against all dangers from steel, lead, fire and water.
For those lacking in will power (which is simply asserting yourself and acting in accordance with your goals), empower a lodestone through your visualization with this specific directive: “Strengthen my will.” Then carry the stone and utilize the energies it sends you. As I mentioned above, it can be worn two inches below the navel or placed there while you are prone and visualizing yourself as being confident and secure.
Because it is an attracting stone, the lodestone is used to draw money or business success. Place lodestone in a green bag with a silver coin, a bit of gold (ifyou have it) or money-attracting herbs such as patchouly, cloves or tonka. Business people may place an empowered lodestone in the cash register or cash box or burn green candles around a lodestone to bring in customers.
Finally, the lodestone is considered by some to be a potent gambling talisman. It is worn or carried for luck during betting.
[Source: Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem, & Metal Magic by Scott Cunningham]
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Tonight I am thinking about how we don’t emphasise practice when it comes to acquiring and maintaining psychic (or magical) skills in general when it can be so beneficial. We lament our inability to hear or see spirits, or we prioritise the methods through which we obtain them, but rarely do we discuss the fact that after the acquisition of these gifts, in order to truly strengthen them into something we can use quickly and reliably, we need to put in the work, which constitutes active usage, practice and development over time. Admittedly, I am guilty of such as well, but it really makes a huge difference to put in the extra work to strengthen these skills. It won’t do to rest on your laurels (and spirit gifts). And even if you cannot find a spirit willing to grant you these gifts, putting in work to train yourself to hear them or see them (to varying degrees) is also possible. It just takes enough determination and work.
why are some divination questions more difficult to interpret? why does divination make you tired? (illustrated edition)
I do not claim that ANY of the following is literal. Please consider this post to be a hypothesis; a thought exercise. When I apply it to my practice, it assists me in navigating my own abilities. However, I do not claim that it is anything more than a (hopefully interesting!) concept that assists in personal introspection.
Anyway, I hope this sparks thoughts or conversations :)
Our lives can be conceptualized as mazes!
As three-dimensional fleshy dudes, we’re stuck in the maze :)
If we want to see around a corner, well, we have to walk down the hallway and look around. This is a metaphor for making decisions and taking actions towards certain goals.
We can’t see over the walls. Sometimes, this means not knowing what will happen until we’re already right there.
And we can’t necessarily walk forward and then go back to where we were. Here, the maze analogy fails – we all know that in real life, you can’t necessarily go back to how things were before.
In fact, walking down the hallway and turning the corner can often represent pivotal change.
Spirits aren’t stuck down here like we are! (Well, not normally). Spirits, like that floaty golden guy up there, have a great vantage point. Your ancestors, guides, and other spirits can look down on the maze and tell us what they see around the corners!
Many people believe that it is the spirits themselves, or a universal consciousness, which makes divination work. Whatever it is, we can consider that the power within (or behind) divination tools isn’t stuck inside the maze like we are - they can see around the corners.
(In this image, we have the vantage point of the spirits! We are the ones who can look down and see around the corners)
So, how does divination allow us to see the path between us and the goal?
Divination can be conceptualized like little windows into the future (or past, or within, and so on).
When we draw cards, we can imagine that the card is a literal window into the path ahead. Here, we see that the three cards draw represent three things that will occur on the way to the goal.
These “windows” can also be perceived as waystations - the most important or pivotal events on our way to discover something. (This is not limited to future predictions, but all kinds of readings).
However, divination tools are always symbolic. The tool can only show us its own closest representation of the path ahead.
When used correctly, the tool shows us its best approximation (this is also why different decks can reveal different aspects, but I digress).
Even though the tools can only give us an approximation, they also give us a place to start.
Because now, we have to engage in psychism to put the picture together :)
Heck yeah! We burn our personal energy in order to resolve approximated symbols into real-life events.
Check this out, this is where the concept gets neat :D
By contemplating the meaning of our tools, we begin to loosen, awaken, and activate our psychic senses.
It is truly only through our own psychism that we obtain real psychic interpretations of approximate, abstract symbols.
(The golden color coming from the person is the same gold as the spirit in the first picture. #symbolism)
Divination wears us out because it is tapping into our real psychic senses.
Using physical tools is a lot easier than only using our psychic senses. If we didn’t use a tool, we wouldn’t have a place to start - and that’s a lot tougher.
Anyway, let’s move on!
The divinatory tool is a window, right? The more distant the thing which is pictured in the window, the more energy and effort it takes us to resolve the meaning.
And if the window is really far away in the maze, this can lead to fuzzy pictures,inaccurate interpretations,andmajor fatigue.
Our bodies are our anchors. Our psychic senses are anchored to our present moment in time and space.
And our energy has to travel out of us, through each waystation and window, and resolve them one by one.
The further away from us we look, the more effort and energy it takes to resolve each card (or rune, and so on).
Once again, it is the tool that shows us where to start looking with our psychism - but it is always our personal energy that resolves the symbolism and discovers the true interpretation.
We can send our psychic senses away from our present physical reality. We can send those senses within ourselves, away into other places in the world, forward into the future, or stranger places still.
But our physical bodies always anchor those senses. So the further away we send them, the more and more difficult it becomes - like a taffy candy stretched thinner and thinner.
The further away from the present moment you read, the more and more you have to stretch your skills and senses in order to interpret and resolve the approximate, symbolic message your tool is sending you.
Your tool only ever shows you where to start looking. Your own personal energy does the rest.
The greater the distance between the actual circumstances and the approximation your tools can provide, the more energy you must expend to bridge the gap.
And if the question you want to read for is very far away from your present moment, it may literally be too far away for you to reach.
This is why a reading for next week can come in very crisp, but a reading for a year from now can be difficult and draining.
And this is also why you can make great leaps of intuition from apparently unrelated cards, but in doing so become very drained.
(The more sensitive and fine-tuned your psychism becomes, the more and more detail you can provide for every “waystation” you encounter).
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed going on this little thought exercise with me :) I would love to hear all of your thoughts about this.
Stag’s Rules for Responsible Mediumship:
I have a lot of opinions about what it takes to be a responsible medium. I’ve seen a lot of irresponsible mediumship, and it’s so common that I no longer feel comfortable offering my own mediumship. I now refuse to offer mediumship services, despite offering them years ago.
These are my personal rules for my own mediumship skills, and I’ll admit, the rubric by which I assess other mediums. I’ve set them up in a series of Do’s and Don’ts + some explanations/ reasonings for each.
1.Do: Ask permission before reading, channeling, for relaying messages for anyone.
Don’t: Read, channel, or relay messages for someone unsolicited.
- This should be obvious. Give people a chance to accept or deny your services. We should all understand consent.
2.Do: Help people who express having a problem and ask for help or mediumship.
Don’t: Try to help someone who hasn’t asked for help.
- Not everyone who says they are having trouble with something wants external help. They may want to figure it out themselves.
3.Do: Take responsibility for what you read, channel, or relay.
Don’t: Pass the buck for your reading, channeling, or messages to the entity.
- It’s like being the person at the D&D table who makes wild choices and then justifies it as “That’s what my character would do.” No one like “That Guy” don’t be the occult version of “That Guy.”
4.Do: Encourage people to vet your readings, channeling,or messages with their own divination or outside sources.
Don’t: Expect, or worse insist, others to rely on you and you alone for their knowledge and gnosis.
- As a medium you should want what you say to be backed up by other sources, either academic or community based. This proves that you’re not just making things up or presenting your UPG as fact.
5.Do: Encourage others to develop their own skills, and help/offer advice if asked.
Don’t: Just do a task for someone else who is struggling with a skill you have so that they don’t have to try.
- This will prevent the people you read for from developing their own skills. As a medium should feel proud when someone says, “I don’t need your services anymore, I can do it myself.” There is a good chance your work was helpful in them getting to where they don’t need you anymore.
6.Do: Relay messages or channel for someone with as little personal filter/interpretation as possible.
Don’t: Insert yourself, your opinions, your UPG, or your personal paradigm into someone else’s spiritual relationship.
- I know this one is hard, and it takes practice to master, but irresponsible mediums will use their mediumship to assert their own understandings and beliefs over others. Not everyone has the same understanding or relationships with incorporeal entities, and as a medium you need to remember that and let whoever you are performing mediumship for make their own informed decisions and interpretations. You wouldn’t set yourself up as an unsolicited intermediary between two physical friends, so don’t do it for a person and an incorporeal entity.
