Here Are My Chakra Pages From My Book Of Shadows ✨✨✨

Liminal Spaces in Witchcraft

First of all, what is a liminal space? A liminal space refers to a place or time that is in a period of transition between two phases. These are usually places where reality feels altered because you are neither moving forward or backward, like a rest stop. The word liminal originates from the Latin word limens, meaning threshold. These places often give off a sense that time stands still and that you are experiencing some sort of reality shift. 

        In magic and witchcraft these spaces are considered to be the boundary between our world and the other, it is known as “the in-between”. These places are considered areas of great magic because it is believed this is where the veil is thin. These places are great for divination, spirit work, meditation and astral travel; they are ideal for hedge witchcraft.

Times & Spaces of Liminality:

crossroads manmade or natural

river, creek or lake shores/ beaches

hallway/corridor/stairwells/landings/doorways

graveyards

dawn, dusk, afternoon, midnight

valleys

forest glades

many more!

      Samhain/Halloween is considered the best time to communicate with spirits and faeries because of its liminality, it is a time of transition between autumn and winter. Irish folklore tells that this is the day faeries and ghosts come out to play because of the veil thinning. The equinoxes and sabbats like Beltane and Imbolc are also days of liminality because the time of day and night are equal (equinoxes) or it is a transition between seasons.  

       Mental states of liminality are also times of spirit communication. While being in a meditative state we are in a state of transition between our concious and sub-concious minds, this is where we sometimes experience astral projection or messages from spirits. People often experience spirit while falling asleep because this is another state of liminality. 

     In my craft I often practice in liminality in order to connect with the faerie realms.

-Moonlight 🌙

Vila is a Slavic name for female spirits or nymphs who can appear in a plethora of different variations. Some live in clouds, meadows, ponds, trees or even high up in the mountains and their appearance can be either almost human-like as beautiful maidens with long white hair, nearly translucent skin and green eyes or they can be similar to ghosts, see-through and with billowing cloaks wrapped around their bodies. 

It is said that if even one of their hairs is plucked, the Vila will die, or be forced to change back to her true shape. A human may gain the control of a vila by stealing a piece of the vila’s skin. Once burned, though, she will disappear. Though they seem deceptively frail, vilas are fierce warriors skilled in combat and will attack lone travellers. However, offerings of cakes, flowers, fruit and ribbons might win their favour. 

Historical Witchcraft 101: Familiar Spirits

I’m sure you’ve all heard of the witch’s familiar. Nowadays, a familiar is considered to be an animal that has an unusually close bond and a spiritual connection with its owner. This animal could be a cat, a dog, a mouse, a toad, a rabbit, or even a fly; and birds such as owls and ravens could also be considered familiars. The familiar’s function is to aid the witch in their craft, accompany them on their travels, as well as provide general companionship.

[Image description: Frontispiece to Matthew Hopkins’ ‘The Discoverie of Witches’. Matthew Hopkins, witch finder, stands at the top. Two witches sit in chairs either side of him, naming their familiar spirits, which are shown at the bottom of the print.] [Image source]

A physical familiar is certainly one form a familiar can take. Looking at the records we have, it’s often suggested that the familiar is a spirit (often referred to as a devil, imp or a fairy) that is seen as taking physical form. The witch is sometimes said to possess their physical familiar and go out and perform magic. (This will appear again in a later post on shapeshifting)

The idea that familiars were spirits that took physical form could be part of the reason why it was commonly believed that witches fed their familiars blood, as blood would be necessary to give a spirit physical form, although obviously a desire by the elite to make witches seem as horrific as possible plays a large role in this as well. Other food/ payment for familiars includes milk, bread, leftovers from your plate, and in the case of a ‘fairy wife’ (we’ll get onto that), sex.

The practice of feeding familiars bread and milk in particular points to a different type of familiar: a familiar spirit, or a fairy familiar. This is especially resonant of the practice of leaving out bread, milk, beer and/ or water in the kitchen in case the fairy host visited your home overnight. These familiar spirits play a more active role in aiding the witch with their craft, often performing tasks, acting as a spy, or even teaching magic to the witch. They were often described as either very small or very tall, wearing black, white or green (all fairy colours, especially green).

A final type of familiar is the ‘fairy wife’, or fairy lover, I mentioned earlier. The best example of this is probably Tam Lin, or perhaps the Queen of the Faeries in Thomas the Rhymer. The fairy wife often takes humanoid form, sometimes with some small marker such as horns or animals to show that they are more than human. They give the witch magical knowledge in exchange for sex. For example, Aberdeenshire cunning man Andro Man claimed that the Faery Queen was his lover, and he had had several children with her. In witch testimonies, this is normally sex with the Devil, and could even extend to marriage: Rebecca West, in Essex, claimed that the Devil promised to be her loving husband until death.

Familiars can be obtained in a number of ways. In some stories, they appear to those in need and offer assistance, such as appearing to those who are hungry and offering to teach them skills that can help them make a living, typically healing and the power to locate lost objects. For others, familiars are granted by the Devil when they first become a witch, at their initiation. Another common theme is hereditary or bloodline familiars, which are passed down between family members and sometimes covens. For example, Elizabeth Francis confessed to receiving her familiar, a white spotted cat named Sathan, from her grandmother.

In all these cases, there is an implicit or explicit contract being made: freedom from want, assistance, knowledge and companionship; in exchange for food, good treatment, sex, the renunciation of one’s faith, and/or the witch’s soul.

Sources:

“A Note on the Witch-Familiar in Seventeenth Century England”, F. H. Amphlett Micklewright

“The Witch’s Familiar and the Fairy in Early Modern England and Scotland”, Emma Wilby***

“Concerning the familiar spirit”

“Familiar Spirits”

“Of Imps and Familiars”

“Familiars and familiar spirits”

“The Witch’s Familiar”, Charlotte Smith

‘Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits’, Emma Wilby***

‘The Visions of Isobel Gowdie’, Emma Wilby

‘The Element Encyclopaedia of Witchcraft’, Judika Illes

‘The Discoverie of Witchcraft’, Reginald Scott

🌷🐸Ostara🐰🌿

I love this time of year! Spring is one of my favorite seasons. Life if returning to the earth and my birthday is a few days after the equinox. Here’s how I’m celebrating this extra special time of year🌱🥚

Colors🌈

All pastel colors! I like to emphasize yellow for daffodils, blue and green for new life, and pink for the other spring flowers

Altar decorations🐰

🐣Animal figurines/stuffed animals lambs, chicks, deer, frog, and bunnies are great choices for this time of year. You can even make clay figurines of the animals you see around you.

🥚 painted or plastic eggs

💐Flowers/Plants/Seeds/Sprouts

🌷A vision board/representations of things you wish to get done

☀️Solar symbols

Spell themes🐸

🌱 Renewal

💫Cycles

🌳Balance

🍃Getting rid of negative thoughts, cycles and patterns

Plants 🌱

🌼Daffodils (my favorite)

🌷Tulips

🌱Crocuses

🌺Hyacinth

🌿Thyme

💜Lavender

🌳Rododendron

🌸Hellebore

Food 🥘

🍳 Eggs

🥛 Milk

🥐Baked goods

🥖Bread

🍵Peas

🥕Carrots

🍋Lemons

🥦Any in season vegetables where you live

Ways to celebrate 💐

🎨Paint eggs with friends

🌳Go for a walk, taking notice of the new spring plants and animals

🌅Wake up at sunrise and hear the birds chirping

🍰Bake and cook while putting your intentions into the food

🌱Start your garden by filling an eggshell with dirt and planting the seed in the eggshell. Say your intention while planting so it manifests as the seed grows

🖌Make Ostara themed art, doodles, and crafts

🧺Have a picnic or tea party

🎵Sing, dance, and make music

I hope everyone has a wonderful Ostara and let me know if you try any of these🐣

Ways to reconnect to the Earth and nature

Take walks with bare feet.

Take time to sit under a tree and appreciate it for it’s shade.

Crunch autumn leaves and thank the Earth for the promise of a new year

Actually take time to smell the flowers.

Grow a garden or take care of a succulent.

Pick a day and watch the sunrise and sunset.

Go cloud watching and ask the universe for messages in the clouds.

Go look at the stars, take a star map and identify the constellations.

Shadow Work Skills to Develop

Shadow work can feel very…vague to talk about. There’s a bad habit of just kind of handwaving things and hoping people figure it out on their own. Part of that is that it’s so intensely personal. It’s so hard to come up with things that will work for everyone. The other part is that I want people to experiment and add to what we know about shadow work so I don’t want to be too prescriptive in how I teach others to do it.

So, for this post I wanted to dig into some of the most basic skills I use in shadow work in the hopes it’ll help people no matter which methods or paths they take.

Describing Events Neutrally

I put this one first because I think it’s the most important and the more difficult. Our emotions cloud how describe events to ourselves and others. For us to look critically at actions or words, we really need to be able to describe them without intent or emotion. Now, I’m not saying to leave that out entirely, I’ll get to that next. But you have to be able to get a clear view of what was done. This is so important when working with anything that might be triggering. We are too used to describing events with the goal of justifying thoughts, feelings, and actions and in shadow work it helps to break that instinct where you can.

When you can describe events neutrally to start with, it’s easier to see whether the feelings where in line or out of line with what happened. Were you way over reactive? Maybe under reactive? It’s easier to judge that when you have a neutral account to work with.

To practice, try listing out some events as they happen neutrally. An example might be after a tense interaction with someone, listing out what was said and done. If you can, get someone who was there to look at it and someone who wasn’t there to look at it and see what they say as far as how factual and neutral the account is.

Naming Feelings

Many many people cannot tell you what they’re feeling. There’s a myriad of reasons for this but no matter where it comes from it hurts shadow work. Your mood is like an internal weather system, you need to be able to do shadow work that’s appropriate for the weather. How you dig into things if gonna be different if your reaction to feeling trapped is to give up and binge movies or to lash out in anger. Gotta know what you’re working with.

It’s absolutely vital that you practice naming your emotions in day to day life. I did a week where I had an alarm go off five times a day and I wrote down what I was feeling in a note on my phone. A lot of my entries were “I’m not sure”. The practice showed me how often I have no connection to my feelings at all and prompted me to get to know them better.

Try using a feelings wheel or a feelings chart at least once a day to get used to checking in with yourself and putting a name on it.

Defining What You Want

We live in a society that has a very complicated relationship with wants. People often say we live in a consumerist society but we don’t often talk about what that’s done to us psychologically, to be so consumptive. There’s a lot of morality around them too that we internalize. We identify strongly with what we want. We define ourselves through our ambitions and our goals. But it means what we really want gets lost in the pursuit of shaping our desires to be acceptable or admirable. We ignore our desires that don’t fit with our narratives which is such a block to shadow work. How can you work on what you won’t let yourself be conscious of?

You have to understand that you and your desires are not one in the same. Just because you really want to enact violence on someone for what they’ve done doesn’t make you a bad person or a mean person or what have you. It’s a natural human desire. That doesn’t mean that’s it’s justified just that you are not bad for having those thought or desires. This extends to other things people don’t like admitting they want – finding other people more appealing than their partner, wanting someone who’s wronged them to suffer, wanting more for yourself even if it means someone else goes without – they’re all desires we have from time to time.

Practice writing what you want out on paper. Remind yourself you don’t have to act on it and that it’s better to be aware of it so doesn’t sneak into the driver’s seat. It’s important to break the idea that we’re owed what we want or that we have to act on what we want. Desires, much like feelings, come and go. But they’re important to be aware of while they’re here.

Taking Responsibility

I still am unsure of how to describe how to do this. It’s really distress tolerance at it’s core; learning to be okay with not being okay. Because where I see people going wrong with responsibility in shadow work is that they either explain everything away with context or they go it’s all my fault and it’s so terrible I can’t do anything about it.

Part of taking responsibility is being able to answer the question “What do I owe in this situation?” If your answer is always nothing, you’re wrong. We are social creatures, we’re only here because we evolved the intelligence to work closely and creatively with other members of our species. We do owe each other things in any interaction. It’s important to practice thinking about what those things are. Equally important is thinking through what you don’t owe as well.

Practice sitting with your mistakes when they happen and trying to think what’s owed in this situation. Shadow work depends on our ability to take responsibility for the roles we play in what keeps us stuck.

Pattern Recognition

I don’t know that I have much explicit advice for this category other than it’s incredibly helpful. Seeing your patterns is really key to zeroing in on automatic behaviors or thoughts. Pattern recognition is kind of like playing Minesweeper. It gets you a little closer to what you’re trying to uncover without having to step right in it and maintain yourself to be reflective.

Journaling can be really great for this. If you see yourself writing about the same actions or feelings or thoughts again and again and again. Going back through old conversations where you’re venting might give you some clues.

Whenever you find yourself frustrated you keep doing something, take note. When are you doing these things? What does it offer you? What does it protect you from?

We don’t do things repeatedly if they don’t serve us in some way which can be hard for us to admit.

Compassionate Problem Solving

So you’ve dug up these unpleasant truths about yourself, what’s a shadow worker to do? The only way forward is compassionate problem solving. Which is best summed of for me as working with yourself, not against yourself. I’m reminded of permaculture – the problem is the solution.

An example of this in my own life was ADHD. Once I finally realized what I was dealing with was ADHD, I spent several months ignoring it completely and being shocked when I couldn’t will myself to be “normal”. I felt a lot of shame. It was only when I started accepting where I was at and then going okay what can I do that things started to shift. “Okay, if I know I’m gonna forget my keys what can I do?” I put spare house keys and car keys in my car so when I inevitably forgot them somewhere I could call AAA and I’d be able to drive home. “Okay if I’m gonna forget my papers what can I do?” I made digital backup galore so I could access them and print them off at the last minute on campus. My life got so much better with the approach.

Wherever you’re at there are things you can do to make it better going forward and it’s important to get creative and stay reasonable. Getting triggered frequently? Make sure you have a cool down list of some kind on your phone. Too scared to grab groceries by yourself? Grab a buddy or order them and pick them up. Spending too much time in bed because you’re depressed as shit? Set a 5 minute timer and do one thing to make your life better. Literally all of these are personal examples.

There’s always something you can do. Small wins are still wins. Count them. There’s no need to be cruel to yourself while doing shadow work. Practice coming up with at least three different ways to respond to issues that you face. Even if you know a solution isn’t the one you’re gonna take, get used to putting out more than one “right” answer. In shadow work, there’s always more than one path.

Conclusion

I hope this is helpful. A bit rambling, but I think I could have used a post like this when I was starting out. Shadow work gets very individualized, very quickly, but I’ve yet to talk to anyone who wasn’t using at least a few of these in their personal shadow work journey. Hope these skills and how to practice them help!

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“shingar” in punjabi means the “adornment” or “decoration” of oneself. something as seemingly simple as putting on makeup or doing your girlfriend’s hair, is somewhat of a ritual that brings women together. from the careful hands that apply mehndi, to the purposeful placement of kajal on the eyes, women adorn themselves and each other with such love and care.

🌱 grow ur psychic gifts! 🌱

✨ Hi everyone! By popular request, I’m going to be covering the topic of psychic/spiritual gifts and how to fully utilize them. Before I get into it, I want to clarify that EVERYONE has these abilities but not everyone is aware of them. Some people have easier access to their gifts, much like how some people struggle at math while others naturally excel (lmao not me). Like any skill, psychic abilities can be strengthen and exercised through dedication, consistency, and patience. You won’t instantly wake up as fucking Jesus. Another note, being ‘psychic’ isn’t as wild and whimsical as it sounds. It can be at times  but don’t expect to start seeing ghosts popping up on every corner or fairies chilling out in your bedroom. It doesn’t work like that! The energy is much more subtle and takes time to understand, much like learning anew language. Anyways, lemme shut up and get into this shit….🔮🔮

1.  Be conscious of you health & drink tons of water! Your body is  a vessel for your spirit and, if it’s not functioning at it’s fullest capacity, it will limit your connection to your higher-self. Water is also a cleansing/charging tool for the body, mind, and spirit. When you’re doing readings or energy readings for other people it can be extremely draining for your soul. It’s important to replenish through water, high-vibrational foods, and keeping the energy circulating with exercise. For those of you with chronic illness or physical limitations, it’s okay if you can’t do intense exercise everyday. Do as much as you can within your given situation! Respect your body, it takes good care of your soul and is the vehicle for all of your spiritual work!

2. Meditation + meditation + meditation.  I feel like this is the dreaded tip because so many people convince themselves that meditating is hard!  My suggestion is to sit or lie down for five minutes after you take a shower in the morning/night. Be still and take a few breaths. It’s completely normal for thoughts to pop into your head. Don’t try to push them away! Instead, acknowledge them & then set them aside. Keep focusing on the stillness. Move your attention into your body. Is your breathing natural and rhythmic? Are your shoulders tense? Is there any discomfort? Keep breathing deeply until all of the tension evaporates. Next, try to extend your awareness to the energy around you. What does the energy of the room feel like? What are you hearing? Are you smelling anything new or unusual? Can you physically feel energy? Keep expanding your energy during meditation until you feel connected to the space that you’re in. You should finish feeling a buzzing energy flowing through your body. This is called a receptive or psychic state. Learn how to reach and hold this state because it will increase the clarity of your intuition x100! 

3. Be present. Realize that these gifts are with you 24/7 and you can practice them whenever, all you have to do is live calmly in the moment. If you’re not actively listening then how are you ever going to receive messages? Psychic energy usually comes in gentle, subtle waves which means we have to be attentive if we wan’t to feel it. Focus is also necessary. You can’t fully receive info from your intuition while also thinking about a million other things!

4. Listen to high-vibrational music!  I’m a hoe for rap music and alternative-pop artists with lyrics that are either depressing af or kind of trashy haha. While music is awesome, it also carries a vibration that can influence our own state of being. The majority o music being made now produces a lower vibration which blocks some of our receptivity. In order to boost your vibration again, listen to about 5 minutes of 528hz or 432hz beats at the end of the day! 528hz & 432hz are described as restorative, healing frequencies that help us get our energetic shit together. I always feel 100x better after five minutes of listening! I’ll link some of my faves!

1 //  2 //  3 

5. Journal & then journal some fucking more! Write down predictions so you can check them later, record any spiritual experiences, and possibly try some automatic writing. To tap into my intuition, I like to just as a question and write down the first things that come to mind. Don’t worry about rather or not they make sense, literally DO NOT THINK ABOUT IT. When you feel like you’ve written everything you need, read over what you wrote and see if any of it connects. Look for an answer within the random shit that came to mind. 9/10 you’ll find what you need! This teaches you to trust that little voice in your head or the visions that come to your minds eye. 

6. Practice, duh. Ask your friends if they’re okay with you trying to read their aura or pull some cards for them! Think of your psychic abilities as a muscle, in order to strengthen them you have to actually put in the work. One of my favorite exercises is a guessing game involving cards. You can use playing cards, tarot cards, UNO cards, whatever! Place the deck face down and, before you pull from the top of the deck, try to guess what card you’re going to flip over. Then do it again and again until you’re damn near 100% accurate. Or until you’re wrist is exhausted form flipping over cards all night. Whichever one comes first! Another wonderful exercise is psychometry which is the act of reading an object. It’s easier to start off with an object with tons of energy such as a wedding ring, anything metal, a beloved stuffed animal, or a crystal. Try to find the story behind the object and really feel the energy behind it!

7.  Get yo self some crystal babies! I’m obsessed with crystals. I seriously can not live without my children! Crystals hold energetic properties that can help us align with out psychic nature and enhance our gifts. There are tons of options but some of my personal favorites for intuitive + psychics are amethyst, clear quartz, black tourmaline, labradorite, rose quartz, and fluorite.

8. Leave your house and go out in nature. You don’t have to live near an abundant forest or breathtaking mountain to reap the spiritual benefits of fresh air! Mindfully spending time in nature is a refreshing form of meditation and brings us closest to our own intuition!

9. Sage + Incense! Clear space = clear mind. Spoke cleansing and burning incense allows us to remove any blockages in our surroundings. Before reading for a client, I always burn some sage or light up the incense. For those of you in dorms or are hush hush about your spirituality, use Florida Water! It’s a liquid household cleansing and spiritual cleansing tool that I adore. You can buy it as a spray or in a bottle. 

10. Visualize. Practicing visualization stimulates your third eye, allowing you to receive vivid and powerful clairvoyant messages. There are a hundred different ways to practice visualization but I recommend visualizing your third eye/pineal gland, located between your eyebrows, opening up. As you imagine it opening and glowing, you may even feel a slight tingle on your forehead. This is a sign that you’ve actually opened your ‘third eye’ chakra. From there, simply have fun visualizing whatever you want. Imagine a tiny pink dinosaur flying over your wall or something lmao. This just warms up the psychic muscle!

Once again, these gifts require effort and consistency. Your psychic intuition is not an accessory to play around with. It should be taken care of with hella respect and gratitude! At the same time, don’t stress too much of none of this comes easily to you.  I’ve worked incredibly hard to get where I am, incorporating every single one of these tasks + more & I still have way more to grow! If I can make sense of this weird psychic shit, you can too haha. Start applying a few of these tips and you should see improvement within weeks. Now go out there are slay the spiritual game of life bby! ⭐️⭐️

⛰;🌲;🪵

Poisonous Herbs List

1. Belladonna

2. Foxglove

3. Datura

4. Angel's Trumpet

5. Lily of the Valley

6. Wolfsbane

7. Henbane

8. Daffodils

9. Hemlock

10. Mandrake