"I Used To Lie In Bed At Night And Cry My Eyes Out. But Lately It's Like I'm Numb. I Want To Cry, But

Continuing my streak of making quizzes that are more like weird experiences than actual quizzes with a New Creation!  

Have you ever wanted to be assigned a Real, Human Man Name? Well, now you can!

All About Auras

An aura could best be described as the energy given off by someone or something. Supposedly, everything has an aura, even an apple. Many people are able to either see or ‘sense’ auras, which may appear as a haze of light or colour surrounding something.

The colour an aura appears can have many correspondences, which can relate to someone’s mood or spirituality, or can be because of external factors such as light intensity. It’s even said to be possible to tell if someone is pregnant from the way their aura appears.

Common misconceptions about auras:

It is always the same colour.  - This is untrue, as auras tend to change colour when affected by many different factors. However one colour may be dominant.

It is always the same shape and texture.  - Nope, they could appear hazy, smooth, or spiky. Some could have auras spanning an inch from their bodies, but others could have auras reaching out to a metre.

There is scientific evidence for auras.  - Again, untrue. Despite many people being able to see auras, there is no way to measure them or comprehend why it is even there.

Your aura is a shield.  - Whilst it’s possible to utilise your energy to shield yourself from things through visualisation, your aura alone is by no means a barrier against spirits and vampire-like entities looking to ‘feed off’ your energy. Learn how to ward yourself.

There is only one colour at a time.  - Your visible aura can actually be a mix of colours. However, there are also seven different extents of your aura, ranging from physical to spiritual, which could all be a different colour at one time.

It is especially important to note that auras are constantly changing. This could be seen as Anicca, or impermanence, in which the Buddha taught that nothing is permanent and everything is constantly changing. The aura reflects this truth in ourselves and those around us.

Seeing Your Aura

Some people are able to see auras with ease without a whole lot of practice, whereas others might never be able to comprehend the aura. It is common for many witches to practice with seeing their aura.

Here is a simple exercise which will help you to begin seeing your aura. This is what I tend to get people to do often when starting with auras. If inexperienced, it is important to practice often in order to get better!

You may want to begin by meditating or casting a circle in order to have a better focus on your aura. Make sure you are calm and in the mindset to concentrate.

Find a blank area, such as a white wall or a sheet of paper, and hold your hand out to it. It is important that you don’t get distracted by the colour of the wall or anything on it.

Rather than focusing directly onto your hand, shift your gaze to look just past it. For instance just past your fingers, but not the space directly between your fingers.

Focus on this space. To avoid distracting yourself, practice steady breathing as you would in meditation.

Eventually, you should begin to see a haze of light surrounding your hand. At first it may appear small and even colourless, but keep practicing and you will start to see it even better.

Colour Correspondences

The colour of an aura can have many connotations, and can be dictated by thr shape and texture too. But here is a guide to help you with the typical deciption of simple aura colours.

RED -

Centred/grounded, passion, anger, energetic.

ORANGE -

Power, confidence, outgoing, good health.

YELLOW - 

Spiritual awakening/awareness, playful, happiness.

GREEN -

Healing, good communication, jealousy.

BLUE -

Intuition, calm, clairvoyance, honesty, fear of the future.

PURPLE -

Daydreaming, spirituality, artistic, psychic abilities.

WHITE -

Newness, purity, reaching enlightenment, angelic.

BLACK -

Negative feelings, blocked energy, potential illness.

BROWN -

Grounded, tied to the outdoors, afraid to let go.

PINK -

Loving, sensual, psychic gifts, dishonesty.

SILVER -

Physical and spiritual wealth, awakening of higher thought.

GOLD -

Enlightenment, protection from divine entities, guidance.

RAINBOW -

A rainbow aura can indicate a healer, a new soul, or reaching enlightenment.

Witchcraft 101: Core concepts (energy work)

You’ve probably heard “energy work” mentioned, or at least one of the following terms: grounding, shielding, cleansing, raising, charging, visualising, casting. You’ll see these terms in spells and rituals as well as textbooks and theoretical discussions. There are other posts for theory; this post aims to give a rundown of multiple basic concepts of energy work to get you up and running. (Or at least, to help you understand other posts.) Bear in mind that much of this is personal opinion. Since everyone sees energy differently, in my “how-tos” I’ll refer to energy generally - fill in your own views. 

Also, in my methods, I mention “get comfortable” a lot - exactly what that means varies, depending on what I’m doing and wearing, but generally, stop fiddling with anything, and make sure you’re in a comfortable position, whatever the position is. You could be standing, sitting, lying down, moving, dancing - whatever, so long as you’re comfortable. 

Visualising

What is visualisation?

I consider visualisation to be a core concept to energy work in general. Visualisation is, essentially, thought. It’s imagination and memory and emotions all rolled up into one. (This is heavy on personal opinion, by the way.) Visualisation is what makes your intent for a spell come to fruition; if you aren’t holding your intent (i.e. thinking about/visualising it) while casting it, you can’t expect your spell to work the way you intended it to. 

How do you visualise?

As mentioned above, everyone sees energy differently, and your way may not be the same as mine. My basic visualisation method can be seen in the way I do any time of energy work: I get comfortable, close my eyes and steady my breath, and I focus on feeling and “seeing” the energy around me (I view all energy as white, incidentally). Say I’m cleansing something, my first step is to hold the object, focus on how it feels (is it cold, smooth, rough?) and “see” it glowing with a white light (energy). Then I’ll move onto cleansing it (see below). 

Your method will be different, but you could start with this or look through other posts for ideas. 

Grounding

What is grounding?

Grounding, basically, is all about ridding yourself of unwanted energy/getting your energy in balance. I kind of view it as a warm-up: you’re getting yourself in the right frame of mind and the right physical state before a workout (or spell). 

How do you ground yourself?

Everyone has their own techniques, and in time, you’ll develop yours. This is my routine:

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. 

As you exhale, imagine unwanted energy leaving your body.

As you inhale, imagine the energy you want and need pulling comfortably around you. 

Continue for as long as you like. 

Many people like to visualise different places, or contact with nature. Try different techniques and take what you like from them, and just go with what works for you. 

Cleansing

What is cleansing?

Cleansing is like setting a device back to factory settings, or washing the dishes so they can be used again. You cleanse something to rid it of any unwanted energies - kind of like grounding, but for something that isn’t you. You could cleanse spaces and objects, and it’s generally a good idea to cleanse any items you’ve used before as well as the space you’re using before beginning a spell. It’s also generally a good idea to cleanse anything you use for divination, like tarot cards and pendulums (but I totally don’t cleanse them as often as I should). You can use just visualisation, or you can use tools - water, salt, incense and sage are all pretty common tools for cleansing. 

How do you cleanse?

My method for objects that you can hold:

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

Hold the item and focus on how it feels - its shape, size, temperature, texture, and scent. 

While holding the item, now focus on how it looks (with or without opening your eyes) - its colour, decorations, the way the light falls/reflects on it.

Still holding the item, visualise energy glowing/pulsing around the object.

Still holding the item, visualise the energy flowing away from the object, leaving it without any glowing energy.

Continue until you feel like the object is cleansed. 

My method for a space, area, or room:

Clear the space you plan on using (physically - move unwanted objects out of the way, pick up any rubbish etc).

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

Mark the parameters of the space you’re going to use (this can be a whole room or just part of one - just mentally or physically figure out where the “ends” of your spell space are). I generally walk around the edges of my space.

Focus on how the space around you feels and looks - temperature, light, textures etc. 

Visualise energy glowing/pulsing within the boundaries of your space.

Visualise energy flowing away from the space - if you have a broom, you could sweep the area while visualising the energy moving away as you sweep. You could also use incense or herb bundles while visualising energy moving away from the smoke as you move through the space.

Continue until you feel like the space is cleansed.

Warding

What is warding?

Basically, warding is putting up a shield to stop anything unwanted interfering with your spell, tools, ingredients, intent, belongings, etc.. It’s like an antivirus on a device, or a lock on a door. You could put up wards around your spell space, your home, yourself, anything you own, other people (with their consent) - pretty much anything.  

How do you put up wards?

My method for putting up wards:

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

Mark the parameters of the space or thing you’re putting up wards around (this could be running your finger around a crystal, walking around an area, stretching your arms and legs out to mark the parameters of your body, etc.)

Focus on how the space or thing feels and looks - temperature, light, textures etc.

Visualise energy glowing/pulsing within the space or thing.

Visualise unwanted energy flowing away from the space - like with cleansing, you could use incense or a broom to aid your visualisation.

Visualise “walls” growing up, over and under the space or object. It’s important that the walls connect, and there aren’t any gaps (unless you want to visualise, say, a door that you can enter and leave from). 

Continue until you feel like the space or thing is warded.

Raising

What is raising energy?

Raising energy is like creating or compiling energy with a specific purpose (intent). Up until now, we’ve been looking at ways of using energy to prepare yourself, your environment and your tools for spells - raising energy is a bit different. The energy that we raise has a specific intent, and generally, we want to use that intent somehow - like in a spell. 

How do you raise energy?

There are so, so many different ways to raise energy - such as music, chanting, dancing, walking, laughing, exercising, and a whole bunch of others. You can also raise energy by visualisation alone - as I describe here.

My method for raising energy:

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

If they aren’t already, position your hands so that your palms are open.

Focus on what you want to happen - your intent.

Visualise energy pulsing from your fingertips. The energy moves over your fingers and towards your palm, where it collects. As you do this, keep focusing on your intent.

Visualise the energy, now in your palm, growing larger and larger. As you do this, keep focusing on your intent.

Continue until you feel you have the energy you wanted, or for as long as you like. 

If you’re raising energy from, say, dancing, you might visualise the energy coming from your feet or body instead - I adapt this depending on the activity, but I always like to have a way to “gather” energy in one area. This could be your whole spell area, or it could be an area like the palm of your hand - whatever works for you and the activity. 

Charging

What is charging?

Charging is drawing on energy from elsewhere and putting it into an object to give that object intent. Think charging your phone, or laptop. You can also take energy you’ve raised and put it into an object - the energy can come from anywhere. People often have specific correspondences for different sources, however - so think about the source of the energy if you aren’t raising it yourself. 

How do you charge something?

Like with raising energy, there are entirely too many methods to list here. Some examples include leaving objects in sunlight or moonlight and bathing it in water or fire. You can pretty much do anything, so don’t be afraid to experiment. If you’re raising energy, you can just put it straight into the object (see the method below). If you’re charging something without raising energy yourself, then you can skip this and consider it charged after as much or as little time as you think works. 

My method for charging objects:

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

Visualise the energy, now in your palm, growing larger and larger. (This is the energy collected by raising energy, with a specific intent.)

Hold the object you want to charge (with one hand if you visualised the energy going to one palm, or with both hands if you visualised the energy going to both palms) and visualise the energy flowing into the object from your palm(s). Continue focusing on your intent as you do this. 

Continue until you feel that all the energy you raised is now in the object, or for as long as you like. 

Once you’ve charged an object, you can leave it indefinitely and use it in a later spell (though if you’re forgetful like me, you might want to put a post-it near it reminding you what you’re using it for).

Casting

What is casting?

Casting is guiding your energy towards the outcome you want. For me, this is the most important part of any spell - this is when you put all that work into making shit happen. So it’s important to be very, very specific. Don’t just focus on needing a job. Focus on finding a job that is right for you, will help you meet your professional goals (you can be specific about the goals, too) and will meet your needs (availability, hours, pay, travel time, benefits etc.), and finding that job at a time that suits you. This is also where you can really have fun with visualising! 

How do you cast?

My method for casting:

Get comfortable.

Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

Hold the object(s) you’ve charged, or your spell (if it’s a tangible thing, like spell bags, candles, food etc.).

Visualise the situation you want to happen. As described, be specific. If you’re looking for a job, you could visualise a “you’re hired” email, dated at some point that suits you, with the above information that suits you - the hours you want, the pay you want, etc. Morph that situation into your first day, meeting friendly and efficient coworkers and management, then six months or a year into your new job. Visualise yourself feeling productive, happy, and relaxed. Visualise yourself at a review, hearing that you’re doing well and you’ve made great progress.

Now visualise the energy in your spell moving “towards” that situation. (I like to “keep” the situation in one part of my spell space, usually in the air in front of me, so I can “see” the energy from the spell I’m holding moving towards it. 

Continue until you feel that all the energy from your spell has “made it” to the situation, or for as long as you like.  

Bringing it all together

So, this looks like quite a lot. I promise it’s easier in practice, especially once you’ve done it a few times. Also, remember that this is a post that largely focuses on visualisation - you can minimise effort by charging objects in light or water (aka leaving them on a windowsill for a few hours) instead of by using visualisation to raise power and charge them. 

In practice, a routine for a spell might look like:

Ground yourself.

Cleanse your space, and any tools or ingredients you’re going to use.

Put up wards.

Raise power (you could raise power individually for individual ingredients, or all at once for all your ingredients).

Charge your ingredients (either individually, or all at once). 

Cast your spell. 

Personally, I can do the first 3 in about 5-10 minutes altogether. The last three are more time-consuming, and could take 5-10 minutes each, per item. So a quick, simple spell with no ingredients could be cast in 15 minutes (I would just skip charging and put the raised energy straight to casting). Let’s take an example of a kitchen spell, making soup:

Ground self.

Cleanse space, tools, ingredients.

Put up wards around the kitchen.

Raise power while doing food prep.

Put ingredients in pot.

Charge ingredients through stirring - energy goes into the soup through the wooden spoon.

Leave to simmer and continue charging.

Cast spell by eating. 

When I do kitchen magic, I’m already doing most of this just by cooking. I just add more visualisation in, and put some thought into the ingredients, and I have a spell! 

I hope this helps! You might find my other posts helpful:

The problem with correspondence lists

How to correspondence: food & herbs

How to correspondence: when to spell

What to use: food & herbs

When to spell: by moon phases

When to spell: by time of day

When to spell: by day of the week

When to spell: by month

I’m gonna try fasting for 48 hours!! I already have 14 hours, so only 34 hours left!! That means I’ll be done by 10 pm tomorrow. But who knows, maybe I’ll go longer because I’ll be sleeping by around that time. If anyone has fasting tips, feel free to leave them !!!

My rules for fasting:

-coffee, tea, and water only

-if I do start to feel really sick, eat a healthy, low calorie snack

-continue the 30 day fitness thingy but stop if I begin to feel ill

-gum is allowed

-if someone asks why I’m not eating, tell them I feel sick/my heard hurts

I’m a background character in everyone’s life. I’m not important to anyone. I don’t even matter.

this is one of my shitty art works from today :( anyways i’m feeling like i totally forget how to draw and it drives me crazy which not good and i’m tying out this new style or maybe even technic to draw when you do it by layering, which i already used when i was drawing not digitally which acril but rn in digital art i feel like i totally suck at this stuff and i just really want to learn to do it better. so for now i have goals and this whole quarantine took my motivation and power and i just want to be finally free and wish it is going to be soon because i’m literally dying which is not good yk yk

tag yourself: school subjects

english: cozy borrowed hoodies, rustling papers, “i can’t read”, thermos filled with tea, illegible notes in the margins, sleeping with shakespeare covering your face, daily journaling, doodling through lectures

math: shaky hands during tests, the familiar feel of a calculator in your palm, dead silence when you work, flipping through the textbook, easing through problem sets, swapping pens for pencils, wistfully looks out the window

history: summaries of bills and acts on chart paper, the scratch of sharpies, eternal group projects, granola bars hidden under desks, hand cramps from writing, squinting at the board, being told off for talking to your friends

art: paint stained jeans, braiding your friends’ hair, lightning-quick gesture drawings, rivers of sunlight in the classroom, headphones in, snacks strewn around you, snapping charcoal (accidentally!!), wet clay on your fingers

foreign languages: hours of conjugating charts, subtitled films, loopy gel pens, mumbled presentations, repeated listening exercises, forgetting vocabulary immediately, the sound of someone writing with chalk, late breakfasts

gym/health: rewatching mean girls for the 100th time, iced coffee, morning runs under the gentle sun, oversized t-shirts, squeaky floors under sneakers, gossip on the bleachers, avoiding the school pool, rolling up your shorts

science: high ponytails, rapid memorization that fades after the test, frowning while you work, old classroom TVs with dated science programs, whispers and giggles between powerpoint slides, searching for not-gross lab goggles (and not finding them)

The golden gloam we can't beg to stay 

Petals are bleeding into the dirt 

Now we watch darkness swallow day

The reaper returns, a price we must pay

Writhing, wizened, woozy with hurt 

The golden gloam we can't beg to stay

Tongues shredded by what we can't say

Moonlight and tears, goodbyes so curt

Now we watch darkness swallow day

Though we'd rebel we must still obey

Our ghosts are sleeping now, inert

The golden gloam we can't beg to stay 

We all have our parts that we must play

Hope is fickle and prone to desert

Now we watch darkness swallow day

The anguish wrapped tight with dismay--

We save the confessions we'd like to blurt

The golden gloam we can't beg to stay

Now we watch darkness swallow day

🦋girlfriend aesthetic🦋

when we drive i will sit next to you and dance to all kinds of songs, meanwhile singing even when i don’t know lyrics

cook you food and bring it for our dates

creating playlists just for you so you will remember about me when you listen to it

hand-made presents with main concept to maintain memories

call you by cute nick names

write you love letters and big text messages about how much i appreciate your existence

hug you from behind and kiss you in the forehead

facetime you at night to fall asleep, but only after you to admire your cute sleepy face

Tips for when studying is the last thing you want to do!

1. Write out on sticky notes the name of objects in your room, then go ahead and stick them on everything. Next time you turn on your light, make yourself look (or at least glance) at the word. Next time you open your drawer, look at the note. Any time you turn on your lamp, your laptop charger or your speakers, you’ll always have that vocabulary there and you’ll learn each of them in no time.

2. Play the radio/podcasts or a Korean show for background noise. Most of us don’t like to sit and scroll through Facebook in total silence. I recommend 슈퍼맨이 돌아왔다 (which is available on youtube!) as it is centred around children and any vocabulary you pick up will be helpful. Others include:

• 2 Days 1 Night

• Hello Counselor

• 이웃집 찰스

• Hello Baby

3. Write down phrases on flash cards. Break down the words. Some people have more success reading phrases on flash cards rather than just single vocabulary. Stick these in a place you’ll sit at often, or you could also stick them on items they pertain to just like in tip #1.

4. Just once a day, when you’re out and about or even just at home, search the dictionary for a word. Say you’re out eating, and you don’t know the word for “to order”. Whip out that phone, search it up and try to commit it to memory. One word a day is 365 words a year, and odds are you’ll pick up more than that anyway!

5. Google Play has a selection of multi-language books. Buy a Korean and English children’s book and try to read it (if you’re up to it). The English translation will always be there, so it’s less brain power for you to go and search up everything you don’t know! Plus, you might learn some small phrases in the process.

6. Watch Korean YouTubers. YouTube is fun to watch, so why not watch it in Korean? - 영국남자 (Korean Englishman) is an English man who is great at Korean, he always has English and Korean subs on. By the end of a few episodes you’ll know what “ 남자답다” and “살아 있네!” Means! - Pony’s Makeup is a great channel if you love makeup. You’ll pick up makeup related vocab and phrases, as well learn new techniques and styles. - Maangchi is a Korean lady who teaches you how to cook Korean food. It’s mostly in English but she talks about Korean words sometimes. - 꿀키 is another cooking channel, however there’s no talking, only the blissful sounds of soup boiling and onions frying! She puts small instructions on her videos in both English and Korean. Take notes!

7. Download a widget on your phone that gives you a new word every time you swipe to unlock. Simple, easy and there in your pocket.

8. Fill your social media with Korean. Follow Korean study blogs (though don’t rely on them 100% as most are run by non-fluent speakers), follow Korean daily vocab twitters and Facebook pages. Everything you see will be Korean and you’ll start to pick up on words that you see all the time.

9. Don’t feel discouraged if you haven’t studied for a week. Don’t feel like you’re the worst at Korean, or that you’re so far behind everyone else. Everyone learns differently and at different paces. Me, I’m competitive and need to absorb as much as is humanly possible in a short amount of time. Others stick to a schedule. Some learn stuff here and there. There is no right and wrong way to learn. Do you. Remember, just one word a day equals 365 a year. 2 words a day is even more!