Tag: protection spell

Wish Bringer, Bring Me A Wish [Spell Saturday #47]

This is a bit of an arts and crafts sort of spell but extremely low-key.

  • Paper
  • Pen
  • A bit of your hair, fingernail, skin, etc.
  • A coin

wish-bringer-grant-me-a-wish-by-this-crooked-crown

First, fold your piece of paper so it’s a pocket or an envelope. You can do this in any style you want – even go wild and make some origami. Here’s a super easy tutorial.  It doesn’t matter what it looks like so long as it creates some edges so nothing slides out. Avoid methods that involve tape or glue.

Write down the wish you want to come true in the center interior of the envelope. Be as descriptive or as vague as you’d like. It’s far easier to make your envelope, unfold it, and write in the interior center your wish. But if you’re good at guessing or you’ve made envelopes before, you can write the message beforehand. You don’t want the message on a folding angle if you can help it.

Fold your envelope up, put in your coin and hair, and bring it to a crossroad or beside a river and bury it shallowly.

Notes:

  • Use your fingernail or another hard surface to make the edges as tight as possible. It’ll keep the paper more crisp and keep the envelope from falling apart.
  • You can write your wish on a separate piece of paper if you want but it’s easier and less wasteful to just write on the envelope.
  • The reason we don’t use pre-made envelopes, tape, or glue is to keep the spell as environmentally friendly as possible. If you don’t care, then you can use any old envelope.
  • Any coin denominations is fine.
  • This spell doesn’t designate who should answer the spell’s request. It could be any kind of spirit or being. You can add in why you would like to respond to the wish but there’s no guarantee that the wish will be fulfilled or that the requested being will even answer.

Happy casting!

The Dark Moon’s Invitation [Spell Saturday #43]

This is a very adaptable spell. It’s used to increase the things you want more of in your life. So if you want love, you’ll add that component. If you want money, you add that. It’s used for what you want. Unlike the full moon or sun variations of this spell, this one can be used to invite things you do not currently possess into your life.

That being said, this can be a tricky spell to pull off in some people’s home environments. You need complete darkness on a new moon night.

the-dark-moons-invitation-by-this-crooked-crown

 

Ingredients:

  • Items you want to increase in your life
  • Full Moon Water

 

Collect together items that represents the things you want in your life. You might have a handful of cash, a picture of a college diploma, a love letter written to a dream lover, or anything else. Think creatively and simply. If you want to travel to Aruba, put in a picture of Aruba. Don’t make things hard for yourself.

Once you have together your items, take them and place them on a table next to a window where no light will shine from outside on it. You can also leave it on the windowsill itself. Be smart about this. don’t leave a wad of cash on your windowsill and expect it to not get stolen if you live on the ground floor and leave the window open. Be as discreet as possible with your items but don’t cover them up.

Place a drop of full moon water on each item then leave them overnight. You can leave the items there until the full moon or you can take the items away immediately. You may wish to avoid spending any money used in this spell until after the full moon.

You can repeat this spell as often as you like.

 

Notes: 

  • If you’re charging water, crystals, or anything else by the new moon’s light, do this in a separate location than this spell.
  • We avoid putting the items in a bag or container so the lack of moonlight can touch them. A good middle ground is a big glass mason jar.

Happy casting!

How to Make a Poppet House

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Pissed at your neighbors? Do the residents of the upstairs apartment hold band sessions at three in the morning? Or do you simply want to enchant a house, filling it with protective energies? Use a poppet house!

htmaph

A poppet house works just like a human-shaped poppet. It’s sympathetic magic with the purpose of working as a surrogate for your house. What happens to the poppet happens to the target.

Here’s some ways to build a poppet house.

  • A diorama or dollhouse
  • Sketch out a blueprint or layout
  • A photo collage
  • Computer programs for home designers or video games like the Sims, Minecraft, or even Skyrim or Fallout 4
  • Shadow box or a box in the shape of a house (example blow)

 

Once you have your poppet house established, you’ll need to connect your poppet house to your actual house.

This will vary depending on what you’re using as a poppet house. Generally speaking I recommend making a little charm bag full of the following and placing it next to or attached to the poppet house. For virtual proxies, stick the charm bag under or near the monitor or device.

When casting spells on the poppet house, hold the charm bag in your hands, stare at your image, and cast your spell.

Diorama’s or dollhouse have an advantage here as you can literally replicate whatever you use to connect your house to your poppet house.

Your charm bag could contain the following:

  • Nails from the house
  • Dirt from the house or yard
  • Dust from the house
  • Broken stone or wood from the house
  • A picture of the house
  • Bottle of water from the faucet
  • Ashes from the hearth, fireplace, or fire pit.
  • A realtor’s list of the house (# of rooms, types of rooms, general description)

 

See that house shaped shadow box on the wall above ^? Perfect for casting multiple little spells!

 

So what can you do with a poppet house? Anything! The list of what you can do is really endless.

  • Draw sigils onto the walls to protect it
  • Sprinkle healing water or oils to keep the residents healthy.
  • Dust the house with cursing powder to hex neighbors
  • Use symbols to encourage the residents to move
  • Coat the home in basil to keep up a happy home and wealth
  • Scatter magnetic sand on the model house of your dreams to bring it to you
  • Pepper the house with lucky powder to increase your family luck

 

This is a great way of practicing low-key magic. Instead of cleansing your house physically, you can do it with the model house. It’s also a fantastic way of keeping up the spells of your home while you’re away or to cast spells for friends, family, or enemies far away.

Originally posted over on my tumblr.

Wishing Stone [Spell Saturday #40]

This is a super simple spell that works great any time of the year but is particularly effective during life changes, the new year, or newly gained resolves. Pretty much any time you want to start some new goals, this spell is great. It takes time to set up but it’s worth it.

wishing-stone-by-this-crooked-crown

What you’ll need: 

  • A stone (see notes)

Get your stone and cleanse it. Then place it in under or directly next to your bed. Sleep beside it for a week. During this time you can meditate with it to align your energy and the stone’s together.

When the week has passed, hold the stone to your heart or lips and tell it your goals, dreams, and wishes. Now let the stone sit in the sunlight for a full day and moonlight for a full night and then one more night in or next to your bed.

Carry the stone with you everywhere to help achieve your goals, dreams, and wishes. Do not let anyone else touch this stone.

Notes:

  • The choice for a stone is up to you. I prefer quartz crystal for this sort of spell but if you have a necklace, bracelet, or other piece of jewelry with a stone, you can use that. the stone can be any size or any type so feel free to  make a personal decision with what stone feel best for you.
  • Be careful with your stone choice and sunlight. Some stones are affected by sunlight. In these cases, indirect sunlight is a better option. If that cannot be done, try simply placing the stone on a white cloth in a sunny room but out of the sunlight entirely.
  • Keeping people from touching the stone may be very difficult. This is easier if you keep the stone in a coat pocket or handbag. If you’re wearing it, picking a stone that is not the centerpiece of the jewelry might be a good idea. If not, consider placing a protection spell against unwanted energy around the stone.

Happy casting!

 

A Petition Ritual for the New Year (Spell Saturday #39)

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Here’s an complex yet simple ritual for New Year’s. It might requires a few different things but can be used to petition the elements and the world to bring your desires to fruition in the new year.

 

a-petition-ritual-for-new-years-eve-by-this-crooked-crown

 

What you’ll need: 

  • A new white candle
  • Clear drinking water
  • A fire or a second lit candle
  • A bit of your hair
  • Seven coins

 

On a clear night, go outside and create a fire. If you cannot create a fire, you may light a candle from a fireplace, match, or a lighter.

Set up the glass of water, fire source, and white candle in front of you in any manner you’d like. You can create a circle around you or a line in front of you. Whatever you prefer. Dig a hole in the ground and leave it open.

Kneel in the darkness with fire and take a deep breath. Feel free to close your eyes. Clear your mind as much as possible. Focus on letting go of all the negative things of the past and the things you don’t want to take with you moving forward. Take another deep breath and when you’re ready, open your eyes.

Light the candle with your fire source, drink a bit of the water, rub the soil from the hole you’ve dug in your hand, and take another deep breath.

Place the coin inside or under the candle. Put a second coin on the ground, pour a little water over it, and place your water glass over it. Put a third coin in the hole you’ve dug and toss a pinch of soil on it. Toss a fourth coin into the air and let it fall wherever it likes. Repeat the process with a strand of your air. Keep any remaining hair for a later part of the spell.

Now make your petitions for new year. Ask for prosperity, health, happiness, or love. Ask whatever you like. Be as specific or as vague as possible. Be as formal or casual as you’d like. You don’t have to speak aloud, you can just think clearly in your mind. Just say what you need to say and express you hopes for the future. Now demand for your petitions to happen. Tell the world that these things will happen for you.

Once satisfied, toss whatever remaining hair you have with you into the candle. If it goes out, let it. Don’t relight it.

 

 

Toss the fifth coin behind you, to pay off any regrets and past debts. Don’t look back at it. Toss the sixth coin in front of you to pay for your future. Pocket the seventh and last coin and carry it for good luck for the year.

Douse your candle and place the remnants in your fire source. If that’s not possible, bury both your fire source and the candle where the fire source was and in a separate hole from the previously dug hole. Pour out the water into the earth and fill in any dug holes. Leave the area without looking at or walking towards the area you threw your past coin in.

 

Candle Smoke

 

Notes:

  • This spell was designed for New Year’s. The chill from the cold January night is part of the spell’s sacrifice. that being said, if it’s too cold, snowing, or raining where you live, wait to do this spell until you can stand going outside. Don’t injure yourself to do this spell. Be safe and healthy.
  • This spell was created with a campfire, fire pit, or fireplace in mind. Since that’s not always feasible for everyone, you can substitute it for other fire sources light the stove, matches, or lighters.
  • You don’t need to collect fresh hair for this spell. Just save a clipping from a recent haircut or pull some from your hairbrush. If you don’t have hair on your head, you can use hair fro other areas of your body like your arm, leg, or pubic area. You can use fingernails too, if the hair option doesn’t work for you.
  • Burning hair smells absolutely terrible. Endure it as best you can.
  • If you manage to keep your good luck coin throughout the year, use that coin in next year’s spell as the “past” coin.
  • Tip: to make your good luck coin stand out in your wallet or pocket, you can coat it thinly in wax or create a paper envelope for it.

Happy casting and happy new year!

 

Yule Candle (Spell Saturday #38)

This is called a Yule Candle. It’s a strictly holiday based spell. Traditionally, it’s lit during dinner on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day but this is kind of one of those traditions that’s not based in any particular religion so you an easily adopt it to your own traditions.  So this can be lit during your designated big  winter holiday meal.

 

yule-candle-by-this-crooked-crown

 

This is pretty much the easiest candle spell you’ll ever see. Everything is optional. The colors are up to you. It’s comes down to one, singular rule: Light the candle before you sit down to eat and don’t let it go out until you’re done eating. That’s it. That’s the spell.

Following the Yule Candle rule will allow you to avoid bad luck. It’s a pretty adaptable spell so you can do what you like but this spell will combine blessings, safety, prosperity, good luck, and security (enough food, enough rent money, job security, etc.).

I lit mine during my family’s Christmas Day brunch but sometimes I’ll also light it if we don’t go out for dinner on Christmas Eve. Depends on what we’re doing that year. (For reference, my family does a secular gift exchange on Christmas. Religion’s checked at the door for us.) Typically this is lit and left on the table among the family but I like to leave it off to the side or even in the kitchen (within sight of the table) so it doesn’t get knocked over.

What you’ll need:

  • A candle that can last the length of your meal, any color
  • Sturdy, stable candle holder appropriate for the candle size
  • Cinnamon, powdered
  • Clover, diced
  • Clove, powdered
  • Nutmeg, powdered
  • Sage, powdered
  • Rosemary, diced
  • Thyme, diced
  • Ginger, powdered
  • Lavender, crushed and crumbled
  • Rose petals, crumbled
  • Pine needles (optional)
  • Drawing oil or flame

 

common-money-spell-ingredients-by-this-crooked-crown

Mix your herbs together and spread them out on a plate. Get your candle and make sure to remove any labels for it. You may wish to rough up the sides a bit too with a knife or your fingernails to make the herbs stick better but that’s optional

Coat your candle in drawing oil. You can even use something like vegetable oil or olive oil if you don’t have a designated drawing oil. While the candle is still oily and wet, roll it in the herbs, coating all the sides.

Alternatively, if you want to skip the oil, slowly and carefully heat the sides of the candle up and roll the hot wax in the herbs. This techniques requires more patience and a severe eye for fire safety so you don’t burn yourself but the herbs literally become the candle.

A third option is to melt the candle down, add in the herbs to the melted wax, and pour the wax into a fireproof container or candle mold. Make sure to include the wick and check to see if your newly made candle can fit in any candle holder you own.

Once your candle is dressed, store it in a sunny window or in your kitchen until it’s time for your big holiday meal. Right as people are getting ready to sit down and eat, light the candle. You don’t need to say anything but you can if you wish.

Let the candle burn throughout your entire meal and when everyone has left the table, blow it out. You can discard the candle alongside your meal or holiday decorations or you can save it until next year, using the leftovers to forge a new candle.

Notes:

  • Pillars, tapers, and jar candles are really good for this spell. Large pillars can even be stored in a box or bag and used annually.You can use votive candles, as shown, if your meal isn’t going to be a huge affair.
  • The herb choices here will be largely personal. I have orange zest, ginger peel, and hydrangea petals in my mix for personal reasons. Go with your instincts here. Add dried florals or herbs from your garden or pick a dried herb that screams your holiday to you.
  • Pine needles are included here under the assumption you’re using a holiday tree. If you’re not, skip it.
  • When you blow out the candle will depend on your family. For example, my family doesn’t serve dessert at the main meal – we eat it hours later. But we do sit down and play games after we clear the table from dishes. While we’re clearing the table of dishes, I blow the candle out. Your family’s probably different so trust your instincts here.

Happy casting!

Foundations of a Happy Home Bottle Spell (Spell Saturday #37)

 

This spell’s intent is to bring happiness to your home and house all year round. It’s what I call a cornerstone witch bottle. My definition of this is a witch bottle can be temporary – like to draw new friends or lovers –  but a cornerstone witch bottle has the intent to permanent work it’s magic. You’ll touch it up and return it to it’s place, like the cornerstone of a house. If you move, you will leave the bottle there.

foundation-of-a-happy-home-bottle-spell

You’ll need:

  • Dirt or dust from the four corners of your property or home.
  • Bottle or jar (any kind)
  • Calendar of some kind
  • Dried citrus rinds
  • Dried flower petals, preferably in yellow, orange, light pink, or other bright cheerful colors
  • Sand
  • Rice (any kind)
  • Flour (any kind)
  • Quartz crystal small enough to fit into the bottle
  • Wishes for happiness (optional)

 

First, gather dust or dirt from the four corners of your property. If you home has wonky corners or edges, go ahead and collect some dirt or dust from there too. It doesn’t have to be much.

Fill a small to medium sized jar halfway with sand, rice, and flour. I’d recommend using less flour than rice or sand. Now add in your dirt or dust. Then the quartz crystal, citrus rings, and flower petals.

If you have something specific that you want to brig happiness to your household that year, write it on a piece of paper and include it in the jar as well. This wish could be something like “I want us to be safe and secure” or it could be “I wish for more joyful laughter in our house”.

 

 

Seal up the jar. You can just twist the cap tightly or use a wax or tape seal. Up to you. Remember that you will need to open this jar again so don’t be too aggressive with it.

Bury the bottle somewhere memorable but as close to the foundations as possible. Under the steps, in a flower pot, under the third zinnia. Whatever. You get the idea. Somewhere close to the base of the house. If you live in an apartment, you can totally do this too. Leave the jar in the back of a bookcase or shoe rack near the front door. Whatever you select, it should be as close to the ground as possible.

Mark the date. Make it a reoccurring google date on the computer, set it up on your phone, circle it in red on your calendar.

In a year, dig it up, pull everything out, and bury all of it except the quartz crystal. Was and cleanse the quartz crystal. Let it dry completely and repeat the spell, using the same bottle and same quartz crystal. Repeat annually for best results.

Note:

  • You can absolutely use plastic jars or bottles for this spell.

 

Happy casting!

3 Tests to Strengthen Your Protection Spells

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One of the questions I get from new witchlings is how they can know their protection spells are good enough. It’s a really important question to address. We all want to feel safe. It’s one of the things we need in order to survive. Our safety needs to be secure so we can flourish. But if you’re not sure on how good your protections are then things can get dicey.

3-tests-to-strengthen-your-protection-spells

But how DO you determine how strong your protection spells are? There’s not a device you can purchase that will do it for you and you’ll probably want to make sure that things are up to snuff before some big bad comes along.

Here’s three ways to test those protection spells of yours. Some might be doable right now as you sip your cup of coffee and others may need you to tap a friend.

 

 

Read up on others’ spells

This might seem like a weird suggestion to start off with but it’s actually the most useful one on the whole list.

Reading what other practitioners are doing may inspire you to add, alter, or adjust your protection spells to accommodate situations you may have never even heard of. Reading about their spells and techniques means you can hone your own abilities and spells to be as best as you can be.

There’s a second part to this. You should also read up on people’s curses and hexes. Let’s be completely honest here – people are going to curse other people. It’s been happening since the dawn of humanity and it will continue to happen until the dusk of it. You can elect not to use curses in your own practice but that’s not going to stop people from cursing you if they want to curse you.

So reading up on the potential curses they might use will help you program your spells against those curses. It’s a preventative measure that every practitioner, no matter who they are, might want to consider in their protection spells.

 

 

Set up an emergency protection kit

You know those storm kits or bug out bags you’re suppose to have? You know the one that contains food, water, and a whole bunch of stuff in case there’s some emergency or terrible storm? You can set one up for witchcraft too.

An emergency protection kit should include ingredients for protection spells, cleansing spells, and banishing spells. Everything should be prepared as much as it can be in advanced.

Use plastic bottles, even through they’re not as pretty as your glass. They’re not breakable, they’re lightweight, and you probably won’t damage much you need to hurl it at a spirit. I find the plastic spice jars are perfect for this. One container each for protection, banishing, and cleansing.

Handmade cone incense might be fantastic on the altar but shitty stick incense can be held, waved around, and stabbed into just about any relatively soft material to make it stand still (a cake, mud, rice, sand, etc.). Plus it’s cheap so you don’t need to be shy about using a bunch of it. Aim for one incense scent that can be used in all three scenario’s. I like Sandalwood but use whatever works for you.

Tealight candles are absolutely perfect for this. They’re short lasting but they have their own metal holders so you don’t have to deal with wax everywhere. Which is good because when shit goes down, who’s got the time to handle spilling wax?

Print out your spells. Even if you’re into handwriting all your spells out, type up the spells for these situations (just select a few; one or two for protection, banishing, and cleansing)

Throw in a quartz crystal, a cheap pendulum, a lighter, some string, a small bottle of water, and maybe a bell and you’re ready for all kinds of situations. I keep all of this in a zipper pouch in my witch kit but sticking it in a drawer works just as well. It saves time and you’re less likely to waste your more expensive ingredients when you’re in a hurry.

 

 

Write out your strengths and weaknesses

if you’re very self-aware, you probably can identify some strengths and weaknesses in your practice. I known mine, for example. Do you know yours?

If you don’t, try to come up with some. If you can’t, ask some friends what they think your personal weaknesses and strengths are and see how that compares to your practice. Sometimes they’re related.

Knowing what your weak at means that you can compensate for them and you can play to your strengths. Ideally, you should try and keep a balance but that’s not always easy.

 

 

Test them directly

Depending on what you’re protecting, you can go about this in a few ways.

If you’re alone and aiming to test household protections, leave the building and hurl a spell at it. Try a curse or some energy manipulations. See what happens. Since you’re the one casting the spell, you’ll be able to know what spell to unravel and dispel in case your protections fail.

If you have spirit friends, they can test your personal and household protections. Depending on what kind of protections you have set up, they may not even be able to pass through your protection spells, thus proving them effective. If they fail, your spirit friends may be able to offer advice or assistance in altering the spells.

If you have witchy friends, you can use them in a similar way as above to test your household and personal protection spells. How? Host a Faux Hex War or Faux Curse War. Also known as a witch war.

A curse of hex war is just like it sounds – it’s a war fought with curses and hexes. They can get nasty very quickly, especially when there’s more than two practitioners involved. Usually the ultimate goal is to destroy the other practitioner’s protections and damage them. Why? Who knows. Reasons vary. Maybe they don’t like each other personally or they’re morally opposed to something. People fight for lots of reasons.

Ideally, faux curse or hex wars will work similarly. Faux curse or hex wars will have you throwing out curses (or other damaging spells) at a specific target. Your target should deflect them and if that doesn’t happen, then you cease your attack and offer the counter-curse (or tell them what spell you used so they can counter it). Then they’ll do the same for you.

Some practitioners of this will specify what spells can and cannot be used, to be gain control in case one of the participants isn’t as trustworthy as others wish they were. It’s also a great way to test offensive spells. It’s something of a game and can be a lot of fun.

(By the way, you don’t need to use offensive spells. You can use witch wars to bless people too.)

 

 

If you feel you’re really, truly protected, then you’re probably safe. Sometimes overdoing protection spells will cause you to miss out on wonderful spirit opportunities. If you’re looking to talk to faeries or work with spirits, then making your house Fort Knox isn’t going to be very welcoming to them, is it?

But, it’s better to know what you can do to make yourself safe in case you feel like you need it. I hope you never do.

Inspired by my tumblr post here.

Still Waters Protection Spell (Spell Saturday #34)

Sometimes we get involved in situations that are so wildly out of our control that we’re holding on with the skin of our teeth. Stress and anxiety are constant companions and you just want t be safe and at peace.

This spell is for those times.

swps

You’ll need:

  • A body of water hosting a spirit (see notes)
  • A clipping of hair
  • A small handful of elderberries
  • A shiny coin

Once you’ve located the water in question, go to it under the light of a full moon. Look out onto the water’s stillness and wait until you feel the spirit’s presence.

Place your hair in front of you and ask the spirit for protection, serenity, and strength in the coming days. You’ll have to be sincere and heartfelt. Don’t offer reasons or explanations. Say as much or as little as you want.

If the spirit doesn’t attack or seem aggressive, throw the elderberries into the water. Wash your hands, face, and hair in the water. Bury the coin on the shore or beside the water.

You can leave right away or stay and look out at the stillness of the water until you’re ready to go.

Notes:

  • For this spell, use a lake, pond, or well. A slow moving river, creek , or stream could be used as well.
  • The spirit in question must be a peaceful spirit. You’ll have to figure this out before you attempt this spell. The spirit should, ideally, haunt the body of water and is benevolent or pleasantly apathetic to you. Genus loci or nature spirits are usually perfect for this spell.
  • Some bodies of water may not need to be haunted. If the water is considered sacred or holy in some fashion, that will work in place of a spirit.
  • This spell works because you’re seeking a particular kind of blessing from the spirit or water itself.
  • Alternatively, if you don’t want to wash your hands, face, and hair in the water use a clipping of your hair or fingernails instead. If you do this, make sure to take the clippings with you and carry them as a talisman.

Happy casting!

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.