magicalwhiskers

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Brief explanation of the Elements, Charging, Warding, Banishing and Cleansing!! Enjoy my lovelies!!!

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VERY EASY PROTECTION SPELL JAR

remember to cleanse space around you and jar you’re gonna use!!

- ingredients:

> pink salt (to absorb and neutralise all negative energy around you)

> cloves (to banish evil and to protect)

> rosemary (for healing, cleansing and protection)

> bay leaf with your manifestation on it (can be only ‘protection’)

> seal with black or white wax

:>> be safe y’all 🤍

[magicalwhiskers]

Keep animal spirits close

Calling the spirits of past away pets back, ya know just babacore things.

Did a dearly beloved animal of yours recently pass { or maybe not so recently }?

Here's how you can keep the spirit close or then there when you call.

We'll start with the easy methods. ⬇

Simple sigil method:

Create a sigil with the animals full name on it that'll call the pet back whenever you need it most.

Feed the pet's spirit with incense, prayer, song, talking, or your breath.

The picture method:

What you'll need + what you'll need to do:

A picture of the pet

Write the pets full name on the back of the picture.

Make a sigil to let the pet come to you when you call.

I suggest having the pets photo on alter on top of another sigil of spirit connection.

Feed the pet's spirit with incense, prayer, song, talking, or your breath.

Art method:

No picture?

That's fine! You can draw a picture or get one commissioned.

Write the pets full name on the back or front of the art.

Make a sigil to let the pet come to you when you call.

I suggest having the pets art on alter on top of another sigil of spirit connection.

Feed the pet's spirit with incense, prayer, song, talking, or your breath.

Now onto the harder methods. ⬇

Cloth vessel method:

You'll need to find a pattern that matches to the type of creature that you had.

Have the appropriate supplies such as cloth, scissors, needle, and thread.

{Have two types of thread. One a color of your choice while the other is red.}

{ crystals and herbs are optional }

Sew the pattern together but leave a cut on the chest open { where the heart would be }

I suggest stuffing a bit of the animals fur into the plush but if not a old toy, name tag or just their full name written on paper can work.

You can make a sigil to let the pet come to you when you call.

Stitch up the cut with the red string.

Feed the pet's spirit with incense, prayer, song, talking, or your breath.

Clay vessel method:

You'll need to find clay

Paint is optional.

Leave a small hole in the chest of the clay.

I suggest stuffing a bit of the animals fur into the hole but if you don't have that then name tag or just their full name written on paper can work.

You can make a sigil to let the pet come to you when you call.

Seal the whole up with clay.

Feed the pet's spirit with incense, prayer, song, talking, or your breath.

Extra tips:

You should feed the pet with your breath 2-4 times a week though just once a week can work.

You should have big feedings on their birthday, their deathday and on full moons.

Try keeping them on a charging sigil if you can but if not them close by you works just as well.

[magicalwhiskers]

ASTRAL TRAVEL 101

🌟Ghello fellow vessels!🌟

Recently, I got to give a class on Astral Travel and it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had! I love teaching in itself and I was happy to teach about Astral Travel and the shenanigans that can come with it. I’ve decided to share it here with you all on tumblr as well, as not everyone is in the server.

INDEX

Introduction

Astral Travel vs Astral Projection vs Bilocation

Techniques to go Beyond

The Limits and The Limitless

Protective Barriers

Other measures for self-preservation

Pros & Cons of going Beyond

Questions from the class

!LINK TO THE GOOGLE DOC!

Link to my kofi if you would like to support me! 🌟

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Check out my first narrative on medium! :+)

[magicalwhiskers]

Warding In Witchcraft

Introduction:

Wards are constructs, or entities that go through the process of wording a specific area that you set them up to watch over. This form of warding magick is also referred to some times as apotropaic magick, and our ways in which practitioners can turn away negative, or unwanted energies from an area, or space. Wards are like energetic guards that watch over an area. These wards will target whatever you intend them to, and will turn them away, force it out, or banish them from that area. Wards act as a form of protection to keep that space, or area safe from what is not wanted. Any space, object, or entity can be worded if you take the time to place one upon it. These Wards can be very complicated, or very simple depending upon what they are needed for. Wards can be set up for a period, but are primarily used when a construct, space, or entity needs to be protected for an extended period of time. Wards can also be cast whenever protection is needed, and will be able to provide protection for whatever they are warding. This is a very useful skill to learn, and get under your belt so that you can defend yourself, and the spaces around you with the power that you conjure forth with your magick.

Difference between warding, and shielding:

Warding, and shielding are two different things. Warding being the act of pushing away specific unwanted energies, and entities, so that they will not be able to enter the perimeter, or be in the area. Where the active shielding is simply setting up a wall in order to stop unwanted energies, and entities from penetrating the perimeter. Shielding is like building a wall between you, and the outside world and warding is like putting guards at that wall. These processes are usually done together, but do not have to be, and are completely exclusive to their practices.

Maintaining wards:

These wards will have to be maintained through the act of checking over them, recharging them, and/or reconstructing them when they have been in use for a long time, or have been used constantly. These wards will need energy in order to continue doing their job, so finding a source of energy to connect to the wards will allow them to recharge, and continue to work. This is because they will have an energy source to draw energy from when they get low. Try using an energy source that is renewable, and comes from a process that inherently exists. This will allow your ward to continue on working even when you are not there to give it energy. Using only your own energy to power your wards can leave you fatigued, and allow you to fall into energetic burnout, so remember to know your limits, and to not simply rely on your energy. Find other energy sources that you can use in order to power your wards. In order to connect these other energy sources all you must do is go to the ward in question, and take them in your hand, or place your hand on to them, and relay your intentions through your energy, so that the ward knows where to draw from. You could also go through the act of drawing an energetic line of energy between the source of energy, and the ward in order to allow that source of energy to power the ward. Good energy sources would be such things as quartz crystals, selenite, or any other high energy vibrational stone, along with candles, energy sigils, sunlight, moonlight, and storm energy, among many other things. It is important that your wards are maintained, and get the energy that they need or else they will not be able to work properly, and will eventually go down.

What to ward against, and ward placement:

Keep reading

[magicalwhiskers]

🛡 Warding 🛡

Disclaimer: This is all based on my research, path, opinion & experiences! Intro: I really was holding out on doing this post because it’s such a big, important topic to cover and I really don’t want to mess it up or get anything wrong. This post needs to be done though, people have asked if I have such a post and an anon suggested it. So finally, here it is.  - What Is Warding? Warding is a type of magick, it is the act of creating an energetic barrier around you, your home, an object, ect. They can be temporary or permanent, although typically they are cast with the long term in mind. They can banish or turn away whatever you choose. Warding is an excellent skill to have because it can keep you, and even others safe and with practice you can do it anytime with just about whatever you have on hand.  When Should I Ward? Whenever you want an energetic barrier around you, most people consistently ward their home, themselves or their place of practice. Some people even ward their space every time they prepare for a spell. It should be done consistently in any area you want protected, but exactly where and how often is entirely up to the practitioner.  What Should I Do Before? Cleanse, a ward is a barrier of energy and in the same way that it keeps things out it also keeps things in. You don’t want to trap anything inside of it. Cleanse yourself before you ward yourself. Cleanse your space before you ward your space!  Tips Before You Ward- Phrasing Keep the phrasing in mind! You don’t want to keep anything out that you want in, or let something in that you want out. If you’re chanting or using sigils ect keep in mind exactly what you want to keep out both in your methods and in your mind. Covering everything Make sure to cover everything, a ward is useless if there’s a weakness in it or if the ceiling & floor aren’t probably covered. Be super thorough!  Layering Your Wards One small little wimpy barrier? Ha, the spirits say as they scramble into your home to wreak havoc! You need to layer your wards, don’t just use one method one time, there’s no such thing as too much warding.  What Are Some Ways That I Can Ward? Now we’ll get right down to the methods you can use to ward yourself and your space! Remember that warding is important and needs to be effective, don’t try anything that you don’t have experience with for warding. At first, focus on the stuff you know. If you like sigils, use sigils at first and slowly work your way into using other more complex methods or methods that solely rely on your abilities. Circle Casting You cast a circle by summoning the four elements to protect & energize what is in the circle.  - Here’s my post about circles & how to cast them  Chanting/Speaking Come up with a protective chant you can use to ward your space. This chant could be someone else’s or your own as long as you feel it’s effective. Speak it aloud and visualize a layer of energy protecting your space.  Incense Burn a protective incense in the space you’d like to ward and visualize a barrier protecting your space. Athame Draw out the line of your ward with your athame, visualize the wall appearing, covering everything with a thick layer of energy.  Spraying Spray a mix of blessed/magickal waters and or herbs with protective properties in the space you want to ward.  Sigils Create a sigil using your favorite method with the intent to “ward” or “protect/protection.” Then charge and activate it as a layer of protection! Here’s my post on sigils if you’re interested in that: - Sigil Post Jar Spells You could mix up a jar spell for warding, set it in your house and forget it as a layer of warding.  - My protective jar spell post Anointment Anoint the doorways of your space, you could also anoint the ceiling, floor, walls, corners, honestly go for it.  Salt Sprinkle salt all around the edge of your home or space. Make sure to sprinkle salt on the INSIDE of your harm as salt can harm plants & wildlife if used outside. If you’d like to make a barrier on the outside of your home, you can use dried & crushed eggshells in place of salt. - Post on how to make eggshell powder here -  Hag stones Hag stones are stones with holes in them that have been corroded into the stone because of rushing water. It is believed rushing water is protective & cleansing so if you wear a stone that sat in it long enough to have parts corroded away, that the stone will maintain and keep those properties with it. It’s a great way to personally ward yourself, and an excuse to go out in nature.  They look like this! 

Energy Manipulation If you’ve got a knack for manipulating energy, you can create a barrier through work and visualization that surrounds yourself or your space. This isn’t recommended for beginners though! Links: - Horse Warding Charm By @anothersusurrus - House Warding Spritz Mixture By @seleneblackwell Both of these are great if you’re looking for specific spells, types of magick, correspondences, sigils, ect! - Protection Magic Masterpost Part 1 By @auricwitch - Protection Magic Masterpost Part 2 By @auricwitch Personal Wards Also remember not just to ward your space but yourself, if you layer your home with wards, what happens when you leave? Exactly. Keep yourself safe too! Circle casting & hag stones are great methods I mentioned above that are good for personal warding.  Can I Ward Specific Things And Not Others? Absolutely! I mentioned this in the phrasing section of this post, keep in mind exactly what you want to keep out when you’re warding. I like words like “negative” or “harmful” or “with ill intent” because they don’t necessarily keep out the Fae or positive/neutral spirits but it does keep out anything that wants to harm you in general. Just think about it ahead of time, find wording or a phrase you like and keep that in mind as you ward.  What If I Live With People? If you’re out of the broom closet, explain to your family/roommates what you’re doing and why you’re doing it and make sure they’re cool with it and are aware of what’s going on. If you’re not out of the broom closet, you may have to resort to only warding yourself/your room, & that’s okay!  I hope this helps someone or teaches them something new! Enjoy! Have a lovely day 💖

[magicalwhiskers]

What I’ve Learned About Sigils

What Are They?: Sigils are a type of magick or spell. Put simply, they’re symbols. The purpose of the sigil is embedded into them when they are created.  Why Use Them?: They’re versatile, easy to make even on the spot. They’re also very beginner friendly. How Can I Make Them?: There’s many, many methods which I will link below. For now we’re going to go over how I make them! - 1. Find a way to associate every letter in the alphabet with a number. I just write out a grid of squares, then wrote 1 to 9 on the top line and the alphabet in order below. So A is 1, B is 2, i is 9, N is 5, ect. All that matters is you have a way to make letters into numbers. 2. Draw out a wheel and write all the numbers you will be using on it, order isn’t important to me personally. It could be random. I used 1 to 9 so you could do that. 3. Write out your intent. Try to be specific, and keep negatives out of the sentence. For example, don’t say “I am not sad” instead say “I am happy.” 4. Take the first letter of every word in your sentence of intent, and put them together. Sometimes I take out the common words like “the” but it’s up to you. As an example, “I am happy” would be IAH. 5. Using your method of transferring letters to numbers, turn the letters you got into numbers. IAH is now 918. 6. Draw out the shape of the sigil on the number wheel, go from 9 to 1 to 8. You have a basic shape now. 7. Customize it to your liking. You’re done! I might experiment with other methods or change mine up in the future.  - Other Methods To Check Out: - 1 - 2 - 3 Can I Make My Own Method?: Absolutely! As long as you’re happy with it and it creates results, you can do whatever you want.  Activation: Sigils must be activated to be effective. You can burn them. Or you can crumple them up and throw them away. No matter what method you use, you need to forget about them after you activate them.  A Few Tips: - Sigil magick can take a while, it’s a simple method so if you are working at something complex it may take weeks or months. Be patient. - Do not burn printer paper it will smell like a living hell, any other type of paper will do. - If you have trouble forgetting about the sigil, don’t worry about it. It may not work, this stuff takes practice.  What About Permanent Sigils?  I’ve gotten this question on several occasions, it goes something like “What about when they say to put a protective sigil in your grimoire? Do you need to charge it? Do you forget about it too? How does that work?” I think this is up to the practitioner and their methods. I often charge sigils I plan to use over and over or keep with me under the full moon. As far as my grimoire goes, I drew the sigil in it and forgot it was there for weeks since I was onto the other pages so much, it’s really about the person and the situation in which magick is taking place.  What Is Charging?: Charging is empowering an object, or tool. Anything you use for witchcraft really. The way this applies to sigils is that if you have a sigil you want to continue to maintain power or a certain effect, you can choose to charge it.  How Do I Charge?: I typically charge things with moonlight. It works well for sigils. You could also bury things, or use visualization. It’s up to you!  The Review Of Everything: So, if you want to do sigil magick. Let’s go over the steps you need to take. - Figure out the intent of the sigil  - Pick a method  - Draw it  - Activate it  - Charge it (If it’s a permanent sigil)  You’re done! Conclusion: There we go! Hopefully you know more about sigils, what they are and how to make them.  I hope this helps someone! Enjoy! Have a lovely day 💖

[magicalwhiskers]

I'm having problems communicating with my spirit companion. Like, I just can't do it. Maybe it's because I'm new, maybe I'm rushing it. But, opening my third eye and telepathy are things I don't know how to do. And everything I've seen so far is either too vague or something I haven't even heard of. So, could you help me? You could link me things or just write it out. P. S. Astral travel is scary but if I had more info and more real life stories I feel like is be more comfortable. Thank you.

Hi there!  I know this is an extremely belated answer, and I really hope you were able to resolve this situation.  But I’m going to go ahead and answer it anyway, since it may be helpful to someone now!

If you’re new to the idea of witchcraft, opening yourself up, astral travel, and the like, it can be really scary and overwhelming.  If you’ve already gotten yourself a spirit companion, it may be the first time you’re introduced to any of these things.  But there is no rush - your companion likely knew this going in, and they are not desperately trying to batter through your natural psychic barriers!  They are on the other side, being just as patient, waiting for you to be ready.

One of my all-time favorite books about opening yourself up psychically, which has exercises I still use to this day, is You Are Psychic by Debra Lynne Katz.  The book preaches an end goal of clairvoyance, but I find that even its first few exercises teach a lot about visualization, and its importance in energy and spirit work.  I recommend starting there.

The thing about spirit and energy work is that it is often going to feel like it’s “all in your head,” especially when you are starting out and don’t yet have the skills to tell the difference between yourself and “the other.”  But the most important thing for me is being able to explain this in a way that feels logical, even to those who might never have touched any kind of new age thing before.  So, yeah, I’ll say it - sometimes it feels weird and out-there.  It doesn’t make the most sense in a real-world context.  It doesn’t always feel real, you don’t always see visions clearly or in real-time, most people can’t hear the voices of their spirit guides in their physical ears.  Almost none of it is physical, actually.  A lot of it feels internal.

Telepathy can feel like you’re talking to yourself in your head.  Astral travel can feel like daydreaming.  Witchcraft can feel like saying silly words over silly items.  What brings it gravitas and power is what you bring to the table - how seriously you’re going to take it.  How frequently you’re going to show up.  I consider it to be a lot like this: I played in bands and orchestras for years.  Before, all instruments sounded the same to me, or I didn’t care to differentiate, even if I knew what they looked like and what they were supposed to sound like.  But I showed up every day and participated and listened for years, and now I know what each instrument sounds like, what it sounds like combined with others, and how that differs from my own instrument’s timbre.

So, if you’re just beginning to develop your psychic skills, start here.  It will take time, and practice, but your patience will reward you in time.

Learn how to ground:

Visualize a cord, or roots, stretching from the base of your spine and down into the earth.

Breathe deeply.  As you breathe in, imagine energy from the ground pulling up through that cord, filling you with light.  As you breathe out, imagine that light washing away any darkness or blockages with you.  

Work from your toes to your head.  Take your time.  If you feel you need to spend more time on one section, stay there for a while.  

When you feel you are done, imagine the cord detaching painlessly from your body.

Learn how to stimulate your third eye:

The third eye cannot be forced open (or if it can, it’s not extremely beneficial for you).  When doing the grounding/cleansing exercise I outlined above, take time to focus on the point in the middle of your forehead.  

It might naturally tingle, and one day you might feel its sensations come naturally to you.  But very few people can physically see with their third eye.  It’s going to be more about spiritually seeing - not with your eyes, but with your non-physical sense.

Throughout the day, imagine energy swirling around your third eye, like one of those twirling loading circles.

Interact with your third eye.  Press it with your thumb.  Think about it casually.  Put your palm over it and imagine giving it a warm glow of energy.  Put diluted oil blends on it (and be sure to wash them off later, if your skin is sensitive).  Take time to take care of it.

Repeat this often.  This is an elongated process with no specific end-point.

Create a psychic space for yourself:

Learn to enter and craft a space inside yourself.  This is especially helpful as a meeting place for you and your companions.  A good friend of mine calls her “The White Room.”  Mine looks like a treehouse.  Allow yours to fit your needs, and your personality.  Let it change and evolve as you do.

Find some quiet time to meditate.  You can use free, guided meditations on YouTube to help with this. Once you’ve gotten yourself into a meditative position and a quiet mindspace, imagine going somewhere in your mind.  Open a door, go down or up stairs, climb a ladder - whatever feels right.  Once you have done this, you will find yourself in a space.

This will feel like daydreaming, and it may not be entirely solid.  But you can make it your own place, and over time, with practice, it will solidify.  Fill it with furniture, paint the walls, fill the pantry with food.  Invite your companions over.  They may not feel tangible or may look/feel fuzzy.  That’s okay - they’ll get more solid over time.

Ah - whoops!  Surprise!  You just did your first astral travel!  Really!  It was inside yourself, but it was real.

And since you were looking specifically for other people’s astral experiences, this blog is pretty cool, although it’s not active anymore.  

Practice telepathy with your companion:

This is not going to be like telepathy in the movies at all.  It’s a subtler form of communication, and if you struggle with it, you can always try other communication techniques like pendulums, tarot cards, and automatic writing.

Notice your thoughts throughout the day.  If you have unusual, stray thoughts, if you catch your thoughts responding to themselves, if you have strange urges to look at or interact with things you might not normally interact with, these are all signs that your companion may be attempting telepathy with you.

Like meditation, sit in a quiet space and let your thoughts drift.  Invite your companion to join you, and just let your mind go.  Are there any ideas or thoughts that feel out of place?  Anything that sounds like not your own internal voice?  

This can be a very hard process, especially if you’re not using any other communication method.  I personally learned to perform telepathy with my companions by first using a pendulum and alphabet board to talk with them.  Eventually, I was able to recognize what voices sounded like “theirs,” and differentiate them from mine.

You can read my post on communication for more info on this!

Above all, I feel I need to emphasize this: Your practice does not have to look like anybody else’s who has written their experiences on the internet.  It is allowed to be imperfect, unfocused, messy, and fun.  A lot of people, myself included, sometimes go to great lengths to make it seem as though when they are astral traveling, they feel as though they are physically there.  That level of immersion is very difficult to reach and can take years after years of practice.  I am not even there, I promise you.

Anyway, now that I’ve written an Entire Novel, I hope this was helpful to you or to somebody!  Thank you for asking!

[magicalwhiskers]

[magicalwhiskers]

Dark Angels

This species is being studied by Conjurer Lethe. This post is written by Conjurer Lethe and was posted on February 18th, 2018.

SPECIES: Dark Angels

GENERAL INFO: Dark angels are a subspecies of angels. They are completely separate from Abrahamic angels and also completely separate from demonics/hell inhabitants. They live in a different area of the astral, and their interactions with demonic entities are limited to personal business. Dark Angels have a very different culture (and although they share a few similarities, such as its highly militarized society- they also differ greatly in how social order is established. Dark Angels have an established meritocracy-styled leadership and social structure, whereas demonic cultures tend to be very rigid in hierarchy and tend to rely more on bloodlines/hereditary arrangements for their hierarchy).

PREFACE: I first encountered a Dark Angel during a general conjure. Forming a contract with this species was particularly difficult due to how cold they are towards strangers, as well as due to the fact that they are generally very protective of their community and wary of outsiders approaching them. After several weeks of building individual relationships, followed by over a month of negotiations, I was able to secure a working contract with them. 

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Dark Angels are very tall (the average height seems to be around 7+ feet), with greyish, marble skin, and powerful, black-feathered wings. Their wingspan tends to be around double their height at least Their wings are very sensitive and responsive, although surprisingly sturdy, powerful, and muscled.  They use their wings while fighting, and they are also incredibly helpful when trying to assess their overall emotional state at any moment, since they are important components of their body language.  

Their eyes are usually dark-coloured, although some Dark Angels tend to sport golden pupils (a remnant, they claim, of their once close encounters with Abrahamic angels). They are all trained in physical combat, and due to this they tend to be very physically imposing. They look like the kind of spirit you’d like to avoid in a bar-fight. 

Dark Angels appear to have a dislike for restrictive clothing, and most prefer to wear as little as possible when outside of battle/ training/etc. They are not a particularly puritan species.

Tattoos are only used to brand criminals, and although Dark Angels tend to understand that these types of markings have different cultural connotations depending on species, they prefer to avoid having permanent marks on their skin due to the associations in their own culture.

ENERGY DESCRIPTION: Their energy signature is unmistakably Angelic, although admittedly extremely dark. Their energy tends to be very, very heavy and it is not recommended you interact with it if you are unused to darker energy alignments. Additionally, it has a cold feeling to it.

Dark Angelic energy might be uncomfortable or difficult to handle for nature-aligned people, and plants/ etc. might suffer when exposed to moderate amounts of it over a prolonged period of time.

Please Note: Dark Angels do not have any demonic energy, or any energetic associations to demons of any kind.

PERSONALITY: Please note that this is a broad generalization and that there might be a great degree of variation of personality traits among individuals. As a species, Dark Angels tend to appear deeply aloof and cold towards outsiders. While professional and incredibly efficient, as well as skilled and capable, they tend to be impersonal in their dealings with other species.

Dark Angels are entities who value freedom, truth, and take oaths very seriously. Emotions don’t play a very intense role in their society and they are incredibly practical as a species. It’s not that Dark Angel’s don’t understand emotions so much as they don’t experience it in the same capacity as humans. 

While they might not be the warmest to strangers, Dark Angels are incredibly devoted to those they consider a part of their community. Their sense of duty is one of their defining qualities- and when a Dark Angel has committed themselves to something, there is nothing they wouldn’t do to fulfill their commitment.

Dark Angels are also incredibly confident (really, really confident), and place great value on working hard. They have little patience for individuals who lack self-discipline or introspection. If you want to meet a lighthearted entity who will coddle you, a Dark Angel is definitely not the companion for you.  They also struggle to relate to people who do not care for their community (since their community is such an integral part of a Dark Angel’s life).

Finally, Dark Angels tend to be very decisive and practical. For more sensitive people, they might come across as detached and emotionless, but they are deeply caring of those they choose to befriend.

LIFE:

Dark Angels reproduce sexually. They tend to be uninterested in marriages/ monogamous relationships, although if they choose to be bound to a partner the decision is honoured. Babies/ Children are raised communally, and most members of the community will interact with the younger Dark Angels at one time or another. Raising their young is incredibly important, and everyone in the community takes the task seriously. 

Their life cycles are as follows: Birth: A baby! But with wings. Child: A toddler. But with wings.

(These first two stages are “sped through, and tend to happen at a similar rate to human children, from what I have seen).

Young Adult: A teenager/ young adult. With wings. (Until age 4000-5000 they seem to be considered teenagers/ young adults. By this time, their growth rate has slowed down considerably).

Adulthood: A really tall adult. With wings.  (5000+ they would be considered adults, and they tend to have an indefinite lifespan unless they are killed, etc.).

There are no Dark Angel-exclusive illnesses, and they tend to be an incredibly healthy species due, in part, to their healing expertise. Records of deaths due to illness are incredibly scarce. SOCIETY: Dark Angels have a meritocratic-styled society. A long time ago, Dark Angels had close interactions and intermingled with some Abrahamic Angels. This led to the militarized aspects of their culture, language similarities, and similarities in things such as naming conventions. However, Dark Angels don’t follow an organized religion. They do place a high value on learning about their history. They do not worship or associate with any deities, etc. Dark Angels have their own language and writing system, which is loosely linked to Abrahamic Angelic language. While they might not be able to communicate fluently with Abrahamic Angels, they would likely be able to pick-up words, etc. when hearing them speak. Due to the way their community is structured, Dark Angels are very caring about their society/community. While they might be seen as cold towards outsiders, they are deeply compassionate towards their own people. Dark Angel children are raised communally rather than in families. This leads to a close kinship among everyone (a feeling of all members of the community being “part of the family”).

As a society, Dark Angels are relatively affluent, although wealth from contracts with other species, etc. tends to be evenly distributed among individuals.

[magicalwhiskers]

Leaving Offering: Food

A few of my friends have asked me about leaving food offerings for their spirit companions. How does one do this and what else can I do that won’t make it look like I’m wasting food to others that don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve had a couple tell me their parents got mad and think they’re wasting food and in some smaller countries, this can definitely be seen as such so we can’t have that happening. Here are a few things I do with my Keep that you may want to try. Some are easier while others may not be so for others so just think about all this and see what works. Trial and error is how we all learn. 

Fruits, I have found, to be the best. As a Chinese American, one of the things I always do is have fresh oranges for the Chinese New Year. So those with sturdy skins are good to leave out for a few days. Your companions will not be offended if you eat it because it will benefit you as well. I’ve left pears out as well, but not so good when you have cats that like to attack random things. So other fruits you want to offer can be leftmost out, but I would recommend either putting the, away in the fridge or just eat them once you feel your companions have had their fill. If things start to spoil, you can simply throw it out or, if your Wiccan (or eco-friendly), you can bury it in your yard to return it to the Earth. 

Meat is another offering, but that can be problematic if you live with others that have no idea what the hell you’re doing with it. This can vary from scraps to raw meat for anything from critters to vampires. I have a lot of wolves as well so they like having meat. Here is my agreement with them: they can have access to what’s in the fridge or share with me when I eat. If it’s a sanguine vampire or anyone that requires blood, you can allow them to take from you and they don’t actually require a lot. I always feel a bite from one of mine and it lasts as long as they need. Cooked meat is also an option and while some may love beef, we can’t always afford it. As long as they understand that you can only afford certain things and that what you offer is from the heart, it shouldn’t be a problem. Now, if you choose to offer raw meat, I would say to do so before you use it yourself so they have first dibs and nothing goes to waste. I would put Dairy this category. Since cheese can last for a while, keeping some in your fridge should be more than enough. 

Sweets are super easy to offer. I have a spirit that always visits from my sister’s Keep that loves butterscotch. So I always keep some around in case he wants to visit. I also have an Auraelic Vampire that likes it too. If it says hard candy, it can stay as long as it’s good. If it’s pastries, treat it like any other edible and share, but remember to eat it so it doesn’t go to waste. 

I have yet to have anyone ask about Liquids of any kind in my Keep, but there are some that like liquor like beer or wine. Like any offering, you can leave some libations for them in a glass, but I would recommend you share something you can then drink yourself. Otherwise, put it away or pour it it into the ground as continued offering to them and to the Earth. 

In regards to how much you should put out, I say no more than what you prepare for yourself. In reality, they can’t really eat on their own. They either share with you using your own senses, or they eat the Astral version. The way I see the 3 Bodies is like there are 3 parallel universes existing and that what we have here can also exist in the Astral and the Spiritual, give or take a few things.  One faery showed me her shoving grapes in her face like a chipmunk so anything is possible. You can always fix a little extra if you like, but remember to put any leftovers away to be eaten or disposed to appropriately. 

[magicalwhiskers]

A Starting Path to Spirit Work (but abbreviated)

(Apologies, it’s rather late as I’m writing on this and I have no wifi and I’ve gone past my data limit. I won’t be able to link large resources and such at this moment, and the format could definitely be better. And I could go much more indepth but for the current moment this is what I have on tumblr mobile.)

PROTECTION

Okay, this is the most common and I understand repetitive lesson. Protect yourself! Protect your home and your spirit friends! Protect and ward!

There are physical wards where the a physical spell or object is set up as the ward. Like maybe you have a crystal grid that you set up to protect your home. That would be an example of physical protection!

There are astral wards where you simply set them up in the astral (the other plane where spirits generally reside or originate from, not everyone but trying to make a general point on clarifying the difference the physical plane from the astral plane). Like you can build a giant water bubble to protect and enclose yourself!

There are great recipes for wards and protection spells that can work for you, but you don’t need to follow anyone’s recipe to make a ward. You can make one a multitude of ways. Sure, yours doesn’t follow a $25 ingredient list, but that doesn’t make it inherently any less valuable or effective! If you don’t care and make it, it’ll probably be less effective than one of strong intent, of course.

Personally I rely on astral wards more than physical wards, but that’s a personal preference. Wards I make myself are also more efficient than the ones I try to copy from others by directions but personal differences. When I say I made them, I thought about the concept of spicy peppers and I designed three wards off that alone, so intent and direction is what you really need to make wards.

If you prefer following someone else’s recipe to help, there is absolutely no harm in that! Go for it! But don’t feel like you can and have to rely only on the recipes you find on tumblr!

Note: Even if you do not have a companion, you still need wards. I would most definitely recommend it. Even if you have no companion to protect, you should still ward and protect yourself and your space!

Protect yourself and your home. Remember to take care of yourself.

You can set up personal wards that protect the person or being you set them up around like a personal bodyguard or protection. Or you can set it up for an object, place or setting. Like for your space! And you should protect yourself. I’m nagging you for your own safety.

Protect yourself from malicious beings who straight up just wanna fight you, others who might sneak in and just leech off, or those who might decieve you to get in and then harm you. Not every spirit has malicious intent or purpose, and most of them haven’t in my experience, but you should be safe and protect yourself the best you can from those occasions where bad news is knocking on your door.

When you have companions or spirit family, you’ll have more reasons to practice warding and have more wards, but that should not stop you from learning warding and being well protected yourself before then!

You can have wards that serve to protect you from attacks, and others to keep out liars. But you determine your wards, not me.

The thing is, the more the merrier, and the more variety the better! Cover all your bases. Maybe a water ward might keep out more fire-based spirits but water spirits might have an immunity. Or if you had 10+ wards with the same weakness and a malicious spirit finds out how to get past one, they get past all of them since they have the key for the same 10 doors.

You should regularly keep them running, and also do a bigger maintenance. But remember than constant smaller checkups are important too. Do small checkups often, and a big checkup regularly. I do small checkups daily, and weekly big maintenance because it’s important and better safe than well, not safe.

ENERGY WORK

I may have been too long-winded in the protection section and this section is gonna be lacking in comparison but it’s still needed.

You should have a basis in energy work. Learn how to sense energy, like presences, be able to read them, maybe not in a “I can give you a 5 page summary about this person about their energy” but I can tell this spirit has malicious or unsafe intent towards me so I should step away and turn them away. And telling them apart.

Like a spirit comes home, and you should practice how to tell the difference between Sam the kitten spirit and Feraligator the chihuahua spirit. Although you don’t need to be a master of energy work to start in spirit work, but you should have basics or a solid starting ground.

You can completely struggle with this, while going into spirit work but be willing to keep trying. It’s important and a helpful fundamental and can lead into spirit work, but you can definitely go into spirit work without being an expert energy worker or an energy healer.

COMMUNICATION

Without a doubt, you’re gonna want to have a conversation or communicate with spirits in spirit work.

I’m gonna be honest, you will not have 100% clarity when you begin. Minus a few rare exceptions of people. But ignoring those exceptions and miracles, be prepared for the actuality of communication.

You’ll start out with fragmented conversation. You’ll depend and start with divination, like pendulums, dice, and tarot cards to talk.

The start of the road begins with asking the spirits yes or no questions, or whatever maybe the pendulum board or your tools are limited to. Or you’ll use tarot, which is less yes/no but it’s still not a whole conversation like you would expect between two people. But you’ll have to build up and grow from there. You’ll practice and keep going.

Beyond your tools, the next tier to practice is telepathy and astral hearing.

I don’t think they are exactly the same, but you may disagree. I understand and respect that. Telepathy is direct communication through your minds with thoughts (this is off the top of the mind and I am typing this in one sitting. I will check and correct myself, and edit it if I am wrong, don’t worry).

Some spirits only communicate with scattered words, images and emotions. That just may be their preference and method of communication in telepathy, regardless of how well you can hear them.

Others may be able to talk in complete conversations like you’d expect from another human. But they may simplify what they’re saying to you so that you understand, or cooperate other ways because they understand you can’t catch everything they say.

For me, I think astral hearing is different where they speak in the astral out loud and everyone can hear it. But if your hearing is bad, you might not catch it, and that way, I don’t consider it the same as telepathy where they would just send their thoughts straight to your mind. You can improve your astral senses with effort, trying, and exercise.

Either way, you will practice and grow. Keep going, I believe in you.

Even when you get to that point where you can regularly hear astral conversations and use telepathy, you should still remember to keep your tools. They’ll help you double check yourself, and get you through lulls where it’ll get even harder so your senses will be limited.

INTERACTION WITH SPIRITS

There are two ways you can find and meet new spirits or strangers. Either you can meet your local spirits or go out into the astral but that’s not a beginner concept. However if you do wanna hear about that more, I’ll discuss that by request.

Okay, let’s talk about local spirits. Meeting and communicating with local spirits is the best way to practice before a committment like companionship or running into the astral blindly.

Nature spirits tend to be much kinder and patient, especially considering you’ll take time to practice and learn. The easiest spirits to bear with you for practice are rock/crystal spirits and your own garden and plant spirits.

Although there are definitely a few that aren’t friendly at all, it’s safer than running into the astral. And as far as I know, most people can go outside much more easily and already know how, over learning from scratch how to astral project and travel and being prepared for everything it has to offer (dangers and otherwise).

Note: You do not need to know how to astral travel or project to work with spirits, and you can hang out with spirits even if you can’t travel all the way to their apartment in the astral. You can chill and watch Netflix in your room together even if you can’t travel.

EVEN AFTER YOU GROW

You’re gonna keep warding and learning protection spells. When I became a mod, I learned that I had to upgrade and add MORE. You’ll need them, you’ll want them, and you’ll appreciate them. Even the failures will become a start to building better and more efficient wards. So keep going. We all nag about protection, but we’re absolutely serious.

You’re gonna keep learning and you’ll have a different path from others. You will hit roadblocks and communication will get harder some days, whether it’s from a lull, or low spoons or anything.

Take a step sideways, yeah, but that’s movement. And it won’t stop you from progress. The worst thing is to not practice honestly and be apathetic.

(It’s honestly quite late here, I’m physically tired and a little sick, so sorry if anything got messy or confusing. If you have anything you want me to talk on, clarify or discuss further, shoot us an ask.)

Disclaimer: I haven’t stopped learning, so there’s much more you can read on, and more others can offer you on the subject, so never be afraid to ask others for help and advice too. And terms may slightly differ from being to being, so there’s also that to account for, and other people may have different answers for you too! So keep on adventuring and gathering knowledge.

-Mod Spark

[magicalwhiskers]

A Beginner’s Guide To Spirit Companionship

So, you are either interested in companionship or you have already taken the plunge and adopted an entity or spirit into your family… You may be wondering ‘now what?’, and this guide is here to give you the basics on what the next steps should be.

Be Aware Of Your Psychic Abilities

Very rarely are people born with abilities that are strong and do not need practice to keep sharp. A majority of people start with little to no psychic awareness, and everyone needs to practice to keep what abilities they do have in top shape. The psychic mind is like a muscle. If you do not exercise that muscle often, you will find that it will grow weaker over time.

What abilities are you interested in honing? Do you want to see physical manifestations and communicate through visual cues? Clairvoyance is what you will need to work on. Want to be able to hear your companion’s voice or audible manifestations? Clairaudience. Clairsentience is feeling your companion, whether it be through touches, changes in temperature, or pressure. Dream-Walking is another option, where you can use Lucid Dreaming to communicate with your companions through all the senses. Astral Travel is another popular one.

Choose which method speaks to you, and learn how you are able to adapt those abilities. We will create a guide on strengthening psychic abilities in a later post.

When choosing, you should also be aware of how your companion can manifest. Several shops list the potential manifestations of their companions, which can be a huge aid for those who do not know what to expect, or are adverse to certain types of manifestation. If you practice your clairvoyance abilities but your companion is better at feeling-typed manifestations, you may soon realize that communication is difficult between you two. Compromise is important within spiritual relationships.

Keep Calm & Do Not Worry

As a beginner who is not used to their psychic abilities, it may be difficult to not worry about whether what you are experiencing is real or not, but the thing about Spirit Companionship is that trust and hope is important. Don’t let anxiety concerning a spirit being fake, or the manifestations being ‘in your head’ get to you, as that will be far more damaging than if they were fake. If you received your companion from a reputable seller who has handled hundreds of customers and entities and as a history to back them up, ease yourself into trusting your conjurer and the work they have done for you. Once you are able to trust your conjurer, you will find it easier to trust yourself and what you experience.

Leave It Open To Interpretation

Always keep communication open. Messages may come in parts and not all at once, depending on your companion. They may say “I like ice cream”, but later on add that they don’t like ice cream with sprinkles. Always keep an open mind concerning the information you receive, until your companion says something to support or deny a certain fact. Don’t worry about your companion not liking something, unless they have told you in the past something of that effect! Keep an open mind, and don’t let anxiety about ‘offending them’ or making them upset, stop you from giving them offering, bringing them with you on errands, or other activities unless there is experience to support them not liking something.

If you are still unsure, contact your conjurer for confirmation until you are comfortable with your communicative skills with your companion. Most conjurers will be happy to give you information on what the being likes/dislikes!

Tarot, Maybe Not

As a beginner, I highly recommend staying away from divination techniques that will give you an answer even if the spirit/entity does not choose what to answer with. These methods would include Tarot, Oracle, and Music Divination. Because you are going to be pulling a card no matter if your spirit has chosen one or not, it can very easily lead to a situation where a card is pulled that does not answer your question. Stick to psychic senses before you move onto Tarot/Oracle.

House Rules House Rules are what keep things clear during your relationship. They aid your companion in knowing what is expected of them, and what will not be tolerated. Most companions are not intimately familiar with human customs, so never assume that they know not to do something in your household or to you/your loved ones. House Rules keep everyone safe and comfortable, and prevent miscommunication. You can read more about house rules here and here.

Concerning Offerings Conjurers tend to leave what the being likes within the profile, or you can contact them after a transaction to receive that information. Or, you can experiment! Until you know what your companion dislikes, offer what you can, and what you think they will enjoy. There is no harm in asking if they would like something, and if they don’t want it, you’ll know for the future! Food, drink, physical items, and energy are all viable offerings. How often you give offerings is completely up to you and your companion. They are gifts, and not required to be given.

Bonding With Your Companion

You can bond through an assortment of methods. Bonding is simply getting to know each other, and being comfortable together. Share information about yourself either out loud, in your mind, or through writing. What is your personality like? Your family? What do you like and dislike? What do you think is the most important quality in a relationship? What are your spiritual beliefs? You can also carry the vessel around with you during your daily activities to give your companion an idea of your daily life and surroundings. You can read a book with them, watch television, offer to have meals with them, do energy exercises, or simply dance and sing to express yourself with them! As they become comfortable with you, they just might join in.

[magicalwhiskers]

Spirit Work: Do You Qualify?

I keep seeing people approach spirit work like it’s no big deal. They’re drawn to it through companionship, demonology, angels, contact with the dead, faerie craft, tulpamancy, servitors, thoughtforms, deity worship, etc. There’s a lot that can fall beneath spirit work or be related to it in some form where people eventually end up looking at spirit work eventually.

What is spirit work?

Spirit work is the act of working with and communicating with spirits. Spirits can range in variety from fae, mermaids, demons, angels, dragons, etc. Then there’s subspecies of whatever species you may be able to come up with off the top of your head. They can be malicious or benign, humanoid or inhumane, lifelong presence in your life or a passing existence. They can be immortal, deities, sexual or nonsexual, weak and strong. Spirits are so diverse, it’s hard to label them all as a whole because of how many different species there are and societies with their own politics and way of life. They’re incorporeal and can be found around you or in the astral, some even within your dreams. They are as real as you and me. Generally, you want to be respectful and not treat them like Pokémon to be tamed. They are wild and free. This doesn’t mean you should let them walk all over you especially when they become a negative influence in your life.

Do you need to do spirit work?

Even if a lot of the craft comes back to spirit work in some shape or form, you DO NOT have to get into spirit work. When you get into spirit work, it’s like opening a door that’s near impossible to close once opened. You invite one spirit into your life, twenty more will come knocking on your door. It’s perfectly possible to cohabitate with a spirit and you not even know it was there. Especially if you’re not looking for them or actively working with spirits to learn to recognize its presence. Like any other skill, there are pros and cons to spirit work. It can be rewarding just as much as it can be dangerous. It’s very dependent on you and what you plan to do while exploring spirit work. Just because they are generally incorporeal doesn’t mean you’re invincible or immune to the consequences that come with working with spirits. You’re not a god and so long as you exercise caution, spirit work can be a great skill to have. If you choose not to get into spirit work, then awesome! Your path isn’t any less than anyone else’s just because you decide this line of work is not for you.

Discernment

Before you run off into the magical land of spirits, you need to be sure that what you see or experience is real. This is the single most important tool anyone can have and that is to be skeptical, to exercise critical thinking, and test it. While it’s nice to take people at their word, you should be questioning their information and confirm it with other sources and/or with personal experience. Research and understand what it is you want to get into and what it is you’re trying to interact with. Spirits can be tricky beings and lie or change their form to appear as other things. They will try to scam you for offerings or even mess with you because they’re bored and think it’s funny. Not every spirit is going to be like this yet it happens. And being able to discern between the lies and what you deem as real will be essential in your interactions with spirits.

Discernment — Why Does It Matter? (falchionknight)

Spirit Work Basics: Energy Work and Discernment (crystal-ravenwitch)

Quickie Discernment Checklist, AKA, “Your dog farting is not a sign from Above, Sharon.” (ergiinmiddleearth)

Discernment Pro Tips (thetwistedrope)

Divination

You want some form of physical communication with spirits that’s beyond only using telepathy or what you think you heard. Two or three different forms of divination would be ideal to check your results against and even confirm. Personally, I like to check and double check for personal assurance. I use tarot/oracle as my main form of divination and check if what I’m interpreting is correct with my pendulum. I use this a lot to confirm that what I’ve experienced happened and to gauge a spirit’s wants or needs.

Types of Divination (secattention)

Master List of Ways to Tell Fortunes (wxsteland-witch)

Divination Tips for Beginners (themanicnami)

Protection

How adept are you with protection? This is personal protection, wards of a space, more wards to prevent lying, glamor, teleportation, etc. Finding just the right amount of protection because there is such a thing as too much. Protection is a huge part of what you want to have around you to avoid a lot of potentially large problems before they can become one. There are preventative measure for a reason. There’s loopholes you want to avoid in the making of your wards like ‘only beings with positive intentions can come through’ or using only light as protection. The problem with the first notion is that it’s too open. A spirit with the intention to ‘fix’ you can be considered positive because this being has the intention for the highest good for you by its standards may not be the highest good by your standards. That’s a very weak premise to build a ward. The problem with the latter is that it won’t stop a being of light from just walking right through your ward. Again, it’s weak. Wards can be tricky business. The best way to build them is to write them out on paper and then try to find a way around them to break your own wards.

Banishment

If you’re going to be interacting with spirits, you want a way to banish them if they break your rules or become volatile. Why would you interact with a spirit you can’t get rid of? It’d be pretty asinine to willingly come into contact with a spirit you can’t banish and then have that spirit refuse to leave. How can you get it to stop escalating and becoming a worse situation? You want different methods of banishment as well from energetic intent to physical means of banishment. You want tailored banishment methods for the spirits you plan to contact. If you don’t know how to banish a spirit, then you probably shouldn’t be looking to interact with them.

Bree’s Banishing Powder (breelandwalker)

Flying Devil Oil (spiritvexer)

How To Identify and Deal With an Unruly or Malicious Spirit (swimminginscales)

Ask submitted to swimminginscales about enforcing House Rules

Banishing herbs masterpost (thefriendlywitch)

How To Make Black Salt (christowitch)

Cleansing

Spirits can leave behind residue that can attract parasites. They can bring parasites. What you’re doing can attract more spirits or more parasites. It’s a good habit to get into to cleanse a space before and after interacting with spirits. It keeps you energetically clean as well as your space.

Energy Work

I’ve heard of people weak at sensing energies being able to do spirit work. It can be very hit and miss. Energy work is what you use to be able to sense a spirit and identify them. Personally, I recommend you have some basis in energy work before getting into spirit work. It’s an invaluable skill that’d provide an extra form of protection and open up new avenues of interacting with spirits. It’d help to learn what a spirit feels like, their energy signature, and alignments to better be able to single them out.

Energy Work Basics (scarletprophecies)

Basics of Energy Work (spiritvexer)

Witchcraft 101: Core concepts (energy work) (witchofthewyrd)

Energy Work Masterpost (thesigilwitch)

Submitted ask about energy work to elysiumconjures

Astral Travel

This is a skill that’s more optional yet I always recommend having it in your skillset if you wish to get into spirit work. A lot of what you learn when getting into astral travel overlaps with spirit work since you’re opening yourself up to traveling into different realms that may have spirits. Much like spirit work, you’re opening a door that’s near impossible to close once opened. Astral travel provides you with a space you can work in, to be able to travel to a spirit’s homeland, observe their way of life, direct interaction, and being able to ‘see’ what the spirit may look like.

Astral Travel: Clairvoyence (maughrim)

Physical and Astral Senses (nv11)

Ideas of Wards to Protect Your Astral Space (peachescreamandspice)

Dangers of Spirit Work

Like I’ve touched on throughout this post, there are dangers to spirit work. You’re opening yourself up to spirits and allowing yourself to interact with them. You don’t know this spirit and they likely don’t know you. They can and will mess with you if it strikes their fancy. Spirits can hurt you in creative ways, pose as a deity, pretend to be from your past life, abuse you and use you. Spirit’s personalities and motivations are as diverse as interacting with people around you. You can’t predict how a spirit will act nor how things will unfold between you by beginning interactions. All you can do is take the precautions to protect yourself, your space, and those that matter to you the best ways you can. Be cautious and don’t put yourself in unnecessary danger just because you decided to see what happens. If you go out looking for danger, you’ll find it.

🐯 Further Reading 🐯

Safety and protection from fae (anonymous-alchemist)

Spirit Communication: Tips (winkingwyvern)

A Starting Path to Spirit Work (but abbreviated) (umbra-et-lux-spirits)

Spirit Shops: What To Look For And Setting Standards (path-of-stars)

Spirit Communication Sachet (path-of-stars)

I hope this post has been helpful. I’ve seen different answers to this question of what you should or shouldn’t know when stepping into spirit work. I was never satisfied with the answers I’ve seen and often disagree with them. I hope that this post puts it into perspective what you should know if you so choose to get into spirit work. Better to go into it informed than to lack a basic skill because you were overzealous and ran ahead before you were ready.

— Apolaki ❤

[magicalwhiskers]

Types of Divination

I have touched a little bit on divination before in one of previous posts and I believe I did mention that I was going to be doing one of these post, so here you go!

I am not the most educated when it comes to divination, I know what I know and it works, so why should I try anything else? Because growth, girl! Because expansion of the mind! Because it’s damn amazing to know all these witchy things! That’s why!

So upon doing my mystical research, I honestly learnt some really cool forms of divination that I’m annoyed I didn’t know before, so here are the different forms of divination :

Tarot Cards - the most common form of divination on this planet (besides crystal balls). You go to a carnival and happen across a fortune teller in a caravan, what has she most likely got on the table in front of her? A crystal ball and tarot cards. The only difference here is that anyone who actually uses tarot cards knows that this is not going to “tell you your future”, it’s simply vague guideline, just some probable insight into the forces at work. When I first started I relied on this handy book that helped me translate every card through the reading, now I only look at it every now and then. Three-card spreads are my favourite! You can literally use them for anything. I personally don’t like just drawing cards, i lay them out and hover my hand over the top moving across the spread out cards and whenever I feel a slight tug I know that’s the card. I go over it a few times just to be sure, but i just don’t like picking random cards, not my style.

Nordic Runes - another one I am very familiar with, created by Odin and given to humankind as a gift. (”Oh, they’re lovely, thanks.”). When I first got into the craft I think it was one of the first few things I was taught out of my reading and the symbols and their meanings are fairly well known. I have passed a handful of strangers with runes tattooed on them and when asked about them they actually knew the meanings and details of the runes. Runes are similar to the tarot in the sense that they are a guideline not so much a prediction, also generally used to address issues. Readings are done by putting all the runes in a pouch and drawing, depending on the question, the select number of runes out. My go to number is always three. There are some amazing DIY’s for runes, but the real magic is in the carving of the runes. I really like the way they look when burnt into wooden disks, especially if the bark is still intact in the edges.

Celtic Ogham  - this is one I had surprisingly never heard of. Out of all the books I have read on Celtic magic and they failed to inform me of this? What the heck, guys? So, from my understanding, there are 25 letters in the Ogham alphabet; 20 if you wanna be super traditional. They have so many correspondences I will honestly need to learn them all, but now is not the time. It was supposedly created by Ogma, to show off how well spoken he was, or something like that. (I only skimmed the article when it came to this part, sorry guys.) Now the method for using the Celtic Ogham is very similar to runes. The symbols are normally carved onto wooden staves, placed into a pouch and drawn out when seeking the answer to a question. Very cool and I plan to DIY a set of these someday.

Tasseomancy - the art of reading tea leaves. This is one I haven’t tried, purely because drinking tea with loose tea leaves just sounds terrible. Basically you need to make your tea with the loose leaves and drink it. You have to leave a little bit of the tea left over to swirl the tea leaves around so that they can form a pattern. Just do it a few times so the leaves aren’t spread out everywhere. You might end up with one big picture or you will end up with a few little ones. In this case go clockwise around the cup. It works kind of like a timeline. Now look at your blobs and try to see the images in the blobs. There are plenty of guides for figuring out what these images mean or you could just go with your gut feeling.

Automatic Writing - this method uses the spirit realm to get messages. For this you would need to be in a meditative state, enter with a clear mind or a question or thought and, with a pen and paper in hand, just let the words come to you. You can even write the question or subject on the piece of paper and let the spirits take over. Like with any form of divination, you will need practice. If you have been sitting there for 20 minutes and haven’t gotten anything then maybe take a break and try to clear your mind a bit more. This method is used by loads of mediums for getting answers or just connecting to people who have passed on. I would advise that we take caution when it comes to using this method as it can open doors for spirits, not all of the things you’re opening yourself up to are friendly, so always make sure you are protected and ready for whatever there is to come.

Osteomancy - reading bones, being South African I’m fairly familiar with the cultural background of osteomancy. The Sangomas (basically the medicine men) of the villages have been known to use this method of divination. The way it’s done is the bones were placed into a bowl or pouch and mixed with various stones, shells and feathers and shaken out onto a mat. Reading it relies solely on intuition and requires a lot of training to master. Depending on the bone and it’s position on the mat, the way it’s facing, the objects surrounding it. In my opinion this is one of the most difficult forms of divination to master.

Scrying - this one is also pretty common and comes in loads of forms (I will need to do a separate post for all the different methods of scrying. There’s fire scrying, water scrying, using a black mirror, etc. There tons of different methods but I’m going to use the example of water scrying. Most people like using reflective surfaces to scry since it is the easiest. Simply clear your mind again or keep the intent in the back of your mind and focus on the water. Follow all the slight ripples until you’re fully connected to the small body of water. You could see images or shapes on the surface or you could see mental images. It’s different with everyone and what the universe is trying to show you.

Pendulum Divination - the easiest to make, since you can use your own necklace as a pendulum, this is purely for yes or no questions and is basically a simplified version of a ouija board. Again, take caution when working with spirits. You might think you’re talking to a recently deceased family member or one of your ancestors and it could end up being something else completely and be in a bit of trouble. When using the pendulum some people use sheets for more advanced questions but I would say just using the four directions; left, right, front and back; for answers. Ask some basic questions that you will know the answer to first to see which direction is “yes” and which is “no”. Once you have that down you can ask away.

Numerology - using numbers in divination. Numbers hold a lot of magical significance (any witch can tell you that). There are specific numbers that we like to stick to and we stick to it for a reason. Odd numbers are related to a feminine energy, while even numbers are related to masculine energy. Different numbers have different meanings and in order to use this method research should be done on the different meanings of numbers. Play around with numbers in magic. use numerology to find your birth number, name number, fate number, your pinnacle numbers, etc.

These are all the methods of divination I could cover for now. Watch this space for upcoming, in depth tutorials for each of these methods.

[magicalwhiskers]

Small Things To Contact Spirits About

…If you want to flex your communication muscles but don’t want to be cutting deals or making things complicated for now. Just little things to try.

Let me hear a love story

Show me a song from your people

Tell me something you did today that you are proud of

Let me draw a portrait of you

Tell me a little about your culture

Ask me any questions you may have about human culture (and I will answer them, if I can.)

Look at this song/story/poem I wrote, tell me what you think.

Tell me my local reputation, if I have one.

Tell me your story (and if desired, I will record it and pass it on for more to see.)

Share a joke.

Let me admire your beauty/grace/powerful appearance/plumage/scales/wings/great personality

Tell me about your friends

What is your one big token of advice?

Teach me how to make my home more welcoming for you (while still being safe for me.)