magicalembers:

Working with spirits is a fun experience in my opinion, but definitely comes with a risk. You’re meeting someone new, and there are “good” entities and “bad” entities and entities in between, just like with anything. Working with spirits requires some preparation, and may be easier for some and very difficult for others. I personally had to train quite a long time to get to where I am and I am still learning a lot even today.

Preparation Stage

1. Warding

Knowing how to ward is so important in witchcraft in general, and this is definitely no exception. Please make sure to have strong wards around yourself and your mind. A spirit with bad intentions can definitely hurt you or possess you against your will if you are not careful.

Note: Ward against all spirits, even the ones you trust. You deserve your own space and there are going to be times when you want to be alone. This is so important.

2. Learn about yourself

This may sound strange but you need to know who you are before working with spirits. This way, you can tell the difference between when you feel them around or your own energy, and the same with trying to hear/see them vs. your own thoughts.

To do this, meditate as much as possible. If you can end up meditating at least a few minutes every single day, that’s awesome. Focus your meditations at first on quieting your mind and focusing on a single random object in your mind. Visualize it and observe the details. How it smells, feels, tastes, sounds. Usually I do this with an apple. Something simple. Once you feel like you can do this comfortably, then begin exploring your current emotions. Identify as many as you can. You can dig deeper if you would like, trying to see what underlying emotions you carry that can cloud your readings, both telepathy and divination. Explore your energy- what color does it look like to YOU, not what others have told you? Everyone sees things differently, so you need to see how you see.

I could go into more detail about this but that will have to be a whole other post. This is such a big part of spirit work and your own journey that I cannot stress it enough. The more you know yourself, the easier it will be in a lot of your workings in witchcraft.

3. Trust yourself, be confident

Doubts and fears cloud readings, both physical and mental. Your intuition will become clouded if you do not trust yourself. It is good in my opinion to have a little doubt and to not be too confident, but it is a delicate balance. It’s hard to explain how much is too much, so the one way I can put it is allowing the first thought be your instinct. The thoughts that come automatically tend to be the instinctive ones.

4. Learn what is instinct, and what is yours

This is important as well. I briefly mentioned it in the previous point. A good idea to practice this is begin with divination- for example, tarot cards have basic meanings, but also should be interpreted with intuition as well. Learn to listen to that intuition in your divination and not only will it help you with listening and identifying spirits, but also will help you with your divination techniques. Definitely an awesome double whammy! Don’t forget, tarot is NOT the only way to talk with spirits!

5. Learn how to banish

Just in case you come across a spirit who wants to hurt you or will not leave you alone even if you ask it to, you need to learn how to banish it. There are many ways you can perform a banishing- it highly depends on your own abilities and what is easiest for you. Some people have a lot more power in words, while others need to make a spray with herbs and oils. I highly suggest doing some research on banishing and find what works best for you.

6. Find a communication method

Once again, everyone is different. Some work better with pendulums (I personally don’t like using them), while others use tarot or another method. Getting to the point of seeing and hearing a spirit takes a while for some people, and that’s ok. It took me almost four years to get to the point where I can comfortably see and hear spirits with my third eye.

For anyone, I highly suggest using some sort of divination method to read what spirits are telling you. Pendulum, runes, and tarot are most common. Keep in mind, when you use these for spirit communication, you will need to avoid putting your own energy into them so the reading doesn’t get mixed up or end up reading you instead. Practice reading other people first to help with this.

Spirit Stage

So now about spirits. Once again, remember, spirits have their souls. They have emotions. They make choices. They have personalities. This means they are capable of both helping and harming you. I don’t really believe in “good” and “evil” since it is relative to everyone’s beliefs. Instead, I believe that every spirit is capable of positive and malicious intent. Please remember this: Spirits can hurt you. But also, don’t judge a book by its cover. Just be cautious.

How do I get in contact with a spirit?

I would suggest starting with a deity you trust and feel close to. Deities have an energy that can be easier to read, and you may already have a relationship with this deity. You can also reach out to spirits in an area that you feel is safe.

First of all, with any entity, you should remain respectful and treat them like you would any person you meet for the first time. Introduce yourself (out loud or projecting gently through your mind is fine) and ask if they would like to introduce themselves. Use your divination method to help receive answers.

Trust your intuition. If you feel unsafe, say goodbye and ward up more. Banish them if they won’t leave you alone.  Give yourself a good cleanse as soon as you can.

But also, trust your intuition in how the spirit feels as well. If you sense they are uncomfortable, apologize and back off. Some spirits are shyer than others- others may not feel like interacting.

Don’t feel frustrated if your first few tries are unsuccessful, it happens! This is one of the most difficult skills to get in my opinion, and can take a while to master.

I also highly suggest having a look at this pretty good thoughtform post

Good luck and I hope this helps!

that moment when you cant find the candle one of your spirit guide asks for but you find the colors the other ones asked BUT as soon as you find the right color you buy THE PHATTEST ONE

trans-astro-nerd:

A perspective on “signs;” internal rather than external.

Things that many people consider to be signs, [ie animal sightings, bugs, feathers, weather changes, head/stomach aches, patterns, numbers etc.] are all constantly naturally occurring around you. Externally, these things are existing at all times. So as they say, if you’re constantly looking for “signs”, you’ll find them.

This is why I do not consider signs to be physical/external. A deity is most likely not putting something physical in your path to communicate with you. Instead, your deity is in your head, calling your attention to something that is already around you. Its not the external object that is the sign, but what happens in your head when you notice it.

You could see 50 birds in a day and hardly notice them, then suddenly see a bird and feel something. It’s not because your deity is controlling that specific bird. It’s because your deity is highlighting that bird for you from within, likely because it’s something that will make sense to you. If you don’t understand a “sign,” it’s probably not actually a sign. Your deity has no use for trying to communicate via something you don’t understand.

In addition, here are some questions to ask yourself about signs:

1. Did I ask for a sign? (not all signs are solicited, but if you haven’t asked you don’t need to be on the lookout; or you’ll drive yourself mad trying to decipher normal patterns in nature)

2. Is there a specific question I need answered or problem I’m seeking help on? Does this “sign” give me any insight or answers?

3. Does this sign mean anything to me? Do I have personal associations with it?

4. Is this happening in it’s normal pattern, or out of the ordinary? (Normal such as, seeing a certain time on a clock, a species that is native to your area, feathers near a bird nest, foretasted weather, etc. or abnormal such as a wild animal in town, a large gust of wind in an otherwise calm day, a creature not normally seen in your area, a glitch in technology, etc.) Normal things on their own are not often signs, but can be depending on the other questions!

5. Did this spark an emotion, thought, feeling/vibe, etc? Did it cause an urge to do something, go somewhere? Remind you of a person? Did an answer pop into your head?

Ultimately, signs are a form of communication, to help point you in the right direction. So if you are not feeling any sort of message or answer, and there is not a personal meaning to you, it might not be a sign. Likewise, if you see something, no matter how ordinary, and feel a message from your deity, you have your sign, and should feel confident in that!

thehazeldruid:

GENIUS LOCI

What is it? What does it mean? It can be translated as “spirit of place” and throughout history different cultures have perceived and connected to it in differing ways.

Every place, be it a park,a forest, a busy city street or your home has it’s own Genius Loci. But what really is it? It is the depth of that place, it’s personality, it’s history, the feel, smell, look, taste, and sound of the place. All of these things together create it’s spirit. It is the sense of calm you feel when you look over a lake at sunrise, the sense of mystery in the foggy woods you wander through, the sense of connection, sadness and respect you feel walking through a graveyard, the feeling of peace within your home. There are many ways to view it, to feel it, to connect to it, to let it fill you and so on.

How to connect to it?

There are many different ways to connect to the spirit of a place. But first you have to be aware of your own spirit and how it fits into the spirit of the place. When you look at a sunset and feel your soul stir, you are passively connecting to the spirit of it. The way I most often use to connect with the spirit of a place is to meditate.

Like any meditation, sit, get comfortable, and start by focusing on your breathing. Then, use your other senses to get a better ‘feel’ for the spirit of place.

• Listen to the place, breathe in rhythm with how the place sounds. With the breeze, with the animals, with the sound of the water moving (if there is any near). Let your own sounds, your heartbeat, your breathing, your own soul sync up with those sounds. (this can be difficult with people around, though a busy street or park has as much spirit and personality as an ant hill!)
• Feel the grass or the dirt, the trees or the water, the sand or the couch, the sidewalk… wherever you are. What does the place physically feel like? Is it rough or smooth? Soft or jagged? What do you feel like compared to the place? Do you leave footprints? Indentations? How does your physically being there change it, if at all?
• Smellthe world around you, what scents do you smell? Is there a fresh garden nearby? Do you smell food? Trash? Salty air? Fresh water? Damp earth? Does your own scent stick out or does it match/ belong in the place as a part of it.
• Lookaround you! This might seem obvious, but it is probably the easiest way to get a general feel for the spirit of a place. Is it busy and bustling? Is it calm and serene? Are there old buildings or new? What is the history of the place that you can see outright? Is it run down or well kept? What do the things you see about the place make you feel?
• Taste(perhaps not literally, and definitely only if safe) this is not to say stick dirt or grass in your mouth and eat it…. that’s just silly. But smell and taste are linked, so simply opening your mouth wide and taking a deep breath can allow you to ‘taste’ the air. Is the breath you took clean? Or is it dirty? Was it refreshing, or not? This is the sense that can be most difficult if not impossible to use to get a sense of spirit of place.

Those senses simply give an idea of what the spirit of place is. For simply going out for a quick meditation and finding your place within that space, it can be a great exercise to do all of these and then journal about them. Continuously doing so in the same place can help you get a real sense of the spirit of the place.

Another way to get to know the spirit of a place is to research its history. What has happened in that place? Who lived there? Who died there? If it is a forest, was it always? Was it always a swamp or lake? Were battles fought there? Was it once farmland? Knowing these things about a place before you go out and explore or meditate there can help you protect yourself from lingering negative energies and emotions that still persist in a place.

On top of that even, would be learning weather patterns in the area. What seasons does it experience? What direction does the water flow (and what could that represent?)

Genius Loci In History

The Romans viewed genius loci as a protective spirit of a place, often giving the spirit of a place a physical embodiment. Spirits that walked the world in physical form to protect forests, rivers, mountains, swamps and so on. Faeries, elves, dryads, satyrs, unicorns and all manner of mythical creatures are representations of the spirit of a place. Other times, the spirit of a place (on a larger scale than a single spot next to a river) can be seen in the art style, furniture style, food and home style of an area and the people who live there. Animals, too, are often symbols of the spirit of a place.

Different native cultures around the world have all been highly concerned with the spirit of place. They held sacred rituals in the same locations, and gave offerings to spirits, ancestors and the land itself to bring about manifestations of good harvest, good fortune and the like.

Through myth and tale, the stories of the spirits of these sacred places have been preserved and passed down. Even though times have changed and humanity as a whole continues to change the physical face of the world we live in, the spirit of the place persists and often changes with us. Those old spirits still feel, and their pain at the changes we have made can be strongly felt at times. Other times, in gardens or wild places, we can feel their happiness and joy or even rage that we are trespassing in sacred places.

Spirit of Place in the home

In your own home and at work there is a spirit of place. And at home it is especially prudent to keep the spirit of that place ‘appeased’ and protective. It does your spirit no good to be at home and not feel safe or at peace. The general feel of your home is the spirit of place. Do you enjoy a cozy and cluttered atmosphere? Or a minimalist and clean or organized space? Is your home warm and welcoming to others? Or do you more prefer to keep to yourself?

Within your home, the spirit of place (at least I believe) is a very good reflection of your own personal spirit. It is the place your spirit should feel as if it belongs and where it should be able to go to recharge. If your spirit feels out of place there, like a puzzle piece in the wrong spot, then you should try and arrange that space to better reflect you.

For me, my home is warm, welcoming, and my door is always open to friends and family. I’ve always got a teapot on the stove, ready to make a cup for anyone who comes over, candles lit to give light and warmth, a puppy who fills my home and my own spirit with joy and boundless energy, a bookshelf, organized and never covered in dust, my altar where i go to do my spiritual recharging, and a general sense of peace and calm (I feel) permeates my apartment. My table is always set for more than myself, though I most often eat alone, and my spare bed is always open to any friend who needs a place to sleep.

I’d like to think that what I feel in the spirit of place of my home is the same welcoming and warm feeling others get when they arrive. It all boils down to you, here, and what kind of spirit of place you bring to your home.

~If you’re still reading at this point, I thank you, and if you’d like me to ever add to this post, please feel free to message me with info, links, or ideas~

/l\

M.G.

TheBasilDruid

reblog to give the ancient spirit living in your home a lil’ kiss on the cheek

Tim: I’ve just concord my fear of ghosts.

Jhon: That’s the spirit.

Tim: Ohhhh baby lord where.

They say after that he pissed pants.

waywardfrog:

As with all my posts– there’s probably going to be several updates. Please keep in mind this this post comes from my experiences, so whatever may be true for me may not be true for you, and one or two flags may not mean a malicious spirit. Everything is situational.

This doesn’t cover any spirits who may have good intentions but can’t control what their energy/presence does to people. The Leanan Fae’s energy for example, will cause a person go insane if not bound correctly.

How To Identify:

1. You get uneasy/feel you are in danger around the spirit/their vessel.
Now, keep in mind that some bias is going to come into this, too. You may, for some reason or another, end up with the spirit race/type that you aren’t comfortable working with. Just because you’re uncomfortable, that doesn’t make them malicious, and you should talk to the conjurer about that. However– I don’t like saying trust your gut, because I don’t believe intuition is usually more than ego in most cases. But if this, persists to the point where it impedes your communication, I would look into either banishing or rehoming. *Your mental health takes priority over a spirit, all reputable conjurers will tell you this.* If you’ve talked to the spirit about this and the spirit has made no attempt to talk with you or discuss what’s happening, you’ve gotten a red flag.

Another red flag: there is a large amount of negativity surrounding the vessel.

2. The spirit repeatedly guilts/ ignores you unless you give an offering.
Would you like a friend that does this to you? This kind of behavior shouldn’t be acceptable, and is kind of thing should be self explanatory. Bonus red flag points if you tell them that you don’t have the money, and they keep bugging you for it anyway, and ignore any other type of communication.

3. The spirit starts telling you that they’re from a past life, after you have a good reason to believe that they don’t have the best intentions.
If you believe in that thing, two spirits in my home are from a past life. They’re not cruel or abusive in any way– in fact, most past life spirits care enough about you to find you again. However– *there is nothing that important, there’s nothing that the spirit tells you that can justify for any mistreatment you received.* Just because the spirit tells you that you were lovers in all your past lives (99.9% of the time, that claim is BS anyway), that doesn’t mean you should welcome them with open arms and accept that the spirit is doing this because “they love you”.

4. Your boundaries are repeatedly pushed despite warnings to stop.
No spirit who truly respects you should purposely push anything onto you. I have very mixed feelings on spirits who “test” you– but if they repeatedly touch you, talk to you, move things around, whatever, after you ask them to stop, it’s probably time to end the relationship. Respect is a two way street.

I know there’s the argument of: I want to be tested! But I’m not talking about that. I work with a goddess that’s known for putting people through intense situations so they grow, and I knew that before I went into it. Most cases aren’t like that.

5. *Your spirit family/guides/whatever flat-out tell you that this spirit doesn’t have the best intentions*.
I can’t believe how often this one is ignored. Yes, discernment should be used in these types of cases, but if everything is adding up and you have multiple spirits telling you that the spirit is doing shady activities behind the scenes, it’s time for them to go.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve had good experiences with them before–some spirits play nice to get you to lower your guard.

On the flip side, make sure that the other spirits just don’t like the entity.

Make sure to talk to your conjurer before you banish/rehome. As a warning though– there are conjurers who claim that the “spirit just wanted to help” or “this spirit still cares about you!” or otherwise invalidate your experiences. In my opinion, this isn’t acceptable for any conjurer to do because they were not there with you when working with the spirit.

And lastly, we need to discuss how to deal with a few with these spirits.

The most important thing. Do not give into any hatred or any other “negative” feeling when dealing with them. They feed off of that. As hard as it sounds, don’t panic, it only makes the situation worse. You’ll be fine.

A spirit isn’t super powerful just because they got through your wards– all wards have loopholes, and it could have even entered through an unwarded spot.

A spirit isn’t super powerful because they’re able to resist other spirits/spells. There are so many factors that go into this circumstance, and it’s so situational that I can’t even put a blanket statement on it. I’ve had a being resist a vanishing spell when I first started my path because it *walked into a far room of my house where it wasn’t very effected, then came back as soon as the magic lessened*. This gives the illusion that it’s super powerful, even though it’s just actually just smart.

Now, onto the actual methods.

I know this is going to be hard to hear– you need to do most of the work yourself, you are the one that the spirit is harassing, and you need to take back your space. You can do anything you want here– incense, cleanse, or beat the crap out of it. You need to force your intent into what you’re doing. Don’t stop. Persistence is key. It could take weeks if the spirit is really determined. Don’t just say to the spirit that it’s not welcome here (because it knows that by now, it doesn’t care), show it.

You may hear the spirit taunt/guilt you. Think of it as the “Exorcist” movie ordeal. Remember the scene where the spirit possessing the girl repeatedly attempted to get into the priest’s head and get him upset and angry? It’s like that. Ignore it.

Once you feel that the spirit is sufficiently weakened (replies are soft and ‘muted’), it’s time to send it packing. Again, do what ever you most feel comfortable with– force your intent for it to leave and never come back. Do this a few times if you want.

When you feel that the spirit is gone, take a break and do something you enjoy. Take your mind off of it. Don’t stress about the spirit coming back, because if you do, there’s a good chance that it might. Try and fix up your wards, and mend anything broken by the spirit, if anything. Cleanse.

This has always worked for me in the past– I hope this helps people who have this problem. Good luck!

lokean-witch:

In this post, I will give you:

A forewarning.

Ways to recognise when a spirit is around.

Exercises to help you sense them.

Grounding Methods

Herbs for Psychic Powers/Tea recipes

Gems for Psychic awareness/powers

A Forewarning:

It’s easy to convince yourself that everything is a spirit. I’ve seen a lot of beginners and even more experienced people do so. There’s also the placebo effect. Your friend says they saw a spirit and now you start seeing that thing around you. It could be because you’re giving it energy, but it could very well be a type of placebo effect. So be careful. Not everything is a spirit…

… and not everything isn’t.

Now, here I will be giving out information I have gathered around, however, take it with a pinch of salt and add what you wish to it.

Finally, remember that grounding yourself is also very important. I’ll expand upon that in another post.

Recognise a Spirit:

There are ways to recognise a spirit through all five senses, and for some, even the sixth one.

There are spirits with higher frequencies, “good” spirits, if you will. And some with lower frequencies, “bad” spirits, as some will call them. I am of the mindset that there are no good or bad spirits, just like there are no good or bad people.

Please note: I am not talking about demons, here.

Spirits with higher or lower frequencies will feel or be sensed differently.

Again, here’s a strong disclaimer. Not everything is a spirit/ghost. Especially if you suffer with a mental illness, please be cautious.

Sight:

• Shadows: Shadows are an easy way for spirits to manifest themselves. They’re not fully manifested, but you can see them. There’s a difference between shadows and shadow people, you’ll immediately feel the change in energy.
  
• Partial Manifestation: Although rarer, spirits can fully manifest parts of themselves, such as eyes, face, hands. They’re often a whitish hue or even full colour. These don’t last long due to the tremendous energy it takes.
  
• Full Manifestation: A full body manifestation is very rare and doesn’t last long, because for a spirit to fully manifest itself, it takes a lot of energy. Some people can help a spirit stay manifested longer, but I’ve seen it take an awful toll on those people’s health. I don’t suggest you try it.
  
• Peripheral Vision: Seeing people or shadows out of the corner of your eyes.This is the most common way to see a spirit.
  
• Air Distortions: Distortions in the air where there’s no reason to have any. Can be a sign of a spirit either trying to manifest itself or simply there.
  
• Orbs: Orbs are small balls of light that are usually captured when taking a picture with a flash. Though a lot of them is just the flash catching dust or pollen, there are also “ghost orbs”, or spirit energy. There are even orbs that you can zoom in on and see faces/shapes.Orbs have also been spotted just floating around.
  
• Light Distortion: Sometimes, when a spirit is of a lower frequency, the light in the room seems to be drained, lights can spontaneously go off, candle flames dwindle without a cause and so on. But when a spirit is of a higher frequency, lights seem to shine brighter and candle flames can burn high.
  

Hearing:

Hearing is the most delicate one since I have, in the past, suffered from insomnia induced psychosis for several months, and know what it is like to hear voices. Please don’t assume that the voices you hear are spirits. And even if they are, don’t let them tell you to do bad things. They have no power over you unless you give them power, whether they be real or not.

• Tinnitus: So this one is rather nebulous, but a few of my psychic friends/acquaintances claim that often, when they hear a sharp ringing in their ears, it’s a spirit attempting to communicate, but either they aren’t ready to hear what they have to say, or the spirit isn’t capable to getting their message across the veil.
  
• Zaps, Bangs and odd little sounds: Sometimes, a spirit can try and get your attention through odd little noises only you hear, and seemingly come from nowhere.
  
• Footsteps: Footsteps in a room when nobody’s home, or on the walls or ceiling. Your house is making more noise than usual without any causing.
  
• Tapping: Little knocks at your door or on your wall through which you can even communicate. Sometimes doors slam without wind.<
  
• Buzzing: Your ears may buzz loudly when spirits are around.
  
• Whispers: Hearing whispers when there is no reason to.
  
• Voices: Hearing voices around you when there is no one. This is a delicate subject matter. Don’t trust the voices without being 1000% sure. Don’t trust the voices if you are currently in a bad mental place (unless it’s trying to cheer you up and help you, in that case, even if it’s a hallucination, at least it’s pretty positive) and don’t trust the voices if they’re telling you to do something bad. Or something that could lead to something bad. However, it is a way for spirits to communicate.

Taste:

• Odd Tastes: This is an odd one and I only know two people other than me that have that reaction to spirits, but it’s basically when certain spirits give you tastes in your mouth, such as blood, dirt, sugar, spices and more.
  

Smell:

• Good Smells: A spirit can manifest itself with good smells. Smells that remind you of a deceased loved one or something comforting.
  
• Bad Smells: Just as similarly, some spirits come around with bad smells like rotting flesh or blood.
  
• Other: Sometimes, a smell that has no reason to be there just appears. Like the smell of roast beef in the middle of the night, wafting from your kitchen.
  

Touch:

• A gush of Warm/cool air: You randomly feel a breeze when there shouldn’t be one.
  
• A stroke: You feel as though someone is touching you, stroking you, often in a loving way, or sometimes, in a more uncomfortable way. It gives you goosebumps or shivers.
  
• A Blow: A full on blow to your body. This is rare and more often happens in dream/while you sleep, while real life physical consequences.
  
• Marks: Odd marks on your body. For example, I had a hand shaped mark on my inner thigh, in a way my hands couldn’t have done it, it was outlined with a white line, but was not a scratch. Don’t assume every bump/scratch is a spirit.
  
• Hands: You feel someone touching you. Not really like a stroke, just a hand on your shoulder, or around your throat, or on your cheek. Sometimes a hand holding yourself.
  
• Change in Air pressure: The air around you feels lighter, or heavier, depending on the vibrations.
  
• Pressure on Chest: a very common one I’ve heard is the feeling someone or something sitting on your chest, most of the time, in a very oppressive way.
  
• Electric Shocks: Some people, like myself, feel electric shocks down our spines when close to spirits.
  
• Skin: Your skin crawls, or goosebumps suddenly erupt for no reason, you feel dirty.
  

ESP:

Extra sensory perception, possibly the most common way to feel a spirit.

• Anxiety: Unexplained anxiety, stress, fear, panic attacks, depression and such.
  
• Joy: Euphoria, happiness, confidence, comfort, compassion, good emotions that come out of nowhere.
  
• Empathy: Suddenly feeling emotions that aren’t yours when you, yourself aren’t an empath.
  
• Paranoia: Sudden feelings of being watched, being in danger/vulnerable, feeling you’re not alone.
  
• Intuition: Sudden increase in intuition, like someone is telling you something.
  
• Dread: Your stomach drops,a feeling of dread, tight throat, unexplained sadness.
  
• Dizziness: Dizziness, nausea, motion sickness, you just feel queasy and wrong.

Become more Sensitive:

I don’t know if someone who isn’t naturally sensitive to spirits can become it, though they probably can, I wouldn’t know the methods. So here, I’m going to list ways of increasing already existing sensitivity.

• Always Start by Grounding: Grounding is incredibly important. Everyone has their method. Mine is to walk barefoot in the earth or to just stand up and feel my feet. You can meditate, use crystals and so on. I’ll list more grounding methods later.
  
• Meditate: Meditation is an effective way of becoming more receptive to subtle things around you. Everyone has their techniques, but I like doing Anapana before expanding into consciousness projection.
  
• Just get yourself into a spiritual state: May it be through music, walking in the woods, cooking, anything that gets you spiritual, it’ll increase your sensitivity.
  
• Herbal Infusion: Make a herbal tea that favours psychic powers. I’ll give recipes later.
  
• Open your Third Eye: Everyone has their method, but the third eye is a very effective way of doing so.
  
• Work with Crystals: I’ll give a list of crystals later.
  
• Get Spirit’s Attention: Again, many methods that I will list later, but you can find your own.
  
• Channel: Play a good game of Ouija, or do some automatic writing, maybe use your pendulum or any methods of channeling you use. It can get you going.
  

There are many other methods. Find your own!

Grounding:

• Walk: Take a long walk in nature, barefooted preferably, and just feel the earth beneath your feet.
  
• Trees: Hug trees, meditate under trees, just be around trees, imagine yourself rooting yourself in the earth. Can work with house plants, just dig your hands into the earth and feeling your energy going deep.
  
• Dance: Dance around, stomp your feet, rock the world, just get in touch with your physical body.
  
• Meditate: Meditate. Just concentrate in your breath, your body. Then, you can try and expand your consciousness, but instead of reach up, go down, into the earth.
  
• Massage: Massage yourself or get someone to massage you. Nothing airy. A nice, deep massage. Rub your limbs and pat yourself down. You’re here, in your body.
  
• Exercise: Do physical exercise. Yoga in particular (I don’t recommend Kundalini or westernised Yoga Pilates/etc, but actual Indian yoga. Something grounding like standing poses, especially Tadasana/Mountain Pose.) and Qi Gong
  
• Animals: Spend time stroking your dog, cat, horse, earth animal (not birds, or aquatic animals)
  
• Earth Spirit: Ask earth spirits, such as trolls, gnomes and others to help you be grounded.
  

Herbs:

Herbs for Psychic Awareness:

NOT ALL OF THESE ARE SAFE TO INGEST!!!!!

Taken from Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. Feel free to do your own research.

• Astral Protection: Mugwort, Poplar, Dittany of Crete
  
• Mental Powers (Strengthen): Caraway, Celery, Eyebright, Grape, Horehound, Lily of the Valley, Mace, Mustard, Periwinkle, Rosemary, Rue, Spearmint
  
•  Psychic Powers: Acacia, Althea, Bay, Bistort, Bladderwrack, Borage, Buchu, Celery, Cinnamon, Eyebright, Flax, Grass, Honeysuckle, Lemongrass, Mace, Marigold, Mastic, Mugwort, Peppermint, Rose, Rowan, Saffron, Star Anise, Thyme, Uva Ursa, Yarrow, Wormwood, Yerba Santa
  
• Spirituality: African Violet, Aloes Wood, Gum Arabic, Cinnamon, Frankincense, Myrrh, Sandalwood
  

Tea Recipes:

• Meditation: 6 tsp English breakfast tea, 2 tsp Chamomile, 1 tsp Rose hips, 1 tsp Elder flower
  

• Psychic 1: 6 tsp Rose petal, 4 tsp Thyme, 4 tsp Yarrow, 2 tsp Cinnamon, 2 tsp Clove
  

• Psychic 2: 1 tsp mugwort, 1 tsp Lemon Balm, 1 tsp peppermint, 1 tsp yarrow, ¼ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground clove,
  

There are other recipes, or make your own!

Crystals:

I am not listing them all since there are a lot. Feel free to do your own research.

Increase Psychic Awareness:

• Azurite: It vibrates at the level of the third eye chakra, for clairvoyance, crown chakra, for heightened spiritual connections and throat chakra for psychic communication.
  
• Angelite: Used to communicate with Angels and higher frequency. It helps open you up to new information and spiritual senses.
  
• Amethyst: Opens higher chakras, helps strengthen psychic abilities, protects and good for meditation and dreams.
  
• Bloodstone: This one is really known to strengthening psychic abilities of all kinds, especially clairvoyance. It also protects from lower frequencies.
  
• Carnelian: This one helps heighten/develop intuition, clairvoyant and clairaudient gifts. Used to transfer living to the spirit realm and vice versa.
  
• Fluorite: Offers psychic protection, from negative energies and psychic vampires. Helps strengthen intuition, psychic abilities, connection to spirits and spirit guides.
  
• Herkimer Diamond: Especially known for having magical properties, the Herkimer Diamond helps with telepathy, connections to spirit guides, past life and enhancing psychic abilities.
  
• Kyanite: Great stone to use in meditation, to aid lucid dreaming, astral projection, connecting to spirit guides and Intuition. (Do use with caution since it’s really strong)
  
• Sapphire: Helps open communication lines with the spirit world, helps give clarity, open the third eye and enhance psychic visions. Also aids with out of body, telepathy, precognition and intuition.
  
• Turquoise: Enhances clairvoyant and clairaudient abilities, strengthen psychic powers and balance chakras.
  
• Quartz: Quartz is the most powerful stone for psychic abilities, and the most accessible. It enhances psychic vision, understanding messages from the spirit world, opening communication with it and balancing chakras.
  

Psychic Protection:

• Labradorite: Good for protection against negative energies and very powerful psychic protection.
  
• Tiger’s Eye: Also amazing to keep you safe from negativity, it helps mostly with more human bad energies. Still very good.
  
• Black Tourmaline: Black tourmaline helps ground you and keeps you incredibly safe from negativity. Like a pillar. My personal choice.
  
• Emerald: Emerald is incredibly powerful psychic tool and keeps you safe from negative energies.
  
• Most of the crystals mentioned above are really good for protection too.
  
• Most black stones are good for grounding/protection/Absorption of negative energies, such as: Apache tears, Black tourmaline, obsidians and more.
  

Finally, a disclaimer. I don’t know everything. I may have made some mistakes. Please take care of yourself when working with the subtle and please don’t force yourself into doing something that frightens you or that you don’t feel ready to do. If you are mentally unstable, first look into healing yourself before going into spirit communication, since spirits can trick you, just like humans.

Please take care, but don’t be afraid either since fear is food for spirits with lower vibrations.

thiscrookedcrown:

I’ve heard countless times that spirits and ghosts are nothing to be afraid of because they can’t hurt you. Why would you ever tell a child that? It’s entirely untrue.

If anyone has run across a spirit or a ghost and that being impressestheir emotions, wants, fears, and desires on you - that is hurting you, whether causing physical pain or not. They are affecting your sense of being, even if only for a moment. Emotional harassment of a sort.

I am unsure of any of my followers but I know several people that have been physically harmed by spirits and ghosts. Not just the “Oh, they threw a fork near my face!”. No, the nights where you perform rituals to appease local spirits and wake with fingerprints in places you can’t possibly do to yourself, to have bite wounds from animals that no longer are native to your lands, to have scraps and cuts you only realize you have because you noticed them in the shower or in a mirror.

Spirits can harm people. I’m not saying this is an every counter thing or that it is entirely negative. Who doesn’t like a little pain now and then? It reminds one of living, of breathing. It brings out the animal, wild needs in us. Who is to say that spirits feel the same way?

I’m certainly not saying that this is something to be feared. I think it should be noted and kept in mind for those of us who work with the spirits and gods. They can affect the body as easily as they can manipulate the forces around us and that is something we shouldn’t take for granted. I don’t want people to suddenly think that it is too dangerous to be offering up libations to the old ones, I’m merely suggesting that perhaps that bruise that appeared overnight wasn’t from a forgotten tripping over the coffee table but may be from the ritual you performed.

I’m ALSO not saying everything is supernatural. A little (or a lot) of skepticism goes a very long way I feel, especially when dealing with the supernatural. After all, each person sees and deals with the reality and the forces around us differently.

I’m just offering a little bit of the wisdom I’ve applied to my own life. If this helps someone out there, awesome. If it doesn’t or you think its total rubbish, that’s fine too. To each their own.

I am curious to know if any followers have had any similar experiences. Have any of you attributed wounds, cuts, bruises, or aliments to the supernatural?

Bonding is important when you become a Spirit Keeper. And when I first started, I tried my best to interact with everyone. But, that’s hard and mentally draining because my system became routine and I just stopped altogether. Your spirits understand you’re only given so many spoons in a day, but it can be harmful to the relationship to stop everything because you can’t keep up.

After hearing about certain things going on with other fellow Keepers that are also friends, having a Bonding Journal is a good thing to start. In conjunction with having a Bonding Schedule, you can focus on one or a few on that day and it’s totally up to you and yours how you make this work. Whether it’s in teams that specialize in certain things or randomly choosing them, it’s all a matter of what you, as a collective, agree upon. If you only have, let’s say less than 10, you can just alternate days with a randomizer and see how many days they want to do their session.

Here are a few things I suggest for those that have more than 10 (I have over 400 so yeah…):

• Find out who needs more attention. Chances are, you have some that are not as strong as others so you might not know they need the attention. Keep in mind that, especially for those that have mixed Arts in their Keep, they’re not going to tell you right away, if at all. it’s important for you to check periodically for this so that no one gets left behind.
  
• Make a list of names and then randomize it. Initially, I took the names of those in need of more attention and made that a separate list from the others and randomized both. then combined the more attention with the rest. Whatever system works for you and yours, do that. Teamwork!
• Schedule in the time. whether it’s one day or one week, you should start with what they want. As time goes on, you can adjust. For me, I started right after the New Year with giving a single spirit a whole week. That got boring and it would take me years to finish so we adjusted to 3-4 spirits a day randomly chosen.
• Individual vs. Teams. Depending on how big your Keep is, you may want to work in groups or teams. Say, for instance, you have a few divination spirits. Work with those few for however long you feel you can allot.

Again, these are just suggestions and I’ve tried a few combinations. Best thing is to see what works for you. Find other suggestions and mix it up :) You’ll find the best combo and everyone can be kept happy, healthy and wise.

Note: This idea was originally brought to my attention when a friend was going through a rough patch and @chaosinpandorasbox recommended she do this so her spirits didn’t feel neglected. Remember that spirits have feelings, too, so make sure to take care of them like you would anyone else in your family.

The traditional associations of casting circles are pretty simple: call the spirits of the elements at each of the cardinal directions, invoke whatever deity or deities with whom you work, “brush” or push the negative forces out from within the circle to without it, and then seal it with your own magick and Will. 

The problem is, though, that this was created by people living in the United Kingdom, and as such it was created with the UK’s cardinal directions in mind. These are not always appropriate for where you live, though! Traditionally, you would invoke

Earth in the East
Fire in the South
Water in the West
Air in the North

But here in Australia that makes no sense. In Britain, the further south (towards the equator) you move, the hotter it gets… but in Australia you move NORTH to approach the equator. Fire spirits would be found more towards the North of Australia where the heat is greater and the days are more equal.

In Britain, with the Arctic to the North, Air is placed in the far North as Air spirits love the cold and winds of tundra plains. However, being a Southern hemisphere country, Australia’s cold region is the Antarctic to the South, and so it makes more sense to listen to the Air spirits there, where you’ll actually find them. 

Here on the East Coast of Australia the beautiful Great Dividing Range - a vast mountain range that stretches for thousands of miles and divides our beautiful nation in twain - and the bulk of the Australian continent stretch out towards the West. Meanwhile, to our East, the south Pacific ocean flows with vast Ocean spirits that bring cyclones and thunderstorms to our fair continent. So it makes sense to not place Earth in the East like in the UK (where Europe is all eastwards) but instead in the West, and likewise place Water in the East where the largest ocean on Earth sits, placidly, waiting to devour us all.

But, of course, this is not the same for all! Japan might choose to have the Air of Hokkaido and the Arctic in the North, equatorial Fire in the South, Pacific Water in the East, and Asian Earth in the West; Kenya might have Fire in the East to represent the great Sahara Desert, Water in the West, Earth in the North and Air in the South. The world s full of diversity, and adhering rigidly to the rules of a bunch of 1920s British Wiccans who’d barely even left England in their entire lives and had never seen a non-white person probably isn’t the best idea in our modern world of inexpensive plane tickets and cultural diversity. 

Live on, my bright Wiccans and Witches of the wider world, and let the Spirits of your own lands guide you!

– Juniper Wildwalk, Wiccan of the World

positivehappenstance:

Can anyone help a baby witch out with how to figure out a solution for something nasty? I don’t know what it is per-say (I’ve tried to get answers but meh) all I know for sure is it’s annoying as fuck and I’m TIRED of it. 

I know I’m mostly able to put up warding when I’m feeling strong enough energetically. 

Problems I run into: It gets worse/angrier when offensive is used, and it LOVES preying on energetic vulnerability. 

I’m asking now because I’m a bit energetically spent. The other day I just put up some really taxing wards for protection because I knew me and my confidante (witchy partner) would be emotionally and energetically vulnerable and I wanted to ward off basically everything. (This place is very active with just like, nature and other types of things)

The good news? It worked FANTASTICALLY for the duration I needed it to. The bad news? I didn’t manage to design them to last and since I’m fairly drained they’re sort of getting weak which means ol’ nasty is a tap-tap-tapping on them. 

If Anyone has any advice or good references I could look up, that would be fantastic. Thank you!

@positivehappenstance

So I very rarely reblog anything, but you seem to need a helping hand and that’s really what my blog is about. 

So first things first: What are we working with?

To me, this sounds like it could be a number of things but there are a few things that are more likely that others, for the same reason that a person with a cough is more likely to have a cold than diphtheria; colds are just way more common.

1. A Predatory Natural Spirit:
   In the same way that a wild animal can be a predator, so can a spirit, and like all predators this means it needs to feed on prey. However, unlike a creature made of matter (such as a wolf or a human), it doesn’t eat the body of its prey but rather eats its energy. This doesn’t make it evil or malicious, so I would strongly advise against calling it as such: it’s just a predator, and like any living creature it needs to eat. It just happens to need to eat, basically, you. 
   
   
2. A Malicious Human Spirit:
   Now I work mostly with natural spirits but I have known many, many people who work with human spirits and so I would consider myself at least fairly knowledgeable of them, if not actually any good at working with them.Unlike natural spirits a human spirit CAN be malicious, usually as a result of being lost and scared and angry, and so it lashes out in any way it can which often means humans living in the area have their psyches and spirits injured. This can often cause a lot more than just fatigue and mental lethargy, but can actually result in illness and disease as your body’s vital energy is drained and it becomes less able to defend and repair itself against more physical problems like bacteria and lacerations.
   
   
3. A Psychic or Energy Vampire:
   These are essentially human beings who either knowingly or subconsciously are probing out into people’s spirits and stealing energy from them to feed themselves. They are not true “vampires” in the sense of an actual physiological need to do this in order to function, but instead are using this feeding as a means of boosting themselves and increasing their own strength. Again many (and I would argue most) psychic vampires don’t realise what they’re doing, but are often confused with just major extroverts because like extroverts they seem to become energised by having people around them. Unlike extroverts however, being in the presence of a psychic vampire will drain you of energy, mental acuity, and other faculties quite quickly. 

There are a few other things it could be, but these are by far the most likely so we’ll start with these. If that doesn’t work, feel free to ask me! 

Which is probably the cause? How can I stop it?

In my experience, it’s almost certainlya predatory natural spirit. They’re by far the most common, and thankfully also the easiest to deal with. In this case, stopping the problem is really as simple as purging the area of spirits and then keeping up barriers to stop more coming back to fill the gap. At the moment what you’re doing is essentially holding up a shield to stop the spirit from getting to you, but that’s an active process which means it uses a lot of energy and concentration. When you’re unable to actively hold up shields, such as when you’re asleep or fatigued, the spirit is able to freely attack you and slowly drain you of energy, and because you’re never pushing the spirit away from yourself even after you start defending yourself again it’ll just hang around outside your shields until you get too tired to keep them up again.

So, the best way to purge an area of natural spirits is to use banishing and exorcising herbs in all the areas where you’re usually affected (spirits tend to be tied to a specific place rather than following a person around), and then placing sigils at strategic points around the exorcised area to create a barrier that the spirits cannot cross to get back to you. The best herbs to use for banishing spirits from an area are sage, rosemary, agrimony, lavender, and angelica, but honestly starting off with just the most accessible to you is fine. I’d recommend taking a combination of dried sage leaves and dried rosemary leaves, and burning them in a pot (or using sage and rosemary incenses) before carrying the burning herbs/incense around your home in all the places that are affected by the spirits (so, all of it). 

If for some reason you can’t have an open flame, as I know some places don’t allow this, then you can instead mix sage and rosemary with water and salt in a large sealed bottle, and then leave it to sit for at least three days in a place out of direct sunlight. Then take the water from inside the bottle (leave the herbs) and using a brush “paint” the water across the lintel of all the doors and windows in your home that face the outside (so an inside door that just opens from one room to another would be ignored). There are more of these simple water spells on my blog.

After that, you’ll want to go to the most southerly, easterly, westerly and northerly points in your house (which is almost always the four corners of your home), and draw warding sigils on either the floor, walls or ceiling at that point to stop spirits from crossing the invisible lines they draw between each other. If you live in a house with space to do this, you could also go outside your house and bury four small stakes into the ground (you can bury them completely, that’s fine) that have the sigils drawn, burnt or carved into them. If you’d like to make your own warding sigils I have a post on learning the basics of sigil magick here on my blog, but if you don’t mind using a sigil someone else has already made then there’s one right here that I made last year!

How do I stop this in the future? 

Well, first off, like most novices you probably made the simple and easily made mistake that we’ve ALL made at some point or another: you didn’t cast a circle when you performed spells or messed around with energy work. A spell is basically a big ol’ beacon of power and energy into the universe, and if you don’t shield that, if you don’t protect that, then you’re going to attract predators who want to feed on that energy. It’s a common mistake, and simple enough to prevent by casting a circle before you do any spells or workings in the future! 

If you don’t know how to cast a circle, surprise surprise I’ve got a how-to on my blog. However, bear in mind that a circle doesn’t have to be physical, and it should be large enough for you to NOT STEP OUT OF IT as you perform your spell. If at any point you leave the circle during your spell, the FIRST THING you must do when you go to restart the spell is redraw the magick of the circle. If you’re using a physical circle as a focus to help the magick the physical circle doesn’t have to be redrawn, but the energy must be recast. 

—————————-

I hope that helps you dear! We’ve all been novice Witches before and you’ll learn fast, so I hope this helps you and answers your question! 

For my regular followers, if you’d like to read this again in the future, I’m tagging this post with “spirits”, “spirit exorcism”, and “common mistakes”.

– Juniper Wildwalk

polkadotmotmot:

Vivien McDermid - Swan Silence, 2022

last night i dreamt from the perspective of a demon or some kind of damned soul that was created when a man, upon dying a horrifying and painful death, also witnessed the love of his life suffer a similarly gruesome demise as their kids watched and screamed in terror. as his spirit was ripped from his broken body he blessedly forgot about the life he had just left, but became a haunted entity in the shape of a man—shiny, dripping, and black like an oil spill on hot asphalt. he traveled the world, slipping from one shadow to another, his forgetful soul forever corrupted and yearning. he was angry and pessimistic but mostly harmless. he liked to prank people but for the most part kept to the darkness, all alone. in his lonely travels he found a beautiful woman. she was walking in a meadow clearing, brown braided hair bouncing against her neck, tied with a white ribbon. she wore either a pink dress and white cardigan or a white dress and pink cardigan, and picked wild flowers. i never saw her face. but she reminded him of his late wife and he fell in love. this made his half life more torturous but he could not pull away. i could hear his internal monologue throughout the dream (he had no mouth to speak aloud but had many interesting thoughts.)

also he had the personality of deadpool.

Earth spirits are just about the easiest ones to make contact with. Their forms tend to be less subtle than those of many fairies,and they generally stick to one place- so if you feel a location is haunted by these beings, it will always be haunted. Wherever anything grows, there will be a fairy to attend to it.

Earth fairies love gardens,and will gather round you while you are planting and watering. At the end of a hot day they exult when you get out the hose or watering can, and will dance among the refreshed flowers with glee. Often they do not like you weeding,though,so make sure you always do this with respect. Leave a patch of your garden to grow wild, for the fairies love this and it creates a space for all the plants that are unwelcome elsewhere- just because humans do not like them, this does not mean they do not have a valuable place in the scheme of things.

Method

1. To draw close to the gnomes,settle quietly in your garden or in a park,woodland, field, or hillside- close to a barrow-mound may be the most powerful place of all. Gnomes of the deep earth may be experienced in a cave or hollow,whereas others may be more of the flower- or tree-fairy types. Let your bare feet and hands make contact with the earth,mud or stone. Beat a soft rhythm on a drum,if you wish.
2. Be very still, relaxed,and quiet. Try not to see anything,because that will put you in the wrong frame of mind. Just be there, and be observant- these spirits do not show themselves in the ways you might expect, and seeing them can seem almost ordinary.
3. Be aware of any little movements out of the corner of your eye, for that is where spirits are often first perceived. An animal running in the undergrowth may also be a shy gnome in disguise. Look out for the face of the Green Man among the leaves, and watch flowers, for they can also be sweet faces, nodding and smiling.
4. To show they have drawn close to you, gnomes will often give you a tangible gift,such as a coin or a piece of jewelry. If you find this on your path,treasure it, for it is very lucky.