Category: Discussions

6 Post Election Day Recovery Tips + Tarot Spread

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No matter where you are in the world, by now you’ve heard about the close US presidential election. I try to keep politics off the website and social media accounts, for the most part. I didn’t even post a ubiquitous “I voted” sticker. However you feel about the election now, you can’t ignore the fact that many people are very scared and angry right now. My political beliefs are always the same: I just want everyone to be safe, respected, and treated equally. I want people to live their lives happily, without fear of violence or poverty. But the United States is very divided right now and that’s scary.

Waiting for the election poll results was incredibly stressful and a roller coaster of emotion. The day after I felt all the anxious energy in my home and the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness lingering. Some of you are probably feeling that too. I thought I’d put together a little guide on what you can do right now to help remove those feelings from your home and give yourself from peace and hope.

Candle Smoke

Cleanse and clean your bedding.

One of the first things I did was strip my bed and washed everything. The sheets and any pillows I used the day before were a major priority but everything, even the pillows themselves, were washed. Then I put the newly cleaned bedding back on the bed rather than go for a spare set. I did this as a sign of courage and strength – though  wounded, you can gather up yourself and keep going. You may not feel that’s wholly necessary – maybe just changing the sheets is enough but for me I needed the full wash.

I enchanted the laundry detergent with a bit of extra oomph to shift things. There will be a post on how to cleanse bedding soon but for now, simply enchanting the laundry detergent or wash water is enough.

Room air and fabric fresheners

I don’t use store-bought air or fabric fresheners all that much. I  I’m talking about a bottle of Febreeze or room sprays, for example. Clearing the air is pretty important when you’re trying to lift moods and cleanse a space.

I made up my own fabric freshener with a spray bottle, water, and a few drops of fragrance. I specifically chose lemon, lavender, apple, and rose for this bottle. Lavender is a calming agent for me and apples are comforting. Lemons, as a citrus, are great energy boosters and roses remind me of beauty, freshness, and spring. Renewal. I put a drop or two of each in the spray bottle with water, shook vigorously and sprayed chairs, curtains, and my bare mattress. Let anything you spray air-dry. I use these sorts of bottles daily on my bedding but the rest of my apartment needed it too.

Then I lit a floral candle – again, lifting the mood – and some incense to give the apartment a lingering scent.

Cleansing

I use smoke cleansing consistently, usually through incense. So I walked around with some incense to cleanse my home. That might not work for you so pick your favorite go-to cleansing method and use that first.

Then I stood in the center of my apartment, the heart of it, and took a moment to think of what I wanted my apartment to feel like. I thought of good, happy moments I wanted to fill the space with instead. It’s not unlike Harry Potter thinking of happy memories to summon a Patronus.

When I was ready I pushed out my energy in a giant pulse throughout the space, flooding it with energy and light. That’s energy cleansing. I also used a similar technique to cleanse and purge my home’s barriers.

I also washed my counters with enchanted water to cleanse them as well.

Can’t do any of that? Open a window! It breaks up the atmosphere inside your space and allows the outside world in. That might not be what you want to do right now (let the outside world in) but fresh air is a great mood booster. I also find the bustle of my neighborhood to break me out of my isolated shell more often than not.

Self-care

The day after election day was Wednesday so it was my “day off”. (I don’t actually have a day off but it’s the day I don’t plan on doing work stuff). In between loads of laundry I wore my most comfortable clothing, baked brownies, read books,  and played video games. That’s it. That’s all I did. That’s part of my self-care routine so I dove into it.

Your self-care routine may be different. Maybe you hit the gym or spend time with friends. That’s OK. Just do whatever you can to give yourself time. Everyone needs to relax at some point. Even if you only have a few minutes, take some time for self-care. Treat yourself kindly.

Cartomancy Reading

I used a Tower spread to make myself feel better too. A Tower spread is a tarot card spread based around the Tower card. Pull it and place it at the bottom of your reading space. Then shuffle the cards and draw to answer your questions and concerns. The Tower has already occurred so what happens after is what you’re reading.

I created the spread above for you all to use. The questions you ask are probably going to be personal in nature so feel free to venture off what I’ve laid out.

You don’t have to use a tarot deck for this reading. Pick any deck that has a card that works similarly as the Tower or represents the Tower.

Card readings aren’t guarantees for the future. Ask questions that give you things to do. Asking what’s going to happen isn’t as helpful as asking what you can do. Beat back hopelessness by focusing on what you can control, personally.

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Avoid the toxic and stay safe

We all know people that have wildly different beliefs than you. Maybe they’re really smug right now or maybe they’ve threatened violence on you. You’re probably realizing that your neighbors, co-workers, family, and maybe even some friends aren’t the people you thought they were. And that’s disheartening and even frightening.

Above all, stay safe. Keep yourself safe in the coming days. Protect yourself and your loved ones. Remember what you’ve learned and remember that you are worth protecting and being loved.

 

I hope these tips help you all out a little bit. Stay safe!

Shadow Work: How to Love All of Yourself

Everyone has some parts of themselves they don’t like. Many people might be quick to name something physical, like their weight, hair, or nose. But others may name something like procrastination or cowardice as their vices.

Shadow work is the mental exploration, meditation of, and reconciliation of the darker or uglier sides of yourself. It can help you find those parts of yourself and come to terms with it so you can let go of old wounds and move on healthier, cleaner, and more satisfied.

It’s not an easy process and it’s not really witchcraft or magic related. In fact, shadow work originates from Jungian psychology and was adopted into new age circles. It’s taken a life of it’s own now but it started there, officially. The concept, however, has been around forever.

Many people want to overcome and change themselves and you can totally do that but first you need to acknowledge the problem. Not just the symptoms but the root causes of the problems. If that doesn’t happen then you’re only treating the symptoms rather than the actual disease, so to speak.

So how do you do shadow work? I’ve talked a bit about my own personal method of mental shadow work but the easiest way is to write a letter to yourself. Write a truly honest (and probably bitter) letter to yourself. Or maybe to someone you need to let go of. It will be very ugly to look and and even harder to read. I’ve done this before and it’s… unpleasant. But healing. Like ripping open an infected but nearly closed wound. Painful but necessary to heal properly.

Another method is to meditate. I have some posts on meditation coming out later this month but for now here’s a quick meditation for shadow work.

Imagine yourself in a garden. It’s green, lush, and pleasant. You’re sitting on a soft blanket spread over tender grass. There are tall trees above you creating  a lush canopy. It’s late afternoon and distantly you can hear insects and birds but not near enough to disrupt you. You are utterly alone and utterly at peace. The wind rustles but you’re comfortable, pleased, content. Now go ahead and start your shadow work.

Shadow work can be done like this:

Look inward at yourself and examine your thoughts. Don’t try to force them yet. Just see where your thoughts are going. Now think of something you want to let go of or face. It may start as a simple procrastination exercise. Follow those thoughts like a mind map. You might even want to talk yourself through the whole process to trigger something. You may learn, through this mental talking to yourself, that your procrastination stems from social anxiety and that comes from childhood bullying. You may not be able to get over the trauma or anxiety but you can now work with that information. You can decide what to do now.

As said, shadow work is less a witchcraft thing and more of a personal thing. But it’s very useful in figuring yourself out and learning how to love everything about yourself.

 

NaNoWriMo Ideas for Magical Practitioners

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve started posting small short stories here and over at my Patreon. I do a lot of originally writing and I’m a participant of National Novel Writing Month. It’s a lot of fun but very time consuming and emotionally taxing.

 

Normally, NaNoWriMo is for novel writing, as the title implies. It’s goal is to achieve a rough first draft of something with 50,000 words in a month. Which is a lot.

But there’s variations to be had. The variations aren’t wildly popular but some people hal the word goal in order to fit their schedule and others write several stories rather than one piece in order to meet the goal.

I think there’s an even greater opportunity for practitioners. This could be exactly what you need in order to record your spiritual experiences and experiments. Writing down what’s happening and what’s going on allows you to recreate the experience or experiment a second time. It allows you to fix what might have gone wrong. It gives you a chance to learn, grow, and change.

Don’t worry if it’s not perfect. It doesn’t have to make sense and it doesn’t have to be perfect. The point of NaNoWriMo is to write something. You can perfect it later.

Here’s a list of topics you can write on:

  • Tarot journal
  • Dream journal
  • Meditation journal
  • Grimoire entries
  • Spell crafting
  • Herbal study
  • Blog posts
  • Spiritual musings
  • Devotions to Deities, Gods, and Goddesses
  • Poetry for offerings
  • Songs for festivals and coven meetings
  • Prayers for Deities, Gods, and Goddesses
  • Personal association symbolism and meanings

Make no mistake. Hammering out 50,000 words in a month is a challenge. But 15,000 words is doable for most people who enjoy writing (that’s 500 a day!). 10,000 can be done in 30 days by writing 333 words.

 

Oh, and just to give you an idea on what 333 words looks like, this whole post, excluding the title and photo captions, is 333 words. If you’ve been wanting to write down some of your experiences, this may be your chance.

How to Share Your Home with Ghosts & Spirits

Living in a haunted house is some people’s dreams. And for others, it’s nightmare material. We’re apathetic here. We moved into a somewhat haunted house but the initial spirit fragments that remained behind went away eventually and now the only spirits that are here are either passing ghosts looking for help from the Necromancer or my own spirits doing their thing.

You can absolutely live harmoniously with spirits. It’s totally doable. Here’s how.

 

Be respectful

You’re sharing space. It’s a non-corporeal roommate. Remember that whoever is staying with you might not be human (anymore) but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a person. Respect their rights. If they’re not human to begin with, such as fae or other spirits, then you’ll want to pay special attention to their particular cultural habits.

That being said. They should also be respectful of you. You’re paying rent after all. They’re not. You get to set the rules first.

 

Set up your protections

Setting up protection spells can be as easy as dumping as many protection spells as you can cast on your space. But how do you set up those protection spells that will still allow spirits in?

Easy. You specify in the spell that you want only malevolent spirits or those with ill intent to stay out. It’s as easy as that. If you already have protection spells set up, you might need to tear them down and put the back up accordingly.

Save yourself some trouble and put up your regular “no entry at all” protection spells in private areas like bedrooms and bathrooms. You only need to look up to see a ghost looming over you in the bathroom mirror once to make sure that it never happens again. (FYI, in such an example, don’t punch the mirror. It doesn’t help. Trust me.)

 

Establish household rules (Set up a magical information board)

One way to do this is to pick up an object and magically set the rules. The information could be something like “anyone who harms a member of the household evicts ALL spirits” or “no playing music at three a.m.”. That usually makes sure that spirits govern each other and gives you less work to do. Set the item in a window, by the door, in the yard, or by the offerings. If the spirit has a space, leave it near their space (but not in the space).

How to do this is easy. Pick up your selected object and let it sync up with your energy. Keep the energy level minor (you don’t want to hurt the entity). While passing on a light trace of energy, also think or say what you want to say. A quartz crystal is especially good for this.

If you’re really lucky, you’re rooming with an entity that can also do magic and you can pass each other imaginary memos about stuff. Which can be really cool or completely weird.

 

Set up some offerings

This is hit or miss. I leave offerings but not daily. It allows me to keep my schedule flexible and makes sure people don’t get greedy. There’s nothing worse than spirits setting off fire alarms or breaking stuff because you didn’t give them a glass of water.

It’s up to you though. Do what you want and work that out among yourself.

 

Leave a space for them

This might not be doable for you but leaving a space that’s their is important. Usually spirits will treat to less used areas when we inhabit homes. Leaving a space dedicated to them means that you know where to go when you want to talk to them and you’ll know where they hang out.

You should not enter this space unless you need to talk to them or need something stored in this room. For example, our spirits have three rooms, technically but two rooms have animal inhabitants so the spirits tend to stay away. Instead, they hang out in the heater room is where we store things like paint cans, tools, and cat carriers. Since we rarely need those items or check the machines in there, we leave it for the spirits.

That’s only possible because we have a lot of unused space in our house. Your situation will be different. A closet or basement is popular but might not be ideal merely for the creepy factor. You could also set aside a chair or something similar for them instead.

 

Warn when you’re going to cleanse the space

Cleansing is the “did you turn it off and on again?” of magical practices. Which means we tend to do it a lot when weird stuff happens.

But cleansing can be harmful to spirits. To hedge your bets, give the spirits a warning when you plan to cleanse the space. A simple “hey, I’m doing a cleansing. Clear out for a while” works just fine.

 

Have your banishing tools on hand

If a spirit becomes aggressive, banish it and cleanse the space. You may want to adjust your protection spells or you can let it back in once it has learned it’s lesson. Up to you. But keeping those tools available on hand can save the day.

 

Be patient

Just because you’re sharing space doesn’t mean that they’re going to be around all the time. You may never physically see the spirit sharing your space. That’s OK. You’re not meeting them on their level either so they probably won’t try to meet yours.

If you do want to see them, then you may need to try some meditation or astral projection in order to sync up spiritually. Even then, you’re more likely to sense them than see them. Physical manifestation is difficult for spirits to do and for people to see. The mind doesn’t really like it. Be patient and know that it may never happen.

 

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That’s it! Living with spirits is a lot like living with people. Sometimes they’re annoying and sometimes they’re awesome. It can take a while to get use to living with them but the most important thing to remember is to stand your ground. You pay for rent, not them, so you get to make the rules. When in doubt, kick them out.

50 Offerings to Give a Faerie

Ever want to get in contact with the Fae? Leaving an offering is the best way. Set down something wonderful and prepare for mischief and trouble!

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  1. Water from a spring, river, or purified water
  2. Bread
  3. Honey
  4. Wine
  5. Milk or cream
  6. Alcohol
  7. Small palm-sized petite fours or cakes
  8. Unwrapped candy
  9. Meadowsweet
  10. Roses
  11. Daisies
  12. Violets
  13. Bluebells
  14. Primrose
  15. Thisledown
  16. Cowslip
  17. Pansy
  18. Foxglove
  19. St. John’s Wort
  20. Bouquets of flowers
  21. Mushrooms
  22. Strawberries
  23. Berries
  24. Elderberries
  25. Peaches
  26. Apples
  27. Plums
  28. Other fresh fruit
  29. Mint
  30. Clover
  31. Thyme
  32. Mugwort
  33. Ferns
  34. Hawthorn
  35. Willow
  36. Elder
  37. Birch
  38. Shells
  39. Feathers
  40. Coins
  41. Jewelry
  42. Silver or gold
  43. Crystals
  44. Beads
  45. Shiny objects
  46. Interesting stones
  47. Spirit house
  48. Faery garden
  49. Bells
  50. Cheerful music

Of course, these are just some of the offerings that can be made. Some fae will appreciate some gifts better than others. Some items are merely associated with the fae and may interest them, if not precisely count as an offering.

You may also want to double check whether your offerings are also good for the environment. The fae may enjoy a cookie but the wildlife probably won’t.

Remember your fairy tales! Don’t eat anything, don’t offer up your name (instead say something like “you may call me X”), and don’t agree to anything!

Have fun!

How to Talk to Spirits of the Dead

Ghosts are probably both the easiest and the hardest types of spirits to have conversations with. Partially because we expect so much and get so little.

Talking to ghosts is one of those things a lot of people want to do. I have a quick guide on how to talk to ghosts and spirits of the dead. This may not get you evidence of the paranormal but it may help you make contact.

How to find a ghost

First, you’ll need to go to a liminal place. A liminal place is somewhere between worlds. A cemetery might be a good bet but you probably have just as much success there as an old crossroad or site of death. Don’t just pick a place that looks like it should be haunted. Pick a place that has rumors of being haunted that you can legally enter. That last bit is important. Don’t trespass just to spot a ghost.

Liminal places aren’t just locations but also things. Doorways are liminal spaces. As are windows, gates, mirrors, corners, and staircases. Rest stops, crossroads, hotels, parks, and gas stations are other liminal places. You can spot ghosts and spirits there at times.

Activity will also increase when spaces are becoming liminal. So houses that are undergoing renovation, for example, will see an increase in activity.

You can, of course, ask for a ghost to come to you. If you’re doing a seance or summoning a ghost, make sure the cleanse the space first and set up protections around yourself.

Remember to sit as quietly and calmly as possible. As much as you might want to wander around in a space, you’re probably more likely to run into activity if you just sit there and are quiet. It’s not as much fun as hunting the ghost but it’s friendlier. It also allows you to get in tune with the environment so you can start noticing the unusual. Cold spots, odd sounds, that sort of thing.

How to make contact with a ghost

Bring an offering to the table. An offering of something to the ghost is a good way to show that you mean no harm. A shot of alcohol, especially clear alcohol is good. Rice, bread, tobacco, incense, and water are also good choices. A ball is good for children and animals. Leave the offering nearby and within sight but out of arm’s reach.

You can also light a candle in their honor and memory but remember your fire safety too. Don’t leave a candle unattended.

Using a calm but confident and sure voice is ideal. You might be a bit scared, especially if you’ve worked yourself up with anxiety. Talking calmly will both calm you down and show that you don’t mean any harm. You can’t do much to spirits anyway but they’re less likely to appear when you’re angry.

Feel free to ask questions and listen for answers. You can use electronic devices, divination techniques, or just listen. You can ask for responses. Avoid demanding answers. That’s not a way to start a conversation. That’s just going to anger anyone around and draw the wrong kind of attention.

Open you mind. Take a deep breath and remain calm. It’s easy to get caught up in emotions not your own. Allow yourself to drift, as if daydreaming, and let instinct and intuition rule. If you feel like walking out of a room and up a flight of stairs, do it. Don’t try to control yourself overmuch unless you’re in danger or risk hurting yourself.

The key here is to allow your mind to seek out the otherness of a spirit. You’re not looking to be possessed or even to commiserate with them. You’re looking for a conversation. Pay attention to weird thoughts not your own. They may be just passing thoughts that we all have but if they’re followed by emotions not your own or there’s a lot of thoughts, someone might be trying to communicate with you

If you feel like you’re losing control or get scared, take control of yourself completely, coming to attention. Pull away, thank the spirit, and take a few moments to ground yourself. Have some water, drink some coffee, eat some chips. Talk to someone, get a hug, or leave the area. Don’t stay connected too long or you risk partial possession and energy draining.

Mediums and other sensitive people have somewhat of an advantage here but pretty much anyone can have a conversation in this manner if given time and the right circumstances.

Divination is a popular tool to speak to the dead. You can use whatever divination method you have on hand. I tend to use pendulums or cartomancy but use a method that you’re skilled in. This isn’t the time to break out a tarot deck if you’ve never read with cards before.

Look for surface meanings. Digging deep for symbolism isn’t going to mean much to a ghost since the chances of them knowing the divination method well is unlikely. The Death card is probably going to mean death. You might want to stick with the Major Arcana if you’re using tarot cards.

Pendulums are great tools for talking to a ghost because you can get “yes” and “no” answers pretty easily. You may even be able to use the pendulum to track or find a ghost. Make sure you keep your arm and hand steady.

Working out a communication system is always a good idea, especially if you’re planning on long-term communication.

Having a ghost knock once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no’ is a common means of communication. Passing by a light or fussing with a light is another good one. You can do active communication by asking a question and rewinding to listen for an EVP (electronic voice phenomena) response.

I’ve even used a method of having a spirit tap my right shoulder for “yes” and left shoulder for “no”.

It may take a while to work out which system works best for you, especially if you’re limited with equipment.

Finally, remember to document everything. Whether you update a blog, write in a journal, or jot a note down on your phone, make sure you document everything. It’s unusual to have activity in one night. Instead, focus on tracking that activity over the course of a few days to determine the type of spirit around.

Spirits exist in various manners. Even ghosts are not a singular “type”. Poltergeists are more vicious than a ghost and a residual haunting is tends to be less aware than a ghost. Memories or fragments are barely conscious and tend to be something of a one note kind of haunting.

You can do research to figure out what kind of ghosts there are but you’re not going to be able to hold a conversation with a fragment or residual haunting. You’re looking for an active and aware consciousness.

Overall, the best way to talk to a ghost is to remember that they were once people. They had lives, loved ones, and jobs. They existed and, despite being dead, they’re still people. People without bodies but still people. Be respectful and patient.

Have fun!

5 Differences Between Your Imagination and Astral Travel

I think one of the number one questions I get about astral travel is how to know if you’re actually astral travelling or if you’re imagining it.

Here’s the secret – there isn’t a way to know, for sure, that you’re not imagining things.

But there is a difference, to some degree. You see, imagination is something you’re creating for yourself whereas the astral and spirit realms exist without us. That being said, dreams and your imagination are somewhat connected to the spirit and astral realms. Your spirit is somewhat connected, after all. You can affect those realms and we can create changes within those realms. It only follows that we can even create those realms with our minds.

We’re more powerful than we know, after all.

But there are ways to make sure that what you’re experiencing isn’t merely made up in your head.

  1. Is everything centric to you? We tend to play hero in our own heads. So a good way to tell if you’re making things up is to do a Mary Sue check. Does everyone love you? Does everyone hate you? Do you always succeed? Can you never be hurt or are your injuries easily remedied but seem super serious at the time? You might be making things up if this is true.
  2. Can you change form? In the astral and spirit realms, you can shape-shift but it’s fairly rare in your imagination to picture yourself as something else. Oh, it’s extremely common to imagine yourself more (or less) beautiful than you are. The change I’m referring to is turning yourself into a frog or something. Can you do that? Then you’re probably not making things up.
  3. Do the people around you live their lives without any thought to you? Spirits have lives of their own to attend to. It’s kind of unusual to daydream yourself in a crowd with no one acknowledging you unless that’s the specific things you’re intending to imagine. Spirits may acknowledge you the same way you acknowledge someone walking by you on the street. That should be the same. If that’s not the case, such as no one paying attention to you no matter what you do or everyone paying attention to you, then you’re probably making it up.
  4. Check gravity and physics. Things in the spirit and astral realms don’t operate according to physics and gravity. It’s fairly uncommon to run into this in your imagination without it being purposeful.
  5. Are you experiencing time skips? I find that time in the astral and spirit realms is fairly useless. You can live an entire day in the spirit realms but only a few minutes in the physical realm. Conversely, you can sit down to dinner with friends in the spirit realm and find that you’ve lost several hours rather than the twenty minutes you might have expected. That doesn’t happen usually with daydreams.

Bonus: consistency is sometimes hit or miss. With your imagination, you might dream up new and better ways to accomplish the core of the daydream. But with the spirit realms, that probably won’t happen. Things will stay the same. That being said, you can affect the spirit and astral realms, so you might find that things change quickly. It’s very YMMV.

It’s going to be hard to tell the difference at first but with practice, you should be able to pick up on the differences fairly easily after a while. Be patient and good luck!

How to Get Started On A New Path

So you’ve been doing you thing for a while now but it doesn’t feel right anymore and you want to try something new. You’re not the same person you were when you started practicing so why shouldn’t your practice change too?

But knowing where to start when you already have a foundation is hard. You know the basics that may be shared between your old path and your desired new ones but how do you actually, you know, start again?

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Write down what’s essential to you

This may seem simple and weird but it’s an important step. Don’t exclude anything! If you love taking naps, for example, write that down too.

Writing down what you love, both mundane and spiritual, will allow you to focus on what is the most meaningful to you. Once you’ve decided what’s truly important, you can decide whether you want that to be included in your practice. You can begin again by focusing on the core of what you want and build out from there.

You can also use tarot card prompts to channel some things. For example, if you want to be more like the High Priestess include that.

Mood board

I’m a big fan of mood boards and a mood board really helped me narrow down and nail a few goals for me when I was floundering a few years back. I used Pinterest for mood boards personally but some people use corkboard or similar set ups.

Mood boards can help you identify things you can’t name. For example, you might select five images of sunsets because you have a particular affinity to them. Then a few images of fire which feels similar. Maybe celestial fire is something you’ll want to incorporate in your practice.

It’s also super useful if you’re trying to build a witchy aesthetic to flush out and unite different areas of your practice into one cohesive unit. Plus mood boards have a tendency to be beautiful and that’s inspiring.

Talk to people & read things you don’t agree with

There are lots of magical systems that don’t mesh with my style. But reading books and posts about people’s experiences with this systems can allow me to knock a few cluttered thoughts loose.

Talking to people is similar. I’ve sat in on workshops about magical systems or topics that are completely contrary to my own style. It feels wrong to me even at times because they’re experiences clash so much with my own.

I might not gain anything but knowledge out of reading such materials or talking to people but it allows me to think about my own practice in a different perspective and that’s really important. being self-aware is a difficult process so anything that can help with that is useful.

Meditate and self-introspection

Meditation, self-introspection, and shadow work can help you realize what areas of your practice are lacking and what you actually want to do.

Identifying why your old practice isn’t working for you anymore is going to be a difficult process and a personal on. No one else can express how you’re feeling in that regard but you.

You’ll want to address various spirits and deities as well, asking their opinions or pull away from them as respectfully as possible, as needed.

Having a conversation with yourself and addressing any issues you have with your current practice will help you know what to avoid for the new practice you’d about to adopt.

Experiment!

This is probably the most important step. Just go and try some things. Talk to some people and join in on public rituals. Ask someone willing to answer questions about their practice and try a handful of spells that you wouldn’t normally attempt with your current path.

Spending time reaching out and touching what else there is in the world can help you figure out if the new things you’re trying to adopt into your practice are going to work for you or if they’re just good in theory.

Once you’ve decided what you want in your new path, it’s time to pull away from your old path.

Identify who you need to say goodbye to

Spirits and deities may change over time. Be as respectful as possible when you leave these relationships. Make a big offering and say goodbye. Speak with sincerity and thank them for what they’ve done for you.

You may not even have to leave the relationship with this entity but rather shift the tradition you’re working within. Or, you merely want to keep honoring them but not work with them. Whatever the specific case is, make sure you tell them what you’re planning and ask for their opinions on it, if possible. You don’t need to throw everything away simply because you’re moving on.

It isn’t easy to leave such relationships so give yourself time to mourn the end of the relationship as a whole.

Rehome and sell items that no longer mean anything to you

There are lots of practitioners out there willing to buy or swap ritual items with you. If you move from a ceremonialist system to a more folk-based one, you might want to sell off some ritual items.

Or, maybe you’ll want to talk to some people rehoming their items so you can pick up some new items for your own practice without having to pay full price.

This is another one of those difficult steps because you’ll probably find that there’s items you don’t want to get rid of but have no use for. Or items that might be useful but you’re not sure of. In this case, I recommend sticking the item in a forgotten drawer. In sixth months, go back to that drawer and look through it. If you didn’t think of the item, forgot about it, or discovered you didn’t care for it as much as you thought you did, get rid of it. If you did think of it but still didn’t find a use for it, keep it somewhere. Don’t toss things you still love.

Cleanse all the things

Cleansing your home, workspace, tools, clothes, bedding, work, and vehicles will help immensely towards setting up a new practice.

Focus mostly on cleansing everything you use for magic, from spell books to simple spoons. Then you’ll want to cleanse items that aren’t magical in purpose but still stuff you use and wear, such as shoes, clothing, etc.

A cleansing of your entire home, workspace, and vehicles can make getting a fresh start possible. Even cleansing your rug or coffee mug can go a long way.

Don’t forget to clean as well. A cluttered home doesn’t help you start anew. Cleaning and cleansing should always go hand in hand.

Keep a journal

Keeping a record of the changes you’re making and the changes you want to make can really help motivate you. Bullet journals are a really good idea for this but even doing a tumblr blog can be useful.

It will also allow you to track your personal progress and encourage you to keep to your goals. Just because something is spiritual in nature doesn’t mean you can handle it like a mundane issue, after all.

That’s it! That’s some really basic ideas on how to get started again. It’s a really painful process at times to realize that you’ve outgrown your old practice but it can be really fulfilling to allow yourself to embrace a new path that suits the you now.

7 Ways to Conquer Tiredness of the Soul

We’ve all felt it. A draining of the spirit. An exhaustion that never leaves no matter how much sleep you get. A tiredness of the soul.

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Let’s be clear right off the bat. I’m not talking about depression. Although soul tiredness can definitely be a combination or symptom of soul tiredness, it’s not what we’re discussing here.

Soul tiredness is when your very spirit and soul is just tired. Your spirit needs a nap. It needs to recharge, reset, and reboot. Here’s seven ways you can do it.

1: Meditate

Meditation is definitely one of those things that either you love or you’re ambivalent towards. Honestly, I’m rather ambivalent towards meditation as a whole. I don’t do it everyday but I find it a great source of comfort when I’m just so fuzzy brained that making coffee seems like a complicated task.

I use meditation as a exercise in escapism. I put on an ocean soundscape, bundle up in fuzzy blankets, and escape to a mental image of the beach with the Atlantic lapping on the shore. It’s a good way of allowing the body and mind to settle and relax.

It’s far more common for me to use meditation as a moment where I will do nothing else but sit and contemplate any and all thoughts that cross my mind. Sometimes I’ll have a specific goal in mind, such as sorting through a situation emotionally, sometimes not. That kind of introspection can really help you narrow down some of the internal struggles you may be having.

2: Quench Your Wanderlust

90% of the time, my soul tiredness is because I’m restless. I’m a wanderer. I like to travel and I like to travel alone. I like to be able to stop whenever I want or go as fast as I want in order to reach whatever destination I have in mind.

If I haven’t traveled anywhere in over a year, I get restless, lethargic, and simply unwilling to deal with the day-to-day monotony. (And I don’t even have a day-to-day monotony!)

I combat this by taking trips with friends and family. Usually it’s a road trip somewhere or maybe even a day trip somewhere. Sometimes I take the train up to Boston and spend the day meandering libraries and museums. Other times I pack a bag and head off to a campground to unplug and recharge.

Travel can be really expensive but once I start noticing the restlessness, I squirrel away some pocket change. I can usually pull off a day trip for less than $50 if I plan accordingly, take advantage of discounts, pack food, and take public transport.

3: Monotony Begone!

Soul tiredness often comes along when your life is so much part of the daily doldrums that everything kind of slides together. The best way to shake this is to literally shake up your routine.

Grabbing coffee with an old friend, trying a new restaurant, repainting your walls a fresh color, buying new bedding, or rearranging furniture.are great ways to change up your life in little ways that have a huge impact on your life.

Don’t forget the details when you’re shaking up the monotony. It’s the details that matter the most. Try a new candle scent for your bedroom or a new scent for your body wash. Spend a few minutes dressing nicely for an outing, even if you’re only running to the grocery store and stick some fresh fruit on your counter or table. It’s tiny things but it helps swap out boring habits with new, fun ones.

4: Divination

Divination is useful for seeing the future but it’s just as useful when determining what’s happening now.

There are so many spreads out there to figure out what’s going on with you internally. You can pretty much pick your favorite reader and they’ll almost certainly have something in their repertoire to take a deep look inside of your spirit.

Focus on what things you can change to shake the tiredness and start bringing those new elements and changes in your life.

I usually recommend Heal Your Heartache, Elemental Shift, and Explorer as good readings to overcome soul tiredness.

5: Cleansing & Cleaning

Cleansing yourself, your home, your car, your work, and your favorite places to go can really help you shake any weirdness.

I’m of a mind that one should always combine cleaning with cleansing. You can spiritually cleanse a place but if there’s a week full of dishes in the sink, you’re still going to have this thing in your way and in your sight.

So, spend an afternoon or even twenty minutes clearing off surfaces and doing some dishes or laundry. Then go about and cleanse the place. It’ll feel much better and tackling those annoying chores will take a few things off the mental checklist.

Definitely make sure that you wash all of your bedding and sweep under the bed. It will be a momentous chore with a lot of laundry. Rotate your mattress and reassemble your bed with a single simple change – a new pillow, a different set of sheets, swapping out a throw blanket, etc. We spend a lot of time in our bedrooms and in our beds. Making sure that your bed is a relaxing, inviting, and clean place is important. There’s nothing like settling down into a freshly made bed to make you say ahh.

6: Unplug Your Life

This is probably the most commonly found tip right next to meditation. It is absolutely the hardest one to accomplish on the entire list.

I’ll be honest. I’m never far from my phone. I live on social media (but is oddly ironic because I’m a recluse). As a writer, I an probably never more than five inches from a keyboard. I adore gadgets and I’m exactly the kind of person who wishes wifi dead spots on people when they annoy me.

But once a year I take three days to completely remove myself from communication. I don’t use social media, I don’t email, I don’t call, and I don’t text. I won’t even talk unless asked a direct question. I call it the Silence Festival and it is glorious. I do allow use of technology during the Silence Festival but it has to be something like writing, playing a single-player video game, etc. But that’s me.

You can bring that kind of electronic rest into your life right now. It’s simple. Turn off technology ten minutes before going to bed. Or don’t use technology within the first five minutes of waking up. Either one works and it can make a big difference. Instead, read for ten minutes before going to sleep or wake up and do some simple stretches.

It’s one of those things that you think “that’ll never make a difference” but it really does.

7: Crystal & Element Recharge

If you’re into crystal healing, then this won’t be new information. It’s akin to meditation but not quite the same thing.

Sometimes we need to forcibly reset yourself, this is one of the ways to do it. A simple quartz crystal can allow you to cycle through your energy but you can also use an element. For example, if you best association with air, maybe sitting in front of an open window, windy park bench, or even a fan will work. Amethyst, citrine, or any other stone you’re preferable to will also work. It’s really about personal resonance more than anything else.

Close your eyes and allow yourself to sit. Try to keep your mind empty and push away any intrusive thoughts. Eventually, you’ll acclimate to the crystal or element. Once this happens and you feel completely comfortable and aware at the same time, you can start the recharge.

Pull the energy from the element or crystal into yourself. This might require some energy manipulation, affirmations, or visualization. You might feel oddly cooled or warmed, depending on what you’re working with.

You can do this as long as you want but I usually do it until I feel a lightness of the spirit and want to sigh in happiness or relief. Then I open up my eyes, thank whatever I was working with, and set it aside to recharge by the sun or moon, depending on the element.

Remember to make sure your tiredness doesn’t have some other source. It could be hiding a medical symptom so make sure that you’re covering your bases.

And, sometimes, you really do just need a nap and some self-care. Cater to yourself and you’ll find yourself needing a full restore less often.

Soul tiredness is definitely an issue for mystics and practitioners so it’s always good to know a few ways to overcome it. Shake off those doldrums and get back to your center once again.

Why you might want to skip reading for yourself

Most diviners read for themselves. It’s a great way of learning, testing new spreads, and practicing various divination methods because who knows you better than you?

But there’s a small group of diviners out there that don’t read for themselves. Reasons vary but the most common one you’ll hear is that it’s hard to read for yourself.

How many times have you pulled some cards for yourself only for the cards to tell you exactly what you already know? (And let’s be totally honest here: the cards will probably tell you that information in the rudest or snarkiest manner possible.)

And I am entirely guilty of pulling a spread for myself only to not do a full in-depth reading. Usually, it’s like “Oh, the Four of Coins, Star, an Chariot. Awesome. It’s nap time then!” (I have totally done this.)

It’s hard to give yourself advice on being you. it’s hard to seriously take the advice the divination tool is giving you because you know what to expect. It’s already telling you what you know.

But is it? I mean, think about this logically. If you already know something, then why would you look beyond that? You’re seeing what you’re expecting to see, not the other possibilities. We’re somewhat blind to our own futures. We’re emotionally invested in our own futures, after all, and hope is a strong motivator to avoid unpleasantness.

It’s even somewhat hazardous. You could miss important info because you see what you want to see and not what’s actually there.  I’ve done it and it totally sucks. Afterwards you kind of just kick yourself.

Personally, I do read for myself. I’ll do serious readings because I’m self-aware enough to know I’m a hot mess at times. (Hey, we all are, right?) I’ll definitely read for myself when situations come up and I need answers, stat. But if I want a serious general reading or checkup reading, I’ll go to a trusted friend or reader. If I’m scared to read for myself because I’m so emotionally invested in whatever is going on, I tap a fellow reader to give me a good push.

Let’s be honest: Sometimes we all just need someone to lay out the hard truth on you so you can sit back and go, “Well, shit.”