Category: Witchcraft 101

Grimoire or Book of Shadows 101

 

Grimoire and BoS 101

 

Grimoire, Book of Shadows, Book of Secrets, Book of Spells… Magical research is often collected into a book (or two) and is known by a specific name. There isn’t a universal name that is correct for your book. You can name it whatever you want! Although “grimoire” isn’t a technically accurate name for my magical research, I use it as it feels best to me and my personal practice. For this post, I’m going to use BoS to refer to this book, whatever you may call it. BoS is often an abbreviation used within the community so it’s probably already familiar to you.

Let’s clear away some of the nonsense right now. You can have a BoS in a notebook. You can have a BoS that is completely digital on the computer or a website. You do not need to have a super pretty book or even have one book – you can have multiple! And you are not bound to that singular book forever. You can fill a book, decide to retire it, and get rid of it, if you so choose.

The sacredness of the Book of Shadows stems entirely on two things – one, Wiccan covens often have specific  rituals written down in their BoS and those books contain their secrets and initiations rites. The books are secretive and sacred because they need to be, as part of the initiation religion. The second reason why magical books have this air of sacredness is because books are, historically, expensive.

Books aren’t commonplace historically. Your average person rarely owned a book except for the Bible. Literacy wasn’t commonplace until public schools were more accessible and even then, many PoC were banned from learning to read. (In fact, in the US, literacy rates between PoC and white people didn’t equal out until 1979 and PoC still suffer from lack of opportunities for education even today.) The rest of it comes from the fact that education was commonly given to the wealthy. You can look through numerous historical household records and find years worth of expenses – but never once is a book mentioned. Even if a person did read well, there was no guarantee that they would read for pleasure.

The most learned men, until recent history, were clergy. Secular scholars were something of a rarity through much of history. So it isn’t surprising that there’s this idea that books are sacred because, for a long time, they were. Families may only own the Bible. It is literal a sacred book. Plus, as said above, until fairly recently in human history, vast majority of the world didn’t have access to literacy or books. Books could also be poorly translated or contain so much academic wording that the average person would struggle to read it (something that holds true even today.) Information was passed down through word of mouth and if it was written down, things often got left out. This is true for just about everything. I’ve personally have three different recipes written by my grandmother for the same dinner roll recipe. Some of those recipes are just a list of ingredients – and none of the recipes have the same ingredients on the list yet all are titled the same. None of the recipes produce the rolls from my mother’s childhood. If that can happen just passing down a family recipe from grandparent to grandchild, imagine what trying to write down family lore would be like?

Suddenly, the lack of magical books and the sacredness of the written historical rituals we do have becomes extremely important. Books are fragile things. They can be easily destroyed. Technical information can be extremely difficult to copy down correctly by memory. Those are the practical reasons why the BoS gained many of the sacredness it has and why it’s so commonplace within the witchcraft community. It’s why the BoS has names like “book of shadows” or “book of secrets”.

 

 

ANYWAY, none of that gives you the information you need to actually create a BoS.

In order to create a BoS, you need to write or record information you want to keep on hand. That’s it. You don’t NEED to have a dedication. You don’t NEED to have a correspondence chart. Would that help? Sure, if it’s useful to your practice.

The best way to start of BoS is to get a blank journal that you like and can take some damage. So while a school notebook is perfectly acceptable (and I had one as my first BoS as a kid myself), having something that can take some candle wax spilling on it is ideal.

Don’t be afraid to mess up the BoS. I, like many of you, fear messing up a beautiful new journal. But, uh, you bought it for that purpose? If you don’t like how it turns out, you can always rip out the page or cover it with white out.

Binders are actually incredibly common for modern practitioners. It may not be pretty but it sure it handy.  Using a binder allows you to print out spells or resources from online, or type them up and print them out. It also allows you to remove stuff from the BoS without damaging the BoS itself. Plus, tabs. Tabs are great things.

Scrapbooking books are also useful for BoS. I’m very fond of the post-style binders or scrapbooking books because it allows you to remove things like a binder but still have that book feel.

Of course, lots of people also use folders on their computers, information saved to their cloud drives, or private blogs to organize their BoS too. Some people have huge Word documents and others have a neat tumblr blog filled with spells.

As said before, you can also organize things by separating your BoS into different books – one book for dreams, another for spells, a third for divination, etc.

Try different systems until you get one to work for you. If you’re not much of a recorder when it comes to data, that’s OK. Some people just work best off the cuff.

 

 

So if the actual physical form of the book doesn’t matter, what does matter?

The information has to mean something to you.

It’s fine to copy things down or take notes for the sake of learning, but what’s the point of writing down a whole bunch of stuff in your BoS if you’re not going to use it? It may be a good idea to keep a separate section, notebook, etc on research that you might want to look back on later but don’t use in your day to day practice.

 

An index is your best friend.

An index is a list of subjects that are contained within a book that lists where you can find those subjects by page. It’s like a table of contents on steroids. And it’s an amazing thing that you’re probably not using.

Your homemade index is probably not going to contain every page a subject is listed on unless you’re super organized or diligent. And if you’re setting up your BoS now, you can plan so you won’t need an index. But for those of you who started a BoS without a plan and are sick of flipping through a hundred pages for that luck spell you KNOW you saw just last week, then you need an index. Take a weekend, write out what pages you can find what information on, and stick that at the front of the book.

Indexes, weirdly, come at the back of the book. Which is super illogical to me because, uh, shouldn’t they all be at the front of the book? So you don’t have to keep flipping to the back of the book to look up something? Do yourself a favorite and put your index at the front of your book. Help your future, exhausted, “I’ve been done with this shit for three hours and just want to go to bed” self out. Not that I’d know that feeling from experiences or anything. Nope, not me.

 

This a labor of love

Writing in your BoS probably won’t be your favorite thing to do. This is especially true if you’re worried about aesthetics. It’s a time consuming task and one that will require consistent and diligent work to be actually useful.

If that’s not your thing, that’s OK! You’re the one who gets to decide how you use that BoS. But if you want it to be indispensable, you’re going to need to put some serious time into it.

 

Space for you to add notes and grow

Most importantly of all, you need to be able to take notes on the information you have written down. Maybe you learned later on that that cool piece of trivia is actually related to some folklore. You might want to add that folklore in but alas! You didn’t save room. Now you’ll need to either add a page or make a note to look up a different page to get your information.

Additionally, your practice will likely grow and change as you grow and change. Your BoS will reflect that over time as well. Make sure there’s enough room to grow or that you’re willing to put your BoS aside and make a new one if the time comes where it no longer serves.

 

 

Of course, you do not need a BoS. You just don’t. My grimoires are spread across a dozen books and, honestly, I barely touch half of them. This is largely because I often make up my spells at a drop of a hat. I don’t really plan out much of my spells so I don’t really need pages upon pages of spells.  Do I have them, sure. But they’re not necessary for me.

Maybe you’re the same. Maybe you’ll find that your BoS isn’t useful to you or that you would be better with a journal style rather than a textbook style BoS. You BoS has to be useful and suit you.

That’s it. That’s all you need! Good luck to the new witchlings out there! And for you old hats, maybe it’s time to dust the cover off that BoS and take a gander at it, hm?

 

 

Links for more reading:

Cornell has a over 3000 books from the time of the Inquisition on witchcraft. http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/w/witch/index.html

I happen to have some online posts on hand regarding household purchases for the 1850-1870s. Keep in mind that the term “dime novels” stems from literally paying a ten cents for a small novel, something that started in 1860. To keep things in perspective, you could buy a pound of granulated sugar or a yard of bleached shirting fabric for the same dime in 1860. Your rent for a four room tenement was $4.45 in 1860.

 

 

Elemental Combinations

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

Getting Back to Your Spiritual Roots

Ever stop and take a look at who you were once or what you once believed and cringed? Who hasn’t? But many practitioners tend to develop their practice over a long time – and lose the foundation of their practice in the process.

I’m an animist. More than anything else, I’m an animist. I grew up believing that things had spirits. There has never been a time in my life where I haven’t believed this. For me, knowing that things have or could have spirits is a fact. It’s the same thing as air – I cannot see it but I know it’s there.

My spiritual practice has taken me to some weird places. Some of those places I miss deeply but do not (or cannot) reclaim. Other places I don’t miss at all. When I first started witchcraft I tried Wicca… for about five weeks when I was nine. I couldn’t get my mind around the whole witchcraft religion thing so they’ve pretty much been separated my whole life.

Recently I was binge watching some TV while working on a project for this site when I realized that what I was watching had a pattern. Not just genre related but each thing had a distinct callback to certain aspects to each other. Anyone else would have said, “well, yeah, they’re all based in the same setting or theme” but for me, each invoked a feeling of looking back at my past – and I missed it. I suddenly realized that those aspects and feelings weren’t a major part of my practice or life anymore. They’ve been put on the back-burner and in the background. I was missing them and I didn’t even know it.

Honestly, that realization struck me as a bit weird because I hadn’t even realized that I was missing something until then. I didn’t realize that I was feeling a bit lost. Or, even worse, that I was going through the motions without connecting to it all.

I decided that I needed to get back to my roots. Here’s what I did.

 

Getting Back to Your Spiritual Roots by This Crooked Crown

 

Re-read books that served as inspiration and foundations for my spiritual practice.

There’s a reason that people reread their religious books often. Even if you study the material closely, sometimes you just need to stop studying and instead read it. Just read the material and see what you get through that.

Books have always served as the basis for which I’ve developed my life around. I was always as a child and I’m always reading something today. Even if it’s not a book, there isn’t a day that goes by where I haven’t read something for the express purpose of reading and enjoying that information.

I don’t have a set spirituality and my practice actually developed twice- once as a child, once in my late teens and early twenties. That’s two sets of information to reacquaint myself with. Much of my inspiration also comes from fairy tales, mythology, and fairy tales. None of it actually comes from new age sources so it can be a lot to sort though. I’m relishing the opportunity to dive into some of my favorite classics though.

 

Follow social media accounts involving those foundations

I didn’t have internet until I was in middle school and we didn’t have a home computer until 2000. It seems weird now because so much of my life involves technology but back then, it was expensive and not really necessarily. So my knowledge developed according to what books I could find in the library.

The internet, my college library, and access to new and different people caused that second evolution in my practice. But facebook was just starting out. In fact, it was still restricted to just college students at that time. (Yeah, seriously) So while I had a huge library to play in, people to talk to, and the internet to explore, I didn’t have social media accounts to follow and interact with. This means when my social network drifted off and I left that university, I lost access to those connections.

These days we have social media so we can talk to people all over the world without have to slough through our emails to have a conversation. But while I interact on a daily basis with fellow witchcraft practitioners and people of other faiths, my own spirituality isn’t so easily defined so I don’t really interact with people on a spiritual level. That’s OK with me. My spirituality is actually meant to be solitary and intimately personal – it’s the Hermit tarot card. Solitary but full of wisdom and guidance.

Recently I’ve taken to following practitioners or researchers that follow similar beliefs on various social media platforms. I might not be talking to these people but that’s not as important to be as being around their knowledge and reading it.

 

Write down what you believe

This might be a long journaling process and you may need to goggle some questionnaires to really get to the heart of things if you’re at a loss for words. When you do get some words down, look to see which ones are repeating and which themes are continuous.

For me, personal freedom is incredibly important. I need it and crave it. I cannot stand being trapped. My belief in animism is absolute. These are things that are non-negotiable to me and form my foundation as a spiritual person.

Sometimes we just need to write things down to figure out exactly what we’re feeling and thinking. Getting those thoughts out there can really reaffirm what your roots are and why they’re important.

 

Change up your routine

Going with the motions without thinking about the motions is often the sign that people are disconnected. Switching out your day to day with something new and different can help you shake the dust off your soul and reconnect.

For me, I spent several days wandering about nature during the day and came back at night to read heavy tomes of fairy tales. This is what I grew up doing and where my roots developed. Going back to that old routine and getting lost in my own world allowed me to reconnect to who I was and what I really feel and believe.

 

Examine your ah-ha moments

I don’t really have an ah-ha moment. I remember reading a book and suddenly coming to a complete understanding about the concept of animism while standing outside of my high school’s pool. The humidity was an intense wall but I stood with my heavy backpack weighing me down and read my book while waiting for the bell to ring. I remember staring at the blue tiles as I sorted through the information I had just read. I have no idea what book I was reading but something about the way animism had been explained in that book made me realize that I was an animist.

That being said, I don’t really have a click moment where I suddenly realized what I believe. I don’t have a come-to-Jesus moment or a spiritual epiphany. Spirits have always been around so I never really lived without knowing of their presence.

That being said, looking back at the several poignant experiences I’ve had over the years that are so, so important to me reminds me of what I find precious in my spirituality.

 

Keep learning

People who have been doing their spiritual thing for a while now sometimes forget to keep learning. Never stop learning. Read a new book, skim through a new article, find some new source of inspiration. You don’t have to be reading deep academic tomes or personal accounts. I’ve found great spiritual attachments in fiction novels and manga. Don’t forget that you can always find inspiration in unlikely places.

 

Do I feel like I’ve really reconnected with myself spiritually? Yes and no. I know I’m on the right track because it feels right again. The sensations are so there. But I’m not quite there yet. I need to keep rereading old foundation books to see how they connect to me now. Some of those books aren’t accessible right now but once I get my hands on them, it’ll be like coming home. I know it’s coming, that experience that tells me I’m back. I can’t wait for it.

My spirituality is deeply intrinsic to who I am. It’s a cool night overlooking a seaside forest. It’s the Hermit. It’s the creature in the night that’s not quite human but not quite monster. Getting back to my roots is like coming home to a place you’ve never been to before. If you’ve been feeling lost or just  out of sorts, consider going back to your roots for a little while. Things tend to sort themselves out from there.

 

Secular Witchcraft Defined

Secular witchcraft is a rising star in the witchcraft scene but it’s also one that is heavily misunderstood.

Secular Witchcraft Defined by This Crooked Crown

As a secular witch, I practice a style of witchcraft that is separate from my spirituality.  The word separate is absolutely key. What this means that I may have spiritual or religious beliefs but they do not touch upon my witchcraft. The witchcraft practice and the spiritual/religious practice are not used in conjunction. They’re two separate things in my life, just like how your witchcraft may not touch your work life or family life.

It’s important to note the separation rather than the absence of spiritual connection. Much of the misconception is centered around this confusion. On the surface, absence and separation may appear to be the same thing but they’re not. If you combine oil and water in a glass, they separate but not disappear. Or you might think of your spirituality as a box and a separate box holds your witchcraft. Just because they’re apart doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

For example, as said I’m a secular witch but I’m also a hard polytheist that’s loosely tied to one god on a family level and another on a personal level (and maybe a third merely because the other two are around). I never use those deities in my witchcraft. They’re simply not a part of it. I don’t need or want them involved in the witchcraft portion of my life

 

 

Witchcraft itself is the art, science, and skill of a witch. Witchcraft is not and cannot be inherently secular. This is another misconception that has been made. By saying that witchcraft is inherently secular denies the existence of spiritually connected paths and systems. It denies witchcraft religions such as Wicca. It denies the idea that magic can be pulled, derived, or invoked through sacred or divine means. It denies quite a lot of historical magical practices too. So let’s cut the crap now – your practice may personally be inherently or originally secular but witchcraft as a whole cannot be.

The tricky part with secularism is where to draw the line between spirituality and secularism. What portions of your life count as witchcraft? What acts are religious to you? How to separate them will entirely depend on you. Secularism requires an ability to separate intimate parts of your life and for some people that’s difficult or undesirable.

For me, my witchcraft is spell casting and manipulating the world with magic. That’s how I define my personal practice. My spirituality is more of convoluted and difficult to describe but it doesn’t include using magic or spells to change things. Spirit walking and divination are separate skills from either of these two. While I do use spirits in both my spirituality and my witchcraft I don’t enact a spell while doing a spiritual ritual at the same time. And divination is used in neither except for very rare occasions.

This means that I can be having a spiritual crisis and still be able to perform readings, cast spells, or deal with spirits. Or I could be feeling super disconnected to my witchcraft or spirit work but still be able to read tarot or feel spiritually connected.

 

 

It’s extremely difficult to decide what believes are secular and where to draw the line. What makes up how you view the world? How do you define magic? How do you define spirituality or religion? What things are spiritual or sacred to you? Do they hold a place in your witchcraft practice? Can you cast a spell without using divine or sacred things in it? Ask these questions and see where your answers lie.

Many witches may call themselves secular when in actuality, they’re loosely religious. That’s not the same thing. You can’t sprinkle religion on top of secularism – it breaks the secularism, by definition.

Similarly, you can be an atheist and be a witch. Again, that belief of atheism should still be separate from witchcraft in order to be defined as secular witchcraft. Otherwise it’s simply atheistic witchcraft.

 

 

Many secular witches try the secular thing and eventually go away from it. Or they come to secularism from a religious or atheistic place. Which is perfectly normal. Our practices grow and change as to match how we as people grow and change. If your practices doesn’t suit the person you are or want to be, then it’s probably not anything more than a hindrance.

Secularism witchcraft isn’t for everyone and that’s perfectly normal. There’s no singular one size fits all for witchcraft. It’s perfectly OK to try secularism witchcraft and say “Nope! Not for me!” To each their own.

Where to Buy A Tarot Deck

Where do you get your magical or spiritual tools? Witchlings and newbies often feel lost because they’re not sure where they can get supplies and if it matters where those supplies are procured.

Here’s the short answer: You can buy them anywhere you like.

 

Where to Buy A Tarot Deck

 

Amazon and other online retailers are the easiest places to buy a tarot deck. You can pick up a deck for less than $25 easily, and some decks sell for under $15. You also get reviews from fellow readers and could quickly google up more images of the deck to help you with your decision.

Decks are usually in the game section of online retailers and there’s often a lot of price variances depending on where you’re getting a deck. Sometimes the deck aren’t actually cheaper online so be aware of that. Usually though, getting a mass produced deck off the internet is the cheapest and easiest way to get a deck.

I’ve already talked about how buying a deck for yourself isn’t a bad thing so browse through your favorite online retailer and see what decks appeal to you.

 

 

Independent artist also sell their decks online and they’re definitely worth checking out. New indie decks are popping up everywhere and there’s so many good ones! Often supported by Kickstarter and other crowd-sourcing campaigns, they may be bought from the artist’s website or online shops like Etsy.

Be aware that each indie deck will vary in quality due to publishers and costs so they may not be exactly what you expected in terms of quality. I’ve been pleasantly surprised many times though so it’s usually worth the risk!

Indie decks also tend to run at a higher cost due to the printing cost but the money is usually going straight to the creators so it’s worth it. Indie decks may also be limited edition and may not be printed another time so if you see one you like, you might want to snap it up.. Some of my favorite decks are indie and I adore them to pieces plus I get to support the creators and that’s always a bonus.

 

 

Of course, you can go old school and check retail locations.

Bookstores are an extremely good source for decks but you’re might not find anything that you like. Tarot decks are usually sold with other paper goods, like books, so bookstores are a less-than-obvious choice that might yield some great choices.

Game stores may also have decks, although they’re more likely to have card games used as divination tools. In particular, check stores that cater to the Dungeon & Dragons crowds or other board games. I picked up an out-of-print deck for under $25 while my companion picked out Magic the Gathering cards in a store like this. Don’t forget to check out the dice too – these places often have amazing dice collections that are perfect for divination too.

New age stores, metaphysical stores, and new age markets are the most obvious place to look for a deck of cards but they may be marked up higher. That being said, you’re more likely to find some really interesting decks here and may even run into independent artists creating their own decks.

Typically, decks are either overpriced or underpriced so be aware of what the original print price was and what the price is online before you buy.

 

 

 

 

Used bookstores do occasionally have decks. I’ve scored a few decks from used bookstores. You’ll usually find these decks up at a counter under lock and key or tucked in the probably small metaphysical section (check near the religion stuff). If not, you can ask to see if that store takes any of those decks in. You may be able to strike a deal with the store owner for them to accept decks and give you a call so you can buy them. This is especially good for collectors.

Used goods stores, flea markets, and yard/garage/estate sales are another great place to score some decks. I find them less often this way and they’re usually not in the greatest of condition. You will almost always need to cleanse the picked up this way and you should probably do that before you bring it into your space.

Pro Tip: If you’re buying a used deck of cards, make sure to count the cards and see if any cards missing. You can still read the deck without cards and some companies will even let you replace cards if you contact them, but it’s way easier to just avoid this step entirely if you can.

Decks found this way are usually underpriced but you do occasionally see some people grossly overpricing decks due to lack of research or emotional attachments.

 

 

Sometimes other readers end up selling decks. Collectors may be thinning their collections or their spiritual path has changed so some of the decks don’t work for them anymore. Sometimes people buy decks because that look awesome but then the deck doesn’t end up resonating with them well. Or they just need cash fast.

The bonus of buying from fellow readers is that the cards are probably well cared for. They may be worn or altered though, so be sure to inquire about this before purchase. The energy from the deck is also probably pretty good, assuming the seller actually used it to read with, of course.

This is just like buying anything else from a person – you take a risk but you’re probably dealing directly with the current deck owner. It’s also a good way to get your hands on rarer or out of print decks.

 

 

The internet itself is another place you probably aren’t checking. Online decks accessible via your browser have been around since the internet itself really took off. App stores for you mobile devices have a literal TON of apps you can download and use.  This is without a doubt probably the easiest for anyone who is even slightly tech savvy.

There’s a great deal of variation and some decks even publish their own app version of the deck like the Wildwood Tarot or Witches Tarot. I’m seeing a lot of  good things from the up-and-coming Labyrinthos folks (Golden Thread Tarot, Labyrinthos Academy,and Luminous Spirit Tarot) but I find the meanings rather minimal. I highly recommend Galaxy Tarot which allows you to do readings, have daily draws, and has a wealth of information to learn from.

This is definitely a growing market. The deck will be virtual so you can’t hold it in your hands but it’s super low-key and so long as you have your device, you have a deck. It can be really convenient that way and some apps will even do daily draws for you.

This is probably the best option for those folks who aren’t even sure they want to read tarot. Many apps are free or relatively cheap. They also come with build-in meanings so you can teach yourself how to read the cards from these meanings.

And before you ask: yes, they work perfectly well.

 

 

So those are just some of the places you can get decks from. Finding your perfect deck can be difficult but these are some good places to start looking. Following other readers and seeing what decks they’re excited for and picking up is a good idea as you’ll see where they’re getting their decks and usually, why. Good luck and happy hunting!

 

Decks featured:

  • Sacred Rebels by Alana Fairchild and Autumn Skye Morrison © Blue Angel Publishing
  • Sacred Creators Oracle by Chris-Anne Donnelly © Chris-Anne.com
  • Linestrider Tarot: Kickstarter Edition by Siolo Thompson ©
  • Heart of the Faerie Oracle by Brian Froud and Wendy Froud with Robert Gould © Harry N. Abrams
  • Enchanted Lenormand by Caitlin Matthews © Watkins Publishing
  • Deviant Moon Tarot Borderless Edition by Patrick Valenza © US Games Systems

 

An Exercise for Meditation or Astral Travel

Finding an exercise for mediation or astral travel can be difficult. It will largely depend on your personal preferences for environment and pacing. So while this exercise might work beautifully for your friend, it might not work well for you. Experiment until you find one that works for you.

If you’re looking for an adventure in astral travel, combine this exercise with Myridin’s information.

 

Close your eyes. Breathe in deeply, slowly, and hold for a moment, then release. Do this several times until you feel your muscles relax.

Picture a forest. The forest is in a valley and you are on top of hill somewhere in the middle of it. The trees are old, tall, and very green. The ground is grass, moss, and packed, dark earth. The air that you breathe in is warm but clean, smelling like sea salt and pine slightly.

In front of you, far into the distance, there’s a tall, cool mountain range. It rises up and clouds cover the top of the mountain. It is too far away to walk to.

Looking to your right, you see that the forest goes on for as far as you can see. To your left are more trees, deep, green, and lush. Behind you are more mountains, chilly and solid. In the very far distance, almost out of sight is a dirt road, leading into the sea of trees.

Above you the sky is a brilliant blue, almost aqua in it’s glory. White fluffy clouds drift by as if asleep.

Breathe in deeply and release. You are safe.

Where to go from here will be up to you. You can wander through the forest and find the road. Or you can hike deeper into the forest or towards the mountain. Or you can sit in the forest and enjoy a moment’s peace. Spend time watching the clouds or wait until night falls and stare at constellations in a star-filled sky you’ve never heard of before. The choice is yours.

When you are ready to return, sit down and close your eyes in your mind. Breathe in slowly, deeply, hold for a moment, and release. Repeat. Now envision the room you are sitting or laying in. Allow time to come back to yourself and focus on your breathing. When ready, open your eyes. You’re done.

 

One of the Best Sacred Offerings: Charity

One of the best offerings to make to, well, anyone is charity. Donating to charity in your deity’s names is wonderful. Not only is it a perfectly acceptable offering for a great very many beings but you’re also helping out as well.

 

Think outside of the box when it comes to your donations and charity! You can donate to a beekeeping association to honor a deity of agriculture. Volunteer at a women’s shelter for an offering to a goddess. Those beings associated with health and healing probably will enjoy an offering of volunteer work with the homeless or LBGTQIA groups. Helping out the elderly could work beautifully as an ancestral offering. Worship animals or nature? Donate to a shelter or organize that support them!

 

 

You can do other things too. Business owner? You can donate some of your proceeds or products to charity. I offer up healing salves and tarot card readings where the proceeds directly go to a local charity. Do you knit or sew for charity? You can enchant that too for safety and warmth. I also routinely help clean the beach and parks because those places tend to get forgotten in the winter time. And that, too, is an offering.

There’s lots of things you can do to help others and use that act as a sacred act for your own deities. People say this is the season of giving, so why not give an offering or magic?

 

How to Write A Money Candle Spell

Money spells, in my opinion, are the best spells for beginners. Why? Because you’re going to notice if you suddenly have more money, aren’t you? And they can be as easy or as complex of a spell as you’d like.

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Here’s a step-by-step guide for you to follow.

  1. Determine how much money you’ll need and why (although the why isn’t actually necessary). If you’re not fond of speaking out loud while doing spells or you feel like this would be more effective, write down the amount of money you need and why. Be specific. Pro tip: Start small. Need ten bucks? Ask for ten bucks. Need three thousand? Maybe it’s best to break it up into smaller amounts.
  2. Get yourself a candle. Any color will do but white, gold, silver, green, or whatever color your money is will do. A votive is probably the best and most common size but I actually recommend a little tea light. They’re cheaper and much faster to burn out.
  3. Get a magnet. Don’t look at me like that. You can buy packets of magnets in craft stores or craft departments of department stores or you can just select your least favorite magnet off the fridge and cut a bit of it off and use that. You place this in the hollowed out bottom of a candle or under the candle in the candle holder you intend to use.
  4. Get some herbs or ingredients. Never fear! You almost certainly have at least one of these on hand or can easily “borrow” some from the nearest coffee shop. These herbs should be luck drawing, money drawing, and prosperity drawing. Here’s my list of money drawing herbs and ingredients. You’ll need to at least have the herbs kind of finely chopped or powdered if you’re working with a small candle. Any non-herb ingredients can be placed in the hollowed bottom of a candle or under the candle on a candle plate. Your candle should be ready to go now.
  5. Light your candle and visualize. Some folks don’t do this but if you do, visualize you getting the money and spending it as you need it.
  6. (Optional) Chant a money spell. This chant can be anything you want from “bring me money, bring me X amount, bring me money, bring me X amount now.” to “Money comes but it does not go, bring the money, let it grow”. Or whatever you like. You can just say “I want X money”. Or nothing at all.
  7. Burn your things. While chanting (if that’s something you’re doing) burn the paper with the amount of money and purpose of money on it (if that’s something you’re doing), sprinkle the herbs into the lit candle slowly. When you feel done, then you’re done.
  8. Let the candle burn out. Keep whatever’s left of the candle somewhere until the spell’s been fulfilled. Congratulations!

 

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How to hollow out a candle: You can do this by flipping the candle over, and twisting a hole into the wax with a knife.

How to dress a candle: Rub the candle in money drawing oil then roll it in herbs. You can chant over the candle if you want and infuse it with your energy.

 

That’s it! It really is that easy. It’ll take some practice but once you get going you can create all sorts of new spells with this as a base. Have fun and happy casting!

Originally posted over on my tumblr.

How to Adapt Your Sacred Offerings for Every Season

Despite autumn starting weeks ago, it’s really just starting to feel like autumn around here. New England never really knows what it’s doing weather-wise so that’s not a surprise.. But, it does get me thinking about the practicality of offerings.

I don’t know about you but I don’t really want to do much of anything when there’s a ton of snow on the ground and it’s so cold I need thirty pounds of winter gear to check the mail. Just, no. I like you Jack Frost. Just not that bloody much. (I do all of the shoveling during the winter so that might play a part in this too.)

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There are a lot of things to consider when you’re creating an offering. You probably have to think of the appropriateness of the offering and perhaps the historical relevance of the offering. But here’s some other things to think about, in general:

 

  • Price – Can you afford this offering all year around or will it be more expensive during certain months? Will you need to save up for this thing?
  • Availability – Are fresh offerings available all year round? Are those offerings of quality? Is it just plain hard to find?
  • Temperature – Will it freeze? Will it melt or change texture in the heat? Is rot a concern?
  • Is it appropriate? – Sometimes, there are better and more appropriate offerings for deities or spirits based on what’s available right now – and what you want to achieve with that offering. A goddess of agriculture probably isn’t going to want an Oreo.

 

One thing people think of when they decorate their altars is switching out the tools and imagery according to the seasons. Like decorating your house for the holidays, many people dress their altars and sacred spaces as well.

Your offerings can also change for the season. It’s easy to throw a tiny pumpkin in the offering dish in addition to the usual but how about swapping out the usual? Switching out your usual offerings for something more seasonal can not only help your wallet but add a new dimension to your practice. Suddenly, you’re operating with the seasons which can make a significant difference, especially if your practicing is feeling static.

Want to know the secret to make easy swaps for every season? You need to think of the spirit or deity’s sphere of influence and associations. A sphere of influence is what a spirit or deity is associated with. What they can do and affected. The association are what they are associated with. Example: Freyja is a goddess of war, beauty, and magic certainly. But she drives a chariots pulled by cats and has a battle boar Hildisvíni. Those aspects of her (and many others) also play into who she is and can help you make good offerings no matter what the season is.

If I was to make an offering to Freyja in the spring, I might offer gold coins (or those chocolates in the shape of coins covered in gold foil), strawberries, spring water, and crocuses. In the summer, I’d do bouquets of fresh flowers, light wines, and bowls of ripe fruit. In autumn, as the leaves die, I’d offer the most beautiful fallen leaves I could find, bones from a homemade stew (she’s a goddess associated with death after all), perhaps some pretty stones, and homemade pastries. In winter, apples, melted snow, mulled cider, and slices of ham would grace her offering table.

Other things to think of is the quality of the offerings. Strawberries are great offerings but I find winter-born strawberries aren’t nearly as sweet as the ones found in in late spring or early summer. To me, it’s not as good of an offering because the quintessential element (sweetness) isn’t there. Additionally, here in the north, fresh out of season fruit can be very expensive when you consider what you’re actually getting (not sweet strawberries). And, since strawberries can freeze, they’re really not appropriate for outdoor offerings.

Adapting your offerings takes some initial thinking and research but it can turn your offerings into something special and fantastic each and every time you make it.

I like adjusting my offerings to what’s available. It makes me feel like I’m sharing my life and my world with those from the spirit realms. And, I’m always up for the practicality factor. And if you need inspiration for altars and offerings, check out my pinterest board dedicated just to that!

Dealing with Spirit-Induced Trauma and Injuries

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This is one of those posts I bring back once a year or so to remind people that it’s definitely a thing that needs to be discussed!

My friend duskenpath got an ask on tumblr about links for dealing with spirit-induced trauma and I remember kicking myself as I read it because I actually have a fair amount of experience with this and I haven’t posted on it. Which I feel guilty for.

First, let’s talk about spirit induced traumas and injuries. You can absolutely be abused, harassed, raped, assaulted, and tortured by spirits. You can absolutely bare physical injuries caused by spirits. This can absolutely happen and anyone who says otherwise… well, they haven’t talked to enough people then.

 

I have a finger that was broken by spirits. My finger grew crooked afterwards, the nail growth stunted, and now fifteen years later it causes me pain enough to wear a finger brace and have to pop it back in place daily. I have a knee that was damaged in a fight with a monstrously sized hill toll. I played a decoy for my companions and for my effort I was snapped up into the air, whipped back and forth like a child’s toy with my knee being the bending point. I couldn’t walk for days afterwards and now, almost two years later, my knee still gives me trouble as if I had physically injured it. I’ve seen scratches pop up before my eyes after a spirit encounter where I’ve only been sitting in the middle of a couch with no way for such marks to appear otherwise. I’ve been possessed and nearly thrown off cliffs before. Sure, maybe it is psychosomatic but the point is you can be injured by spirits. But I have and always will attest this: just because your mind is producing the phenomena doesn’t mean that it isn’t also real. It may simply be that spirits use our minds to hurt us.

Experiences in the astral can be extremely traumatic. I’ve been in situations where I’ve been trapped and tortured where in a single night days worth of trauma was inflicted. Time doesn’t work the same way in the spirit realms. So much can happen in a short period of time. Seeing someone murdered – or murdering someone yourself – can still affect you. Although it’s rarely spoken of, we have a tendency to view spirits as “others” and thus murdering or harming them doesn’t count. You can wake up and it’s over, not matter how much you’ve hurt a spirit. This isn’t universally true, of course. Some people treat spirits as equals and others will have to deal with the consequences of their actions long after the event occurs. It depends on the situation and the individuals involved. You can be hurt by them and they can be hurt by you.

Trauma caused by spirits isn’t just spiritual in nature however. You can be affected even outside of the astral. You can be abused, manipulated, and gaslighted. The abuser could be anyone from a ghost, to a nature spirit, or even a deity. Just because these individuals might be nice and beneficial to someone else doesn’t mean they won’t hurt you. Never think that. These beings are far more complicated and complex than many practitioners realize. There’s no reason to think that a deity could be a savior or role model for one practitioner wouldn’t also be a spiteful, cruel abuser to another practitioner.

 

The ways to deal with the situations as they arise can be easy. Say no. Defend yourself, violently if needed. Distance yourself. Protect yourself. And let others know of your experience so you can help help.

These steps get trickier when the being is non-corporeal. Binding, banishing, and cleansing can do wonders. Surround yourself in protections and wards designed to keep them specifically out. And keep saying no.

But just because they’re gone doesn’t mean the situation’s over. Spirit wounds take longer to heal and the trauma you’ve experienced isn’t suddenly gone. It’s a long road to recovery. Spirit wounds linger and should be treated with both healing spells and magic and physical healing techniques like physical therapy and appropriate medicines. Improper care can lead to long-term damage and some wounds won’t heal (like my knee which did receive proper care but was shattered horrifically in the astral.)

Trauma should be handled similarly. Look up treatments and ways to handle similarly experienced trauma like PTSD. And take it slow. What’s good to keep in mind is that just because you experienced the trauma from a spirit doesn’t invalidate it. Try to find an open-minded or pagan-friendly therapist. You may also want to find a clergy member, community elder, or mentor that can help you work through the trauma and be someone to talk to. While licensed therapists are better, they’re not always the best solution for all problems so choose carefully. There’s also support groups that meet to discuss and support one another through the recovery process.

 

Victims of trauma suffer a wide variety of symptoms and trauma can occur from a wide variety of sources such as breaking up a significant relationship (which many spiritual relationship can also fall into), abuse, car accidents, humiliating or disappointing experience, physical assaults, surgery, death of someone significant, sustaining an injury… It’s actually very common. The thing to remember is that your reactions are normal for an abnormal situation – whether that trauma’s from a sport injury or a spirit injury.

Symptoms can wary widely but the most common is to be in shock and deny it ever happened. Anger, irritability, and mood swings are also common. Guilt, shame, and self-blame are extremely common, especially when one’s in a situation where they felt helpless or hopeless. Continuing sadness, hopelessness, and feeling disconnected or numb also occurs. Suffers may also feel confusion, have difficulty concentrating and withdrawn from others. Fear and anxiety, sometimes coupled with depression can linger long after the event occurs. Physically, nightmares, flashbacks, insomnia, agitation, and inability to focus can happen. The opposite might also be true. You may have blank spaces in your memory and sleep excessively while plagued with fatigue and apathy. The body also responds with aches, pains, muscle tension, and paranoia which can lead to being easily startled.

Each person responds differently to trauma. My brother, for example, was hit by a car and permanently damaged for life when he was 13 while riding his bike. His dream of opening a dojo could never be realized with his injuries and he was bedridden for two years. He’s never ridden a bike since. He hates driving for any length of time and driving for longer than ten minutes will result in chain smoking and extreme agitation for him. He will always prefer someone else driving him someone to the point where he’ll schedule appointments around other people’s schedules. That’s trauma. He also experienced spiritual trauma. A few years before his accident we lived in a severely haunted condo complex. The kind of haunted where we didn’t go into certain rooms and visitors reported seeing a child ghost. Every single visitor, including the ones from out of state and never met described the child the exact same way. My brother and I have always been sensitive to spirits and always had them attracted to us. By this point I had buckled down my personal protections so spirits’ attentions shifted to my brother. Nightmares every night and physically seeing the faces of the dead. Therapy did nothing and everything I did to help didn’t help. Eventually he got sick of it and started to destroy them and banish the spirits. It led him down the path of necromancy and dealing with the dead because if they wouldn’t leave him alone he’d make them leave him alone. That’s also trauma.

 

Knowing your triggers are key. I know that being held against my will, even for a few seconds, will result in me lashing out with extreme violence. I’ve literally thrown a six foot 260lbs man across the room and drew out a knife because he wouldn’t let me go when I said so. I know this and so when someone grabs me even while playing around I warn them in a no bullshit voice that if they don’t let me go I will hurt them. I let that boundary be known. Communication is important to making sure that boundaries aren’t crossed and triggers aren’t hit. That’s not always easy or doable for everyone though.

Isolation from the situation is common. You may pull back from astral travel and all spiritual contact. You may even pull back from talking to friends about spiritual pursuits and stop your practice all together. Stop your practice as needed but don’t isolate yourself. Talk to others in the community. An elder, mentor, or clergy member may be able to help you and there are support groups that can help. Talk to people, even if it’s not about the problem at hand. It might take a lot of motivation to do it but try for just fifteen minutes. If you still don’t want to after fifteen minutes, then don’t.

Grounding yourself and staying grounded is really important. Grounding techniques vary but my favorites are eating high carb foods like bread, pushing the excess energy into an object like a ball or necklace, or sitting/laying down and letting the energy bleed away from you. This isn’t just good for excessive energy. If you’re feeling confused, disoriented, anxious, or lost, sit down and take slow, even breaths. Rocking may help keep your breathing even but it depends on the person- it might make you more anxious. You may even want to concentrate on keeping the body tight and pick out objects in the room to concentrate on – like all the green objects. Feel the ground around you. Touching solid things may also help steady you.

 

Allow yourself to feel what your feeling. I hate that I lose my compassion when I’m triggered. I’m angry, violent, wild. I hate it. But I let myself feel it. I get it out and forgive myself later. It’s not always easy though. It may take days of self-care and losing myself in books or video games to reconcile it with myself. Doing normal things and keeping to my daily schedule also helps. Doing dishes, going for a walk, petting the cat. All these normal things helps. I’m a big, big fan of breaking up big tasks into smaller ones in any circumstances but it’s especially nice to even write them down when I’m feeling triggered. It helps ground me that these are things I can do. Accomplishing those things helps even more, even if it’s something like folding laundry. Keeping up your practice, even if you aren’t reaching out to anything spiritual, can help cement things for you. There’s many elements to many spiritual practices that don’t requires spiritual involvement.

Be kind to yourself. Self-care isn’t just about mental care but also physical care. Eat balanced meals regularly. The easiest way to do this is to make a huge bowl of salad and cut up hard boiled eggs, meats, cheese, and other additives and keep them separate. Mix and match at will. It keeps you from being bored and still having regular, balanced meals. Avoid drinks and foods with lots of sugar or caffeine in excessive. Chocolate may help calm you down but six ounces of chocolate and ten coffees isn’t healthy. Avoiding alcohol and drugs is also recommended as they might make symptoms worse or could give you an escape route from the trauma that can lead to addiction. Exercise, even just stretching, can give you an excellent venue to use excess energy or work out aggression or anxiety. It can also keep you grounded and feel more in control. Sleeping regularly the recommended amount is ideal. Not too much or too little. 7-9 hours is recommended by physicians at the moment.

Meditation and yoga can be useful. I’ve written on meditation before so pick the kind of meditation you prefer from the more “I’m going to sit here and ponder this” to the more new agey “breath in and out and go on a spiritual journey”. It might be more useful for you to do neither and just spend time sitting and listening to soothing sounds. I recommend the noise generators over at mynoise.net. Deep breathing, swimming, or activities you enjoy will also work. I like napping outside in the sun. It’s grounding, relaxing, and provides a favorite hobby: falling asleep while reading.

Many times we can treat our own trauma with time, patience, and self-care. This isn’t always the case. If you find yourself unable to engage in relationships or the trauma is affecting your life long-term such as affecting job performance, sleep months later, or trouble functioning in day to day life. Escaping into addictive behaviors such as alcohol, drugs, video games, or sleep is also a sign. Depression and enhanced anxiety or fear are also signs. If this happens to you seek out a professional therapist. If you have thoughts of self-harm or suicide, please seek help.

 

You may need to revisit the event in order to move past it. Coming to terms with what happened often is part of the healing process. This might not happen for years later but it probably will happen. For some people, it never will. For spirit related traumas, I usually recommend joining in on a group ritual where someone else is in charge and someone is aware of your history. That last bit is exceptionally important. They watch to see if you’re overwhelmed and extra protection can be laid on you as needed. You may even want to watch a ritual instead of participating to help soothe your anxiety. One-on-one sessions with another practitioner who has a solid hand on the spirits they work with is also a good idea.

This isn’t always possible however so lead meditations or contacting healing spirits may be something you’ll want to look into. Go slowly and take your time. If you ever feel unsafe, disengage slowly and ground yourself. Reach out and contact people to help solidify that you’re here and safe. It’s a good idea to keep some protection and cleansing implements at the ready to boost your space’s safety and to reduce any anxiety.

When dealing with spirits afterwards, it may be a good idea to come up with a set of rules on how to treat each other. Penalties of the rules should also be listed. For example, my home has a “no assault” rule. No one is to be touched. So when an aggressive spirit chased a friend this past winter to his car, my brother and I didn’t just chase the ghost away but purged the entire crossroads my house sits at. I later invited back those spirits who had been banished but had done no harm. The rule stands however and no one has harassed us since. Spirits should agree to the rules but watch the way they agree to them. They might try to find loopholes just because they can. (Fae are especially known for this.)

 

What’s really important to keep in mind is that healing will take time but your experiences and feelings do matter and are important. Just because the person or situation responsible for your trauma is spiritual doesn’t make it less valid. You’ve been hurt and the wound sits deep in you. It will take time, patience, and work to heal. Each person is different and your healing process may vary wildly from someone else’s. Just know that you’re not alone.