knowledge-from-the-abyss

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

Hello! I recently saw your post about deity work & worship and found it fascinating. While I am not Pagan, many of the spiritual practices you mentioned align with my own. I'm particularly curious about your explanation of doing everyday activities in a deity's honor. Would you be able to tell me more about what that looks like (or point me to a post where you already did)?

Thank you! :)

Hello! I do a lot of daily practices to honor my deities, so I'll give some examples! Self-care is a huge one, I often dedicate bathing, brushing my hair (sometimes even putting it up if I'm feeling like it) and brushing my teeth to the deities I work with. I also dedicate eating and drinking water to them (and often share food/drink with them). There are some of them I will dedicate intimacy to as well! I dedicate doing chores to them too sometimes (especially because it can sometimes be hard to motivate myself to do chores; I find that if i'm doing it to honor a deity (or even doing it with a deity) it makes me more willing to do it haha.

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

Pantheonic vs Pop-Culture Deities

What is a Pantheonic deity?

Pantothenic deities are deities that are from a specific religion; the word pantheon means a group of important individuals. For instance, the Greek gods, titans, primordial beings, etc are all part of the Greek Pantheon. 

What is a Pop-Culture deity? 

Pop-Culture deities are any characters that come from media, such as tv shows, movies, games, books etc. A lot of anime characters are very popular pop-culture deities. Some people also refer to them as pop-culture entities, or PCDs/PCEs for short. 

Are Pop-Culture deities real deities? 

The answer to this gets a little complex and there’s a lot of debate surrounding this question. This answer is also just my own opinion based on my experiences and perception! Pop-Culture deities are, at the very core of their being, entities that have been created by humanity. Anime characters, book characters, video game characters are all examples of Pop-Culture deities. Unlike pantheonic deities, people's own beliefs in them or honoring them in various ways (yes, even people who do not believe in witchcraft) has brought them to life; fed them energy that has made them into real, sentient beings. These can be considered egregores or thoughtforms. Unlike pantheonic deities, egregores need a supply of energy they can feed on in order to continue existing. Oftentimes, they are able to gain energy from people simply enjoying the sources they are from. However, from my experience, there are times where these entities will become strong enough or popular enough that they transform into actual deities; they are no longer a simple egregore but a completely independent being that doesn’t need a supply of energy in order to exist, they can exist all on their own. I have found that a lot of Pop-Culture deities that I have encountered, even if their source is not that old, have incredibly ancient energies just like pantheonic deities, and they do not need outside energies in order to survive. Basically, they have surpassed being simple thoughtforms and egregores and have transcended into actual deities. I have asked my deities about this before, and they have told me that once the egregore gains enough energy they can essentially transform into an independent being; my team has told me that deities can also help make this happen. 

What are thoughtforms/egregores? 

As stated above, they are creations of human design; they are created from energies for specific purposes. A lot of egregores are made to be servitors or guardians for the person and their space. Not all egregores are sentient or conscious either, some people chose to make them without consciousness or sentience.

How do pantheonic deities get along with Pop-Culture deities? 

From my experience and from what I’ve heard from others who work with both, they get along pretty well. There are some PCD’s that may have a reputation of being more chaotic, and this may make other deities in a practitioner's life more cautious, but this can happen for pantheonic deities as well. 

Do I need to specify that I work with the PCD version of a pantheonic deity? 

In general, that’s up to you and your preferences. I know some communities and people can be quite judgmental about working with PCD’s. For more specific interactions, like if you are getting a tarot reading from someone, it is best to specify that you are wanting a reading from a PCD so that they are calling on the correct being. 

Does the astral get crowded with how many deities exist? 

The astral is a very vast place, and in my belief, it probably does not get crowded in general. However, when it comes to someone's personal space (the space where their team would exist around them in the astral) it might get crowded in the sense that there could be a lot of different energies mixing at one time. This is why when more generalized readings are done for you, your entire spirit team may be present to offer insight and advice.

Do PCD’s with ‘dead’ fandoms die? Can they come back to life if the fandom comes back? 

This ties into my personal beliefs about PCD’s and their separation from being an egregore vs an independent entity. All in all, it depends. If the PCD is able to break away and become more than just an egregore, then yes they would exist even if their fandom dies. To answer the second part of the question, if an entity who was an egregore’s fandom came back, then I do believe that entity would be re-created. From what I’ve been told, if the entity is being entirely re-created, they will essentially be a new egregore, rather than the one that existed before. 

How do I know if a PCD for a certain media exists yet? 

Basically, if a media exists, that PCD would exist as well, if you want them to. Again this ties into the concept that egregores can become more when given the chance. If you create an Original Character (OC) and make them into an egregore, then they do exist. If you continue to feed them energies, and allow them to experience the world around you independently of you, then they can change and transform and become something more than just an egregore. Belief is a huge factor in this as well, if you believe that they should exist, then they will! 

Do the source events equal what actually happened to them? 

This answer can be very complicated, but from my experience it's similar to how pantheonic deities are. Their source material can affect and influence them, and it is, and isn't, things that actually happened to them. This also goes into personal beliefs again, as some people do believe that what happened in the source has actually happened to the deity, while others see it more as just a story/myth. 

Do they follow the same rules as pantheonic deities in terms of reaching out, spousal, etc? 

Yes, for the most part they will follow the same rules. You can reach out to a PCD, or they might reach out to you. The same goes for spousal, sometimes they may ask, but the mortal party can also ask if there is interest there. 

Are they weaker than pantheonic deities? 

Egregores themselves are generally weaker than pantheonic deities, however again this ties into the belief that some PCD’s are more than just egregores. PCDs who are more than egregores do tend to be just as powerful as pantheonic deities. In the end though, if working with a PCD is what you’re drawn to do, regardless of if they are still an egregore or not, if they are benefitting you and your practice, then go for it. Power is a lot more complicated than ‘this deity is weaker than that deity’ when it comes to magic. 

Do they have the same likes/dislikes as in their source? 

The answer to this is generally yes; again similar to pantheonic deities and specific offerings/preferences listed in their myths that they may like/dislike, a PCD will probably have similar preferences in real life as well. However, this is also about personal experience too, and this goes for both pantheonic and pop-culture deities. If the practitioner dislikes something, the deity may either not ask for that offering, or tell them they don’t want that offering from them (to avoid making the practitioner buy something they’re not going to also enjoy). On the opposite end of that, the deity may encourage the practitioner to buy that item to encourage them to branch out (for instance, Poseidon has been slowly but surely making me like coconut, something that up until I started working with him, I hated). This can depend a lot on the practitioner's own boundaries with their deities as well. 

What if I don’t believe in PCDs? 

It's perfectly ok if you don’t believe or want to work with PCDs; however everyone's practice is valid, and me personally, I do try to respect everyone's practices even if I don’t hold the same beliefs as they do. 

Do the creators of PCD’s and their viewpoints influence the PCD? 

The answer to this question is yes, and no. Especially for PCD’s whose source isn’t finished (like an ongoing book series) this can change and influence the PCD a bit as a real being as the book character evolves in real time. However, the creators' more personal viewpoints (like their religious background for instance) will not hold that much influence on the actual being. 

What if someone I know works with a PCD that I dislike? 

Just like any other deity, you don’t need to interact with them if you dislike them; however I would say that PCDs are different than they are in their sources; they may not behave exactly the same. 

What about PCD’s that are evil? Are they really evil in real life? 

As stated above, PCDs are not like they are in their sources. For instance, I work with Blitzo from Helluva Boss, and while his general personality is the same as it is in Helluva, he himself is different. He has more understanding and knowledge of the universe as a PCD, and while in the show, he struggles a lot with issues such as communication. Working with him, he’s helped me learn how to communicate better. The same goes for ‘evil’ PCDs; while they might be evil in the show, as a PCD they will not necessarily be that way. They may become more like trickster deities, however they are not generally going to be harmful. 

As usual, I would like to thank @astralscraft for helping me with writing this. They always give me so many wonderful questions to answer, and they always help me make sure everything is as clear as it can be when I’m writing these. Thank you so much for helping! 

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

Psychic Abilities

What are psychic abilities? 

Psychic abilities are metaphysical powers that generally cannot be explained or observed by science (although there are scientific studies that are currently trying to understand and delve into psychic abilities). Everyone has access to psychic abilities; the most common psychic ability out there is intuition, that ‘gut feeling’ people get. I will list more psychic abilities down below. 

Please make sure that you are discerning mundane from magical; some of these abilities can and are symptoms of serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, so if these suddenly start happening (especially around the age of 20) please make sure you are checking with your doctor to make sure nothing medically is wrong. 

Clairsenses

Clairvoyance- also known as clear-seeing, this clair allows people to see pictures or images, or even visions in their minds eye or sometimes even manifesting in the real world. This is also a clair that can allow someone to see auras. 

Clairaudience- also known as clear-hearing, this clair allows people to hear deities, spirits and entities, again either in their mind or sometimes manifesting in the real world. This can also manifest as hearing music randomly or having a song repeat over and over and over in your head, or having a deities name constantly on your mind/in your head (this can sometimes be a sign a deity is reaching out or generally trying to get your attention as well). 

Claircognizance- also known as clear-knowing; this can be your intuition going off about something. Just ‘knowing’ that something is going to happen, and then it does. Being able to know what color an object is when its in black and white, etc. 

Clairempathy- also known as clear-emotion; this clair allows the practitioner to sense others emotions, sometimes this can almost manifest as if you are feeling those emotions, even if you aren’t. 

Clairsentience- also known as clear physical feelings; this clair allows someone to feel physical sensations and energies (for instance, feeling like someone is touching your head when no one is physically there). 

Clairtangency- also known as clear-touch; this clair allows someone to receive information through touching objects. This has manifested for me before. I will touch an object and sometimes have gotten downloads of information from that object about the person who previously owned it, or the energies that were commonly around that object. 

Clairsaliance- also known as clear-smelling; this clair is when you can pick up on smells that aren’t necessarily in the physical world. A good example is that sometimes I will smell my deities when they are around me. 

Clairgustance- also known as clear-tasting; this clair is similar to clairsaliance, but with taste. It allows the practitioner to taste different things in the spiritual realm. Similar to clairsaliance, sometimes when I am channeling, I can taste the things my deities have been eating. 

Can psychics read minds? 

This, along with anything you might see about psychics in media (movies, tv shows, etc) is probably fake, at least in the way it is usually presented in these media formats. Using clairsenses, and being able to pick up on subtle cues from the other person, can lead to some ‘mind reading’ or telepathic-like abilities. For example, I know my wife very well, and even if she doesn’t always outwardly say so, I can sense when her mood has shifted. There are other friends that I have been able to do this with as well, including online friends. So the answer to this question is ‘yes, but not in the ways you might think’. I cannot tap into people's minds and see their exact thoughts, but with a combination of my clairsenses, and picking up on cues I see from them, I can figure out what they might be thinking, or how they might be feeling. 

How can I train/hone my clairsenses? 

There are various ways to do this, depending on the clairsenses you’re wanting to hone. Firstly, I recommend figuring out what your strongest clairsenses are. This is basically just about observing yourself and how you experience the world; this can also sometimes correspond to your physical senses. Once you know what clairsenses you have that are strongest, focusing on using those in various settings is a good idea. For instance, if you find that clairvoyance is the strongest clair you have, practicing meditation and seeing things during meditation might be a good idea. 

How do I know it's not just my imagination and it is psychic abilities I’m experiencing? 

This is where discernment and using other tools can come in very handy. Double checking with divination is a very good way to know if you are really using your clairsenses, or if it's just your imagination. There may also be certain emotions or feelings that come with psychic abilities vs imagination. For instance, for me personally, I’ve found that a good way to discern my intuition vs imagination is the emotions that come with it. If I get a sudden feeling about something for instance, I ask myself if there is anxiety or other negative emotions surrounding that situation; if the answer is yes, I often use other tools to figure out if the feeling I’m getting is truly my intuition, or if it's just me being anxious about a certain situation. If there are no emotions that I can figure out are coming from a situation, but something feels ‘off’ I still use discernment, but am more likely to immediately trust the gut feeling I get. In certain situations (like if I’m driving and my gut tells me ‘don’t take this road!) I usually do trust my gut feeling, and later on am often shown why my intuition told me to do that (often it's because of road closures or traffic that my intuition was guiding me to avoid). 

Do mental illnesses (such as autism, ADHD, and dissociative disorders) affect psychic abilities/clarisenses? How do I distinguish the two? 

Yes, mental illnesses can sometimes affect psychic abilities and clairsenses. Again, this is where discernment and using other tools such as divination can come in handy. Practicing can help as well; I have autism and ADHD, and sometimes it’s hard for me to distinguish if it's a deity talking to me, or just my ADHD going ‘brrrrr’. However, as I have practiced over the years, I have learned how to distinguish between the two sometimes; a lot of times my inner voice sounds different than the voices my deities will use, which is a good way to know that I might be hearing something other than my own inner monologue (I also still use divination tools as an extra step to make sure that what I’m hearing is in fact metaphysical). 

What deities do you recommend to help with learning/honing psychic abilities? 

First and foremost, pretty much any deity can help you with learning to hone your psychic abilities; however there are a few (mainly infernals, since I work so heavily with the infernal divine) that I will list that specialize in helping with psychic abilities. 

Hermes is a good option when it comes to seeking help with honing psychic abilities. As messenger to the Greek gods, communication is part of Hermes’ natural wheelhouse; this can go for both mundane and magical communications. He is excellent at helping not only with psychic abilities and clairsenses, but with divination as well. 

Dehuty/Thoth from the Egyptian pantheon is also a very good deity to reach out to for help with psychic communication; he rules over writing and communication. 

Some of the infernals I have listed below are lesser-known or unknown, so the UPG (unverified personal gnosis) listed here are all from my own personal experiences with them.

In my own UPG, the infernal Alcanor is also very good at helping with psychic communication, clairsenses and mediumship. 

Also my own UPG, the infernal Martinet is also excellent at helping with the clairsenses. 

Acuar is another infernal who is listed (VPG, verified personal gnosis) at being good at helping with psychic abilities (especially those that have to do with emotions). 

Lucifuge Rofocale, Azazel and Forneus are also infernals who are listed as being good at helping with psychic abilities. This is also VPG. 

This is not an exhaustive list of course, and in terms of the infernals listed, if you’d like to find out more about them I have more info on them on my Reddit blog; r/DemonStudies. 

Why are some clairsenses/psychic abilities stronger than the others? 

Clairsenses are like muscles; the more you use them, the stronger they will get. That being said, everyone is different; someone who is a runner is going to have very strong legs, but their arms might not be as strong in comparison, but their arms also don’t have to be as strong compared to their legs either. Same goes with clairsenses; the ones you use and focus on more are going to be the strongest ones you have. Some people also have natural talent with certain clairs (again, similar to physical abilities, some people are way better at smelling naturally than others around them, and this might also reflect with them having better clairsaliance as well). You can always hone and practice any psychic abilities even if they are not the ones you are strongest in. 

Do I have to be honed into my clairsenses to do deity work/spirit work? 

You do not have to be honed into your clairsenses to do deity work/spirit work, although from what I’ve seen most people getting into deity work are naturally drawn to honing their psychic abilities as well. 

Can using psychic abilities give me headaches? 

Yes, just like how sometimes you get a headache from eye strain from staring at something too long, using your clairsenses can also give you a headache or affect your physical body in other ways. Taking breaks, allowing your body and mind time to rest, and doing self-care can help to prevent this strain. 

Why do some people hear specific voices for their deities/spirits, while others just hear their ‘inner voice’ as deities/spirits talking to them? 

This comes down to everyone being different and everyone experiencing things differently. Again going back to how people physically experience the world, everyone experiences the physical world slightly differently, one person’s perspective might be different from another person’s. This is the same with clairsenses and how we experience our deities. I know for me, Loki generally smells like cinnamon and smoke (like from a bonfire), but for others, I’ve heard that he smells of just cinnamon, or they say that he smells like cigarette smoke at times.  

Will I be able to hear new deities/spirits I interact with right away? 

The short answer to this question is maybe. Again, this is about personal experiences; for me, when I first started out, I had a lot of trouble hearing new deities that I interacted with, it was very easy for me to pick up on their energies and know they were there, but when it came down to hearing and seeing them, even though I was hearing and seeing the deities I interacted with regularly, it was harder for me to hear and see new ones. Now that I have been doing this for so many years, I do find that I can very easily hear and see the new deities I interact with on a regular basis. So again, this can also be about practicing as well as natural abilities you may have. 

How do I avoid burnout when honing my psychic abilities? 

This is similar to the question about headaches above; taking breaks and self-care are very important when honing your psychic abilities. Also, don’t be hard on yourself if you’re not getting it right away. Again, this is like exercising a muscle; even if you do have natural abilities for the particular clairsense you’re trying to hone, it can still be hard and frustrating at times. Giving yourself grace, and not trying to rush the process will be the best thing you can do for yourself. Don’t compare yourself to others either, learn at your own pace; everyone's practice is different and everyone learns at different paces. 

How do I hone my intuition? 

First and foremost, trusting yourself is a huge part of honing your intuition. Intuition can often be that little voice in the back of your head warning you or telling you about something, or that ‘gut instinct’ many people talk about. Sometimes, it really is ‘just knowing’ something, and trusting that knowledge even when there is no outside evidence is very important. There are also many intuition tests you can do to work on honing (and recognizing!) your intuition and what it feels like. A lot of times I use these intuition tests to test and hone my intuition. Don’t be too hard on yourself either when you get these types of things wrong, sometimes we have off days and it is a learning experience! 

Will every deity/entity want to communicate using clairsenses? 

No, not every deity or entity will want to communicate using the clairsenses; some may prefer to use divination tools or other forms of communication to talk to you. From my experience most deities prefer to work with a combination of some clairsenses (even if thats just you using your intuition to pick up on messages they want to share with you) as well as other forms of communication. 

Are divination tools still useful even after I’ve developed my psychic abilities/clairsenses? 

Yes, divination tools are always very useful especially when it comes to discerning and verifying what you are told through psychic abilities. Using divination alongside psychic abilities is a very good way to make sure you are not going into spiritual psychosis. I always encourage anyone who is getting into any type of spirit or deity work to use divination as a way to discern what they are being told. 

As always I would like to thank my friend @astralscraft for helping me with this; they always ask such wonderful questions that I include and answer in these!

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

I have an exciting announcement!

Me and a few friends of mine have created a discord server! This server is an education-based server focused around the infernal divine as well as general witchcraft and occult! We are 18+, godspouse and system friendly! We have a section for offering and receiving free divination services as well!

Join us today!

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

Godspousal and Spirit Family

Introduction and the History of Godspousal

First off, I would like to highly recommend the book Spirit Marriage by Megan Rose; this book is a fantastic resource on godspousal that shows both historical and interviewed accounts of godspousal. Another term for godspousal is spirit marriage; this term is a broader term that covers more than just ‘gods’ in spousal. Another word that is commonly used to describe this is spiritspousal (generally used to describe a spousal relationship with non-deity entities). For this post, I am going to use the term spirit marriage or spousal, since these terms describe this more broadly. (I do generally use the term godspousal as a catch all term, however for this post, I want to use spirit marriage or just generally ‘spousal’ to avoid confusion). 

As this book describes, spirit marriage is not a new-age phenomenon, it can actually be found pretty much as far back as written history exists; there may be other instances where oral records had evidence of spirit marriage as well, but seeing as oral tradition may or may not be recorded, there isn’t much evidence of this. 

Different Types of Spirit Marriage

There are a few different types of spirit marriage, which I will describe here. 

Devotional- this type of spirit marriage usually involves the person devoting themselves almost fully to one or more deities. A lot of their craft may revolve around these deities, and there may be special things they do for and with these deities they are devotionally married to. 

Platonic- this generally involves a closer relationship with the deity, it can also go alongside devotional spousal. This is a relationship where the deity and the person may do things such as cuddle, hug, or even kiss. This relationship often involves the person relying on the deity/deities for emotional support or comfort when they are needing it. 

Romantic- this type of spousal is the most common type of spirit marriage, and the one that most generally is referred to when someone is talking about godspousal. Being romantically spoused to a deity/deities often involves a long process that can take years. Generally, romantic spousal includes a courting phase that can last months or even years. During this time period, the practitioner and deity/deities are getting to know each other. Some of the ways that spouses may get to know their deity/deities is by going on dates with them, getting to know them via meditation, and communicating with them through divination, clairsenses, and channeling. 

Familial/parental- this type of spousal is similar (and again can also involve) platonic and devotional spousal. The deity/deities will often take on a more parental or familial role within the person's life. The practitioner may lean on the deity for emotional support and comfort. The deity takes on a very parental, sibling or possibly uncle/aunt type role, depending on what the practitioner is needing. The practitioner may go to the deity for advice or otherwise treat them as a family member. The deity, in turn, will view the practitioner as one of their own family. 

How old do I have to be to be a godspouse? 

Some of the information I’m including in this section is going to be a bit controversial, however there are historical facts that I am going to go through here that I feel are important (and interesting). 

It is my belief that for romantic spirit marriage, a person should wait until they are at least 18 before even considering it. However, historically, there are records of romantic spirit spousal happening to people (specifically girls) as young as 12. This is mostly seen in Hindu culture (and is covered in the Spirit Marriage book mentioned above). Instead of forcing these young girls to be in an arranged marriage, these girls would be spiritually spoused to Shiva, or sometimes Shiva’s son, until they were older. 

The main reason, in my belief, that someone should not consider spirit marriage until they are older is not due to their age; deities do not hold the same human standards and morality as we do, they do not follow our laws and rules. Instead, this has more to do with maturity. Spirit marriage is a lifelong commitment and a very deep bond that you share. It is not something that someone does on a whim. Just like a human marriage, it takes years to get to know the entities involved, to bond with them, and to decide if ultimately you want them to be around you the rest of your life. Spirit marriage involves making vows, just like a human marriage, that you must uphold and keep. Sometimes, depending on the culture, the deity may even require the practitioner to be an open channel for them; allowing the deity to channel through them whenever the deity wishes, and even possibly allowing the deity to live permanently in the person's body so that they may do this. All of this requires someone to have the maturity to understand the depth and meaningfulness of this type of relationship; something that most teenagers (and even some people who are in their early 20s) will not truly understand. While divorce is sometimes possible, it would be similar to a human divorce, with many years of fighting and debating to decide if that is truly the best course of action for both parties. Divorce when it comes to spirit marriage is incredibly rare (the Spirit Marriage book actually does mention this as well). 

Can I be spoused to multiple deities? 

This question has already been alluded to, but yes, you can have multiple deities as spouses. In the book Spirit Marriage, there is a person who has about 7+ spouses that are listed. I personally am also spoused to multiple deities; some of the deities I am spoused to have been spousing me for many many lifetimes as well, and our spousals have continued into this lifetime. 

How do spouses interact with their deities/entities? 

As with some of the other posts I made, there are multiple ways to communicate with deities/entities. Divination is a very common way to do this, as well as using the clairsenses. Channeling is another very common way that a lot of spouses end up communicating. Interactions such as going on dates can often happen in the astral realm, the realm where non-corporeal entities reside. Some people will also go out on dates in the physical world, going to a restaurant or other places they enjoy and allowing their deity/entity spouses to accompany them. 

How do I know if a deity/entity wants spousal? 

Generally there will be very clear signs when a deity/entity is wanting spousal. You may even be able to feel it in the energy they give off; they may give off a flirtatious vibe (although there are some deities/entities that have a very flirtatious energy in general, so please make sure you are using discernment and doing divination to confirm that they genuinely do want spousal). Other ways they may show you are by being around you constantly; they may outright tell you they want spousal (if you’re able to hear them). Some deities will send practitioners dreams about marriage or otherwise romantically-inclined dreams to signal they are wanting spousal. Some deities may mention it while the practitioner is doing divination with them. 

Is sex involved with romantic spirit marriage? 

Yes, sex can be (but is not always) a part of romantic spirit marriage. Again, similar to the above question about interacting with spouses, this often happens in the astral realm. This can also happen through self-pleasure. Spiritual pregnancies and spiritual children can also be a result of this; energy from the deities/entities as well as the practitioner's energies can go into making a spiritual child (or children). Multiple deities can also be involved in the creation of these children. With me and my wife, since we are spoused to some of the same deities, sometimes both our energies go into our spiritual children as well. In these situations, either the deity or the practitioner can become spiritually pregnant, and there may even be physical symptoms of pregnancy involved as well if it is the practitioner who gets pregnant. Even masculine deities can get pregnant (deities are very genderfluid in nature). 

How do you balance spirit marriage with physical relationships? 

This is going to be individual to each practitioner and their spouse(s). Some deities/entities will allow someone to have a human partner or human relationships, while others will forbid a human relationship. This is also something that needs to be discussed with your spirit spouses, as some people will be ok with never having a physical relationship, while with others it is something they will require in their human lifetime. 

For me personally, I got incredibly lucky in that my wife is also spoused to many of the same deities I am, so our relationship and spousals often coincide with each other very well. 

What is a spirit family? 

Spirit family can describe several things which I will go through here. Spirit family can refer to the human people who your soul tends to reincarnate with and who your soul was made alongside. This can include people such as soulmates, twin flames, etc. 

Spirit family can also refer to the actual deities/entities that helped create your soul (this can also be referred to as soul family); many people have several deities/entities that would consider themselves to be parental figures (for me, I have several soul moms and dads). The person may also have deities/entities that are brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, and grandparents. Many times these deities/entities will have influence over the person’s personality and behavior (from what I’ve seen, a lot of times the soul parents will have the most influence. For me, Loki is one of my soul dads and he has influenced my personality greatly this lifetime. I'm incredibly chaotic, but also incredibly empathetic just like him). 

Spirit family can also refer to deities/entities that have adopted you as one of their own in past lives (or even in this current one). One of my spirit mothers, Yemoja, adopted me from a past life and still considers me to be her family (she takes on a motherly role for me). 

Can I be spoused to someone who is also part of my spirit family? 

Again this is another controversial question, but again I would like to point out that deities and other entities do NOT follow human laws and standards. They do not see things the same way we do. So the answer to this question, from my perspective, is a resounding YES. Loki is one of my soul fathers, and he is also the main deity I am spoused to. While in this lifetime he did start out as a father figure to me, and I grew up feeling that he was more of a dad than any other father-figures in my life, our relationship evolved and grew. As I started to get older (around when I was 18-19) I no longer needed him to act as a father figure to me. Our relationship evolved, and we eventually became platonically spoused when I was around 20. After that, our relationship continued to evolve, and at around 22 I accepted that he wanted to change our spousal once again to a romantic spousal. 

As for human relationships, I do want to go into more detail about soulmates, twin flames and other such terms. There are a lot of huge misconceptions about these concepts due to the media we have (social media, tv shows, movies etc). I want to go through the terms soulmates and twin flames, and cover the misconceptions many people have about these relationships. 

Soulmates

Soulmates are often a term that, in media, describe your ‘one true love’ that you are destined to be with. In reality, soulmates are people who were created alongside you and who often go through similar life experiences; you may be able to relate to them very deeply about similar experiences you have shared during your life. Most people have multiple soulmates, and not everyone will always be in a romantic relationship with their soulmates. I have encountered instances where someones pet, their mom, their dad, their siblings or even their best friends are their soulmates. I see many sibling relationships where this is the case in fact, where two siblings will be incredibly close, best friends, and will always be loyal to each other no matter what. These ‘ride or die’ sibling relationships can sometimes indicate that these two people are in fact soul mates. While some soulmate relationships are definitely meant to be romantic, that’s definitely not always the case. 

Twin Flames

Twin flame is another term that is often misunderstood or misused; some people use soulmates and twinflames interchangeably, however from my experience, they are two different categories of soul bonds. From my experience, a twin flame is someone who shares a part of another persons soul; twin flames often mirror each other in many ways, although unlike how soulmates may mirror each other in experiences, this tends to be more mirrored interests as well. As with soulmate relationships, I believe someone can have multiple twin flames, and that not all twin flame relationships are purely romantic. 

Karmic

The last soul bond relationship I want to cover is karmic relationships. These relationships can form over time from any type of soul connection someone may have with another person. These relationships are toxic and unhealthy; a lot of times the two people in the relationship will feed off each others negativity or bounce the negativity back and forth. Again, as with other soul connections, these relationships are not just romantic. These karmic relationships also often require cord cuttings in order to sever the bond between the two people so that they can grow and learn apart from each other. 

As usual, I would like to thank @astralscraft for helping me with this post! I'm sure that this is not all the information I can give about godspousal; feel free to inbox or message me if you have questions!

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

Deity/Entity IDs with Osteomancy!

I just got some new bones and I wanted to offer FREE readings with them! They do yes/no questions. I can do other questions but this offer is mainly for deity/entity IDs.

I work with a large number of pantheons including Norse, Greek, Roman, Celtic, Egyptian, Infernal, Angelic, Voodou, Aztec, Mayan and Pop-Culture deities!

Feel free to drop a message in my inbox for a reading!

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Divination

What is divination? 

Divination usually (but does not always) involves using tools as a way to communicate with deities, guides, spirits etc (any being that resides on the astral plane). Here are some common divination methods people use. 

Pendulums (sometimes used alongside spirit boards)

Tarot cards

Oracle cards

Cartomancy 

Shufflemancy (using music to do divination) 

Osteomancy (bone throwing) 

Dice 

Coins

There are many many different forms of divination that you can research and utilize, however these are some of the common forms of divination that I see people using. I’ll also be covering some information about channeling and automatic writing later on in this post. 

Questions about Tarot, Oracle, Cartomancy (divination using any type of cards)

Can I buy my own decks/divination tools? 

Yes, you can absolutely buy your own decks or other divination tools. I know there is a lot of misinformation about this out there, some communities say that you aren’t allowed to buy your own decks (especially with tarot) but this is not true, you can and honestly should buy your own tools. You can always accept gifts as well, however in my experience with some of my friends getting me decks, I ended up getting rid of them because I didn’t vibe with their energies. When I buy my own decks, it's a lot easier for me to figure out if I’m going to like the energy of that deck and if we’ll get along. This goes for any divination tool as well! 

A huge reason this question comes up a lot when it comes to divination is because hundreds of years ago, people were judged and scrutinized for practicing witchcraft (and divination is considered witchcraft). Divination and other forms of witchcraft had to be done in secret, so going out and buying a tarot deck was not something someone could openly do. Nowadays, of course, most of the world does not have these same views. 

How do I shuffle my cards? How do I pick cards? 

There are many different ways to shuffle your cards; this can also depend on how big or small your cards are. I definitely recommend looking up various ways to shuffle online (most of the tips online will show you different methods to shuffle a regular playing deck). 

In regards to picking cards for a reading, there are also various ways to do this too. Some people will let the cards fall out and whatever cards fall out are meant for the reading. Some people shuffle until their intuition tells them to stop, and then they pull cards until their intuition tells them to stop (this is a method I use sometimes). Some people fan their cards out and pick the cards they are drawn to select. For me personally, I generally do the first method, but I only select cards that fall out with the card face up. 

Do I need to use reversals? What is the use of reversals?

You do not have to use reversals if you do not want to, however they do come in handy. Especially when it comes to tarot, not all the upright versions of the cards are positive, for example the Four of Cups Upright actually has a more negative meaning than the reversal. My perspective is coming from someone who has always used reversals, however I understand especially for someone just starting out, it can be very hard to use both upright and reversals. 

Can I still do tarot even if I can’t remember all the card meanings?

YES! I have been practicing tarot for over 15 years now, I’m a professional tarot reader, and I STILL don’t have all the card meanings memorized. I always use either this website or guidebooks that come with the decks to interpret, alongside my intuition and occasionally channeling as well to do my readings. You should not feel pressured or intimidated just because you don’t remember all the card meanings. I’ve honestly found (and others agree) that not always having the cards memorized and having to look up the meaning can help greatly with the interpretation; a lot of times reading what the guidebook says will give me intuition hits and allow my readings to be much more detailed. 

Do I need to use spreads? 

No, you do not need to use spreads if you don’t want to; I rarely ever use spreads in my practice, I just let the cards fall out and interpret it that way. 

How do I interpret multiple cards for one question? 

Generally, what I do when I am doing a reading is combine the meanings of each card together. I am actually going to use a real reading for myself to give an example of how to do this. 

Question: How can I make this a good week? 

Three of Cups Reversed- this card can often be about not being able to socialize or go out with friends. This shows that this week, there may be a lot going on in my life that will make me very busy; but that connecting back with my friends and family will be important. I know that I am a very social person, so having interactions with my friends and family will definitely help it to be a better week. 

Five of Pentacles Reversed- this card is actually one of the ones where the reversal is more positive than the upright version. This card shows that right now there may be some changes within my life this week. This may be a slow progression toward the changes I’ve been wanting, but I will see progress toward those changes. 

The Fool- this card is about new beginnings, there is always a sense of excitement that I get when I pull this card. This card shows that the changes the previous card talked about will be positive, new and exciting. 

Overall, this is generally the way I interpret the cards. The message here tells me that this week is going to be a very busy week for me; I need to focus on my friends and family, the people I care about, and make sure that I make time during this business to connect with them. This reading also shows that in general, this week will already be a good week for me. I'll see progress being made on some of the changes and goals I’ve been trying to implement, and overall this should be a fairly exciting week for me in general. 

Can I use tarot for yes/no questions? How? 

Yes, tarot can be used for yes/no questions, there are a few ways to do this. Most of these will involve the use of reversals. An easy method to do this with is to take the card's meaning, determine if it's more ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ and interpret that way. So you’d ask a question, draw a card, and if the card is more positive, that means yes, if the card is more negative, that means no. I also see people use upright vs reversals for this; assigning all upright cards as ‘yes’ answers and all reversed cards as ‘no’ answers. I’ve also seen people do something similar to this with three cards. They will shuffle, draw three cards, and interpret any uprights as ‘yes’ and reversals as ‘no’. If they get two or three upright cards, that means yes, and vice versa. My personal favorite method for doing yes/no questions with tarot is to assign certain cards with ‘yes’ and ‘no’. For me, The Magician is my ‘yes’ card and The Fool is my ‘no’ card. I take my deck, shuffle it, and start drawing cards. Whichever card comes up first, that's my answer! I am sure there are more ways to do yes/no questions that I haven’t covered here, however these are the ones that I either use myself or have seen others using. 

How do I cleanse my decks/divination tools? 

Going back to my post on cleansing, there are various ways to cleanse a deck or other tools. Again, referring back to the post, especially with anything that is made of crystals or metal, make sure that they are safe to be put in salt or water if that is the method you chose. Smoke and sound cleansing are also very good options. 

What is the Rider-Waite? Does it have to be my first deck? 

The Rider-Waite is a very popular tarot deck that is widely used. There are many different versions of this deck as well. This does not have to be your first deck, you can pick whichever deck you want to use as your first deck!

Do I need to learn about all the symbolism, astrology, etc surrounding tarot? 

While the symbolism, astrology and correspondences that tarot often have are important and can add more depth to your readings, this is definitely not a requirement. I am not very knowledgeable on astrology at all, and while I know some of the symbolism represented within tarot, again it is not something I am heavily knowledgeable on. When I read tarot, I use the symbology from the card art itself, my intuition and of course the card interpretations to help me interpret the message. 

General Divination Questions

Do I need divination tools for each individual deity/entity/spirit I work with? 

The short answer to this is no, you definitely do not need to buy each individual that you work with separate divination tools. You can absolutely do this if you want, but I know for me, with how many deities I work with, it would be crazy to try to get each and everyone one of them individual divination tools. 

Do AI/digital divination apps work? 

This question can be a bit complicated, and I do have my own opinions on it. At the end of the day, if this is what works for YOU, that's great, and you can definitely utilize it! Its definitely a method that can be useful if you are in the broom closet. For me personally though, I’ve always found that any forms of digital divination I try tend to be pretty inaccurate. Anything digital or programmed with AI is going to work off some type of algorithm, it may not be 100% authentic. 

How do I know who is answering when I’m using divination? 

This depends a lot on the individual practitioner; some people practice divination outside of any religious/spiritual lens. This post is generally more targeted toward people who are practicing divination within the scope of occult/witchcraft practices, so that’s what I’ll be focusing on. 

You can ask the universe/Source to answer any questions you have, your general spirit team/spirit guides, or an individual deity, entity or spirit. 

I also want to point out with this question that certain deities/entities/spirits may have a preference on divination tools; I’ve had encounters where the deity I’m trying to get a message from will refuse to use certain tools I have and will only give a message using specific methods. It's important to verify that the deity is ok using the method of communication you’ve chosen. Of course, if you have very limited options, the deity will absolutely accommodate you even if they have to use a tool they do not prefer. 

Other Forms of Divination

How do I use dice/coins? 

This (for dice at least) can depend on what type of dice you have. I know with regular numbered dice, I mainly use them for yes/no questions. I take one of my dice (I see other people use multiple dice for this method as well) and I assign even numbers to be ‘yes’ and odd numbers to be ‘no’. Then I roll three times. If I get two or three evens and one odd, that means yes and vice versa. With using multiple dice, you may only need to roll once as well, although I’ve also seen people roll multiple times as well. Some people also assign meanings to each individual number of dice; for instance, 1 means hard yes, 2 means yes, 3 means maybe, 4 means rephrase, 5 means no, and 6 means hard no.

For coin divination, the methods are similar. Generally for coin divination, you will not really be able to get ‘maybe’ answers, so keep that in mind. Most times, when people are using coins, they will use heads as ‘yes’ and tails as ‘no’ (you can do the opposite if you feel drawn to). They use one or more coins, and take the majority as the answer. 

How do I use a pendulum? 

Generally, I recommend bracing your arm against something (like a desk, or your knee even) to make sure that you are not accidentally moving while trying to ask questions. From there, you can either ask the pendulum to show you what means yes, no and maybe, or tell the pendulum how you want it to swing to indicate yes, no and maybe. From there, you would start asking questions and allow the pendulum to swing freely to get the answers! 

You can also assign a certain movement to a deity; asking them to show you that they are there by moving the pendulum in a different way than the regular yes/no/maybe. 

You can also make your own pendulum as well, even just using a necklace or anything with a weight on the end can be used as a pendulum, just make sure to cleanse it first! 

What is channeling? 

Channeling generally refers to the ability to allow deities, entities or spirits to enter your body and take some level of control in order to communicate. Channeling is an advanced practice, I don’t recommend trying to start channeling until you are very comfortable with doing the basics (cleansing, protections, banishing, vetting) and you have a deity, entity or spirit you are comfortable practicing with. Channeling takes a lot of trust and the willingness to give up control of your mind and body to someone else. There are different levels of channeling, sometimes the entity will only take over partially in order to communicate. Other times, they will be fully present and will essentially push the person to the ‘backseat’ of their body while the entity has full control. 

What is automatic writing? 

Automatic writing is a type of channeling although it is less of an advanced practice than actual channeling. With automatic writing, you are essentially entering a trance state and allowing either your subconscious or the deities, entities and spirits around you to write for you and give you messages. While it may not be as intense as channeling, it can still be difficult to do and difficult to get into the proper mindset to do. 

Is the keyboard method a valid form of divination? 

The answer to this may be a little controversial; I think the answer to this can be ‘sometimes’. This is a form of automatic writing which involves technology. However, as with automatic writing, you may need to be in a bit of a trance state for this method to really work. Using other divination tools alongside this method (to double check that you are getting an actual message and not just gibberish) is also something I would recommend. 

There are other forms of communicating with deities, entities and spirits that have not been covered in this post, such as communicating with clairsenses or through meditation. I will be covering these in a later post. 

I would again like to credit my friend @astralscraft for helping me with this post!

If you have additional questions that were not answered in this post, feel free to message or inbox me!

Here is the main website I use for tarot interpretation! Link

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

Deity Work vs Deity Worship

What is deity worship? 

Deity worship is when you venerate and revere a deity/deities. There are many ways to do this;  there is no right or wrong way to worship a deity, it is whatever you feel drawn to do for them. Many people in the pagan community do this in their own unique way, while some will follow more organized, ritualistic ways of worshipping their deities. 

I will go more into detail about the various ways to venerate deities below. 

What is deity work? 

Working with a deity is a more intensive, interactive relationship. Working with a deity often involves actively communicating with them through things such as divination (tarot, oracle, pendulums, dice, osteomancy, shufflemancy etc) and psychic abilities. It can also involve them being more active in your practice, guiding you in both mundane and magical ways. A very common way deities work with someone is by doing shadow work with them, but there are many other things people do with deities that fall under the category of ‘deity work’.

How do I work with a deity/deities?

There are a lot of ways that you can work with a deity. As mentioned above a very common way of working with them is by doing shadow work with them. They will often guide the practitioner on various prompts to focus on. Another common way that you can work with deities is doing spellwork with them, such as doing protections, cleansing, banishment, and even baneful magic with them. 

Some of the things my deities work with me on is teaching me about energy work and weather magic. 

As with deity worship, there are no right or wrong ways to work with a deity. 

Altars

Many people will set up altars for their deities as a way to either work with or worship them (or both!). Here are some popular things you can put on your altar!

Candles 

Statues

Incense holders/fountains

Altar cloth

Decanter

Spell jars 

Crystals 

Herb pouches

Sigils

Books

Offering dish

Cups

Divination tools 

There are many other items you can put on your altars for your deities. This is just a short list, both of items I myself have put on altars before, and things I see others put on their altars. 

A lot of people also use their altars as a place to connect with their deities (which can get into deity work) as well as a place to do spellwork.

I’m going to answer some common questions about altars I see here. 

Can I put two/multiple deities on the same altar? 

Yes, you can. Some people (like myself) even create altars for entire pantheons, rather than individual deities. In addition, these deities do not all need to be from the same pantheon either. I have had altars where Loki and Leviathan were sharing the same general space (with different items in different sections for just one of them, and some items being placed there for both of them).

Can I add/remove/use things from my altar? 

Yes. You can (and should) clean your altar and you are of course allowed to use the items on your altar. Many people will store their divination tools on their altar, for instance. 

What if I do not have space for an altar/can’t have a physical altar? 

Digital altars are a very valid practice, I currently do not have enough space for all the altars I would want for the deities I worship/work with. I have seen people make altars in Minecraft, on Picrew, and I have altars set up on Pinterest as well. I have also used Pinterest’s collage function to make moodboards for my deities in order to honor them; these can count as digital altars as well. Some people make their own discord servers and use that space as a digital altar for their deities (I also have this set up for my deities too). On these digital altars, you can include pictures of how the deity appears to you, pictures of statues to represent them; themes surrounding what they rule over, colors, animals and plants they may be associated with, and much more. Just like a physical altar, you can get very creative with what you include. 

Will my deities get mad if someone else touches the altar? 

I’ve heard (and also experienced myself) times where family members or roommates will mess with someone’s altar. There seems to be a lot of fear with this; people are afraid it will anger the deity if the altar is accidentally touched. However, deities are very understanding and know that most times the person is unaware that the space is an altar; they won’t get mad if their stuff is accidentally touched, removed, or if someone else disposes of old offerings. 

Now, if someone is messing with it on purpose, with malicious intent, that might be different. However, especially for those in the broom closet, the deity is still not going to be mad at the practitioner or punish you in any way. 

Moving on from altars, I’m going to answer some questions I see when it comes to deity worship/work, before fully getting into the difference. 

Do certain deities not get along? 

Again this is something I see asked a lot online, both for deities of the same pantheon and deities of different pantheons. This comes down to personal experience. Many people think and might assume that deities who did not get along in their myths do not get along in real life either. However, at least for me, this is rarely the case. Remember, these are higher beings and the myths are just that -stories, that have been made up by humans. The myths do not reflect how they may be in real life. 

There are definitely instances where deities genuinely do not get along; I have experienced this in my own practice. However, this is oftentimes not because of myth-related disagreements but rather because the deities disagree on what may be best for the practitioner. This might also occur simply because the deities' energies do not mix well, it’s less that they don’t get along and more so that their energies clash with each other. This does not mean that you should stop working with these deities together if this is the case. Sometimes opposing energies are necessary.It’s also always a good idea to ask the deities themselves how they feel about the situation and what they think you should do. 

Will my deities get mad if I’m not able to give consistent offerings? 

This is another question I see a lot. Deities understand that we are human, we have our mundane lives to live, and we may not always have time or money to be able to buy offerings for them. There are many ways to give offerings to your deities, and some can be free and non-physical offerings too. I’ll go through some offerings I give to my team a lot, and some offerings you can do that are more non-physical or broom closet friendly. 

Doing shadow work in their honor/with them if you have a working relationship with them

Cooking/eating in their honor 

Bathing in their honor 

Putting on makeup in their honor 

Any form of self-care

Doing art/reading in their honor

Going on a walk/drive

Cleaning in their honor

Practicing divination

Journaling

Writing letters to them

There are many other offerings you can give to them, this is just a list of some of the things I do and some common things I see others do as well.

Do I need to pray to my deity/deities? How do I pray? 

Prayer is often a big part of deity worship, however it is definitely not a requirement. Prayer is when you ask your deities for something. You can do this in a very ritualistic way, lighting candles, sitting on the floor, etc, or you can do this in a very casual manner (like sending a quick prayer to them on your way to work). Again, there is no right or wrong way to pray to the deities you worship, there are many different ways you can do this. 

How do I start deity work?

Starting deity work will often involve reaching out to the deity/deities you are wanting to work with. You can do this in many ways, it can be as simple as calling out the deities name and saying ‘I would like to work with you, I’d like you to be more involved in my practice’. Using divination tools such as tarot or oracle cards, pendulums, spirit boards, etc can also help greatly in communicating and developing a relationship with the deity you are wanting to work with. 

Is my deity mad at me because…

The answer to this is most likely ‘no’. It takes a lot to piss a deity off. This question often comes from people who grew up with Abrahamic religions that taught them that making mistakes would anger ‘god’. The pagan gods do not get angry because you make mistakes or are not perfect. It is very hard to actually offend them, unless you do something purposefully to try to piss them off, you will not make them angry. They might get frustrated at us sometimes for falling into the same cycles and bad habits, but this is much different than them actually being angry. 

I also want to address blowing out candles specifically with this question. Some people see it as rude to blow out candles that are devoted to specific deities or used as a form of divination. It is not rude to blow out candles at all, if you have finished communicating with your deity, or are simply moving to a different room/leaving your house, or need to blow it out for whatever reason, you can absolutely do so. The deities do not see it as rude and will not get angry at you for doing this. They might be a bit sad/disappointed, but again this is different than them being genuinely angry. It's like having to tell a friend you have to get off a call with them, even though you still want to talk to them. They might be a bit disappointed but they will understand. 

Is __ a sign from my deities?

The answer to this is complicated; discernment is very important when it comes to answering this question. An easy way to answer this is by asking the deity through divination if whatever you experienced really was a sign. Sometimes deities will send signs in unusual ways (even through social media, yes I know that’s controversial but it does happen sometimes). 

The other question to ask is: did I ask for a sign? There have been times where I will ask for signs and they may show me the sign in a weird way (like asking to see a specific type of bird in my area, and then seeing it on a postcard, for instance). 

Can I reach out to deities? How do I reach out to a deity? 

Yes! As long as the deity is not from a closed/gated practice you are not part of, you can reach out to whoever you want! There are many different ways you can go about reaching out to them; I first recommend doing research on the deity you are wanting to reach out to (this in itself may get their attention and let them know you are interested in them). A very simple way to reach out to them is simply by calling their name, and telling them you wish to work with them or are going to be honoring them. 

What are closed/gated practices? 

Closed and gated practices are usually religions where you need to either be born or initiated into the culture in order to practice it. Many of these practices are closed or gated because of other cultures and religions attempting to appropriate these practices, or erase things within these cultures. 

What do I do if a closed practice deity reaches out to me, but I’m not part of that culture? 

This is going to get controversial, but this is my opinion especially as someone who is part of several closed practices myself. In my opinion, while practices themselves can be closed, deities are not. Deities are independent beings from us, they do what they want outside of human rules and laws. If a deity from a closed practice reaches out to you, my advice is to do tons of research first. There are some closed practices that have officials who can help you with figuring out if a deity from that culture truly is reaching out to you, and can give advice on what to do moving forward. My other piece of advice is to not ignore the deity calling you. There have been some instances where I ignored the call from some of the closed practice deities I now work with, and while it didn’t necessarily anger them that I ignored them, it did annoy them and they were incredibly persistent with their presences until I did acknowledge them. 

What do I do if I need to take a break from practicing? How do I let my deities know? 

Breaks are very healthy and help with preventing burnout when it comes to practicing witchcraft or being pagan in general. If you feel you need to take a break, I recommend just letting the deities you are working with or worshipping know in whatever manner you usually use to communicate with them (a very easy way is just telling them ‘hey, I need to take a break’). They will understand and they will wait for you to be ready to resume practicing with them. Like with previously mentioned situations, they will not get angry at you for simply needing to step away for a bit. A lot of deities may even continue to be around you while you are on break as well, to show that they still care about you and are willing to support you. 

How do I balance working with multiple deities? 

This is, of course, dependent on you as a person. I know some people who make schedules, while others will allow the deities to decide when to show up in their practice. Since I work with quite a few deities and pantheons, generally I dedicate each week to a different pantheon, and dedicate each day to a different deity from that pantheon. I also have picker wheels that I use for this; this is both to make it more ‘fun’ for my ADHD brain (lol) and also to allow the deities to decide who wants to be more present during the week. Sometimes, deities may also decide to be more or less present depending on what you’re going through in life and what type of guidance you are needing. There may be times where a deity will take a step back so that someone else can step forward to take over guiding you a bit more. This is all very normal when it comes to deity work; not every deity needs the same amount of attention and not all of them will always be equally present, and that's ok! 

There are also sometimes where a deity will decide they have taught you all you need to know, and they may discuss ending the working relationship with you entirely. This does not necessarily mean you will never see them again, but it may mean that they show up a lot less, as they have guided you in all the ways they feel you needed them for. Oftentimes, this will happen years and years into you working with them, and you may even realize that this is going to happen before an official discussion about it is mentioned. You can, of course, continue to honor and worship them even after they have officially stopped working with you. 

Another subject I want to address here is that while you can absolutely reach out to and generally work with multiple deities, it's also important to remember to not rush into things. At the beginning of my practice, the only deities I had around me for years were Hades and Loki. After I had been researching and practicing for at least 6-7 years, that's when new deities started approaching me and when I felt comfortable reaching out to some deities as well. I know that working with multiple deities can be overwhelming, which is why I have covered how to manage this so thoroughly. If you are a fairly new practitioner who has multiple deities who are interested in working with you, or if you are interested in working with them, I definitely advise that you take it slow. Research the deities who are reaching out or who you are interested in, learn about them, and slowly start contacting them as you feel comfortable. This is still something I do to this day. 

Everyone’s practice is different; I know people who have been working with the same deity for 10+ years and have hardly interacted with other deities during their practice. On the other hand, I also know people who were approached by several deities at once in the beginning of their practice, and who were consistently approached by various deities over the years as well. It all depends on the deities around you, what they feel you need, and ultimately, what you feel is best for your practice. Whether you wish to work with just a few deities, or many, that is up to you; just make sure that you are also taking your own health into account while doing so! 

How do I know if a deity is reaching out to me? 

I discussed signs a little bit earlier on in this post, however I did want to cover this question specifically. There are many ways deities can send signs to us or let us know they are around. For someone who is more in-tune with their psychic abilities, they may feel different energies when different deities are around. They may even be able to see, hear and possibly even smell the deities around them at times as well and this may be a way to figure out if someone new is around. Another easy method you can use is doing divination to check and see if a new deity is around. As I mentioned above, deities do use social media sometimes to send us signs and sometimes even to show us that they are reaching out. This is another instance where discernment is important; if you interact with a video about a certain deity on Tiktok, for instance, it's a lot more likely the app will start showing you more videos about that deity. So it's important to use other methods (such as divination) to figure out if a deity is truly reaching out, or if it's just social media’s algorithms at play. As I addressed above, sometimes deities will also send signs to you in your mundane life too; while it is important to pay attention to events that may be signs, I would recommend not obsessing over it. If a deity is reaching out, they will make themselves known to you one way or another. 

How do I figure out who is reaching out to me? 

There may be times where you know that someone is reaching out, but you are not sure who it is. Again, divination is a very easy way to figure this one out, there are many deity ID spreads online that you can find (and when I make a post going into more detail about divination, I may include some of those spreads in that post). If you are not able to do divination for yourself on who is reaching out, I recommend trying to ask a friend or finding a professional reader who offers deity IDs. I actually am a professional reader and I do offer deity IDs, you are welcome to inbox me if you are needing one! 

Another way you can attempt to figure out who the deity is on your own is to do research; if you are able to sense energies, or if they are sending you specific signs, you can look into the energies you feel and the signs you are getting to try to figure out who the deity is. 

What is vetting? How do I vet? 

Vetting is the process of ensuring that the deity/entity you are interacting with is who they say they are. The most common way to vet is by asking the deity/entity questions about their mythology. You can also ask questions about personal experiences you’ve had with them in the past. Another easy way to vet is by assigning the deity/entity an ID card using tarot or another form of card divination (you could also do this with shufflemancy with ID songs) and ask them to show you that card/cards or song/songs to verify its them.

What can deities help me with when I’m working with them? 

Deities can help with a ton of things, both in your mundane and magical practices. Deities can (as mentioned before) help with shadow work; they can help you to develop your psychic abilities, and they can share knowledge with you about both the physical and magical realm. They can teach about crystals, herbalism and nature magic for instance. They can help you develop and practice divination skills. They can help you to learn how to save your money, and help you with relationship issues. Just about anything you can think of, deities can help with! 

I would like to give special credit to Prince Stolas for helping me write this and edit it; he very much helped me with a lot of this and ended up channeling to help me with some of this info. This post is written in honor of him as an offering. 

I’d also like to give credit to my friend @astralscraft for helping me so much with this; the questions they came up with and the feedback they gave me for this post was incredible!

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

What is banishing?

Banishing and cleansing can sometimes go hand-in-hand. Banishing can help to get rid of negative energies caused by baneful magic, as well as getting rid of negative entities. In this post I will also go through some common types of negative entities. These will be my personal definitions, some people may use other terms, but these are the terms that I use and what they personally mean to me.

Types of Negative Entities

Negative Spirits- negative spirits are generally things i classify as passed away people who have left behind negative energy. This can result in negative energies or even negative manifestations. This term is a term I use to classify some shadow people; not all shadow people are negative spirits, but some can be. A lot of shadow people are more neutral, leftover energies.

Trickster Spirits- this term is different then trickster deities, like Loki. Trickster spirits are entities that exist on the astral plane, they may or may not benefit humans. From my personal experience with them, they do tend to be quite harmless, usually. My deities have told me that there are times where they will send a trickster spirit into someone's space to test their protections and wards, and sometimes to test how well that person can banish as well. They have personally done this to me as well. From my experience, trickster spirits can be passed away people, or other entities that reside on the astral plane. Not all of them are harmless, some of them can definitely be quite harmful and cause very negative chaos and havoc. These spirits are often known to impersonate deities.

Parasites- these negative entities are rarely passed away people from my experience. They feed off of people's energies and can make someone feel drained or even physically sick. Parasites can also be referred to as negative attachments. I make the distinction of ‘negative’ because everyone has attachments. By this I mean that everyone has spirit guides, who follow them around wherever they go. This is what an attachment is, an entity that follows you around everywhere. However, spirit guides are in no way negative, they are there to guide us and help us with our lives. These entities, on the other hand, feed off our energy and cause us to feel run down or even become ill.

Why should I banish?

Banishing is not only useful for getting rid of negative entities, but (similar to cleansing) it can help to get rid of negative energy as well. Banishing is useful because it can allow you to focus on negativity that you have around you and get rid of it. Banishing can be very helpful when doing something like shadow work as well, being able to banish the negative thoughts and negative energies surrounding those thoughts.

How do I know when I should use banishing?

This question can be a bit complicated, but I will try to break it down. I will start by explaining when to discern if banishing a spirit may be necessary. When you are working with spirits, deities, and other entities, banishing is something you may find yourself needing to do sometimes. If the entity isn’t acting like they normally do, you may want to consider trying to vet them; asking them questions you know the answers to either from their mythology or with past interactions with them to make sure they are who they say they are. I will be writing another post on vetting later. If the entity fails this vetting process, and it turns out they are not who they say they are, banishing may be necessary (there are some deities who will pretend to be other deities, so it's important to take this into account, and ensure that this is not the case).

Banishing can also be helpful in cases where you are trying to release negative, old, or stuck energy. You can banish these energies from your life, making it easier to move forward on your path. If you are feeling particularly stuck with certain emotions or with general negativity (this can also include things like intrusive thoughts) you can use banishing as an aid to help remove these energies from your life!

How do I banish?

As with some of my previous posts, I will outline some different ways to banish here; this will not be an exhaustive list. Since banishing and cleansing are very similar, some of these methods/tools may overlap with cleansing methods and tools.

Smoke cleansing

Banishment candles

Sigils

Crystals

Herbs

Cleansing/banishing bath/shower

Bells (sound cleansing)

Some of these methods have been covered before in my post on cleansing, so I will be skipping over these and focusing on the methods that have not been mentioned before.

How to use sigils in banishing?

There are many different ways to use and create sigils. Many of the sigils I use, I make all on my own. There are websites that can also assist in the creation of sigils. I recommend exploring and finding what works with you if you are feeling drawn to using sigils for banishment or in your practice in general.

Crystals used for banishing

Black tourmaline

Citrine

Aventurine

Amethyst

Turquoise

Herbs used in banishing

Sage (once again, please do not use white sage unless you are part of that culture or have been given white sage as a gift)

Dill

Cloves

Cayenne pepper

Salt

Pepper

Chili powder

Can banishing backfire/fail? How do I prevent it from backfiring?

As with all other spellwork, confidence and intentions are what is most important here. If a banishing fails, it will most likely not affect you in any negative ways unless you are also trying to do baneful magic. Otherwise, it failing will most likely just result in the negative energy/entity you are trying to banish staying in your space, and you having to try again. In order to ensure that a spell doesn’t fail, having confidence that it will work, having confidence in yourself, and ensuring that it is definitely something you WANT are all very important.

What if my banishment didn’t work? What if whatever I’m facing is too strong?

There can be a few different things you can do here, depending on the situation. You can, of course, ask your spirit team to help you with the banishment (as well as any other spellwork). If you are trying to banish negative thoughts/feelings, and it doesn’t work, it may be because you are still going through healing that needs to happen. This can involve both shadow work and therapy to work through most of the time. When it comes to magic in general, there are many times where you will need to do mundane work alongside magical workings in order to make it work. If there is a negative entity in your space that will not leave even with banishment, it may be time to call on your spirit team to help you get rid of it. You might also try to change the banishment method you are using as well.

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

Who is Lucifer?

Lucifer is a Dark Lord and also a High Prince. He is also called Prince of Darkness. He is also considered a demon, an angel, and a fallen angel. He is also considered the first fallen angel to exist.

He is very good at helping people with shadow work, as he has faced much darkness himself. He is also very good at helping people find hidden truths, especially within themselves (yes, this is another form of shadow work, but its worth mentioning this specifically). He is also often one of the first infernals people tend to reach out to (or one of the first that tend to reach out to others). He is also incredibly good at helping people with religious trauma.

He is associated with the planet Venus, which reflects his passion and also his (sometimes) very sexual nature/energy. He is associated with the metal gold, which reflects him being royalty, as well as his transformative nature (shadow work). He is associated with the element of air, which again shows his transformative nature, and also shows that he can adapt quickly to changes.

In my own personal practice, Lucifer often shows up with long black hair, and sometimes has tattoos. Sometimes his hair is very short, but still black. He is often very well-dressed, usually wearing suits and ties. He has blue eyes, although in certain aspects I have seen them as red. Sometimes he has wings in this aspect, and sometimes I see him with fangs as well. As mentioned above, his energy can be incredibly sexual and alluring at times.

A note about Lucifer: there are some practitioners who experience him as being the husband of Lilith, however in my own personal practice, Lilith is spoused to Samael. That does not mean that both cannot be true, and there are several other demons like this, who are said to be spoused to different infernals based on sources. Also, there are some sources that say Lucifer and Satan are the same being, however, again, in my own practice, I experience them as two very different beings. I do not believe they are different aspects of the same entity, but different entities entirely.

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

Protections and Wards

What are protections and wards? 

Protections and wards can be pretty much anything; you can make protection jars using herbs, you can use crystals as protections, you can even do protections with just energy! There will be some simple examples of protections listed later on in this post.

Why do protections at all? What if I don’t believe in trickster spirits? 

Even if you don’t necessarily believe in trickster spirits, protections are still important. Negative energy still exists, and protecting yourself and your space from that negative energy may make it easier to deal with negativity around you in your daily life. 

What is the difference between protections and warding? 

Protections are a generalized term that describes using energy and intentions to protect yourself and your space. Warding specifically talks about using ordinary objects, setting intentions on them (possibly doing other things like blessing them or consecrating them) to turn them into protections.

Below is going to be a small list of some ideas for protections and wards, both for the home and for yourself. This list is not exhaustive, and there are many different ways to make protections and wards. 

Protection jars

Veiling 

Protection jewelry

Handmade protections

Protection satchels 

Crystals 

Energetic protections

Protection oil (please make sure that any essential oil or oil-based products are safe for the skin and pets if you are going to be using this). 

Protection candles (you can use color and scent magic for this as well!)

Protective sigils

Some of the methods listed, such as veiliing, protection jewelry, and crystals are a bit more ‘beginner friendly’. Please make sure you’re doing your research and setting clear intentions with any protections you’re making! 

Here is a short list of some easy, generally accessible herbs you can use in protection jars and satchels. 

Sage (please remember to only use white sage is you are part of that closed practice)

Lavender

Cinnamon

Rosemary

Bay

Salt

Pepper

Garlic 

What is veiling/how do I veil? 

Veiling is a tradition that has a lot of history behind it; essentially, veiling is the practice of wearing some type of headwear in order to protect your own energies from outside influence. You can veil in many different ways. Wearing a headscarf of some kind is a good way to veil, but you can also veil using hats, scrunchies/hair-ties, and even simple energy can be used to veil. For me, I have put an energetic veil on my head before while washing my hair in the shower!

Is there a right/wrong way to use/do protections? 

There is not really a right or wrong way to do or use protections; you can use protections however you like to protect your own energy and your space! For me personally, the majority of my protections are not physical objects, I purely use energy and visuals for my protections. A lot of my protections are also baneful in nature. 

Can I make protections to make someone not think of me/ignore me? 

Yes, you can! For protections like these, I recommend illusion magic or protections specifically made to hide you from them. Veiling is a good option in this scenario! 

How do I know I need to redo my protections? 

This can get a bit tricky to discern; I highly recommend using some form of divination to figure out if you need to re-do protections. I also recommend generally keeping up with your protections as part of a weekly/bi-weekly routine. As discussed in my previous post about cleansing, working in protections while you’re doing mundane tasks such as cleaning can be a good way to do this. 

As far as discerning when you need to redo protections, this will get a little complicated, so bear with me. First and foremost, please try to distinguish the mundane vs magical causes for things. While things like getting sick, feeling suddenly run down all the time, or having a bout of bad luck can SOMETIMES be indications of negative energy around you and the need to cleanse and redo protections, this is not always the case. Sometimes, life just sucks. This is again why I recommend doing divination as a way to discern if the cause is mundane or magical. I will be going more into divination methods in a later post. 

How do I make protection jewelry? 

Again, there can be a few ways to do this. I firstly recommend cleansing the jewelry you are wanting to turn into a protection. Please make sure you’re being safe when doing this (make sure you check and see if the jewelry can safely be submerged in water, get salt on it, etc).

Next, you can consecrate the jewelry in a few ways. You can use protection oil to consecrate the jewelry (please make sure that your jewelry will not corrode or anything with oil). You can also ask your deities/spirit guides to bless the jewelry for you and put their protective energies on it. You can also soak the jewelry in water and herbs (again, make sure that the jewelry is safe to go in water). 

How do I make protective sigils?

Sigils are a very fun, easy way to make protections (as well as doing other types of spellwork). You can find sigil online, however I do recommend making them on your own. There are also programs you can find online that will help you generate sigils. You can also make them up on your own, go based on associations (like you could draw a candle, and have that be a protective sigil for instance). 

This is not an exhaustive list that covers all forms of protection and all questions about protection, however I hope that this post will help some newer witches learn more about how to work protections into their practice.

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

How do you cleanse?

How do you cleanse?

Cleansing is one of the major parts of witchcraft, and often one of the first things a new witch will learn on their path. There are many different ways to cleanse; I will describe some methods here, as well as answer some common questions I see about cleansing. What is the purpose of cleansing? Cleansing is used to clear out any negative or stale energy that may be affecting a person or space. Cleansing does not automatically bring in positive energy, that is something that needs to be done alongside the cleansing process. I see a lot of newer witches cleanse, and then get confused as to why negative energy keeps filling the space. This can often be because they are not bringing positive energy in after cleansing. Essentially, you leave the area open for any energy to come in, rather than bringing specific energies in. Cleansing can help to get rid of old energies that no longer serve you, and any negative energy that may be holding you back. You can cleanse yourself, your space (wherever you live/perform your craft) and the tools you use in your craft.

Will cleansing get rid of all energy?

Cleansing is meant to only cleanse away negative and stale energy that is no longer serving you, it will not get rid of any positive energies you are wanting to keep around you. How do you cleanse? There are tons of methods you can use to cleanse. I'll be listing some common methods, as well as some of my favorite methods to do cleansing. This is not an exhaustive list, you can even make up your own ways to cleanse (I have an example of a method of cleansing I do that I made up on my own). Common Cleansing Methods

Florida Water

Rose Water

Rosemary/herb water

Salt

Sound cleansing

Smoke cleansing

Candles

Some of my favorite ways to cleanse are sound cleansing and using candles to cleanse. With sound cleansing, you can get a bell, a sound bowl, or simply play some music and dance around your room; you can get really creative with sound cleansing. Same goes for candles, using candles alongside color magic and even scent associations can be a wonderful way to cleanse and bring in positive energies. What is Florida Water? Florida Water is a mixture of alcohol, perfume, and herbs/spices. You can actually make Florida Water at home with the right materials! Please be careful with it; while it is great for cleansing, you'll want to check what types of chemicals it may have in it and if it is safe for human skin if you've bought it from online/in-store.

How do you smoke cleanse?

Smoke cleansing can look different for everyone; some people burn bundles of herbs, some people will use incense, and some may use candles. Please always be fire-safe is you are using smoke to cleanse your area.

For smoke cleansing, you can walk around your house with your smoke of choice lite, or just allow it to sit and burn in the same room as you. I also want to mention at this point that white sage is from a closed practice; it is also endangered. The use of white sage is very controversial in the witchcraft community. I personally have found that there are plenty of alternatives (such as black sage, or even incense) that work better for me than white sage has. I also generally don't like the smell of white sage.

I also want to bring up salt; salt can be used both for cleansing and protections. Please only use salt indoors, as it can be damaging to the dirt and plants. You can make salt water and spray it around your house to cleanse; you can put salt in your doorways and on your windowsills as a form of protection (this will be covered more in a different post). You can also cleanse your crystals and divination tools in a bowl of salt. Please be careful when cleansing crystals using this method, as some crystals may be disintegrated by salt.

How often should I cleanse? The answer for this will vary from person to person; however there are several points I want to touch on where I personally recommend cleansing. If you are feeling a lot of negativity around you, or just generally feeling 'off', that may be a good sign and opportunity to do some cleansing.

In terms of tools, if your tools are acting funky (divination not giving consistent answers, for example) that could be a sign they may need to be cleansed. I personally cleanse my decks after every reading I do; the way I do this is also incredibly simple. I put my cards away with the intention that the reading I have just done is over, and the energies from that reading are being released. If I need them for another reading, I simply take them back out, and use them, putting them away between each reading I do. Cleanse while bathing. This is a great opportunity for you to cleanse yourself, you don't even need anything extra except for your regular body wash/shampoos etc. You can cleanse yourself while you are cleaning your body by bathing/showering with the intention that you are cleaning not only physically, but spiritually as well. Washing away any negativity you have picked up throughout the day.

Similarly, you can cleanse your house while you clean it as well. I will often put some Florida water into my mop water when I'm mopping the floors; and again cleansing can be about intentions as well. Cleaning your house with the intention of getting rid of that old, stale, and negative energy can be a wonderful way to cleanse (this is also a great tip for if you are in the broom closet).

Cleansing after you've gotten over an illness is also something I recommend. Shaking off sickness by cleansing it away has sometimes helped me feel better after I'm recovering. I highly recommend using bathing to cleanse after being sick; its a low energy, low effort way to cleanse, and I know at least for me personally after I've been sick, I generally want to take a bath/shower anyway so my physical body doesn't feel so yucky. Cleansing during transitional periods of the seasons (springtime cleaning, but you can also do this for other seasonal changes as well), can often be good too. This helps the energies around you to stay fresh, and works well with the earth's natural cycles. 

What are some cheap, easy ways to cleanse, especially without smoke?

I find a really cheap and easy way to cleanse without smoke is using water and herbs. Most families keep at least some herbs in their kitchen; you can use rosemary as it is very easily accessible. Other herbs that are used for cleansing can be lavender (many cleaning products also come with lavender scents in them too), basil, and bay leaves. Any of these can be soaked or boiled in water and made into a cleansing spray/solution you can use to clean your house with! 

Sound cleansing can be another easy, and often free, way to cleanse. Using music, singing, and even dancing to cleanse your space and bring in positive energy is very accessible to a lot of people (youtube is free!), and it can be a very fun and creative way to cleanse your space. It’s also very broom closet friendly. 

Someone in my household gets headaches when I use incense/candles. Are they a negative person? 

No, this does not automatically mean that this person is negative or has bad energy. I know many people who have sensitivities to certain scents, and especially with incense and candles, they can have very strong scents at times. If this is the case, I recommend looking into alternatives to smoke cleansing. In terms of candles, I’ve found that some people have sensitivity to wax candles specifically, so looking into beeswax or soy alternatives may be worth it. 

Disclaimer! PLEASE make sure that any cleansing method you use will be safe for you, and any animals you may have in the household. I know a lot of people dislike smoke cleansing in particular because it can be bad for pets. Please make sure that you are checking to make sure any herbs and scents you are using will also be pet-friendly!

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

Introduction

Hello! My name is Jayson or Sloane, and I have been a polytheistic witch for over 16 years. I wanted to create this blog to make educational posts about withcraft; both the basics of witchcraft, and more in-depth topics. These posts will include research I have done, as well as my own experiences. My main focuses with this blog will be the basics of witchcraft (protections, wards, vetting, banishing, cleansing); deconstructing religion, shadow work, energy work, and the infernal divine.