Tag: techniques

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:

How to Make a Poppet

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Now, I’m going to be upfront:

  • This post was written during the process of making a poppet for cursing. While this post can be used for ANY poppet for ANY purpose.
  • Is image heavy; many of the photos are shaky. This is common when I photograph my spell work. I don’t know why but I have my suspicions.
  • Features photographs of charged ingredients, sigils, and spells.
  • Talks about curses
  • Features a mini how-to break glass safely.
  • This is an attempt to be traditionally neutral. I do things different than others and thus my own methods bleed through. Remember to work within and adapt to your own cultural background, paradigm, and practice.
  • Trigger warnings: blood, glass, curses, Gov. Rick Perry, poppets, sigils, spells, energy, charged items, etc. I’m sure there are others I’m missing but there you go.

This is a follow along using simple ingredients. It starts with how to make the poppet, talks about filling it, making the face and personalizing it, and then finishing it up. Away we go.

Continue reading →

Witches, Jars, and Burying ‘Em

[Witches, Jars, and Burying ‘Em tumblr repost June 4th, 11pm]

I can’t be the only one that sees how many witch jar spells tell you to bury said jar in the ground and winces. Why? Because reasons, that’s why.

Don’t roll your eyes. Read on.

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Here’s a few reasons why burying all the witch jars you make can be a pain in the ass:

  1. It can break. Broken glass can eventually make its way to the surface and that barbeque you’re having can turn into a trip to the hospital. This is especially dangerous if the glass was coated with or holding poisons, rust, metal, or other harmful materials.
  2. Finding the jar again. Let’s say you want to undo a spell. Or you just need to find the damn jar after you buried it. If you didn’t mark it, you’re going to be playing the guessing game on locating it in the earth.
  3. Too many jars makes for a full garden. Think about it. Bury six jars in small space then try to plant a garden over it. You can do it, absolutely, but that’s a lot of earth being taken up for a spell.
  4. You’re burying a perfectly good glass jar. I hate using glass jars for spells. I prefer to use and reuse glass jars until I can’t any more. By can’t I mean they shatter, are given away, hold poisons, or contain a smell that can’t be dispersed.
  5. It isn’t your land. (Maybe) You’re renting? Live in an apartment? On campus? Maybe you shouldn’t be burying shit in places you don’t own a deed to.
  6. Someone else could dig it up and find it. And how much would your plan suck then?
  7. Glass doesn’t decompose. Technically called devitrification (if I remember correctly) only some glass actually “breaks down”. In this process, the glass crystallizes as typically seen in art glass, crazing, warping, etc will occur before the glass actually becomes so fragile it will break. This occurs over long periods of time. Some types of glass can be broken down with chemicals such as hydrofluoric acid. But most glass we use, such as silicates, don’t break down naturally.

So what the hell am I bringing this up for and what am I suggesting otherwise? Because I find a lot of people are bottling things up and shoving things in jars as a matter of course. It’s just what you do. And, that might be personal practice and belief coming into play but it’s not necessary. Easy and convenient but not necessary most of the time (from what I can see).

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Ask yourself this when gathering ingredients for a spell:

  1. Does it need to be buried? Does it really? Are you sure? There isn’t some other way to solve the problem?
  2. Is this a short term spell? Maybe burying it in a potted plant is better.
  3. Does it need to be liquid? You can soak herbs in vinegar, hot sauce, protection oils, water, etc. without needing to fill a jar. It might even be easier to soak said herbs then leave them for the spell’s target to stumble upon. Hell, you could even spritz some vinegar/water/oil/etc on it and it would probably work (depending on your paradigm and all that).
  4. Does the spell need to be contained? Sometimes spells don’t need to be contained. Sometimes you need them to leech into the soil, earth, and world. If it doesn’t need to be contained, perhaps you should try putting it in a paper bag or a “biodegradable” bottle (most of these aren’t fully biodegradable and don’t do it in five years as advertised so keep that in mind) Jars contain things. Why would you put something in a jar if you want it to get out?
  5. Is it a funeral? A lot of the time I see “bury this” spells is because you’re suppose to be given it a funeral. If you aren’t doing that, then you may want to rethink burying it.
  6. Is it a secret? I don’t bury my protection witch jars. Instead, I hang them up. I put them on display. I let the world know this place is protected. Besides, it also serves as decoration. (Obviously, if you’re in the closet or the spell has a secret purpose, this isn’t an option).
  7. Will some other container make do? I paper bag half my “bury this” spells. Especially if they don’t contain liquid. And the ones that do sometimes don’t need that much liquid. Instead of shaking the jar, I’ll shake and squish the bag instead.
  8. Can you reuse the jar? One your spell has gone off, are you willing to dig up the jar and use it again? I’m not talking about the ingredients. I would bury the organics and bring the inorganics to a recycling station or dump. I’m talking about the jar itself. This comes down to personal belief and practice. I go either way on it personally but to each their own.
  9. Does it need to be sealed? Many witches seal their jars in wax. Why not make a container of wax instead?  Or seal a paper bag or whatever. It’s still sealed and yet you’re not burying glass.
  10. Does it actually need a jar? Many jar spells don’t need to be jar spells. It’s for convenience. You can pour hot sauce or vinegar over paper to curse someone. You don’t always need to stick it in a jar.

I’m not talking about just curses. This applies to ALL spells. And sure, I still make spell jars. It’s easy to make a jar. It’s harder to deal with a spell when it’s messy and everywhere. And I’m not saying everyone should suddenly not use jars. But I hope this little spiel has given at least one person a second’s pause before they reach for that glass jar and consider an alternative.

In the end, this is going to come down to personal practice, personal belief, and convenience. Do what you do and I’ll do what I do.