Crown’s Valentine’s Day Master Post

Happy Valentine’s Day / Lupercalia everyone!

Now, I don’t really celebrate either of these holidays so they’re only important to me as many of my friends and family do celebrate them or are affected by them so when I was asked (albeit some months ago) by makeyourownstuffwork to share some love spells “focus on creating a space for love to grow, rather than forcing an imitation of love” as part of a master post I was pretty excited. This post was written quickly but I’d been thinking on it for a while. For my tumblr followers, you’ve seen most of this post (and for wordpress followers, the links go back to tumblr. Eventually I’ll move all these spells over here) but I’ve added some content that I wanted to add last night and didn’t get the chance to and clarified my wording as I was rushed the first time around. Editing is a marvelous thing. Anyway, for those interested, here’s the original tumblr post.

Love spells aren’t strictly my forte. I’m capable of them certainly and they’re said to work wonders according to my clients but I have a friend who is hands down the best person I’ve ever met at spells relating to love and sex so I have my standards pretty high on this sort of thing. I personally don’t use love magic for myself often for a variety of related reasons but mostly because I’m happy being alone. Like, I’m actually happy and prefer to be by myself. Also, I’m not the kind of person to take bullshit and independent like the sun is hot so men seem intimidated? This is in addition to my romantic life’s pretty much a series of me liking someone who doesn’t feel the same way and for people to like me quite a bit but me not return the feelings. I digress….

I really appreciate a love spell. I love the way they have different meanings to different people and the little twists and turns can change something beautiful and freeing to something ugly and chaining. Love spells are traditional and common. Every folklore book ever will have at least one love superstition in it and it’s a pretty good chance that superstition can double as a spell. It’s also one of the number one requested things from clients and I adore performing them on the regular for clients. I’m not the kind of person to shame or judge someone for wanting to be loved or needing to use spells, dating websites, or whatever to fulfill that need. I likewise hate slut shaming. Essentially my belief is love however and whomever you will so long as it’s consensual.

First, before I get into what you’re really here for, let me tell you about why there’s so few love spells in my post and instead focused on spells that will help you in love. As said above, there’s a million love spells out there. Literally. So I find that spells that will help with dating are more useful. These are a series of suggestions and spells for those inclined to try. They might not be straight-up love spells but they’ll go hand-in-hand with your average love spell beautifully.

Self Care! This isn’t just adding enchanted bathing salts to your bath or casting a glamour. You also need to take actual self care for yourself. Even if you’re by yourself, dress up if you want to and take a crapload of selfies. Even if you’re not up for it tonight, you can use your selfies for a spell later (or not). If not, roll around in your sweats and Netflix all night. Be happy. It’s the most important thing. If you are dress yourself up, feel free to slap on some glamours. Glamours don’t just work for others but for you too. (When I feel like crap I put a glamour on myself to focus on the things I like about myself). Bathing in love attracting scents or herbs is a great ideal but watch out for herbs that have unwanted or poisonous effects. Brush up on your protections and be sure to remind yourself how fucking fabulous you are. (This is also something those who don’t have plans to do. Because you are awesome; potential lovers just haven’t seen you yet.) And hey, don’t forget to take any medications or vitamins and to eat a little bit before going out.

For Beauty. Worth, Valerie. The Crone's Book of Charms and Spells. pg. 37There is a talisman for beauty if glamours isn’t your thing. This one is from The Crone’s Book of Charms and Spells by Valerie Worth. Located on page 37 is reads as follows.

“For Beauty

Upon the first face of the talisman shall be depicted a small disk with five rays, as a star, flanked by the crescent Moon and fiery Sun. Upon the reverse shall be written, in characters well formed, these words:

Morning star

And evening star

By thy light

I grow fair.”

For those who are not adept at poetry, essentially write the above charm on the back of a a drawing similar to the one located to the above left. You can use any materials. I tend to use paper but I’ve also embroidered it on things and painted it on leather and glass.

Some spells worth glimpsing though:

Spells for eloquence or a honeyed or silver tongue are also a great idea. Like Honey. Deer’s tongue, honey, sugar, or wearing silver or gold should help with eloquence. If you have anxiety, these may also help you out. Combine these sorts of spells with spells for bravery, courage, confidence, and truth (spells against deceit) to really boost your natural skills.

Use your perfume or cologne to your advantage! Check the ingredients and notes against an herbal or essential oils magical meaning or purpose list to ensure you’re wearing the right one for the night. Better yet, enchant it to your purpose.

Wear amber, rose quartz, rubies, and a myriad of other stones for attracting love. The list is long so check your jewelry and google up their folklore or magical usages.

Carry with you dried herbs or other materials and charms related to love. Examples of this are: rose petals, cinnamon, gardenia, catnip, jasmine, iris, lavender, mint, rosemary, strawberries, vanilla, cloves, sugar, orris root, myrrh, camphor, hibiscus, and hyacinth. Don’t forget you can wear prints with these flowers on them too! Some herbs and flowers are geared more towards certain genders for mythological or plant physiological reasons. Do a quick wiki check first to make sure you’ve made a proper choice.

Use color symbolism to subtly attract love or a date. Red and pink are popular, but cream colors as well as silver and gold are also good. Black is also stunning. Avoid gray as it’s the color of doldrums and invisibility.

As much as we’d like to say it doesn’t happen, drugging people’s drinks is totally a thing and something you need to be extra careful of. Similarly, drinking too much can be (incorrectly might I fucking add) used as an excuse for rape. (It’s not). Here’s a tip against both. Wear or carry a unicorn related item with you. Unicorn horns are supposedly good at eliminating or curing poisons. As a bonus, unicorns are in folklore powerful and fierce creatures. Summon up the spirit of one for assistance it someone just can’t take no for an answer. In general for this, it the charm suddenly calls attention to itself or someone pays sudden attention to it, toss your drink and get a new one, possibly ditching your companion, call for help, and get to safety. It’s better safe than sorry. Have beef with unicorns or none are handy? Use Carmelite water, devil’s shoestring, hyacinth crystal, bezeor stones, or invoking Oshun against poison.

Overindulgence with alcohol on dates is not uncommon so here’s some tips. Magically, carry amethyst. Don’t drink and drive. If you’re going out with a group, have a designated driver and buy them their non-alcoholic beverage of choice all night and hand your keys over.

As said above, summoning up or invoke something (tiger, unicorn, deity, dragon, servitor, whatever) to protect you if someone just can’t take the fucking hint. Being polite only goes so far. When I’m in trouble and I’m not capable of defending myself (rare but it does happen, especially in situations as described above) I summon my servitor which is to protect me even if I’m unconscious and if I’m in holy-shit-I’m-going-to-die trouble I could call upon my family’s guardian (it’s a long story) or my ancestors but I’m a fighter. I prefer to defend myself. Don’t risk yourself unnecessarily. Call for help if needed.

If the night goes sour, have a a few protection spell at the ready and be sure to have someone on speed dial to call. I recommend fake phone call apps (some even will call at scheduled times) as well as Circle of 6 if you need an out.

Glamours for invisibility, to not be noticed, to avoid attackers, etc.

Of course, all of that implies that you actually, you know, have a date. So here’s some love spells and like posts. Remember! One of the best ways to find a lover is to actually meet people. This may be you signing up for online dating or you leaving the house and hitting the town. If one isn’t working, try the other. You have to try in order to reap the benefits.

Witches and Dating

On Target-Specific Love Spells

Apple Love Spell

Divine. Use whatever divination techniques you prefer but divine the answers to a few basic questions: What are you looking for tonight? What are you looking for long term? Where should you go to get it (look for specific ssymbolism and see if any nightlife hotspots match up)? Anything in particular you should look for. And see if a new love interest is going to happen. Don’t take the results as set in stone. They aren’t.

White bark birch trees are traditional for new beginnings, among other things. Here in New England, some cemeteries have birch trees planted around or near the graves to foster the spirits to move on. If you happen to have or can find birch bark (don’t strip the tree, especially in winter, you’ll hurt the tree) write in red on the bark whom you’re looking for in love. It could be as simple as “bring my true love to me”, “bring me someone who will treasure me” or like sentiments. Be as complex as you’d like. For those who are into blood magic, write this spell in your blood. Now kiss the bark, hold it close and really feel the love you want to feel. Then burn it.

Creating a fetch or servitor (Egregores and Constructs or How to Create a Servitor (or, rather, what to consider when making one)) may take time but can be useful in leading or fetching someone to you. Here, I’d recommend giving a list of requirements of what you’d like the person to be to the fetch. This requirement list can be as short and long as you’d like and as shallow or deep as you need it to be. Maybe you need to have someone who will love you fiercely or you’d prefer someone who’s up for a few nights of fun with no strings attached. For those concerned about consent, be sure to add commands like “make sure they’d be willing to date me” or “it’s of their own free will”.

Make a poppet. If you’re looking for a certain kind of person, make a poppet and stuff it with things representative of the person you’re looking for. This could be a lot of fun and a very creative project. Looking for someone with a big, soft heart? Make a big red heart stuffed with soft filling of felt and stick it inside the poppet. Looking for someone with certain physical qualities? Draw or stitch them onto the poppet. Think outside of the box for some things. If you’re making a poppet and can only think of liquids to fill it with, grab a small bottle, fill it, and put the bottle inside the poppet. Keep the poppet close and tuck it in with you at night.

Play out your dream. Poppets are great and all but video games are awesome. Load up your favorite simulation game like the Sims and create as close to you as you can get in the game. Now make someone who is your ideal lover and play out a life of meeting, getting together, and going to whatever extent you’re looking for in said lover.

Almost everyone sees the moon. Beg the moon’s aid in finding someone. Pour a libation of clear liquid (water, snow, vodka, whatever), and tell the moon the type of person you’re looking for. Then look for signs of the moon to indicate whether the petition worked. This is best done on a full moon (like tomorrow at the time of this writing) and outside.

Enchant a magic ring. I recommend finding a ring that has some sort of association with love (maybe has a rose quartz or is in the shape of a heart) and twist it three times on your finger towards your heart. As you do this, say the kind of person you’re looking for (your true love, some to love you, etc.) This is best as a spell you put a lot of energy into and maybe dress the ring, if possible, in love attracting oils and keep it when not stored with a lock (or a bit) of your hair and some love attracting herbs and stones.

Those of you that work in the astral may wish to try this: There are spirits that serve primarily as matchmakers. Some feast on loneliness and others on love. Ask around among your astral contact or write a note and post it somewhere in the astral asking them to get in contact with you. Whichever you get in contact with, be sure to be polite and concise when speaking to them on what you’re looking for. Be sure to mention you’re looking for a lover in the physical realm, where your body is, if that’s what you’re looking for. Offer them up something good – don’t be stingy. I’d suggest making a second offering in the physical as well.

Petition deities. Don’t just tap deities of love or fertility but any deities that have taken a shine to you or are patrons as they may be more willing to help. Be sure to make your offerings generous.

That’s all I have right now. Best of luck to everyone and have a happy Valentine’s Day and/or Lupercalia!

Astral Travel 101

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Astral travel…. It’s a huge thing in many people’s practices, a way to deal with spirits on their level, in their world, to learn new things, and explore possibilities outside of what this physical realm can offer. People astral travel for different reasons but my intent in this post is to give basic information along with tips, tricks, and safety advice.

For those of you who follow my tumblr blog, you’ll probably have seen much of this information before.

First, what is astral travel?

Astral travel is an out of body experience where one’s spirit or consciousness leaves their body through astral projection and crosses beyond this realm into another. Often, astral travel will occur in places of spirits, deities, or other places but some claim to be able to travel to places like Tolkein’s Middle Earth. There is much debate on whether these places exist, how they exist, whether they’re physical or incorporeal, and how time works there. Sometimes, the world of dreams is also combined in the astral and they can be seen, by some people, as one and the same.

Astral projection, as an aside, is an out of body experience. I feel and define astral projection as leaving your body but not traveling beyond this realm. With astral projection, one can travel the world and experiences things they may not be able to experience else-wise here.

Other terms you might have heard brandying about are: spirit walking, projection, out of body experiences, astral journeying, spirit journeying, O.B.E., crossing over, going to the Other Side, across the hedge, crossing the hedge, cross the (fill with your term of choice). There is some debate of minutia of meaning in these terms but in general they mean the same thing.

In my experience, everyone experiences the astral differently, although they sometimes align in interesting ways. I’ve met someone in the astral before and a year later met them again online. The astral realms are flexible, wide and vast.  Perception may have something to do with what’s available to you in the astral, although that’s a topic for debate. Perhaps it is that the individual mind can only be stretch so far beyond the realm of belief and thus what’s possible can only exist within the realm. The realms spoke of the most often are called spirit realms, Other Side, Fae realms, faeryland, and so on.

Achieving astral projection can occur in a variety of ways but almost always requires two things: an alternative state of consciousness and leaving your body. This is something I find most distressing within the community is the lack of stress on this point. For the most part you should be leaving your body. Some people have a partial removal of consciousness, their attention and focus being elsewhere but there usually is an accompanying feeling of leaving your body. Some techniques may not have this happen to you but one should take care in these instances to separate traveling and daydreaming as they’re usually different. An alternative state of consciousness is almost always required as it gets your consciousness to a point to leave your body. Some people have an easy time of this and others find it most difficult. Many techniques have been developed to assist with this from the extreme of entheogens and flying ointments, hanging upside down in a bag from a tree, and pain to the mild of sex, meditation, and trancing.

People can travel together in the astral. People can be forced to astral travel. These are things that can be done but are  a topic for another time. I do have to say this: consent is essential. It is beyond rude and potentially dangerous to pull someone over to the other side without their permission. Likewise, it is beyond rude and potentially dangerous for someone to pull you over to the other side and you should express your anger when this is done. Deities have a tendency to do this although spirits do as well. They don’t have the right to do that to you without permission. The only way that it might be OK is if you asked their assistance.

When people astral travel, they often speak about spirit guides. A spirit guide is a spirit that’s meant to guide or assist you in some way. I, by and large, do not trust spirit guides and do not use them. I don’t see the point in them personally. I do understand that some people need to have a sense of guidance or to be assisted in some way. I get it, logically. However, I don’t trust spirit guides. I don’t trust anyone who says they’ll helping someone just because they can. That sounds like a load of bullshit and I’ve NEVER met a spirit that’s acted like that. Ever. Even spirit guides get something by dealing with you, even if you don’t know what you’re giving them. And you don’t need a spirit guide. Almost every 101 book out there tells you that you need a spirit guide. I’m telling you that you don’t. You can, of course, have one if you so desire or end up having one by accident but you don’t need to seek one out. I find that it’s easier to be deceived if you’re looking for something as you’re willing to overlook little warning signs and issues telling you to stay away.

So what does it feel like? Off, dreamy, and I find that a large portion of astral travelers actually seen themselves in the third person, as if they’re looking over their shoulder. Some others are face to face with themselves and more still are in first person as if they’re there. It’s fun, exhilarating, and freeing.

To me, exploring the astral is like going to a large foreign city. You might speak some of the language but not all. It’s a weird culture and you don’t want to offend people so you’re super cautious but you also don’t want to be taken advantage of. And the best way to learn about a new culture is to jump right in. That being said, there are some basic tips and advice that one should think about. Half of any type of travel is acknowledging the danger thereof and prepping yourself for trouble. That’s true whether you’re flying to Moscow, road tripping to Quebec, sailing to Sydney, or traveling in the astral.

“You can’t just read the guide book. You’ve got to throw yourself in, eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers – or is that just me? Stop asking questions. Go and do it.”

– Ninth Doctor, Doctor Who, Episode 7, The Long Game.

I strongly believe that anyone attempting to cross over should have some basic knowledge on how to protect and defend themselves. I am constantly and consistently hearing stories on how people get over there and they die – this can be a nothing event or it can be traumatic. I’m constantly hearing stories on how people get their asses kicked by spirits or deities. You should know what to do when that situation arises. Trusting everyone should not be an option. Protecting yourself, defending yourself should be. You might not win and you may still get your ass kicked but at least you can say you tried and you’ll know what to do the next time. So protection technique A didn’t work but it you change X, Y, and Z components and you’ll get protection technique B which does work.

Do people cross over and travel around without learning protection first and have no issues? Sure. But just because some people can do it doesn’t mean you or others can. Some people can spend their entire lives drunk driving and never getting caught or having an accident but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea or that their drinking buddies will be able to do the same.

As an aside, I’d also like to remind everyone that astral travel is NOT necessary. It may be necessary in some practices but it is not a requirement of most.

It’s ALWAYS good to remember that nine times out of ten you’re going to be dealing with non-humans and these beings have their own culture, beliefs, systems of justice, and habits. They’re not indebted to helping you (no one is) so expecting the first spirit you see to become your ‘spirit guide’ is potentially foolish and dangerous. Remember that spirits, like people, probably want something and don’t tend to do something for nothing. Are there some that do? Sure, but like how not everyone is a philanthropist, not everyone on the other side is willing to help you.

Also remember your readings for folklore and fairy tales: spirits lie, they deceive and they can hurt you. Physically hurt you and they can cause harm to you here. I’ve stunted nail growth from a ghost slamming a locker door on my hand and breaking my finger. I’ve cuts on my body from six months ago that should have healed with no apparent cause on how those cuts got there – even though cuts and wounds from mundane sources since then have healed. I’ve gotten hand print shaped bruises on my legs and ankles, even on days where I’ve stayed in bed, alone, and read all day long.These things happen, even if nothing followed me home. Sometimes wounds from the other side carry over here. I injured my knee two months ago by being hurled, shaken, and ragdolled by the leg by a troll in the astral. When I woke up, the knee was and still is injured here, in the physical realm, with no cause at all (in fact, at the time, I hadn’t even climbed a set of stairs in days, forget about having injured it in some way). It still hurts. If I get up from where I’m sitting, it’s not likely to hold my weight right away. I can’t sit in certain positions for long without it aching. It’s not swollen. it’s not bruised. It’s not damaged. I’ve had medical professionals look at it and I’m going to take it for an x-ray as soon as I get an appointment to do so. I want to rule out the mundane despite knowing that I did nothing to injure it here and there’s no apparent cause for it except having been injured in the astral. So yes, you can be hurt and that’s why I recommend that people should learn protection techniques first. I injured my knee while playing distraction so others could get to safety and take it down – I knew what could happen and I paid the price, willingly. It may not be that easy for others.

Preparation:

  • Check your home and personal protections. You should already have personal and home protections up. This may be something like wearing a crucifix or it might be an elaborate network of witch balls and witches’ ladders.
  • Use a magic circle. I don’t do this and many don’t but it may help protect your body while you’re away.
  • Prepare yourself for the morning after. Using the assumption that you intend to travel at night, prepare your morning as you would if you expected a hangover. A hearty breakfast, lots of fluids, headache and nausea remedy. Sometime the herbals used to cross over will you give a hangover type feeling. This occurs even if the herbal is consumed via oil, ointment, or smoke. If it does occur, keep records and test it. Some people react to certain herbs that way, others discover it’s because they gave themselves too much or combined it with something.
  • Beef up your protections if you’re going somewhere dangerous. This is especially true if you’re dealing in new territory or with particular tricky or shady folk.

How to Stay Safe:

  • Remember that the astral/other side/spirit realms/faery land/etc IS DANGEROUS. IS NOT SAFE. IT IS DANGEROUS. I literally cannot stress this enough. It is not a playground. It can be perfectly safe and nice but it is not going to be safe for everyone.
  • Be flexible and adaptable. You were planning on heading towards a wheat field but ended up in a desert? Roll with it.
  • Don’t be aggressive (unless necessary). That’s pretty much asking for a brawl.
  • You have the right to defend yourself. And sometimes the best defense is offense. And running away is almost always an option, even if it isn’t the best option.
  • Remain vigilant and doubt everything. This sounds like a terrible way to live and it is. But this had saved my ass more times than I care to tell you.
  • Train yourself. Your body over there doesn’t have to be the same way here. Some people change shape depending on their mood, location, or job. I’ve met a few folks who never stop shifting, always moving. Others become their true selves. And more still just have little subtle changes in how they best reflect themselves. With this new ‘body’ you can do whatever you like. I recommend training your body to be more responsive. Maybe even train yourself with a weapon if you notice yourself getting into trouble.
  • Don’t get caught up on deciding what’s a spirit, fae, demon, god, etc. The lines get blurred. And really, what does it matter? They’ll either let you know or you can figure it out via context. And if you can’t, then it’s probably not important to know anyway.
  • Assume someone is dangerous until proven otherwise. It’s a great rule of thumb, especially if you don’t know exactly with whom you’re talking to.
  • Spirits lie, deceive, cheat, and kill. Sometimes spirits are just assholes. Some they lie about who or what they are. They do it for reasons you can’t understand, for their own personal agenda, just for laughs, because they’re hungry, or to fuck with you. Gods are not exempt from this.
  • Spirits can take the form or glamour of another being. This is standard folklore stuff. They might be able to appear as your mother but they might also appear as a deity. Why they’d do this depends but usually it’s for kicks.
  • If you’re paranoid then come up with a way to banish each and every being you meet. Seriously. If you’re that concerned about it, take the precautionary step. But if you are that concerned then you may wish to reconsider traveling to begin with. It’s not necessary. You can do witchcraft without it.
  • Don’t eat anything. This should be obvious. Accepting food offered (or eating random shit you find) is unwise and best and can get you seriously fucked up at worst.
  • Assume everyone’s out to get something. I have never met a spirit that isn’t looking for something. I know they might not say anything and maybe they’re acting really nice and generally are, but they ARE getting something. Maybe they’re studying humans. Or maybe they’re leeching energy off you or selling information about you to someone. You don’t know.
  • They are not human. Do not forget that. [UPG Alert!] I’m of the belief that many spirits don’t think the same way we do. They don’t hold things to the same level of importance, they certainly don’t seem to value the same things or have the same morals or ethics. You can’t expect them to act a certain way or do something in a particular fashion. It’s like expecting an alien from Pluto to be able to know all the intricacies and eccentricities of your culture.
  • Avoid politics. Politics is a game no matter who is playing it or what field it is on. A deadly, horrible, necessary game. Try to avoid it if possible. If you can’t (as many constant travelers cannot) at least keep your wits about you.
  • Know who’s top dog. There are a lot of spirits out there that  have territory. Some of those spirits are just holding that territory for someone bigger and badder than they are. And some of those territories have land that translates into a place on the physical realm. Yeah, you can literally walk into a spirit’s territory here by accident and have to deal with it over there.
  • You are not at home. Stop acting like it. You’re traveling. Tra-vel-ing. No one owes you a thing (unless they do) and acting like they owe you secrets and knowledge is a great way of getting no where fast and pissing everyone off. And ruining the party for everyone else.
  • You can get hurt. Spirit wounds happen. All the time. Sometimes it’s bruises, scratches, or random aches and pains that shouldn’t be there. I’ve woken up with visible six fingerprint and one thumb-sized bruises on each ankle even though I was in the house alone except for the cat and slept only three hours. I’ve noticed these tend to appear overnight and will last for much longer than normal, despite any treatment towards it (although, spells do seem to soften them). Hint: treat the wound on the spiritual realm as well as the physical. Keep in mind that sometimes these wounds heal in the astral but not in the physical.
  • Keep records. As mentioned above and previously, keeping records is highly important. I don’t even note in my records what I do (although that’s a personal preference). I just note that I crossed over at what time, what I took with the dosages (leaving a sample aside nearby my notes in case something goes wrong), and when I return what time I did that. This is also useful if you find yourself crossing over at random. Some folks get triggered by shit. It’s best to keep the records so you learn from it all. Do as you will. Most people keep everything in a journal. I keep mind in a binder and have a form I fill out each time, similar to a lab report. Ugh, paperwork but brilliant at the same time. You can also write down the information from your travels themselves. This is great for memory exercises.
  • Your UPG is as valid and true as everyone else’s. UPG [unverified personal gnosis or some form thereof] means that what you’ve experienced is real to you. It’s valid and true if you say it is. No one should be able to deny your experiences (if they do then call them out although if you’re operating on historical or mythological fallacies someone will call you out on that.) That being said, your UPG does not have to match anyone else’s UPG. Sometimes they match up and that’s awesome. Others times you’re all by yourself. That’s awesome too. Just remember that just because you’ve experienced something and someone else experienced something else entirely, does not mean both of you aren’t correct. Treat other people’s UPGs as you’d like yours to be treated.

Getting back depends on how you got there in the first place. A lot of just ride it out till they come back. Others have a series of techniques like the ones below. It’s a good idea to keep trips short until you can find your way back without trying to (although, some people never get to that kind of familiarity with this so YMMV).

How to Get Back:

  • Return phrase. Some people have trained themselves to return to their senses when they utter a particular word or phrase. (Likewise, some people have trained themselves to cross over with a different word or phrase)
  • Alarms. If you travel while asleep or fall asleep while traveling, setting an alarm will shock you out of whatever realm you’re in, most of the time. This isn’t exactly recommended because it’s really disorienting. It’s best to use an alarm that starts softly and gains volumes as it goes. (You can usually find a digital one in a department store for around $12 USD, last I checked.) You can likewise try to use an mp3 that starts soft and gets loud to do the same thing if that works better for you.
  • Tether yourself. If you can, when you first cross over, try to extend yourself back and feel where your body is. Keep that feeling in the back of your mind and you’ll be able to find it again. You can make a “physical” reminder of this by wearing a rubber band or bracelet, ring, whatever, to remind yourself. Ensure that you appear on the other side with it.
  • If you travel with a spirit, that spirit can shove you back. (It should be noted that other spirits can do this too and will sometimes do it to be assholes). In non-allies, it’s a dominance play. Also known as a dick move.
  • Have someone sit by and wake you at a certain time. Switch out who watches who to make things even. And give that watcher something to do. It’s boring watching a sleeping or meditating person most of the time.
  • Have a start zone. Find a place where you will always first visit when you cross. If you appear anywhere else first, go directly to the start zone. This way, you will feel best connected to that spot and will feel most closely connected to reality there. Then you can jump back and forth as much as you’d like.
  • Food. This is going to sound weird. Traveling is draining to many people and I always recommend prepping a carb-filled or grounding food for yourself for after. If you eat the same thing after each trip (like ritual bread or whatever), remembering that smell, taste, texture, sight, etc can bring you back.
  • Keep records. As stated above. Not a way to get back but something to keep in mind.

If you can’t travel, keep trying. It takes time. Try different techniques as safely as possible to get your goal. Sometimes people have blocks they need to work through to travel, whether that’s personal or imposed.

Sources:

http://thiscrookedcrown.tumblr.com/post/37206570121/ruiner85-asked-my-bestie-thesecretlifeofpyris

http://thiscrookedcrown.tumblr.com/post/75796505617/how-can-you-protect-your-home-and-whatnot-when

What Is Horsing?

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On my other blog I was asked “What exactly is horsing?” Here’s my answer:

Horsing is a type of possession used by practitioners, pagans, witches, and other religions. It’s consensual possession, in a manner of speaking. It’s allowing your body to become a vessel, usually temporarily, for another being. Usually it’s a god or deity but pretty much any spirit can possess a human, especially if the human lets them.

Now some readers are probably super excited by this brand-new information. But wait a second, please.

First off, possession without invitation first is INCREDIBLY rare. There’s a inherent danger in horsing that the being riding you is just going to take off with your body and not give it back. They can fight you. They can destroy you so you can’t fight back. And if a possession is deeply rooted, sometimes the only way to end the possession is death. No, I’m fucking serious as shit right now. I’m not being over-dramatic. This is personal fucking experience. You. Can. Die. Because you have no control over your body. That spirit can just force your ass out into traffic just to have a giggle over how your body bounces over the roof of a car.

Terrified yet?

When you decide to horse, you should always absolutely have faith in that being. You should always make sure that being knows to get the fuck out when you tell them to. And you should always have a competent practitioner with you that can expel the being from you if necessary.

Possession is scary. I’ve been possessed and horsed. While possessed I wandered around a cemetery in absolute tears for no reason (we were at a birthday party) and with the knowledge that the spirit possessing me wanted to throw me off the ridge into the bay below. A friend came and collected me, pulling me out of the cemetery. I was immediately better and took my lesson from it – never drop my bloody shields. I’ve been horsed plenty of times, usually by spirits that are both deities and not. During those times it was part of a huge ritual and the beings were respectful and left when asked to.

Other than that, setting yourself up for it is as easy as getting into a trance, inviting them in with the understanding that they will leave when you want them to. I mean, there’s a lot that goes on for it but the practice itself it easy enough.

Consent is incredibly HUGE when talking about horsing and possession. Because if you don’t want it then it’s NOT okay. I almost never hear someone talk about consent when handling spirits, deities, or other beings. And that’s terrifying to think about when talking about horsing or possession. Don’t give up your body without a fight. It’s yours.

I recommend checking out the following links:

New Year’s Resolutions and You: Witchcraft version

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Every New Year’s Day there’s about a million posts online that tell you how to make good resolutions and/or keep them. The most popular are saving money, read more, quit something (smoking, drinking, a hated job, etc), learn something new, and exercise/eat healthier1. However the most common ones are also the easiest to break2. However, magic practitioners have a leg up on every else.

How? How don’t you?

The following will inform you just how very easy it can be to keep that New Year’s resolution – or at least have a better chance at keeping it.

  • Knot spells – Trying to quit a bad habit? Get an elastic band and braid over the elastic with thread or ribbon. As you braid, make your confirmations that this is what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it. Pro-tip: use elastic made for clothing makers or crafters and tie or tape it together. The elastic will last far longer than any other. Put it on your wrist and every time you go to do that habit, snap it.
  • Cast a spell – Write and cast a spell for your purpose. Want to lose weight? Print out a picture of yourself, now draw the shape you want to me. On the waning moon (yeah, that’s right, moon phases, I don’t use them for anything but this sort of stuff) cast a spell to encourage your body to change. Don’t forget to actually exercise and adjust your diet as needed to achieve the weight loss in a healthy way.
  • Money jar – This is great for just about every resolution. Get a nice clear jar with a lid. Write (or tape on a note) your resolution on it. If you’re making a few resolutions, just write “resolutions”. Now every time you do whatever your resolution is, put money in the jar. I tend to put pocket change in mine so it might be a few pennies one day and a handful of coins the next. Keep that money to help fund next year’s New Year’s Eve drinking or to help pay for Christmas presents or whatever. But how is this witchy? Enchant that money jar to WANT money. Every time you pass that money jar, you’re going to want to put money in it. And to put money in it, you need to do one of your resolutions. (So, read a book, exercise for fifteen minutes, Google up a new craft to learn, whatever)
  • Reminders! Use your phone and computer for reminders. I log everything into my Google calender. I’d be lost without it. Schedule your workout or time to read or whatever. That’s not really witchy but it can be! Color code each of your resolutions with a color that will make you want to do it. Now print out that color and use that as a spell to encourage you to do whatever it is you need to do.

Why are New Year’s resolutions helpful for witchcraft? They totally can be. I know some folks who make resolutions like “I want to do 30 spells this year.” “I want to divine more.” “I want to start worshiping a god”. With resolutions like that, how could they not be witchy? And yes, creating object that want or encourage you to do your resolution helps.

Other reasons why to keep your resolutions may vary, and all of them can be useful in your witchcraft, spiritual, or religious practices. Let’s take the top ten resolutions according to Digital Spy from 2013 3:

  1. Read more books – Hey, why not read books on topics you want to study? Kindle is free to download on the computer and smart phones and there are lots of free books on just about every subject. Many libraries also have online e-book libraries as well to borrow from. If you spend a lot of time reading blogs, try to keep track of how many pages you read and count that towards a book.
  2. Save more money – Copy bills and put them in your freezer to stop them from increasing. Do every money spell you can get your hands on and, if spending is an issue, enchant a jar or savings book to WANT that money and enchant your debit card and wallet to be less attractive for you. Want to reward yourself at the end of the year for saving so much? Buy yourself an expensive book or tool for your practice.
  3. Lose weight – I’ve described above how to do this but another good reason is some people feel more in tuned with their energy and have more energy after they’ve exercise. I know that when I actually keep my exercise regiment, I feel much healthier, sleep better, and slip more easily into trances. Spirit work and astral travel also seems easier, but that’s my personal experiences. Yours may very well vary.
  4. Redecorate – This is the perfect opportunity to witchcraft your house and put up new protection spells! If you’re painting, don’t be afraid to write on the old paint spells, symbols, sigils, etc to protect you house and paint over them. Buying curtains? Draw or stitch sigils or symbols onto them to protect. You don’t have to just protect! You can also stuff or buy pillows for your couch or bed to help heal or sleep better.
  5. Take better photos – Photography seems odd but actually can be really interesting. You can protect your photography by putting an invisible sigil watermark on them. Want to use your photography in your witchcraft? If you’re working on a witchy garden, use photographs to document it. If you’re doing spirit work with local spirits attached to a tree, photograph the tree each week or month to see the growth and changes as you’ve built a relationship. It can be very affirming.
  6. Go traveling – Travel doesn’t have to be far or overseas! Look around to see if there’s any Pagan Pride Days nearby or if someone’s hosting an event or workshop you want to attend. Do money spells to earn up the cash to go and spells to encourage travel.
  7. Sell old unwanted stuff on eBayIf you can sell them, look to trade. Think of all the new shiny witchy stuff you could have it you do sell it! Use money spells to encourage sales.
  8. Buy a tablet – Money spells are your friend here.
  9. Organize photos – While organizing your photos, keep a photograph of each person you want to do a spell for. Want to heal your aunt? Help your brother get a job? Want to curse that ex of yours? Organizing your photos is the perfect excuse to find the best photos for spellwork.
  10. Do something for charity – This can be used as a sacrifice for your gods, depending on which deities you serve.

So you see, there’s a lot of reasons beyond the regular or obvious ones why you should want to keep your New Year’s resolutions.

My New Year’s resolutions for 2014 will be the following:

  • Exercise for at least 10 minutes once a day to improve flexibility, energy, and strengthened previously injured limbs – can be stretches, heavy house cleaning, going for a walk, or full workouts. Pro goal: 30 minutes at night and 10 in the morning.
  • Write more – at least non-blog related 1500 words a day. Pro goal: finish a book and be published.
  • List one new item a week in the shop. Pro goal: 5+ items a month

I intend to accomplish this by implementing the above tips. A money jar has been selected and constructed and will be used for all three resolutions. I have a yoga mat I will be enchanting to encourage me to use it more often and I’m putting a glamour on the fridge and cupboards to seem less attractive – no more snacking just because it’s there. Writing’s a bit trickier as I use my computer for it but I’m going to enchant my rug next to my bed (which serves as my desk) so that every time I step on it I will want to write. And for the shop, I’m going to hang a “siren’s call” type charm bag in my workshop to encourage me to work.

There’s a lot of ways to witchify your New Year’s resolutions even if the resolutions themselves aren’t terribly witchy. I find that thinking of ways to make your not-witchy stuff work better through witchcraft makes doing that stuff a little more special and fun.

The Ladd School

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The Ladd School. Taken from [http://www.theladdschool.com/history/history-of-the-ladd-school-ri.asp].

This morning the Providence Journal reported that Rhode Island’s Supreme Court upholds the state’s decision that it can’t be liable for injuries gained on Ladd School. [x]

Which is really interesting because Ladd School is a famous abandoned mental institute.  Built as an annex of the Templeton Colony and in association with the Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded in 1908, it was suppose to be progressive. [The States newest institution”. The Providence Journal. 21 February 1909. pp. S4, 7.] It wasn’t. Originally known as the Rhode Island School for the Feeble-Minded. Dr. Joesph Ladd later changed the name in 1918 to the Exeter School due to the controversy with the term “feeble-minded”. [Ladd , M.D., Joseph H. (1916) Report of the Exeter School to the RI Board of Education, p.20] Whatever it’s intentions was, by the 1940s it served as a place to put people, usually women, who were unwanted. The mentally ill, women pregnant with illegitimate children, prostitutes, and so on. It was a eugenics program run by Dr. Ladd who was Fernald’s protege. (Ferald being Dr. Walter Fernald, a eugenicist who decided these schools were a good idea and compounded such ideology.)

Up until the 1940s or so it was a nightmare. Varying degrees of how terrible it was depends on your source but overcrowding, untrained staff (Dr. Ladd was the only trained staff, supposedly, but that’s just local legend. However, there was a great shortage of trained staff. That much has been historically confirmed.), with few releases, being sent to the Ladd School was a literal death sentence – you didn’t leave until you were dead or unable to reproduce. This, by the way, was encouraged by the state as the School had become something akin to a penal colony.

In ’47, Dr. Ladd released nearly a third of the school’s population (about 900 people!) and made changes to improve the school. This was not because a change of heart but financial troubles. [Ladd, M.D., Joseph H. (1945) Report of the Exeter School to the Department of Social Welfare, p.2] However, although the number of buildings and patients grew, the conditions did not overmuch. There was anew focus, however, in taking the severely disabled rather than just the criminal or shunned women. Because there were so few trained staff, the situation kept getting worse until 1955 when a 20 year old “defective delinquent” was implicated in the murder of a severely disabled child. [“3 Years In Exeter Death”. The Providence Journal Bulletin. 1 March 1956. p.1] Dr. Ladd quickly resigned.

In ’56 Dr. John Smith took over [Greenberg, Selig (3 July 1956). “New Exeter Head Spend Hours On Planning”. The Providence Journal Bulletin.] and in a renamed the school Dr. Joseph H. Ladd’s School in 1958. Dr. Smith was a breath of fresh air even if the air did have it’s own stench a bit. Dr. Smith came from Connecticut’s Training School for the Feeble-Minded and put in a few series of new buildings, state-of-the-art, including small cottages which would become the model for group homes. However, in the late 60s, employees began picketing the working condition and wages. [“Ladd Pickets for More Help”. The Providence Evening Bulletin. 21 March 1973.]

In November 1977 a state inspection at the hospital building found multiple health and human rights violations, including several deaths from negligence and medical malpractice. [Perl, Peter (28 September 1977). “‘Deplorable’ situation closes Ladd clinic”. The Providence Evening Bulletin. p.1.] Dr. Smith was fired by the governor who demanded changes. [Gariepy, Tom (25 January 1978). “Dr. Smith fired at Ladd; Garrahy orders changes”. The Providence Evening Bulletin. p.1.] George Gunther took over but made no waves. The 1980s arrived quietly but changes in policy and revision, plus denationalization movement had the governor order the closing of Ladd in 1986,  although the last patients wouldn’t leave the building until 1993. [Fitzparick, C. (1 March 1986). “Reaction to Ladd closing: cheers”. The Providence Journal Bulletin. p.1.; Miller, G.W. (31 July 1986). “Ladd Center shuts down”. The Providence Journal Bulletin. p.A3.] At the end, it compromised some 30 buildings and even had it’s own named roads. There’s even a map from the 1970s that shows how large the School was. [http://www.theladdschool.com/map/the-ladd-school-buildings.asp]

You can read more about the Ladd School at The Ladd School Virtual Museum, although watch out for some misinformation and writer’s prose. I found at least one instance of inaccurate information and the writer has a tendency to backhandedly insult the state. This is a great little blurb on Ladd School, with a lot of detail but zip sources. Read the comments for personal stories. The facebook group  The Ladd School Museum has a TON of information, including documentation. There have been at least four books published on Ladd as well as a documentary. The Ladd School was the filming location for the movie Blackmask. [http://www.theladdschool.com/research/the-ladd-school-links.asp]

Over the years, heading up to the Ladd School was something of a teenager’s right of passage, but it was not without risk as the state’s decision indicates. That was a lawsuit from ’05 when a 17 year old boy accidentally spilled sulfuric acid he found on site over himself. I personally knew a classmate of mine who was hit by a car on site but he survived with a broken arm and a new story to tell. (Ladd School was a popular place to drink and get high). Another friend of mine fell from the second floor but wasn’t injured outside of bruises. The buildings always felt cold, even in the bright heat of midsummer. Friends who frequented the site more than I (because Exeter is across the state from me), report phantom footsteps, shadow figures, voices, and singing when no one else was around. However, with the site being so very large, it would have been impossible to actually confirm that they were alone every time.

In 2006, heavy rains revealed more than 70 human remains out on route 37  were discovered. Archaeological research discovered that exits 2 and 3 were built over the State Farm Cemetery which is the name of the Ladd School’s cemetery back in the ’60s. Later the bodies were re-interred in the State Institute Cemetery in Warwick later that year. In 2009 there was a memorial service for those re-interred. [“RIDOT Hosts Memorial Service for 71 Men, Women and Children Re-interred at State Institution Cemetery”. RI.gov. Rhode Island Department of Transportation. 2009-07-14.] The building of the highway occurred because the wooden grave markers had been worn away over time and no environmental studies were done before the building occurred. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island_Route_37. Retreieved 12/21/2013.] The whole building over graveyards and not checking the environment isn’t even surprising. There’s no law in Rhode Island that says they can’t, so long as it isn’t a Native American graveyard. This is from personal experience working with the Historical Cemetery Commission of Rhode Island. Trust me. No one bats an eye at building over graveyards in this state. In fact, according to the state registry, there’s something like 3100 cemeteries in Rhode Island. And at least a third of them are missing. We either had no data to find them outside of comparing family cemetery names to landowners of the period or we have information from 40-60 years ago telling you how to find the cemetery – often using landmarks that no longer exist. There is a current movement to place each cemetery on GPS so they can be added to maps and claimed as historical landmarks. Ladd School and State Farm Cemetery, at this point in time, have not been declared a historical landmark.

Most of the buildings of the Ladd School were demolished August, 2012. [I can’t find the original post but here’s some photos of the demolition: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.579697698743021.1073741828.419338814778911&type=1] Located in Exeter, Rhode Island on state property, it is famously known by locals as a haunted place with hundreds if not thousands of reporting sightings. For those looking to wandered through Ladd, know that police do routinely stop there, there’s cameras on the grounds of nearby office parks (a popular route to get there), and to watch your step as the grounds can be tricky. In fact, seven people were arrested for trespassing in August 2012 so you might want to give it a pass. [http://cranston.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/cranston-teens-charged-for-trespassing-at-former-ladd-school]If you’re in Exeter, don’t forget to check out the gravesite of Mercy Brown, an accused vampire.

Most importantly, don’t damage anything in Ladd or Mercy Brown’s cemetery. Not only is it beyond fucking rude, it’s a crime. Also, I’m watching and I consider all graveyards and cemeteries in Rhode Island under my protection. Fuck with one and I’ll curse you. Friendly warning.

Crown’s Usage of Bones and a Pondering on the Community

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Unpopular opinion below. You’ve been warned.

There’s this new surge in lots of folks (read as pagan, witches, and other like folk) wanting to start bone collections. I’m totally for collecting bones just as a collector but I’m at the same time confused. Because I’m seeing a lot of witches and pagans expressing the desire to collect bones to put on their altars, shrines, walls, etc but not stating WHY. Obviously, what’s stated below’s my opinion and might not make me popular. Oh well.

I like bones. I went to school for archaeology and I intend to write my thesis, when I go back, on death rituals. I know bones. However, I don’t have a huge collection and here’s why:

  • It’s expensive. Bones are often costly, especially when their ethically sourced, and need to be properly cared for. This is especially true of human bones because it’s disrespectful to possess human bones and not treat them properly.
  • Space. That ox skull might seem awesome now but where are you going to store it? Where are you going to put it where you can clean it regularly from dust, put it somewhere it won’t get damaged accidentally, be away from the element, such as water and heat, and also be decorative? Do you realize how big an ox skull is? How about a ram skull with horns intact? Or a horse’s femur? Bones, like all things, take up space and when you start looking into deer bones (which seems to be a gateway to bone collecting) you’re going to quickly realize how big these bones are.
  • Cleaning bones of the flesh is a time consuming, dirty, space-taking, and sometimes dangerous work. It’s really very disgusting and can’t be done around children or pets. In fact, there’s a long list of things you should be doing and wearing when you clean bones. You can also very easily get sick when trying to clean bones, especially the bones of roadkill. This can be from flesh-eating bacteria to bone dust in your lungs.
  • No need for them. I don’t need bones. I don’t need to showcase a dead person’s bones when I didn’t know that person and have no connection to said person. This is a personal opinion, obviously, but why collect or display bones of a person or animal when I have no connection to them? If you feel a particular affinity towards cats, then I could see why you’d collect them. But just randomly having a bunch of bones for no purpose other than they’re bones and they feel “witchy” is playing to the stereotype of witchcraft (which is totally cool to do but admit that’s what you’re doing)
  • I personally find using the bodies of the dead as decoration without any other purpose outside of that decoration is bordering on disrespectful of the dead. Again, personal opinion, but there it is.
  • Local sources are hard to find and require a lot of searching. Representing your local forest which you work with spiritually by using a deer skull is actually really neat. But wouldn’t it be far more meaningful to scour the woods for a deer skull or ask for/buy/commission it from local hunters. You help out a local hunter and you get a skull from your area.

Now, I use bones for a wide variety of purposes in my witchcraft. For example, let’s say a family bought a roast chicken with the last of their money. Take a bone from the roasted chicken, clean it, break it chanting that with the breaking of this bone so are the sorrows from lack of money (or whatever), and then bury it at a crossroad. Small bones collected for various purposes are kept and tucked into charm bags. A coyote’s toe for cunning and intelligence, to help someone thrive with a new promotion or moving to a new urban city. Bones from Christmas ham and Thanksgiving turkey are cleaned and kept to use in spells to benefit the household and those that have eaten off those bones. Animal symbolism can be attributed to those bones and bones themselves are great as a “foundation” in spell work, a good starting point.

There’s a lot you can do with bones and the bones I collect for witchcraft aren’t, however, for display. They’re used almost immediately for a specific purpose or kept for specific purposes for the future. That being said, that doesn’t mean I don’t have bones in “decorative” places. I keep three cow bones hanging above my trash – to always keep the wolves at bay, to ensure that there’s always a place to start from and that the foundation of my life won’t be rubbish, will never go so low that I need to start entirely from scratch, from nothing. They appear very decorative but they’re there for a specific reason.

Ancestor worship is entirely different and falls well into the realm of “doing your own thing”. For example, I’m looking into acquiring a stag’s skull from Wales, as a tribute to my ancestors. It would be blessed, cleansed, and hung with care as a method of honoring my ancestors. Again, decorative, but serving the purpose of necrolatry.

Now, I’m not saying bones shouldn’t be used in art or education. There’s some gorgeous artwork that have been made with bones, but I always question whether those bones have been treated with respect and ethically sourced before really giving in to admiring them. And, outside of writing, I’m not an artist so I can’t really express a thorough opinion on that topic. I know it’s somewhat controversial but a ridiculously ancient practice. Seriously, bone art’s been around forever.

As for education and reference, that’s obviously an aside and still falls into the questions “do you really need bones or would a plastic anatomical skeleton be cheaper? (Most time they’re not). Often, people learn off skeletons that are older than their professors. A lemur skeleton at one of my old universities was seriously older than half of the buildings we were taught in. And sometimes you need to the real thing to reference for art or education purposes. They’re, again, not decorative. They’re there for a very specific reason: to help you learn. Because you intend to learn off of them, you’re likely going to treat them with the respect the dead deserve.

There’s no need to work with bones if you don’t want to. I feel like the community, especially on tumblr, has this thing where they go through fads of things that “everyone does” that sounds super cool and, in fact, not everyone does, even wants to do, or is particular safe to do, especially for beginners. For a while it was flying ointments, then astral travel, and now bones (at least, from what I’ve seen. YMMV.). Necromancy, necrolatry, and other like gramarye practices are specific fields that bones can be useful for but most people that I see on tumblr do not express their practices as such. I just don’t understand why people want to start collecting the dead when they don’t intend to use them in any manner other than to sit on a shelf. Again, that’s probably just me but I often see witches expressing how badly they want bones but don’t say WHY. Once someone said they wanted beaver bones because beavers they had a great affinity for them. They didn’t want other bones, just beavers. That totally makes sense to me. But I’ve had conversations with people that turn out like this:

Me: Why do you want bones?

Them: For witchcraft!

Me: Yeah, OK. But what are you going to DO with them?

And they never have an answer for that. They just kind of stare at me or abandon the post entirely. Some folks do say “to worship” or “represent X” X being a deity, spirit, or ancestor but more and more are just picking up collecting bones because it’s cool and witchy. I’m sorry but that’s not a good enough reason, in my opinion, to use the bones, the very foundation of a person or animal. I find that’s disrespectful. Again, my opinion but there it stands.

So I ask you: For what purpose do you want bones? What do you intend to do with them? Honor them? Worship them? Use them as representations of your deities or in spells? To create art and an artistic statement? Or is it just to look cool?

Bewitch Your Holiday Shopping

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Many of us participate in holiday gift-giving and with crazed events like Black Friday, you may find yourself searching for hard-to-get items or the cheapest prices.

So here’s a quick guide on how to use witchcraft in your holiday shopping.

Charms

Make or buy charms for everything. Want to keep the money coming in? Make a charm bag. Want to find the best parking spot at the mall? Place a charm enchanted with a “finding spell” in your car, or hang a pendulum on your rear view mirror and let it guide your way.

Prayer

Pray. This is especially true for those of you who worship deities of commerce. A personal example would be on Black Friday I prayed to no one in particular (although, it may have been by a pop culture deity, I don’t know.) but I wasn’t even done with my prayer when my mum interrupted to point out the exact item I was looking for not three feet away from where I was, tucked behind some boxes.

Write a List

Write out your shopping list with magical ink, specifically ink that’s meant to draw things towards you. Can’t do that? Infuse water with magnets and drawing herbs and trace your pre-written words with it. Still too much? Enchant a pen.

Pass It On

For those who haven’t worked in retail, the holiday season is not a fun time for retail employees. Thank them for their hard work by enchanting the cash your using to brighten their day or give them a little boost in energy. Not using cash? You can do the same to your credit cards. For those skilled in emitting energy, send the staff a little bit of energy. You can also sign receipts and leave a little energy for them. Do the same for waitstaff – they’re incredibly busy during this season too. (Obviously, if your morals say don’t do this then don’t.)

Oil Your Wallet

Use magnet or drawing oils on your wallet or purse to keep your money in your pocket.

Use a Spell

Want a specific item? Write a spell for it. Write down or print out the image of the item you want, dump it in a jar with some magnets and drawing herbs (I’d add in some luck herbs as well personally), seal it up, and shake. You could also do a knot spell where each knot is a separate item on your wish list or shopping list and wear it when you go shopping. Just be wary of how this shakes out. A hot selling item, for example, might not be there on Black Friday but may be in stock four or five days later when you happen to chance on it. If you need the item by a specific date, specify that.

The Item Summoning Spell is perfect for this sort of thing!

Most important of all, remember to enjoy yourself during the holiday season and to be kind to the employees and other shoppers while you’re out.

Want more witchy tips? Check out Bewitch Even MORE of Your Holiday ShoppingBewitch Even MORE of Your Holiday Shopping

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On Target-Specific Love Spells (tumblr repost)

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On Target-Specific Love Spells

So I’m posting this because the answer’s important but I want to protect the asker’s identify because I don’t trust any of you not to send hatemail and just in general be a big bag of dicks to them for asking a question.

I’m curious about your thoughts on sigils focused on love and about a particular person. For example, ‘I want -person’s name- to be interested in me’. Do you think it crosses the boundaries between free will and control? I apologize if this should be obvious, I just can’t stop thinking about it.

The problem is this isn’t obvious, no matter how many of us argue that it is. That’s going to have to be a personal decision. Each person will have to determine for themselves what line should and shouldn’t be crossed.

I have murky feelings on it, at best. I see pros and cons to both sides. I personally wouldn’t do it for myself because love isn’t a huge desire for me. It doesn’t even make it into my life goals. But, that’s me, for me.

I teach that love spells that are target-specific should be able to be undone. That should be a built in mechanism in the spell that when the spell’s undone your magical hold over the person is too. Therefore the spell can undone before sexual acts are committed or real commitment takes place. Now, you can write target-specific love spells with clauses that if the spell works against the target’s will then it won’t work. That’s totally a thing too and the easiest way of all to avoid the issue at hand.  That being said, I also teach how do perform and recognize these more forceful love spells because, hey, they’re out there.

However, traditional folklore and superstition that makes up many love spells are about controlling a person completely in love, both sexually and romantically. There are spells implicitly designed to make someone have sex with you. It’s a thing  and it has history behind it. Those spells are, by definition if not but intent, rape spells.

I’ll give an example that’s somewhat similar. I had a potential client ask me to perform an abortion spell – not for herself but for another woman. At first she said the woman raped her fiance and when to get an abortion and refused. I denied the request. Furthermore, the whole thing sounded off. I was right. The story changed – he wasn’t raped just “lured while she wasn’t around” (the potential client’s words) and now he was living with this other woman. The client insisted that he was too scared to get rid of this other woman but to me it still sounded off and I was rather suspicious of the whole thing. I flat-out refused the request again, this time with more a more clear-cut response and implying that while such things were within my ability (and I do have the technical herbal skill and spell casting knowledge) I wouldn’t do it. Not couldn’t, wouldn’t. She sent me a third request now saying this other woman was having twins. I didn’t respond. The request crossed boundaries I’m not comfortable with crossing. In my opinion, the woman has the right to carry a fetus to term, although the man, if he was a rape victim, should not be subject to paying the child support of a child forced from him and legal actions against the woman should be taken. However, that wasn’t the case. Instead, the whole case came off as a woman unable to accept her situation that her fiance stepped out on her and now was starting a family with another woman – if that was the actual situation at all. I don’t know because I only had this woman’s story.

Now, someone might have flat-out refused to do a spell regarding abortion. I personally would have if done the abortion spell if the other woman consented. I’m not sure what I would have done if the man had been a rape victim and the other woman didn’t consent. I would have, at the very least, needed evidence establishing that the rape occurred (by this I mean a police report or actual communication with the man himself) rather than hearsay from a third party. Would I have provided abortion herbs or just used spells? I don’t know. I would have needed more context and a possible in person meet-up to decide.

Context is super important though. Does this person even like you? Are they aware of your existence? Have you already expressed your interest and they have refused you?

Because in cases of “this person doesn’t know/see me” then a target spell where they will notice you could be done – and that’s the whole goal of the spell. For them to notice you. Have they expressed actual interest in a romantic sense, enough where outside observers can comment on it? Then a love spell to get them to take a step forward instead of wavering about could be done. Neither of those would interfere with free will or control in my opinion. If they refused you and you did a spell to make them like you anyway, that would be interfering with free will and control – such acts technically fit the definition of molestation, sexual assault, or rape, depending on the situation. However, it’s up for you to decide whether you’re OK with doing that. There’s currently no legal precedent for this. There’s no one that will come and jail you for it. (Although, if you’re discovered, other witches might do something but that’s a whole different story.)

It’s up for you to decide. Whatever you decide is up to you, just be prepare for any consequences that may occur. I’m not talking about the Rede, although that may apply if you follow that, or the “comes back to you X times” things, although that may also apply to you, but to guilt or remorse that may follow your actions. You may question if without magic this person wouldn’t love you. That sort of consequences.

Closing and the Leaving Festivals

Last night was the closing festival for my Demon festivals. It was the final Court day. And today marks the start of the Leaving. Well, until next year. Last night began a mass exodus for the next two days while spirits leave my area and festivities to return from whence they came. Some will be returning to their patches of the spirit realms, whatever those may be, and others will be returning to locales they’re from.

I feel like I should post a “Spirit Crossing” sign somewhere. Perhaps one day I will.

The last three and a half months have been amazing. The spiritual activity has been vibrant and full of import. Occasionally ridiculous and fun, mischievous and devilish. Other times it’s been sad, depressing, or inciting rage and soberness. These are all things I expect when working with spirits. I keep my doors open to all spirits, all demons, all fae. Everyone’s welcome, even the marked enemies. This is a time for celebration, for striking deals, for making plans, for avoiding and even waging war.

And deals have been struck. One new alliance has been founded, an assassination has been avoided, and another alliance and acquisition is in the talks and will likely be concluded before winter season truly begins. I’m grateful for what’s occur during this time and I’m fascinated, as always, by the political and social mechanisms of spirits.

The last few nights have been interesting around here personally. A lot of things have fallen over or been moved. Dials have been turned that haven’t been touched in years (like on the sewing machine), items placed at the bottom of the trash have mysterious been taken out of the trash, twice, once the trash can was knocked over, an empty drink can tossed across the room, and a towel thrown. Gravity could be to blame, certainly, but it is suspect. Additionally, the giggling and conversations that have been occurring around here when there is no one to be having said conversations is worth noting. The goblins are preparing to ride out, to bring their chaos and deviltry to others. You’ve been warned.

Other spirits, stronger, older, wiser, more politically strong or personally powerful spirits are preparing their appropriate entourages and preparing for their own journeys home. I wish them the best, sincerely, and hope to hear from many of them soon. (And, well, maybe I’m sort-of looking forward to the gifts I’m always given at the end of the season. Maybe.)

Most notably, because of this mass movement, those who are looking to work with spirits may wish to put out offerings for them. Just remember, because I work with all sorts, be sure to give a few days trial before setting but anything long-term. Just because they seem sweet in the beginning does not mean they always are. For example, those trash-throwing goblins also broke no less than four drinking glasses this season. In two days.

Seasonally, it’s starting to feel like the middle of fall. Jackets and coats are needed and sandals have been tucked away. Scarves are out in full force and whispers of snow tipple from the lips of news reporters. While we wait for the snow, pedestrians get their final warm days in, their shoes crunching in the brightly fallen leaves, taking in the beauty of the decay around them.

My next festival isn’t until the Feasting at the end of the month, where I bake up a storm to celebrate the United States’ holiday of Thanksgiving, but also invite friends, both human and not, to join in on new recipes, home brews, and delicious food. To celebrate our friendships, gossip and talk trash about since we’ve last seen each other. Some of the spirits that have been here for my Demon Festivals will be there was the Feasting and this further ties out alliances closer together. It’s also a great time to enchant food consumed by loved ones for their prosperity, wealth, and good health.

I love celebrating with spirits. I love enjoying their company without ever requiring them to give me something in return. And I love giving them the chance to interact and ask questions about humans that’s in a no-pressure sort of way. Sometimes spirits don’t want to be worshiped. They don’t want to help us, guide us, or even be offered something. Sometimes they just want to do the spirit equivalent of running to the store for milk. And my festivals, although sounds highly ritualistic, are actually just giant parties where spirits can let down their not-always-metaphorical hair and breathe.

But at the same time I’m very glad for the festivals to be over. Some things I’ve let slid since the festivals started, partially because I’m only partially here; there’s always some bit of me there, traveling and riding in the wild hunts, celebrating and raising a glass.

It’s been a good run. Now to start thinking about buckling down for winter.

Stipulations

I barely give permission before I am pulled over.  Al shows me around a glen not too far from the sea and I sense people beyond it. I manifest a more appropriate outfit for meeting folks than a simple shift and move with Al, hand in hand.

Before me the entire family is laid out, working on various spells for this and that.

“We want to make you as strong on That Side as you are on This Side. Someone worth following.”

I express my appreciation and after a while pull back. Al asks if there’s anything else I want, anything else they can do for me.

“You do know,” I said, casually but seriously, “that I will cull your entire family, everyone you ever will or have loved, everyone your family relies on if you attempt to usurp me, right? I don’t mind you trying to rise up amongst the people and become my second. I don’t mind that you intend to gain power and prestige for your entire family through me. I don’t mind any of that. I don’t even mind if you claim a nearby kingdom with the power I’ll give you. I don’t care about that. But I will destroy everything your family holds dear if you try to take my throne from me. You understand that right?”

Al hesitates for only a minute. There is a moment of gravity where Al considers my words and realizes that I may not be the fool they assume me to be. That I am just as dangerous as rumored and to tread carefully in case my ire is set upon them. Al answers as confidently as before,  “I will ensure that the entire family is aware of these stipulations.”

“See that you do. Now when will these spells go into effect?”