Metawork Terminology Series: [ Energy Work ] [ Astral Work ]

These definitions are not put forward as the only possible meanings, they are simply based on my own experiences and personal definitions. Like my other two posts, there are no citations because these definitions are based on my own experiences and may or may not describe the experiences of others.

BASIC SPIRIT TYPES & CLASSES

Spirit - An organized cluster of energy with at least some level of sentience that has an energy body and in most cases also an astral body. Spirits generally do not inhabit physical bodies unless they are possessing an entity with a physical body, are attached to a vessel, or are reborn as a spirit incarnate.

Vessel - A physical container that helps a spirit manifest on the physical plane.

Spirit incarnate - Any living being with a physical body (usually a human being) whose energy and astral bodies would be classified as a non-human spirit. This most frequently occurs as the result of a non-human spirit being reincarnated as a human, which is how the spirit became incarnated in a physical body.

Spirit species - A variety of spirits who all share many common traits in their general appearance, energy signatures, and other features. Spirits of the same species will generally be able to produce offspring that carry most of the same traits as their parent(s).

Class of spirit species - A broad grouping of many spirit species that are interrelated in terms of their energies and morphological features. They may also possibly share cultural, linguistic, political, regional, and other commonalities.

Deities - A class of spirits who are powerful beyond the scope of most other spirits and who have control over forces in a specific area or the entire universe on a macro scale. (friendly reminder: these are all my personal definitions, not universal ones)

Nature spirits - A very broad class of spirit species that relate to the forces of nature. I consider plant spirits, tree spirits, fae spirits, land spirits, and many elemental spirits to all be types of nature spirits.

Fae (faeries) - The faefolk are a sub-class of nature spirits. The many different fae species have a wide diversity of outward appearances, but they are all distinguishable by the common aspects of their energy signatures that every fae species shares. Fae energy is a specific combination of nature and pure magic energy. Some live on Earth’s physical plane while others reside in any of the many different fae realms across numerous astral planes.

Land spirits - A sub-class of nature spirits who are very closely associated with a certain territory and primarily live to protect that land.

Night spirits - A class of spirit species that are aligned with the nighttime. They are often classed as “demons,” but many are actually just various species of nature spirits. Usually but not always quite dangerous.

Parasite - A class of spirit species who are energy feeders and prey on certain entities as their hosts. Often warded and protected against.

Human spirits (ghosts) - The deceased spirit of a human being. All human spirits are a part of one single spirit species.

Ancestral spirits - A class of spirits who are the ancestors of an entity either from that entity’s current lifetime or across other lives. Typically, the terms “ancestral spirits” and “ancestors” refer to a person’s human ancestors from their current lifetime.

Twin flames - Two entities with energy signatures that are identical, almost identical, or so interrelated in some fashion that they clearly are two halves of a whole. Twin flames being reborn during the same lifetime seems to be rare.

SPIRIT WORK

Metawork - The practice and discipline of the three highly interrelated fields of energy work, spirit work, and astral work.

Spirit work - The practice and discipline of sensing, interacting with, or commanding spirits. A sub-field of metawork. This is not necessarily a type of witchcraft, but can be referred to as witchcraft when spirit work is incorporated into someone’s witchcraft practice. Closely associated with hedge craft. Many other types of magical traditions that are not forms of witchcraft also include spirit work.

Ancestor work - The practice and discipline of working with ancestral spirits. A sub-field of spirit work.

Conjuring - The act of bringing a spirit to a specific location. Conjuring encompasses a wide variety of different methods which can range from voluntary such as using a beacon of energy to request a spirit’s presence to involuntary which magically force a spirit to manifest at the target location.

Banishing - The act of sending a spirit away from a certain area (the opposite of conjuring). Banishing techniques can be voluntary such as communicating or negotiating with a spirit for them to leave or involuntary when magical methods are used to forcefully remove the spirit against their will.

Binding - The act of using magical means to control a spirit’s behavior in some way. Binding is frequently used to ensure that a spirit remains connected to a vessel, but it can also be used to keep a spirit in a general location or prevent them from transgressing certain predetermined rules. It not uncommon for binding to be completely consensual between spirits and spirit workers.

Possession -  When a spirit inhabits and/or takes control over a physical body that is usually controlled and inhabited by someone else. To some, this term implies that a spirit with harmful intentions has forced control over a human being, but in many religions, spirit possession is welcomed and invited. Whether or not being possessed by a spirit is a negative thing usually depends a lot on the specific context and the spirit involved.

Spirit adoption (reverse adoption) - When a spirit wishes to become a spirit companion or live and work with a spirit worker and voluntarily chooses to do so. Adoptions are often facilitated by a spirit adoption center or shop.

SPIRIT ROLES

Spirit spouse - A term usually used to describe a human spirit worker’s spouse who is a spirit or a deity.

Spirit companion - Any spirit and spirit worker who have established some kind of meaningful relationship and who wish to use this term to describe that relationship.

Spirit guardian - A spirit who has taken on the role of protecting something or someone. I typically use this term as a generic way of describing a spirit who spends a lot of time and energy looking after a person or another spirit. It is not uncommon for people to have spirit guardian(s), and sometimes a spirit companion may also wish to act as as a guardian.

Thoughtform - Any spirit who was created by a spirit worker through magical means (whether purposefully or accidentally). “Tulpamancy” comes from the Tibetan word tulpa that relates to practices within Vajrayana Buddhism, so this is not a secular spirit work term that is appropriate for general use.