#i can imagine a voiceover for a mindfulness meditation being like ‘visualize yourself as a piece of plastic floating on the ocean surface’

[pinkpeachesandcream]

was gonna kill myself but again realized i’m too scared to so i’m just kind of a piece of plastic in the ocean floating around. i have no control over the current

[maddiviner]

Shapeshifting! What is it? Is it even possible?

Hello everyone. I’m happy to be posting this new article tonight. It concerns animal affinities and, yes, shapeshifting! Sounds pretty weird, huh? I’ll do my best to demystify the concept and dispel misconceptions. I’ll also provide a bit of a technowitchery method for beginning your work in this direction!

Let’s begin with some information about shapeshifting. Despite what fiction would have you believe, it’s not possible to physically shapeshift. At least, as far as I know, it isn’t. Maybe someone, somewhere, can do it, but it’s unlikely! We’ll leave the topic of physical shapeshifting aside, though, and concentrate on astral or mental shapeshifting.

Shapeshifting as a Hedgerider

Astral shapeshifting occurs when a person has left their body. It’s a common experience in hedgeriding, which you can read about in my tag on the subject here. Hedgeriding generally involves leaving your body and entering other, different realms. During these journeys, sometimes hedgeriders will take the form of an animal instead of their usual human astral body.

This can sometimes happen spontaneously for some hedgeriders, but that doesn’t seem to be common. Usually, a hedgewitch would need to have a strong affinity for a physical animal in order to shift into that shape while riding the hedge. This affinity doesn’t happen overnight, but often does happen organically, leading to spontaneous shapeshifting.

I want to note that shapeshifting is different from simply changing your astral body to look like an animal. The latter is pretty easy, and many have no problem throwing out wings or other things instead of remaining in their normal form. On the contrary, though, actual shapeshifting of the sort I describe involves mental, as well as superficial, changes. You align yourself with the pure force of the animal, and your mind restructures briefly within that context

It’s not really possible, in my experience, for every single witch to shapeshift into any and all animals. Most witches will need, as noted, to develop a strong affinity with the nature of the particular animal first. There are ways of doing this, though!

Beginning the Connection

Some traditions hold that every person has a single animal with which they intensely connect. If you practice such a tradition, you might find that resonates with you. For me, I have several animals with which I have an affinity, and many other hedgeriders seem to, as well. 

Whether one animal dominates or appears more commonly depends on the person. I know some folks who borrow a term from fiction and refer to their animal archetype as “Patronus;” for my main animal affinity, I prefer the term “daemon” from the works of Phillip Pullman. 

For me, I will often consciously choose to develop an affinity with an animal if I feel it will be mutually beneficial. You can research animals and see if any call to you, or yes, even choose one. If you already feel a strong connection to an animal, it can be deepened to help make shapeshifting possible, as well.

I find it helpful to work with animals that do not have traits wildly different from myself, but also those that have tendencies I’d like to adopt or enhance within my own being. I must caution against just choosing an animal because they’re cute or majestic, though. 

Really, for animal affinity-building, the physical appearance of the creature is secondary to their personality. This is part of why it’s very useful to research and read as much as possible about the animal in question, to learn more and more about it and develop a deeper connection.

Using Technology to Develop an Affinity

I mentioned a the beginning of this article that I’m going to describe a technowitchery-inspired method or spell for developing your animal affinity and bonding with the animal’s true nature. It’s no secret that I love incorporating technology into my spellcraft, and here is no exception! I’ve gotten excellent results with this exercise, and maybe you will, too!

To begin, find a Youtube (or other video service) clip of the animal in question. It should be fairly short (roughly less than five minutes). It should also, ideally, feature the animal by themselves, not interacting with humans, and in their natural habitat. 

For some animals, I realize that a natural habitat would involve humans, but if you’re working with a seal or other non-domestic animal, try to find a video that shows the animal in their natural home, doing their usual things. If there’s a narration or voiceover, I recommend muting it.

Watch the video several times, over the course of a few days. Whenever you’re at your computer and have a moment to spare, pull up that same video and watch it over and over. Try to memorize it as best you can and allow the imagery to sink into your consciousness. Watching it a couple times in a row before beginning the exercise proper is a good idea, too.

A Visualization Exercise

Once you have the video veritably memorized, relax into whatever posture you usually assume when meditating or visualizing. For most of us, this would be a comfortable position, perhaps lying down. Others might want to sit upright and still in a chair. Either way, relax into your usual meditative posture.

Begin to visualize. Replay the video over and over in your mind, only. Don’t watch it while sitting or lying there - instead, just try to remember as many details of it as possible, ideally in sequential order. After replaying the video in your mind several times, do so again, this time imagining and visualizing what the situation would look like from the animal’s perspective. Try to imagine what the animal sees, feels, and senses.

Once you can manage that, you’re almost there. You can actually stop at this point, and come back to it later, or just use the above as your primary means of connecting. If you want to go further, try actually dialoging with the animal. They may seem to speak in words, or just in images and feelings. You may be able to hold a small conversation to deepen you connection to the animal. It isn’t easy to achieve, but it’s quite an experience.

Going Further

Keep one thing in mind: while doing this, you aren’t communicating or merging with a particular instance of a particular species. In other words, you aren’t bonding with the animal themselves from the video, or any other particular member of that species. Rather, you’re communicating with the force or overarching essence of the species itself. Think of it as an archetype. Most of what you learn from this exercise will be unverifiable and very personal, but it will be useful nevertheless!

If you are already riding the hedge, you may find it easy to shift into an animal form after practicing this exercise several times. Everyone is different, though, and thus not everyone will progress at the same rate. That’s okay. If the exercise doesn’t seem to help, you can research and find other ways of getting in touch with animal essences. If you aren’t already hedgeriding, or don’t plan to, the exercise alone can help you absorb and learn from the traits of the animal, though!

I hope you found this article interesting and informative, and that it’s helpful for you in creating beautiful, life-affirming magick and connecting with the universe. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me via messenger or my askbox, but please read my guidelines first! Thanks for reading!