Alien's Grimoire

Tonight has ended up being energy management night, I don’t strictly schedule this particular chore, but is something that needs to be done at least once or twice a week.  Like taking out the trash, it doesn't necessarily need to be done on a specific day, but you know when it needs to be done. I’ve been doing this particular exercise to manage my energy since I was child.  My entire practice begins with keeping my energy organized and tidy. 

Get comfortable, whether that's sitting, lying down, or pacing around the room. 

Start taking slow, deep, and even breaths.   4 counts in. 4 counts out.

Feel your energy/power/magic/Whatever you call it as it naturally sits at the given moment:  Where is it in your body?  In streams throughout your body like veins? In pools along the path of your spine per at your major joints? Hovering just outside your body like an aura?  Feel it where it is and as it is, unmanipulated. 

Begin to draw all of your energy into a singular core.  Gather it from everywhere it sits in and around your body one handful at a time.  Pact it tightly and compactly, don’t let any spill or drift. 

This is where you manipulate your energy to make it easier to measure out with your need.   I spin mine into thread, but you could shape yours into a flower and pluck different numbers of petals depending on how much you need, a well that you draw different amounts of water from.  The metaphor doesn’t matter, only that you can easily and comfortably adjust how much energy you take and you can keep it small enough to fit within you. 

Shape your energy into its new form.

When you are done there should be no loose energy, no stray threads, nothing outside of that one core, everything should be wrapped up neatly and easy to conceal within any personal wards and glamours, of which I have many, and are my next maintenance task.  

It’s Sunday morning, my regular offering day, I sleep in a little later than usual, but I'm still up by 8am. It's the same morning routine as every day - Handful of pills on an empty stomach, shower, brush teeth, dress (again natural fibers as much as I can in keeping with my oath for Drove and Amaranth), then, I begin my rounds.  First everything is removed from my working altar and it is swept clean, any left on it from workings done throughout the week are removed and either packed away or disposed of.  Then I prepare the offerings.  I drift about my apartment quiet as a ghost so as not to wake Mr Stag who is still asleep -  making and placing each offering one at a time in its designated location. 

Forgotten Ones

Whiskey for Oisin

Jasmine tea for Brona

Gin for Pesse

Chocolate for Wren

Prosecco for Vega

Burnt toast and crispy bacon for Flint

Red Wine for Axe

Hibiscus Tea for Amaranth

Sliced Apple for Drove, 

A small ball of the past weeks spinning for Clovis

Brown sugar mixed with oat milk for Skelly

Ancestors and Beloved Dead

Left over Bruschetta for my Nona

Dark roasted coffee for my cousin Micheal

Dry roasted peanuts for my Pop-Pop

Vodka Martini for my grandpa

Jammy dodgers for my Grandma Kitty

Lingberry Jam on Toast for Aunt Betty & Aunt Bev

Cucumber Sandwiches for Miss Betty

Cedar Smoke for Grandma Josifine

Fair Folk and Local Spirits

At this point my offerings take me outside as I wonder my immediate neighborhood to deliver offerings to my local spirit connections.

Bread with butter and honey for Grandfather

Fresh flowers for the rest of the Clan

Water for the backyard oak tree

Carrots for Deer and The Herd

Coins for the Graveyard Guardian

Red Sand from Arizona for the Crossroads

Guests at the Inn

Incense is the easiest offering to make for my various temporary spirit guests, but I do try to find scents that are pleasing to the specific guest. I only burn each stick enough to give the particular spirit vessel a good swirl around with the smoke.  If I let every stick burn down completely I’d do nothing all day but burn incense.

Blue Bottle spirit vessel - “Lilac”

Green Bottle spirit vessel - “Fireplace”

Wooden Orb Box spirit vessel - “North Woods”

Porcelain dish spirit vessel - “Mountain Air”

Mason Jar spirit vessel - Sage & Citrus

Clear Bottle spirit vessel - “Rain”

I rise before dawn, as I do most mornings.  The forecast calls for intermittent rain and thunderstorms all day, I want to stay in bed, but in a strange echo of my North Dakota farming ancestors I have chores that must be done early, then I can rest in the afternoon.  I take my medication, the first handful of pills of the day there will be more, then get in the shower.  As I wash myself I recite the prayer that I begin every morning with, the Litany for the Forgotten.  11 verses of epithets, kennings, and invocations calling on the Forgotten Ones and vowing to never again let them be lost. By the time I speak the last words I am clean and the water is off, the rhythm of this is practiced and familiar, comforting.  It is the rhythm of every morning of my adult life. 

Now that I am clean I dress for my day, natural fibers as much as possible to keep my oaths to Drove and Amaranth, and I step out into the living room where a corner is dedicated to my craft and my spiritual life.  Today is the third Saturday on the month so I have some of my less routine chores to do

Energy Battery Management:  So much of my practice relies on the use of these batteries.  I can’t count on being able to pull from my own personal energy at any given time, or being able to schedule a working at a magically significant time, so I store the energy I might want to work with to use when I feel well enough to use it.  On the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month I take inventory, and if I’m feeling well enough make deposits into my stores.  Today is not a deposit day, I can barely hold myself upon on my crutches, so I collect my stash of batteries and take them to my couch to review what energies I have collected and how much. 

Spirit Vessel House Keeping: I don’t have the energy to “turn over” the vessels I use for my spirit inn immediately after one guest leaves, and I rarely need to flip them that quickly, so on the 1st and 3rd Saturday I gather up all of the currently empty vessels and give them a little freshening so that they’re read for the next guest.  

Feed the Money Bowl:  I light the chime candle in my money blow and let it burn for a few minutes while I empty all of the loose change I’ve acquired over the week into the bowl. 

Pain Taking Ritual:  It’s the perfect day for this ritual, it’s easier when I am in more pain.  I extend my sense across my neighborhood feeling for the pain of others and I draw it to me.  I reach further targeting specific people and their specific pains, physical, emotional, spiritual.  I draw all of it into me and mix it into the inexorable pain that has become a part of my soul since I was a teenager - each one a raindrop in the ocean.  And then I turn around and offer all of that pain to Brona - Lady of Pain, Lady of Healing, Lady of the Way Between Illness and Healing.  She does not take it from me, the suffering and sacrifice is the point, but she comforts me and reminds me of why it’s worthwhile.

There are worlds that open if you look at them the right way. Enough to take a glimpse inside. The world of the Fae is one of them.

It offers no warmth. It gives no explanations. It makes no promises. And yet, if you stand at the edge, quiet and attentive, you may feel it: a shift in the air, a sense that something ancient is watching, measuring, deciding whether you are worth noticing.

This is a world you do not enter to take!

That is the first and most important truth.

You cannot approach the Fae with hunger. No wish to gain beauty, power, knowledge, or transformation. The moment you reach, you have already offered something in return, whether you meant to or not. In their world, desire is a term.

And terms are binding.

The Fae move beyond human deception. They have no need for it… They speak precisely, and they listen even more precisely. Every word matters. A name becomes a thread that can be followed. A gift forms a structure of exchange. A simple acceptance, a careless “anything,” a moment of curiosity without restraint—these are openings. And once opened, they do not close easily.

There are rules, if you want to stand near that threshold without losing yourself.

* Do not give your full name.

* Do not accept what you cannot immediately balance.

* Do not eat or drink what is offered.

* Do not step where you do not understand the boundary.

* Do not agree quickly.

* Do not exaggerate what you are willing to give.

The danger of the Fae lives in permission.

They allow you to participate. To step closer. To say yes. And once you do, the world rearranges itself around that agreement, perfectly and without mercy.

And still, the invitation remains. The Fae are something you need not turn away from completely. They are the shape of a deeper kind of beauty. One that carries edges, consequence, precision. They belong to a world where everything has weight, where nothing is casual, where presence matters. If you are drawn to that, you are not wrong… But you must approach differently. Not as a seeker, or a supplicant. Not as someone hoping to be changed by them.

You stand at the edge as yourself. Observing. Learning the patterns. Respecting the boundaries.

And in doing so, something interesting happens.

You begin to carry that same quality within your own world. The precision, the restraint, the quiet power. The sense that words matter, that actions shape reality, that beauty does not need to beg to be seen.

I think tomorrow I’m going to make extra offerings to Wren to bring the rain to the fires, and then just alternate until the situation changes.

There’s nothing mundane that I can do to effect change, so calling on my gods who are animistic personifications of primal forces lets me feel like I’m at least doing something.

One thing I’ve noticed as I’ve started teaching tarot cards to other people is that they have a tendency to think that every card has an individual meaning and it is their duty to memorize 78 complex sets of meanings before they can begin reading for others. 

That’s simply not true. 

It’s also incredibly inefficient and totally kneecaps you when you move on to learn another deck (and try memorizing ANOTHER 78 complex sets of meanings). Cards exist in relation to one another. Understanding those relationships lets you remember meanings quicker, better understand how cards in a spread might be connected, and give much smoother readings. 

If you’re learning Tarot for the first time or looking to bush up, here’s my advice after reading cards for 10 years. Please, learn from my mistakes.  Tarot is a language

In the same way you learn letters and string them into words and then string words into sentences to communicate, tarot is a language you learn so your intuition can communicate more fully with you and others. And like a language, it’s often best to start with the phrases that you’ll use the most. 

Practice: Go through your deck and pick out no more than 12 cards that are really calling to you and look up those meanings. Write them down if you’re up for it. Go through your deck and pick out no more than 12 cards that give you a feeling of unease and do the same. Notice any reoccurring symbols?

 Tarot is a story

How you understand that story may vary on your tradition, your experience level, your aims. Most standard Tarot decks follow the Fool’s Journey through the Major Arcana as he becomes more skilled and then more enlightened. A similar pattern can be seen in each of the suits. The Court Cards are less narrative in my opinion but a similar progression can be seen. 

Practice: Take out each of the suits one at a time and lay them out in a row. Read the meanings of each card and see how the story progresses. Write down a summary. Do the same with each of other suits’ courts and the major arcana.

Tarot is a system

You aren’t fluent until you know the language well enough to speak smoothly and in most situations. Similarly, it takes understanding Tarot at a high level to give the best quality readings and read without a book. No card exists in isolation and just like when they show up in a reading, you must read them in relation to the rest of the spread - it helps a lot to know them in relation to the rest of the deck. 

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Posts that aren't too long but are still worth a read!~

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Herbal Oils

Magic vs Magick

Grimoire vs Book of Shadows

Quick Witch Tip - Tea Magic

5 Forms of Divination

3 Ways to Ground Yourself

Equinox vs Solstice

Fire Safety and Witchcraft

When NOT to Use Herbs in Witchcraft

Hex vs Curse

Questions for Spell Crafting

Table Top Firepits

Make "Home"

"Ancient" or "Exotic" claims in witchcraft

If you have any questions or comments on any of these posts please feel free to DM me!

Maintaining a skeptical, critical eye when it comes to selecting someone to purchase a magical product or service from is generally good. It's important to vet your options both to prevent being scammed and to ensure that the product/service actually suits you. Similar to buying shoes online, you don't want to accidentally purchase from a dubious source and end up with something you didn't order, shoes that fall apart quickly, shoes made unethically, or -- in the worse case -- nothing at all.

However, turning that skeptical eye into a knife meant to cut down other practitioners on the internet is at best rude and at worst completely antisocial behavior. Operating under the assumption that every post someone makes is an ad just because they accept tips, offer commissions, or sell products is simply ridiculous.

Casting a very wide gaze over a massive group of people and reducing them to, essentially, "posers" does a huge disservice to that group and to the person making that generalization. It flattens an extremely diverse populace based on nothing more than bias and a desire to appear superior. The idea in statements like this one isn't to offer critique or start conversations about trends and behavior in online witchcraft spheres. The intention is to declare: "These people are inferior to me. I am better than them. They are not like me. You, the reader, should not trust them, because they are fake, and I am real."

But I digress. Let's return to the original point: The average practitioner on the internet is sharing their practice and personal experiences, even when they're selling something. A person might curate their content to better cater to their audience, but that's... sort of all social media, whether or not an exchange of money is occurring. It's a symptom of the environment as a whole. In this way, I suppose you could argue that all social media posting is advertisement -- a plea for attention, a shout into the ether saying "I'm worth listening to! I'm here, I'm here!"

(There is something in here to critique about people asking for payment in return for regurgitating the same five basic "baby witch" tips using stolen graphics found on Pinterest -- but that's not what this post is about.)

Some posts are advertisements. Some posts are not advertisements in themselves, but they contain links to payment-focused websites like Ko-fi or Patreon. Some posts contain no advertising at all.

For the sake of argument, I will assume that the person I am currently vague-posting about perhaps cannot tell the difference between an advertisement, a post with tip/commission links, and a regular post. So, let's dissect a little bit.

Now, if you know me, you know I love an example. I love proof. I love a source. For this, since I'm among the witches using Tumblr as both a social platform and my primary advertising platform, let me use my own posts as examples of what is and is not an advertisement.

Misconceptions about the Witch-Trials

Debunking the So-Called “Dark Ages”

Was Giordano Bruno Really a “Martyr for Science”?

Who Was The First God?

Did Ancient “Pagans” Really Worship Nature?

Was the “Green Man” Really an Ancient Pagan Deity?

Misconceptions about the Library of Alexandria

Modern Stereotypes About Ancient Civilizations

Ancient Greek Misogyny

Why Did The Patriarchal Greeks And Romans Worship Such Powerful Goddesses?

Did the Ancient Greeks Really Believe in Their Myths?

Did the Ancient Greeks Ever Climb Mount Olympos?

What Evidence Is There for Atheism in Ancient Greece?

No, the Romans Did Not Just “Steal” All the Greek Deities

What Was the Conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity Really Like?

Things That Did Not Cause the Fall of the Roman Empire

No, Transgender People Are Not a Sign of Cultural Collapse

Christian Adaptation of Pagan Iconography

Greek Writers Quoted in the New Testament

No, the Christian Cross Is Not Based on the Egyptian Ankh

Just How Pagan Is Christmas Really?

No, Santa Claus Is Not Inspired by Odin

The Long, Strange, Fascinating History of Santa Claus

The Origins of the Christmas Tree

The Not-So-Pagan Origins of Easter

No, Easter Is Not Named After Ishtar

No, Groundhog Day Is Not of Ancient Pagan Origin

Here’s How We Know the Canonical Gospels Were Originally Anonymous

Lucifer Is Not a Name for Satan!

Was Jesus Copied Off the Egyptian God Horus?

Was Jesus a Communist?

What Does the Genesis Creation Story Mean?

Is Everyone Really Born an Atheist?

No, There Isn’t a Conspiracy to “Hide the Truth” about Ancient History

Who Are The Illuminati Really?

The Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis Is Racist and Harmful

The Truth about Atlantis

What Do Conservatives Really Mean When They Talk about “Western Civilization”?

The "Hero's Journey" is Nonsense

Jordan Peterson Does Not Understand Mythology

Jordan Peterson Does Not Understand Ancient Languages

So much of my practice centers around death, dying, and caring for the spirits of the dead. I can't imagine not using the actual words and instead using "d3ad" or "🎲-ing". If a topic is important, powerful, vast, etc. enough to be a central tenant of your spiritual or magical practice then it deserves to be spoken with the real words.

It also annoys me extra in the magical community because it is not unusual that those who are using death, blood, and sex as tools to gain social clout and to paint themselves as somehow special or more powerful are the ones most intentionally censoring it or treating it as taboo. You shouldn't use death and social taboos as vessels to carry you into recognition and social power to begin with, but if you do, you should pay respect to it by either engaging in the taboo respectfully (with silence and omission) or acknowledging it as a normal part of daily life like it damn well is.

If you worship an entity you call Lilith associated with female empowerment, that's the Jewish Lilith.

If you worship an entity you call Lilith associated with sexuality, that's the Jewish Lilith.

If you worship an entity you call Lilith, that's the Jewish Lilith.