#yes this is about spiritual psychosis

[witchescollection]

some reminders:

a phd in tumblr/tiktok does not make you qualified to talk about mental health

psychosis is an experience heavily drenched in stigma. you are not helping.

we have reports of ancient people experiencing "spiritual psychosis" as part of their religion.

experiences can be mundane and magical simultaneously. it can be a hallucination and a sign.

[devilboydogman]

This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody), Talking Heads

Home is where I want to be Pick me up and turn me round I feel numb, born with a weak heart I guess I must be having fun

The less we say about it the better Make it up as we go along Feet on the ground, head in the sky It's okay, I know nothing's wrong, nothing

Hi yo, I got plenty of time Hi yo, you got light in your eyes And you're standing here beside me I love the passing of time

Never for money, always for love Cover us and say goodnight Say goodnight

Home is where I want to be But I guess I'm already there I come home, she lifted up her wings I guess that this must be the place

I can't tell one from another Did I find you, or you find me? There was a time before we were born If someone asks, this where I'll be, where I'll be

Hi yo, we drift in and out Hi yo, sing into my mouth Out of all those kinds of people You got a face with a view

I'm just an animal looking for a home, and Share the same space for a minute or two And you love me 'til my heart stops Love me 'til I'm dead Eyes that light up, eyes look through you Cover up the blank spots Hit me on the head

This Isn't the Place, Nine Inch Nails

And if you see my friend I thought I would again A single thin straight line I thought we had more time I thought we had more time I thought we had more Carry me, carry me home I thought we had Carry me, carry me home I thought we had

[l0stfoster]

For Cursed Tulsa AU: aksjsjak there are soo many things I want to ask about but first I am SO intrigued by Dally in this AU. So like him seeing ghosts is from his mom and I'm assuming he couldn't see them before he got shot/was rescued so was him 'dying' kind of like the catalyst for him unlocking that power? Did his mom ever tell him about the ghosts and he just thought she was hallucinating or did she never even try to bring that up? Does he know that his powers are from his mom or did he just wake up and was like "I guess that just happens now"?

AND THE AFTERMATH OF HIM JUST. SEEING THEM NOW.

Do the ghosts ever try to interact with him? Can they even? Since he apparently saw the Curtis parents and his mom so like did they try to speak to him ever? Or was it more just ominous staring?

And speaking of which - I'm pretty sure Dally isn't telling anyone about what he's been seeing. Is it just because he doesn't know how to bring it up or does he even understand exactly what's going on? Will he ever tell them? Or is this a secret he's taking to his grave?

Sorry for rambling lmao (expect more of this in the future) but all of this is genuinely SO INTERESTING AHH

Absolutely keep rambling Lunar I love these

His near death experience and sort of ‘rebirth’ was the reason his ghost seeing stuff finally unlocked, yes— however, that’s more in a manner of he finally became aware of it.

He assumed she was just hallucinating, and she never told him about it, both in a selfish way and in an attempt to protect him. Her thought was that if he didn’t know, then he couldn’t possibly channel it— the only issue is that if he had been seeing the ghost since he was a boy, it would’ve driven him down the same path of psychosis and mental unease she had experienced. While his mother had been able to see it since she was young, Dally’s mind had sort of blocked out the whole thing as it was due to how she behaved in correspondence to what she could see. To an extend, he’s always been able to see ghosts, but in the same way he’d blocked the Curtis’ out, his mind blocked the ghosts. It was only after actually encountering Death that this subconscious barrier shattered.

It takes a few weeks of living with it and one really bad hangover after drinking to try and block it out before he knew how to for there to be that oh moment. His mom wasn’t fuckin’ insane, she was seeing ghosts— and he’s doing the same thing she was doing, drinking to ignore it.

The ghosts are aware that he can see them once he acknowledges or reacts to them, after all if he didn’t give them the light of day, it’d just seem like another human overlooking them due to not seeing spirits. They can’t physically interact in most cases, beyond toying with items and things of that sort. The few he does interact with he has sort of ‘befriended’,, but it’s mostly just ones tied to spots that he can walk by, ask if they’d seen anyone from the gang, get an answer, and keep going.

The Curtis parents didn’t really get a chance to try and speak to him, all they’d really manage was his name or something else of a similar nature before he’d panic and block them out. His mom didn’t speak when he saw her, she just watched. Stared at him with dead eyes as he stared back in horror.

Y’know, he never knew that she died.

Dally hasn’t told anyone yet, but I think if anyone were to find out willingly first it either be Johnny or Two. Johnny’s the boy of death, he’d have to know something about seeing all of this. Two’s his best friend, he knows he can trust him.

..I think the person who would find out despite Dally’s unwillingness is Paul. Witches are pretty spiritually tied, are they not? And he’s not stupid, he’s heard about spiritual medium related things; Dally sticks out like a sore thumb when you know what signs to look for. He just won’t bring it up, since it’s.. yknow. Dally

[voltaspistol]

Ok guys. Tumblr just cured my friend of hallucinations, and my therapist said that this was potentially AN ACTUAL BREAKTHROUGH for treating moderate psychosis, especially difficult-to-treat cases where the patient is convinced that their hallucinations are more "real" than reality. You remember that thread about Magenta? How it isn't real??

We used that shit to cure someone's hallucinations. First, a bit of background: I'm mentally ill (anxiety, Bipolar II, depression, PTSD-- all held in check by medications and therapy), and I've been helping this kid for a while, let's call him K, who also suffers from mental illnesses (anxiety, drug addiction, and some other things) in sort of a Big Sister capacity. K has been struggling with extremely realistic hallucinations ever since doing DMT, aka, the drug that apparently gives you lasting lifelike hallucinations long after you stop taking it? K was specifically seeing demons. Straight up devils clawing at him. Probably because he was raised Evangelical and is LGBTQ, and his parents bombard him with that shit 24/7.

He described what he was undergoing as "spiritual psychosis" and was adamant that what he was seeing was reality pulled back to reveal the truth of what was going on: That demons were coming for him. Going to a church and getting blessed would make them disappear for a little bit, but then they'd come back stronger than before. There was no way to convince K that hallucinations this real could be anything but the absolute, objective truth.

So I'd seen that thing about Magenta come across my dash, did an edible, watched a Nicholas Cage movie, and I had an idea.

I introduced K to the concept that Magenta does not exist outside of the human mind. He was confused at first, but after explaining that (basically) that the color magenta does not exist outside of the human mind, it made him FINALLY understand that what we perceive is NOT objective reality. So that's Step 1: Use Magenta to understand that no matter how irrefutable your senses tell you your hallucinations are, they are a trick of the mind. Everyone in the whole goddamn world walks around thinking that Magenta is a totally real color that actually exists in the world. That's why you can't trust your hallucinations.

But that left the next problem: If he wasn't experiencing a "spiritual psychosis", that meant that he was experiencing hallucinations, and everyone knows that hallucinations are the product of a diseased mind and honestly isn't it better to have demons that you can chase away with holy water than having a diseased brain that's having hallucinations??? Every time he said the word 'hallucinations' he got visibly agitated. So I suggested we stop calling them Hallucinations. That's a loaded word with so much baggage it isn't helpful anymore. We're calling them "Magentas" now. Wait, why "Magentas"? Maybe-- MAYBE-- your mind IS perceiving SOMETHING that the rest of us aren't seeing. Maybe it's a shift in electromagnetism. Maybe it's a stray neutrino whizzing past. Maybe it's a shift in temperature that's so subtle the rest of us can't detect it, but to your DMT-opened mind, you're seeing it as, well, like the rest of us see magenta when there is (say it with me now) objectively no magenta outside of the human mind. Because, just like Magenta, your brain meat is being ticked by SOMETHING, but what you're seeing isn't what's actually there. But, also yes, I can see the scary face in the wallpaper design if I squint, so he's not crazy for your newly-opened mind to see some pareidolia-- Let's just avoid looking at things that look like scary faces, ok? So that's Step 2: Take the power out of the word "Hallucinations" by calling them something powerless. In this case, Magenta. (Also, stop staring at the wallpaper if it scares you.) Yes, haha, clever fae trick. Steal a thing's true name and it no longer holds power over you, I guess? Step 3 is trickier because you just have to be there for the person and reassure them that while yes, it was a crazy experience, they are not crazy for seeing things after doing DMT and yes they can cancel the upcoming re-baptism and when his parents get cranky at you because they LIKED that their son was suddenly so desperate for church and they hate that your solution does NOT involve getting blessed several times a week or getting re-baptized, you have to NOT scream at them that their fucked up religiosity was the entire reason their son thought his soul was being devoured by demons from hell. (Even though you'd be entirely right for doing so, because it's 100% their fucking fault their kid has deep-seated guilt that's manifesting as hallucinations from the drugs he took to escape his parents profound disappointment that he doesn't want to fuck who they want him to fuck.) K is now doing better. It's been a month, and not only has the severity of his.... Magentas..... Lessened, but the frequency and duration have also dwindled to levels that are manageable and he's confident that eventually they'll vanish entirely. All because Tumblr did a science on us. Now.... If anyone can drop some science that I can spin into an analogy that gets rid of night terrors, K would be grateful. I'd also be delighted to know if this works for anyone else. Please reblog and maybe someone with a grant budget can do a clinical test and will be forced to cite Tumblr as a source.

[scummrevisited]

tumblr is NOT letting me answer this ask directly for some reason so i screencapped it HDFHDG anyways here goes

i vagguelly knew abt otherkin stuff beforehand but that was like. very vague and more in the lense of "eww cringe" bc that was all that was talked abt it

fast forward to me being 16 or so (maybe 17?) and i decide that today on www.tumblr.com im gonna go through the werewolf tag, and between all the art and poems abt werewolves i view a few werewolfkin posts and i go "huh.. thats interesting" bc i only vaguely heard of it but never really looked into it

so i dip my toes into it, and fall into the lake completely, and now im here

from which i will give some advice:

disclaimer: most of this advice comes from a psychological kin perspective, for spiritual stuff i can gather some info if you ask me but overall im not spiritual kin

1: sometimes the answer is not too clear, being alterhuman can stem from many reasons and overlap with many other things, furryness, autism, psychosis, spiritual beliefs, familiarity and importance to an animal or myth, a lot can play into it! for some beings, the experiences are very separate from each other, for others, they may cause each other or be linked or overlap, it can all depend and change around, so dont stress too much on whats what, but if you wish, you can play around and see what belongs to what, ive had the fact im a furry sometimes overlap with the fact im otherkin, and even fuel each other, but i still see them as separate identities, its all a big complicated soup. and i will say to just fuck around and see what labels you see fit

figuring out your kintype can take a while, and its not uncommon that what you first consider to be your kintype may not be the one that you actually feel you are. for example my first through upon discovering kin stuff was that i may be a cat, ive loved cats since i was practically born, ive always wanted to be a cat and themed myself around cats, hell my fursona is a cat! turns out im not one, ive tried and figured stuff out and experimented and well a cat just wasnt it. from this i'd just say to explore different animals or mythic beasts or types of robot etc etc

from that, what has helped me personally to figure out kintype stuff is to see what you desire feel and act, what kind of environment do you crave for? forests? mountains? deserts? theres a lot! what do you wish your body looked like? everyone talks about wanting claws and fangs and such but really think about it, what do you want for your body? what would make you happier? what would make you see your body more as your true self? any particular diet you have or wish to have? any behaviors you've derived from a being? maybe you hiss maybe you bark maybe you knead. do you feel limbs that arent there? such as ears? tails? horns? just look around outside and inside to see what you crave what you do what you want and such

one thing that i did while trying to figure out kin stuff was to just. draw how i view myself in my mind, and not concentrate on design or what i like and dislike on character designs, just like, draw what comes to mind on an "ideal body", you shift around features from the vague idea of who you are in your mind, draw different tails draw different snouts draw different body shapes, and see what fits and sticks, sometimes you can land on yes "thats exactly me", sometimes you can land on "its a vague idea of me but can aid me in figuring it out". thats kinda how it lead to me figuring out im primatekin, i had multiple different attempts and sketches of what i think i look like in my mind, and i just kept going until much trial and error later i found something. it went from "humanoid?" to "halfly animal-like" to "has a long tail" to "small and expressive" and eventually to a primate! (and thats how my mizamonkey design came to be QSHFHD). again for some this may bring a concrete design while to others it may be just a vague guide, not every tip works for everyone.

despite a few points ago where i stated that being obsessed with an animal or myth doesnt always equal to it being your kintype, it sometimes can be! and its sometimes how kintypes can originate to people (if we're taking the psychological otherkin route, this doesnt work too well with spiritual otherkin). sometimes youre just so obsessed and interested with an animal or myth or fiction trope that your brain kinda, adopts it for your identity. this is what happened to me for werewolves, since i was a wee lad ive been OBSESSED with werewolves and i read about them and drew about them and made stories about them that my brain has seemingly just. grabbed it and went "thats you". so look into your childhood or current state of living and see what animals and beings and such you connect with! again just as a few points ago, it doesnt always mean its your kintype, but it can be!

being alterhuman is different for everyone, i sometimes still think of this message i saw ages ago that went "ask 10 therians what being a therian means for them, and you get 11 different answers", so just because this otherkin experiences xyz, doesnt mean everyone does, and vice versa! i used to have a lot of stress about this bc i felt like i was a faker bc i didnt experience like others but after a while i managed to mellow out on it and its making me feel better!

related to that i would be careful about the resources you seek out bc from my experience seeking out resources has been a very 50/50, some tips and advice is great! while others are just why would you follow that. use your critical mind and see what suits you and what helps you.

this is more a personal opinion but i feel like the whole "choosing your kintype" debacle doesnt have a correct and concrete answer. to me if you were to just choose whatever kintype you want it may not actually be the kintype you feel like you are. i would absolutely choose to be a wolverine if i could! but it just doesnt align with my kintype and i cant force it as my kintype even if i tried. i would say that you can "try out" kintypes to see if it fits, its all about experimenting after all. its just that for most, its not as easy as pick and choose. its mainly bc your freely chosen kintype may just not be who you are, if you wanna choose a kintype either way, the community has adopted the term "copinglink" for such. for most alterhumans they did not choose their kintype. again its about trial and error

overall its going to be a lot of trial and error to figure stuff out. it took me 2 years to finally land on my proper kintypes! you may find kintypes and you may drop them. you may find yourself to not be otherkin after all! if you want more personal tips and questions you can message me here or on discord! (but i prefer discord bc tumblrs dm system is kinda cramped and buggy).

[barrenwomb]

i met my bf on a dating app last summer btw. yeah. but listen. our story is kinda funny, i promise. so we went on a single date around july and, since i was still lowkey obsessed with my ex situationship, i simply decided to ditch him without giving him another chance. what's funnier is that i invited him over on our very first date because we were both quite drunk and he lives 30 minutes away and i didn't want him to drive while being wasted. im 100% serious when i say that he was genuinely CONCERNED like he legit told me hey isn't it kinda dangerous im literally a stranger? are u insane. he was right. don't do it. i'm a huge idiot and i don't fear for my life. anyways i made him sleep on the couch and we didn't even hook up or anything. then before he left i threatened to slice his throat if i ever saw him hanging anywhere near my apartment and he simply said ok fair. he texted me a few hours later and i told him hey sorry i don't feel like doing it rn lol and he was like ok take your time. or not. one of my favorite hobbies is yapping about intimate details of my life with random strangers who only wants to hit and even then i was surprised when he said happy birthday to me roughly two months later. it was actually my birthday btw. i couldn't even recall telling him im so serious. he then proceeded to text me every x months just casually asking how im doing and if i changed jobs (did i tell him?) or if im moving places (did i tell him?), etc. until he asked me to meet again. i said yes. i didn't actually want to. i literally let the convo die out every single time. so we went on our second date. i was curious to know why he kept pursuing someone who was OBVIOUSLY not interested and i was like hey why did u ask me out again after literal months? and he told me it was because.......the universe was sending him signals. literally told me he kept seeing or hearing things that reminded him of me (a customer whose surname had part of my address, a word he misread as my surname, selling the same med i used to take which he 1) never heard about 2) never sold before, etc). honestly at that point i was sold because that's my kind of brainrot as someone who's always a step away from a spiritual psychosis. this and the fact he pursued me without being a weirdo and making me anxious or scared. it took him three failed attempts and two months of dating before i officially accepted to be his gf but that's another story (i wasn't playing hard to get btw i genuinely wanted to go celibate at some point like. yeah)

[nicromancytarot]

THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ON KNOWING MY FUTURE SPOUSE AND THEM BEING SOMEWHAT KNOWN TOO

This one was requested bitches, suck on that!

I’ve spoken to and connected with their spirit guides, they scare me lmao, I spoke to them most when I was aware that my future spouse was going through something tough and I wanted to just have a little check in with his energy. It was terrifying, my spirit guides are funny and unserious, these ones were so serious bro, I felt like I should’ve been on my best behaviour.

There were a few times I wished they weren’t my future spouse, mainly when they got semi cancelled and I didn’t really know what to do about that situation, luckily for me it wasn’t anything serious, but it does make you worry if they’d still be that person to you even after something serious does happen. (which it won’t, but let me hypothesise) Like I said before, I always feel guilty about not watching his content anymore, it’s just not really my thing now, I’m focused on other stuff and it doesn’t quite fit in there. However as his future spouse I feel like I owe it to him. (I’m not gonna start again, too stubborn)

Deny deny deny was my most honest reaction to all of this, I mean you find out that this person who’s content you enjoy is your future spouse, obviously you’re going to deny it. Dude I thought I was going through fucking spiritual psychosis or something, straight up thought I was insane.

Did I believe that it was them immediately? NO LMAO ABSOLUTELY NOT, I remember finding those synchronicities and then imagining myself going on tour to his home country and meeting a lovely man or woman while I’m on stage and falling in love with my audience member 🦅, bro goofed up my fantasy.

Am I thankful that it’s them? Yes, anyone ever has only ever said good things about them, about how kind and considerate they are, just all around a great person, obviously I feel very honoured to be part of the lineup for their potential future spouse.

Do I have hope that we will end up together? Honestly yes, I feel like it motivates me even more to reach out into the music industry, my spirit guides have very particular ways of pushing that ideal towards me. They gave me a bunch of “answers” to the universe (which I will speak on if you would like) and at the time I was 17 never leaving my house, so again I felt very isolated since it was clear that to get out that message I have to work hard to be part of an industry that little old me will be listened to and heard.

Bonus astrology synchronicity for you (I have pages and pages written down of this stuff I swear) my future spouse’s occupation (not his current, but his next) is in my 4th house, my future occupation is in his 4th house too, very fancy, very nice. Which once again feeds the whole “if I marry him, that means I made it in the industry” so it makes me feel like since he’s my future spouse, I’m somewhat on the right road to achieving my career goals!!

[naturegoddessdiary]

Wait until you, a Black person, realize how you’re actually viewed throughout the world and how people feel comfortable telling you how you should live your life because it’s easier to make us a target and feel bad about our blessings. Wait until you realize we are the ONLY community who goes hard for other communities while they’re calling us the N-word with the HARD R.

I don’t know what everyone’s problem is when it comes to Black people thriving and living peacefully, but if you’re Black, I want you to take up space and seize opportunities. I don’t want you to settle in any way. I don’t care who feels a type of way.

Of course, be respectful, but you being Black is disrespectful enough when they see us living our best lives.

This doesn’t just apply to people who look like me. This applies to anyone who came from poverty, anyone with dark skin, anyone who had to work their way up, and people who think you’re “privileged” when your privilege comes from faith and prayer.

Do you know how many people throw me being from the Bronx back in my face? How people doubted me? How I starved, walked in the rain with tears in my eyes, and couldn’t even call my mother to tell her about my life because I cut her off and she is going through dementia? My little sister is going through spiritual psychosis. All the men in my life assaulted me and called me stupid and ugly. I was in special ed for the majority of my life. I almost dropped out of college because my music professor didn’t believe in me, but my sociology professor, Dr. Nunez from Medgar Evers College, saw me as her daughter and took the time to tell me to keep going when I told her I was about to drop out. Thank you for believing in me while everyone doubted me.

Therefore, yes, I’m going to live my life the way I want to.

[pinkmoondoll9shihtzu]

hey pmd, do you believe in the law of assumption?

Hm.. thats tough ! I was just talking to a friend about this Ln... a lot of things in the vein of "manifestation" culture i find to be really umm... selfish, and immature, superficial, there's a lot of scammy info out there, oversimplification, "You Are The Only Person Who's Real And You Create Reality 🙂" type sheet that drives me up the wallll and just like. is a breeding ground for internet induced spiritual psychosis

That being said, i think there is something to like, being mindful of how you speak to yourself, and the energy ur putting out, in my own experience it seems true that being more intentionally True to what my "higher self" knows is right for me, has created positive feedback loops that generate more & more fulfillment in my life + the lives of others as time goes on. And these shifts have to start internally before they can externalize + create that magnetism.

but yeah Law of Assumption influncers who are like UMM ACTUALLY YES YOU CAN MANIFEST THIS EXACT PERSON YOU WANT FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO EXISTS genuinely scare me and seem obsessed with controlling others.

instead of calling is law of assumption i just think of it as like, prayer & quantum physics. learn quantum physics and you'll get way more clear-cut idea of the mechanics as to why your heart + mind are extremely powerful magnets. And the deepest truth that we are all connected, nobody is the sole creator of their own reality, when u raise up yourself you raise up all of humanity , little by little, reality as a whole shifts.

So really i have mixed feelings on the subject as it stands in pop culture rn but im not dismissing it altogether. i keep an open mind :) just trust God Always. Thanks for the question..PMD9 x

[pialvs]

just wanted to post this♡

What drew you to witchcraft?

— Patagonia. I live on the chilean side of patagonia, and since I was young, I've been amazed with nature. Last year, I traveled to the argentinean side, which was at the same time I was reading Aldo Leopold and Arne Naess. When I was there, in the "bosques cordilleranos," I felt so connected to earth and its cycle. Since then, I've been getting into wicca, paganism, and witchcraft

Do you follow a specific witchcraft tradition, or are you eclectic?

I'm eclectic and solitary

Do you believe in the Threefold Law or karma in witchcraft?

not really

What advice would you give to someone who feels called to witchcraft but is unsure where to begin?

As someone who's that someone, I would say that is some type of call of nature, and avoid the structure of wicca

What tools or items are absolutely essential for your practice?

native flora and fauna and other items from nature, I barely use anything else

Have you ever had a dream or vision that felt prophetic?

A lot, I try to meditate it to find a meaning

What do you think of Aleister Crowley?

who's that💔

Do you think witches can create their own deities?

ofc, witchcraft is rooted in nature, and every individual is free to feel that call how they feel is convenient

How do you feel about people worshiping deities from pop culture?

I've never seen that, but it seems weird since I don't like pop culture

What’s your opinion on the idea that "all magic comes with a cost"?

I think everything in life has a cost, like a cycle, life is all about sacrifice, you just gotta learn to, idk, understand it, receive it, embrace it, live with it

What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to you during a spell?

it's always the wind, like really strong wind pushing me to places where I feel I must be

If you could cast one spell right now, what would it be and why?

Something for the relief, I gave the test for the university admission and it's driving me crazy, I would like to take that stress away

What’s your belief on the afterlife, and how does it affect your spiritual practices?

I believe and that old Carl Sagan quote about us being stardust. The afterlife comes with becoming one with nature once you get buried, one must take care of the earth for when that time arrives

What’s your opinion on the importance of connecting with the land in witchcraft?

For me, it's the most important. Most witchcraft comes from the gift earth gave us, I worship earth, nature, the wind, the water and everything that takes part in this beautiful cycle

How do you feel about using magic to influence others?

I don't like that, I defend everyone's free will, however, I use to cast spells and pray for the protection and happiness for the people I love

What’s your opinion on hexing or cursing?

Is not my thing, I lowkey respect it because I know people that practice it

Do you believe in spiritual psychosis?

Yes, it comes when people are not mature enough to understand something, like forcing something or idk how to explain it sorry

I apologize if my english made this hard to understand 💔🥀

[ancat-dubh]

13, 15 and I'm curious on your thoughts on 25? - best, nightshade-storms

(From this ask game!)

13) Do you think you can hex/curse/jinx a deity? Do you think you should? I guess theoretically possible the way I understand things but! I'm absolutely not gonna fuck with that lmao! mummy's got enough on her plate as it is!

15) Do you believe in spiritual psychosis? Was chewing over how to go into this one, hmm! I could talk about this for days really – like many of my ~spiritual hygiene/safety practices are 100% informed by my own experiences of what people mean by this, and I've done enough community care work + shared enough space with other mad/ill queer spiritual people to know how diverse a range of experiences joyful, ruinous, and everyday ‘spiritual psychosis’ can contain. So, from that and with the caveat I’m v aware and afraid of my own capacity to lose my shit – I don't believe in the psych framing as the most accurate or useful one, esp when it's usually applied to people to criminalise or punish.

And of course I believe spirituality, like other Heavy Hitters like sex, kink, drugs, and trauma, can open us up uniquely to perceiving different realities. Many of us don't have the tools or community to move through those deliberately, in ways that guarantee we stay connected to our care structures, safety, and material needs, so spiritual practice carries risk – especially for mental/physical distress, and for communities to abuse, encourage, and prolong people living in altered states that harm them and people around them. Lotta people begin and end with ‘not real = bad!! harm!! unsafe!!’ about that tho which! Doesn’t help anyone involved really, + imo makes it harder to develop good discernment and curiosity about our (non-traumatic) ‘not real’ experiences.

25) What makes someone a real witch? I'm tempted to give a similar answer to my ye olde 'how do I know I'm really trans!' go-to – if it materially impacts your life in consistent, important ways, I guess so! So less 'if you call yourself a witch you are one' or 'if you do workings X number of times per week', more that spiritual/magical practice shows up in your life regularly and affects how you move through the world (including feeling the absence when you're not doing it). Otherwise, don't feel particularly fussed or qualified to gatekeep!

[carrionhearted]

Genuine question, not trying to spark more drama, but wouldn't psychosis be completely different from kinning? Not everyone who kins has psychosis right? /genq /nm

Yes! You’re right, not every fictionkin has psychosis. For myself, fictionkin is a spiritual belief. I’m assuming you’re referencing my little blurb in the tags of a previous post 😅 That’s just because I’ve encountered… quite a few people that insist it’s always psychosis, get invasive and go out of their way in attempts to invalidate fictionkins they encounter in the wild, and are generally… not very tactful about it. Even if it *is* psychosis, picking a fight with someone over the way they label *their symptoms* feels needless and mean spirited. It’s invasive and uncalled for regardless of someone’s diagnostic status.

There are many people in the fictkin community who do have psychosis, and their fictkin identity comes from psychological inner workings rather than spirituality. They deserve a space to exist and feel respected too, they’re just as valid.

Much like any other spiritual belief, you don’t have to hold the belief yourself— just be respectful of the fact that others do! And much like any other psychological condition, you don’t have to experience it yourself to understand that it is a reality to others. Just be kind, is the bottom line here.

[envious0fm3]

Is a deity reaching out? (PLEASE I need help to see if one's reaching out and identifying who"

Okay so I want to begin with I'm a beginner witch, I don't do deity work but I've had a sudden interested in them. I've been seeing things that seems like signs but I truly don't know if I'm going through spiritual psychosis or something. I've been doing divination to confirm but I'm not that experienced in divination. I asked my pendulum board if there's a deity reaching out to me. It said yes, I know that doesn't necessarily mean there is one. I went to my spirit box and changed communication to a spirit box to see if that would be better for conformation. For the past 4 days I've been communicating that way and recording the conversation and going back to the recording to see what words are coming through. I've been seeing snakes a lot, shows or movies I watch recently all involve with daemons and I wouldn't even know that's what the movies about or show or even with Greek mythology or hearing about gods and not intentionally doing it. I get certain urges to research stuff about daemons or stuff about other deities, I've been getting dreams back to back. Like I'll have 3 to 4 dreams a lot this week, last night I had a dream about being in a room with million of bee's, the other day while driving I seen two crows in the road. Back to the spirit box I've asked some questions and I know there's a big thing with trickster's so I don't know if what I'm truly talking to is a deity. I've been asking these questions for four days in a row to see if I get a different outcome. I will be putting the questions I have asked though and the responses to see what your thoughts are.

What are you known for? They replied back with known to "disagree" "does not care anymore" "made them sink or see" "roses" "God" "death" "water" "father time" "who's there when the nights falling" which idk what that means.

What are you associated with? The responses back were the sound of music notes, "snakes" "owl" "interesting" "of a great thing" "I'll wait for you" "love yourself" "often says" "support for" "you" I then asked if they’ve sent me signs. They proceeded to play this certain music note, “color” “plants” “company” and said “this is wrong discussion” “be patient” “for so long” “with us” “music notes again” “Oh dear” “you don’t even hear us” Next question was

How long have you been reaching out to me? They replied with “well” “we’ve been waiting a little long” “years” “a bunch” “Atlanta” “listen to what he says” “snakes” “what he’s trying to say”

I asked what signs have they gave me and its says "you know"

What are things you would want me to know? The reply was “you’ll know from the start” or maybe it says star, “dark” “likes bees” “give me a second” “now” “demon” “i’m a god” “lay down or laying down” “water” “get closer” “learn” “love” “we’ll talk about that later”

What element are they associated with and they only gave me a direction and they said North.

Other random statements

Starting the session “Good Afternoon” “it’s you” “what you got on” because ngl what I had on was pj’s and it looked badd, “have the way of life” Then I said that we’re going to be contacting throw the spirit box they replied with “here we go”.

More random statements

"Hi, question how do you know?" "put music on" "Leo" "envy" "2021" "get turns on earth" then I think it said "at night no questions" at least that's what it sounded like. (This is probably referring to one night that I was asking questions) Then proceeded to say "if you have to you have to" then it said "you are new" "that's so bad" "Hey bad girl" which I got so confused because idk if that was supposed to be humorist.

It would say random things like number 2, look at all the stuff because I had my spirit box, emt meter, tarot cards, pendulum board, “we find stuff” “who do you want” “the audience stays” “no right” “here” “ I don’t think it’s enough”

When I went to go get a lighter because I wanted to light a candle I couldn’t find it

“there” “I seen one” “there” “there is one” “faster” which i found it and it was right in front of my face.

First session and noticing I'm recording the conversation

“hold on” “i’m on the phone” “i’ll go through the phone” 

Thinking of my ex for a second during the session "Damn girl, are you thinking about a ex.

Last question I asked was do they get annoyed with me asking question it replied back with "a lot of response"

After my 2/4 sessions, a day after, my mom put a show on and something in my head was telling me to watch it. It was the show called Abigail the good witch. During as I was watching it there was certain words that caught my eye that kept repeating like "death" it even showed roses. Then at the end to were the credits is. It was a raven or a crow. At this point, I don't know if what i'm going through is spiritual psychosis or actually a deity around me. I need help and advice on what you think is happening and if it is a deity what deity would it be.

[vine-black]

Witchcraft asks number 4, 19, and 30?

4.Thoughts on Astral pregnancy?

Could be a thing. I have no real opinion on astral pregnancy specifically other than acknowledging the unfortunate and lasting impact that Fandom Brain Rot, Main Character Syndrome and Spiritual Psychosis have had on vast swathes of the online pagan space and this is one area that has been a causality of that. On that note -

19. Do you think it's okay to have a sexual relationship with a deity? What about romantic (i.e. godspousing)?

Yes.

30. What do you think is a scam in witchcraft?

Most shit you can buy in occult shops that insists upon itself, you know? That pretty Alibaba brik-a-brak that isn't a part of your practice but it looks important so you think "maybe I DO need a crystal charging grid". People claiming to channel your Gods/spirits/dead grandmas for a humble (exorbitant) fee. Haunted dolls. Possessed ebay jewelry. Any drink or pill that claims to have micro-doses of mushrooms and fails to specify that said mushrooms are in no way psychoactive. We have so much scam artistry. It's one of our prime exports.

[wandering-free-and-queer]

5, 15, 25 for the witchcraft ask game

5. Do you think witchcraft is a religion or a practice? Why/why not?

I think it can be both, extremely dependent on personal definition, but definitely both. It's a practice in the sense that it's something you do in repetition with the goal of improving, and it can easily be elevated or adapted into something that encompasses religious aspects, or to a religion in and of itself. For some, their witchcraft and religions are so fundamentally intertwined, it would be impossible to see them as separate. I think I fall into that category. My witchcraft and paganism together are both my practice, both my religion.

That being said it also doesn't have to be both, hence the personal definition part. If your witchcraft is just a practice or just a religion, that's perfectly fine, and I acknowledge that the majority opinion is that witchcraft is a practice.

15. Do you believe in spiritual psychosis?

Yes. Absolutely. I've experienced it. I almost can't help but wonder if it was forced upon me as a "bright" child and my cult upbringing, because I definitely had delusions of being a chosen one, encouraged by church elders.

25. What makes someone a real witch?

Calling yourself a witch. Full stop. I'm not about to police people on whether or not they can call themselves a "real witch" and I fully expect others to behave the same way. People are "real" witches when they call themselves such, and it's not my business to contradict them.

[necrocotta]

FAQ

“What is a system?” "What does plural mean in reference to a single body?"

Sorry, I don't think that I can put it into words. The Plurality Hub carrd does a pretty good job of explaining it, and you can go there using this link: https://plurality-hub.carrd.co/

“What is OSDD?”

OSDD stands for Other Specified Dissociative Disorder. It can be considered a catch-all for those that experience dissociative symptoms but do not meet all of the criteria for Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). You may see different numbers and letters tacked on to the end of the acronym; these denote different subcategories of OSDD. Our system was diagnosed with OSDD-1b. Wikipedia is a great place to begin reading about it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_specified_dissociative_disorder

“What is an extranthrope?”

An extranthrope is an alter or headmate in a system that identifies as nonhuman. This can be animals, mythological beings like demons and angels, robots, or... anything! It was coined as an alternative term to otherkin, and it isn't a diagnostic term.

“What is a substitute belief?”

When someone with a dissociative disorder experiences trauma or stress, then their mind may develop substitute beliefs as a way to cope. I personally consider my alterhumanity to be a substitute belief that is linked to my trauma. This comic by clever-and-unique-name does an amazing job of explaining it, and it's how I discovered the term myself! https://www.tumblr.com/clever-and-unique-name/613614699438850048/substitute-beliefs-is-an-umbrella-concept-that

“Do you support endogenic systems?”

Yes, and you should too!

Number one, it isn't my place to question the validity of another person's identity. Endos are valid – full stop.

Number two, research on dissociative disorders is limited, and I am completely open to the idea that the current diagnostic criteria as described in the DSM and/or ICD may be faulty or lacking due to missing information. It is a possibility that DID, OSDD, or similar dissociative disorders can exist without trauma – the research just hasn't been done yet. Definitions change over time as new research and studies occur, and denying an entire group of people access to resources and a community over a set of diagnostic criteria is not only silly but reductive.

Number three, trauma is difficult, and not everyone realizes that what they experienced was trauma. Trauma isn't just limited to abuse, but it also extends to poverty, natural disasters, war, unstable or uncertain living conditions, and so many other things. Not only that, but dissociative disorders, especially DID, can cause memory loss. The presence of trauma (or the recollection of it) are not the only indicators of DID and OSDD.

“Do you support physical non-humans, clinical lycanthropes, and clinical zoanthropes?”

Yep. Just because an identity originates from a mental health condition, doesn't mean that it isn't valid. That'd be like the pot calling the kettle black, right? Not everyone who identifies as a physical non-human experiences something such as psychosis or clinical zoanthropy, though. It can also be spiritual, religious, or pertain to someone's belief system.

“Do you support self-diagnosis?”

Yep. Self-diagnosis can be the first step towards being diagnosed by a mental health professional. We had self-diagnosed ourselves with OSDD-1b long before we even received our official diagnosis. It's also incredibly useful for folks who cannot afford healthcare. At the end of the day, diagnosis is a tool that can be used to communicate your needs and find community. There will be no fakeclaiming around here.