Witch Thoughts

As someone with aphantasia, I often come across advice that says you can substitute visualising in energy work with the other 4 senses. The most common of them being feeling. But the thing is that I also struggle to feel properly. It's often said that by rubbing your hands together and feeling the sensation between them will give you an idea of what energy feels like, but I've tried it multiple times and I don't feel anything except the air on my skin.

That leaves me with the 3 other senses (personally, hearing is the strongest for me). Though, I have no idea how to apply them. No one mentions anything about how to apply them. How do I taste/smell/hear energy when doing spellwork? For example, say I have to make energy flow from my hands to an object. This can be done by visualisation or feeling energy, but what if I'm trying to do it with the other three senses instead?

Anyways, thank you for your time, Chicken! 🩷

Let's take this right into left field. Consider this, which I do not claim is necessarily true, but which I present as a thought exercise:

As it's commonly used, visualization means something like within the mindscape. So it's not really sight vs. the other senses, but something internal versus something external. We do not have to guess at what that internal thing is: it's the hidden Witch-body, which is the same thing sent out when we Journey.

In other words, when a resource tells you to visualize,

your goal is to engage in a mild form of spirit flight: you're activating your spirit body and using it to sense the world you're in right now, instead of sending it out into a spirit world.

This would also mean that energy sensing is closer to a mild trance state than an acutely grounded state where you're honed in on the physical.

It's this activation of the spirit body (witch-body, the body of many names) which opens the gateways not only to Sensing, but also Journeying, Knowing, and the ability to commune directly with spirits.

All of these are internal experiences. Your goal is not to be able to feel if the spirit touches your arm, necessarily; but to be able to directly experience the spirit's presence, and directly speak to them and receive communication back. All of this can be done regardless of whether or not you happen to be a visual thinker.

There are many exercises available for identifying, activating, and empowering the hidden body, I think a very useful one given by Horne in A Broom at Midnight, but they're almost certainly going to be in the "learn spirit flight" books and not in the energy work books.

Now all that being said, if you aren't a visual thinker, then what's to be done with all these exercises that linguistically favor visual thinking? The key for me was to just basically replace visualize with other words like observe, believe, feel, understand, and know.

Take a gander at this simple energy raising exercise. See in red, where we have taken words or phrases that would normally give instructions to visualize and adjusted them:

There is freely flowing energy in the Earth available to you. When you focus your mind on this energy and believe or agree that you are connected to it, that pre-existing connection becomes activated and stimulated. This is possible because your present-moment focus inherently holds an intense activation energy.

Once you've narrated to yourself that this connection is activated and you feel immersed in that story, force needs to be applied in order to move the energy. One way to move the energy within the Earth is to believe or agree that when you inhale, energy you are linked to will be drawn into your body.

Breathe normally while you focus timing your best present-moment focus with your inhales. When you feel ready to try it, tell yourself that the Earth energy rises into your body with the inhale. Doggedly focus on this narration along with an inhale.

See if your active narration about the situation changes as you inhale with the intention to draw up Earth energy. Does the storyteller or Quiet Wise One within your mind think the energy of the Earth has stirred or risen up as you took a breath?

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.  

This little post has gotten some notes and now there's an ask so I'll make it into more words:

Witchcraft isn't Chores vs. Fun. It's Chores vs. Events. And I posit to you that framing witchcraft as Chores is healthier, easier, better, and more pervasive than framing it as Events.

I've found that if you want Witchcraft to have a profound, transformative effect on your life, to get you out of the bad places and into the good places - then you must discard that mindset that any instance of working magic must be spectacular, mystical, or even motivated. Basically, you must stop treating witchcraft like it's supposed to be an Event.

When you plug into your currents, they release a stream of transformative power into your life. But this power is fleeting and only lingers like a perfume even after the actual burst of power has long evaporated in your life.

I mean this "plugging in" to be very practical, normal stuff: raising energy to cast a spell. Close communion with your spirits where the spirit world is drawn into an overlapping state with the material world. Any time you open up a doorway in your life to the magical Other and let power in.

Like turning on the garden hose, these actions pour a little power into your life. But when the rite is done (the spell is over, the communion is finished) then the garden hose is turned off again. That power soaks into where it was directed, seeping into the soils of your life.

And then it's gone!

Once that power has soaked into your life, it will continue to be helpful and effective. That garden bed is watered now! So of course the plants will flourish all week (or in my climate, until late afternoon, lol!).

But that power is now absent from you!! It's already used up, it's gone. It is no longer available.

By the time the plants begin looking dehydrated, the original power may have already been gone for a very long time. But this tricks us, right: if we wait for signs that the power is fading, that means we're always waiting for the plants to wither before we tend to them.

This creates the dastardly spiral:

My life is chaotic, I struggle to cast a spell to help -> I finally get around to it, the spell helps my life -> Now that the magic is done I don't need to prioritize it until I need it again -> The spell has faded, my life is back to its original chaotic state -> I need magic to help me -> My life is chaotic, I struggle to cast a spell to help

(Above, replace chaotic with stagnant, a slog, draining me, exhausting, harrowing, or anything you like)

If engaging with the Other is like turning on a garden hose of power, then you have to turn on the garden hose as often as you need power, and you need it before things show signs of going bad.

The problem with framing witchcraft as an Event is that it creates this mental load that's nothing but a barrier to entry. You have to put on you Sunday best, have the right attitude, have the right mental health, have enough energy (but not be manic), have complete control over your thoughts but also be perfectly in tune with your body and emotions, be able to sit still for the elaborate working (but not be fatigued), be able to do all of this with complete privacy, and pull all of this together on a random hour on a Tuesday with a spell you had to modify because you can't light candles or incense in your home.

And god FUCKING help you if you can't feel the energies, or don't get the visions or the signs, if the candle omen isn't right, if you don't feel magical, because that means of the two or three times you engaged in your practice this month a HALF or a THIRD of those engagements were failures, you're getting a D or an F in magic, failure magic. Who would ever want to engage in a practice like that??

Nobody!

Of course you can't pull that shit together to constantly cast spells to make your life better! That's EXHAUSTING!!

Do you know what I think takes less energy, is less frustrating, is less exhausting, is more helpful, easier, and more transformative?

It's to stop treating witchcraft like an Event and start treating it as Chores you just go about and put a bit of energy to on a daily or near-daily basis.

At first, this is no fun and games: this garden bed has gone totally rotten, it needs weeding and tilling, it needs soil amendments. Exhausting labor. And then it must rest until the correct season of planting. You can go out and do twenty minutes of work a day. But all that work and it may seem that there are very few rewards for months and months.

But you can't take one weekend and make an Event out of it, and then ignore it all winter until it's completely overgrown and ruined again. You can't progress that way. This is like saying you only do the kitchen dishes on solstices, or you only brush your teeth on full moons. That's not how you have a supply of clean dishes, or good dental hygiene, or a thriving life.

Truly transformative Witchcraft must be steeped into your daily life, and the only way to do this is to engage with it daily or almost daily. There is no room for waiting until you're in the "right headspace," and it's no good to wait until things have already started to go wrong again.

But how can you tell when it's time to work the next bit of magic unless you're checking in regularly? And how can you check in regularly if engaging in magic gives you the same feeling as having to go get ready for your partner's corporate Christmas party at the Marriott?

The question isn't if magic is either fun or a bore. It's whether magic is something you are comfortable approaching and addressing in your everyday life, in the 5 minutes you have before you take the kids to school, at the red lights during rush hour, as part of your shower routine. Or if it's something you need half a week to prepare yourself for, and another week to decompress from.

Can you tolerate tending to an altar for a couple of minutes a day, blurry-eyed, not feeling jack shit, not feeling magical or connected, knowing you will see long-term success, but limited short-term momentum? Or does magic scald you unless the immediate rewards are there to soothe you: the visions, the mystic trance, the instant omens, the short-term ripples in the pond?

I think one of these things is sustainable and the other is not. And so I think in order to stick with it long enough to progress beyond the early stages, then the following is perhaps tautologically true:

To put it very briefly, my spouse recently found out (and let me know) that they will receive a sizable inheritance when a grandparent dies. Said grandparent is in their 90s, but definitely not going to croak any time soon, barring some awful accident.

What I now fear is that any magic I work that aims toward increasing my household's wealth, bringing about abundance, or otherwise achieving a goal that money could solve will see the early reception of this inheritance as the easiest path forward.

Part of me feels pretty silly even worrying about it but the part that worries insists that such things are best handled with caution. What do you think?

Handled with caution, especially if you can clearly see from Point A to Point B, as it were.

Cast a protection spell for the grandparent to protect them from all malefica, misfortune, and malfeasance.

A nice container spell will do, surely there should be some good family photos available for a taglock. An easy way to do a broad spectrum thing like this is to tap the 4 elements; four colorful stones will do (stone allies are very good in a long-term protection spell because you want them to be nice and sturdy, grounded). Certainly do not burn Grandma with hot peppers in the protection jar, but more soothing things will do, even if you like: rosemary, garlic, lavender, basil.

Once you have all this nice container jar set up and going well, make 1 small amulet out of cord, tying the power up in knots, and maybe attaching a small paper or crafted charm as you see fit. Make this amulet against your own harm, specifying something like the following:

May my own magic be bound from harming Grandparent, be it intentional or by accident or error, so that no misfortune befalls them by my hand. And if any such action is made towards them, let it be fettered and made inert before it can reach them.

Take this corded amulet and wrap it around the original protection jar as a second layer.

I'm writing this in a new apartment surrounded by half-unpacked boxes and tubs. Moving to South Carolina has been a journey, but our new place is starting to become a home. I've been feeling out the spirits I'll be living with, which led me to a realization of one of the black-and-white ways we talk about spirit encounters.

The spirits in my new home make me uncomfortable. They are unnerving, and cause a twinge of fear in my stomach. I know many would feel that fear and immediately get their banishing salts out. After all, we talk about malevolence and benevolence in spirits as hard categories, and often categorize spirits based on our first impressions. As soon as a negative emotion (like fear) is tied to a spirit encounter, we cry "bad!" and try to remove that spirit.

However, we need to remember spirits are not people and may not have a concept of civility or politeness when meeting others. Human neighbors may be wary, but will mask it in politeness and gifts until they know you better. Spirits do not necessarily have this code, and may act in ways more befitting their discomfort.

Remember, malevolence is the act of causing harm. A malevolent spirit would see new people in their space and think "Oh, new playthings!" Think of them like a mountain lion, quietly stalking until they're close enough to maim you.

While the spirits are currently causing me distress, they are not malevolent. I can sense no intent to hurt me. The distress stems from their wariness. Someone new has just entered their space, and they don't have the societal rules of civility that we do. Like a feral cat, they are watching me from the corner, puffed up and hissing when I look their way. If I approach them, they very well may harm me, but it's defensive, not malevolent.

Entities are not like NPCs of a video game with one set personality and behavior schema that everyone gets.

A spirit, big god, or little god can treat you and your friends with affection and care, sending you butterfly omens and angel numbers, and those experiences are valid. They can tell you that they are an entity of love and grace, who delights in giving boons to their friends and devotees, and that can be true.

And another person can approach that same entity and be met with scorn or dismissal, with rejection of the same offerings, and with warnings not to contact them again. That is also valid. That same entity can warn other practitioners that they are a being of thorns and wrath, who will crush interlopers, and that can also be true.

To a third person, the same entity might introduce themselves as a teacher of reciprocity and balance, neither threaten them nor give them gifts, but instead offer a mutually respectful professional working relationship.

A common name may refer to any number of highly similar entities. Of a single entity, they may have many strands or currents. Of any current which you step into, you will still develop an individualized relationship where the entity reacts to you based on who you are and what actions you take.

If someone says no, the Devil isn't like that - are they talking about Satan, Lucifer, Azazel, the Man in Black, the Breaker of Chains, the Green Stag, the White Serpent, the Fairy King? Does this person think the Devil is a god, or not?

And that person, did they meet this Devil when they were alone in the world, on the precipice of growth, ripe for enlightenment and only in need of a plucking hand? Or were they entrenched in their faith, surrounded by their own spirits, rooted in their own magic, and only seeking a temporary teacher for lessons about the crossroads?

I think that when it comes to deep spiritual relationships, it's deeply rewarding to find other people who know the same entity you know, in ways that are authentic to your own experiences. But in my experience, this is not most people who claim to know the entity. This is a minority of all people, even of other serious devotees: we are not all walking the same path.

I’m not sure if you are the person to ask, so if this isn’t up your alley please just skip, but: how, or what would you recommend for one to do to surpass their fear of exercising their will? There are a couple of changes work and life related that I want/need to do, and I know I have the tools to do so*, yet I am completely terrified of starting the process. This next step is pretty life changing, and to a degree fundamentally character changing too aka asks more of me as a person and practitioner, but I do not feel ready or capable. Ive done enough readings and had insights to know that things are pretty frozen in my life rn because this is the direction I’m supposed/desire to walk towards, but gosh am I scared (I’ve been putting this off for about 3 years now). Im scared of making the choice I know I want to make and can’t move past it. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I realize the fear is of becoming the person my will requires me to become? Does this seem like a power problem, and not knowing how to own it? Any insight is greatly appreciated.

*written petitions work wonderfully for me. The timing or how are never in my control nor do I even try to control that, but usually what I earnestly ask for comes to pass.

It's kind of hard to say in generalities, because on one hand, sometimes what's required is a little leap of faith.

On the other hand, I don't think abject terror of the process is normal nor should it be normal to just push through these feelings.

Obviously, it's impossible for me to give any specific advice on dealing with your inner world or what is really right for you, etc.

My only thought is, how's it going with your personal protections?

I'm one of those practitioners that require a high level of baseline personal protection to feel generally functional. I don't mean house wards, house rules, protections against malefica or harmful spirits, or apotropaic magic in general.

I mean protection that's basically like auric shielding - it reinforces your personal space, thickens and energizes your auric membrane (i.e., unwanted and unhelpful but not necessarily harmful/evil energies have a harder time reaching you), and it gives your personal will more space around you in the world so that there is a staging area between "within me/internal" and "external/impacting others".

Crown of Fortune tarot spread

What vibes to lean into to accomplish short term goals.

This is a 5-card tarot spread laid out in a diamond shape, with card 1 in the center. Card 2 is placed above, card 3 is placed below, card 4 is placed to the left, and card 5 is placed to the right.

All major arcana cards are removed from the deck. Draw card 1 only from the pile of major arcana. Draw the other 4 cards only from the pips.

The stations are:

"What crowns you," the current archetype, blessing, power, or focus that will be the most effective in helping you achieve your short-term goal. Wear this energy to assist you, even if it only crowns you for the short term.

"Proceed," what to directly apply this archetype towards, what it will help you with the most.

"Forebear," the path you should avoid; what you should not use this archetypal power to solve

"Blessings and Advice," or "Past." Use this card to gain extra guidance or as part of a past/present/future pattern.

"Blessings and Advice," or "Future." Use this card to gain extra guidance or as part of a past/present/future pattern.

It isn't a common sentiment I've encountered, but over the years I've seen a handful of people say they don't bother with protection magic, wards, etc because they're "not scared". I've been thinking about this a bit lately because I've never viewed protective magic as something that stems from fear. For me, it's always been about care.

In some ways, it's like locking my door. I don't lock it because I'm scared someone is going to come through. I lock it because it means I don't need to worry because I know it's taken care of, and my home is protected. I value the peace inside my own. It's the same with preparing protective oils and herbs, maintaining wards, and every other little act of protective magic to make sure my house feels settled. The focus isn't on some looming threat that's hanging over me. It's on the belief that my home is a sacred place that deserves peace and protection.

Start with the gaze, because this is where most of it goes wrong. You are not staring. A hard stare fights you, your eyes water, you blink, you reset, and you never settle. What you want is a soft, slightly unfocused gaze that looks through the surface rather than at it, the way your eyes drift past a window to the street beyond the glass. The surface should lose its hard edge and go a little vague.

Then the surface starts to change, and beginners almost always misread what happens next. Within a few minutes it tends to cloud, go smoky, darken, or seem to breathe. People take that as their eyes playing tricks, snap back to a sharp focus to check, and that ends it. The clouding is the doorway, not a glitch. Part of it is simply your vision softening on a featureless field, and that softening is the exact state you are trying to reach. Let it fog over and keep your attention loose inside the fog.

It also helps to know what a vision is actually like, because the expectation is the thing that blinds you. It is almost never a clear picture floating in the glass. It is shifting shapes, a color that was not there a second ago, a shadow moving against the grain, a face that assembles for a moment and dissolves. Sometimes it is not visual at all, just a feeling, a word in the mind, or a flat knowing. If you are holding out for a sharp image, you will look straight past the real signal, which tends to be quiet and partial.

A lot of what people call a block is really the setup. Work in low light with a single candle placed behind you or off to the side, never throwing a bright reflection straight into the surface. Use a black mirror or a dark bowl of water set on a dark cloth. Sit so you cannot see your own face clearly in the surface, because a sharp reflection of yourself locks your eyes at the glass instead of through it. Fix the light and the angle and half the I cannot scry problem tends to disappear.

On patience, the honest number is that most people need somewhere between five and twenty sessions before a first real impression. The early sittings where nothing happened are not failures. They are you teaching your eyes and your attention to hold the soft state without bailing out the moment it gets strange. Ten quiet minutes a few times a week will take you further than one heroic hour.

There is a discernment line worth holding too. Not everything you see is a message. Floaters, the afterimage of the candle, the surface graying out, that is ordinary eye behavior and it is the doorway, not the content. The scried material is what comes through that state, the shape that carries meaning, the word, the pull toward something. You learn the difference by keeping a log and only trusting what recurs or genuinely lands.

A common problem: "how can I cast the spell to acquire X if I can't see how it could possibly manifest?"

But you do not need to necessarily have insight in this manner. instead it could be:

Blessing the Creature to bring it great fortune

Luck spell on the Creature

Relationship spell to help the Creature meet good friends

Binding spell to draw the Creature towards specified things

Protection spell to mitigate the Creature stumbling or getting hurt

And there's no need to try and think about how money magic could manifest for the concept of prosperity itself, because that's just ridiculous.

You could for example have a Creature of Prosperity and then, once the altar is made, cast a prosperity spell for your Creature to bring prosperity to your prosperity.

Correct, you did not need to feed it before. And yet behold, it is now starving.

You know?

Safe corral (protection for that thing)

Veterinary care (healing for that thing)

Home care (washing, polishing, and mending that thing)

Feedstock (energizing and feeding that thing)

Enrichment (drawing in new experiences that make the thing happier and healthier)

Getting rid of snakes (banishing things harmful to the thing)

Cute outfit for that thing (altar aesthetics matter and I don't mind saying it)

In such a style, any given altar should have a representation of the Creature and then protection for it, things to uplift it and help it to thrive, care and healing, very good source of nutrition for it to feed on, and depending on need some surrounding work put into the environment (getting rid of snakes) so that your thing is highly protected, as befitting such a cherished Creature.

You can indeed reach much greater heights of wellness and success with a domesticated thing, but then that requires all the care that homesteaders are already familiar with. And I think it's likely that to corral a Creature and then neglect puts you much worse off, because the Creature is of course ultimately something from your life important to you, that you are seeking to take direct control over.

This is for anyone who self-identifies as a witch. This poll is about assumptions or social pressure about the role of creative spellcrafting in witchcraft.

"Spells" can also broadly refer to magical techniques meant to have an effect on yourself or the world.

This refers to how you practice a large majority of the time; vote with your heart.

I am pretty sure that some witches buy into worldviews that actively frame their own magic as inherently dangerous and unbalanced.

And I think that might be what's going on, at least some of the time, when witches eschew preventive cleansing and protection.

I think that we live in an active magical ecosystem where a lot of things are happening all the time, and almost none of those things have anything to do with us.

But somehow protection magic has developed a cringy veneer, as if in order to need it you'd have to think you're a main character who's being actively targeted by evil witches and spirits.

It seems that some witches have gotten the impression that in order to be well-balanced, they've got to believe that wolves don't exist. Neither do storms, diseases, accidents, or the unscrupulous.

Cleansing has gotten the same bad rap, I feel. Inasmuch as cleansing is removing unwanted energy, a lot of witches seem to live in a world where all energy is perfectly good and natural (but they're not love-and-light witches, how could you accuse of such a thing), and not only that, but all cleansing completely strips something of every possible energy. A cleansing can destroy the utility or value of magical objects.

Just like sweeping your floor automatically destroys the floorboards, underlayment, and foundations of your house, leaving nothing but dirt and crumbled plumbing.

So protection is unnecessary for normal people, and cleansing is at best destructive. (I'd be terrified to see the curses of many witches, given how powerfully withering their most basic cleansings are.)

But it's all well and good, and this part I actually do not mean sarcastically at all - it's all well and good, because keeping up a cleansing and protection routine actually takes a decent amount of time and energy.

Depending on your methods it can get pretty streamlined. But you're still putting something on your plate - ten minutes here, five minutes there. And it can kind of get away from you.

I mean, if you start teaching yourself how to cleanse unwanted energies, then I expect by and large you're going to end up able to sense and identify unwanted energies. And then you'll start finding more magic you could be doing to deal with more problems you've learned to identify.

But it does go on: then maybe you'll get a bit overwhelmed cleansing the home, so you'd rather make a protection for the home to just keep unwanted energy out. And then that takes maintenance. And then you find a better way to do things.

And you end up doing plenty of magic.

And, if you believe that certain types of energy can accumulate around a person and make problems, and sending that energy away is therefore is helpful; and if you believe that preventative magic can stop bad things from happening; then a regular cleansing and protection routine will help things get better and go better.

I'm not saying that everyone should do preventive and maintenance magic all the time. I'm not saying that people should believe in things the same way I believe in them.

What I am saying is, hey.

Isn't it kind of weird that some witches seem to have worldviews that frame their a lot of their own magic as inherently dangerous and unbalanced?

Isn't it also kind of weird how many witches say they wish they could be doing more magic?

But no, not that kind of magic. There's no problem to chase, and that kind of prevention isn't for them, they're not a main character. No, not that kind of magic, it's at high risk of being destructive. No, not that kind of magic, that would constitute stealing from others. No, not that kind of magic, that's unethical. No, not that kind of magic, it might have unintended consequences. Also, it's unethical. Also, it's cheating.

I kind of have a conspiracy theory, okay. It's that many witches who start out eschewing spiritual hygiene (like, cleansing and protection routines) do so because they want to establish that the magical ecosystem around them isn't inherently dangerous or bad. They don't want to be the kinds of witches who think all this magic stuff is dangerous.

And I agree with that. The magical world around us isn't inherently dangerous or bad. Not any more dangerous than the mundane world around us.

But I do think a lot of witches do view their own magic as dangerous and bad. Sometimes that badness is because magic is seen as inherently destructive (like cleansing that destroy, money spells that kill and maim relatives, and job spells that strip free will from hiring managers).

At other times, the badness stems from scrupulosity: that using magic itself is inherently immoral. Protection is bad because using it demonstrates self-centeredness and egotism. Money spells are bad because you're stealing (or cheating). Binding spells are bad because you're putting your needs before others. Conjuring anything at all - from a new friend to a lucky break - may be a bit selfish, I mean, can you imagine someone who could do magic just conjuring things for themselves, instead of only helping others?

And then witches wonder how they're meant to engage in their path, when there's hardly any magic that a moral, well-balanced person would ever do.

I read a bunch of people for unnecessarily cleansing their decks but didn’t actually provide any alternatives! So I wanted to describe some of the ways I troubleshoot my tarot decks. Please, please, please feel free to add on.

Sleep on it. Literally. My favorite way of working through some wonky readings is to sleep with my deck under my pillow. I like to do it for 3 nights but you can really go as long as you want. You may have some pretty crazy dreams, but I like to think that means it’s working.

Change things up. If you’re dealing with repetitive answers, change how you approach it. Whether that means changing your spread, your question, your shuffling technique or a secret fourth thing.

Put the bitch down. I have found that doing readings too often can muddle them together (well, I’ve had trouble with reading for myself too frequently. Multiple people in a day is fine, but draining). Taking a break of even just a couple days can make all the difference.

Make an offering. Your tarot deck has a spirit too! Appreciate what it does for you and give it a gift. It could be a symbolic offering, like food, alcohol or some incense, or a new case to live in.

Give it a recharge. It might be acting funky because it’s tapped out. Use whichever is your preferred charging method. I like moonlight and sunlight (ironically, they are also cleansing methods, but it’s all about intention at that point).

Ask it what’s up. If you ask your deck why it’s acting out, it may just tell you what’s going on. Maybe it wants one of the other solutions, maybe it wants something else.

As a follow-up to this post.

This follow-up in particular is very path-based, but my practice isn't horribly unique and so maybe it's a useful rumination for others. (Very TradCraft flavored, do with it as you like)

All of the ideas in the first post are based on the assumption that the spirits you've contacted are patient, insightful, knowledgeable, honest, and willing to work with you to help you accurately receive their messages.

In many cases that just isn't true at all! So what if you're pretty sure you're having valid experiences - but you can't get past a plateau of seemingly shallow encounters where nothing much is gained?

Here are my thoughts, troubleshooting FAQ style:

Even when helpful spirits are called, they need time to get to know you

Spirits are not omnipotent, they need to get their information much in the same way we do: via observation, experience, and exchange.

When meeting new spirits you haven't had a chance to build a strong relationship with, if you get answers that seem kind of obvious and expected to you, there's a chance that the spirit:

Hasn't had time to think about it

Doesn't have enough context to give you any additional insight

Doesn't feel like they owe you a lot of their energy to help you out

If a spirit just met you for the first time, or you've had a few short meditation sessions where almost no information is shared, how are they supposed to know you well enough to give personalized guidance?

I believe people are particularly susceptible to this when they're working with a rotating roster of spirits that are supposed to be the good spirits of their practice, but never end up building a close relationship with any of them.

If you think this may be a problem for you, see if there's an opportunity to delve into a close relationship with one spirit who can act as your helper and guide to establish deeper relationships with important allies.

The spirit actually does not know

A helpful spirit may be called for, but an unhelpful spirit may appear for any number of reasons, such as:

The practitioner put no magical technology in place (primarily wards) to limit who is actually able to respond to the call

The intended spirits arrived, but the practitioner wrongly assumed they would have helpful information

The helpful spirit did arrive, but they don't have the information on hand: they have to go get it and bring it back to you

In such a case, depending on the benevolence of the spirit and how much they care about you, answers to your questions can range widely from not answering at all, giving you generic advice, telling you what you want to hear, or outright deceiving you (perhaps either as a lark, or because they sense offerings may be coughed up).

In this sense, cookie-cutter or "I just heard what I expected to hear" messages can be a result of the spirit not having anything deeper to say. It might not matter how much context you share; they just don't know how to help you (or they don't want to help you).

If you're not making space in the meeting to hash out the logistics (did the right spirit arrive, can they actually help and under what circumstances, etc), then in my opinion it's unrealistic to expect the spirit to stop the meeting and tell you information you never asked for. I mean, how is the spirit supposed to know they weren't who you really wanted to talk to?

If you open up encounters by immediately asking your discussion questions and you're getting a lot of generic answers, a solution might be to ensure there's space at the beginning of encounters to ensure that the spirit is actually equipped to help you and is willing to do so, and then confirm under what conditions that help will be provided.

You're asking generic questions

Downvote me if you must, but you can ask "how can I be a kinder person" to ChatGPT and get some solid output.

What's the point in asking that question to the spirits you know? Do you think they're going to say something ChatGPT won't?

Perhaps a hot take, but if you want specific answers that reveal something about the nature of the spirit, then you're going to have to be vulnerable and reveal your real problems, needs, and desires.

If you want help with problems, bring your problems to the table!

If you want generic, cookie-cutter answers, then ask generic, cookie-cutter questions.

If you want personalized guidance, ask questions about your specific circumstances. But I think also very importantly, ask the spirits what they would do.

I think a counter-problem to this is that it can really highlight when the spirit you've called has nothing to say. Just because spirits are powerful, wise, and knowledgeable doesn't mean they necessarily have an opinion on that, or special insight into that kind of situation.

The spirit does know/could help, but they know you're just screwing around

Have you ever asked for advice from a spirit, completely ignored the advice you received, and then went back a bit later and asked for the same advice?

(If we count tarot cards as being spirits then I think the percentage of witches that have done this can be rounded to 100!)

I believe that the spirits will eventually lose respect for mutual interactions when it's clear that the practitioner is just coming around to get their fortune cookie of the week and has no intention of actually ever letting the encounters impact their life.

I think it's a decent rule of thumb to not ask the spirits for advice unless you're prepared to actually sit down and confront the advice you're given.

I'm not saying all spirit messages should be accepted and integrated - far from it! But if it's not worthy of a good think, if the advice literally has zero impact on you at all - then what's the point?

Even if you sit down and say, "I've thought about it and I don't want to take that advice because [I'm not ready/I don't want to go in that direction/I disagree with the philosophy/I think it will go badly]," then at least that spirit interaction has helped you grow in some way or another. It was a stepping stone that got you to process an idea, at least!

But if you're taking spirit advice and it just fades into the background, you don't accept it or reject it, maybe it just kinds of sits on your shoulders with a vague aura of guilt that you'll get around to it, a background anxiety that you're not sure it was real contact so maybe it's best not to interact with the message at all...

Why should the spirits keep offering you genuine advice when they see it's going straight into the garbage can?