☆ Mushrooms & Magick ☆

Locally, I have a particular graveyard I frequent. Now that I come to type that sentence–locally, I’ve long had a particular graveyard I frequent, even for different values of “local.” The past several few places I’ve lived, I’ve had a go-to.

I’ve been lucky. And I was especially lucky this time around, since seven (or was it eight?) years ago I settled into a high rise apartment, a neat little concrete box, with a gorgeous city sky line view…that was also about a mile away from a historical cemetery. A hardly ever used historical cemetery, which means you can do all kinds of weird ritual shit in relative privacy, and, trust me: I have.

Here’s the thing, though. Don’t be a jerk. Don’t fucking litter and leave plastic bags and shit. Don’t trash the graveyard, and I don’t care WHAT kind of weird ritual shit you’re doing, or if you’re just getting hella goth laid, but don’t leave your panties in the graveyard, okay? Just don’t.

What can you do instead?

New witches on tumblr often seem to have Practical Necromancy questions, and a lot of the advice tends to be kinda vague. I, your friendly neighborhood necromancer druid latina, am here to give you one exceedingly practical necromancy routine. It’s not new advice, but it’s worth repeating, and in detail. Ready?

NECROMANCY FOR BEGINNERS (OR ANYONE REALLY)

Pick a cemetery. Preferably one that’s at least kinda old, but safe.

Get a trash picker. (my amazon smile link benefits old friends senior dog sanctuary and clicking it doesn’t direct pennies my way at all) Or if you can’t get a trash picker, get some gloves. Like, some dishwasher gloves from the dollar store will do. 

Get a trash bag.

Say hello as you enter the cemetery. I say hello silently and kiss my hand and then press my hand to the gate, but I have a very friendly bond with my death deity. You do you, spooky babies, secular witches included. There’s a few ways to think about this, including, but not limited to: either you’re saying hello to all the spirits in there, or you’re saying hello to the guardian spirit(s) of that particular cemetery, or if you’re especially necromantically inclined already, you’re saying hello to your death entity/deity/patron/friend, or you’re just being polite in general. Whatever works for you.

Pick up some trash. Wander around. Look at the graves. Appreciate the (probably) quiet beauty of the place. Read names on tombstones. Have a nice, calm time. If you’re chill, you’re mostly gonna attract chill vibes.

Leave. Thank everybody for their time and for letting you wander around. If you’re apprehensive about something nasty following you home, which mostly I don’t think is gonna happen, but if you are, either follow your preferred cleansing protocol, OR–just ask nicely for safe passage. Look, you just tended to a kind of neglected graveyard. Somebody in there appreciates your efforts.

Actually throw the trash out somewhere.

Rinse and repeat. Put in the time and you will feel bonded as all get out to your local haunt (har), and it will be a place of power for you. Go there to recharge when you feel frazzled; use it as a magical boost for your rituals (if appropriate–don’t litter, don’t go anything so overt that you’ll get arrested). After a while ask permission to take some graveyard dirt with you. Bring a plastic baggie with you and hey, presto! MAGIC DIRT!

Lucid Dreaming

Lucid dreaming takes place during REM sleep. In a normal person who isn’t sleep deprived, REM sleep sets in after about 90 minutes. This makes entering a lucid dream through the traditional way of meditating through the previous sleep states difficult, although it is possible. Some people attempt to enter REM sleep directly by waking themselves up and then going back to bed again; because their mind is interrupted mid-sleep cycle, they may enter REM again quickly.

The best way to attain lucidity during REM sleep, in my opinion, is to engage in reality checks. Reality checks train us to check during dreams automatically to see if we are sleeping or not. We pick some detail about dreams that sets them apart from reality, and during the day we check several times to see whether or not we are sleeping. Eventually, this habit carries over into dreams and we naturally question whether or not we are dreaming - which prompts us to enter a lucid dream if we ask this question while we are dreaming.

Here are some examples of reality checks: dreams constantly change and shift, so if you look at something, look away, and then look back - if you are dreaming, it should have changed. If you aren’t dreaming, it will stay constant. In dreams, you can manipulate things with your mind; try changing some element of the scenery as you would in a dream, or try to fly. Trying to do these mental exercises from a waking state feels silly and doesn’t work, but in a dream it can trigger you to realize you are dreaming if you check to see if you can do these things and you can. Regularly check to see if you are dreaming during the day, and check for these properties found only in dreams. Eventually, you will ask the question during a dream and will become lucid.

Intentions are helpful for the attainment of lucid dreaming. Before bed, enter into your mind’s eye and find yourself on a red beach with a large red 3. A door with a glowing red C awaits you. Enter it, holding your intention to lucid dream that night as you allow yourself to fall asleep. When you attain lucidity, think back on the red C and the red 3. This will associate these concepts with sleep. You can think on these red concepts in order to help with dream recall. These is called an anchor. Anchors can be used to help keep you present during the dream and remind you that you are lucid. Regularly think back on the red room with the C; create a glowing C or 3 in your hand. The action of doing this grounds you in your dream and prevents you from losing your lucidity or from waking up.

Additionally, you can check your dream journal for patterns you are encountering during your natural dreams. These should be your REM sleep dreams as these are the easiest to recall if you weren’t lucid during them. Recognizing common types of dreams and dream locations can help you recognize that you are dreaming. 

Uses

Lucid dreaming is fun. REM sleep dreams are vivid and highly creative. Lucid dream states can be used to flesh out story ideas or to obtain inspiration. The emotional vividness and the surreal ideas encountered in this state of mind are ideal for creative inspiration, like to get inspiration for an otherworldly landscape to draw or for a fictional place or character for a story.

If you are going to use a lucid dream state for some purpose, set your intention ahead of time. It can be fun to explore dreams without an intention, but for goal directed purposes it is important to set your intention or else you will forget while you are maintaining your hold on your lucidity. Do you want to work on a story idea? Okay. Do you want to focus on the plot, the setting, the theme, or the characters?

You can focus on one element of your story that you want to flesh out, or several. You can focus on them one at a time, or all at once. It is difficult to hold many ideas in mind at once. Reminding yourself of your story world, or the characters, or a scene will cause it to manifest in your dream. Because dreams constantly shift and evolve, it will immediately come to life and go in a direction you barely control. This can be used for creative inspiration. That is how one uses dreams - anything that manifests in the dreams suddenly comes to life and takes on a mind of its own during a dream state. Interacting with it intensifies this effect, leading to interesting ideas and feelings.

@bakerstreetirregularr

Greetings, friends! Today, I’m sharing a directory of my writings on the subject of hedgecraft. This term refers here to “riding the Hedge,” by leaving one’s body and entering the spirit realm. I hope my articles will be helpful for burgeoning hedgewitches!

Hedgecraft Basics Part I. Covering the concept of hedgecraft as well as providing some historical information.

Hedgecraft Basics Part II. Discussing the gritty metaphysics of hedgeriding and how subjective it can be.

Hedgecraft Basics Part III. Focusing on safety considerations, benefits, and other practical matters.

Hedgecraft Basics Part IV. Focuses on practical hedgeriding techniques.

Hedgecraft Sigils. Here’s a collection of sigils to aid in hedgeriding experiences. I made these myself, but anyone can give them a try!

Hedgeriding vs. Astral Projection. How do these two practices relate to one another? Are they synonyms? Find my thoughts on this tricky question here.

Shapeshifting Beyond the Hedge. In the otherworld, you can take any form you like. This article discusses some of the processes for attuning yourself to an animal’s spirit. Learn about astral shapeshifting!

Drugs and Hedgecraft. Witches have used psychoactive substances in their Craft since the beginning. What dangers lurk in this practice? How does it relate to modern pharmaceuticals? My thoughts on the matter.

Hedgecraft Bibliography. If you’d like to read some quality books dealing with hedgecraft and similar practices, look no further than this section of my annotated bibliography!

Journal Prompts for Hedgewitches. Interested in clarifying your practice a bit? Try working through these prompts to learn more about yourself and your practices.

scarlet elfcup