Tag: spirits

Let’s talk servitors

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I have a wide variety of spirits and beings that attend to me. I don’t work with them or for them. They work for me. Some run messages and collect gossip, others protect various things, a few have specific roles, and others still run business for me on the Other Side while I’m away. I have a small army of folks working for me. In trade for their services, I grant them various things according to our arrangements and, most importantly, protection.

I’m gathering from what I’ve seen on the internet this is somewhat unusual. Frankly, on the other side I have a huge tract of territory and people inside that territory. Mostly, they do their thing and keep what few laws I have and I leave them alone. They need help I help them. They don’t then I don’t. Simple.

Now, I tend to group things together. All spirits are spirits. They could also be demons, fae, ghosts, local deities, etc but I call them a spirit unless they have a specific title they want me to use. Most don’t bother defining themselves so I don’t bother defining them. I might have suspicions on “what they are” (whatever that means) but it doesn’t usually factor into anything for me.

Yes, all this is important for this discussion.

I also group all servitors, constructs, thoughtforms, egregores, and even some familiars together. If they are a being created by a person, they get dumped into this category. I actually use thoughtform, egregore, construct, and servitor interchangeably. But I also personally define them as separate things. Thoughtforms, for example, are creatures made of thought, usually for specific purposes. Egregore is a group thoughtform. Servitor is a created creature that serves while a construct is just a created creature without that desire to serve built in. Thoughtforms and egregores are purely non-corporeal and totally reside in the realm outside the physical (although they may exist in this physical realm.) Servitors may, but not always, be connected to an object or have a body whereas constructs, for me, will always have a body it cannot go far from.

These beings can evolve or go from one title to another. A construct can develop into a servitor and extend itself from its body far more than it should. A thoughtform or egregore can become servitor or construct. It’s all really fluid.

For example, I may make a construct for a spell. I might put together a clay poppet or something and place it at a crossroad to become a guardian of that place. I might make a construct to ruin someone’s life, literally creating a spirit who will torment a person. (Hey, I warned you all I’m not a nice person.) I might make a construct to protect someone.

Now I have a construct that is attached to some jewelry. I developed it so it would eventually work as a weapon and, with any luck, activate itself if I was in danger and didn’t know it or was unconscious. At first, I needed to be aware of its existence and truly activate it to get it to work. Over the last year or so, it has slowly but surely become more active, more self-aware, and more self-sufficient. It can now extend itself out of the body and home and it can be about a hundred feet from its body with no trouble so long as it remains on my body. I’m thinking that it could now ride storms if we had such storms at the moment.

Anyway, it has begun to develop its skills and has branched out from its original purpose to new ones – which is super awesome and exactly what I want. I’m totally OK with my servitors becoming self aware and eventually leaving my service if it so wants. Most people who work with servitors don’t like that because 1) that servitors know all your shit 2) it can become unruly and destructive if not properly cared for or malformed.

So why a servitor? It depends on the person themselves. I like having a servitor to watch my back. Often, my servitors remember shit way better than me and can remind me of shit I need to do. It’s companionship and someone to talk to. My servitors also are required to have some sort of attack. I like them to be able to defend themselves and me if necessary. If they are body-less and more free-moving thoughtforms, I send them on missions for certain things. To check the status of this herb in the wild or to find someone to serve my needs for something. They’re useful as shit – if you’re willing to do the work. Much like a pet or child, you have to train them, care for them properly, or they can become very destructive and unruly. And it really, truly sucks having to destroy what you’ve created like that.

It’s a pretty classic magician sort of thing. Familiars work similarly but I tend to find that familiars are spirits that find you not beings you create. Do you need one? Hell no. You don’t need a guide, familiar, servitor, or any damn thing if you don’t want it. It is a being that is useful but takes a lot of time and energy to make and create and if you don’t consistently care for it and forget it (which is super fucking common) terrible things like hauntings and nightmares can occur.

Mourning Days and Ghost Festival

August 15th is the one day shared between Mourning Days (a three day festival of introspection and remembrance) and the Ghost Festival (a sixteen day festival).

With Mourning Days, I spend one day cleansing and attending to cemeteries. I’d spend more doing it but often life gets in the way. I have a real love, admiration, and fascination with cemeteries and graveyards. I use to volunteer and work for the state finding missing cemeteries, marking them with GPS so they can be added to maps, recording their condition, and cleaned it up if necessary (although this varied per person.) I love studying death rituals and cemeteries are gorgeous. Pillars of carved memorials only worn away by time embedded in living earth. Ugh. I can’t even express it to you with rambling poetry. A community of the deceased, laid together in the same ground but always apart, always alone.

Don’t mistake my fascination with cemeteries and death rituals as a fascination with death or murder. I like the cultural ethos around funerals, deaths, and act of honoring the deceased. I care more about how the dead are honored and how the living treat the dead then the method of death itself (unless the method of death or the condition of the body actually affects how the deceased is treated).

The rest of the time during Mourning Days, I spent with vague honors to the deceased ones I know and introspection. By vague I mean I light a vigil candle and incense. With introspection, I sit down and think. I think about those who have passed and how they affected my life. I think about how I would feel in my last thoughts of death, what I would regret or want more of. And then I use that nostalgia and meditation to plan for the future.

With Ghost Festival, it leaps off Mourning Days right into dealing with the spirits of the dead. Now I don’t deal with the spirits of the dead often. That’s my brother, the Necromancer’s gig. I don’t want it and my experiences with the dead haven’t been awesome. However, I feel that ignoring the dead entirely is an injustice as my role of a spirit walker so I spend the Ghost Festival keying into that “range” of spirits. I say range because I like to explain the different feel of spiritual energy by comparing them to frequencies. I don’t think spiritual energy is frequencies I just find people understand it easier when explaining it to folks who don’t really get or want detailed explanations. On the same train of thought, I think that ghosts can be tracked by equipment that pick up frequencies.

Anyway, I spend Ghost Festival really wandering around and seeing, talking to, and listening to ghosts. That’s what I do. Sometimes, those ghosts are just impressions, fragments of who or what they once were and other times they’re nearly full people, dead people but people none the less.

At the same time, it should be noted that the Dying Days of Summer Festival still runs till the 24th. During that particular festival, I spend it celebrating summer, the heat and the ecstasy of summer itself. The last throes of the year before preparing for the harvest and the cold, sleep of the year.

Now despite being a secular witch, I’m a spiritual person. I know there are gods. I know there are spirits. And I know they share the same world as me. I cannot, personally, exist and live without acknowledging them and their lives. My festivals are more like parties. They are not worshiping and they are not part of a religion. There are years I feel like I don’t need a Ghost Festival or often I don’t do a damn thing during the festival but acknowledge that it’s a thing I should be doing. It’s separate from my witchcraft. Maybe it is the foundations of a religion but I like to see it as my own spirituality. My witchcraft doesn’t include it. I do not do spells or charms for my festivals. This is my personal way of dealing with the things I see, know, and experience.

Goblin Days

Goblins Days is a week long event starting July 25 and running to August 3rd. It’s part of my personal calendar. It’s a secular festival I hold specifically for goblins, mostly to stave off any truly damaging mischief these beings decide to cause.

First, what am I talking about when I speak of goblins?

It’s probably best to start explaining that I don’t tend to differentiate between spirits, demons, local deities, and fae unless the being tells me to do so. I simply don’t care what they are. It doesn’t matter to me if the spirit is a kitsune or an polecat spirit – I treat them as they ask and I don’t bother to ask the details. If they want me to know they’re a kitsune, they will damn well tell me. This often saves from conversations that make me sound silly, knowledgeable, and foolish. It also saves me from assuming I understand them – I can’t possibly do that as I’m not like them. The only assumption I make is that they’re likely to backstab me at any given time and to not fully trust them. This belief has served me very well over the years.

Now, about the goblins. Mostly because “goblin” for me isn’t a specific being but a general term for small, mischievous spirits that causes damage. Every single year they destroy glassware. They never take out anything important – as that would truly anger me – but everyday drinking glasses or jars will find themselves flying off shelves and counters for no good reason at all. Things will go missing and end up in stupid places like the shower or inside a pair of shoes. They find it fun to play such games but sometimes they get out of hand and can cause real damage. They’re often seen as “evil” but I tend to find them just amusing. I’m fond of them. They are always the first to show up and the last to leave. Most typically imps and gremlins, I call them goblins and they don’t seem to mind it. Because I coat the word in fondness and don’t consider goblins evil, they even seem pleased to be called by this “pet” name. They can consist of any number of beings. I might call a being a goblin even if that being is definitely NOT a goblin by traditional definitions. It is their actions I’m more concerned with. They might be unruly, crude, mischievous, slightly cruel, greedy, always hungry, always drinking, and love shiny things. Consider them the frat boys of the spirit world.

During Goblin Days, I give these being their own little party. It’s pre-gaming, so to speak. They get mini-offerings (at random, because if they expect them and don’t get them all hell would break loose) and they don’t take out expensive items as a response. Sometimes they get a little too out of hand and I have to remind them they’re not only guest but I’m pretty fucking badass and can dropkick the whole lot of them out of the house before they could spit. I literally remind them that I’m not some random human for them to walk all over. I’m me and they know exactly what will happen if they go too far.

It’s a fun time and gets me in the mood to deal with the bigger, more powerful, and stronger spirits that roll around for the other festivals. Annnnd, yup, that’s all I’m willing to reveal at the moment.

Spirit Kings

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Spirit Kings

[UPG Alert! My opinions and UPG]

The other side has a hierarchy. Some places has courts as elaborate as you can imagine. Others are more territories where a being rules over their territory as they like.

Quick terminology is this: when I say king, I’m drawing up mental images for you. I use the word king specifically to relate to the exact mental image I want you to have. I’m not saying ruler. I’m not saying emperor. I’m not saying queen. I’m saying king. Specifically. There is no gender or sex for this term in this specific context, most because spirits rarely may any heed to gender or sex constructs.

Generally speaking, the more power the larger the size of the territory. Reasons for this power varies. Someone the power is all about how dangerous the spirit is. Other times it’s they’ve made enough of a reputation to not be messed with. Most often, they’ve killed, bartered, or manipulated their way there. Rarely, a spirit king takes up residence that has a skill or talent that makes them worth listening to and respecting. Fucking with that person annoys other spirits and can even cause wars.

Being the ruler of a territory is a perilous and precarious position. Once a territory is claimed or made, the mood of that territory changes, shifts to match the laws made and the king’s personality and moods. Very Fisher King like except not usually as dramatic (this isn’t entirely true, sometimes it is JUST as literal as that)

These are not beings to be fucked with. These are not beings to cross. Paid proper respect and all is (usually) well. But enrage a king in their kingdom? The very land itself will rise up against you

Why are there so many wars then? Because it’s easy? It should be noted that as well networked and liked as a king is, as many subjects they have or folk attend their court, there is only ONE person who fights for their throne. Them. The king has to defend their own kingdom with their own hands from a usurper. Sure, anyone can pick a side and join ranks to fight, many will be called upon to do just that because, hell, the point in war is to damage enough of the other side to make them submit. A territory vs. territory battle? Free-for-all. Half the times the rulers aren’t even fucking involved.

Spirit kings don’t tend to remain in one place either. They wander, rambling, and travel throughout their territory and visit friends elsewhere. You literally will never know who might be a king. There sometimes isn’t a way to tell. Despite being rooted in their territory, the itch to move and travel is often another cause for wars in my opinion and certainly is why they like to fuck with humans and travelers.

Sometimes those beings can make territories here, and connect their spirit territories with a physical location on this side. I’ll repeat that. They can be so powerful that they can make their presence and kingdoms known here. On this side. In this plane. You know when you think you’ve crossed into something’s territory but it’s so much huger than when you do it normally to other spirits and you feel eyes watching you, judging you? Yeah.

I’ve more to say on this subject but I don’t want to ramble on more than I have to.

Just something to think about when you travel about.

This is a tumblr repost that is really on point considering what’s coming up for me. And, because I don’t have as many people here as I do on tumblr, I’ll answer questions on this topic. Not every question may be answered as it might shift into personal and/or secrets and spoilers area.

And his eyes fell upon me….

I’m godbothered. I don’t speak about it much because I’m really very serious when I say I do not work with gods or spirits. I sometimes work for them and they sometimes work for me. But being godbothered means that I am literally bothered by a god. I can say no (and do, often) but they always return. The attention is uncalled for and many times unwanted.

The god I’m speaking of in my case is Heimdallr. According to Heimdallr worshipers He’s rather hands-off and aloof. This was confirmed by my own dealings with Him. We played cat-and-mouse for years. I’ve felt drawn to Him but refuse to worship a being at all (for reasons). I don’t even have a place for offerings for Him (although I intend on in the future, an outdoor public thing; offerings would be rare on my part though). Over the last year He told me He wanted me to be His seer. I took a long time but eventually agreed when terms were finally hammered out. I still don’t work with Him or worship Him, but I will be His oracle, when necessary. Rarely do I hear from Him. But today as I did a reading for a client.

The client in question is a Lokean so it isn’t surprising that Heimdallr decided to listen in, so to speak. I drew the cards out and interrupted them and as I was doing so I felt that floating sensation I get when I know I’m being dragged to the other side. I’m being beckoned elsewhere and there isn’t much I can do to stop it.  (Not that I would. I don’t tend to get dragged over unless there’s some shenanigans happening in my territory that I need to handle or someone wants to talk to me and it’s easier to do it there than here.)

I finished up the reading, saved it all because the internet’s been wonky due to summer storms (and now I still can’t send the reading because Etsy’s down at the time of this writing) and went to sleep.

Dreamless sleep. Odd, considering I was being beckoned over but upon reflection, it’s better to sleep first then wake up and cross over. You’re less likely to fall asleep while traveling and scientists have stated that lucid dreaming occurs most often when you wake up and then go back to sleep again. Which means that it is also true that it is easier to cross over when you wake up and go back to sleep.

By the time I awoke, His eyes had passed me by. I have no idea what His intentions where or why but who can know the gods’ minds but themselves?