Month: May 2017

Study Buddy [Spell Saturday #58]

Want to find a study group or study buddy for your classes? Need to cram for an exam and want someone to help? Just need a pal to commiserate with? This spell’s for you.

 

Study Buddy Spell by This Crooked Crown

 

What you’ll need:

  • rosemary
  • water

 

Bring about a cup of water to a boil. Add about a teaspoon of rosemary and leave for twenty or more minutes. Strain the rosemary from the water, keeping the water.

Dab the rosemary infused water on the cover of your books, backpack, clothing, or skin before heading to class or study hall. You can say something like:

 

“Study buddy, come to me

We’ll share what we know

To pass our classes/exams successfully”

 

Each batch should only be kept for up to 48 hours for health and safety reasons (don’t put moldy water on yourself, please) so be ready to make a new batch as needed.

You can also adjust the spell to work on specific people. A good choice for this is to use a candle, your textbooks, or class facebook group as a summoning focus. Sprinkle a drop or two of the water over the candle, book, or screen and cast the spell the same.

 

Notes:

  • Be sure that you’re not allergic or sensitive to rosemary before use if you use it on your body. You may also want to check if rosemary clashes with any medications you’re taking.
  • You can add sugar or honey to the infused mixture to “sweeten and draw people to you” but you risk increased insect activity.
  • You can also add coffee to the infused mixture to add speed to the spell.

Stone Energy Spell [Spell Saturday #57]

A spell to program a stone to give you extra energy on low days.

 

Stone Energy Spell by This Crooked Crown

 

What you’ll need:

  • Dried coffee grounds or yerba mate leaves
  • Sugar
  • Ginger, ginseng, or dandelion roots
  • Dried orange zest/peel
  • Tiger’s eye stone, sunstone, selenite, amber, ruby, and/or quartz crystal
  • A bowl
  • A bright, sunny day and cloudless, moonlit night where you have a lot of energy

Select your stone knowing that this is, in part, a dedication spell. While the stone can be part of jewelry or another object, it needs to be use only for this purpose.

On your chosen day, gentle wash or wipe clean the chosen stone and set aside.

Mix together half a teaspoon of your coffee or yerba leaves with half a teaspoon of ginger, ginseng, or dandelion roots. Sprinkle sugar an orange zest until it’s mixed throughout and spotted through. (You’ll probably only need a pinch at most)

Place the stone in the herbal mixture and set time to meditate with the bowl in your hands. This meditation should not be tiring but rather energy boosting and uplifting. If meditation doesn’t do this for you, you can pass energy into the stone or simply tell the stone what you want it to do.

When ready, raise up your herbal mixture to your heart and gather your energy around you then breath out over the herbs. Touch the stone and think happy, loving thoughts.

Place your stone in the herbs and leave the herbs and stone in a sunny window for a full day and night. The next morning remove the stone and dispose of the herbal mixture by compost, fire, burying, or any other means you deem worthy.

Carry or hold the stone when you’re in need of a boost. If the stone feels tired, allow it to sit in sunlight or moonlight for a while to cleanse and restore it’s powers.

 

 

Notes:

Contrary to popular belief, not everyone handles caffeine the same way. If you’re one of the people who don’t do well with caffeine, then try another energy booster than isn’t caffeine based. Same goes with the sugar.

The stones were selected because they have physical energy boosting properties. If you can think of or own another stone that does the same, use that as well or instead. If you don’t have access to any of these stones, quartz is always a fine alternative.

The best way to adapt this spell is to think about stones or herbs that give you energy without draining you. They’re going to make you feel good, not tired in a few hours. If you have access to an herb or stone that offers this, then use it instead.

Some stones do not do well in sunlight. Double check before attempting this spell. If you want to use a stone that doesn’t like sunlight, you can bury it in the herbal mixture instead.

 

Review: Tarot Spells by Janina Renee – 3.5/5

Tarot Spells by Janina Renee. 1994. Llwellyn. 3.5/5 – Meh

Warnings: None except very slight “negative energy will come back to you” mentioned once.

A good book and accessible for everyone. Reads as light ceremonial or ritualistic but can be easily adapted. However, poor formatting, uninspired card choices, and cookie cutter (and sometimes boring) spells leaves me wanting more. Excellent for inspiration however and worth adding to a collection of spell books. The 2001 version might rectify many of these problems.

Continue reading →

Friendship Candle Spell [Spell Saturday #56]

Friendship spells are less common than love spells which is a shame because we, as humans, enjoy having love of all kinds, including friendship. This spell’s good if you have an idea of the kind of friend you want but can’t seem to attract someone like that.

Friendship Candle Spell by This Crooked Crown

What you’ll need:

  • Pink or red candle
  • Printed out selfie / photo of yourself
  • Fire-proof bowl
  • Friendship-drawing herbs or oils such as gardenia, sweet pea, or rosemary (optional)

Dress your candle in friendship drawing oils, herbs, and/or energy. A candle shaped like a person is a good choice for the candle but optional. You can use a regular candle for this spell.

Place your candle on top of your printed out selfie and place that inside the fire-proof bowl. This is done for safety reasons.

Light the candle. Spend some time thinking or talking about the kind of friend you’re looking for. Do you want someone who will go with you to the beach? Someone affectionate enough for platonic cuddling? Be as vague or as specific as you’d like.

Once you’ve described the person you’d like to be friends with, say something similar to the following:

“Candle before me

Speak to the heart of the one I seek

Bring to me a friend that is loyal and true

Let their heart speak to mine

And bring them to my side

As a beloved friend.”

If the candle hasn’t already done so, tilt it slightly to the side to let the wax drip on your selfie.

Be sure that you’ll have time to watch the candle burn or at least keep an eye on the candle. You’ll need to burn the candle about halfway down or past the waist of the person-shaped candle. Once the candle’s burned to this level, blow it out and keep it safe until a friend like you’ve desired has appeared. If they do not appear within a reasonable time-span (which is up to your discretion), dispose of the candle in the garbage and try again with a new candle, if desired.

Note:

  • Please remember to use fire safety!
  • Remember to adjust the wording to suit your needs!

Happy casting!

 

Spirit Destinations: When Spirit Worlds Connect to the Physical World

The astral worlds are not a free-for-all. Not all of them at least. Anyone who has dealt with the fae are definitely aware of this but many other places outside of fairylands have rulers that hold territory. Knowing you’re in someone’s territory can be tricky and knowing where those territories begin and end, especially because they change all the time, is a full time job. My best advice is to assume you’re trespassing and be polite as possible if confronted (and run away if you need to).

But there’s another territory to think about. Another weird thing that can happen. Sometimes the astral spirit worlds and the physical worlds mesh together.

Sometimes you step into a place here in the physical world and you think, “oh crap, this is connected to the spirit worlds, somewhere”. You might even feel unsafe and need to hightail it out of there. And other times it’s the best place ever to meditate and be safe.

This is one of things that you’ll know if you’ve experienced it because it’s often a defining moment for you. One you’ll remember. It’s also similar to fairy tales and legends of wild hunts and faerie proceedings.

 

When Spirit Worlds Connect to the Physical World by This Crooked Crown

 

What are the signs?

There are numerous signs that indicate that a particular area is experiencing a merging or an overlap. Some of the signs appear for other things like a psychic attack so be aware of that possibility and look for multiple indications that the spirit world is overlapping into the physical world.

As always, if you feel like you’re being hunted, stalked, or in danger, leave the area immediately and go to a safe place where you can calm down, ground and center yourself, and get something re-energizing to eat.

  • A weird energy signature
  • An immensely powerful energy
  • Feeling yourself being drained of energy
  • Feeling your energy hum
  • Feeling an increase in energy, like adrenaline, but is likely difficult to control
  • Nausea
  • Headaches
  • Pressure in your head or body, especially forehead
  • Surge of emotions, images, sounds, or smells out of nowhere that are not your own
  • Hearing voices or music or sounds without a discernible source
  • Smelling scents that are out of place and without a discernible source
  • A sense of flightiness or lack of control like intoxication
  • A feeling of dream-like fog
  • Feeling of being small or in front of something large
  • Being overwhelmed emotionally or spiritually, like a wave overtaking you
  • A feeling of open-ness in a small that should not feel that open
  • A feeling of disconnect, like watching yourself do something outside of your body
  • Feeling watched or not alone
  • The feeling of immediate danger
  • Time is working too slowly, too quickly, or you seem to be out of time
  • Becoming lost in the physical space
  • Objects, pathways, walls, and other things seem to move or become blocked when they weren’t moments before

 

 

What triggers these connections? 

Spirit worlds connecting to physical worlds can happen in any number of ways. These connections are not permanent and some will disappear even a few hours after it appears. You can remove a connection with enough time, effort, and energy but it would be a hard-won fight.

Anywhere can be connected at any point in time to the spirit worlds but it often happens when no where is there and therefore there isn’t conflicting energy. Or they are areas with lots of potential but nothing happened. Or they’re areas of high energy. Liminal places, like crossroads, rest stops, buildings with lots of empty hallways (schools, offices, abandoned buildings), and bridges are common targets as well. Any place you’d expect spirit activity is particular susceptible to this kind of phenomena.

These are a few ways that the spirit worlds and physical world can become connected. Keep in mind, these aren’t the only ways and not every method will works for every area. Some places seem more susceptible to certain methods than others, likely due to energy reasons.

  • A land spirit makes the connection or holds significant power in that place
  • It’s a height of power and energy for some reason and thus easily accessible to spirits
  • A human dreams or recreates that space in the spirit world
  • They are so similar of places in looks, energy, or history that they merge for unknown reasons
  • Spirits gather there for unknown or multitude of reasons, thus making the physical world more like a spirit world.
  • A practitioner connects them for easy access to the spirit world
  • A practitioner has cast a lot of energy or spells recently or invoked a spirit, opening the way for this sort of thing
  • There’s been a wild hunt style procession recently through that area
  • Construction, death, powerful emotions, trauma, or other events can cause havoc, not unlike ghosts getting riled up during a home remodeling.

 

 

What to do

What you can do with an area that is connected to the spirit worlds is up to you. I recommend leave it alone. It’s probably not hurting anyone (except you might see a rise of headaches and emotions in that place) and it will often go away on it’s own. As mentioned above, you can try to get rid of the area but you must be very sure of yourself and your ability to manipulate the spirit energy in order to do this properly. You can patrol or guard the area, making it sacred, and thus keeping outsiders from going into it.

Most of the time, if you leave the area (and spirits inside the area) alone, they’ll leave you alone. They’re essentially just visiting.  However, if the spirits begin to get aggressive, you may want to step up and remind them that while the area IS theirs, most humans cannot see or sense them and therefore do not know to stay away. You could even banish them from this realm, leaving the territory connected or go ahead and sever the connection. Whether you do not this or not is up you. It’s personal choice.

As for myself, I typically leave spirit connected areas alone. I might go and remind aggressive spirits to play nice or I’ll have do something about them but most often, I leave them alone. So long as they’re not actively hunting humans, I have no problems with them. I find such areas a delight to visit because I truly love the spirit worlds and knowing I can connect to them here in the physical world at times is something I find absolutely amazing.

 

Modern Check Money Spell [Spell Saturday #55]

Ever wish you could just write a check out to yourself for free money? Who hasn’t. This spell is designed to do just that. It’s built specifically to encourage the right amount of money to come to you by a due date.

This is a classic spell. I’m not reinventing the wheel here. I’m sure there have been practitioners writing themselves checks since forever. But, uh, checks are kind of out of fashion these days and I can honestly say that I don’t think many of my readers even know how to write a check. I think I write a single check a year and I always have to look up whether I’m forgetting something every year. It’s a thing. Anyway, because checks aren’t often used, this spell style needs to be updated to modern times.

Remember to double check your magical paradigm. Mine says that the more constraints you put on a spell, the more magic has to work to create it. So ask for a million dollars by tomorrow and it’s less likely to happen than, say, twenty dollars by tomorrow. Your paradigm and experiences may claim different but, uh, kick some money back towards me if you do land a million, OK?

Modern Money Check Spell by This Crooked Crown

What you’ll need:

  • Basil
  • Mint (any kind)
  • Cinquefoil (five finger grass)
  • Clover
  • Coins
  • Boiling water
  • Writing utensil
  • A check or invoice-like print out

First gather a pinch of each herb and let it steep in about a cup of boiling water for at least fifteen minutes. Put coins along with the herbs. Let cool and strain the herbs and coins, keeping the water. Put the coins back in the water and put aside. If you want, you can further enchant the herbs/ water to bring you money.

While the herbs are steeping, find a writing utensil. Typically you’d use a pen or pencil but there’s a good chance that it won’t write well when dipped in water so you might be better off using a toothpick or paintbrush to write with. The ink doesn’t need to be visible so what you write with doesn’t matter.

You’ll also want to find a check or invoice print out. This should be a blank check, but if you’re like me and can’t remember the last time you wrote a check, print out a invoice or money transfer template. You can do this by taking a screen shot of the transfer money page of your online banking or downloading a blank invoice template.

Now dip your writing utensil in the water and fill out the check, money transfer, or invoice as completely as you can with the water as the ink. If your form doesn’t have a “due by” date, then use the “date” line as when you want the money. If you need to put an item on the form, just write whatever you need the money for. Rent, bills, to buy shoes, whatever. Let the paper dry completely. Dispose of the water by pouring it on your doorstep, washing the floor with it, or pour it down the drain. Keep the coins and don’t spend them if possible.

Once dry, put the paper in an envelope and put the envelope somewhere out of the way until after the “due by date” passes. After the “due by date” passes, bury or burn the envelope and paper entirely.

Common Money Spell Ingredients by This Crooked Crown

Notes:

  • Use fire safety if you burn the paper.
  • You do not need to use all the herbs in this spell. You can just use basil or mint and you’ll be just fine. Alternatively you can use any money drawing ingredients you have.
  • Don’t drink the water if you put coins or stones in it. Please don’t do that.

Money in the Spirit World – Astral Currency & Trade

Money in the Spirit World

 

Here’s some real talk: shit costs money. This is true with your spirit dealings as well.

Historically, money has been used in multiple cultures as offerings to spirits. (Also, historically paying the people who dealt with spirits, such as practitioners, was and still is a thing.)

However, it’s not always about the amount of cash you can put out. Trading expensive goods is also something that’s often used. Are you giving that expensive alcohol as a gift – or a bribe? Or is it really for services rendered on your behalf?

Offerings are made for a lot of reasons. They can be made from a place of love or fear. As a perfunctory action to something you’re excited to share. There’s lots of reasons to give offerings. It’s not necessarily part of a commerce-based action. You can simply do it to please the spirit or deity you’re with.

But, what about commerce? What about actions made that are not an offering? How do you trade with spirits? How does money work in the astral? To be honest, it’s not that much different with how money works here.

 

 

Commerce isn’t always going to be based on coins or paper money. In fact, most of the time, it isn’t. If you’re operating in a territory controlled by a specific ruler, that territory may offer currency, like any country would. But that currency will probably be worthless outside of that territory.

Trading services or items is probably one of the easiest ways to get something. Can you draw? Suggest that. Can you cast a spell or create a magical item? Did you find a pretty astral stone or grow a particular herb in your astral home’s garden? Try that as a means of trade.

Of course, you can always trade information. Information is, almost always, the most appreciated sort of currency. Tell someone where to a particular river, give directions to someone, mention where you last saw a particular spirit. Even gossip and rumors have their own weight and merit. Best of all, you can use the same information gained with different people and some people will pay very highly for information. The more desperate they are for that information, the more you can charge. It’s a very good idea to keep an eye on what kind of information you have to share and how much that’s worth to some people.

 

Another option is to get a job. This probably is the least liked option but is certainly going to get you what you want. If you do take on a job for someone, be sure that your terms are agreed upon in a very plain fashion. You will do X for Y and that’s it. Courier is a very popular job for dreamers and spirit walkers like us.  You can also be a freelancer of any skill you’re good at or even a mercenary. The tie-less kind of jobs are quite suitable for us as we aren’t consistently able to access the astral.

 

 

If you have you own territory or home, you can grow, make, rent, or create something there to sustain yourself. Maybe you’ll grow herbs or you have the only water for miles. You could be the only person in the area that can heal or has light or a safe place to sleep at night. Trade for these commodities and go from there.

You can also see if a local spirit has work for you to do. Working under the service of a spirit ruler or any spirit will be like working in you regular day job. The only exception is the work will probably be different and there probably isn’t a lot of rules in place. Make sure that you know your rights and how to get out of the job if you no longer want it. You can even make agreements to when your job ends if you don’t want it with the person that hires you right off the bat. Help yourself and make these demands and agreements at the start so you don’t have to worry about it later.

You can also make agreements to do something in the physical realm for the spirit. This works very well for us and it’s utterly unique to use dreamers and spirit walkers. Spirits can’t do this for one another usually so it gives us a unique advantage. However, I’ve found that the more you pay attention to a spirit while in this realm, the more control they have over this realm. For example, if a spirit asks you to make them a shrine in the woods and some kids find that shrine, it may give that spirit more power here because more people believe in them. It’s hit or miss as some spirits don’t work in the manner.

There’s pros and cons to each of these methods. You’ll have to talk to people and have a good grasp of people in order to trade information. Working under a spirit ruler may gain you some enemies because of your association but you’ll probably also be under their protection. Grow herbs to sell and you’ll have to actually, you know, grow them. Weigh your options before you decide what to do.

 

 

As a rule of thumb, it’s best to make trades and arrangements in front of a third neutral party. There are even mediator spirits you can hire for this specific purpose. But, anyone can serve as a third part. These third parties will verify the agreement of the trade (or whatever) and if one side of it is broken, then actions can be taken.

There are also spirits that work like money lenders or even currency exchange. These spirits will vary wildly in temperament so you might wind up dealing with a very nasty spirit or someone who is a complete sweetheart. Currency exchange will usually have a direct price – you bring 8 X and get 5 Y. The spirit making the exchange will take a small percentage of the trade for their own payment.

Keep in mind that breaking promises or agreements is considered extremely bad. Note, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use a loophole to your advantage. Faeries are really the experts at this – they won’t do something outright against the agreement but they will find every loophole ever and use it instead.

Theft is an additional problem to remember. Items, even those in the astral, have energy and some people – even some practitioners – can track that energy like a bloodhound. So if you steal something and someone is skilled in tracking energy, they could hunt you down.

 

 

Not everything you can trade or do will be useful so cultivating many skills or keeping items around like some pack-rat RPG hero can help you figure out exactly what to offer at the time.

It’s tricky to get the hang of so don’t be surprised if you get up getting proverbially robbed during a deal. It happens. Live and learn. Like in real life, it takes time and practice to develop a good system of deal-making.

Why should you jump through all these hoops? Well, not everyone can create everything in the astral. And some items require knowledge to create that you don’t have. It also fosters relationships within the community. Plus, some things are just easier to buy than make.

The astral is a truly fantastic place and spirits of all kinds exist there. Some will have wildly different ideas of what’s useful or worth currency. Ask questions politely and you’ll probably do just fine.

5 Things I’m Currently in Love With

Life has been kicking my ass. Last month (and the month before that) was filled with stuttering posts due to a variety of reasons. Long story short: Life got in the way of… life? Weird sentence is weird.

Anyway, here’s five things I’m totally in love with right now.

 

01 Cherry Blossoms

I mean, I love flowers any day of the week but right now I am constantly staring at my flowering trees and blooming garden. Right now I’m very lucky because I have two cherry trees in my front yard – the Yoshino white and the Kwanzan pink. The Kwanzan always flowers after the Yoshino (and lasts at least two weeks longer???) but there’s this sweet spot where both still have flowers and everything is awesome forever.

I always love cherry blossoms so I’m super happy at this time to just stare at them all the time. Like, all the time.

Also, little known fact, for my 21st birthday I asked for a cat and a cherry tree. I got Kiki and my Yoshino tree. One of my better birthday requests, to be honest.

 

 

 02 Aromatherapy

I’m not actually all that well-read when it comes to aromatherapy. I mean, I could probably blab about it for an an hour or more but a lot of that comes from my herbal knowledge rather than aromatherapy knowledge.

A couple of weeks ago I scored an aromatherapy mister for a song and have been using it nightly. It’s really been helping me sleep when I’m suppose to be asleep and even helped clear up my lungs a bit (which is good because they’re kind of rubbish after an infection years ago).

I’m looking forward to diving into more research on aromatherapy in the coming days. Yay for new stuff to read about!

 

 

03 Cooking

This is a weird one. I do a lot of baking but not a lot of cooking. However, last week my mother went away and that meant that I could use my brother as a taste tester without feeling guilty that I was making something my mother didn’t want to eat.

So far, every recipe I tried came out a complete success. Most of the recipes I tried came from the World of Warcraft Cookbook but I also tried my hand at making stuff that I love but no one in my house has ever tasted before (like curry!). It was fun and encouraging. I guess I’ll be stepping outside of my normal baking and trying to make something more than cupcakes or cookies more often.

 

 

04 Backbends

I don’t talk about my exercise regiment very much because I’m either all for it or being a slacker. (I’m not super consistent and that’s something I’m trying to work on). Anyway, the other day I accomplished a backbend that I haven’t been able to do in years.

Actually, let me rephrase that. I’ve always been able to do a wheel style backbend with some warm up but I use to be flexible enough to do a wheel backbend without any warm up at all. (I’m naturally that flexible in that direction) but years of computer sitting and driving without consistent practice made that go away. I know I can recapture that original flexibility if I keep working on it.

Also, don’t be me. Warm up before you try complicated physical moves. I’m a bad example of what to do with your body. Seriously. Don’t be me.

 

 

05 May Day

May Day is a thing for me. But it’s a weird thing. Many pagans and practitioners practice May Day or Beltaine celebrations. Mine are far more low-key and not based on the Wheel of the Year. I think I celebrate May Day because the first of May is when you can finally start seeing a lot of flowers blooming and it really starts to feel like spring in my area.

I’ll spend much of this May Day cooking, put out some offerings, and put away some winter clothes and blankets. Simple things but they make a difference on an individual and household level.

I hope when I get enough land sometime in the future that I can set up a May Day pole. That’s a “someday” goal I have.

 

 

So that’s the five things that I’m totally loving right now. What about you all? What have you been staring at in awe and love? What have you been occupying your time with?