Some of the attitudes towards spirits right now seem to be a bit…. degrading, and I’d like to tackle that.
For the life of me I could not find it, but there’s a post somewhere on this godforsaken website pointing out that trans boys (I believe it focused on trans boys) are treated as uwu precious pretty marshmallows uwu by some people on tumblr, and not only is said attitude preteen but it’s uncomfortable. We’re people, not fictional characters, and not everyone wants to be degraded into an uwu pretty boy aesthetic that must be protected.
While the situations are different, the spirit companion community is uncomfortably reminiscent of that issue.
The act itself of matching bound spirits is not necessarily degrading when consent is present and everyone is properly informed, that is not the point of this post. But the attitude towards the spirits can easily turn this into a degrading practice. That is clearly seen with those who treat them as collector’s items or pets, and no one wishes to lump themselves into that category.
But on the opposite side of the spectrum? There can still exist issues.
Spirits are people. We all realize that, but real people do not exist to be treated as children. Some of the attitudes I’ve been seeing recently are more appropriate for your OCs than a living being with freedom and independent thought. They aren’t precious little children to giggle over and pat on the head, they aren’t fuzzy pets to take care of, they aren’t something to fit neatly into an aesthetic. Those kind of attitudes are demeaning. They’re demeaning when real people are treated in such a manner, and they’re demeaning to spirits as well.
Just because we are not all ultra formal with our spirits doesn’t mean they lose their dignity. While some may consent to being shown that attitude, you need to have an actual relationship with the spirit before doing so (yes, that would be weird and creepy towards strangers) and actually make sure they are okay with it. The entirety of spirits are most certainly not to be treated as precious children to be protected and you should never assume that a spirit is comfortable with an attitude typically seen as demeaning outside of preteen tumblr. It implies they are too weak to care for themselves.
Not being pets also means that your spirit companions do not need to be taken care of. They are self sufficient, they lived without you and will continue to take care of themselves. If they are too young to take full care of themselves or to know how to do so, that is an issue. If they are in a situation, such as former abuse, which means they may need help to do so, you seriously need to have prior spirit working experience to be helping that spirit and are going to be spending a large amount of time and energy to prepare and live with them. Otherwise, the relationship strikes me more as a toy to give you brownie points as a kind person and the spirit is not in the optimal situation.
Whether or not they require assistance, treating people as if they can’t take care of themselves is demeaning. It makes the majority of adults uncomfortable to be treated in such a manner, and these boundaries do not fade simply because the being is nonphysical. You are implying that they cannot take care of themselves – like a pet.
Spirits should not be entirely reliant on their companion. In physical relationships this is easily recognized as a power imbalance and is dangerous no matter the type of relationship.
Your spirit friends do not need you. They have a home to live in without you, they are capable of caring for themselves, and they should not be in a position where they must rely on you for survival. There should be no issues with them leaving and living without you, otherwise they are not free and that is not a balanced relationship.
Spirits matched in shops should not be of these positions. That is a red flag if they are treated with the independence of a pet. If a spirit cannot possibly wait any longer for interest in them…. They are not ready and should not be offered. If they will have difficulty caring for themselves or a decreased quality of life if separation occurs, they should not be offered. If they are being treated more like fictional characters than people, I must heavily question the shop.
I realize that this coddling attitude is a common joke in tumblr, but it has grown to the point where some of you are completely serious with it. Not everyone is treating it like a joke and recognizing that the spirits are real people. Newbs are coming in and seeing that this attitude is the normal interaction they should be having, because almost everything I see coming out of this tag involves spirits being treated as helpless. Yes, that includes shop blogs.
Y’all talk big about spirits not being pets, now put your actions where your mouth is. Hell, your mouth ain’t even there.
Tag: spirits
How to Meet Local Spirits
(Revamp of my answer to this ask [x])
Local spirits are the spirits that are constantly around us, in the forests, on the beaches, in schools, in homes, etc. They can be ghosts, mythological creatures, entities never mentioned in lore before and more. Their personalities and friendliness towards humans can vary quite a bit, especially depending on where you live. Think of them as your spirit neighbors. Some might remain as such for the entire time that you know them, others might become your companions or maybe even your rivals! The important thing is that you respectfully interact with them and be aware of their boundaries.
There’s two main ways that I’ve found to make contact with local spirits: call them to you or go outside and meet them in the places they live. Calling them to you is actually kind of a similar concept to conjuring except that you are only calling to the spirits that live in your area and that there’s no guarantee that they’ll show up. Going out is like a scientist going on a field study for an organism that they’re interested in: might find them, might not, and if it’s spirits we’re talking about then might find but they don’t want to be interacted with.
That’s the biggest thing to remember when working with local spirits, that not all spirits are interested in interacting with humans. In fact, many spirits couldn’t care less about humans or even actively have ways to prevent humans from meeting them. You should respect spirits that don’t want to be worked with. If you really want to work with a particular group then you could try negotiating with them or slowly building up a relationship with them in order to see if they will eventually be willing. Just don’t force any spirit to interact or speak with you, that will end badly for you every time.
Safety
Spirit work isn’t always the safest thing and there’s many ways that you can be harmed. The most important thing to have is a protective circle. It will protect you from many things and can actually be very versatile. Obviously this is hard to make when going out and meeting spirits so we’ll separate the safety procedures for each technique.
Going Out to Meet the Spirits
When going out not only is it harder to bring and set up materials, you’re also in public a lot of the time which limits what you can do. That is why personal warding is important. Personal warding can take the form of energy shields, protective amulets, etc. These are things that should be prepared before going out with the intent of meeting spirits so that they are ready in case you do get attacked.
Calling the Spirits
Calling the spirits comes with the risk of inviting unknown entities into your home. That is why it is important to have wards and a protective circle. The circle will protect you if they try to attack you during the meeting while the wards will prevent them from getting back in after being banished. Generic wards are basic spirit work stuff so I’m not going to go into them here.
A circle, however, can be made in many different ways. The most important thing to keep in mind is that it has protective elements that you feel are helpful to you, not what some list on the internet says. You could take from traditional circles and use them as a template for creating your own or you can completely make a new style of circle. The possibilities are endless! Some things you might want to include are protective stones, the names of deities you work with, protective words or sigils, candles, etc. Any physical item you use should have a designated spot for it. Your orientation of the elements of the circle is also important, or well it can be if you ascribe that importance! Perhaps you use the four elements to protect you in your circle and you associate them with a particular direction for example.
When you decide on what the circle should look like, practice making and using it! You can draw it out on an old sheet so that you don’t have to keep remaking it, you can set out physical items in the shape of a circle or you can create it with energy if you’re good at that. However you make it, it’s important to get used to being in it and the energy that goes into “activating” it. Activating it usually involves calling upon whatever makes up the circle to protect you. Sticking with the element example, you’d activate is by calling for Fire, Water, Earth, and Air to protect you. Once you are done with the circle, you must close it. This usually means allowing whatever you called upon to depart but in the reverse order from before. Try it out, play around with it, find or create whatever procedure that is comfortable to you.
When speaking with spirits, do not let them in no matter how much they try to persuade you. Also, do not leave the circle until you are sure that they are gone. That’s why you should keep any banishing tools and the like on hand so you don’t have to run and fetch them. If you don’t follow both of those rules then what’s the point of making the circle?
[There’s many different ways to use a circle, this is just a generic explanation of it].
Calling the Spirits to You
This process includes creating a call of energy and sending it out into the “energy network” of your local area. Spirits in the area can hear this call and choose whether or not to answer it and show up.
Tools needed: An offering for the spirit that you are calling, any banishing tools, any physical items that make up your circle, a wand if you need/use one, and any communication tools if you need them.
Making the Call: Cast your circle, set your offering outside of it and get into a clear state of mind where you can access your energy. Say the call, either out loud or in your head, doesn’t matter. It can be anything but basically along the lines of “I call to any [spirit name] that would be interested in speaking with me for [an interview]. In return, I have an offering of [the offering]”. You can call them for any reason but like I’ve mentioned before, they’re not obligated to come. As you say the call, form the energy of your words into a ball of energy in front of you. This is where you can use your wand to help channel the energy easier. Visualization also helps here. Once it is formed and stable, send it out in all directions into the environment. I usually just shoot a quick burst of energy at it to give it the momentum to move fast but you can flick your wrist/wand or do whatever it is you normally do to send energy out.
Even after you finish saying the call, you can feed more energy into the energy ball if you want the call to be “louder” and travel farther. This can be dangerous though because since the call is made from your energy, it is connected to you and that’s how the spirits who answer your call can find you. When the call reaches the limits of its strength it disappears and all links to you are gone. However, the stronger you make it, the longer it is out in the environment and the more likely unexpected spirits can trace you. So basically, don’t make the call too powerful.
Meeting the Spirit: If the call isn’t made too strong (aka the amount of energy that the sample call above makes) then at most, it should take 10 minutes for the call’s energy to die out (usually not actually that long but it’s good to be safe). After you finish speaking with the spirit, thank them for coming and allow them to leave. Make sure that they are actually gone before closing your circle. If a spirit doesn’t appear within that time you can either resend the call or close your circle and try again later.
Notes: Creating the call doesn’t guarantee that a spirit will show up. It also doesn’t mean that the spirit who shows up is the spirit that you called to. I mean in the four years that I’ve been using this technique, I’ve never had the “wrong” spirit show up but I find it very hard to believe that it’s not possible. Both of these are reasons why it’s important to have the basic techniques for being able to sense a spirit’s presence and determine their identity.
Going Out and Meeting Spirits
This process is much more straightforward. You essentially go out to places in your area like beaches, parks, schools, etc., see if you can sense any spirits, and then see if any are interested in talking with you.
Tools needed: Any protective amulets or items that you have and an offering for any spirits you may come across
I don’t have much explanation for this because it ain’t much more complex than that. If you don’t know who you’re going to meet, generic offerings to bring include water, alcohol, bread, rice, tobacco, etc. If you know of an offering that the spirits where you’re headed would prefer then bring that. No matter what you bring do not leave anything that will pollute the environment. Any food offerings you bring should be in a container and then properly disposed of, not thrown on the ground for example.
Set out the offering and ask if anyone wants it. You can also respectfully approach anyone you see and ask if they would want it. If they decline your offer, then don’t press them. Just give them a “okay, sorry for bothering you” and leave. Be respectful when interacting with them, you are on their territory after all.
Also be smart about who you approach. If someone’s energy makes you feel uncomfortable or they’re a species or have an affiliation with a group that is known to be hostile, then be aware that you may need to defend yourself if you choose to approach them and things go sour. Of course not all bad-feeling spirits are actually bad, not all good-feeling spirits are actually good, and first impressions can be misleading. Just trust your intuition and be prepared for the worst in case it happens.
What to Do if You Are in Danger
It’ll happen. Not all spirits are friendly and many might look at you as prey or something to mess with. The most important thing to do is stay calm. When a spirit attacks, it can be very scary so I know that keeping a clear head isn’t always the easiest of things in that situation. That is why you should develop a clear plan for dealing with attacks beforehand and have all the tools that you need already prepared. If it’ll help, write down a basic procedure for banishing and keep it in your pocket or somewhere else that spirits won’t be able to easily see. That way even if you’re freaking out, you’ll have a lifeline telling you what to do.
Calling the Spirits
If a spirit attacks, tries to force their way into your circle, or suddenly acts hostile, banish immediately. It’s best not to take any chances. Once they are banished, cleanse the area and reinforce your wards. Sometimes spirits may do something that might make you uncomfortable but you don’t feel as though it’s bad enough to warrant forcing them out. You can simply ask them to leave or let them know that the behavior will not be tolerated. If they ignore your request, banish them. It’s possible that a spirit isn’t aware that they might be making you uncomfortable and so talking it out first before immediately jumping to banishing (if they’re not actively attacking you) could be beneficial for both of you. Just remember to be firm in your boundaries and don’t let the spirit persuade you into letting them go.
Reasons not to banish a spirit:
If they look “scary”. Their appearance doesn’t always reflect their personality. For some, that’s just the way that they were born.
If they’re a “demon”. Demon is a very useless, broad term that describes a myriad of entities all of which have different personalities and moralities. “Demon” is not the equivalent of “evil”.
Going out and Meeting the Spirits
The difference here is that you can’t really banish spirits when you visit them at their homes. That’d be like going over to a friend’s house and trying to kick them out. If a spirit attacks you while you’re away from your protected space, the best you can do is get out of there. If you came prepared with proper protection then it should be able to buy you enough time to escape. Depending on the situation, the attacking spirit may or may not be interested in chasing you. So, sometimes “escaping” can be simply removing yourself from the area immediately as the spirit is just acting aggressive so that you’ll back off. But other times, you may need to do a little more than that. If you suspect that you got followed home, perform a banishing of your property and cleanse yourself and the area. Then reinforce your wards.
The one thing that I have to say is that you need to be cognizant of why that spirit is attacking you. More specifically, you need to be aware of when your actions provoke a spirit to attack. Did you infringe upon their territory? Did you bother them after they told you that they didn’t want to interact? You are out in their realm, just as a spirit that you invite into your house should respect you, you should respect spirits when you meet them at their homes.
Which Process Should You Use?
It depends on what “level” of spirit work you’re at and what you want to accomplish. Calling a spirit to you is definitely requires an intermediate skill level in energy and spirit work whereas going out and meeting them only requires that you be able to sense and communicate with spirits. However, when you call a spirit to you, they’re more likely to be willing to talk since that’s what they came for according to your call. You’re also more protected since you’re able to have your circle and tools right at hand. Spirits that you simply meet outside aren’t always going to want to speak and it’s a bit harder to protect against them. So which process should you use? Both.
Not all spirits are interested in answering a call but they may be willing to talk with you come across them when outside. Sometimes, you need a long conversation with a spirit which is where calling them will be more useful. Calling them might even seem more convenient but I think that it’s important that you learn about the spirits around you by going out and meeting them before calling them to you. It not only helps you get a better idea of the community but it also lets spirits get a better idea of who you are.
This is a spread I did to communicate with my guardian angel (hence the background drawing) and my dragon companion, so I’ve used it with guardian spirits too, and I’d use it for deities too. (My guardian angels gets so flustered when I ask if there’s anything I can do for him, says I don’t have to do anything for him. In the end he asked to sit together to browse pastel blue and pink stuff. He’s so cute.)
How to Open the Veil
The Veil is what separates our physical realm from the spirit world. By opening it, we’re able to communicate more freely with spirits. Essentially, you’ll be making a door and opening it in order to reach the spirit realm.
Disclaimer: I’m not an expert at this, please don’t take my word as the final say. I just started practicing this technique and was taught by a close friend. Always be safe when you practice because if you’re not careful, you can get into some shit. I’m writing this post by popular demand.
STEP 1: BE SAFE. The picture above is a little preview of the layout I used in my own dorm room. It’s hard to see, but I first drew a chalk circle and sprinkled black salt all along the edges of said circle. I also put four crystals at each end to mark it. Why do I have so much shit everywhere?? Because I don’t want anything to come through the door I created and cause problems. This circle keeps unwanted spirits out. (Granted, you don’t have to use as many things as I did. I find that a physical circle is just easier to visualize.) You can also use candles or anything else that works for you!
STEP 2: MARK THE DOOR. I used sun and moon candle holders with electric candles in them (since I live in a dorm and can’t use real candles). I set them apart from each other, like I was making, well, a door. Then I used some Super-Moon water to draw a line between the two candle holders to amplify my energy. Finally, I also sprinkled a line of black salt to stop unwanted and harmful spirits from coming through the door.
STEP 3: RELAX. Get into the state of mind you need to be in to do witchy stuff. Meditation, grounding, singing–whatever you need to do to access your energy.
STEP 4: STRETCH YOUR ENERGY. Whenever you feel ready, slowly pool energy into you palms. Then push it through the marked entrance where your door is going to be, imagining it as a thread, string, or cord connecting to the spirit realm. This might be difficult, especially if the veil isn’t exactly thin where you’re at. You may feel your energy bounce back, or that you’re hitting a wall. If you do, don’t worry! You can always pull back, gather your energy, and try again.
STEP 5: CREATE A BRIDGE. You’ll know the moment when your energy connects to the spirit realm. It feels different for every person–for me, it’s almost like this tug in my gut and the feeling of a thread connecting my hands and body to something else. Once you feel that, it’s really up to you on how you want to create the bridge! For me, what works best is when I imagine myself walking across the thread of my energy towards the spirit realm. As I walk, my energy begins to create the bridge. There might be another door on the other side once you cross the bridge (it’s really up to how you visualize). If there is, open it.
STEP 6: OPEN THE DOOR. Once you’ve made the bridge, feel and hold on to that connection. Then, imagine a door leading to the bridge through the physical boundaries you created earlier. This door can look however you like–whatever’s easiest for you to imagine! Then, use your energy to pry open the door. After that…
Congrats! You’ve successfully opened a door to the spirit realm! You should be able to feel the difference in energies. It’s kind of hard to explain how it feels–almost like this vast, empty expanse and the chattering of lots of different spirits floating around.
When you’re done…
CLOSE THE DOOR. If you invited any spirits in to chat, say goodbye to the spirit(s) that you communicated with and ask them to leave. Make sure they leave before you close the door. If they refuse to, you might have to force them via your own energy (obviously, this is in the worst of situations. Try not to be rude if possible!). We’ve had to do this before and it’s not the most pleasant thing (haha).
To close the door, pull your energy out from the spirit realm. Imagine that bridge you created crumbling, until you can no longer feel that connection. Once you’re out, close the door, seal it up, and do anything else that feels necessary in order to break the opening. For me, I usually make a breaking motion with my hands to signify the cut-off connection. You can chant or say an incantation if you like as well. This is important, because you definitely don’t want to leave a door open for spirit to come through willy nilly!
Other Info
- PLEASE BE CAREFUL!! If you’re not cautious, some bad spirits might be able to get through and that’s never fun. If possible, try this first with someone else (preferably someone who knows more of what they’re doing). If you can’t, make sure you have multiple backups, wards, and other witchy things to keep bad spirits at bay.
- If you want to invite a spirit to chat, it’s probably a good idea to have an offering around, just to be polite. Tarot cards, pendulums, etc. are pretty awesome tools to use if you’re not great at telepathic communication!
- Take everything spirits say with a grain of salt. They can lie just like people.
I hope this was helpful to those that asked! If anyone wants to add anything, feel free to. I’m by no means an expert, so if someone wants to add their expertise advise please do! If something doesn’t feel right, go with your gut–never do something you’re not comfortable with.
Be safe, fellow spirit workers and witches!
-Llama
🎈Quiet Ways To Interact With Spirit Companions🎈
I see lots of posts on how to communicate and interact with spirit companions, and they’re great, but many involve lengthy conversation (or one-sided dialogue) between the human and their companion. Even if the dialogue is all through thought, some people prefer to be quiet inside and out, so here’s some tips for you quiet friends!
🎈Draw something that your spirit companion will like, or that has meaning to you both.
🎈Lie down and just relax with your companion. No words necessary, just feel each other’s presence.
🎈If your companion has a vessel, hold it or touch it and meditate.
🎈Communicate through feeling, instead of talking. Let your companion feel what you feel, and allow yourself to feel what they feel.
🎈Make two cups of tea or coffee and drink with your companion.
🎈Read a book, watch a movie, or play a game, and let your companion watch/read along.
🎈Go on a walk in nature with your companion.
🎈Play Solitaire or other one-person games, and let your companion help/play through you.
Working With Spirits for Beginners
Before starting:
Protection! Be it sigils or wards or poppet decoys or crystals or any of the like, make sure you have some sort of protection from mal intent.
Ask yourself, where am I wanting this path to take me? Are you wanting to have spirit teachers and learn new things? Are you wanting to be a medium? Are you wanting to gain some friends? Are you wanting to connect to different cultures and histories? These kinds of questions will help you decide where to start and where to go from there!
Finding spirits:
One thing that you can research is having a spirit companion! There are several blogs that I can’t think of off the top of my head that do personal conjurings, and other basically adoption centers! If you do that, I would look for more beginner type spirits or just the ones that call out to you!
If you don’t want a companion and are looking for something a little less permanent, I would look around you for something familiar. Plants around you, your local cemetery, your favorite hike, seashells, crystals, bones, or any of that that you may have. Most things have some spirit attached to them, including man-made objects, although those tend to be small colonies speaking through a representative (I can make a post on this later if you want).
Starting Points:
There are two main starting points from here. Sensing the spirits, and communication. You can decide to focus on one, or even both! I recommend starting with one at a time tho.
Sensing:
start reaching out, trying to find something. It’s different for everyone, and it’s not something that you can feel and say, this is it. You have to learn to trust yourself. And even if you don’t, fake it ‘til you make it! For me, feeling a spirit’s presence is subtle, but for others, it can be a really jarring experience.
Communication:
You can use tarot, telepathy, pendulum, ouija boards, oracle, images, runes, or anything similar! If using telepathy, ask yourself the question, ‘was that reply me talking?’ and if your answer is immediately yes, then it was you. But if you have a moment of doubt, believe that it was your spirit!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! I’ll do my best to answer.
Reminder to everyone that we have Gwen still up!! I know not everyone likes spiders but if you could at least boost her, that would be awesome. Gwen hasn’t gotten much attention which is unfortunate because she’s such a sweetheart <333
~Mod Wisp
Spirit Communication Tips
Since I just opened my spirit companion shop recently, I wanted to share some tips for you guys! These tips will generally help in connecting with unbound spirits, but can be useful in spirit communication with companions as well!
Things to keep in mind before doing any sort of spirit work:
- Believe in yourself, belief holds power
- Let go of doubt, stop worrying about accuracy
- Your intent holds incredible power, be aware of it
- Feel and sense first, analyse last
- Release all expectations of what will happen
- Release all tension and preconceived notions
- Balance your energy, empty your mind
- Research personality ties of colours/elements/etc
- Don’t rely on divination, especially not at first
As for the communication with a spirit:
- Find your intent for spirit communication. Attempt to picture it in your mind, try to perceive it the best way you can. It does not need to be anything specific, but what you think is what you invite, more or less. Understand well what you want to draw to you, and make sure you don’t let your mind wander while you are doing this. If you wish to communicate with a companion, picture them, their energy, and what you want out of the communication with them.
- You can also create a visual space in your mind to have your conversation in. This is more along the lines of astral travel, but you will receive the same sort of impressions, it just might appear more fluid. Typically this takes a lot more focus though and you’ll miss out on impressions outside of visual impressions. I don’t suggest this for communicating with a spirit that you are unfamiliar with.
- Associate your intent with something physical. If you want to communicate with a spirit that is emotionally forward, you will probably want a spirit of the water element. Having a cup or bowl of water will assist in drawing a spirit of that nature to you by giving them another medium. Be as creative as you wish with this, whatever physically expresses your desire for spirit communication will do. In the case of a spirit companion, this will suffice as an offering or a gift to them!
- Contact can come through in small pieces, or large chucks of information, and is often garbled and hard to process. Let the information come to you but don’t process it as it does. Also be patient! When just starting out you might only get the impression of a colour, or a feeling! Do not be discouraged.
- Spirit communication can happen by request, but it can also happen quite randomly. Always be aware that a spirit can communicate with you at any time, if for whatever reason they are drawn to the activity you are doing, or your energy.
- Some contact may seem insignificant, but don’t dismiss any impressions, even if they are simply of a certain colour or smell, they most always have a deeper meaning
- Contact may be visual, audible, or sensory, don’t dismiss the medium of communication either. It can be a combination of all of the above, or even just one of the above.
- Contact might not be triggered when you expect it to! Even a change in the weather, or a song on the radio can pave the path to having an impression or contact from a spirit. If you’re not seeing results, spice things up a bit, try a slightly different approach!
- Go with your first thought of belief, don’t second guess or question anything, not yet anyway. Feel and sense first.
- Pay attention to patterns and coincidence! Having a good understanding of mathematical probability will help you distinguish when a spirit is influencing your environment and when they are not. This is particularly useful during divination! I always know a spirit isn’t communicating with me, or is not at a good energy level to communicate because the results are random and don’t follow a pattern that makes sense. So I think it is important to keep an eye out for patterns and coincidence in your life, even though it is not directly obvious as communication, it is.
- Write it all down, don’t think about it just write down everything that comes to mind, scribble all the impressions that come to you no matter how much sense they make at the time. They’re all puzzle pieces to a puzzle that you’ll process later, might be months later. Do not dismiss anything as not spirit contact if that is the first thing that comes to mind. You do not need to confirm it, just write it down! If it becomes a pattern that is your confirmation.
- Hold off on divination until you have experienced impressions from a spirit, and have some understanding of their energy and a pattern of their behaviour. When starting to confirm your spirit communication with divination, ask questions you already know the answer to! It will take time to channel the spirit through a reading, so don’t ask hard questions until you see a pattern of accurate results. I wish it was as simple as just doing a reading with a spirit you don’t know, but it takes familiarity for an extremely accurate reading.
- Practice all of this often, even if you don’t get results, results and better accuracy come with time. It takes a considerable amount of energy to receive information from a spirit, which only comes with practice and becoming accustomed to doing so.
I hope this assists at least some of you in your spirit work and with your companions! Don’t forget that my ask box is always open, no matter how silly your question might seem!
How to Meet Local Spirits
(Revamp of my answer to this ask [x])
Local spirits are the spirits that are constantly around us, in the forests, on the beaches, in schools, in homes, etc. They can be ghosts, mythological creatures, entities never mentioned in lore before and more. Their personalities and friendliness towards humans can vary quite a bit, especially depending on where you live. Think of them as your spirit neighbors. Some might remain as such for the entire time that you know them, others might become your companions or maybe even your rivals! The important thing is that you respectfully interact with them and be aware of their boundaries.
There’s two main ways that I’ve found to make contact with local spirits: call them to you or go outside and meet them in the places they live. Calling them to you is actually kind of a similar concept to conjuring except that you are only calling to the spirits that live in your area and that there’s no guarantee that they’ll show up. Going out is like a scientist going on a field study for an organism that they’re interested in: might find them, might not, and if it’s spirits we’re talking about then might find but they don’t want to be interacted with.
That’s the biggest thing to remember when working with local spirits, that not all spirits are interested in interacting with humans. In fact, many spirits couldn’t care less about humans or even actively have ways to prevent humans from meeting them. You should respect spirits that don’t want to be worked with. If you really want to work with a particular group then you could try negotiating with them or slowly building up a relationship with them in order to see if they will eventually be willing. Just don’t force any spirit to interact or speak with you, that will end badly for you every time.
Safety
Spirit work isn’t always the safest thing and there’s many ways that you can be harmed. The most important thing to have is a protective circle. It will protect you from many things and can actually be very versatile. Obviously this is hard to make when going out and meeting spirits so we’ll separate the safety procedures for each technique.
Going Out to Meet the Spirits
When going out not only is it harder to bring and set up materials, you’re also in public a lot of the time which limits what you can do. That is why personal warding is important. Personal warding can take the form of energy shields, protective amulets, etc. These are things that should be prepared before going out with the intent of meeting spirits so that they are ready in case you do get attacked.
Calling the Spirits
Calling the spirits comes with the risk of inviting unknown entities into your home. That is why it is important to have wards and a protective circle. The circle will protect you if they try to attack you during the meeting while the wards will prevent them from getting back in after being banished. Generic wards are basic spirit work stuff so I’m not going to go into them here.
A circle, however, can be made in many different ways. The most important thing to keep in mind is that it has protective elements that you feel are helpful to you, not what some list on the internet says. You could take from traditional circles and use them as a template for creating your own or you can completely make a new style of circle. The possibilities are endless! Some things you might want to include are protective stones, the names of deities you work with, protective words or sigils, candles, etc. Any physical item you use should have a designated spot for it. Your orientation of the elements of the circle is also important, or well it can be if you ascribe that importance! Perhaps you use the four elements to protect you in your circle and you associate them with a particular direction for example.
When you decide on what the circle should look like, practice making and using it! You can draw it out on an old sheet so that you don’t have to keep remaking it, you can set out physical items in the shape of a circle or you can create it with energy if you’re good at that. However you make it, it’s important to get used to being in it and the energy that goes into “activating” it. Activating it usually involves calling upon whatever makes up the circle to protect you. Sticking with the element example, you’d activate is by calling for Fire, Water, Earth, and Air to protect you. Once you are done with the circle, you must close it. This usually means allowing whatever you called upon to depart but in the reverse order from before. Try it out, play around with it, find or create whatever procedure that is comfortable to you.
When speaking with spirits, do not let them in no matter how much they try to persuade you. Also, do not leave the circle until you are sure that they are gone. That’s why you should keep any banishing tools and the like on hand so you don’t have to run and fetch them. If you don’t follow both of those rules then what’s the point of making the circle?
[There’s many different ways to use a circle, this is just a generic explanation of it].
Calling the Spirits to You
This process includes creating a call of energy and sending it out into the “energy network” of your local area. Spirits in the area can hear this call and choose whether or not to answer it and show up.
Tools needed: An offering for the spirit that you are calling, any banishing tools, any physical items that make up your circle, a wand if you need/use one, and any communication tools if you need them.
Making the Call: Cast your circle, set your offering outside of it and get into a clear state of mind where you can access your energy. Say the call, either out loud or in your head, doesn’t matter. It can be anything but basically along the lines of “I call to any [spirit name] that would be interested in speaking with me for [an interview]. In return, I have an offering of [the offering]”. You can call them for any reason but like I’ve mentioned before, they’re not obligated to come. As you say the call, form the energy of your words into a ball of energy in front of you. This is where you can use your wand to help channel the energy easier. Visualization also helps here. Once it is formed and stable, send it out in all directions into the environment. I usually just shoot a quick burst of energy at it to give it the momentum to move fast but you can flick your wrist/wand or do whatever it is you normally do to send energy out.
Even after you finish saying the call, you can feed more energy into the energy ball if you want the call to be “louder” and travel farther. This can be dangerous though because since the call is made from your energy, it is connected to you and that’s how the spirits who answer your call can find you. When the call reaches the limits of its strength it disappears and all links to you are gone. However, the stronger you make it, the longer it is out in the environment and the more likely unexpected spirits can trace you. So basically, don’t make the call too powerful.
Meeting the Spirit: If the call isn’t made too strong (aka the amount of energy that the sample call above makes) then at most, it should take 10 minutes for the call’s energy to die out (usually not actually that long but it’s good to be safe). After you finish speaking with the spirit, thank them for coming and allow them to leave. Make sure that they are actually gone before closing your circle. If a spirit doesn’t appear within that time you can either resend the call or close your circle and try again later.
Notes: Creating the call doesn’t guarantee that a spirit will show up. It also doesn’t mean that the spirit who shows up is the spirit that you called to. I mean in the four years that I’ve been using this technique, I’ve never had the “wrong” spirit show up but I find it very hard to believe that it’s not possible. Both of these are reasons why it’s important to have the basic techniques for being able to sense a spirit’s presence and determine their identity.
Going Out and Meeting Spirits
This process is much more straightforward. You essentially go out to places in your area like beaches, parks, schools, etc., see if you can sense any spirits, and then see if any are interested in talking with you.
Tools needed: Any protective amulets or items that you have and an offering for any spirits you may come across
I don’t have much explanation for this because it ain’t much more complex than that. If you don’t know who you’re going to meet, generic offerings to bring include water, alcohol, bread, rice, tobacco, etc. If you know of an offering that the spirits where you’re headed would prefer then bring that. No matter what you bring do not leave anything that will pollute the environment. Any food offerings you bring should be in a container and then properly disposed of, not thrown on the ground for example.
Set out the offering and ask if anyone wants it. You can also respectfully approach anyone you see and ask if they would want it. If they decline your offer, then don’t press them. Just give them a “okay, sorry for bothering you” and leave. Be respectful when interacting with them, you are on their territory after all.
Also be smart about who you approach. If someone’s energy makes you feel uncomfortable or they’re a species or have an affiliation with a group that is known to be hostile, then be aware that you may need to defend yourself if you choose to approach them and things go sour. Of course not all bad-feeling spirits are actually bad, not all good-feeling spirits are actually good, and first impressions can be misleading. Just trust your intuition and be prepared for the worst in case it happens.
What to Do if You Are in Danger
It’ll happen. Not all spirits are friendly and many might look at you as prey or something to mess with. The most important thing to do is stay calm. When a spirit attacks, it can be very scary so I know that keeping a clear head isn’t always the easiest of things in that situation. That is why you should develop a clear plan for dealing with attacks beforehand and have all the tools that you need already prepared. If it’ll help, write down a basic procedure for banishing and keep it in your pocket or somewhere else that spirits won’t be able to easily see. That way even if you’re freaking out, you’ll have a lifeline telling you what to do.
Calling the Spirits
If a spirit attacks, tries to force their way into your circle, or suddenly acts hostile, banish immediately. It’s best not to take any chances. Once they are banished, cleanse the area and reinforce your wards. Sometimes spirits may do something that might make you uncomfortable but you don’t feel as though it’s bad enough to warrant forcing them out. You can simply ask them to leave or let them know that the behavior will not be tolerated. If they ignore your request, banish them. It’s possible that a spirit isn’t aware that they might be making you uncomfortable and so talking it out first before immediately jumping to banishing (if they’re not actively attacking you) could be beneficial for both of you. Just remember to be firm in your boundaries and don’t let the spirit persuade you into letting them go.
Reasons not to banish a spirit:
If they look “scary”. Their appearance doesn’t always reflect their personality. For some, that’s just the way that they were born.
If they’re a “demon”. Demon is a very useless, broad term that describes a myriad of entities all of which have different personalities and moralities. “Demon” is not the equivalent of “evil”.
Going out and Meeting the Spirits
The difference here is that you can’t really banish spirits when you visit them at their homes. That’d be like going over to a friend’s house and trying to kick them out. If a spirit attacks you while you’re away from your protected space, the best you can do is get out of there. If you came prepared with proper protection then it should be able to buy you enough time to escape. Depending on the situation, the attacking spirit may or may not be interested in chasing you. So, sometimes “escaping” can be simply removing yourself from the area immediately as the spirit is just acting aggressive so that you’ll back off. But other times, you may need to do a little more than that. If you suspect that you got followed home, perform a banishing of your property and cleanse yourself and the area. Then reinforce your wards.
The one thing that I have to say is that you need to be cognizant of why that spirit is attacking you. More specifically, you need to be aware of when your actions provoke a spirit to attack. Did you infringe upon their territory? Did you bother them after they told you that they didn’t want to interact? You are out in their realm, just as a spirit that you invite into your house should respect you, you should respect spirits when you meet them at their homes.
Which Process Should You Use?
It depends on what “level” of spirit work you’re at and what you want to accomplish. Calling a spirit to you is definitely requires an intermediate skill level in energy and spirit work whereas going out and meeting them only requires that you be able to sense and communicate with spirits. However, when you call a spirit to you, they’re more likely to be willing to talk since that’s what they came for according to your call. You’re also more protected since you’re able to have your circle and tools right at hand. Spirits that you simply meet outside aren’t always going to want to speak and it’s a bit harder to protect against them. So which process should you use? Both.
Not all spirits are interested in answering a call but they may be willing to talk with you come across them when outside. Sometimes, you need a long conversation with a spirit which is where calling them will be more useful. Calling them might even seem more convenient but I think that it’s important that you learn about the spirits around you by going out and meeting them before calling them to you. It not only helps you get a better idea of the community but it also lets spirits get a better idea of who you are.
Spirit Communication Tips
Since I just opened my spirit companion shop recently, I wanted to share some tips for you guys! These tips will generally help in connecting with unbound spirits, but can be useful in spirit communication with companions as well!
Things to keep in mind before doing any sort of spirit work:
- Believe in yourself, belief holds power
- Let go of doubt, stop worrying about accuracy
- Your intent holds incredible power, be aware of it
- Feel and sense first, analyse last
- Release all expectations of what will happen
- Release all tension and preconceived notions
- Balance your energy, empty your mind
- Research personality ties of colours/elements/etc
- Don’t rely on divination, especially not at first
As for the communication with a spirit:
- Find your intent for spirit communication. Attempt to picture it in your mind, try to perceive it the best way you can. It does not need to be anything specific, but what you think is what you invite, more or less. Understand well what you want to draw to you, and make sure you don’t let your mind wander while you are doing this. If you wish to communicate with a companion, picture them, their energy, and what you want out of the communication with them.
- You can also create a visual space in your mind to have your conversation in. This is more along the lines of astral travel, but you will receive the same sort of impressions, it just might appear more fluid. Typically this takes a lot more focus though and you’ll miss out on impressions outside of visual impressions. I don’t suggest this for communicating with a spirit that you are unfamiliar with.
- Associate your intent with something physical. If you want to communicate with a spirit that is emotionally forward, you will probably want a spirit of the water element. Having a cup or bowl of water will assist in drawing a spirit of that nature to you by giving them another medium. Be as creative as you wish with this, whatever physically expresses your desire for spirit communication will do. In the case of a spirit companion, this will suffice as an offering or a gift to them!
- Contact can come through in small pieces, or large chucks of information, and is often garbled and hard to process. Let the information come to you but don’t process it as it does. Also be patient! When just starting out you might only get the impression of a colour, or a feeling! Do not be discouraged.
- Spirit communication can happen by request, but it can also happen quite randomly. Always be aware that a spirit can communicate with you at any time, if for whatever reason they are drawn to the activity you are doing, or your energy.
- Some contact may seem insignificant, but don’t dismiss any impressions, even if they are simply of a certain colour or smell, they most always have a deeper meaning
- Contact may be visual, audible, or sensory, don’t dismiss the medium of communication either. It can be a combination of all of the above, or even just one of the above.
- Contact might not be triggered when you expect it to! Even a change in the weather, or a song on the radio can pave the path to having an impression or contact from a spirit. If you’re not seeing results, spice things up a bit, try a slightly different approach!
- Go with your first thought of belief, don’t second guess or question anything, not yet anyway. Feel and sense first.
- Pay attention to patterns and coincidence! Having a good understanding of mathematical probability will help you distinguish when a spirit is influencing your environment and when they are not. This is particularly useful during divination! I always know a spirit isn’t communicating with me, or is not at a good energy level to communicate because the results are random and don’t follow a pattern that makes sense. So I think it is important to keep an eye out for patterns and coincidence in your life, even though it is not directly obvious as communication, it is.
- Write it all down, don’t think about it just write down everything that comes to mind, scribble all the impressions that come to you no matter how much sense they make at the time. They’re all puzzle pieces to a puzzle that you’ll process later, might be months later. Do not dismiss anything as not spirit contact if that is the first thing that comes to mind. You do not need to confirm it, just write it down! If it becomes a pattern that is your confirmation.
- Hold off on divination until you have experienced impressions from a spirit, and have some understanding of their energy and a pattern of their behaviour. When starting to confirm your spirit communication with divination, ask questions you already know the answer to! It will take time to channel the spirit through a reading, so don’t ask hard questions until you see a pattern of accurate results. I wish it was as simple as just doing a reading with a spirit you don’t know, but it takes familiarity for an extremely accurate reading.
- Practice all of this often, even if you don’t get results, results and better accuracy come with time. It takes a considerable amount of energy to receive information from a spirit, which only comes with practice and becoming accustomed to doing so.
I hope this assists at least some of you in your spirit work and with your companions! Don’t forget that my ask box is always open, no matter how silly your question might seem!
teakepp 