#missmerluna

[thedragonslibrary]

I have found your blog so wonderfully helpful, just to let you know! do you have any advice to those wanting to begin sensing/manipulating energy? especially in regards to warding. I want to get started working with spirits and know that's a big deal, I just can't seem to wrap my head around how to set them up, be confident in them and know when they need touching up. regardless, thank you for your time and having such an informative blog! 😄

Hi there!  Thanks so much for the kind words, I’m really glad that my posts could be so helpful for you!  I hope they can continue being so!~

Sensing and manipulating energy is generally along the same lines of psychic development and astral travel, and I found that it’s something that came quite naturally to me when I started my path as a witch.  One of my favorite exercises ever is from the book Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham (this book is actually pretty good for any beginner witch and has lots of good beginner energy work exercises in it, if you can take the sort of woo-woo eclectic Wiccan faith stuff with a grain of salt).  He suggests rubbing your hands together very quickly for a few seconds, then stretching them apart and feeling the tingling, magnetic between them.  It’s a bit of a parlor trick for yourself, and there may be a bit of energy to sense there, but even if it’s only your skin’s reaction to the friction, it’s generally what charged energy feels like.

Once you’ve got the idea of that, I recommend just paying attention to your palms.  If you’re cleansed and grounded properly and have no blockages, your hand chakras (or energy centers, or whatever you wish to call them) are extremely potent, and probably the easiest points of energy on your body to sense.  Generally, energy likes to flow out of our dominant hand and into the nondominant one (so if one of your hands feels less “active” than the other, it’s probably the one energy goes into).  Related to this, another exercise I did as a beginner in energy work was allowing a channel of energy to pass out of one palm and into the other, with your eyes closed or a soft gaze, just feeling the sensation.  Remember, visualization is really important here - I often view the energy in this form like a slinky, or a cylinder of air whirling out of one palm and into the other.

From here, you can form balls of energy between your two palms, allowing the channel to take shape.  Visualize the ball, and use your hands and your focus to change its shape, its color, and its purpose.  This is really good for basic energy work such as charging crystals or other objects, and makes up the foundation of pretty much all of the energy work I personally do.  This is also the first step to making wards!

There are lots of different methods to warding.  Some people take charms and things like casting a circle, etc., extremely seriously.  My personal approach is a bit more abstract, and can be done any time, anywhere.  It’s actually inspired by some freebie spell charm I got from CreepyHollows back when I still bought from them, called “550 layer shield” or something like that, haha.  But I thought, hey, what a good idea!  Most people talk only about the one ward, making sure it’s thick and functional, checking it occasionally for weaknesses.  And yes, like, all of these things are definitely good and true, but it’s easier when it’s a regular process you’re repeating over and over in thin layers.  After all, 20ish thin pancakes are (probably) easier to make than one of those giant, thick Japanese-style pancakes.

Usually, I do this nightly when I’m laying in bed.  If any of my personal spirit companions are around they usually like to help, as it’s a relaxing process for all of us.

Make an energy ball between your hands.  Visualize it expanding outwards, blowing up like a bubble, until it encompasses your whole body.  Imagine it whirling around you like a thin, protective barrier.

Solidify it.  That is, visualize the energy turning into an element.  Water, ice, fire, wind, darkness, light - anything works.  Once you feel the barrier has solidified into one of these elements, let it settle.  Relax, and take a short break.

Rinse and repeat, until you have 550 layers... or whatever!

And honestly, doing this once every night will not only allow you to get past the weird gravitas people put on crafting wards, but will make it feel normal to you, and in itself the exercise will teach you the ins and outs of warding.  You know how they say that if you perform a breast exam on yourself daily, eventually you’ll know what every nook and cranny your breast feels like, and you can more easily tell if something’s off?  It’s the same idea here.  And if a layer doesn’t feel right?  If it feels old and crumbly, or maybe it didn’t settle right in the first place?  Disintegrate it and try again.  After all, you’ve got 550 layers to get to, eventually.  At least one of them has got to do the trick!

Plus, witchcraft and warding is an ongoing, extremely personal process.  So if you start out by using this method and find you eventually want to move onto something more ritualistic, or something that more formally involves what you’ve adopted into your craft, go for it!  

Also, regarding wards and spirit work - especially when you’re starting out, it can be difficult to know how protected you’re supposed to be.  Are you meant to put up a big fat thick shield, blocking out potential spirit friends and cutting yourself off psychically?  Are you meant to keep your defenses weak so you can communicate more easily?  I say take the middle road and make sure you talk to your wards (I know it sounds silly, just trust me), and let them know that you want to allow potential spirits in.  If you run into a bad situation, you can always cut (read as: banish) a toxic personality from your life.

Although I have to say, personally, I’ve never been attacked psychically by a mean spirit.  Only mean people. 🤷 But nobody ever tried anything without a couple of scrapes and bruises!

Again, I hope this was helpful!  Please feel free to let me know if you have more questions!

[bakkhante]

you are absolutely LOVELY for doing these! could i get a tarot reading on what i can to to improve my chances of astral projecting and/or communicating with spirits? thanks so very much dear. :)

i think, generally, it is a good idea to try different methods and especially practice meditation to be more open to astral travel. there are many blogs/posts on here that may help as well. 

my deck says that you need to be at peace with yourself. you still do not believe in yourself and that you can achieve it properly. you must work hard and put effort into practicing but also have confidence and be open. 

[hallowedconjurations]

I like your style, Skelly, you've got taste my friend!

Hey thanks!

-Skelly