Category: Astral, Traveling, Crossing Over

This is the category on astral traveling, astral projection, and other assorted arts of that nature. It will also include physical travel like road trips as they can be spiritual experiences all of their own.

3 Reasons Why Spirit Guides Fade Away

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Ever have a spirit friend that you just kind of forgot about? Or that seems to just… go away?

There are many reasons why a relationship with a spirit or spirit guide isn’t as strong as it was beforehand. Here are a few common ones.

The first is you didn’t put in any effort to maintain that relationship. Like any relationship, you actually need to touch base with them regularly to keep up the relationship. We all get busy, but you do need to stop by and say hi to them fairly often for them to be loyal or friendly to you.

The second is you don’t need them anymore. This is usually true for guides, but it can be true for any spirits that you’re friendly with. Sometimes those friendships from work don’t actually carry over outside of work or after you quit a job. It’s the same idea. If you don’t need their support anymore – or don’t seem to need it – then they probably have better things to do with their energy and time.

The third reason is that the spirit is naturally fading away. Spirits often fade away naturally. They get weaker and weaker until they no longer exist in the form that you know them to be in. This is especially common in ghosts or spirits without ties or very old ties. It’s also true for spirits that have no one to call on them. Even if you do call on them, sometimes those spirits are simply tired and cannot go on.

This third reason is also why magical servitors (ie spirits bound or created to serve you, often not very intelligent) fade away. If you create an energy lifeform like that and forget them – which absolutely is easy to do – then they will fade away from your life, sometimes even ceasing to exist.

Spirits are easy to forget about because they’re not tangible. You don’t see them and without a really serious memory to tie them to you, you’ll forget about them. Even if you have a serious memory, they can still slip from your mind. This is why it’s ideal to always have a physical object that you mentally (or even spiritually or magically) attach to the spirit. This gives them weight in your memory and makes them less likely to fade.

There are other reasons why a spirit might be gone from your life – your contract with them is complete, they were destroyed by another spirit, banished, exorcised / cleansed, etc. but the three outlined are the most common for the fading feeling when a spirit returns to you more distant and weaker each time you see them.

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Astral Destinations: The Grief Place

There’s a place somewhere between the realm of dreams and spirits that is for release of grief emotions.

Perhaps you’ve been there. A place where sorrow is understood and, despite the beings moving around you living their lives, you feel comfortable to be in your grief.

It starts at a sandy altar. A table-style of sandstone, about mid-chest to waist high on an adult. Incense burns here, billowing individual trails of smoke coalescing into a wind of fragrant prayers. The altar is in a courtyard with a blue open sky above, but shadowed by the surrounding pale sandstone walls. Awnings of hand-dyed fabric hang high over the altar, protecting it from rain.

In the dream or astral visit, you start here. Most often you’re at the altar and light incense, shakily pray, or simply try to say goodbye through a pinched, watery smile. Some people linger here, wrapping themselves in black homespun fabric and tucking themselves into corners to cry. Sometimes, people are with you, other times they are not. Who? They could be family, friends, lovers, or strangers that could have been more. Sometimes, its just you.

Who is there depends on what you’re mourning. Mourning a family member, a loved one? You may have loved ones alongside you, family to support you, friends to carry you, lovers to hold you, pets to comfort you. If you’re mourning an event that could have been, a situation you might have had or was in, or just losing a piece of yourself, you’re usually alone.

Either way, there you remain. Until finally, you’re ready to move on. You place your final piece of incense on the altar, say a final goodbye that feels like a loss all on its own, a goodbye that isn’t quite as shaky, a smile that isn’t quite as heatbreaking, and you slip through the archway to the left of the altar.

People move here, work here. It’s a dyer’s marketplace. Baskets of little ornaments, flowers and florals, bolts of fabric, and pocket charms sit on sun-bleached tables. You cannot see the sun though. The entire space has flapping cloth awnings on tall pole, protecting the workers from the heat of the sun, protecting you. More fabric hangs, little banners and flag, swatches of material in all manner of hand-dyed goodness. Blues, greens, reds, oranges, purples, and pinks. Natural linen color dominates with a rainbow of tucked away color. In the distance, you may hear chatter, soft and indistinct. A weaver’s loom works, but it’s comforting. the passage between these stalls, with gently smiling people sharing actual kindness, is narrow. People do not get in your way. As you move, they seem to never be in your way or make you slow down or stop unless you want to stop. They don’t readily acknowledge you either, unless you glance at them first. A smile, a pat on the arm, maybe soft murmuring that’s meant only to be comforting, supporting. Then they move on.

The passage is like a C, but there are other corridors that lead elsewhere to the marketplace. You can even sometimes glimpse where the fabric awnings break into brilliantly, unbelievable blue sky.

In time, you do weave your way through, following a course that you only seem to know in your head. Sometimes you find yourself with dried flowers or charms pressed into your hands. A long string of beads around your wrist, a shawl of soft mauve around your shoulders.

At the end, you come out to of the space with nothing before you. More sandstone buildings are to your left, but the doorway is hidden in the depths of that fabric maze. Beyond the buildings and marketplace is nothing but endless white plains and blue, blue sky. Sometimes family and loved ones stands before you, waiting for you. They may even have a car ready to go. Sometimes its just you.

The dream or astral visit ends there. I’ve been to this place several times, each time mourning different things or people. And it is always the same altar, the same sky, the same place, the same twisting, fabric passage.

What happens during that time varies. Once I came out with a long length of wooden beads around my wrist, neither a mala or rosary. Another time I came out of that comforting place with a bunch of tiny purple and blue flowers in my hands. It varies.

This place, a place of letting go of your grief, should be sad. Instead, I’d say its more comforting than anything. Like finally being able to catch your breath or how much better you feel after crying. You’re still miserable, but there’s a feeling of releasing, letting things go. It’s a somber place, but one of profound peace and change.

Have you been here? Does this place sound familiar? I honestly can’t tell you how to get here. I think you just arrive when you need to be there. I hope that introducing people to this special place will encourage more visitors.

As to whether its a dream or an actual astral destination… I think it’s both. I think a place can be both a dream and astral. The astral is connected to dreams. It can be influenced by dreams. And dreams can slip into astral travel. I think its both.

3 Ways to Magically Reclaim Yourself

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Ever been lost in the sea of yourself? You just feel restless and confused and sad. Hopeless yet desperate to move forward. Hoping to find something that will help you keep your head above water yet finding yourself anchored with no where to go.

It’s a crappy feeling. When you spend several weeks, months, or years with barren fields, so to speak, it’s called a fallow time. This can happen to anyone about anything. It happens to artisans (writer’s block, anyone?). It happens to businesses. It happens to spiritual paths. It just happens. Sometimes you need to let your live be boring and kind of crap so you can sow new seeds for a better future for yourself.

This can be exceptionally difficult however, when you’re dealing with spirituality or magic. How do you know you’ve even going the right way? You don’t and that’s extremely difficult to come to terms with when you just want direction.

So here’s a few ways to reclaim yourself and your path magically.

Find a quiet place that feels like home

This one is pretty simple. If there’s a place that you resonate with entirely, the ocean, the mountains, a park, your kitchen, your bed, then schedule yourself time to be there. You should make that location as ideal as possible and make sure that you aren’t disturbed for several hours.

Setting up the ideal situation may require some planning ahead. You may wish to aim for a day where the beach won’t be too crowded so you can enjoy swimming in the ocean without worrying about a beach ball bouncing off your head. Maybe you feel most happy with a batch of delicious bread baking and soup bubbling on the stove. You might need to wash all your bed linens and pull out some extra comfy ones you don’t normally use for this session. Essentially, what you’re doing is setting up as close to a perfect scenario as possible. You may need to clean up the space before you set up (so clear out the stack of crap that accumulated on your kitchen table), but it depends on what place is your happy place.

Distractions should be entirely limited. This means turn off your phone, computer, TV, and so on. Just turn them off. If you’ve never unplugged before, this can be extremely difficult to do. But try it for at least an hour. You may wish to play some music, and if so, make sure that it’s relatively inconvenient for you to scroll through instagram or facebook chat someone. Place the device out of range, with the notifications on silent, and just sink into the relative quiet.

Once you’ve gotten set up, just exist in that space for the time you’ve set aside. Read a book that feels inspiring to you (maybe it’s a big thinking kind of book or maybe you hauled out your Harry Potter to remind you why you love magic.) Swim in the ocean, lay in the grass and watch the clouds. People watch, read through family recipes, hike through the forests, slowly boat across a lake… you get the idea. Just exist in that space in a way that makes you feel relaxed and happy. Let your mind drift (it will) and soon you’ll find you may start connecting spiritually to the place, remembering why it feels so special to you. Recall what’s magically about that place and you may rediscover what’s magical about you.

Cutting the threads

This is spell work that asks you to have a fairly open space and time to set up the spell.

First, clear a space. If you’re casting the spell in the living room, you may need to put things on top of your coffee table away and move that side table you always trip on anyway out of the way entirely. You’re going to need space to move and you don’t want to be tripping on things when you don’t need to. You’ll want at least a five foot clear space, but I like to have a few feet extra all around for wiggle room.

Next, write out all the things that are holding you back. What things pull on you, weight you down, whispering unwanted things to you? What makes you feel muddy, sour, mundane, and dumb? Write all of that down on slips of paper (post its are perfect for this). Scatter these slips of paper across your casting space. It’s really ideal to place the paper on or near objects that symbolism or remind you of the words on the paper. (So if looking at your exercise bike makes you feel sloppy and guilty for not using it as often, put that piece of paper on the bike).

Get a ball of string. This can be any color you like, so use color symbolism. Tie a loop around your dominant wrist. It doesn’t need to be tight. Gently, go to each place you put the paper and wrap or tie the string around or near it as best you can and move onto the next paper.

I recommend doing this is the order of the things that come to mind. If you really dislike your job, that might be first, but your second item is you feel poorly whenever you see your aunt, then she might be next even if the photo of her with the slip of paper is all the way across the room.

Things will become a jumbled mess. That’s OK. It’s kind of meant to be. Just keep going until you’ve tagged all the pieces of paper. Once you do, gently tie your non-dominant wrist with the string.

Now grab a sharp pair of scissors or a knife and cut the strings that attach you to the items. You might need to make several cuts so that the string drops to the ground. Keep doing this until all the string is cut and CAREFULLY cut the string free of your wrists.

An alternative way to do the spell is to tie the string to your wrist, then to the object or paper, then back to your wrist, but this can become quite tight and painful in larger spaces as you tug the strings across the room with you. I think it kind of works better this way, because it feels more freeing and thus more powerful, but it’s more painful and tends to break at least one random glass thing you forgot you owned.

Either way, take the strings and burn them in a fire-safe vessel and call it a day.

Ask for a journey or trial

You can always as a spirit for advice. Usually people tap their spirit guides for this, but sometimes you need a stranger to give you advice. Other times they just keep telling you what you already know. Ask them again anyway.

If you don’t have a spirit guide or don’t want to use them, you can go find someone who can help. I wrote about spirits who can help, spirits I can personally vouch for as friendly and helpful. I like and visit these spirits often and the space is still considered quite safe for travelers and dreamers (ie, you) to wander through. The spirit ruler in particular is good for requesting a journey or trial, as they tend to be fully aware of just how much is lost between the astral and the physical realms when it comes to memory.

I know you’re thinking. That’s just getting advice. Well, the reason I make the above suggestion is because if you’re going to ask for a trial, you want it to be from someone who will give you a task that will give you the result you want: reclaiming yourself.

The trial may be something classic: “go here and get this item for me and you’ll be rewarded” but the actual reward is discovering yourself. It could be a battle scenario or dedicating yourself to their service. It depends. You don’t have to say yes to the suggested trial or journey. If it sounds sketchy, then don’t do it. But this gives you a chance for you to have an adventure that will help you find you again. Find yourself and your will once more without all the baggage that comes with living.

Those are just some of the ways to magically reclaim yourself. As always, I recommend cleansing yourself (and cleaning your space) when you’re struggling spiritually as sometimes the mere act of cleansing and cleaning can dissolve the spiritual gunk.

Good luck!

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!

 

 

 

 

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

 

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Walk along the water with me?

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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.

 

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Twilight cherry blossoms

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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.

 

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.

 

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My payment for services rendered today. Iron and brass.

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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.

How to Tell What Kind of Spirit You’re Talking To

Spirits are hard. How can you tell who you’re talking to? Are they really who they say they are? Can you really trust them?

The short answer is no. No you can’t trust them and no they should not expect you to automatically trust them any more than you should automatically trust a stranger.

The long version is no as well but it’s kind of a complicated no.

 

How to Tell What Kind of Spirit You're Talking To by This Crooked Crown

 

Spirits sometimes cannot or will not tell you who they are. They could be doing that for several reasons. They could be worried about being bound by their names. They could be working for someone who doesn’t want to be known. They might not even have a name.

This is also somewhat true for what kind of spirit they are. After all, how often do you just blurt out your genealogy to random folks off the street? Can you even sight your ancestry? Do you know who owns the company you’re working for? Can you name the mayor of your town? Would you tell a random person that you’ve just met all of that information?

Yeah, I thought not. If you can’t or won’t do it, then you can’t expect a spirit to want to do it either.

I’ll be honest, I don’t usually bother figuring out what kind of spirit I might be talking to. They are themselves and I’ll treat them according to how they act. That being said, it’s still important to be able to figure out who or what you might be talking about. Here’s how

 

Observe them

What do they love? What do they hate? How do they speak? How do they interact with others? You can figure out a lot by channeling your inner Sherlock.

For example, if a spirit loves cucumbers then you might guess that maybe they’re a Kappa. Or they could be related to cucumbers in some way. Or they’re the spirit of a farmer. Or maybe they just really love cucumbers.

Observing them will tell you what that individual likes. Observing that spirit in a group of similar spirits can tell you what that kind of spirit is like as a whole.

 

How do others treat them?

Do others balk and run away from them? Are they treated in a lordly manner? A polite manner? Do people give them the stink-eye?

This gives you some idea on whether or not this spirit is considered important or is tied to someone important. Depending on the context, you might be able to figure out that they’re a servant to a faerie court or that they’re very wise and thus respected.

If they’re getting dirty looks then maybe they don’t have the kind of stellar reputation they’ve been gloating about. They could be an information broker, murderer, or just a known liar. They could even be a contract breaker (which is bad because that means they will definitely break their word and probably stab you in the back).

 

Ask them for a small favor

See what happens when you ask them for a small favor which you will pay in kind. This could be something like “hey, want to try my ice cream and I’ll try yours” kind of deal or it could be something like “can you go over to this faerie court and pass along this message and I’ll go over to this spirit marketplace and buy that thing for you”.

This should be an inconsequential favor. Don’t ask them to do something for you that’s actually important.

How they treat this request and how they complete it (if they even agree to it) can tell you a lot about their operating methods which often allows you to figure out spirit type.

 

Keep notes

If there’s a specific spirit you’re trying to figure out, keep notes. Write down the things they like, dislike, and do. Write down their appearance to you, even if they change appearances all the time. Every so often, google those attributes and see what comes up.

 

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Autumn evening walks

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That’s all you can do. Since most of the time you’re not going to be dealing with many of the same spirits, you’re always going to be battling the question “is this how all of them act or just this individual spirit?”

A good way to deal with spirits is to remember these rules:

  • All spirits can hurt you
  • All spirits have the potential to be benevolent or malicious
  • Spirits are not there for your benefit. They live their own lives and you’re just a person in it.
  • Spirits have their own culture, beliefs, and needs. They don’t need to make sense to you.

 

Make no mistake, knowing your mythology and folklore can definitely help you figure out who you might be talking to but it’s not the be all that ends all. You could be talking to an anthropomorphize spirit of freedom or a minor spirit of winter. How might those spirits be summarized? Can you even summarize them neatly?

Spirits aren’t animals or plants that can be so easily categorized. They’re people. It might be prudent to ask yourself if you even need to know what kind of spirit they are. If you’re worried for your safety, then act according to that potential danger. Otherwise, you might fall into the trap of expecting someone to betray you because their species is a known trickster and that’s not really fair to them – or you.

Enchanting Objects for Second Sight

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If you’ve hung around fairy tales long enough, you’ve run into the concept of using objects to achieve second sight.

Second sight is the ability to see things that are beyond normal perception such as spirits or energy. Some people are naturally gifted at this and others train themselves to use it. It sits firmly on the line between psychic ability and intuition.

Enchanting Objects for Second Sight by This Crooked Crown

Let’s be clear on one thing – just because someone has the second sight does not mean that they’re seeing spirits all the time. It doesn’t mean that they’re able to see all spirits. It doesn’t mean that they are always seeing spirits with their physical eyes. Spiritual beings aren’t always able to be perceive with physical eyes. It’s far more minute than “can you see that ghost?” even if it doesn’t seem like it.

There’s lots of folk information on how to achieve this. Looking through a hagstone or enchanting object are just one of the ways. You can use sandalwood, wisteria, wild thyme, and a number of other herbs to see what’s beyond normal vision. Trance inducers like flying ointments also work in this manner.

Look through a hagstone or doorway is another way to see these things. It’s about threshold crossing which is known to allow one to step between the worlds. (Hence the word “hedge-crossing”). Using this method, you’ll look through a hagstone (a stone with a natural hole in the center but shells with holes in the center work well too) and see what there is to see. Threshold crossing can be any kind of threshold. Stepping between two poles could be a threshold. Crossing between a wall and a hedge could be a threshold. There’s tons of ways to cross like that.

Weirdly, enchanting objects to allow you to see things is common in folk stories and fairy tales but not a common technique shared in modern day. I have no idea why this is.

In order to enchant an object to see what’s beyond normal sight, you’ll first need to pick an object that can be held up to your eye. Eyeglasses and sunglasses are absolutely the easiest and more available for this. A camera could also be used. You may want to pick a necklace you can hold up to your eye. This will be a constant spell so it’ll always be working.

That could actually be a problem. Anyone who has the second sight can tell you that it can be really distracting to see stuff that isn’t there. I’ve braked suddenly while driving thinking I was going to run over a dog that wasn’t there. I nearly jumped out a chair just last night because I thought something ran across the wall directly next to me – but nothing was there. If you’re not use to seeing these beings, you can absolutely end up looking a bit weird. It’s not a consistent thing but at least once a week I end up being startle by some spirit shenanigans that I wasn’t expecting and no one else can see.

You could also pick an object that you wear in order to give you second sight. This gives you more control over the ability. A pair of earrings is a good choice but a necklace or even an article of clothing can be a good choice too.

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Mushroom, mushroom

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The technique is very simple but gathering the ingredients can be very complex. It can take up two or three months to set this up if you don’t have any of the materials on hand. For best results, it could take years because you should collect the water and plants on the first of May and then cast the enchantment then as well – which could be difficult if the moon’s not working with you. You could, alternatively also or exchange May Day for October 31st or some other spirit important holiday. I don’t bother because that’s a lot of hurry up and wait for me but to each their own.

First gather water from an old water source – an old river, well, the ocean, etc. I specifically mention old as a pond newly made in a golf course isn’t going to have the same kind of results we want.

Gather the first morning dew for about seven days. You can do this by placing a jar outside overnight and picking it up as the sun rises the next morning. It probably won’t amount to much but that’s OK.

Create full moon water and new moon water by placing jars of water in window sills under the moonlight (or lack of moonlight).

Pour water from each of these sources into a bowl and place any of the following into it: calendula petals, wisteria leaves, powdered sandalwood, mugwort, ash leaves, violets, wild thyme, lavender, or woodworm. Pick as many or as few as you’d like. Let this sit under the full moon for a full night but remove it from sight before the sun rises. You can strain this water now, if you want.

Cleanse the object you intend to enchant. Wash the object with each water source. Make sure that you concentrate on the surfaces of the object. For a pair of glasses, you’ll trace the water along the eyeglass frame then wash the lenses on both sides. Repeat once more with the herb infused water.

Sleep with the object at your side on the night that you wash it. Then it’s ready to use. To use it, concentrate on what’s before you with your mind to see if there’s anything there for you to see. This should allow you to see spirits and energy far more frequently than before. As stated above, you may not physically see things with your eyes all the time but you should be able to sense things and see glimpses more easily.

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Autumn evening walks

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In addition to the problem mentioned above with reacting to things as if they’re physically in front of you, there’s another thing to be aware of. When spirits begin to notice that you’re able to see them, then they start paying attention to you. This can be fun for some people and terrifying for others. It depends on the beings you end up meeting and how you interact with them. If you’re not thinking about spirit work, then you might want to consider against this entirely. In the end, that’s a choice you’ll have to make.

It can be difficult to see spirits. Sometimes they simply don’t want to be seen or the circumstances aren’t right. Or maybe they don’t even have a physical form for you to see. You may need to just roll with whatever they give you. Good luck!

February Round Up

What a month.

This month has been a whirlwind for me. Posts were going great and I was doing really well on all the projects I had going. But then it suddenly became too much and by the third week of February I crashed entirely. I needed a break and anything I attempted to do except rest fell apart. Since my Silence Festival (three days of unplugged utter silence) was the same week, I just kind of disappeared from the world for a while.

On top of that I had some family stuff and projects that needed some attention (which will continue into March but it won’t be a surprise at least!) Plus I injured myself no less than seven times. My poor hands are covered in band-aids. On the other hand, I’ve recently achieved a small fitness goal so that was exciting for me.

 

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Cozy night in.

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That being said, look at the site updates! There’s new stuff! Well, kind of. I moved some menus around and cleaned up some back end stuff. Two big things is that I’m now accepting sponsorship and so on. This is more for fellow shop owners and indie deck creators that rather than some big corporation. No worries, this suddenly isn’t becoming affiliate link central. I also added an ongoing projects page. This is a loose timeline of when to expect certain products in the shop or certain projects to be up and running.

There’s going to be some new additions to the site soon that required this kind of sprucing up. Namely, I’ll be putting up a sourced correspondence page for you all. My biggest challenge right not isn’t the correspondences themselves but implementing them in a way that’s convenient and cleanly done. A huge long list isn’t super interesting to me nor is a million page hopping links. If you’ve got any ideas, let me know.

 

 

Oh! But a major score was to be had when I found an intact copy of my links from my tumblr resource page. Tumblr is where I originated as a blog and a lot of my posts were/are really popular there. About a year back, tumblr FUBAR’d page links and in an instant, everything was gone. I’m so excited to be able to give this resource back to the people. The posts may be old and rant-y but their tumblr originals.

The only problem is tumblr itself. It seems to really hate links in super long pages now so even copying and pasting the document over doesn’t work. New links were erased too. So I ended up keeping the page live here on my website and redirecting people here from tumblr so they can click a tumblr post and be re-directed BACK to tumblr. How dumb is that? At least it’s safe from the vicious tumblr gremlins I guess. Sheesh.

 

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This week's Free Tarot Tuesday Twitter Reading is up!

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Let’s get to the posts this month though, hm? This February was about love and divination. We started off with five divining techniques to discover your sweetheart and then discussed the spell / divination of knotting a garter which me and like three other people found interesting. Haha.

With Valentine’s Day smack dab in the middle of the month, I reviewed Edain McCoy’s Bewitchments which got a pretty great review. For the big night itself, Tarot Emulation Attraction Spell brought your favorite tarot card avatars into your personal closet. Be the High Priestess for your coven meeting then be the Knight of Wands or the Lovers for a night in with a special someone. That special night in could be even more special with the super popular Chocolate Rose Tea Love Philter recipe. If that special someone isn’t paying attention to you, the spell Think of Me or the readin Love Letter could be handy too

 

Chocolate Rose Tea Love Philter by This Crooked Crown

 

Love’s not all about romance though. Friends are important too! The Friendship Knot Spell is definitely something you might come back to when your current crop of friends are less than awesome.

I probably could have followed my own advice offered in five tips for loving yourself or gave myself a reading using the included divination spread Loving Myself. Or maybe I should have visited my astral friends featured in Spirit Destinations: Spirits Who Can Help. Instead I went to my old self-care habit of reading and writing (which isn’t bad either!)

The all-purpose spell Wish Granter, Bring Me A Wish is a bit unusual but might be worth trying if you need something. There was also a somewhat nasty curse using a plant’s growth that I’m kind of in love with. (Not sure what that says about me. Haha)

 

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Current library read 📚

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So it’s been a weird kind of month. Next month is definitely off to a better start already and I’m so excited to share some new stuff with you. Plus spring is so, so close and I’m really excited to ditch the winter blues. Thanks so much for reading and see you in March!

Decks featured:

  • Sacred Creators Oracle by Chris-Anne © Chris-Anne.com

Spirit Destinations: Spirits Who Can Help

Even if you’re familiar with astral travel and spirit realms, it’s difficult to find spirits that are both trustworthy and helpful. Sometimes you’re looking for a specific kind of spirit and that’s even harder.

Why someone might look for a particular kind of spirit varies. Sometimes you’re serving as courier. Sometimes you need to heal a spiritual wound. Other times you want help casting a spell or information. And sometimes you don’t know why you’re doing something, you were just told to do it. (Let’s be honest here, this one’s probably the most common reason).

The following spirits are very busy but they are willing to have their pseudonyms shared with my followers so they can help. I can personally vouch for each of these spirits and many are personal friends of mine. The region itself, especially the valley of the spirit ruler, is extremely safe for dreamers and residents alike.

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A hearth in the forest.

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Laeta – A healer spirit of renown. Laeta takes patients from all over and usually does so without payment. They can heal spiritual and physical wounds, speed up recovery and ease symptoms of sickness and mental illness. Laeta can also perform spiritual surgery. Pretty much a spirit physician. Remember to give yourself time to heal in the physical world as well.

Laeta can be found in the infirmary, a lower yet airy level of the castle. Ask for directions from anyone within the castle.

Heleinra – She’s a catalyst spirit. She can incite things to occur such as inspiration and motivation but she can also encourage healing, ease bouts of depression, and so on. She will require a trade or purchase of services.

She’s a bit harder to locate (although, she’s close to Laeta) so ask around the castle grounds for her and take a peek into Laeta’s infirmary to see if she’s hanging out there.

 

The Maidens – A cluster of spirits who focus on love, relationships, sex, passion, and beauty. They’re matchmakers. There’s at least five of them, possibly more. Gaining their attention may be difficult as they remain close to the ruler but they can definitely help point you in the right direction in regards to love. Be aware that they shift bodies easily and are members of the proverbial fashion police. They may ask for equal trades for their services so the price they request may be very high for you. Make sure you verbally agree to whatever you’re buying. Sometimes they get carried away.

 

Candle Smoke

 

In order to find the Maidens specifically, you’ll have to gain entry to the ruler’s hall (which is mostly just walking in and being polite to staff) and try to catch their eye; they tend to wander the hall so it could be relatively easy to gain their attention. A quiet word with one of the guards will also work. You can also join the queue to talk to the king and when called upon, ask for the Maidens’ assistance (although if you do this you should offer the king a small gift as thanks for their attention.)

Moba – A spirit that serves under another spirit within the ruler’s court. Think of his position more like an assistant. The spirit he serves under is directly in service to the ruler so you won’t meet with Moba’s boss. That being said, Moba is great for pointing you towards a direction to increase your wealth or find opportunities. He won’t, specifically, help you get that wealth but he can point you in the right direction. Typically he appears as a young teenage boy and will probably be darting about the castle or the ruler’s hall. Speak clearly and quickly with him; he’s very busy and won’t have long to talk. He may or may not collect payment, depending on the favor.

The spirit ruler of this area is may be helpful as well. They can be asked for advice, information, guidance, or tips. They may even be asked for aid in combat, magic, or political situations. Just make sure that you’re willing to tithe them appropriately and pay whatever they’re going to charge. They’ll expect clear cut agreements though so don’t worry about being tricked into an agreement. This is doubled if you explain you’re a dreamer/spirit walker.

If you want to speak with them, you’ll need to ask one of the attendants in the hall for an audience. You may need to wait for an audience and that wait may take too long so you might need to make several trips with the hope that you can get an audience while you’re still lucid and within the astral plane.

 

How to pay for a spirit’s service:

You may need to “pay” for a spirit’s services. They may ask for currency, worship, trade, barter, or even just information. There’s a lot of ways to pay for such things so ask in advance what they want in payment before agreeing to anything.

How to find one of these spirits:

First, go here. All these spirits are found in the service of the same spirit ruler. Typically, this area’s pretty safe and the people friendly so you shouldn’t have any trouble getting through the forest, up to the castle, and asking one of the guards or staff for the spirit you’re looking for.

It’s also a good idea to make an offering to them within your own home. They may not show up in your home but you never know. Do NOT summon them. They will not help you if summoned. It is a condition of this information being shared. Good luck and happy adventures!