Tales From Elsewhere

One of my Wards, Drawn Rather Hastily in Paint. 

Like all things otherworldly there is an element of belief to this art. Your will, and the will of those around you will effect the end results of whatever you choose to do. You need to find a method that not only works for you within your means, but is also something that you truly believe in. Think of a ward as a focus, as an amplifier for what you want, which is safety. 

Whatever means you choose to ward, and whatever you choose to ward against know that the most important step when creating a barrier is your thoughts. Your mind and your will shall reflect in every part of your creation. If you hold fear and doubt, doubt that this will not be strong enough to protect you it will create chinks in your armor. Your ward will break, and you will be left defenseless. Thusly, I can not stress how important it is for you to believe in your own ability before you attempt a ward. To trust in yourself, and in your spark. 

Anyone can make a ward.

You can make a ward.

And I, although we have never meant  not only believe that you can create a powerful barrier; but I also know that you will. 

Not to be confused with the 2010 film of the same name.

People have died mining this substance out of the earth. Wars have been fought over it. For the longest time a crown meant nothing when compared to this precious mineral. 

Sodium Chloride. 

It is essential to life, and that in and of itself is miraculous. There is a duality that runs us and all things. We need 4.2 grams of salt a day to maintain a healthy body. And we also need copious amounts of water to do so. Yet the two substances are at war with one another. They loathe one another, however both of them must exist within our bodies for us to function. 

Salt has been found in Egyptian tombs as an offering to the divine. Salt harvesting dates back to before recorded history, The City State of Venice fought Genoa over it. The history of this substance is fascinating and I recommend reading up on it here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_salt 

  I want to highlight just how important salt is, because the first, and simplest method of warding uses salt. 

I find it also fairs well on steak. 

  You see salt has always been such a valuable substance. And we living on this world take such things and attribute them with a supernatural significance. Whether  this is a natural property of Salt, or something that was gained over time is beyond my powers of perception. What is important is that salt is fucking magical. 

I can go into the various uses of it, and it would proabolly require at least ten posts but today we are focusing on warding. You see when you use salt in this way it can create walls, walls charged with your want, your desire, your need to keep bad things out. 

Lets have a crash course on how to use salt.

So, you have some negative entities messing with you in your home. Or you are convinced someone for whatever reason has cursed you. NOT TO FEAR BECAUSE SALT COSTS LIKE...Uh...

Really really cheap. 

First and foremost before you go out to ward yourself off be sure you KNOW what you want to keep out. This is paramount, even if there isn't anything at the moment trying to cause unspeakable horrors unto your house and kin, doesn't mean you shouldn't sprinkle salt around willy nilly.

Focus on what you don't want near you, what you don't want near your home. On the evils of unspoken places and the darkness that resides in the minds of men. Hold whatever vessel you have your salt in close to your chest. The center of your chest, between your breasts. Where you feel emotion, where love and pain and sorrow and joy reside. The place where your spark resides. Hold the vessel close to there and focus on all the things you want away from you. All the bads and ills of the other world. 

Sometimes it helps to say something while you do this, to say aloud the things you want to cast out. Sometimes it helps to ask the divines you prescribe to to assist  Sometimes though, all it requires is focused thought. Trust yourself, and trust your feelings. Do what feels right and once the salt feels...charged in belief and desire, you are ready. 

The next step is easy, Sprinkle it in the four corners of your home, or your car. Sprinkle it around your bed. Make an esoteric design in the floor with it. Cast it around your home as you please. So long as you do it in a way that feels right, so long as you focus on protecting yourself. You are using the salt as a conduit, as a means to put these beliefs into the world. There is no wrong way to spread it, the only wrong you can do is to question yourself at this point. 

Remember, you can do this. You will do this. 

Once your home or your office or wherever you need to do this feels properly protected, it is. Sometimes you may need to apply a second layer after a year or so, but ive often found just once is enough.

I should note that if someone asks you to ward something for them, you must decline. They are the ones who need to commit the act themselves. Teach them how to do this, coach them, help them, but do not do it for them. It must be their belief protecting themselves or else as your relationship changes with them, so will the ward. 

Good ole circle of protection white...Yeah. Thats, uh, totally a first pick. 

The other major method of warding comes down to drawing them yourself. There are countless tutorials online, talking about what sort of substances you need to draw them, and what shapes they should make. I'm here to tell you that nine times out of ten you are wasting your time with those. Much like salt, and by extension, all things supernatural it again comes down to belief  The creators of these wards made what works for them, created their own protection symbols. Unless you truly believe in everything this person says, then there will of course be chinks in your new ward. 

Then you may be wandering, how can I create a ward for myself? How can I get one tattooed onto me or stitched into my jacket? Simple, design  one yourself. Pick whatever materials and colors appeal to you and charge yourself with intent. It is much like creating a sigil, in fact it IS a sigil. 

It can be as simple or complex as you feel is necessarily  Made of crayon or blood. Etched into your flesh or the dirt. I am not telling you to go crazy and hurt yourself for this, but, do what feels right. Do what you think you must do to ward yourself. Use any color, any material, any means so long as you charge that with your belief  What you want.Your want for protection from all things. 

Do this, and you will have a ward that nothing can breach.

Admittedly, there are countless other wards and ways to protect yourself out there. I could spend years going over the origins and means of each one but when it comes down to it, they are all the same.

See, what a ward REALLY is is a projection of yourself into the physical world that wants protection. No matter the shape, no matter the design, no matter the means, all that matters at the end of the day is your trust and belief that this will keep you safe. 

They say It doesn't matter what you believe in, so long as you believe. 

  Alright, so lets start this out rather simply before things spiral out of control into spooky town. (For the record Spooky Town is within the same county as Funky Town but due to Funky Town's status as a Tax Haven it does not nearly see as much business. Poor Spooky Town.) But, to do that I have to get complicated first. I need to talk about the nature of words.

  The Kings of Homonyms, Homophones, and Homographs! 

She rose from her seat to go out and smell the roses. 

His role in the rock and roll band was rather taxing on him. 

Although writing three sentences of word play is only taxing on a minute scale, it has taken more than a minute to do so. 

Words are complicated. Powerful. Filled with meaning and weight. To give your name to someone is to invite a stranger into your home these days. Some of the greatest conflicts in myth, and in history have been caused by the misunderstanding of words; and the misuse of words. Each culture attributes a different meaning and context to common linguistics that when translated in a blunt fashion can lead to much ridicule and 'In Soviet Russia' jokes. 

It is paramount to point this out because all cultures, from the unremembered empires, to the burgeoning kingdoms on the internet have different words for what I want to teach you about.  I need you dearest reader to take all that you know about what a ghost is, what  a spirit is, what a demon is, and throw that out the window. Because when it comes down to it the distinctions that exist within your culture do not exist within the distinctions of another. And this is serious business my friend. Deathly serious. There must be clarity in this, above all else. 

But how can we start? There are countless subdivisions of specters throughout every single corner of our world. To lump these things would be a great injustice, wouldn't it? Furthermore how can we have so many sightings and types and means to deal with these beings that seem so...contrary to one another. 

How the fuck can a priest take care of something using the power of god but a shaman can do it by appealing to the land?

To explain that, I have to explain the nature of belief. 

My answer to this is pretty apparent if you have been reading. 

Belief changes the world. Belief is the foundation to who we are. To how we perceive the world. It is a majestic thing that has a life of its own. It can be nourished and wounded, like any man. It is something to be cherished, and something some men, have died for. It is fitting that this unquantifiable thing is what bridges the world of the dead to the world of the living. 

You see most spirits that you will deal with in your life are akin to a muse.  Things that exist because you believe in them. They gain form, and power, and life from those witnessing their forms, and power, and lives. It is a circle and like most things in life these spirits can be good, and they can be bad. 

I want to talk about the bad ones for a spell.

I want to talk about demons.

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Demons

A historical rendition of Demons. Here Saint Anthony is assaulted by them.  

I want you to imagine floating in a void. A void made of shadows where there is no sense of self and the slightest sense of the world around you. Here and there a color may shine through, a monument or a landmark may echo through the darkness. However you have never truly experienced any of this. You have never really existed to understand what exactly that color is, or what that odd structure in the distance could be. Everything is a fleeting mystery and the only thing that is a constant is the slightest sense of self. You know you are real, but you cant...you cant even truly prove this to yourself. 

Then, out of the blue, you can feel. There is...someone, somehow, calling out to you. Throwing off energy, through pure unadulterated emotion. Through love. Through fear. Through hate. Through joy. Through passion and madness and so many things. You can feel. Gods you can feel for the first time that your memory can permit and you want to keep feeling. You latch onto this person. You want to live. You want to be like this being. To experience emotion, to experience life. 

You want to be real.

Maybe this person could help. Hell, they HAVE to help, how COULDN'T they help? You don't want to be cold again, you don't want to loose all sense of place, time and self again. You HAVE to be real. You just HAVE to be. There isn't a reason to it, a sense, an anything. The more they feel the more you feel. Maybe if they could see you are there you could always feel...

You try to be nice, try to get them to notice you. Here and there lifting unbelievable weight to place a set of car keys where they can find it. Turning off the stove they left on by accident. Using all of your energy to get them to notice you, to realize you exist  Yet...they don't. Somehow, this being refuses to realize all of the things you do. One night, in desperation you throw something, a plate, causing it to smash.

You hear a scream.

You get a response.

They fear something may be there...

Well...you suppose this will do. 

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Most spirits that people deal with are these. Beings that have never truly existed before, but known nothing but desire to. They can manifest in countless unbelievable ways. From the house guardians of Rome, to the doppelgangers of Germany  these are things that simply want to be acknowledged. Things that tend to start off benign, even benevolent in some cases before realizing that sadly, fear tends to get more attention then small little, nearly unnoticeable favors these days. 

They turn to Entropy and Hatred, fueling the fires of fear and anger so they become stronger. So they become more and more real. It is a vicious cycle that feeds off whatever belief the person holds. A christian might see this being manifest as a demon, while a small child might realize that there is a monster under her bed. 

These things given enough time and fear will lash out. They will hurt. They will maim you. They will eventually, try to kill you. I know that seems crazy to say, that some unseen presence that only wants to exist will try to kill you but...this is a thing eating off your fears. It can feel them, taste them, live them, and become them. They will use all that energy you put into being afraid, to make you more afraid. 

These things, throughout all cultures are what I consider Demons. Entities that use fear to give themselves a life. They will do whatever they can to make you believe in it. To make you fear it. They are smart, they can be powerful, but they can be dealt with. 

Demons are made  from negative belief. They are forged from it. Made powerful from it. Live and breathe it. It is their greatest strength, and greatest weakness. Faith is their crux, whatever faith you have, you must use against it. Religion is what is historically turned to, and if you do believe in a higher power then it is the strongest weapon you can use. Another strong one is family, which is the unity of people brought on by love. If you find yourself troubled by unseen forces turn to who you love and they will be your strength. 

What I tell people however, when faced with this sort of problem is to believe in yourself. To believe in your strength, and your light, and your power. Know that you have the ability to do anything and everything. Trust yourself, and trust your feelings. Tell whatever is plaguing you to leave, tell it to fuck off, tell it that it is not welcome. Draw symbols of protection around your house. Through salt everywhere while telling the parasite, that you will destroy it if it does not leave you. Take back your home, your life, with all powers available to you. This is a thing forged by your fear, and through your passion it can be unmade. 

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Wounds, Scars, and Memories. 

The Stanley Hotel.  A place of great, and terrible weight. 

Horrible things happen. Often without any providence that cause the world to openly sob as they pick up the pieces. Sometimes, they are on a vast scale that cause us to question our worth as a people. Other times they have the scale of a few souls but the horrible depraved actions committed upon them is utterly unthinkable. 

That pain festers. 

That pain lingers.

That pain can warp reality as we know it.

Those beings, the ones I spoke of that become demons. The parasites, the things that only wish to feel and exist, the ones of belief. They latch onto emotional scars left on the land. Often, they are content to relive the strong memories bound to these locations, like a projector stuck on loop. They are unsettling, but harmless.

Countless beings latching onto countless horrors to relive them over and over again. Beings more then willing to do this because it is, for them, existence. It is better to feel pain than to feel nothing at all, and these things, these muses are evidence of that. It is a sad thing, a painful thing to witness, these specters stuck in limbo. In time they may move on once they make sense of the pain, but often they will linger in these realms for all eternity, long after all memory of the place has faded into oblivion.

There is not much we can do in these cases, no matter what battlefields will be haunted, hospitals will be visited, and the dark corners of our world will hold eternal unlife.

Other times, they harness this energy, taking in all that pain and rage and making it their own. Feeding and gouging and wishing for justice. These are the dangerous spots, the true wounds on our world. These are dangerous things, wishing nothing more than to add you to this location's story. It has become self aware of its nature, and it has become a monster.

But how do we deal with a memory? How do we right the wrongs of our past? How can such a thing ever be sated when its made from such things?

To deal with such personal pain means to invite into ourselves.

Madre De Dios! El Biblioteca!

  You must become intimate with the history of this place. You have to learn about what transpired here to cause such a thing. Old newspapers, the uninvited corners of the internet, dusty tombs, and old folks homes, will be your weapons. Knowledge is power. You have to understand this pain. This horror. This travesty if you want to sate the thing made from it.

All it wants is justice. And if it cannot have that, then it wants to know that such things will not fade into nothing. It will want to be known. To be remembered. In most cases those that caused such pain are now beyond our reach, so this is the only relief we can offer. Most people will tell you to start combat, post haste. To cleanse and to ward and to force a healing. This...this is like taking a victim and telling them to get better right now because you don't want to hear about it. This is the wrong move, and this will only lead to transgression, violence, and fear.

Your first course of action should always be understanding and parlay. IF that fails, if this thing is not a beast wishing for judgment and is instead a specter wishing to add names to a list of death that is when you break out the weapons.

That is when you turn to belief. Turn to holy water. To sage. To gods. To whatever you can.

Just know, to never strike the first blow against a wounded place. But strike the last.  

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