Witchcraft 101: Core Concepts (energy Work)

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

🦋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

Alchemical substances

Cadmia, which was also called Tuttia or Tutty, was probably zinc carbonate. Philosophers’ Wool, or nix alba (white snow). Zinc oxide made by burning zinc in air. Called Zinc White and used as a pigment. White vitriol. Zinc Sulphate. Described by Basil Valentine. Made by lixiviating roasted zinc blende (zinc sulphide). Calamine. Zinc carbonate. Corrosive sublimate. Mercuric chloride. first mentioned by Geber, who prepared it by subliming mercury, calcined green vitriol, common salt and nitre. Calomel. Mercurous chloride. Purgative, made by subliming a mixture of mercuric chloride and metallic mercury, triturated in a mortar. This was heated in a iron pot and the crust of calomel formed on the lid was ground to powder and boiled with water to remove the very poisonous mercuric chloride. Cinnabar. Mercuric sulphide. Turpeth mineral. A hydrolysed form of mercuric sulphate. Yellow crystalline powder, described by Basil Valentine. Mercurius praecipitatus. Red mercuric oxide. Described by Geber. Cinnabar or Vermillion. Mercuric sulphide. Mosaic gold. Golden-yellow glistening scales of crystalline stannic sulphide, made by heating a mixture of tin filings, sulphur and salammoniac. Tin salt. Hydrated stannous chloride. Spiritus fumans. Stannic chloride, discovered by Libavius in 1605, through distilling tin with corrosive sublimate. Butter of tin. Hydrated stannic chloride. Galena. Plumbic sulphide. Chief ore of lead. Lead fume. Lead oxide obtained from the flues at lead smelters. Massicot. Yellow powder form of lead monoxide. Litharge. Reddish-yellow crystalline form of lead monoxide, formed by fusing and powdering massicot. Minium or Red Lead. Triplumbic tetroxide. Formed by roasting litharge in air. Scarlet crystalline powder. Naples yellow, or Cassel yellow. An oxychloride of lead, made by heating litharge with sal ammoniac. Chrome yellow. Lead chromate. Sugar of Lead. Lead acetate, Made by dissolving lead oxide in vinegar. White lead. Basic carbonate of lead. Used as a pigment. Venetian White. Mixture of equal parts of white lead and barium sulphate. Dutch White. Mixture of one part of white lead to three of barium sulphate. Antimony. From latin ‘antimonium’ used by Constantinius Africanus (c. 1050) to refer to Stibnite. Glass of Antimony. Impure antimony tetroxide, obtained by roasting stibnite. Used as a yellow pigment for glass and porcelain. Butter of Antimony. White crystalline antimony trichloride. Made by Basil Valentine by distilling roasted stibnite with corrosive sublimate. Glauber later prepared it by dissolving stibnite in hot concentrated hydrochloric acid and distilling. Powder of Algaroth. A white powder of antimonious oxychloride, made by by precipitation when a solution of butter of antimony in spirit of salt is poured into water. Stibnite. Antimony trisulphide. Grey mineral ore of antimony. Wismuth. Bismuth. Pearl white. Basic nitrate of bismuth, used by Lemery as a cosmetic. Chrome green. Chromic oxide. Chrome yellow. Lead chromate. Chrome red. Basic lead chromate. Chrome orange. Mixture of chrome yellow and chrome red. Green Vitriol. Ferrous sulphate. Rouge, Crocus, Colcothar. Red varieties of ferric oxide are formed by burning green vitriol in air. Marcasite. Mineral form of Iron disulphide. Oxidises in moist air to green vitriol. Pyrites. Mineral form of iron disulphide. Stable in air. Cobalt. Named by the copper miners of the Hartz Mountains after the evil spirits the 'kobolds’ which gave a false copper ore. Zaffre. Impure cobalt arsenate, left after roasting cobalt ore. Nickel. Named by the copper miners of Westphalia the 'kupfer-nickel’ or false copper. Copper glance. Cuprous sulphide ore. Aes cyprium. Cyprian brass or copper. Cuprite. Red cuprous oxide ore. Blue vitriol or bluestone. Cupric sulphate. Verdigris. The green substance formed by the atmospheric weathering of copper. This is a complex basic carbonate of copper. In more recent times the term 'verdigris’ is more correctly applied to copper acetate, made by the action of vinegar on copper. Resin of copper. Cuprous chloride. Made by Robert Boyle in 1664 by heating copper with corrosive sublimate. Lunar caustic, lapis infernalis. Silver nitrate. Fulminating silver. Silver nitride, very explosive when dry. Made by dissolving silver oxide in ammonia. Horn silver, argentum cornu. A glass like ore of silver chloride. Luna cornea. The soft colourless tough mass of silver chloride, made by heating horn silver till it forms a dark yellow liquid and then cooling. Described by Oswald Croll in 1608. Purple of Cassius. Made by Andreas Cassius in 1685 by precipitating a mixture of gold, stannous and stannic chlorides, with alkali. Used for colouring glass. Fulminating gold. Made by adding ammonia to the auric hydroxide formed by precipitation by potash from metallic gold dissolved in aqua regis. Highly explosive when dry. Quicklime. Calcium oxide. Slaked lime. Calcium hydroxide. Chalk. Calcium carbonate. Gypsum. Calcium sulphate. Natron. Native sodium carbonate. Soda ash. Sodium carbonate formed by burning plants growing on the sea shore. Caustic marine alkali. Caustic soda. Sodium hydroxide. Made by adding lime to natron. Common salt. Sodium chloride. Glauber’s Salt. Sodium sulphate. Wood-ash or potash. Potassium carbonate made from the ashes of burnt wood. Caustic wood alkali. Caustic potash. Potassium hydroxide. Made by adding lime to potash. Liver of sulphur. Complex of polysulphides of potassium, made by fusing potash and sulphur. Sal Ammoniac. Ammonium Chloride. Described by Geber. Sal volatile, Spirit of Hartshorn. Volatile alkali. Ammonium carbonate made from distilling bones, horns, etc. Caustic volatile alkali. Ammonium hydroxide. Nitrum flammans. Ammonium nitrate made by Glauber. Brimstone (from German Brennstein 'burning stone’). Sulphur. Flowers of sulphur. light yellow crystalline powder, made by distilling sulphur. Thion hudor (Zosimus refers to this as the 'divine water’ or 'the bile of the serpent’). A deep reddish-yellow liquid made by boiling flowers of sulphur with slaked lime. Milk of sulphur (lac sulphuris). White colloidal sulphur. Geber made this by adding an acid to thion hudor. Oil of Vitriol. Sulphuric acid made by distilling green vitriol. Realgar. red ore of arsenic. Arsenic disulphide. Orpiment. Auri-pigmentum. Yellow ore of arsenic. Arsenic trisulphide. White arsenic. Arsenious oxide. Made from arsenical soot from the roasting ovens, purified by sublimation. Aqua tofani. Arsenious oxide. Extremely poisonous. Used by Paracelsus. King’s Yellow. A mixture of orpiment with white arsenic.

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artsyflex

4 years ago

'I promise to smile at the sound of song

and to take my tea always with honey;

I promise that I will not kill a spider

and bring out sugar-water to sick bees.

I promise to part with my spare change when

I can; I vow to believe more than I doubt—

I will say compliments as often as

I think them; I will drive the rude thoughts out.

I will rebel not for rebellion's sake,

but when integrity demands a choice;

I vow to avoid severity when it is unneeded;

I vow to always use my voice.

Who do I make these promises to? Myself, and God;

because they say kindness is a virtue

of practice.'

'to be kind,' - Megan's Poetry #1001

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artsyflex

4 years ago

The Signs as Beautiful Words

Aries - Phosphenes

(n) The light and colors produced by rubbing your eyes

Taurus - Sonder

(n) The realization that each passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own

Gemini - Epiphany

(n) A moment of sudden revelation

Cancer - Divine

(adj) Like God or a god / very good or pleasing

Leo - Aurora

(n) The dawn in the early morning

Virgo - Mellifluous

(adj) Sweet or musical; pleasant to hear

Libra - Opulent

(adj) Ostentatiously rich and luxurious or lavish

Scorpio - Alluring

(adj) Powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating; seductive

Sagittarius - Euphoria

(n) A feeling or state of intense excitement and happiness

Capricorn - Serendipity

(n) the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way

Aquarius- Iridescent

(adj) Producing a display of rainbow-like colors

Pisces - Ethereal

(adj) Extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world

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artsyflex

4 years ago

This Icelandic Manuscript Of Magic, Known As The “Huld” Manuscript, Presumably Derives Its Name From

This Icelandic manuscript of magic, known as the “Huld” manuscript, presumably derives its name from the word “hulda” meaning secrecy, and was compiled from three older sources by Geir Vigfússon in 1860. These ten selected pages from the manuscript feature “stafir,” or what we might call sigils today.

For the description and purpose of each sigil, click “keep reading.”

Keep reading

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artsyflex

5 years ago

(instagram: myfairesttreasure)

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artsyflex

4 years ago

From Apollo to Commercial Crew: Get To Know Historic Launch Pad 39A

Originally built for the massive Saturn V rockets that sent astronauts on Apollo missions to the Moon, Launch Complex 39A also served as one of the two launch pads used by the space shuttle. Between Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz and the space shuttle, this launch pad has been the starting point for many of the nation’s most challenging and inspiring missions.

In 2014, SpaceX signed a property agreement with NASA for use and operation of the launch complex for 20 years, and the company modified the facility to prepare for the processing and launch of its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon on its Demo-2 flight test to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will lift off from the same historic site where astronauts first launched to the moon. Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is also the site of dozens of space shuttle launches that helped build the orbital laboratory.

Launch Complexes 39A and B were constructed in the 1960s. Both launch pads have a long history of supporting launches for the Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs. Launch Pad 39A was the launch site for 11 Saturn V Apollo missions, including Apollo 11, the first Moon landing. The pad also was the launch site for 82 space shuttle missions, including STS-1, the first shuttle launch, the STS-125 final servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope, and STS-135, the final shuttle mission.

After the space shuttle was retired in 2011, we began the process to transform Kennedy Space Center from a historically government-only launch facility into a multi-user spaceport for both government and commercial use. On April 14, 2014, the agency signed a property agreement with SpaceX for use of the launch site for the next 20 years.

SpaceX upgraded and modified the launch pad to support its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. The company also built a horizontal processing hangar at the base of the pad to perform final vehicle integration prior to flight. The first SpaceX launch from the pad was the company’s 10th commercial resupply services (CRS-10) mission for us. A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched a Dragon cargo spacecraft on CRS-10 on Feb. 19, 2017. The Dragon delivered about 5,500 pounds of supplies to the space station, including the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III instrument to further study ozone in the Earth’s atmosphere. Combined with SpaceX, we’ve launched more than 100 missions from Pad 39A.

Because of our partnership with SpaceX within our agency’s Commercial Crew Program, Launch Complex 39A will once again be the site of crewed missions to the space station.

🚀 TUNE IN starting at 12:15 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 27 as NASA and SpaceX launch astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft: www.nasa.gov.live.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

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artsyflex

4 years ago

What if you met someone just outside the ball, a couple of hours after it had started. You had left having been sick of being passed around the ballroom, escaping through a hidden exit and wandering the corridors only to find yourself outside, where a woman in a dark suit stood against the sandstone building, smoking a cigarette in silence. The music could still be faintly heard from inside with only the candle lit hallway behind the arching windows providing you the light to see her face. She was beautiful, as she turned to you and spoke in a deep honey voice, removing the cigarette. "Hello, darling."

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