Category: Announcements & General

Announcements, maintenance notices, and other assorted non-topic posts that are worthy of your attention.

7 Tips to Get Your Life Under Control So You Can Get Back to the Magic

We’re all busy, right? We’ve all got a ton of things on our minds and it gets to be so hard to keep track of stuff. It’s even harder to fit in spiritual practices and make time for witchcraft.

I recently experienced this myself. I took on a lot of projects for This Crooked Crown on top of some personal projects for my own practice. Then Life reared its head. Family needed medical procedures or were sick (everyone’s OK! No worries), birthdays kept on coming, and the upcoming spring’s always a busy time with the ongoing Secret Future Plan project we’ve got going. Plus there’s the regular stuff to do too – readings, writing posts, taking photos, answering questions, and so on. There’s just a lot of stuff happening. I couldn’t keep up. It happens. Who’s got energy to cast a spell when you’ve been go-go-go all day?

I started going to bed with stress headaches and woke up with them too. That’s when I decided enough was enough and I was going to start managing my shit better. Here’s what I did.

7 Tips to Get Your Life Under Control So You Can Get Back to the Magic

01 Write down everything you’ve got going on 

This is absolutely the number one thing I recommend. It really drives home how busy you are and lets you see what’s happening so you can start prioritizing better. You may even decide to put something on hold for a while until some other project or situation can be finalized before taking up the reins again.

I wrote down everything I was thinking, doing, and feeling. It included little stuff like a mobile game I super enjoy playing daily to big years long projects that move slowly but surely. I also included stuff like stress about politics, birthdays, and personal worries or frustrations.

Then I numbered them three times. The first time, I numbered how important they were to me. This is kind of eye opening. You’ll really begin to see what’s important to you right now. Then I numbered them according to due dates – what needs to be done when – so bills or shop orders. The final time, I numbered them in order of priority to me or others I actually care about – a friend’s birthday, for example, might be more important to me than some due date for a thing I don’t really want to do.

Now do a comparison of the numbers. You can get as mathy as you’d like with this and figure out averages or whatever. I kind of just looked for similar numbers. If I listed a lack of spiritual connectivity as personal importance to as five but on the priority/due dates they were eleven or twelve, then that’s an area I need to focus on temporarily to feel personally satisfied but not dive into a major project for. So I might do a longer meditation session to help balance that out and get some more immediate results.

Make sure you look at how important stuff is to you and how you rate it as a priority. It might be that you’re ignoring your health or self-care in order to get shit done. it could also be that you want to accomplish something because you’re excited about it but it’s not actually all that important. Could your attention and energy be spent elsewhere or do you want to follow that excitement and allocate whatever time and energy you have left after you do that?

Also look at what numbers keep coming up or coincide with those items, especially if you’re into numerology. See if there’s a correlation with your divination readings in what cards keep coming up or if there’s some numerical importance attached to those numbers. Look at numbers that have huge discrepancies – or items you forgot to number. Those things may need some attention.

Now go through that list one last time and number how you want to proceed, taking in all that data. Using those numbers, write out a to do list with at least one actionable step you can take to start on that immediately. So if a birthday is your number one concern, write something like “research birthday gift” or “go out on Tuesday and buy present”.

It’s kind of a pain but this process can be really eye opening, especially if you remember to include things that aren’t just your daily to do or mundane but spiritual stuff as well. Maybe replacing that broken altar bowl doesn’t seem important but it might be weighing on your mind more than you know.

How to make this magic: Honestly, this technique is pretty eye-opening. I would use magical ink or paper or a language to write the list one last time in order of how you want to proceed, like a to do list, to ensure that you can accomplish what you want to accomplish.

 

02 Turned off the electronics early

I’ll be honest. I’m definitely one of those “turn off tablet/phone/computer/TV, roll over, go to sleep” kind of people. I don’t necessarily want to be. In a dream world and life, I wouldn’t even have a TV or computer in my bedroom. But since this isn’t a dream world, I have a ton of electronics in my sleeping area. And it’s a bummer.

Once I started going to bed with stress headaches – and waking up with them, I immediately stopped using electronics actively before going to sleep. Instead, I turned everything off but my tablet and read an fiction-based e-book until I found a physical book I wanted to read. I still woke up with stress headaches but I felt immediately less stressed and slept better.

There’s some scientific data to back this up but I know personally that turning my brain off from TV and instead letting my brain imagine stories before going to bed is better for me personally. Also look into blue light filters. I noticed my eyes hurt far less when I use blue light filters at nighttime.

It’s hard, I know. But give turning off your electronics ten minutes before you go to sleep a try.

How to make this magic: Putting sigils on your phone case for energy boosting is a great idea during the day to give both you and the phone a helping hand. Removing that phone from your hand at night allows you to have less energy and, thus, sleep much easier.

Aroma stimulation may also be useful. For example, I know it’s “no electronics time” and/or bedtime when I use lavender scented products. For me, lavender is used for quiet time. You might have a different scent that triggers this so do a little research to figure your own “shut off” scent.

 

03 Changed your rooms’ atmosphere and energy

Our rooms have their own atmospheres and energy. Right now, I’ve stacks and stacks of books everywhere for research projects. It reminds me of my college days where I was super stressed and sick all the time. Once I identified that as a contributing factor, I swapped out some things to shift the room’s energy – and my associations – to something else.

I picked fire, wind, and light as an energy to focus on. I used citrus scents, made sure to work in brightly lite rooms, and put on wind and bell soundscapes. My stressful associations shifted away and I felt far more productive and accomplished.

I also changed out my bedding, picked up lightly about the room, and rotated some decorative pillows and throw blankets to give a subtle change. I also throw open a window for a little while to air the place out.

As a bonus, changing up the lighting, scents, and sounds can immediately affect your mood.

How to make this magic: Color symbolism helps here, but so do scents and so on. Magical correspondences are your friend here. Ringing a bell can also dissipate clustered energies.

 

04 Dressed to boost your mood

Ten years ago, I scoffed at wearing sweats and casual tees on a daily basis. Now it’s my go-to when I’m in a time crunch and spending the day typing on a computer.

It makes sense. Ten years ago I was super active and busy – places to go, things to do, out before the sun rises and home at the witching hour. So I had to dress appropriately for those things. Since I work from home and my only co-worker is a cat, wearing sweats and a worn tee isn’t going to make a difference in what I do.

Except it kind of does. I started to put on non-lounge clothes in the mornings. It helped, most of the time, and kept me from glancing longingly at my video game consoles. Did it make me more productive? I don’t think so, but I felt more productive and put together. I felt more of a person and less like a cat pretending to be a person, so it has to count for something.

How to make this magic: Color symbolism and recognizing what outfits make you feel good about yourself is a huge bonus here so keep an eye on that. You can also individually enchant your clothing or other items for magical boosts as well.

 

05 Started work before you’re actually awake

The first thing I usually do in the morning depends on whether or not I woke up with or without an alarm. If I work up with an alarm, the first thing I’m doing is turning off that alarm on my phone which inevitably means I’ll check my notifications. If I woke up without an alarm, I’ll meditation for a few minutes, do some light yoga, and grab some breakfast.

But when I’m in a crunch, the first thing I do is crawl over to my desk and start typing. Usually, this happens when I have a reading queue a mile long and a post needing to be published in three hours. If I start working the moment I’m conscious but not yet awake, then I’m less likely to get distracted before half finishing whatever I needed to do.

When I do get distracted, I’m way more likely to want to finish whatever I was doing because, well, it’s probably almost done anyway.

Don’t get me wrong – this is a terrible thing to do routinely to yourself. It may start you associating work with lack of sleep (even if it’s true) and get you thinking bitter, dark thoughts against your work. It also doesn’t guarantee good work, especially with less intuitive projects. Remember to edit and review before you hit that send button if you work in this state. A metaphor that made sense at five a.m. might not make sense at eleven a.m.

How to make this magic: Cast a magnetic-style charm to one of your desk items, like your computer mouse or a sticker on your laptop. This allows you to feel “drawn” to use an item, even subconsciously.

 

06 White noise generators or instrumental music

I love white noise generators. I use them ALL. THE. TIME. Literally, all the time.

White noise is a great way to get your brain to productive mode without dealing with silence or hearing too much conversation and becoming distracted. I found that if I changed out what kind of sounds I listened to, I could get shit down. When I want to work, I put on video game instrumental soundtracks (no joke! Try the Skyrim soundtrack next time you’re knocking out a boring typing project).

White noise is not a one-size fits all kind of thing. Once you get into it you realize different people find different white noise better than others. For example “brown noise” rather than “white noise” is more comforting to me – think thunder rolling over the roaring ocean rather than rain. So if you’ve tried white noise generators before, try it again but try different tones and pitches to see what works best for you.

I highly recommend the free website mynoise.net. I’m not an affiliate of the website. I just really, really love it. I also use a playlist on Spotify (I have a premium membership I share with other folks so no ads) and the app Insight Timer which is a meditation app with a community who offer white noise meditation tracks for free.

How to make this magic: Use the sounds to your advantage. I’m spiritually attached to the ocean and water in general. So my go-to sounds are all water based. If you’re attracted to the wind, they have generators and soundscapes like that too. Fire? Done.  Earth? Yup, that can be handled too (forest sounds, cave sounds, farmland sounds, etc). More urban? Crowded cafe sounds are really popular. Use what makes you feel rooted and at home.

 

07 Meditation

When I was younger, I never meditated. It just wasn’t me and not something I wanted or needed to do. I knew what I wanted to do and I usually had a schedule of things to do in my head. As an adult, I have a ton of stuff going on too but now I’m often pulled in so many directions I can fail to prioritize what’s actually important to me. Meditation helps me ease that.

Meditation is also my go to when I have a super long to do list and I want to figure out what I actually want to do that day. My to do list might be twenty items long but meditation gives me a moment to breath and think “OK. What’s actually important here? What can I do now for others, now that I’ve done something for myself?”

Guided meditation can be really helpful for folks who have brains that don’t like to shut up or want to achieve a particular goal. Others may do better with simple quiet meditation. It’s a personal taste sort of thing. Even a few minutes helps.

How to make this magic: Meditation is often used in magical practices but there’s a lot of guided meditations out there that can be used to achieve particular goals or help you release a lot of negative emotions. Try out some and see what proves to be helpful to you.

 

So that’s what I did to get my to do list down to a minimal amount. They’re simple techniques, to be sure, and you’ve probably heard them all before. That’s kind of the point. They’re stuff you’ve heard before because they work. Don’t knock them until you try them.

I know January was really hard for a lot of people. I saw a lot of people struggling with some drama and nonsense during all of that time. It can be really difficult to dig yourself out of a hole spiritually in order to really get back on track so early on in the year. Just remember that each day is a chance to start fresh. Each month is a new beginning. You can always start again. Don’t give up and remember to give yourself a chance to breathe!

Hello 2018!

Welcome to 2018! How are you spending your first day of the new year?

2018 new year

I always spend my first week of the new year doing exactly what I want the rest of my year to be like. So the last days of the year are flurries to try and get stuff like laundry out of the way so I don’t have to do it often during the first week of the new year. Instead, I’ll spend time with my family, write, divine, visit spirits, and talk to friends. I’ll play video games, bake and cook, and work out. I make it a point to do the things I love and want to do more of during this time.

I have several goals for the new year, some of them more personal like baking and cooking more a week to more grand things like launching a witchcraft 101 course or publishing another novel.

Yeah, you read that right. A witchcraft 101 course and another novel. More on both of those at a later date.

Anyway, I’m not big on resolutions so I’ve started to pick words or themes to define my new year. For 2018, I’ve selected Empowerment. I don’t want opportunities handed to me, I want them to be forged. I want others to feel powerful and strong too. This is something I want to share with the world.

Empowerment also is a great word for witches because it indicates using magic to create our own future with our own hands. I want to do that with 2018. I want to make it my year because I have the power to do so.

If you want to make it your year, here’s a selection of spells you can use to do just that:

 

I hope your 2018 is a wonderful year filled with many great and wonderful things. Happy new year!

Goodbye 2017!

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I don’t know about you but I’m really happy to show 2017 to the door. I had a great year but it’s been SO FREAKIN’ BUSY. I’m so ready for a fresh start.

While I’ve spent the last few days finishing up business and setting up the things for next year. I figured set up a rock solid January rather than randomly posting throughout December.

Quickly, so you can get ready for your new year’s parties, here’s some highlights for 2017 for This Crooked Crown.

Pros:

  • Published my first novel Spirit Walker
  • Published the free online sourced correspondence lists.
  • Fantastic solar eclipse
  • Won a Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo (meaning I wrote two books)
  • New eyeglasses & met some fitness goals
  • Got a new monitor and hard drive for the shop
  • Renovated my mom’s kitchen
  • Had some really great spells, crafts, and baking results.
  • Read so many books.

Cons:

  • Absolutely terrible year socially and politically in my part of the world. (Elsewhere wasn’t haven’t a fantastic time either)
  • Broke my schedule for posting online
  • Had to push back a major thing for the third time.
  • Wasn’t able to put out a few projects I wanted to complete.

 

So it’s actually been a pretty good year on the surface for me but there’s a lot of back end stuff that didn’t happen. That being said, I expect that 2018 will be far better as several projects are coming to fruition there.

Before you go, here’s some last minute witchy ideas to ring in the new year:

  • Use a sugar or salt scrub to “wash away” the old year and enter the new year with “fresh skin”.
  • Wear a color that represents what you want the new year to be like tonight. Wear sexy red pajamas to bring more sex or romance into your life. Wear black and blue to protect yourself or green and gold for wealth and prosperity.
  • Make the first meal you have in 2018 something that you want to eat all year. So if you plan on hitting the gym, snag a celery stick instead of a chip for that first bite.
  • Stir your drinks towards you to bring things towards you after midnight but stir away from you before midnight to send things away.
  • Spend the first day of the new year how you want to spend the rest of the year, if you can.
  • Set up full moon rituals in advance, rolling them together so each full moon has a little of that newness power to it. The first is also the first full moon of 2018.
  • No special someone to kiss in the new year? Place that first kiss on a pet, platonic consenting friend, or on an idol for your deity or spirits.
  • Ring a bell at midnight to dismiss the old year (and all its negativity) and bless the new year.

Happy new year! I’ll see you tomorrow in 2018!

79 Tips, Tricks, & Spells for Halloween 2017 + Sale!

Bonfire by This Crooked Crown

Happy Halloween! Happy Samhain!

I hope you have some amazing plans this Halloween! I don’t personally celebrate Samhain but Halloween is my household’s favorite holiday, hands down. We have as much stuff to decorate for Halloween as we do Yule and it’s not enough.

I’m having a pretty low-key holiday myself. A fabulous witchy dress and hat, of course, but otherwise it’ll be filled with baking, some woo stuff, and passing out candy. It’s sort of a relief to have a quiet holiday. It’s been a crazy couple months and I just got back from a work vacation this weekend. I’m actually super happy to simply have electricity as many people nearby don’t.

Side story: I thank the dead for the fact that I usually have power when my neighborhood doesn’t. My house is, for some reason, on the same power grid as the funeral home across the street and no one else is? So while our power flickered, we didn’t lose it despite the massive storm that took out power for a good portion of our city.

Anyway, what I love about blogging around this time is EVERYONE is posting about spirits. It’s great. I can pick up all sorts of new tips and folklore that way. It’s also prime time for magical rituals and spells. This roundup guide offers tips, tricks, and links on what you can do to to make your night a little more magical.

 

Halloween 2017 Pin

Before you start

Before you get started with your spooky or woo related shenanigans, there’s probably some steps you need to take. My top seven tips and tricks for making contact or dealing with serious spell casting follow.

  1. Make a snack or meal to consume after your working. Carb-y food or sugar-y food is ideal. I typically grab a thick slice of hearty bread or some pasta when I need carbs and a big bowl of fruit and chocolate bits when I need sugar. Make both ahead of time.
  2. Drink water on hand. Getting thirsty during a working is the worst, especially if you’re chanting. Be well-hydrated before you start and make sure you hydrate afterwards. If you’re using alcohol to induce a trance, make sure you have water on hand after your session to hydrate.
  3. If it gets weird, get out. If you’re ghost hunting, contacting a spirit, or any other activity, you can probably leave right away. Thank any spirits for their attention and get out. If you’re in the middle of a spell, quickly but thoroughly finish it and leave the area immediately. Drink some water, take a bath, cleanse yourself, then go do something totally and completely mundane.
  4. Trance safely. Before you use any entheogens, psychedelics, or other trancing method, make sure that you write down what you’re taking and how much. Write down why you’re taking it. Leave a small sample of the consumable along with these notes. This allows emergency medical services to treat you quickly and accordingly if something goes wrong. It also allows you to recreate the circumstances again if you have a good experience that you want to replicate.
  5. Don’t go alone. If you’re doing an outside ritual, traveling, or ghost hunting, go with someone else. Bring a friend who can chill while you do your thing nearby if they’re not willing to lend a hand. Solitude more of your thing? Then make sure to text a friend where you’re going or when you’ve left. There’s a lot of people out there on Halloween and accidents are very common. Be safe.
  6. Practice fire safety. Candle magic is incredibly popular and common. However, practitioners can get carried away. Make sure that you’re practicing fire safety. If you have more than 5-7 candles going at once, keep a fire extinguisher or similar items on hand.
  7. Keep pets indoors. This is more of a Halloween-centric tip than a general one but with so many people out and about on Halloween, it’s a really good idea to keep your pets indoors during this time. I recommend keeping pets inside during outdoor rituals anyway – a dog barking during your chant can really break the mood.

Following those tips can help you out immensely, especially if things get weird and/or powerful. Another good idea is to go armed with lots of information. Here’s a bunch of posts that can help. I’ve also added some posts geared towards “new year” because for some people, they start or end their magical year on Samhain.

 

 

Hearth by This Crooked Crown

Constant vigilance!

Protecting yourself from dangers while cast spells or contacting spirits is important – but it can also be a hindrance. If you’re protected from spirits, then spirits will have a more difficult time communicating with you.

I do recommend protection spells but it’s not a requirement. I don’t use them on myself personally 99% of the time and never when I’m working with spirits or casting spells unless I feel like I’m in danger from something. But, uh, I’m reckless so it’s probably best to not be me and to cast some protection spells before you go out and about with your shenanigans tonight.

Candle Smoke

Getting in touch with a spirit

Getting in touch with spirits can be difficult, especially if you’re not use to it. Samhain often is said to be a thinning of the veil between the spirit realms and the physical world. While the veil between the worlds happens multiple times a year, this one’s pretty consistent.

The following posts should give you some tips to make contact to a wide variety of spirits and beings. They’ll also help you have a good experience and offer some pretty good advice too.

 

Spell and Herb Candle by This Crooked Crown

Spells to cast

You can cast any spell you want any time you want, according to my practice. Here’s a good long list of spells you can give a try.

 

For All Sorts of Money Powder by This Crooked Crown

Cleansing time!

Cleansing yourself after powerful magic or spirit contact is recommended but, again, not a requirement. I often recommend it especially if you’re dealing with multiple energies, like doing group tarot card readings or going to a haunted place with many spirits. It’s also just a good idea in general.

A Cleansing Ritual For House & Home (Spell Saturday #35) – A walking cleansing ritual for your house and physical spaces.

The Curse & Blessing of the Sun (Spell Saturday #49) – A spell that can be used as a curse or as a blessing, using the power of the sun.

 

Cleansing & Cleaning 101 – Because cleaning is a form of cleansing too!

Cleansing Yourself – Post on various methods to cleanse yourself from baneful energy, static energy, or other unwanted things.

Crown’s “Fuck All the Things!” Cleansing and Banishment [tumblr repost] (Spell Saturday #14) – Two spell variations used for cleansing and banishing both spirits and humans.

Simple Water Glass Cleansing for the Witch on the Run – A very simple but effective way to calm and cleanse the self with just a glass of water.

Uncrossing Oneself – Sometimes we repeat baneful or static patterns that are harmful to ourselves. Uncrossing is breaking that cycle.

 

Wheel of the Year wikipedia

Whew! That was a lot of links. I should be back to regular blogging in November. My burn out has abated so I’m back to writing, full-steam ahead. Which is good because NaNoWriMo is less than 24 hours away.

Speaking of writing, if you haven’t, go pick up my novel Spirit Walker. It’s about astral travel and revenge.

One last thing before I let you get back to your candy and binge-watching Hocus Pocus, This Crooked Crown is having a 10% off flash sale. Today (10/31) only. All readings and items in the shop are on sale, including the new reading Taming Your Inner Demons.

Happy Halloween & Samhain!

 

 

 

 

Elemental Combinations

I don’t really use elements in your traditional ritual set up. I do sometimes use them but it’s often in a more alchemical way than an earth-air-fire-water way.

One of my favorite ways to use elements is to combine them. A good example is an air plant. An air plant largely lives on air (with the occasional misting of water) but it’s still a plant so it’s an earth element. That’s three associations to deal with for one tiny little plant!

But elemental combinations are actually a really smart way to help set up an altar or a spell on the go. You can just roll with it. Instead of packing a ton of ritual items, you can just pack one or two herbs and that can suffice. It helps if you travel a lot, do a lot of on-the-go rituals, or need to be low-key.

Elemental combinations also have the benefit of being dual purpose so you can bring two different energies into a spell at the same time. Need both fire and water? A dried water plan may be the best way to go – just burn it with a candle.

Of course, the thing with element associations is that they are NOT universal. Every practitioner will need to rely on their cultural or traditional folklore in addition to their own personal associations.

 

However, correspondence charts are super helpful, especially when they’re well-researched. To that end, I’m happy to announce that I’m releasing online correspondence charts for free to you all.

These are heavily researched with sources. As in, you can look up where each correspondence comes from right down to the page. Right now, we’re starting with herbal correspondences because I have hundreds readily available but stones, metals, and other correspondences will come along in time.

I’m super happy to finally be sharing this with you. Keep an eye on the correspondence charts because they will constantly be updated. I will eventually create a downloadable PDF with all the correspondences but for now, it’s online only. Enjoy!

August Round Up

Oops, meant to post this yesterday. It’s a short post but meaningful so you get it for the first post of September instead!

August has been a hell of a month. With a ton of celestial events happening, it’s been a pretty awesome time to wander out and stare at the sky. But lots of scary things have been happening in the news. Remember to support those going through crisis right now, like the hurricane victims in Texas, the mudslide victims in Sierra Leone, and the victims of flooding in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Support those you can and if you can’t, reblog the above posts so the news gets to those who can help.

Things have been happening around here too. I published a book.

Spirit Walker is the first in a series. You can buy it in print or e-book on amazon or createspace. I’m really excited to finally be sharing this story with you all. It’s also a huge weight off my shoulders as I can now focus on other things.

When it comes to posts, it’s been pretty scarce. I spent a much of this month remodeling my mother’s kitchen (and we’re not done *cries*) and attending a ton of personal life events like birthdays and funerals. I had little time between book stuff, orders, and all that other personal stuff to write posts. I still managed to publish all four Spell Saturdays (which is an accomplishment I’m weirdly proud of) and a book review.

First, let’s cover the book review. The Creative Tarot by Jessa Crispin is a book I recommend you reading if you’re a creator and a tarot reader or if you’re a tarot reader looking for alternative views of the cards. I wouldn’t say it’s a tarot book, specifically, but rather a book about creativity and tarot. If that makes any sense at all.

This month’s Spell Saturdays was theme with celestial events! The luck in gambling spell By the Luck of the Moon is one that I quite like because there’s lots of association layers involved in the moon and gambling.

Star of the Apple’s Heart Faerie Love spell is such a mouthful but it’s a good love spell when you want to bring a lover into your life and you don’t much care the form they come in. It’s a tricky spell to perform, wording-wise, but worth it if you’re willing to give it a go.

The Sun’s Invitation is part of a series of spells that work the exact same way. All are invitation based spells using different planetary invocations. The Dark Moon’s Invitation was published back in January.

Finally, I wrote Cursed by the Stars which is, as the title may suggest, a curse. I really wanted to offer a curse this month due to all the hatred being spread so venomously right now and I also wanted to stick with the celestial theme. This spell’s based on another spell I wrote and haven’t shared but I like it.

Outside of that, it’s been a quite month. I’ve spent the last week trying to get my backlog of orders out to my beloved clients. September promises to be better, I hope.

Happy Solar Eclipse + Book Release!

Happy solar eclipse!

I hope your day is full of lots of energy and magic. I know mine will be.

Big news though, aside from the awesome celestial actions in the sky, my new book Spirit Walker is out!

Spirit Walker by Samantha L. Davidson

You can buy it for Kindle right now. Paperback version should be available later today. (Should be. I don’t control publishing, sadly. If not, check back in the next week.)

Want to know what Spirit Walker is about?

“Haleo Wyrick is storm chaser by choice and the founder of the psychic black ops program Valora by chance, she’s smart, ambitious, and brave. And she’s scared.

As a spirit walker, she can pass through the world as if a ghost, but not even she can escape a stalker who follows her into her dreams. Hurt and hunted, she flees and fights to end this nightmare.”

It’s a book about a woman who is both extraordinary and completely normal trying to avoid a creepy stalker. And how she tries to overcome the trauma caused by it all. It’s also about a boy who discovers that dreams aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. And about a man who is trying to figure out how to be a good boyfriend to a man he loves. Oh, there’s a bit of the secret black ops kind-of psychic program, spirits, astral travel, and woo stuff too.

The first published book in the Valora series. The second, The Sea Witch, is a prequel and will be available next year.

I wanted to create a world where magic can be as low-key as our own practices alongside some truly unbelievable stuff. The Valora series is about practitioners like us, maybe with a bit more flash and consistency. The Valora series is also part of the Gray World series and that’s a bit more urban fantasy than paranormal fantasy, if that makes any sense.

 

ANYWAY, so amazing celestial movements are happening in the sky and lifelong dreams are being achieve today. No big deal. Hope your day is equally as awesome!

Novel: Spirit Walker is available for pre-order!

Spirit Walker by Samantha L. Davidson

My novel Spirit Walker will be available in print and e-book August 21st. Pre-order your kindle copy now.

Want to know what it’s about?

“Haleo Wyrick is storm chaser by choice and the founder of the psychic black ops program Valora by chance, she’s smart, ambitious, and brave. And she’s scared.

As a spirit walker, she can pass through the world as if a ghost, but not even she can escape a stalker who follows her into her dreams. Hurt and hunted, she flees and fights to end this nightmare.”

It’s a book about a woman who is both extraordinary and completely normal trying to avoid a creepy stalker. And how she tries to overcome the trauma caused by it all. It’s also about a boy who discovers that dreams aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. And about a man who is trying to figure out how to be a good boyfriend to a man he loves. Oh, there’s a bit of the secret black ops kind-of psychic program, spirits, astral travel, and woo stuff too.

The first published book in the Valora series. The second, The Sea Witch, is a prequel and will be available next year.

I wanted to create a world where magic can be as low-key as our own practices alongside some truly unbelievable stuff. The Valora series is about practitioners like us, maybe with a bit more flash and consistency. The Valora series is also part of the Gray World series and that’s a bit more urban fantasy than paranormal fantasy, if that makes any sense.

I am SO EXCITED to share this with all of you. It has been a lifelong dream to publish a book and here we are. This is a world I really want to share with everyone. Remember to pre-order Spirit Walker now for your kindle copy or hang tight for a physical book copy on August 21st.

5 Things I Love Right Now v.02 + Poll

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So… June happened. I think.

I’ve been having a hard time keeping up posts these last few months. Ideas weren’t flowing and it became a chore to write. June was a busy month for me on a personal level so pretty much only Spell Saturdays happened. Towards the middle of the month I kind of just say “fuck it” and took the month off. I’m so much happier for it and I’m ready to really get back to posting, writing, and working on projects.

Burn out. It’s not fun.

On a personal front, it’s been a very “everything is happening/nothing is happening” kind of phase. My novel Spirit Walker was suppose to be out last month but stuff happened so it’s coming out later this month. A project I thought wasn’t going to take place until next year might happen this year. A few other projects have the same thing happening. It’s a lot of “hey, this stuff is happening but we can’t, you know SHOW you it”. Ugh.

Anyway, here’s five things I’m totally obsessing over right now.

 

01 Fairy tales with actual faeries

I recently finished my re-read of Catherynne M. Valente’s Fairyland series. I’m a sucker for stories. Anyway, that and a recent flux of faerie related posts has been reading lots of articles and stories about faeries. And listening to faerie stories told in songs. And playing video games with faeries.

(Sensing a theme yet?)

I son’t particularly have a favorite kind of faerie story. I like the stories of Wild Hunts because I’ve experience one before. (That’s a story for another day) but I like stories that have a good tale to tell and ends with a satisfying end. Not necessarily a happy ending, mind, but a satisfying one.

While the classics are always good to brush back up on (I’m currently reading Phillip Pullman’s Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm) but there’s some truly excellent faerie-based stories out there. Which one is your favorite?

 

02 Baking Bread

I like baking. Cooking, not so much but baking? Sure. I like making tasty foods and trying out recipes simply for the challenge of it. (Which is weird but I’m not one for competition or challenges as a whole). Baking, to me, is fun and I get to nom on a hopefully delicious end product.

Except bread. Breads, for some reason, escape me 90% of the time. I can make a decent scone and drop biscuits. I can do a dense banana bread fairly well. Other than that? Nope. Failure is a constant companion. I just can’t seem to get a bread that tastes good or isn’t rock hard. I’m pretty sure I’ve baked some bread that were actually stones in disguise. I like to think I’m a decent baker. I can do some desserts pretty well but bread and I aren’t friends.

So I recently borrowed some bread recipe books from my library and made it my mission to create a good bread. I haven’t really dug into the books yet (other stuff is going on) but here’s hoping I can create something edible!

 

03 Selkies

I really like the folklore of selkies. I mean, I like mermaids but I really like selkies. If I had the option to become a mermaid, I’d probably ask to just be a selkie instead.

Their stories remind me of fox spirit stories (which I also adore). I especially like the stories where there’s a happy or at least bittersweet ending. The Maiden and the Selkie by Heather Dale is probably one of my favorites because there’s a lot of lore and ideas packed into that singular song.

Right now I’m currently writing two stories with selkies or water based faerie-like creatures so my interest may be ramped up from that that. But selkies are always an interest for me so who knows?

 

04 Honey

I’m a fan of honey. I like honey. I like the taste of it, the color of it, the smell of it. I keep several honey types from various sources around my house. I keep a huge jar on my counter because I just like looking at it.

Recently, I’ve started to swap sugar out for honey for some of my baking. And making honey based pastilles for herbal remedies. I’ve done this before but I don’t use a ton of herbal remedies for myself and there’s some recipes I use that don’t take substitutes well. (Like my chocolate chip cookies).

I don’t use honey much in magic as it’s a “wet” ingredient and I don’t typically work with wet ingredients unless I’m enchanting food or making a potion. While I like doing both of those things, I don’t tend to dive into that realm often. Or, maybe’s it’s better to say that I don’t tend to deviate often from regularly created food or potions that I don’t share. Not because I can’t come up with something better but more because why fix what isn’t broken?

Honey’s often loved faerie and spirit offering. I’ve given it myself during the summer when I can’t give milk-based offerings. Also, while writing this post a random thought occurred to me: mermaids and most selkies probably haven’t tasted honey before. That’s a shame and gives me a really cute idea for a scene.

 

05 Boats

I like boats. I’m not in love with them but I like them. I grew up looking at model replicas of tall ships, paintings of sea storms, and through elementary school I use to stare at my grandmother’s hand-carved wooden ship mast that hung on one of our walls.

Weird part is? None of my family owns a boat. We have family friends that do but save for our kayaks, there isn’t a single boat among any of us. I’ve worked on boats which I thoroughly enjoyed. My mother has plans to buy a small sailboat sometime in the next ten years so that’s something to look forward to.

Since much of my witchcraft is based in New England lore and water, especially, boats come up often with my research so I often practice my boat magic on our kayaks. Much of it is upkeep of boats, making sure the hulls don’t rot and so on. But there’s so much on a boat that can be enchanted. Sails, motors, ropes, and even the deck floor to make it less slippery.  (Which is so important, depending on the type of boat you have.)

Do any of you have must-have spells for boats or working on the water?

 

It’s been kind of low-key for me right now when it comes to things I adore but right now there’s a lot in the works. What about you folks? What things have you been interested in? What kind of articles and books have you been reading? What kind of research or posts do you wish you had access to?

Oh, before you go! I promised a poll. I’m creating a rather extensive correspondence chart for the website, with information gathered from all over, with cited sources. How would you best like to see it? You have until the 14th to vote!

 

March Round Up

We made it to the other side of March. Yay! This month has been truly insanely busy for me between medical appointments (everyone’s OK, no worries!), caring for sick people, chasing after paperwork, birthdays, funerals, and a small snowstorm. I signed up for a bunch of stuff that I’m now scrambling to complete because I can see the end of March and those deadlines are looming.

When it comes to the blog, I unintentionally took the first week of March off. I needed the rest but I truly dislike leaving everyone without content to enjoy. I’ll try not to let that happen again. The posts that did make it were more on the spiritual side of things.

 

Secular Witchcraft Defined by This Crooked Crown

 

Tumblr followers know I identify as a secular witch and this month tackled how I define and work within my paradigm to some degree. Secular Witchcraft Defined proved to be an interesting read and one I hope will help out new witchlings in understanding this newer form of witchcraft. To counter this, I talked about my current focus of Getting Back to My Roots on a spiritual level. I even offered an Awakening Spring Ritual for some ideas on how my witchcraft and spirituality are separated. For those thinking about working with spirits, which is a bridge between my witchcraft and my spirituality for me, How to Know What Spirit You’re Talking To might offer some insight for you. If you’re looking to see those beings, check out Enchanting Objects for Second Sight for a helping hand.

Spring is here in the Northern Hemisphere although the snow storm and cold snap recently sure doesn’t feel like spring here in Rhode Island. If you’re trying to counter the final winter push, try the spell Burn Away the Winter Blues.  If you need a push to get over that winter lethargy, give the Forged in Fire spell a look. It’s mean to kick procrastination in the ass and celebrated fifty Spell Saturdays. (There, uh, should be more but let’s celebrate our victories and not failures, OK?)

We also saw the Curse and Blessing of the Sun which is a spell that can be a curse or a blessing, depending on your intent. My brother the Necromancer has really been into the Sun as a being of worship recently so I’ve been inspired to create a shrine for him and some spells. By the way, the Curse and Blessing of the Sun has been updated. I originally said that you should create two boxes if you want a curse and a blessing at the same time but I don’t know what I was thinking. Clever wording can create both in one box so check out that spell for new tips.

 

The Curse and Blessing of the Sun Spell

 

I don’t really work healing spells too much so I rarely post them but the Sand Healing Spell is specifically designed for those with chronic illnesses that spend a lot of time in one place. It’s a jar spell and one that’s very low key. It’s not designed to heal you but rather focus on alleviating pain and symptoms. I hope it helps!

On a more practical and mundane front, I wrote a guide on Where to Buy A Tarot Deck which is a question often asked to me and others on social media. We also saw two reviews this month, one on the beautiful Scrying Ink Lenormand deck by Siolo Thompson, the creator of the Linestrider Tarot. There was also the book view for The Soul Searcher’s Handbook by Emma Mildon which scored a 4.5 out of 5. I love both of these things so I’m really happy to recommend them to you all. Speaking of things I loved I started a new mini series I’ve nicknamed “Obsession” which dives into what I’m currently working on or obsessed with right now. I hope this gives a fun insight into the everyday workings around here.

 

Heart

Heart from Scrying Ink by Siolo Thompson and Nourish the Sacred Feminine from Sacred Creators by Chris-Anne Donnelly | thiscrookedcrown.com

 

Other quick news for This Crooked Crown:

  • I recently changed up my newsletter to come out twice a month – once at the full moon and again at the new moon.The newsletters are smaller but contain mini divination readings for the current moon phase which is always fun.
  • Flying Salves arrived in the shop at the end of February and quickly sold out. I hope to have them in again by the end of May, if not sooner.
  • We reached out first goal over on Patreon. I’m always, always floored by the support I receive from everyone and cannot thank you all enough.
  • I received the absolutely amazing  Idiosyncradeck Tarot and the Amethyst Oracle from Jessica Bott who is probably better known as Cracked Amethyst. I’m absolutely in love with them both and can’t wait to do more readings with them.

 

Getting Back to Your Spiritual Roots by This Crooked Crown

 

So that’s what was up this month at This Crooked Crown. It was super busy in a way I wasn’t expecting but I’m thinking I’ve made the most of it. What were your favorite posts? What do you want to see more of? Planning on trying any of the spells? See you in April!