The Gods Have Had Mentally Ill Worshippers For As Long As They’ve Had Worshippers.

@terrasunshine and I wrote a collaborative devotional together! This was 100% her lovely idea, and I’m so happy we got to do this together. Here it is!! (You all should go and give Terra love for this, because she’s so talented.)

O, Hephaestus, You borne in the flame of a forge, did you gift an artist their hands?

Hands that are so gentle, so soft, that a touch is as light as air?

Splattered in a thousand colors, nimble, an artist’s hands are their tools.

With these most precious tools, they create beauty which brings mortals to tears.

A gift from You, dear Hephaestus, built from bone and iron, to gift their creations to You, in Your glorious name.

With You as Teacher and Guide, they find their hands in motion, constantly moving and creating.

Through this motion they find peace; through the peace they find beauty. And they gift it all to You.

Dipped and dyed, poked and callused, each piece a prayer of praise.

Even mistakes hold beauty, for each ink spill or dropped stitch brings understanding and character to the artist’s creation.

Even unfinished works hold devotion, for even in abandonment can beauty be found.

O, Hephaestus, we as artists thank You for this divine and heavenly gift.

Each work we make will sing Your praise forever.

the cure to self-sabotage is to anchor yourself to the universal truth that you are worth it. you are worth the effort. you are worth the difficulty, you are worth the time, you are worth the consideration. there is never a point in your life, in time itself, that you are not worth it. return to this truth when you feel yourself slipping. do not let it go.

Communicating with Spirits: Ghosts

-From my Grimoire

Preface

Ghosts are something that we’ve all come across at some point or another, and thats honestly what makes them one of the easiest types of spirits to begin communicating with! Most ghosts have a very relaxed attitude, because they’re just people ya know? There are lots of different ways to communicate with ghosts, so I’m gonna give a few examples that I personally have experience with, and some basic run downs of other methods that I’ve read about. These of course won’t be the only ways to do this, so feel free to experiment just always remember to keep yourself safe and protected!

Safety First

When communicating with any spirits, please always enact the highest caution! There are spirits out there that will try to trick you, take advantage of you, and in worst case scenarios do some serious psychological damage. Always, always, ALWAYS protect yourself and always make sure that when inviting a spirit into your circle, that you treat them with respect. Do some research, (i have even written an article about it on my blog) and practice your protection methods before trying to communicate with spirits.

Respecting a Spirit

I see alot of people on tumblr setting up their magick circles when speaking to a spirit to exclude the spirit from their circle. This honestly, I find rather disrespectful and kind of cruel. That’s like inviting your friend over, but marking an area out of tape just for you, and telling them they aren’t allowed to touch you, come close to you, or interact with you on a personal level. Yes there are dangerous spirits out there, but they’re not as common as most seem to think. You’re more likely to run into a content and casual spirit than you are one that wants to harm you. Treat spirits like people, because in the end that’s what they are, and allow them to come into this circle. If they show signs of aggression or give you a bad vibe, then simply banish them from your house.

Ghosts are People Too

The thing to remember about ghosts is that they’re literally people. Just people that have moved on. They’re personalities are going to reflect very heavily in your interactions, and can even determine what kind of energy they carry. A very happy, upbeat, and positive person is going to have a ghost thats very energetic and lively. While someone who was rather sad, disappointed with life, and negative will have a very gloomy, drag you down type of energy. Think about who you’re trying to contact, and trust your gut when it comes to communicating with ghosts or any type of spirit. If something makes you uncomfortable, immediately banish it from your space and do not allow it back in.

Communication Methods

This is not all the methods, by far, but here are some basic and easy to understand methods for communicating with the dead.

Invoking - When invoking the dead, keep in mind that this is like waking somebody from a restful sleep, so have something to offer them in return! Foods work best, and ghosts tend to love simplistic but filling foods like rice, meats, fruits and veggies, soups, and teas. Invocations work best when you know the name of the spirit in question, though you can also do a general one as well (though always be sure to state in a general invocation that unfriendly spirits with ill intent are not welcome!!!) To invoke a ghost, set up your space with your offerings, maybe even set up a crystal grid with a tealight in the middle and light some incense. Next speak with intention and call upon them. Anything along the lines of “I hereby invoke the spirit of _______, and I would like to call upon you with an offering of peace and friendship. Please allow us to speak and communicate, and may love and light be in our hearts. Those spirits with ill intentions and darkness in their hearts are not welcome, and shall be banished”

Speaking if The Ghost is Already Present - If there is a ghost already taking residence in your space, this makes it much easier to communicate with them. Simply strike up a conversation after setting up your space, and call to them like you would call to a friend. Don’t be afraid to interact with them and ask them questions, but also don’t be afraid to answer the ones they may ask you. Ghosts are curious just like you are, about the people they’re sharing their space with.

Ritualistic - If you like to be more formal, there are ways to do that too. I personally don’t use this method, but here are some tips:

Prepare, set up, and light your altar in anticipation for the ritual. Find the candles, crystals, offerings, anything you need to get ready. And don’t forget your bell!

Set up a safe space for you and the spirit to reside in.

Call upon the spirit you’re wanting to work with, similar to an invocation. Start by ringing your bell 3 times, use the chant/lyric/invocation you have chosen, have your conversation and end the ritual by ringing the bell another 3 times.

Tarot Cards - This method is pretty simple and very easy to do, though it will take some set up. Find something that you associate with, or have connected to the spirit you’re trying to contact. Cleanse your deck, and place this item on top of the deck and call to the spirit asking for them to put their energy into the deck. When you have received word that they’re done, or the feeling is right (hover your hand over the deck, if it makes your hand feel cold, then it’s likely not ready. If it makes your hand feel warm and a little tingly, then it’s probably ready!) you should be ready to do your reading.

Meditation -  Personally my favorite method of communicating with any type of spirit. This is a simple method, where you get into a meditative state and call to the spirit to speak to you while you relax. You’re already focused and your mind is already clear, and this is the perfect time to speak with a spirit. Listen to your inner feelings, and what your heart tells you, and allow the spirit to connect with you on this personal level.

Phobophages

Remember how I was saying that a person’s personality will reflect just that as a ghost? Well, we’ve got to remember that there are bad people out there too, and thus bad ghosts. Thankfully, most ghosts don’t have the energy to really do much damage, but there are those that are out there to purposefully make you fear them and scared. We call these types of ghosts phobophages. They’re very mean and frightening little buggers that like to feed off people’s fear. These ghosts will do just about anything to get a reaction out of you, from making it sound like someone is slowly walking up behind you, to even banging on your doors and walls as hard as they can. This can be very scary, and rightfully so, but a really important thing to remember is that these ghosts cannot do you any physical harm.

What to do if you encounter one

First and foremost, DO NOT FEED IT! Remember these things feed off of your fear, I know it can be hard because the hungrier is the more desperate its going to get, but if you don’t even give it the time of day it will be powerless. Sometimes though, they’re very stubborn because the person they used to be was. Here’s what to do.

Banish it - First thing you’re going to want to do is get it out of your house. This is very easily done by speaking with intention. Saying anything along the lines of “Any spirit with ill intent is not welcome here, and is hereby banished! Only those with love and light in their heart and souls are welcome and may enter.” You can empower your words by drinking an energy/confidence tea brew, kissing a clear quartz, or speaking over the flame of a candle and blowing it out once everything has been said. Words like this forcefully cast out spirits, and there is nothing they can do about it unless you don’t have wards.

Cleanse your space - Next thing to do would be to cleanse and bless your space. Use some sage, burn a black candle, set up a crystal grid, speak with intention, or anything that will purify your space.

Tighten up and refresh your wards - Go through all the wards in your house, break them down one by one, and put them back up with some fresh (or newly charged) ingredients. Add a new layer of warding as well to show you really mean business.

Ignore it - Once it’s out of the house and can’t get in, all you have to do is starve it out. Don’t even give it the time of day, and if it starts pounding at your walls, laugh at it. These ghosts can’t hurt you and all they want if for your to be afraid of them so they can feed. Ignore them, and eventually they’ll get hungry enough to leave.

APPRECIATION POST FOR HERMES BC HE’S SO WONDERFUL AND IM SO THANKFUL FOR THE GOOD FORTUNE HE BRINGS ME!!!

Imagine the bat kids all living together. But instead of the manor, they all share the same Gotham City apartment.

Like, they all collectively decided that they didn’t want to rely on Bruce’s money anymore so they rent out a penthouse apartment. (Everyone contributes but let’s be real, most of the money is from trust-fund baby Timothy Jackson Drake).

It’s nice, but certainly not Wayne Manor. It’s spacious, but not too much for 7 (+Damian who sleeps over when he fights with Bruce) adult vigilantes. The place has four bedrooms, one of which is used as an arsenal/costume storage room. Which, consequently, means that sharing rooms is a necessity.

So:

Dick and Jason

Barbara, Cassandra, and Stephanie

And Tim and Duke are the room set ups.

But just imagine the possibilities.

Sunday dinners consisting of various takeout joints that always devolve into Bruce Wayne roasting sessions

Roommate / sibling bonding time

There’s a huge uproar in teasing when someone brings a friend/partner up to the apartment

Alfred calls regularly to see if the place hasn’t burned down

A chore scheduling wheel in the living room

Board game nights

Listening to pump up music together before patrol

Making Instagram and YouTube videos regularly in the house which are immensely popular

Using post it notes to spell out messages on the windows (“FUCK THE JOKER” is a popular one)

Ugh I know this is my own AU but honestly it’s my favorite thing just let me have this DC

feel free to comment / add on! I’d love to see your guys’ takes!!

do you ever catch yourself thinking of something so weird and fucked up that you have to stop mid-thought and your face is

“I don’t care about dumb weed jokes,” I said naively, before I saw this

excerpt from hot wire magazine vol. 9 no. 1, january 1993

Reblog if you are any kind of witch.

I’m going to follow every witch on tumblr. :D